Greatest Clinton Athlete of 2000s?

While working on a Clinton wrestling story from the early 2000s, I began to wonder about who the greatest athletes in the town over the last decade have been.
That's why I listed it as the Clinton Journal's latest poll question. I started out by giving five suggestions. Four of the ones I suggested, along with another that was not mentioned, have received votes in the first week of the voting. The voting will be open thru August, and the winner will be announced in mid-September. Here are the five suggestions.

A) Tyrone Byrd (Wrestler, Class of 2001): Byrd won two individual IHSA state titles on the mat, and was a Big Ten runner up in 2006, while wrestling at the University of Illinois. He was named Central Illinois' Wrestling Athlete of the Decade.
B) Rachel Anderson (Track sprinter, Class of 2004): Anderson followed a stellar career at Clinton High School with leading Illinois Wesleyan University to indoor and outdoor NCAA Division III championships. She was named NCAA Division III Female Track Athlete of the Year in 2008.
C) Kamren Ferguson (Softball pitcher, Class of 2004): Ferguson was stellar on the mound, throwing 91 consecutive scoreless innings for the Lady Maroons in 2004. Kamren anchored a regional champion Clinton team that year. She went on to have a solid collegiate career at Western Illinois University, leading the Leathernecks to a second place finish in the Summit League in 2009 and 2010.
D) Ontario Sneed (Football player, Class of 2005): Sneed had a great career and later competed at Central Michigan University.
E) Kylie McCulley (Volleyball player, Class of 2006): McCulley was an all state-player for Clinton in 2005 and 2006 and was a two-year starter for the Fighting Illini volleyball team.

In addition to the five mentioned, Kameron Bell, a 2005 Clinton graduate and basketball player at Eureka College, received a vote.

Camp Randall - Madison, Wisc.

MADISON, Wisc. - One of the best parts of my road trip to Minnesota two weeks ago was that I was allowed to go on the patio at the University of Wisconsin bookstore. A patio that was right on the field level of Camp Randall Stadium, the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team. I stayed there for a few minutes trying to think of how great this place must be in the fall.

The people of Madison were very friendly, waving to my friend and I even though they did not know us and that it was clear we were not regulars or students on the campus.

It seems like a nice college town and I could see why it would be ranked on the top five college football atmospheres. I would love to go there in the fall when the Badgers have a home game.

Both of their main sports venues, Camp Randall and the Kohl Center, are without a doubt better than what they currently have at the University of Illinois.

Madison is also the capital of Wisconsin, with a huge U.S. Capitol-like building marked as the city's center.

Another White Sox moment

The White Sox are a team of great moments. The give you great plays, controversy, perfect games and great streaks. Tonight, they provided their loyal south side fans with another night to remember. July 30, 2010 will be remembered as Lucas Harrell night.
Lucas Harrell, a Triple-A pitcher at the beginning of the day, had no idea he would be called upon to pitch for the White Sox, a Major League team at the end of the day. Daniel Hudson was the scheduled starter for the Sox, but was dealt in a deadline deal to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Edwin Jackson. The Sox didn't have anyone else ready to start in the fifth position, so Harrell, a minor leaguer was called on.
Oddsmakers listed visiting Oakland as a clear favorite. And when the first batter Harrell faced reached first, Sox fans may have assumed that the team's longest home winning streak since 1989 would come to an end. But Harrell shut the A's down, and the Sox pulled away with a 6-1 victory.
Harrell was interviewed by Hawk Harrelson and given a beer shower after the game. Then, he was optioned back down to Triple-A. What a moment. And hopefully we will be hearing from him again. Tonight's win is a great moment in what is turning out to be a memorable summer for the White Sox. They look good right now, but it will all come down to how they fare against the Minnesota Twins. The 2010 season will be a lot like 2008, hopefully the result is the same too.
I wasn't thrilled with the Edwin Jackson trade today but then I heard people saying Daniel Hudson would not amount to anything more than a number three pitcher. If that's true, it was good to get Jackson. But I'm not sure it is. People are wrong about their prognostications all the time. Although I hope he does well, I would not like to see Hudson have a Hall of Fame career. Then today's trade, and the date, July 30, 2010, would go down as an all-time boneheaded White Sox moment instead of being remembered for Harrell's heroic victory.

