IHSA hits homerun with random drug testing

By Andrew Dreischarf The Independent

It was late Monday, Jan. 14, when it was announced that the Illinois High School Association had voted to start random drug testing for all high school athletes in fall 2008. I was in my bed trying to get some sleep when I heard the report on the radio. I thought to myself, “Hey, this time the IHSA got it right.”
Illinois becomes the fourth state along with New Jersey, Florida and Texas, to use random drug testing during the post season of every sport at every class level. The idea is to catch those who are cheating and to keep sports more fair and clean.
When there are so many questionable things being thrown around about the IHSA — signing with a company from Wisconsin to be the only company that can take official photos, and therefore, be the only ones who can reprint photos, or the current system that uses a multiplier for smaller high schools when it comes to the post season— the IHSA has hit a homerun with the random drug testing.
Sports organizations have been under pressure for years about their sport being clean. While being 100 perfcent clean is probably never going to be a reality since the drug makers will always be one step ahead of the testers, this will help.
With the recent release of the Mitchell Report in baseball, the issue of athletes using performance-enhancing drugs has been thrust back into the spotlight. Unfortunately, steroid use happens at the high school level. It would be naïve to think otherwise. I’m sure it’s not as rampant as it is at the professional sports level, but it does happen.
Sports are supposed to be fun. I will never say sports are fair or are supposed to be fair. They aren’t, and they never will be. But they should be fun. How fun is it if the guy on the other side is on drugs? I’d be scared, for example, if I knew the guy I was supposed to block in football was all ’roided up. Sports lose their fun when cheating is involved. Drugs are cheating. Plain and simple. Anytime you use something to get a competitive edge that isn’t legal, it’s cheating. Work out all you want, but the second you take a drug to aid that, it’s cheating.
The data from studies on what steroids do to the body should be enough motivation to sway anyone from using now, but unfortunately, it doesn’t. Alarmingly, more and more young athletes abuse performance-enhancing drugs to try and get a competitive advantage.
The risks and consequences of using anabolic steroids far outweigh the benefits. Sadly, it might take until players from baseball’s “steroid era” start experiencing health problems from their abuse before this generation sees what steroids can do to someone.
There’s a reason the NFL has had strict drug testing for awhile. It keeps the game clean and makes it better. Baseball missed the boat, and it seems that they are trying to make up for lost time by now conducting investigations and trying to find those who were cheating. The MLB didn’t seem to have a problem, nor did anyone really, when Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa were shattering homerun records. No one batted an eye. Now that baseball has many fans back, they’re trying to make things right in their eyes. You can’t change the past. The only way to fix the future is to fix the present.
High school sports are much simpler and purer. The decision to randomly test student-athletes in Illinois during regionals, sectionals and championships is a great start. Taking out athletes on drugs makes the game better for the athletes who are doing it right and playing fairly. It also makes sports at the high school level safer. It’s not fair when a baseball player has been taking steroids to get a competitive edge. It’s not fair to the school, the team and even the athlete. Athletes should be getting by on hard work and natural talent. Not with a needle in their body.
The random drug testing is fair since every post-season player will be eligible to be tested. If they aren’t cheating, there shouldn’t be anything to hide. Tests will be looking for anabolic steroids, but will also find any illegal drug. The message from the IHSA is clear: play the game, but do it right.
While some oppose the idea of drug testing at the high school level because of privacy issues, I need to ask “Why?” Unless athletes are cheating, they have nothing to hide. The athletes who are playing clean should be proud that they are representing their school, team and selves well. I have so much respect for the kids who go out there and try their hardest even though they might not be the best than I ever will for an athlete who is using drugs to get ahead. They’re cheating so many people if they’re using steroids.
As a baseball fan, I am hurt to find out that so many players I cheered for growing up appear to be cheaters. It stinks. And while I feel baseball has no one to blame but itself because it didn’t have steroids, HGH, and other things named as illegal in it’s collective bargaining agreement, and it didn’t test for drugs, and it didn’t do anything when people said steroids were being used, the players should take some blame as well.
The fact that it got to the point where players had to cheat to get ahead is sad. It’s even sadder now when you think about all the players who got passed over or lost a job to someone who was cheating.
A lot of people are feeling robbed and betrayed. But instead of trying to go back and change history, the past should be used as a learning tool for the future. The future is what the IHSA is looking at. I applaud them for it. The future of high school sports in Illinois will continue to thrive and only get better by sports staying clean to the best of the current ability of testing. The athletes who are doing what’s right will reap the benefits. They will play their games safer, and it will be fun. There will be no worries about someone who is cheating getting an upper hand. Hopefully, this also motivates any athlete who is abusing drugs to stop before it’s too late.

