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I really wanted to talk with Bryan Craig on Thursday. Had he returned my call I would have congratulated him on finally doing something right last Friday by resigning as Rich Central’s girls basketball coach. Craig quit hours after a SouthtownStar story broke about his self-published book titled, “It’s Her Fault,” which contains myriad salacious and graphic references to women and their … ]]> Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:18:15 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/14988052-401/craig-wrong-beyond-what-he-writes.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/14988052-401/craig-wrong-beyond-what-he-writes.html
What a start for Mother McAuley volleyball in 2012. Like many of the classic Mighty Macs teams from the past, this group already has roared back from big single-game deficits to defeat Joliet Catholic and Lockport, and bounced back from a Set 2 loss to Downers Grove South to win a 25-15, 23-25, 29-27 thriller. And to think I ranked them No. … ]]> Thu, 30 Aug 2012 18:20:10 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/14834438-393/baranek-no-kidding-mother-mcauley-volleyball-ready-for-revival.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/14834438-393/baranek-no-kidding-mother-mcauley-volleyball-ready-for-revival.html
OK, so we’re heading to the three-quarter pole in the 2012 softball season. What can I tell you with complete confidence about what lies ahead? Well ... we’re going to have a banquet at Jenny’s Steakhouse. What I’m going to be saying at that banquet about the teams that excelled and the Player of the Year — better get back to me … ]]> Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:03:27 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/12162104-406/baranek-no-runaways-in-race-for-softball-glory.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/12162104-406/baranek-no-runaways-in-race-for-softball-glory.html
And now for another installment of our annual strange, often funny — and this year chilling — diamond tales ... More than any other professional sport, baseball brings the prankster out of its participants. It’s the same on the amateur baseball and softball levels. T.F. South softball coach Jamie Arundel remembered a game at Oak Park in 2003, in which Sandburg teammate … ]]> Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:24:01 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/11871328-406/baranek-telling-tales--and-tails--out-of-school.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/11871328-406/baranek-telling-tales--and-tails--out-of-school.html
Hillcrest’s softball team scored three runs in the final inning of Wednesday’s 2012 opener. No offense to St. Francis de Sales, but it would have been really cool had those three runs erased a 2-0 deficit and made Kara Bucci’s high school head coaching debut a success. Alas, St. Francis already had put 14 runs on the board. But you know what? … ]]> Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:29:04 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/11328176-406/bucci-keeps-sharp-eye-on-big-picture.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/11328176-406/bucci-keeps-sharp-eye-on-big-picture.html
Before we turn the clocks ahead one hour Saturday, let’s rewind back a few months and take one last look back at some girls basketball memories. First, let’s start with a kid who just missed making the All-Area team, but you can bet will make Oak Lawn a team to be reckoned with the next two years. LaTondra Brooks, along with Marian … ]]> Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:01:21 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/11160600-406/girls-hoops-season-full-of-lasting-impressions.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/11160600-406/girls-hoops-season-full-of-lasting-impressions.html
Excuse me if I’m experiencing a little deja vu this weekend, with Hillcrest meeting Montini for the third year in a row at Redbird Arena. I know I’ve see this movie before. Before ... Before ... Ah, yes. It was March 1997. Thornton and Peoria Manual met at the state finals in Peoria for the third year in a row. The two … ]]> Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:58:42 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/10994361-406/hillcrest-doesnt-want-a-thornton-esque-three-peat.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/10994361-406/hillcrest-doesnt-want-a-thornton-esque-three-peat.html
March Madness still is a ways off, but at Morgan Park the state playoffs already have begun. The girls and boys basketball teams — actually, all of the sports teams — staved off elimination Thursday when girls hoops coach Thomas Johnson trekked through the snow and drove down to Bloomington to attend an IHSA Principals Rules last-chance meeting. He was joined by … ]]> Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:03:46 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/9976781-406/being-there-just-isnt-that-tough.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/9976781-406/being-there-just-isnt-that-tough.html
