He said what?!? “I’m finally going to exhale now and enjoy this season. I pushed these kids so hard, and they stayed so focused... Now that it’s over, we’ll take our time to reflect back and be appreciative and proud of everything we did this year.” California High football coach Eric Billeci after his team lost to De La Salle 49-21 in the NCS Division I championship. The Grizzlies finished the year 12-2 with their only losses coming to the state-champion Spartans.
Bob Larson
Top 5 High School Sports Junkie New Year’s Resolutions We here at SportStars are, generally speaking, anti-resolution. Look. If you wanna do something to change your life or improve yourself, just do it. Why do you have to wait for the calendar to flip? Still, we recognize that tradition comes to bear. With that in mind, here are the Top 5 prep sports junkie New Year’s resolutions (you know, if we were the type to make resolutions): 1. Appreciate more. Do you, jaded East Bay sports dude and/or dudette, have the faintest glimmer of a clue just how much greatness is in your midst? Seriously. State golf champs. State football champs. State volleyball champs. North Coast Section champs in sports too numerous to mention. Impressive high school athlete type people all over the place who will be plying their trade at the next level. Amazing stuff. Enjoy it! 2. Grump less. You are blessed with the nearness of, quite simply, one of the greatest football programs (notice we didn’t specify prep, college or pro there – think about that) in history. De La Salle and coach Bob Ladouceur, right, are truly a glory to behold. Behold it a little (you know, as opposed to, say, hating on the Spartans for recruiting or taking all the ‘good’ kids from all the other teams, or whatever other soft argument is currently in vogue). So cool it on the Grinchiness, huh? 3. While we’re on the anti-negative trip (did you follow that double-negative re: negatives? Try to keep up…): Stop doubting Bob Sansoe/dls Salesian football. Seriously. The Pride have only been in the section title game four of the past six years, and won it twice. Might be time to start giving Chad Nightingale & Co. some props. 4. Quit complaining about the weather. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s raining. A lot. We get it. Believe us. You ever try to keep stats in a torrential downpour? Still. You know what all that precipitation means (besides some seriously sloppy soccer pitches)? Green, green grass in the spring. And won’t that be glorious? 5. Short memory. Your team didn’t fare so well in the fall? Fuggedaboudit. Bring on winter’s hoops, soccer and wrestling! Or wait until April (when hope springs, or something) and rock some baseball, softball, track, tennis, swimming, what have you. Take a cue from Cubs fans everywhere: Maybe next season. — Bill Kolb
random act of factness
The West Coast Jamboree, which will begin its 11th year of taking over East Bay gymnasiums on Dec. 27, has featured some of the most elite girls basketball talent in the state and nation over its first 10 years of existence. The tournament’s lifetime honor roll includes 13 players who have gone on to play in the WNBA. They are (alphabetically): Jayne Appel (Carondelet), Nikki Blue (Bakersfield East), Shannon Bobbitt (Murray Bertram-New York), Alexis Gray-Lawson (Oakland Tech), Ebony Hoffman (Narbonne-Harbor City), Charde Houston (San Diego), Loree Moore (Narbonne), Jene Morris (Urban-S.F.), Epiphany Prince (Murray Betram), Noelle Quinn (Bishop Montgomery-Torrance), Ashley Walker (Grace Davis-Modesto), Candice Wiggins (La Jolla Country Day) and Lisa Willis (Narbonne). For more Jamboree, see page 20