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-Thursday I mentioned that Theresa Lisch would explode onto the women's basketball scene when she enters the student body at St. Louis University next year. She's currently in the midst of her project of trying to take Belleville's Althoff high school to a state championship. Friday she pumped in 31 points, despite turning an ankle early in the game, as Althoff knocked off River Forest Trinity (Chicago suburbs) in the quarterfinals at Redbird Arena in Normal. The semifinals and championship game are today at Illinois State's campus.Of course, brother Kevin, a freshman, has been excelling on the men's team at SLU this season.
I was fortunate to be courtside as a broadcaster for most of the games played by their dad Rusty when he was a star at Belleville West in the early 70's. Rusty was thought by many to be a better basketball player than he was a football player. I believe he told me once that he actually preferred roundball over football. If memory serves, Rusty played intramural basketball at Notre Dame on a team that was said to be able to compete well with ND's varsity before the football coaches prevailed on him to stick with football. After his college years of competing with Joe Montana for playing time, Rusty was drafted by the Big Red and played pro football (although not much of it) for the old "Bidwill Bunch". His most active season came with the Chicago Bears in 1984 when he completed 43 of 85 pass attempts in 7 games at quarterback.
Rusty was one of the most naturally gifted athletes I have ever seen at the high school level. He was big enough to be overpowering, graceful enough to do things others couldn't, and competitive enough to raise his game when needed. The only knock on Rusty I ever heard was from teammates who thought he actually was better than he believed himself to be. They thought if he just had a little cockiness about him he would have been unstoppable.
-The Cardinals will sell out their season at the new Busch Stadium today when single game tickets go on sale. Can you believe that? Those of us who don't spend money on baseball tickets will be lucky to see a game there this year. Unbelievable.
-I'm glad to see that Wayne Hagin will replace Bob Carpenter on Channel 11's broadcasts of Cards games this year. Carpenter, if you hadn't heard, is taking over television duties for the Washington Nationals. Hagin, though posessing a style that is hard to warm up to, is well thought of by those I know who frequent the press box. I also hate to see anybody dumped in the fashion he was...although I do think John Rooney will be a strong upgrade on the radio side. Hagin stood to be paid for the coming season under his old contract anyway. But, now he'll get a chance to work 50 or so games while choosing his spot for next season.
-Animal House? So there's this fraternity at Central Missouri State University in Warrensberg that's been suspended by it's national headquarters for holding an "insensitive" Martin Luther King Jr. Day party. The Alpha Kappa Lambda house was the scene for a "chicken and beer" party at which attendees were encouraged to dress based on the organizers' perception of how blacks dress. So there were plenty of do-rags and baggy pants. Beer was served in 40 ounce bottles...and the menu featured fried chicken.
Uh...did these guys think that they could get away with this? And, if so, how did they pass the entrance requirement at this school? I'll bet there are some moms and dads who are proud of these guys right about now. Whoa!
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