ChimpersCage

This weekend I decided to follow some more Redbird Volleyball. It was early September since I had seen the Redbirds play and The Bradley Braves and Northern Iowa Panthers were in town. Friday night, a larger than I expected crowd filtered into Redbird Arena. Bradley is always a favorite since they are a mere 40 miles away making them a rival at any sport. Their volleyball team has had some challenges the last few years, this year being no exception. A quick scan of the roster shows a lot of their on court staff at 5'5" or less. Not that shorter people can't play great volleyball, but it does leave the front line a bit challenged. Still the Braves managed to at least show that they were on the court. The Redbirds took the match in 3 sets. Kasey Mollerus received an award before play started for breaking the Redbirds record for most digs. She truly is one of the best I've seen. Rarely is she faked out by an opponent or out of position. Congrats Kasey! 20091009 ...

Well, the first really rainy night I've spent shooting football this season. Not really a downpour, more of a nuisance rain. The night went the way of the West Wildcats who left the Tigers with little more than a goose egg by the end with a score of 41-0. There were plenty of touchdowns and great runs, but my highlight of the night goes to the West kicker who put several kickoff out of the end zone and one of them through the uprights. What a trick. I haven't seen anyone at any level do that for a long long time. I'm sure the 15 mph wind didn't hurt, it was mostly at his back but was blowing a little left to right as well. At the other end of the field, he drove it to the 7 yard line. Congrats to the Wildcats. Get ready, the Raiders approach. 20091002 Urbana v West - Images by Alan Look

The weekends have certainly been busy in Bloomington, Normal and McLean County with some classic matchups. Last weekend, Normal Community entertained Normal Community West on the gridiron. It never seems to matter who is ranked where when any of the intercity teams meet one of the others, this game was no different. Most gave NCHS Ironmen the nod, and they did eventually win over the Wildcats of NCWHS. The Cats fought had and kept the score tied till past the halfway point. Not the run away game that some expected. 20090925 NCWHS v NCHS - Images by Alan Look On Saturday there was so much going on something had to be left out. The day started at intercity vollyball. Several good match ups with no clear winner. The torunament ended up with 3 teams 3 and 1. I came away thinking that Central Catholic had some of the best fundamentals, but the worst luck. They seemed to miss the critical poinst when needed the most. Several galleries from the intercity matches. Go here: http://...