| Another Confusing Cody Column |
Seeing The World
The biggest question I get about Northern Illinois Sports Beat
involves the large coverage area. Why is it so large, they
ask. Having traveled to many different atmospheres
throughout the area, one gets more of an understanding of
what high school sports is about.
involves the large coverage area. Why is it so large, they
ask. Having traveled to many different atmospheres
throughout the area, one gets more of an understanding of
what high school sports is about.
I still remember wanting to know what was across the street on the block over from my own.
One day, I found the courage to cross the street (away from the windows of my house)
and “did some exploring” on my bike. I was six years old at the time, and I can't remember
exactly what I saw. The experience, however, would be one of many in my adolescence
where I pushed out of the boundaries set forth by my parents.
Crossing The Line
I entered the high school sports universe about a decade ago. That same curiosity of
“what's out there” started to apply to the opponents that Sterling High School faced.
Attending SHS, I knew about the NCIC very well. When I was student-managing four sports
teams there, the common theme as far as accomplishments were concerned was the
NCIC. The conference was not just there for wins and losses, but also for other areas of
personal achievement: All-conference, statistics, and individual champions. The regional
and sectional contingent would always change, but the NCIC had remained consistent (at
that time) for two generations.
The NCIC was the group, the area, and thus its edges were boundaries.
We didn't play just NCIC schools; we played others as well. Except for the real big
opponents, all other games during the regular season were not as important – much to
the tune of “nothing to see here.” That enticed me to wonder what's out there. So away
from those who had preached NCIC importance to me, I started to keep tabs on the “non-
conference” schools.
Posting on message boards, as well as my early journalism career, gave me more
exposure to high school sports – which now included the smaller schools. Northern Illinois
Sports Beat made the distance past the boundary even greater.
That's like riding that bike across the county line.
What IS Out There?
Most of the games where there's “nothing to see” involved two teams with lopsided
records. I was fortunate enough to be on good programs at SHS. Some of the non-
conference opponents were real bad.
The lopsided game may have been nothing for my team, but sometimes it meant a whole
lot more to the other team. It wasn't until I started working for Sauk Valley Newspapers that
I truly understood that. Neutrality was preached to me there – a change from the school-
oriented slant I had been doing at my other job. I started conducting interviews with
opposing coaches and players.
When I covered area-versus-non-area games, sometimes the opposing team's
performance really made the difference in the outcome of the game. If it did, it is worth
mentioning. These paragraphs would be among the first cut out by the editor. That's
because the articles needed more of a home-team perspective, something that is taught
in most journalism schools. Be neutral, but write for the home team? It didn't make sense
to me.
Hearing the various answers to the questions I would pose to the opposition made me
realize that the world didn't revolve around the home team.
What I was beginning to think is something that not a lot of people think about. A large
majority of those involved with high school sports think about high school sports from the
perspective of their own affiliation – whether it be coaching at a school, being the parent
of an athlete at a school, or being a diehard who's a graduate of the school.
That's completely understandable. One could get brain overload knowing what's out there.
If one does say they like all kinds of high school sports, however, then the different
atmospheres in the area are something to take note of. The area has 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A
schools, and conferences that are mainly 1A and those that are 3A-4A. The area has
territory that some consider the western fringe of Metropolitan Chicago. There are two
good-sized metro areas. There are other territories whose themes have to do with a
struggling economy, a healthy economy, a great athletic tradition, family roots, extensive
media coverage, and even those areas that are sitting there quietly – waiting to be truly
discovered.
The “Worlds”
Here are just a few of the atmosphere's in northern Illinois, in which you can gather your
own summarization by reading these:
The QCA – They get their primary high school sports coverage from not only FOUR
television stations, but TWO daily newspaper companies. Media has a lot to do with the
athletic successes there. Non-QCA schools always look up to this particular area because
of the athlete's determination to be noticed amongst the rest. Outside of the Western Big
6, the nearby Olympic schools as well as Geneseo and Riverdale do real well amongst the
rest of the schools in their respective conferences.
Jo Daviess County – Almost exactly the opposite of the QCA, where the amount of media
is not as extensive: three weekly newspapers and one radio station from another county,
as well as some coverage from Dubuque. It's an area that is even noted by those who
cover the NUIC as a huge void, with the exception of knowing that Galena has a great
football program. There's a shell around the area, but it has recently been trying to be
uncovered. East Dubuque is an improving athletic school, and the teams associated with
Scales Mound (such as the girls basketball co-op with River Ridge and the football co-op
with Benton, Wisc.) are starting to be known.
The Little 10 – There was a time not too long ago when the conference was referred to as
the “Brittle 10” because of the uncertainty of the future of its schools. Their shell has been
uncovered as class expansion has really changed one's opinion of the conference. The
conference, which is the oldest continually-run one in Illinois, has had a lot to be proud of
with the Hinckley-Big Rock girls basketball team, as well as both basketball programs from
Newark. Plus, the Somonauk hardball programs are starting to get some notice
throughout the area.
