I like to think that one of the reasons
our country is so blessed and favored is because not only do we pay
tribute to our active and fallen heroes, but a whole day is set
aside to remember the price that has been paid for our freedom. As I
enjoy another fun-filled holiday, I hope none of us will ever forget
at what price this day was delivered to us! With that being said,
let's head for the sports pages…
Locals
taking over…
Speaking of hats off… what about the
performances turned in by the LCHS track squads? For those who don't
know anything about track and field, the workouts are often much
more grueling than the actual meets. Regardless of that fact, Tricia
Dorsey of the Lady Railers, along with a host of Railer athletes,
put up some impressive performances in postseason meets. Also
posting some fantastic numbers were Chris Sheley, Jarryd Cooper,
Luke Sheley, Aaron Steffens, Troy Tolan and Jordan Tabb.
Congratulations to these fine athletes and to all their Lincoln High
School teammates and coaches!
John
Andrews gets the call…
And what a great choice Lincoln College
made in hiring John Andrews as their new softball coach! In fact, we
can't think of anyone who would be a better choice. A guy with
professional baseball experience, Andrews has also coached at LCHS
for five years, Lincoln Legion for two years, Lincoln Collegiate for
two years, was an assistant at LC for a year and head coach there
for a year as well. This past year he assisted the unflappable Allen
Pickering. Andrews will return eight ladies from this year's squad
that went 21-17 on the campaign and 17-12 in league play. It appears
that the future for the Lady Lynx softball program is incredibly
bright! Good luck, Coach Andrews!
Railer
bats starting to come alive a little bit...
…as they took their record to 16-14 and
7-7 with a win over Springfield Southeast. The Railers were to play
Pontiac on Saturday, but no results of that doubleheader were
available to the LDN. Regional play for LCHS is scheduled to begin
Saturday.
Illini
football tickets...
…will go on sale on Monday, June 2. You
can purchase tickets at 1 (866) ILLINI-1 or in person at the
Assembly Hall or on the Net at
www.fightingillini.com!
This year's home opponents include Illinois State, California,
Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern. You can also
purchase tickets for the showdown with Missouri in St. Louis. All in
all, a decent home schedule considering that the big three -- Ohio
State, Michigan and Penn State -- won't be coming to Champaign this
season. That doesn't hurt this reporter's feelings all that much!
[to top of second column in this
article] |
Cubs
waste Wood's performance...
…but appear to be making a bid to stay
in first place through the month of May. Kerry Wood battled the
Pirates and limited them to one hit while striking out 10 before the
bottom fell out for Chicago. Pittsburg went on to win 10-0. I'm
guessing -- now that Sammy Sosa is expected to get back into the
lineup -- that the Cubs will still be a formidable opponent in the
division. A very nice 8-5 road trip should squelch the fears of most
Cubbie fans, who seem to always fear the worst. This division may be
won by a team that spurts for two weeks and then staves off the rest
of the wannabes!
Cards
treat fans to holiday delight
St. Louis did to the Astros what you'd
like to see them do to every interdivisional rival… beat the tar out
of them! The Cards were up 10-0 before Houston knew what hit them!
It's good to see Drew swinging the hot bat, and even Tino Martinez
got in on the act a little bit. Edmonds seems to be breaking out of
the mini slump he was in, but what can you say about the pitching of
Matt Morris and Woody Williams? Anyone STILL want to roast me on why
I said I'd trade Lankford for Williams in a heartbeat? I would've
made the deal for a hot dog vendor… but, that's just me. In case
you've been on another planet during the first two months of the
baseball season, Williams is now 7-0 heading into his next start
with a NL-leading 2.1 ERA! The Redbirds continue to fight off injury
woes however. To go along with a decimated bullpen we now learn that
Fernando Vina will be lost through the All Star break… Who's next
the organist?
Was Larry
Brown the stealth candidate at Illinois???
San
Antonio now leads Dallas 3-1…
How many ways can you say, "This series
is over?" I guess you could say it was over once Dirk Nowitski went
down. But who do you like in the finals, SA or NJ? You have to like
NJ's experience in going there in back-to-back years. But, you've
also got to like Tim Duncan and the great perimeter shooting the
Spurs have been displaying of late. I really like the Spurs, but as
well as the Nets are playing right now, don't be surprised to see
them pull this thing out.
Have a great
week, everybody!
[Jeff
Mayfield]
|
Moser and his Redbird staff will host
three camps this summer, with a pair of day camps and one team camp.
The first day camp runs June 16-19 and
is for boys entering grades 1-12. The second day camp is open to
boys entering grades 1-8 and is scheduled for July 15-18. The day
camps are designed for commuters only and focus on the basic
fundamentals of dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding, defense
and game play.
The cost for either day camp is $170.
Each camper receives a basketball and a T-shirt.
[to top of second column in this
article] |
The team camp, which caters to high
school and junior high teams with boys entering grades 6-12, will be
June 20-22. The camp format is round-robin and tournament team play.
The cost for the team camp is $170 for
commuters and $205 for resident campers. Each will receive a camp
T-shirt.
For more information about the
basketball camps, call the Redbird men's basketball office at (309)
438-8681 or click
here for an application form.
[Click
here to download the Adobe Acrobat reader for the PDF file.]
[Todd Kober, director of
media relations,
Illinois State University] |