Taylor Bell: June 2008 Archives

After interviewing more than 350 people in the last five months for my book on high school football in Illinois, which will be published by University of Illinois Press, I am eager to begin a one-month vacation to Florida.

No interviewing, no writing, no phone calls, no work, just a lot of walking on the beach and relaxing in the surf. If you haven't done it, don't knock it. It's a great way to clean out all the mush in your head and recharge your batteries.

We don't fly -- at least since 1976 -- so our vacations are spent driving to one or two of four destinations each summer. Why summer? Because I got used to it. While covering high school sports for more than 30 years, I couldn't take a vacation until the season was over. So when most people went to Florida in January and February, I went in June and July.

When it came to controversy, Crane basketball coach Anthony Longstreet created as many negative headlines as King's Landon Cox. The fact that Longstreet no longer is the coach at Crane shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who understands the politics of the Chicago Public League.

In the city, coaches serve at the behest of his high school's principal. The Chicago Board of Education rarely steps in to monitor disputes. And the Local School Council never does.

In Longstreet's case, he and Crane principal Richard Smith didn't get along. So Smith ousted Longstreet. No appeal. Longstreet knew the axe was going to fall. He didn't want to make waves because he still wants to coach in the Public League. He probably will, maybe at Dunbar.