The Illinois High School Association held a meeting on Zoom Monday afternoon with 372 athletic directors from the Illinois Athletic Directors Association (There are more than 800 high schools in the IHSA). During the Zoom call the ADs were polled on if they would play basketball this winter,
In the poll just 9% said they would play basketball as scheduled, 29% said no and another 62% were unsure.
One AD who voted no in Monday’s poll said it was because of the liability of putting too many people in harm’s way.
The Chicago Public League, which has 104 high schools that play basketball, announced last Thursday that it would postpone basketball to the spring, siding with Governor Pritzker and the IDPH. Hopefully we will have more information and decisions made in the coming weeks.
Last night The Catholic Diocese of Peoria sent a letter to their school administrations and addressed the basketball issue, noting that Diocese member high school teams will not be permitted to play in the IHSA’s winter season. In the letter it does include Marquette Academy and St. Bede Academy in Peru. The Diocese stated This decision is based primarily on the fact that the Illinois Department of Health has recently released guidelines which raised basketball to a high level risk of potential COVID exposure. Nothing official has been released yet by Marquette or St Bede Academy.
Multiple members of the Cubs and White Sox are up for MLB Awards. Cubs ace Yu Darvish is a finalist for the National League Cy Young Award, while manager David Ross is one of three finalists for the NL Manager of the Year Award. On the South Side, José Abreu is an AL MVP finalist for the first time in his seven-year career with the Sox, and Luis Robert is up for the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Former White Sox manager Rick Renteria was named a finalist for the AL Manager of the Year despite being let go by the club ten days after the team was eliminated by Oakland in the AL Wild Card Series. Renteria was replaced by Tony La Russa last week.
The NFL is suspending Bears receiver Javon Wims two games for punching Saints safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson during Sunday’s game in Chicago.
The Giants missed a two-point try with 28 seconds left as the Buccaneers held on for a 25-23 win at MetLife Stadium on Monday Night Football.
And Today is the Trade Deadline for the NFL. It will be the last opportunity for teams to make deals with each other before the end of the season.