Summer is officially here for me when the Firecracker Invitational hits Fitzgerald Stadium. The field is always great and the atmosphere is summer time. That tournament and the Heritage Festival let me know that summer is completely upon us.

The tournament has created plenty of memories for everyone over the years. I was wondering if any stood out over the rest for anyone.

- Padraic

The South Dakota High School Activities Association obviously feels that post-championship celebrations by winning fans have gone too far, and are going to try to curb it. Fans won’t be allowed on to the floor until after all medals and trophies are handed out.

“… team personnel only shall be allowed on the floor following district, region, and state championship contests in the sports of volleyball, girls’ basketball, and boys’ basketball. Following the presentation of individual and team awards, spectators will be allowed on the floor. Failure to keep fans/spectators off the floor until after the awards have been presented will result in the offending team not receiving public recognition at the tournament site. Individual and team awards will be given to a member of the offending team and the team will not be announced by the public address announcer at the tournament venue.”

I’ve never really recognized a problem in fans rushing the floor or field after a big win … obviously the SDHSAA doesn’t agree. What do you think?

- Padraic

Rapid City’s Aero Amo and Sturgis’ Josh Keszler once again showed that South Dakota produces great wrestlers year in and year out with their performances at the 2007 USA Wrestling Northern Plains Greco-Roman & Freestyle Championshipsin Iowa last week.

Amo won both the Greco-Roman and Freestyle championships in the 95-pound novice class and Keszler took second in the Cadet 125-pound division.

Any theories as to why wrestling is so good out here (year in and year out) while some other sports aren’t?

- Padraic

 

Here’s a great article from Casper’s Patrick Schmiedt about a cowgirl that won the Shane Drury “Nothing But Try” scholarship this year.

I didn’t know Shane Drury well and I never watched him ride a bull (just wrestle) but it sounds like Texie Rose embodies his competitive spirit to a T.

http://www.trib.com/articles/2007/06/15/ap-state-wy/d8ppfiug0.txt

- Padraic

 

I just got back from Sioux Falls where I watched the Dakota Schoolers Classic summer basketball tournament. The trip was ostensibly to watch the South Dakota Heat (led by White River’s Louie Krogman and Yankton’s Colton Iverson) take on the Schoolers.

Friday night’s game was won by the Heat (14 or so?) as Krogman scored 29 and Ellsworth, Minn. standout Cody Schilling dropped 20. Iverson, attending camp in New Mexico, didn’t play the first two days but did make it back for the championship game.

The title game was a completely different story as the Schoolers raced to a 30-point halftime lead (51-21) and won by 20. The difference between the Schoolers and the rest of the teams I saw came down to coaching and execution. Summer ball can devolve into a “Let’s take turns playing 1-on-1″ atmosphere, but the Schoolers stay away from that, moving the ball quickly and often, which takes a toll on their opponents (especially at the tail-end of a three-day tourney). They also played tougher defense than any other team in the tournament — which is really all a testament to their coach, Kent Mueller.

Krogman was held to eight points in the championship game as the wear of a week at Hanson-Anderson and three days of extremely physical basketball took its toll on him. The defense of Shane Cunningham (Aberdeen Central) didn’t help, either. 

Krogman is just (and I do mean just) quick enough to deal with athletes like Chad White (Madison) and Cunningham when he’s fresh. He wasn’t fresh on Sunday and at 6 feet tall just doesn’t have enough size to get his shots off like he does in a normal high school game. Louie wants to play D-I basketball — to do that he’s going to have to develop more of a get-to-the FT line mentality to get some easy points, because they’re only going to get harder to come by at that level. White and Cunningham are nice athletes, but (no offense to either of them) they’re not the same caliber as a lot of guys that Louie could see.

The Schoolers’ sophomores-to-be, Cody Larson and Adol Aloung (both from SF Roosevelt) are major talents that will be as good as they want to be. Larson simply outplayed the 6-10 Iverson (said by many to be the top recruit in SD this year). Larson is still a little hesitant and weak at times on the block, but he is only 15. His potential is absurd.

I was very impressed by two ‘under-the-radar’ Class AA players in S.F. O’Gorman’s Joe Palmitier (a leader and very solid all-around player) and Jordan Miller (Mitchell). Miller, a member of the famous Miller clan (Alan’s son) is as skilled a player as anybody in the state. He’s got a beautiful jumper and is a great ballhandler and passer but, like a lot of high school kids, he’s waiting for a little strength. When he gets it, look out. Jordan may or may not blossom into a great player during his prep career (he’ll be a senior next season) but he is going to make a college coach somewhere very happy some day.

