Sports Column | Les Winkeler: The Grinch stole holiday basketball tournaments - The Southern

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Sports Column | Les Winkeler: The Grinch stole holiday basketball tournaments - The Southern

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The Grinch is alive and well.

And, he’s expanded his range. When he left Mount Crumpit, the Grinch bypassed Whoville and headed toward Carbondale, Sesser-Valier, Pinckneyville, Benton, Eldorado, Centralia, Breese, Mascoutah and Collinsville.

It’s not just Cindy Lou Who’s roast beast and Christmas tree in the Grinch’s sights in 2020. This year, he’s stealing basketballs, front row tickets, the amazing ham and cheese sandwiches from the Sesser-Valier hospitality room and even the comforting aroma of popcorn that permeates Eldorado’s Duff-Kingston Gym during holiday tournament time.

The Grinch, of course, is COVID-19.

And, the virus is robbing basketball fans of one of the great holiday traditions. For some of us Christmas basketball is as much a part of Christmas as “It’s a Wonderful Life”, egg nog, Secret Santa, and, yes, even, the Grinch.

My coverage of holiday tournaments has been all over the map for the last 50 years. In the early days, I’d watch every game of the Mater Dei Holiday Tournament. I’d essentially live in the gym from the first 9 a.m. game to the championship game four days later.

There were years I stayed at my parents’ home and commuted between Breese, Centralia and the Freeburg-Columbia tournament, subsisting on pizza, chicken wings, popcorn and Ski.

Covering games at old Trout Gym in Centralia was particularly memorable. Trout Gym was ripped right out of Hoosiers. It was like stepping back into history.

However, while the visual aesthetics were awesome, it wasn’t a particularly comfortable place to work. Press row was located directly above the boiler. It was like working in a sauna. On the other hand, it was easy to burn off excess calories from the amazing hospitality room.

Some of the most memorable nights were spent covering the Eldorado Holiday Tournament championship game. The finale was always scheduled for 9 p.m., but the game rarely started on time. That made making the 11 p.m. deadline challenging to say the least.

The solution?

Speak to both coaches prior to the game. Tell them if they won to expect someone to tap them on the shoulder during the post-game celebration and stick a tape recorder in their face for a quick quote. At halftime, I’d write a play-by-play featuring first half highlights.

When the game was over, I’d type in the final score, bolt to the floor for a quick quote and hit “Send.” Frequently, it would be 10:59 p.m. before the story magically wound its way electronically to the sports copy editor.

Talk about adrenaline. But, we never failed to get the championship story in the paper.

There are plenty less stressful memories as well.

I always enjoyed watching afternoon session games in nearly empty gyms, listening to the byplay between coaches and officials, or overhearing some of the hilarious things coaches said to their players. And, holiday tournaments were always an excellent opportunity to build relationships with coaches who were in the stands scouting future opponents.

Granted, the days could get long, the bleacher seats seemed to get harder every year, and the games did tend to run together after a while. But, holiday tournaments gave writers, and fans, the opportunity to see lots of teams in a compressed period of time, with minimal travel.

The tournaments will be missed. But, as is the case in the story of the Grinch, we have to realize that this theft is not permanent. The tournaments will be back. Traditions will be renewed. And, perhaps this gives us all an opportunity to reflect on how much Christmas basketball has meant to us over the years.

LES WINKELER is the former sports editor for The Southern Illinoisan. Contact him at les@winkelerswingsandwildlife.com, on Twitter @LesWinkeler.

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2020-12-12 01:00:00Z
https://thesouthern.com/sports/sports-column-les-winkeler-the-grinch-stole-holiday-basketball-tournaments/article_457c1a11-c9c3-5fed-9ba9-41d676cd1626.html

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