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Parity, overlooking, not respecting, playing down to the competition, we dominated play for 70 minutes, they were horrible, we outshot them 100 to 1, the field was bad, the officials were the worst ever, they cheated...blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I get tired of listening to coaches put spin on this and that when the playoffs roll around.
I want to scream - I DON'T CARE - and neither does anyone else. What was the final score - that's all that matters. Get the job done or go home. That's what I love about the Pepsi Showdown, the IHSA State Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
Remember - this is the IHSA playoffs. You know some fields are going to be horrible, some referees can't move and some teams pack it in. Thanks for playing and enjoy the holidays. I don't need a 25-minute recap of what happened. If you don't like it, do something about it. The IHSA says you control the tournament.
But let's move to another thought or two or 100...
*Surprise, surprise. Another year, another solid team at U-High under coach Mike Moses. U-High, which beat Mount Carmel and Providence last week, is currently 15-3 with 14 straight victories.
"Nate Wise has scored in his last four matches and defensively we have only given up nine goals all season," Moses said. "We are trying to make teams adjust to us and have fun each step of the way."
How many coaches in the West Suburbs know where U-High is? Less than the number of fingers on your left hand...trust me.
*Parker beat North Shore 3-0 on Tuesday to advance to the Class 1A sectional semis against Timoty Christian. TC Eley and Graham Harboe (two) scored for Parker, which lost to Timothy Christian in the Pepsi Showdown.
*I love when coaches tell me that they hit the crossbar. I've never heard this though - a basketball player hit the rim six times, and a hockey player hit the post seven times. Have you?
*Another SNL "Are you serious" skit starring Bloom. I know Marian Catholic is a rival, but Jesus, win one game if you want to gain respect. When I received the text message about the score on Tuesday, I felt bad for Bloom athletic director Joe Reda and Bloom. This was its chance in an overall weak year for the South Suburbs.
*Speaking of the South Suburbs, the other day I was talking to a longtime coach at a major program, who resigned. "It's just bad," he said, referring to the talent level. Want to know why? Look at the club situation out there - it's not the same as it was 10 years ago. The Chicago Magic isn't producing the number of kids it used to for the programs. Where are the players like Ned Grabavoy, Jed Zayner, Cole Glassner and Brad Guzan? Again, I've said it before and I'll say it again - high school needs club as much as club needs high school. They may hate one another, but mercy - they need one another.
*I said it last week, and I was right - Taft was better than Lane. Taft outplayed Lane in the city semifinals on Oct. 14, but lost. But in the regional semifinal on Tuesday, Taft got revenge with a 3-0 win. But remember, Taft, Lane is the city champ.
*Speaking of Public League teams - they deserve more respect. The good old boys suburban club of coaches continues to play in their same boring sandboxes year after year. Public League teams deserve a spot on their schedules. For the most part this postseason, Public League teams have been competitive.
*I was asked in the preseason how teams could be seeded the way they were for the Pepsi Showdown. Look at those seeds now, and look at how the teams finished. Amazing how a couple media members tend to be more honest than some coaches are with their own teams.
*Not going to lie, I was really pulling for Oak Lawn to win on Tuesday. After leading 2-0 at the half, the Spartans lost 4-3 in overtime to Brother Rice. This group of seniors for Oak Lawn went 1-17 two years ago. It also would've been nice to stick it to Brother Rice coach Nick Markulin for running up the score on the Spartans years ago. Everyone love Markulin and everything he has done for the game, but I hope he realizes that was classless. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the IHSA record for most goals scored in a game.
*I shook my head when I saw it - Mount Carmel a No. 6 seed. Ask Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook if the Caravan is a No. 6 seed.
*One coach asked me today: "Does anyone really care about Class 2A soccer beside the IHSA for extra gate?"
*There are some great Class 3A matches up on Friday. Too bad you won't read anything about them in the paper, because it's football, football, football. I'm waiting for someone to do a poll to see how many attending those football games actually buy a paper or read online? Not only that, I'm wondering how many students standing outside of the fence talking with friends actually know the score of the game at halftime? But I'll bet they know how much pop is at the concession stand.
*And finally...I was talking with a person I would call a mentor to me on Tuesday afternoon. He was telling me how it has been a tough year for his son, because he hasn't played much.
It is tough for high school kids to sit on the bench. One of the great things in life is that you can work hard all the time and never get what you want. It might be on the field, off the field, in the classroom or out of the classroom. Disappointment is part of life, as is frustration. But it's also part of growing as a person in life and dealing with different situations. Life isn't always fun, but having the chance to be a part of a varsity team is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
It's an honor, and it's something no one can ever take away from anyone. High school kids might not realize it now, but they will sooner or later.
- Joe Trost
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What is a shame, is that Barrington Regional !!!! Cary Grove 15-1-1 played Barrington 17-5. The winner gets Lake Zurich 18-1-3. So now you get Barrington 18-5 playing Lake Zurich in a regional final. Should be the sectional final. To top if off for both of those teams, the winner get Rockford Boylan, who I think is like 22-3. Great job there IHSA. These team did not even get seeded in the sectional, and where just placed in a regional based on how they are located on a map. So 3 of the likely top 4 seeds in that sectional will be done by the sectional final. May the best team win LOL !!!
I care about 2A soccer so do other people. If it wasn't for soccer my sons college wouldn't be paid for. GO 2A soccer........
I think that's fine you have your opinions but when I read that part about the Oak Lawn game I couldn't help but disagree. Quite frankly when dealing with rivalries you have a "no mercy" kind of mentality going into that game. When you get a team fired up for a game how can you tell them to stop when there are things that happen away from the field like trash talking and things along those lines. You just got to keep in mind that a player ,like myself, will always want to crush a rival and feel no guilt in doing it. THAT WILL NEVER CHANGE...