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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Happy Birthday Mark!

My older brother Mark turns 50 years old today!! Happy Birthday!!

I am guessing he is spending the day with his close friend, Bill Walton.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Aaron Rodgers- Motivator & Leader

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a great article on Aaron Rodgers as a leader. Good stuff!!

Green Bay - Donald Driver was getting dressed for the game at St. Louis two years ago when Aaron Rodgers came over and handed him the game program.

"Read this," Rodgers said.

The article referred to Green Bay's veteran receiver being past his prime and too old to make any impact.
Driver, who has made a 13-year NFL career out of proving his detractors wrong, felt his blood boil. And then he caught four passes for 95 yards and a touchdown.

"That's something that I love about Aaron - he knows how much I love criticism," Driver said. "People tell me I can't do it; I prove them wrong. Soon after that at Detroit, I ended up winning the Gobbler. Pam Oliver said after the game something like, 'The old man does it again.'

"That was very, very motivating for Aaron to walk up to me and show me that. It was motivation to go out there and play at a high level. And he continues to push me now."

The Packers' elite quarterback is familiar with the power of motivation.

From the kids on the high school bus who said he'd never make it to the colleges and their rejection letters to the teams that passed on draft day to the boo-birds on Family Night. People said he couldn't run, was made of glass, couldn't rally in the fourth quarter and couldn't live up to the legacy of you-know-who.

He's used every one.

And now he finds ways to motivate his teammates.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Streaks Win Tourney

The Streaks bounced back from their loss to Moline with a win over Illini West. Streaks won 83-44 at Thiel Gym. This capped a surprising 5-0 run thru the Thanksgiving Tourney. The Streaks had wins over Dunlap, Metamora, East Peoria, Springfield and then Illini West.

Vs. Illini West the Streaks were led in scoring by Sadee Hamilton with 15 points and Sharron Diggins with 22 points. Jennifer Lieber finished with 13, Chloe Anderson 7, Myra Diggins 6, Paige Klinck 6, and Allison Mangieri with 5. The Streaks managed 10 made threes in the game. It was a cold shooting night for Galesburg as they managed only 10 of 43 threes.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Tourneys Have Always Been Fun!!

My mother, Majorie Evans, went to GHS. This is
 tourney pass for games to be played at the Galesburg
District in 1929. She made 5 of 6 sessions, she missed
the Saturday AM session- either weak opponent
or a good Friday evening!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Libby Allison

Libby Allison, the famous sister of Coach Andie Allison, now is on a blog site. She is in process for training for a marathon. She is a news anchor in Charlotteville, Va. The blog is going to follow her efforts as she gets ready to run 26.2 miles.

Kevin Eastman- Best Teams Have...

Best teams have all their players executing their roles, and pulling their weight.
Best teams have all their players doing what is needed, when it is needed.
Kevin Eastman- Boston Celtics

On successful teams, each player knows what they have to contibute and what they NEED to contribute. The team's success is dependent on each player fulfilling their roles. Some roles like be a defensive stopper is harder to statistically measure, while other roles like being a force on the boads is easier to measure.

Great News

On a night when it is easy to think things are going bad, I just got great news. I was about to turn the computer off and call it a day- when I checked my email. I just got an email from a nice man in England who needs to give away $100 million. All I had to do was send him my saving account and checking account numbers and passwords. He is going to wire the money into my accounts.

I can't wait to wake up in the morning and check to see how much I have in my savings and checking after this nice guy gets done.

I have a feeling tonight's game may not seem so bad in the morning.

Good night!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Dave DeBusschere- Sacrifice

"The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each
other and they sacrifice personal glory for the common goal."
- Dave DeBusschere

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Kevin Eastman- "The Process"

Understand the Process

As college basketball gets into full swing, one truth exists for all teams: no team will stay the same as the year goes on.
That means some will get better and some won’t. Whether a team improves will depend how players approach the “process.” Improvement is a process; success is a process; becoming the best is a process.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Big Win Over Springfield

Tonight we pulled off a HUGE upset over #3 rated Springfield. We were down 20-9 after one quarter but came back to be down 35-32 at half. At the start of the second half, they scored the first 6 point to take a 41-32 lead. What happened at that point was incredible- we outscored them 28-4 for the rest of the third quarter to take a 60-45 lead. During that stretch we hit 6 three pointers. We hung on to win the game 84-79.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Streaks Beat Metamora 89-64

Every team is different. This year's team is following in the footsteps of our last two years running the "system." You can check off the same things--

- Miss foul shots early- yes
- Shoot low pct from threes- yes
- Give up layups with our press- yes

I really think that in what we are trying to do, it is harder to get things to fit together early in the year. People watching may think we are just rolling the ball out, but there is a lot to learn.