White Sox a fun watch

It may a product of the lousy teams they have been playing, but the Chicago White Sox are on a roll and playing beautiful baseball. Watching today's 11-0 smashing of the Seattle Mariners was reinforcement to what we should have known before the beginning of the season: that the White Sox should win the AL Central.
Andruw Jones made the plays on defense, robbing what would be two Mariner extra base hits. He also provided a lift on offense, belting a three-run homer, albeit with the team already ahead by eight runs.
Gavin Floyd got out of jams. Him and John Danks are performing extremely well. I agree with Ozzie Guillen's idea that this team would have a chance to win it all if the playoffs started tomorrow.
Seattle may not be a good team, and they have been the losers of eight of nine games with the White Sox. But it is a relief to see the Sox take care of business in 2010. Outside of a few bad games against the Cleveland Indians early in the season, the Sox have had no trouble taking care of the teams they should beat. Playing weak NL teams like the Nationals, Pirates and Cubs is what led to the run that got them to first place. Now it's time to take care of the weaker half of the AL, and so far they have been doing a good job.
With Detroit's bad luck and injuries as of late, it appears that the AL Central will be a two-way race between the White Sox and Twins that could go down to what seems like a yearly occurrence: Game 163 to decide the AL Central. The two went down to the wire in 2008 with the Sox hanging on by a thread in that 163rd game. A similar finish could be in the works for 2010.

Stadium Tour: Target Field

MINNEAPOLIS - Last weekend I had the chance to visit Target Field, America's newest major pro sports stadium. In it's first year as the home to Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins, the stadium has been applauded as a big improvement from the Metrodome and one of the league's finest ballparks.

While it is without a doubt above average, and I would even say a top five ballpark, I wasn't overwhelmed. It didn't have much to separate itself from other new ballparks. And Lucas Oil Stadium was still more impressive.

They did a good job of highlighted past greats like Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek and Harmon Killebrew. Their fans are friendly and classy and I would say it's the most convenient park I've been to. Nice bathrooms, lots of hallway space and plenty of counters. I also loved how they have evergreen trees in the outfield and the outdoor atmosphere is great on a nice summer night in the Twin Cities.

I enjoyed my seats too. Even though I was far from the plate, I was always entertained because of the view of the Minneapolis skyline.

As usual, whenever I travel with the White Sox, they lose (1996 in Toronto the exception). This year, it was a 7-4 loss to the Twins with Gavin Floyd having a rare shaky day. The White Sox trailed by five in the ninth before scoring two off Twins close Jon Rauch and had the go-ahead run at the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out. But Chicago's two best hitters, Paul Konerko and Alex Rios, were unable to get on base and put an end a possible thrilling come from behind victory.

Convenient isn't necessarily great. I'm sure it's a clear improvement from the old dome. I'm probably being too hard on it because I was expecting it to be the best I ever saw. It wasn't, but still very, very good.

Photo: In enemy territory, I wear a Carlos Quentin jersey at Target Field in Minnesota.

Minneapolis: Friendly and fun

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.- Sometimes the things you forsee yourself enjoying the most on a trip fon't pan out and other times things you thought would be a bore turn out to be a great moment in life.
One of the events I was looking forward to most on my three-day journey to Minneapolis last weekend was a boat ride on the Mississippi River. The Minneapolis Queen departed twice on Saturday, at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. But I was not there for either one. The boat ride would never happen. The walk from downtown to Boom Island Park was much longer, hotter and exhausting than I had predicted. I gave up trying to find the boat, but five minutes after I took a seat, I heard it taking off. I could have made it had I kept going, but oh well.
Because of rain and mid-day tiredness, I decided to put my visit to the Foshay Tower observation deck off until after dinner. It turned out to be the best decision of the trip. All in one night at the Foshay, I was lucky enough to have an elevator conversation with Chicago White Sox radio broadcaster Ed Farmer; experience a strong storm on the observation deck; hear a tornado warning while at the top floor of the building; and see White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski at the hotel bar on the first floor.
None of that was part of the plan, but it turned out to be the best part.
Minneapolis was surprisingly friendly considering I was wearing either a White Sox jersey or t-shirt for most of the time walking around the city. Everyone was willing to give directions and all the trash talking was friendly. In New York, it was nasty. But Minnesota seems to be a friendlier rival of the White Sox.
Hennepin Avenue was the center of life in downtown Minneapolis. It could have very well been a street in New York. Night life, clubs, theatres, it seemed like much of what was to do in Minneapolis was right on that street, the Broadway of Minnesota.
As far as a major American city not considered a metropolis like Chicago or New York, Minneapolis was pretty cool. It was easy to navigate with the streets and avenues being system being much similar to New York. It was livlier than Cleveland or St. Louis and had a lot of major companies based there such as Accenture and TCF. It is also the home of the Mary Tyler Moore show.
I like how much support they have for their Twins. There is a statue for every year in which a Minnesota Twin was given a Gold Glove Award.
I would definitely consider another visit to the city. Possibly for the Colts-Vikings 2016 game. At that time I would like to take a tour of the Metrodome (if it is still there), finally go on the Minneapolis Queen and take a segway tour of the city.