‘The Bears are close,’ but to what?

By ANDREW DREISCHARF The Independent

“The Bears are close,” said Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo this past week.
I ask: Close to what?
I feel saddened and find it hard to believe that this Bears team was in the Super Bowl just 11 months ago. I sat at home this weekend watching the playoffs and thinking to myself: Why aren’t the Bears here? The answer is pretty clear. The Bears have so many holes going into the 2008 season that it would be like trying to patch a crack in the Hoover Dam with spackle.
For a season that was supposed to be better than last, the anti-climatic loss to the Colts in Super Bowl XLI was bad enough. Sitting through the 2007 season was gut-wrenching. Not that much changed from February to September of 2007, but the results and regression of the club were some of the hardest things I can remember.
Injuries were the main culprits that did the Bears in this season. In a 16-game season, you’re not going to survive with many of your key players out with injuries. Mike Brown was lost in the first game, and it seems the defense as a whole never recovered. Tommie Harris’ knee continues to be an issue. After having offseason surgery, he came back in 2007, but he still seemed to be hurt. He went from an incredibly explosive defensive tackle to a player who was flagged multiple times for false starts and seemed to be a step behind everyone else.
Nathan Vasher, a top cover cornerback missed 10 games with a nagging groin injury. Even when he returned, it was clear he was nowhere near 100 percent and was placed on the injured reserve list soon after. When he returned against the Minnesota Vikings in week 14, he intercepted a pass and helped Brian Urlacher make one as he threw a block on wide receiver Robert Ferguson. With Brown and Vasher missing most of the season, the Bears’ secondary unit seemed to suffer the most as this once- top defense found itself at the bottom of most statistical categories.
Even defensive captain and fan favorite Urlacher was hurt this season. An arthritic back impeded Urlacher’s play for a good part of the season. It was only the last few games of the season that he seemed to look like his old self.
Capping off all the injuries was the loss of two offensive starters-running back Cedric Benson and quarterback Rex Grossman. A broken fibula knocked out Benson, and another leg injury sidelined Grossman for the season just when both players finally started to look good.
However, injuries were not the only cause for the lackluster outcome of 2007.
The three-headed monster known as the Chicago Bears quarterback controversy once again reared its ugly head in 2007. Grossman started the season poorly only to be replaced by Brian Griese. Once Griese struggled, Grossman was given the starting nod back before getting hurt and being replaced by Kyle Orton for the remainder of the season. It was not only a season of “good Rex, bad Rex,” but it also applied to Griese, who seemed lights out one game and terrible the next.
Things will only be more complicated this offseason as Grossman is an unrestricted free agent, and the Bears hold the No. 14 pick in the April draft. Many big names will be available in the draft, but in recent years many of the quarterbacks who are great in college don’t have games that translate well to the NFL-style of play. There also will be quite a few big-name quarterbacks available via free agency, including Cleveland’s Derek Anderson. He had a career year of sorts for the first half of 2007, before falling back to earth. Buyer beware is what I say. A player who has a standout contract year often regresses back to mediocrity after signing a large contract.
Unfortunately, the quarterback position isn’t even close to being the Bears’ top problem. Keep in mind that when the defense is healthy, Grossman and Orton have both made it to the playoffs just fine.
The biggest issue in 2007 seemed to be the overnight aging process of the offensive line. The oldest in the NFL seemed ancient this season. Olin Kreutz, like Urlacher, failed to make the Pro Bowl for the first time in years. The line couldn’t block for either quarterback or the running game. Like an overused turnstile on the subway, the Bears’ offensive line let defensive linemen through to the unsuspecting player in the backfield. A 35-year-old Ruben Brown and a 34-year-old Fred Miller clearly showed their age. Rookie Josh Beekman never cracked the active roster as he struggled in practice. Kreutz and John Tait seemed to be the only ones trying, and at times both appeared sluggish and tired from carrying the weight of their teammates.
The trade of running back Thomas Jones to the New York Jets didn’t help matters.
Grossman, linebacker Lance Briggs, special teams standout Brendon Ayanbadejo and speedy wide receiver Bernard Berrian are all unrestricted free agents. All four could be gone at the drop of a hat to the highest bidder.
Angelo and head coach Lovie Smith always seem to say the same things to the media: everything is fine, and we’re comfortable with the team we have. How can they be comfortable with a team that missed the playoffs after making the Super Bowl the season before and every team in their division has only gotten better?
I say it’s time to finally make a splash in the offseason. Spend the money it takes to make the Bears an elite team, or at least try to. The Bears are notoriously thrifty for being one of the wealthiest and most followed teams in the NFL. Doesn’t this loyal fan base deserve better? Re-sign those key players. Go after the top free agents and do not settle for those on the second tier because they’re cheaper. Trade up in the draft to get your man instead of trading down and settling for what’s available to save some money.
You may think we’re close to a Super Bowl, but unless things change soon, I say we’re closer to having the top draft pick. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Expand sport spectating options