While the Streaks are going through some of the same growing pains that the previous two teams went through, they are quietly doing some impressive things. Of the 5 "system goals", we have reached 9 of 10 in the first two games. This is something we seldom did the last two years. So far we are definitely creating the tempo we need. We have had plus 75 shots both games.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Bo Ryan Quote

The Badgers did not shoot well tonight. Bo Ryan's quote, "I felt sorry for the rim tonight."

I wonder if he saw our game Tuesday?

Supper Club 2011

The girls definitely like having team dinners the night before games. And our parents sure do feed them well. With three games in the next three nights- the team will need the energy they got from tonights meal.

AP Preseason State Polls

15 of our 30 regular season games will be against teams who have received votes in the AP Preseason polls. Saturday we will face the #3 rated Springfield Senators.

Here are the girls preseason prep basketball polls with rank, team, first-place votes, record and total points.
CLASS 4A
School        Pts  
1. Bolingbrook (6)        87
2. Whitney Young (3)        82
3. Maine South        59
4. Edwardsville        57
5. Chicago Marist        40
6. Waubonsie Valley        35
7. Bartlett        29
8. River Forest Trinity        26
9. Zion-Benton        25
10. Oak Park Fenwick        10
Others receiving votes: Hononegah 9. East Moline United 9. Chicago Heights Marian 7. Proviso East 6. Geneva 5. Moline 3. Niles West 2. Gurnee Warren 2. Benet 2.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Wow- What a Start

Things were not pretty, which is true of many first times out. But the finish was worth waiting to see.

We jumped to a 10-0 lead only to trail 33-26 at half, 54-45 after three quarters, and by 12 with under four minutes to go.

T-Shirt of Day- 2011 Regional Champs

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Treasure Hunt- 2011

Last place team getting their last clue!!!
We did it again. We had our 2nd Annual varsity basketball treasure hunt. Our adult drivers were Coach Andie Allison, Coach Jaque Gohlinghorst, and Coach Michelle Wynne. Coach Allison's team was the winner this year. Here were our questions--

1- If you are going deer hunting, you are going to need one of these. I don't have one, but I know where you can find 3 of them.

2- What are those machines that count radiation? We have one at GHS that counts baskets.

3- YHHOUBNGOR

4- In 1988 his fastball smoked, now his whole house smokes.

5- When a car gets old, they put it in this yard.

6- The college is gone but the court is still there.

7- Math problem-- (Old Main built - Streaks wins last year - when Cinderella had to be home)
(Supposed to be knee high by 4th of July + my first initial + first name of an Anderson who played bball)

8- If Ronald Reagan's mother needed a cup of sugar, she might have gone here to get one.

9- If Steve Bartman was in Galesburg, this is where he would sit.

10- Someone really misses you. They are a weeping _______ .

"I Doubted I'd Ever be a Streak"

The old GHS located just off the square.
When we think about segregation and racism in America during the 20th century, most of us in the North immediately turn out thoughts to the South. The reality is that there were many examples of segregation and racism in the North during the 20th century.

My mother told a story of when my father was coaching basketball in Savanna, Illinois in the 1940’s. Savanna was located about 40 miles from Wisconsin, so definitely the “North.” My father had an African-American player on his team. If the team was going to stop for a meal after a road game, my father would always go into the local restaurant to see if they would serve an African-American. If they would not, he would go back out and tell the team, “The restaurant is full.” And they would look for another place to eat. Having grown up in the 1960’s, I found this story to be a revelation. I was sure that only happened in the South.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

T-Shirt of Day-Celebrating State Record- 2003

This is a real collector's item- 2003 Sweet 16 which was
celebrating our 9th consecutive Sectional championship.
That is still a state record for boys or girls- 9 straight Sectional titles.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

1999 T-Shirt

Today's t-shirt is from 1999. It is the shirt printed after we won the Supersectional and were headed to Redbird Arena. It was a great year, we went on to finish 2nd in State.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Lunch at the Bryants

Steve and Jeanine Bryant have been nice enough to have the girls basketball team to their house for lunch in the preseason for many years. We went over on Saturday between our morning and our afternoon practices. Great food- sloppy joe's, spinach bisque, chips/mud, and cake. Thanks!!

T-Shirt of the Day- 1998

Time to start cleaning out my storage tub. I have saved lots of t-shirts and probably need to wear them now of never. This is 1998 Elite 8 t-shirt.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Tanner Carlson & Knox

This fall I had Tanner Carlson from Knox College as my student teacher. He was outstanding. Tanner and present Knox football coach Cory Bonstead are the easily the two best student teachers I have had the opporutnity to work with.