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THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2022
SPORTS From the Bleachers COLUMN BY KURT MARGGRAF IN CHICAGO
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o you ever wonder about what little difference there is between rooting for your team and rooting against their rivals? When I was a boy, I cheered for the Cubs to win every game, and for the White Sox to lose every game. Somewhere along the way, I realized the folly of my thinking and changed the team I rooted against to the Saint Louis Cardinals. This made so much more sense because the teams actually played each other multiple times and competed for the championship in the same division of the same league. The fact that the Cardinals almost always beat the Cubs made it so much more satisfying when the Cubs finally started to improve and actually, on occasion, beat the Cardinals. Football rivalries seem to be even more intense. Here in Chicago, Bears fans have hated the Green Bay Packers, and their fans, forever. With rare exception, Packer quarterbacks Bart Starr, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rogers have dominated the Bears for decades. Lately, Rogers has been very vocal about his team’s success against the Bears, so when former Bear kicker Robbie Gold kicked a field goal to knock the Packers out of the playoffs, Bear fans celebrated almost as hard as they would have if the Bears had won the game. My phone lit up when the ball went through the uprights and lit up even brighter when Gold and San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (a Chicago-area nativ )
were overheard saying “BLEEP the Packers,” during the teams on-field celebration, becoming Bear legends. This weekend featured some of the finest football games I’ve ever witnessed. There were four divisional playoff games and each one seemed better than the one before. Saturday’s first game featured the Bengals and the Titans. The Bengals won on a field goal with no time remaining on the clock. Saturday night was the aforementioned 49er’s victory over the Packers. Sunday’s first game had the Rams knock off Tom Brady and the Buccaneers on, you guessed it, a last second field goal. Three games, three last second field goals. What could the Chiefs and the Bills do to match the excitement? Well, not only did they match it, they made the other three games almost seem like walks in the park. This game was one of the finest duels in the history of the NFL. Back and forth they went and twenty five points were scored in the last 114 seconds. The lead changed hands three times but when time ran out they needed overtime to settle the score. The Chiefs won the coin toss and marched down the field to cap off an unbelievable victory. What a football weekend! William Shakespeare said, “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” Talk to you next week. Peace, love, and happiness.
I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end. — Larry Bird
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Former Bison coach likes improvements
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BY STAN MADDUX
former New Buffalo basketball coach likes the improvements in his old stomping grounds, where he once lit up the high school scoreboard before starring in college. Dan Palombizio stopped by the Michigan City High School gymnasium Jan. 19, while the finishing touches were being made to the new hard plastic bleachers in the 5,000-seat capacity facility nicknamed “The Wolves Den.” Wolves is the nickname of the athletic teams at the school. “It looks awesome. It’s great. It’s great for the community and everything,” Palombizio said. The old metal bleachers in the gym since the school was constructed in 1971 were having mechanical problems when they had to be pulled out for events and later folded back in. Kohn said the new $2.1 million bleachers are also safer for people attending events because they have railings in every aisle, which the old bleachers did not have, she said. Other than the new bleachers, Palombizio said the gym looks about the same as it did in his playing days capped in 1981 when he was named Mr. Basketball in the state. He finished his high school career as the ninth all-time leading scorer in Indiana basketball history. Palombizio played two years at Purdue University. After transferring to Ball State
University, he was third in the nation in college, with scoring averaging 26 points per game. The bruising sharp shooting 6’ 8” forward averaged just over 20 points a game in his final collegiate season. Palombizio was drafted ninth in the ninth round by the Philadelphia 76’ers and then played professionally overseas in countries like Spain, Italy and Portugal. His visit to the gym was like going back in time for Palombizio, who looks like he can still dunk the basketball. “I got a lot of fond memories here,” he said. Palombizio, who lives in Chesterton, was head varsity basketball coach in New Buffalo for two seasons beginning in 2005.
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is son, Daniel, starred on the teams, which were loaded with other talented players like Matt Parker, Troy Robertson and Josh Zimmerman. Home games saw a huge increase in attendance because of the dazzling play of the teams which notched a lot of blow out victories and crowd pleasing dunks. Palombizio went on to become recreation director at Westville Correctional Center and owns Absolute Apparel & Promotions, which specializes in screen print and embroidery for team uniforms and other products.