“Fringe Metro” – The definition of the Fringe Metro in this case refers to the schools that
have seen some sort of growth in the past 10 years. This includes schools like Sandwich,
Plano, Kaneland, Marengo, and Harvard. Once rural schools, they are leaning toward
becoming a part of Chicagoland in the next 20 years if the economy gets better. These
are schools that have recently discovered newfound successes and resources for these
successes.
The NUIC – Economy, or the lack thereof, is a huge topic in the county that the NUIC is
centered around. Carroll County often boasts the highest unemployment rates amongst
the rest of the counties in the state. For a lot of these families, high school sports has
been something they can find some sort of pleasure in. Farming is huge in the area, and
the kids are most likely playing football – which has had a lot of success as a conference.
Other than that, there's not a whole lot of anything in the area around the NUIC other than
high school sports. Their fans have been the most enthusiastic on the message boards,
especially on the defunct Illinois Hoops board.
NISB's Bill Lidinsky normally covers the southeastern part of the NISB coverage area. I
asked him to go clear over to the northwest part of the area and cover the Galena Boys
Track Sectional at River Ridge High School, 140 miles from home. He told me that it was a
whole different world compared to the area he normally covers. We talked for a while
about how the facilities – which are only six years old – were real nice, and how the drive
was going west of Stockton.
There's Your World, and THE World
High school sports in Illinois is not without its barriers, both social and cultural. In northern
Illinois alone, we have public-private, rich-poor and large-small. The public-private barrier
is the most known, because of the issues brought forth to the IHSA.
Class expansion was another issue brought forth to the IHSA a few years ago. For over
30 years, schools were either big or small. This is going to sound harsh, but now the
schools are either real small, kind of small, kind of big or real big. Not only were there
dividing lines being created, but barriers between schools simply because of how many
people are enrolled in them.
In some instances, some games used to be a big deal. Now that there's a barrier between
their respective enrollments, the comment of “not a big deal” becomes evident, as well as
“they're a 2A school,” and “they're a 4A school,” followed by “it's not really going to affect
us.”
Take off your shoes and put on the opponents'.
Once upon a time every game on the schedule was important, now there are games that
many consider useless. Schools are interacting less with different kinds of others outside
their own.
In a way, they are creating their own little corners of the universe. You know what
happens when you have a bunch of athletes with minds of their own, not wanting to work
together? The team isn't as successful.
Schools should not be drifting apart from one another, especially in these difficult times.
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and writes columns about
Illinois high school sports. He can be reached at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com.
Talk about what's written on our Message Boards!
One day, I found the courage to cross the street (away from the windows of my house)
and “did some exploring” on my bike. I was six years old at the time, and I can't remember
exactly what I saw. The experience, however, would be one of many in my adolescence
where I pushed out of the boundaries set forth by my parents.
Crossing The Line
I entered the high school sports universe about a decade ago. That same curiosity of
“what's out there” started to apply to the opponents that Sterling High School faced.
Attending SHS, I knew about the NCIC very well. When I was student-managing four sports
teams there, the common theme as far as accomplishments were concerned was the
NCIC. The conference was not just there for wins and losses, but also for other areas of
personal achievement: All-conference, statistics, and individual champions. The regional
and sectional contingent would always change, but the NCIC had remained consistent (at
that time) for two generations.
The NCIC was the group, the area, and thus its edges were boundaries.
We didn't play just NCIC schools; we played others as well. Except for the real big
opponents, all other games during the regular season were not as important – much to
the tune of “nothing to see here.” That enticed me to wonder what's out there. So away
from those who had preached NCIC importance to me, I started to keep tabs on the “non-
conference” schools.
Posting on message boards, as well as my early journalism career, gave me more
exposure to high school sports – which now included the smaller schools. Northern Illinois
Sports Beat made the distance past the boundary even greater.
That's like riding that bike across the county line.
What IS Out There?
Most of the games where there's “nothing to see” involved two teams with lopsided
records. I was fortunate enough to be on good programs at SHS. Some of the non-
conference opponents were real bad.
The lopsided game may have been nothing for my team, but sometimes it meant a whole
lot more to the other team. It wasn't until I started working for Sauk Valley Newspapers that
I truly understood that. Neutrality was preached to me there – a change from the school-
oriented slant I had been doing at my other job. I started conducting interviews with
opposing coaches and players.
When I covered area-versus-non-area games, sometimes the opposing team's
performance really made the difference in the outcome of the game. If it did, it is worth
mentioning. These paragraphs would be among the first cut out by the editor. That's
because the articles needed more of a home-team perspective, something that is taught
in most journalism schools. Be neutral, but write for the home team? It didn't make sense
to me.
Hearing the various answers to the questions I would pose to the opposition made me
realize that the world didn't revolve around the home team.
