Hey Jealousy
Let me tell you why I'm jealous of SVM sports writer Larry Brennan. He's a thief! A cherry-picker! OK, I'm getting a little too worked up. It's not his fault...
Oh, Larry Brennan, what a snake you are.
After watching the Rock Falls Rockets miss a shot to hand the Byron Tigers a rare loss last night, I got back to my desk and thought out loud:
"Byron at Oregon tomorrow night. Hawks are 13-4 and firing on all cylinders. Tigers look tough at 15-1. Battle of 4-0 teams in the BNC West? That's gonna be an awesome game."
I could tell Dan Woessner heard me loud and clear, judging by him responding with a pensive, "Hmmmmmm..."
I figured he would call an audible. Sports writer Larry Brennan was originally slated to cover Prophetstown at Erie boys, another game I pitched a few weeks ago. Sorry, fellas. After the Prophets laid an egg at the Newman tournament, the battle for first in the girls' Big Northern West gets the nod.
So Dan shifted Larry from Whiteside County to Ogle County. Come on, man! Where's my finder's fee?
I kid. Sort of.
With all due respect to my assignment, Streator at Sterling girls, the Golden Warriors should wax and gas the Bulldogs before escorting them back to the bus.
In case you can't tell, I'm a bit jealous of Mr. Brennan. But the good news is my game should be in the books by 7:30, so I can tune in to his Twitter feed while I write my gamer. It'll almost be like I'm there.
If I was, I know the matchup I'd be watching closely.
Get your popcorn ready. The point guard matchup of Oregon's Sam Lambrigtsen vs. Mayson Whipple will be worth the price of admission alone.
Whipple can shoot. I'm pretty sure none of the five 3s she hit last night touched the rim. But she also has handles. She's got some eye-popping sleight of hand for a high school hoopster.
Then you've got Sam "Bam." There might not be another girls basketball player within 100 miles who has her combination of talent and determination. That includes Aquin's Arizona State commit Sophie Brunner.
Not to be overlooked - figuratively or literally - are the Tigers' two 6-plus-foot talented posts, Sophie Reecher and Ellie Lehne. It'll be up to feisty senior Devyn Absher - who was scouting at Tabor Gym last night - to push them around whenever she gets the chance to do so within the rules.
We've spent a lot of time in the office talking about what the Hawks are missing: a prototypical post. And the void is glaring. They had one, but Lexie Smith transfered to Bollingbrook. So she's not walking through that door.
But the Hawks are flat-out wearing teams out with their athleticism. Tigers coach Chris Yerly said last night that the only two teams to take them out of their run-and-gun game this season are Rock Falls and Prophetstown (the only team to beat Byron).
He might want to be careful what he wishes for. If they engage the Hawks in a track meet, it doesn't matter how big they are down low. They'll get run over.
Like I said, get your popcorn ready. And if you're on Twitter, do me a favor. Get me some updates.
- Follow assistant sports editor Christopher Heimerman on Twitter at @CHeimerman_SVM. Email him at cheimerman@saukvalley.com
