Moved Some Older Photos into Portfolio

I wasn't happy with the photos in the portfolio. They were all photos from the last two years. I searched through some older photos and came up with some good ones. The search brought out some facts I lost track of. I bought my first DSLR in 2009. I started publishing photos on the Welles Park Bulldog in 2012. Jane Rickard encouraged me greatly and gave me a place to publish my work. I owe her a lot for reigniting a passion. 

I always loved the Gordon Tech stripped pants warm ups. Love the photo of Stephan and Ty in pregame warm-up. I like the middle linebacker picture too. The photo of Mayor Emanuel really captures him. 

I confess I don't know if these photos are good; I just know I like them. Feel free to tell me what you think. 

DePaul Prep Rematch with St. Rita Goes to the Rams

I arrived at halftime of the game. There were lots of people and press there. Must have been the only game in town. I didn't get any good shots just average ones. I was hurried and out of position. I was more of a spectator at this game. That's fine. If I'm not feeling it, I don't want to force it. I was not covering the game for anybody. 

The game itself was terrific. Nice to see the Rams rebound and take down the ranked Mustangs in a rematch after their lose to this same St. Rita team one week ago. Rams prevailed in a squeaker, 46-43.  

Rams started fast with 11-0 run and 18-6 first quarter. Mustangs came back in the second quarter. DePaul's long time scorekeeper Johnny Maz told me that he could not remember a time when the Rams did not score a field goal in the second and fourth quarters--only free throws. The Rams last field goal was with 3:03 left in the third quarter.

Which brings me to free throws. Or more particularly, fouls. What was up with the St. Rita fouls? Gary DeCesere must have decided that he was just going to pressure the Rams and that he did not care about fouls. The Rams were in the double bonus in the third quarter. I have said it before and I will write it again here children, "Free throws and layups win games." The Rams did not make a single field goal in the fourth quarter because of the massive pressure by the big St. Rita team. The Rams did however, go 16-20 on free throws in the second half and 20-28 in the entire game. Guess who won the game.

Hinsdale Central Tournament is in the Books!

The 2017 Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic is in the books. Here is what I learned:

·       Tournaments are fun.

·       Bolingbrook is very good.

·       Lincoln Park is also very good.

·       The newspaper rankings are pretty accurate—at least as to the highly ranked teams.

·       DePaul Prep has not entered the top tier of teams in the City—yet.

·       St. Rita rebounded from its early season struggles.

·       Hinsdale Central Tournament is well run but could improve.

I immersed myself in the HCHC. I saw 11 of 32 games, most of the winner’s bracket games and parts of others. I saw 14 of the 16 teams. I enjoyed the adventure. Next year maybe Proviso or Pontiac. Or maybe take in some games at each tournament.

Bolingbrook can overpower you. But they are obviously not invincible.

Lincoln Park was a surprise. Tons of heart. Tons of talent. Good shooters. Very, very athletic.

Looking at the bracket, the ranked teams rose to the top—Bolingbrook, DePaul Prep, St. Rita and Lincoln Park. St. Rita is in that group because of its early season high rankings. 

DePaul Prep came into the HCHC with an 9-1 record with quality wins over Notre Dame, Benet, St. Laurence and Leo. Rams had nice wins over quality Crete-Monee and Stevenson teams. St. Rita handled them. The Rams played with Lincoln Park just couldn’t make enough shots. The lopsided score was the product of late scoring by Lincoln Park when DePaul went to a trapping defense. Maybe the Rams youth caught up to them in the grind of a tournament. We will see how they rebound against Rita on Friday.

Congratulations to the St. Rita Mustangs on winning the tournament. They beat four very good teams, Westinghouse, Maine South, DePaul Prep and Bolingbrook, four days in a row after coming off a rough stretch to open the season. Now we will see how they can do in the Chicago Catholic League conference play with games left against DePaul, Brother Rice, Fenwick, Mt. Carmel, DeLaSalle, St. Joseph, and St. Ignatius.

Hinsdale Central runs a nice tournament. Well lite gym. Excellent program. Live stats. Live audio internet broadcast. Good concessions. If I might make one suggestion, it would be nice to have a couple of tables in the gym where reports and photographers could sit and work while games are going on. Just a thought.

391 words. Almost too many.

Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic Semi-finals

My plans changed so I quickly drove out to Hinsdale to catch the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic semi-final games. DePaul Prep v. St. Rita of Cascia was first. Then Bolingbrook v. Lincoln Park.

I arrived at the half of the DePaul game but listened to the first half over through HCHC’s website—a fabulous feature. The Rams jumped out to a quick lead early in the first quarter and it all went wrong from there.  Mustangs ripped off a 9-0 run with help from some three-point shots and gained control for good.

St. Rita looked much better than they have during the unexpectedly disappointing season so far. St. Rita played very well. Inside. Outside. Defense. Boards. The Rams just struggled in every phase. You can find all the details here: http://www.hcholidayclassic.com/2017stats/17hchc23.htm

The Rams had their first real clunker of, to this point, what has been a great 11-1 season. I see this team so much that I forget how young they are. They start one senior, three juniors and a sophomore. The bench has two seniors, five juniors and three freshmen. Maybe they just stumbled. Maybe they are just not seasoned enough to play at the top level of area high school basketball. Interestingly, the Rams visit St. Rita next Friday that ought to be an interesting rematch. And this is a conference game.

I knew what to expect from Bolingbrook. I had not seen Lincoln Park and know only knew that it knocked off Whitney Young. Seeing the teams next to each other suggested that LP would have some difficulty with the size of Bolingbrook. And they did. But they made up for it. The first half felt like a very entertaining prize fight. LP went blow for blow with a bigger, stronger fighter. Even so LP trailed 28-26 at the half because of two untimed free throws.

In the second half, Bolingbrook played its inside game and lead the whole way. Lincoln Park went into a spread, drive and kick out for a three-point shot offence. Despite going 5-27 on three-point shots, the offence worked well enough to keep them close. With 3:09 left in the fourth, Bolingbrook opened a nine-point lead but Lincoln Park would not go away. The Lions fought the whole way. The outcome was in doubt to the very end. At the buzzer, Lincoln Park didn’t want to leave the floor. There is no quit in Lincoln Park. There isn’t even any stop in Lincoln Park.

http://www.hcholidayclassic.com/2017stats/17hchc24.htm   

2017 Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic

For me, the high school basketball season has four parts, the Thanksgiving tournaments, the Christmas tournaments, the conference games and the IHSA playoffs. We are in the Christmas, post-Christmas really, tournaments now--the beating heart of the season. Four games in four days. At the top tournaments, the best teams and their fans see each other and play each other. The dedicated fan can see eight games in one day.

I went to the first day of the 2017 Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. DePaul Prep opened the tournament against Crete-Monee. I got some good shots but not really good ones. I saw my beloved Rams handle a dangerous Crete-Monee team for the second year in a row.

Next was Homewood-Flossmor v. Stevenson. I was more of a spectator for that game. I wanted to see DePaul's next opponent in the next game and not work at getting photos. And I wanted to tweet the result to my dozen followers (okay 315 followers, but who is counting).

St. Rita v. Westinghouse was next. I got some good shots in this game. I used a new approach. I just sat down and shot from the same spot. One lens. One camera. Let the game come to me. I got some good shots. I have seen Quinn Harris, Patrick Gorski and Worsom Robinson (real photographers who know what they are doing) do this. It seems to be an effective way to get a few really good shots.

Maine South v. Richards after that. I didn’t really watch this game. I was processing my my photos and having some lunch. I took some quick iPhone videos and attached them to tweets reporting the final score.

The next game was the most interesting game of the day. I wanted to see highly ranked Bolingbrook. I saw them at last year's HC Holiday Classic. I was really impressed. Big, athletic and skilled. They finished third in the state. I wanted to see how this year's number 8 team compared. And I want to see one of the top players in the state, Bolingbrook’s Joseph Yesufu.

I couldn’t stay for the final two games. It was a long day and I needed to get home. Next year I think I will take the whole week off and take in a different tournament all day, each day. Proviso, Hinsdale and Pontiac. High school basketball heaven.

www.hcholidayclassic.com

St. Viator v. Benet Academy

I went back to St. Viator to photograph the basketball game against Benet Academy. This is where began taking photographs in high school. I took photos at football games which appeared in the yearbook.

The St. Viator Lions played well and beat their rival Benet.

I ran into my cousin Mark McDonnell whose kids now attend Viator. My brother teaches there but he was not at the game.