What I was beginning to think is something that not a lot of people think about. A large
majority of those involved with high school sports think about high school sports from the
perspective of their own affiliation – whether it be coaching at a school, being the parent
of an athlete at a school, or being a diehard who's a graduate of the school.
That's completely understandable. One could get brain overload knowing what's out there.
If one does say they like all kinds of high school sports, however, then the different
atmospheres in the area are something to take note of. The area has 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A
schools, and conferences that are mainly 1A and those that are 3A-4A. The area has
territory that some consider the western fringe of Metropolitan Chicago. There are two
good-sized metro areas. There are other territories whose themes have to do with a
struggling economy, a healthy economy, a great athletic tradition, family roots, extensive
media coverage, and even those areas that are sitting there quietly – waiting to be truly
discovered.
The “Worlds”
Here are just a few of the atmosphere's in northern Illinois, in which you can gather your
own summarization by reading these:
The QCA – They get their primary high school sports coverage from not only FOUR
television stations, but TWO daily newspaper companies. Media has a lot to do with the
athletic successes there. Non-QCA schools always look up to this particular area because
of the athlete's determination to be noticed amongst the rest. Outside of the Western Big
6, the nearby Olympic schools as well as Geneseo and Riverdale do real well amongst the
rest of the schools in their respective conferences.
Jo Daviess County – Almost exactly the opposite of the QCA, where the amount of media
is not as extensive: three weekly newspapers and one radio station from another county,
as well as some coverage from Dubuque. It's an area that is even noted by those who
cover the NUIC as a huge void, with the exception of knowing that Galena has a great
football program. There's a shell around the area, but it has recently been trying to be
uncovered. East Dubuque is an improving athletic school, and the teams associated with
Scales Mound (such as the girls basketball co-op with River Ridge and the football co-op
with Benton, Wisc.) are starting to be known.
The Little 10 – There was a time not too long ago when the conference was referred to as
the “Brittle 10” because of the uncertainty of the future of its schools. Their shell has been
uncovered as class expansion has really changed one's opinion of the conference. The
conference, which is the oldest continually-run one in Illinois, has had a lot to be proud of
with the Hinckley-Big Rock girls basketball team, as well as both basketball programs from
Newark. Plus, the Somonauk hardball programs are starting to get some notice
throughout the area.
“Fringe Metro” – The definition of the Fringe Metro in this case refers to the schools that
have seen some sort of growth in the past 10 years. This includes schools like Sandwich,
Plano, Kaneland, Marengo, and Harvard. Once rural schools, they are leaning toward
becoming a part of Chicagoland in the next 20 years if the economy gets better. These
are schools that have recently discovered newfound successes and resources for these
successes.
The NUIC – Economy, or the lack thereof, is a huge topic in the county that the NUIC is
centered around. Carroll County often boasts the highest unemployment rates amongst
the rest of the counties in the state. For a lot of these families, high school sports has
been something they can find some sort of pleasure in. Farming is huge in the area, and
the kids are most likely playing football – which has had a lot of success as a conference.
Other than that, there's not a whole lot of anything in the area around the NUIC other than
high school sports. Their fans have been the most enthusiastic on the message boards,
especially on the defunct Illinois Hoops board.
NISB's Bill Lidinsky normally covers the southeastern part of the NISB coverage area. I
asked him to go clear over to the northwest part of the area and cover the Galena Boys
Track Sectional at River Ridge High School, 140 miles from home. He told me that it was a
whole different world compared to the area he normally covers. We talked for a while
about how the facilities – which are only six years old – were real nice, and how the drive
was going west of Stockton.
There's Your World, and THE World
High school sports in Illinois is not without its barriers, both social and cultural. In northern
Illinois alone, we have public-private, rich-poor and large-small. The public-private barrier
is the most known, because of the issues brought forth to the IHSA.
Class expansion was another issue brought forth to the IHSA a few years ago. For over
30 years, schools were either big or small. This is going to sound harsh, but now the
schools are either real small, kind of small, kind of big or real big. Not only were there
dividing lines being created, but barriers between schools simply because of how many
people are enrolled in them.
In some instances, some games used to be a big deal. Now that there's a barrier between
their respective enrollments, the comment of “not a big deal” becomes evident, as well as
“they're a 2A school,” and “they're a 4A school,” followed by “it's not really going to affect
us.”
Take off your shoes and put on the opponents'.
Once upon a time every game on the schedule was important, now there are games that
many consider useless. Schools are interacting less with different kinds of others outside
their own.
In a way, they are creating their own little corners of the universe. You know what
happens when you have a bunch of athletes with minds of their own, not wanting to work
together? The team isn't as successful.
Schools should not be drifting apart from one another, especially in these difficult times.
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and writes columns about
Illinois high school sports. He can be reached at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com.
Talk about what's written on our Message Boards!
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