Let’s ring out 2011 with some highlights from the notebook of a well-traveled scribe ... January One of the classiest kids to ever wear a Lincoln-Way East girls basketball jersey, Kelly McGovern needed to have shoulder surgery Jan. 19 to ensure she was fully healed in time for her freshman year at Fordham. McGovern, though, wanted to give her all to the … ]]> Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:41:57 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/9729207-406/another-year-of-memories-in-the-books.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/9729207-406/another-year-of-memories-in-the-books.html
Some people probably don’t want to hear this, but our girls basketball coaches here in the Southland actually are pretty good when it comes to stepping on the brakes and not really “running it up” on opponents. Last week, Hillcrest put 60 points up in the first half against Reavis, then scaled back and had just 22 in the second. T.F. North … ]]> Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:04:36 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/9332031-406/baranek-ihsa-girls-basketball-record-book-dotted-with-southlanders.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/9332031-406/baranek-ihsa-girls-basketball-record-book-dotted-with-southlanders.html
One of the reasons we send out preseason surveys to coaches in various sports is to get their perspective on how they think their teams are going to be. We ask for assessments and projections. Occasionally, coaches suggest story ideas. So it was with new Queen of Peace basketball coach Mike Valente, who assessed, projected and suggested in three pretty eye-opening sentences. … ]]> Wed, 09 May 2012 10:04:39 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/9188965-406/mike-valente-hoping-to-make-some-noise-at-peace.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/9188965-406/mike-valente-hoping-to-make-some-noise-at-peace.html
Of all the step-up players who have brought Marist to the girls state volleyball finals for the first time in the program’s history, the least likely is senior Kirsten Ivkovic. When she came to Marist as a freshman, she had never played club volleyball. In fact, she was better at softball. She made the freshman “B” team, which for most members means … ]]> Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:02:21 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8752435-406/marists-ivkovic-makes-journey-from-b-to-varsity.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8752435-406/marists-ivkovic-makes-journey-from-b-to-varsity.html So how is longtime Lockport girls volleyball coach Julia Hudson handling this retirement thing? With humor. For instance, she wanted to make one thing perfectly clear Wednesday. She’s not getting married. Maybe someday. But not now. Hudson made that pronouncement during a very warm, melancholy, but sometimes hilarious conversation we had regarding the Oct. 22 ceremony in which a large stone in … ]]> Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:29:12 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8601886-406/tony-baranek-julia-hudson-never-coached-by-the-numbers.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8601886-406/tony-baranek-julia-hudson-never-coached-by-the-numbers.html
If words came to Bremen’s David Smith as easily as yards, he probably wouldn’t be the subject of our forum today. Much already has been written in these pages about the football abilities of the senior running back, who has led Bremen to its first playoff appearance since 2006 and is being courted by several major colleges. I’m not even sure we … ]]> Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:20:30 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8458129-406/bremens-smith-doesnt-let-words-get-in-his-way.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8458129-406/bremens-smith-doesnt-let-words-get-in-his-way.html
I tried to tell them, but they didn’t believe me. They just didn’t believe me. It stated right here in this weekly space a year ago Marist was going to beat Mother McAuley in volleyball for the first time in postseason history. Sure enough, it happened. Of course, I also predicted Marist was going to win state in 2010, and the RedHawks … ]]> Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:49:17 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8329931-406/baranek-playoff-picks-you-can-put-on-a-cardboard.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8329931-406/baranek-playoff-picks-you-can-put-on-a-cardboard.html
This is a story about coaching and friendship. Family and devotion. Loyalty and happy endings. The reason for writing it is that Brian Flaherty is back as the head boys basketball coach at Bremen High School. The man who replaced him for one season, former assistant Matt Meany, has volunteered to step down and resume his previous role. That’s our first happy … ]]> Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:29:12 CST http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8096100-406/life-brings-happy-return-to-bremen-for-flaherty.html http://highschoolsports.suntimes.com/baranek/8096100-406/life-brings-happy-return-to-bremen-for-flaherty.html