Touching all the bases, including a turn-back-the-clock moment regarding football and a place that, for a short time, served as home.
Rashaan Melvin: According to sportsmediawatch.com, somewhere in excess of 20 million people were tuned in to watch last Sunday’s NFL game between New England and the New York Giants.
That’s a lot of eyeballs seeing the same thing: Giants quarterback Eli Manning picking on Patriots reserve defensive back and Waukegan graduate Rashaan Melvin (No. 24) during a late drive that put the G-Men ahead 26-24 in a game they managed to lose 27-26.
Melvin getting picked on while performing on the biggest of stages brought back memories of the NFL playoff game last January when Melvin was a defensive back with the Baltimore Ravens and he was picked on and picked apart by New England quarterback Tom Brady.
Now, Melvin’s with the Patriots, and his play down the stretch against the Giants certainly was not up to the Patriots’ standards.
More Top Picks Photochromic Vs Tinted Lenses For Light Sensitivity
Jereme Richmond: The NBA Development League’s Delaware 87ers put the former Waukegan star on waivers, which means he’s out of the league for now, even though he could get picked up and signed by any of the league’s teams.
In the D-League, the list of transactions for players getting cut, re-signed, traded or called up to an NBA team is long, so perhaps Richmond will land with another team.
Vernon Hills girls basketball: In 2012 and 2013, the sensational trio of center Meri Bennett-Swanson, guard Lauren Webb and guard Sydney Smith put the Cougars on the state map in girls basketball with back-to-back second-place state finishes in Class 3A.
Since then, all three high school stars headed off to play on the NCAA Division I level, and their results are the definition of the phrase “mixed bag.”
Smith was a sophomore and junior the two years that Vernon Hills played for the state title.
She signed with Vermont and last year, as a freshman, was by far the best player on a 5-21 team. She led Vermont in scoring (13.2 points), shooting 41 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3-point range.
So far this season, Vermont is 1-1, and Smith is again a starter.
Webb also was a sophomore and junior the years Vernon Hills came within one win of a state title.
Her senior year at Vernon Hills was almost a complete loss due to a foot injury. She signed with Bowling Green of the Mid-American Conference. But as a freshman last year, her season lasted just seven games before she went down with an ACL injury.
This year, Webb is not playing at Bowling Green.
Bennett-Swanson helped lead the Cougars to state her junior and seniors years, and then the 6-foot-3 center went to play at DePaul.
The problem is that just as Bennett-Swanson was entering college as a back-to-the-basket post player, the college game evolved away from back-to-the-basket post players.
Centers in the women’s game are now 6-3 slashers who face the basket and power their way to the bucket.
In addition, DePaul plays fast. Last year, it was the second-highest scoring team in the nation, trailing only national champion Connecticut.
That fun-and-gun style is not ideal for a true center, and Bennett-Swanson’s playing time at DePaul has not reflected her great career at Vernon Hills.
She was an end-of-the-bench player as a freshman, was redshirted last year and has played sparingly so far this season for DePaul.
There’s no place like home: On Nov. 28— barring a result Saturday at Bradley-Bourbonnais that makes no sense — Libertyville will be playing at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb for the Class 7A state title.
Next week’s game will be played at NIU’s Huskie Stadium, within view of the Stevenson Towers South dormitory on campus.
For two semesters one year, back in the day before laptops and iPads existed, a room in that dorm served as headquarters for a team pinochle card tournament six nights a week (all but Saturdays) from midnight until 7 a.m.
Which is the reason that, for that one year, the fifth-floor GPA for all classes taken that started at 1 p.m. was 3.2, and the grade for all classes that started at 8 a.m. was “W.”
For withdraw.
[email protected] More Top Picks Best Weighted Hoodies For Autism
Twitter @JeffBonato