by Andrew Dreischarf

With the new year, many people are making changes. Some try to save money, others will try to lose weight and some look to try new things. As a sports fan, I say try attending new sporting events.
Since starting the job of sports editor, I have attended sports I never had before and I’ve enjoyed them all. I’d be lying if I said that I was an avid follower of volleyball, golf, swimming and wrestling before working at The Independent. After attending each of these sports about two or three times, I started to understand them and appreciate them. The athletes are exceptional.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that people attend the boys varsity games at a much higher frequency than the girls games. I’d like to see people give the girls teams a chance, too, in 2008. I think you’ll like what you see. For example, both the Marian Central Catholic High School and Woodstock High School girls basketball teams are really worth watching in person. Seeing good basketball played should make instant fans. I know people traditionally attend boys games, and that’s awesome. All I’m saying is give the girls games a try, too.
On another front, while I’m trying to get you to check out new sports and the girls teams, check out the sub-varsity teams as well. These athletes work just as hard or harder than the varsity, and some are quite good. If possible, before you head out to that next varsity game at MC or WHS go a little earlier and check out the game that precedes it.
This doesn’t just apply to high school sports either. In 2008, give teams outside of Woodstock a chance if possible. Surprisingly, the hottest sports ticket in Chicago at the moment is for the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL. Yes, you read that correctly.
The team no one seems to have paid attention to for the last 15 years is the most exciting to watch and attend at this time. So go down to the United Center and check out hockey. If you don’t need to be right behind the glass of the rink, there are some pretty decent seats for not a lot of money. On most game nights, students with a valid student ID can get in for just $8. Sure, you’re at the top of the arena, but at the United Center, there isn’t a bad seat. This is how I started going to hockey games.
To me, hockey was always the hardest sport to follow on television. However, once I started attending games, I not only was able to stick with the action in person, but I started to understand the game better. That’s the case for sports like volleyball and wrestling, as well. By actually attending these sports, you start to get a feel and a better understanding for them. Also, if you have a question, ask a fan. More often than not, they’ll be very helpful. They usually are just happy to help a potential fan understand the sport as well.
For the first time in many years, tickets for the Chicago Bulls are available through means other than brokers and Ebay due to the team’s poor start. So if you’ve never experienced an NBA game in person, 2008 might be the best chance to go and experience the atmosphere of a pro basketball game. Despite the Bulls not having the best team this season, the games are still very fun to attend, and you can do what many people in attendance at NBA games do, go to a game and watch the visiting superstar. I’m guilty of this. I’ve gone to Milwaukee Bucks games quite a few times to see either the Bulls or to see Kobe Bryant or LeBron James.
Then there’s always baseball. Whether you are a Cubs, White Sox or even Brewers fan, a day at the ballpark is always a good time. Perhaps, if you’ve never gone to a baseball game, now is the best time to give that a shot. Tickets can be hard to get at times, but, with each team having 81 home games, the chances are a little better. I try to go to games for the Cubs, White Sox and Brewers every summer. Each team’s stadium is a different atmosphere, but all are great. With the Cubs you have Wrigley Field, and all the fun places surrounding it.
With the White Sox you have a wonderfully revamped US Cellular Field and tailgating is allowed before the game, and, with the Brewers, you have Miller Park and tailgating, as well. To me, Miller Park is worth the trip alone. It’s one of the best newer facilities in all of sports. It’s also one of the cheapest tickets, if you attend a non-marquee game. Sorry fellow Cub fans, a trip north of the state line will cost quite a bit because your eam commands higher pricing.
That brings us to the Bears. Football, as I’ve noticed in Woodstock, is loved by many people. The high school games are always packed full of fans.
If you can snag some Bears tickets in 2008, by all means, please go. It’s an amazing time. However, these tickets are the hardest to come by. I myself haven’t gone to a game in a few seasons. There’s nothing like more than 60,000 football fans going crazy for their favorite team.
In 2008, if you can, please try new things, especially sporting events that you might not usually attend. Please try them at all levels as well. Unlike the pro teams, it doesn’t cost a lot to see high school games, and it’s a lot of fun. The wonderful student athletes in the area deserve your support. I hope to see you out there in 2008.