Photo: The view from atop the Foshay Tower at night. Just minutes before a funnel cloud was spotted in the area.

My 2010 ESPY votes

I really like ESPN's idea of having a yearly sports awards show, although I do not agree with many of their nominations and how they value New York and Boston teams like its their home town and completely ignore Chicago accomplishments. (How was Jonathan Toews not a candidate for NHL player of the year?) I liked the show last night, Seth Meyers was very funny. I just wish the Blackhawks had more than one nomination and the Saints had less than six. Oh well, here is who I voted for in some of my favorite categories.

Male Athlete of the Year: Kobe Bryant (NBA)
Female Athlete of the Year: Diana Taurasi (WNBA)
Breakthrough Athlete: Stephen Strasburg (MLB)
Record breaking performance: Isner/Mahut tennis match
Upset of the Year: Yang over Woods
Game of the Year: Twins over Tigers in AL Central tiebreaker, final game at Metrodome
Moment of the Year: Landon Donovan goal for U.S. against Algeria
Team of the Year: Chicago Blackhawks
Coach of the Year: Mike Krzyzewski
MLB Player: Albert Pujols
NFL Player: Peyton Manning
NHL Player: Ryan Miller
NBA Player: Kevin Durant
Fighter: Manny Pacqiao
College Athletes of the Year: Garrett Wittels (Baseball)
Megan Hodge (Volleyball)

2010 Travel season about to begin

Outside of trips weekend trips to Indianapolis, Springfield, Northwest Indiana and Southwest Michigan, I really have not traveled anywhere in 2010. I have not left the comfort zone of the midwest.
I will still be in the midwest this weekend, but in a major city that I have yet to visit, Minneapolis. From Friday to Sunday, I will be embarking on the first road trip of the 2010 travel season.
As are nearly all of my summer road trips, a baseball game serves as the centerpiece to this weekend getaway in the real twin cities. And who would have thought that the White Sox would have been ahead of the Twins when they play at Target Field this Friday in downtown Minneapolis. When I planned this trip two months ago, it looked like Minnesota would be ahead. One month ago, it was almost certain. But an incredible 15-5 run has put the White Sox in first place, with the Tigers (1/5 game back) and the Twins (3 1/2) looking up at them.
I am looking forward to being the enemy Friday night, rooting on the White Sox against their archrivals at the newest stadium in baseball.
Staying downtown, I will also be able to take a ride on the Minneapolis Queen, go to the observation deck at the Foshay Tower and go inside the Basilica of St. Mary.
Before I leave back for Chicago on Sunday, I will spend a few hours at Mall of America in Bloomington, the largest in the country.
On the way to Minnesota, I hope to spend an hour and a half in Madison, Wisc.; seeing the University and the state capitol.
This Minnesota trip is just the first of a few weekend travel ideas I have planned for this year. A possible Washington DC trip in August and a likely visit to Philadelphia in November to see the Colts are other ideas I have in motion.

Taste of Chicago 2010

Despite living in the Chicago suburbs for a good 23 years of my life, I never made a point to visit the Taste of Chicago, the yearly festival held at the end of June in Grant Park. I have been to the Auto Show, the Air and Water Show and the Fourth of July fireworks celebration, but never the Taste. I decided that 2010 would be a good time to experience of of the city's most well known traditions.

I didn't mind the crowd at the event and I thought taking the Rock Island Metra to LaSalle Street, and walking to Grant Park from there, was very fun. I can deal with the heat too, but the event proved to be financially frustrating.

To taste some of the food from the most well-known or little-known Chicago restaurants, you need to buy tickets. You can get 12 tickets for $8. There is no deal for mass purchases either. 48 tickets would still cost $32.

The best way to taste a variety of samples is to go with the taste portion from some of the stands. Taste portions are a small sample of one of their favorites that cost 3 or 4 tickets.

I began with a taste portion of bruschetta from Lou Malanati's stand. That was the best idea I had all day. They gave you a great piece of bread covered with tasty tomatoes. That was well worth the three tickets.

Tasting a hot dog with one sport pepper from Gold Coast Dogs seemed to be a waste of seven tickets. The dog was good, but the price seemed to be too high.

The biggest ripoff came from Harold's Chicken, who only gave me one small hush puppy and a small piece of chicken that was more bone than meat for four tickets.

Some of the pizza slices I tried were pretty small for four tickets too. I was glad to see the Original Rainbow Cone as the most popular ice cream place there.

There were two live bands on hand as well.

Going to the taste can also be a dangerous thing, as their were a few stabbings on State Street the past two days.

I like the idea of the Taste and Ocean Spray and Crush did a great job giving out free samples of soda. I wouldn't make it a yearly event, but I could see myself going back sometime.