Blogs by Hof

A sports team's mascot serves many functions. At the core, they all serve to unite a group together under one common name, from pee wee baseball to professional teams.  In the 1930s and 1940s, high schools across the country began picking up nicknames for their teams. At the time, many simply replicated a college or professional mascot.  The best high school mascots, though, came from local or historical significance. These are the most memorable. They're more likely to make you scratch your head and wonder, "Why in the world would a team name themselves the Irrigators?" (Newell High School, SD - a farming community). In Illinois, there's a wide variety of memorable mascots, which is a staple of many Midwestern small towns, especially.  Roxana High School Shells athletic facilities - Copyright roxanashells.com, 2023 First, the statistics I spent over a year researching and compiling a spreadsheet of every high school in the country . Here are some of the statistic...

Copyright SB Live Sports, 2023 Thanksgiving week is a prominent time in Illinois high school sports. The football state championships provide closure on the seasons for the top programs in the state, girls basketball is in its second week of action, and it's the first glimpse at how boys basketball teams will fare as the season progresses. Beyond the official scorebook, there's another rapidly changing stat that goes underappreciated in boys basketball: Land on the map. The 2023-24 @IHSA_IL Boys Basketball season tips off TOMORROW! Here are the opening Voronoi maps for each class ahead of Day 1. (1/2) - @NestoHoops pic.twitter.com/e3nCLhy2sa — HSLogos (@hslogoscom) November 19, 2023 The Voronoi Map Who is the closest undefeated basketball team to your county? That's the idea behind the IHSA Boys Basketball Voronoi Map, developed by WIU student Levi Maierhofer and shared on [at]hslogoscom on X (Twitter).  Inspired by the work of Joey Loose , who runs a similar map for NCA...

Copyright The State Journal-Register, 2023 It's one thing to just talk about splitting up public and private postseasons in the IHSA. It's another thing to see what it actually could look like, especially in football. With the rise of 8-man, the advantaged dominance of private schools, and the slow decline of small public schools in 11-man football, now is as good a time as ever to re-evaluate the way the IHSA football postseason is held. 8-Man Rising In 2023, the Illinois 8-Man Football Association (I8FA) consisted of 28 schools competing for 16 playoff spots in a single class. The number of schools is set to grow next year, with at least one team (West Carroll in Savanna) announcing its move to 8-man. Copyright Shaw Local, 2023 8-man football has become a popular option for schools with small enrollments who want to keep playing football but don't have the manpower to continue fielding 11-man teams. It's been a savior for historically strong programs such as Milledge...

Earlier this week, the IHSA released its full list of 23 proposals for the 2023-2024 year.  These proposals range from a reduction in summer contact days to an adoption of a district format for football. Copyright IHSA, 2023 A couple of these proposals jumped off the page at me, and none stirred up more opinions than Proposal 13, which would remove the private school enrollment multiplier and replace it "with enrollments of non-boundary schools to be the average enrollment of all public/boundary high schools that are above that school’s enrollment and within a 30-mile radius of the school." Who it helps... Proposal 13 was submitted by Williamsville High School's Adam Eucker on behalf of the entire Sangamo Conference. This conference is made up of ten Central Illinois public high schools, with enrollments between 300 and 600.  Copyright The State Journal-Register, 2023 The Sangamo is made of 1A and 2A teams in sports with the 4-class system and mostly 2A and 3A teams in f...

Copyright IHSA, 2022 A couple weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast about high school football. The hosts began with developments on an investigation into the Maine South High School football program, which allegedly brought in players from nearby communities outside of their district to play for the Hawks.  Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Ill., hosts over 2,300 students within an area of about 10 square miles butted up against the northwest side of Chicago. The team advanced to the 8A Quarterfinals in 2022, but had all their wins stripped after the season due to their alleged cheating. Copyright Chicago Sun-Times, 2023 The next topic on the podcast was about the results of games in the CCL/ESCC, a super-conference of 24 Chicagoland private school football programs, most of which make impressive runs into the playoffs each year. These schools, ranging from 300 students to 3,000 students, have the opportunity to bring in student-athletes from a 30-mile radius, amounting to...

Copyright Pixar Post, 2023   To infinity... and to England... and Andy's room... and beyond! On Sunday, October 1, the NFL charted new territory by playing its first "Sunday Funday" game from the floor of a Pixar character's bedroom: Andy's from Toy Story.  The same game was played in England, but that grandeur was not nearly as impressive as watching the same players in real-time as Disney-style characters. Copyright Jacksonville Jaguars, 2023 As a fan of football, Disney, Pixar, graphic design, and broadcasting, it was astounding to see the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Atlanta Falcons portrayed as animated characters, complete with helmets, pads, numbers, names, etc.  The players weren't alone: the play-by-play, color commentary, and sideline reporters were also animated in real-time. The game was streamed on Disney+. Copyright  Good Morning America,  2023 The game was put together to appeal to fans of all ages, with regular football analysis for the regular...

Copyright USA Today Images / Sports Illustrated 2023 Georgia Bulldogs over UT-Martin, 48-7. Ole Miss Rebels over Mercer, 73-7 Oregon Ducks over Portland State, 81-7 Georgia, Ole Miss, and Oregon are all Top 25 teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The Bulldogs were crowned National Champions for the 2022-2023 season.  So why in the world are they playing little Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams for an easy win, and why are FCS teams lying down to be steamrolled by perennial powerhouses? Wouldn't it be more beneficial for both to stay within their leagues so they can have a better representation come playoff time? Money For small schools like UT-Martin, Mercer, and Portland State, the reasons for the above questions are simple: money, money, and more money. For one or two easy wins and to find their rhythm, FBS schools will pay FCS to play them on the large school's home field. According to an article on Redshirt Sports , Tarleton State in Texas took o...