2007-2008: The best of times

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The critics, cynics and other non-fans out there will be happy critics, cynics and non-fans today.

They are the ones who have long-maintained that the next original thought that materializes in this corner of your local newspaper will be the FIRST original thought that materializes in this corner of your local newspaper.

Well, today, they all can smile broadly, as they add this effort to their healthy stack of reasons why the suits at this publication should send the proud owner of a rusted-out, '89 Toyota packing.

Or at least ship him down to the minor leagues which, in this business, are newspapers that come out just once a week.

To wit: Today's topic is not new/original. The idea for this came directly as a result of watching a TV show on cable channel 37 that counted down the top something-or-other in the world of sports.

Watching that show triggered the thought of counting down the top local sports moments in the now-concluded 2007-2008 school year.

In other words, the idea was "borrowed."

Only thing is, instead of counting down the a Top 10 list, we've only got to go with a Top 3, because these three moments from this past school year provided memories that will last a lifetime.

And so here they are ... in chronological order:

*  1) Saturday, Sept. 2, 2007 -- Waukegan High's football team defeated Mundelein 19-7 in a non-conference game.

There was a moment midway through the fourth quarter of that game in which it became obvious to everybody -- players, coaches and fans -- on hand at Weiss Field that Waukegan was the better team and that Waukegan was going to win.

When that moment occurred, Bulldog coach Pat Jennings, the third-year coach -- whose body of work up to that game included 16 losses and three wins over Little Sisters of the Poor-types -- became the happiest these eyes ever seen a coach in 20 years in this biz.

That win was the statement game that proved that Waukegan's football program had arrived, and he wanted every person in the stadium know it.

It was one of those Hallmark moments where you've seen a coach and his players grow from laughing stock to competitive to winners in front of your very eyes.

The only thing that will match that moment will be the game this October when a Bulldog victory clinches a spot in the IHSA Class 8A playoffs.

*   2) Monday, Feb. 11, 2008 -- Lakes High's girls basketball team wiped out St. Scholastica of Chicago 70-21 to break a state-record 84-game losing streak and win a girls basketball game for the first time in the school's three-year history.

For the record, the guy writing these words and Lakes High's best player -- senior forward Mandy Schellinger spent the 2007-2008 season carrying a love-hate relationship.

That is, I loved the intensity she brought to each basketball game, despite being a part of each of those 84 consecutive losses. And she hated the fact that our paper made such an issue of the losing streak as it approached and then passed the old state mark for futility.

Anyway, on that night, there was a moment midway through the second quarter when Lakes went on a 21-point run to blow the game open.

St. Scholastica was forced to take a timeout at that point to regroup, and when the Eagles players went to their bench to gather during the break, they knew that this was their night and that were certain to taste victory for the first time.

The grin on Mandy's face at the moment when she realized victory was assured was -- as they say in the commercial -- priceless.

You cannot put a value on a moment like that. You had to be there ... and thankfully, that was the case.

*   3) Friday, March 14,2008 -- Zion-Benton High stuns Evanston 54-51 in the semifinals of the IHSA Class 4A state boys basketball tournament when Ronald Steward banked home a 45-foot shot at the buzzer.

You've all seen the shot, either on TV or on YouTube on the internet.

But this is what you DIDN'T see when that shot went in.

Over here in this tiny corner of the newspaper office, the celebration of the Zee-Bee win and miracle shot matched and may have surpassed what was going on in the Zee-Bee student-fan cheering section in the arena in Peoria.

And what was extraordinary was that it wasn't just the sports guys high-fiving.

The NEWS-side people were equally swept away by the moment and were very much a part of the revelry.

It was the first and only time in 20 years that news-side workers were emotionally into something happening that involved local sports.

And that, more than anything else, served to illustrate in this corner of the world just how great the impact Zion-Benton's near-title run had on the Lake County community.

And to think we're going to get to do it all again next March!