The Madison juniors (Chad White and Tony Fiegen) are as good as advertised, and should make the Bulldogs the team to beat next season in Class A. White’s a super-skilled 6-and-half-foot tall do-everything type that at times seems too smooth, but he is a competitor. Fiegen may be too nice of a kid for his own good on a basketball floor, but his ability to dominate around the rim and on the baseline is only going to get better over the next couple of years. The pair has verbally committed to SDSU.

Lennox’s Jared Vlastuin is as nice an athlete as there is in South Dakota. Six-foot-five with spring-loaded legs he’s a 15-foot jump shot and a drop step away from being unguardable.

- Padraic

 

As impressive as LeBron James and the Cavaliers were in beating the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals, Cleveland has looked equally inept the first two games of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

I honestly don’t know if the Cavaliers have the goods to win a single game in these finals. First, San Antonio is far more diverse than Cleveland. Second, LeBron doesn’t seem to be playing with the same energy he did against Detroit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no big Spurs fan. I just hope that LeBron and company can provide us with a couple more jaw-dropping performances like they did earlier in the 2007 playoffs. I don’t know if Parker, Duncan and Ginobili will allow it.

– Jeff Easton

Oakland Athletics second baseman Mark Ellis (14) tags out Minnesota Twins’ Jason Kubel (16) during a fourth-inning rundown between second and third base during a baseball game Sunday, June 3, 2007, in Oakland, Calif. (Ben Margot/AP)

 

 

Mychael Urban points out in a recent ESPN The Magazine blurb that Rapid City’s Mark Ellis had the best fielding percentage in the history of his position last year, playing second base for the Oakland Athletics.

Ellis, a Post 22 and U of Florida standout, made just two errors in 632 chances in 2006, a .997 fielding percentage that his former infield coach Ron Washington called “almost robotic … inhuman.” Still, Ellis wasn’t awarded the Golden Glove at the end of the 2006 season.

What will it take? Ellis told Urban this, “I thought it was a defensive award, but I guess I have to get more hits.”

Urban went on to point out that of the 776 non-pitchers to win Gold Gloves, only 85 hit below .250. Royals second baseman Mark Grudzielanek — wow, is that name a keyboard full — took the 2006 award despite making twice as many errors. He did, however, hit .297 to Ellis’ .249.

First-baseman Nick Swisher, a guy Ellis says is deserving of a Gold Glove this year, told the ESPN writer, “If I get a Gold Glove before Ellis, he can have mine.”

Mine, too. A guy as good — and nice — as Ellis is more than deserving.

 

– Jeff Easton

While it seems like the sports news is dominated by so many negatives as of late, it is refreshing to come across a couple of guys who are trying to do something positive through their chosen sport, running.

On Sunday, June 1, Journal sports writer Padraic Duffy wrote about Nolan Taylor, who was taking part in the 2007 Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon. It was the T-shirt Taylor wore as he crossed the finish line — a T-shirt with CHEMO IS HARDER  in block lettering — that caught Duffy’s attention and became a natural for a storyline on marathon day.

Nearly all of us know someone whose life was taken or altered drastically by cancer, or dealt with it one-on-one. For many of us at the Journal, that person is Peggy Sagen, who died in August of 2006 after fighting ovarian cancer for three years.

Nolan and Brendan Murphy, the guys behind the Chemo Is Harder cause, have both watched their parents deal with cancer. Nolan’s dad has tonsil cancer, and Brendan’s mom is an ovarian cancer survivor while his dad lost his battle with melanoma in 2003.

So take the time to visit the Chemo Is Harder Web site and support Nolan Taylor and Brendan Murphy during their Chemo Is Harder Cancer Research Run scheduled for May of 2008.

 

– Jeff Easton

 

I’m becoming more and more convinced that LeBron James isn’t entirely human. His play against the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 last night pretty much sealed it for me. He scored 29 of his team’s last 30 points and every point Cleveland scored in the two overtimes.

Obviously Detroit knew who was going to shoot the ball (Flip Saunders isn’t the greatest coach in the world, but he’s sharp enough to figure that one out) and they still couldn’t do anything about it. 3-pointers, fadeaway jumpers, dunks, spinning lay-ups — James did it in every conceivable way. Dare it be said? He was actually more unstoppable than Air Jordan. Bigger, stronger, more dominant. Jordan always had a little help (and when he didn’t he lost). LBJ has no real help on that team — Ilgauskas, Gooden, Hughes, Pavlovic, Varejao and Gibson will be the worst team in Finals history if James can get them there.

And he’s only 22.

Like I said, he can’t be human.

- Padraic