DOBservations

New feature: The Slap of the Week

On the old, award-winning SportsWriter's Journal program, which used to be broadcast on CGEM on Friday nights until we all got too sexy for TV, we used to occasionally bring out a little puppet we named "Slappy" and talk about people in the sports world who needed to be slapped.

At the end of the year, we'd hand out our "Slappy of the Year" award to the person who was in the most need of being slapped. We called the winners "Slaps."

Every Friday, I plan on giving out my weekly Slap of the Week honor. I'll highlight a "Slap" who has done some wrong in the sports world.

The first DOBservations Slap of the Week winner is Boston Herald writer John Tomase. He's the guy who "broke" the story that the New England Patriots filmed the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI (or 36 for the non-Romans). As the world found out earlier this week, the Patriots never taped the Rams walkthrough and the story was 100 percent fiction.

How Tomase still has a job at the Herald after this is surprising. The paper ran a front-page apology on its front-page, which rarely happens. Tomase tried to explain how he screwed up.

One of the first things I learned in journalism school at Eastern Illinois University is that you NEVER go with anonymous sources for a story. The next story I write with an anonymous source will be my first.

Tomase did that and got burned. His credibility is shot. As a journalist, all we have is our credibility to lean on. You lose the public's trust, and you're toast.

Midweek Grades for May 14

Work may have kept me in the office today (figure that one out), but I’ve still got my midweek grades. Again, these can be heard at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday mornings on WGEM SportsCenter presented by Hardees on ESPN 1440.

A — The Tampa Bay Rays. They could very well come into Busch Stadium this weekend as the first-place team in the American League’s East Division. Yes, better than the Yanks and Sox. The Rays, who are no longer Devils, have a ton of young talent and made some shrewd off-season deals. The deal sending Delmon Young to Minnesota for Jason Bartlett and Matt Garza could be pretty lopsided by the time everything is said and done.

B — Annika Sorenstam gets the nod. Not only did she win last weekend, but she announced on Tuesday she’s going to retire from golf at age 37. She’s won 10 majors and 72 LPGA titles. She wants to pursue a family. Good for her. She’s made a comfortable living for herself and deserves to enjoy it. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her make a comeback sometime down the road. She’s the best golfer of her generation and maybe the best ever.

C — To the NFL for how it handled the whole SpyGate thing. Commissioner Roger Goodell did the right thing by hammering the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick last fall for video taping other team’s signals. It’s too bad the league destroyed all the tapes and then did the circus earlier this week with a former Pats employee who had nothing more than some film of the San Diego cheerleaders. Hopefully, we don’t have to hear about this ever again.

D — To NBC or whoever told NBC to try to paint the picture of The Players Championship last weekend as if it were the Masters. Jimmy Roberts had a piece about the closing holes at TPC Sawgrass saying the debate has raged what to call the final three closing holes at Sawgrass. Just because Augusta National has “Amen Corner” it doesn’t mean Sawgrass needs something similar. The announcers also talked about the great tradition of the defending champion giving the trophy to the new champ when Phil Mickelson, the defending Players champ, finished his round. Sounds very Augusta-like with the whole green jacket ceremony. Give it up, please.

F — To the NAIA Region V Tournament committee. If you didn’t hear what happened to former Culver-Stockton College coach Doug Bletcher, check out my Wednesday column. You’ll know why the NAIA gets flunked.

I — Ron Villone’s jersey collection. The 38-year-old reliever has made St. Louis the 12th stop in his major-league career. If he continues to throw the way he has lately — when he’s looked like a modern-day Lance Painter — Villone will be left to look for team No. 13.

What are your "Wow!" moments?

In my Sunday GamePlan column I wrote about the "Wow" moments in sports. They don't come around very often, but when they do it makes you remember why you love sports so much.

I thought Tuesday's play by Rick Ankiel on Colorado's Omar Quintanilla was one of those "Wow" moments. Ankiel's throw from the warning track to cut down Quintanilla at third base was one of the best I've ever seen. He might not give Cardinals fans the highlight-reel catches Jim Edmonds used to make, but watching Ankiel cut down runners is something special.

When you have to phone a friend to talk about the play, which I did on this one, you know it's top-notch.

So, what are your "Wow" moments?

You can list ones you saw in person, which are really special, or ones you've seen while watching TV that will always stick with you.

DOB's Midweek grades (with a special theme)

Here's the latest installment of midweek grades, which can be heard every Wednesday at 7:15 a.m. during the WGEM SportsCenter Presented by Hardee's program on ESPN 1440.

A - As in Ankiel. I'm basing this only on what Rick Ankiel did Tuesday night, but what a night it was. Not only did he hit a bomb in the Cardinals' 6-5 victory, but he threw two guys out at third base from center field, including an absolute seed from at least 225 feet away when Rockies infielder Omar Quintanilla tried to stretch a hit into a triple. It was a rare "Wow" moment in baseball. Cardinals third baseman Troy Glaus even gave Ankiel the ball. How can he struggled to throw strikes from 60 feet, 6 inches, yet throw absolute BBs from more than 200 feet away?

B - As in Bryant. Kobe Bean Bryant was the right choice for NBA MVP. Yes, Chris Paul is dynamite and LeBron is the king, but Bryant took a mediocre Lakers team and made them the best in the competitive Western Conference. He refused to let the team falter after the improving Andrew Bynum went down.

C- As in the Celtics. They survived their first-round series with Atlanta and barely slipped past Cleveland on Tuesday. You don't get bonus points for blowouts in the playoffs, but they would be nice. The Celtics, who didn't win a game in Atlanta during the opening round, will need to win on the road sometime if they're to win the franchise's first title since 1986.

D- As in Don't count on Mark Mulder. Face it, he isn't coming back to the Cardinals' rotation any time soon. Roughed up for seven runs in his last rehab start, Mulder's going to see the doctor. That's never a good sign. Fortunately, the Cardinals are surviving without him, but how long can that last.

F - As in freaking get over it Dale Jr. fans. Schuckman's boy, Dale Jr., was as close as driving from the Hardee's at 30th and Broadway to the one on South 12th Street away from getting his first win in 71 races on Saturday night. Then he and Kyle Busch get to banging and Little E went flying into the wall. The Dale Jr. fans at Richmond sprayed the track with beer cans after the race. They were just racing, and accidents happen. Busch was less liable than when Dale Sr. used to do back in his hey day.

I - Youth traveling teams. The only reason for the incomplete here is who knows how far the lunacy will go. In the past week or so, we've had results for an under 9 traveling baseball team and two under 7 traveling soccer teams. Asked a soccer dad I know why his kid wasn't on the U7 team. He said they weren't asked to be on the developmental team. What is this, Manchester United? If the parents tucked away the 200 to 300 bucks it cost to travel to these tourneys and put it in a college fund, they may be thankful down the road. My kid's ready for the U4 traveling tee ball team.

Getting ready for the Classic

In case you missed it in the print edition on Sunday, the rosters for this year's McDonald's/Herald-Whig Classic were released.

It should be another set of good games, which will be played on June 14 at Quincy University's Pepsi Arena. As is the case going into every Classic, the big question reamains: Can the Missouri boys end the streak? It's been 19 years since the Show-Me Stars have beaten their Land of Lincoln counterparts.

I wouldn't count out this year's Missouri team, which has some scorers. Jesse Crawford is having a season to remember over in Knox County. If he can bring some of that magic with him to Pepsi Arena, who knows what could happen. We could even be talking about a Missouri winning streak at this time next year considering how strong the junior class is in Missouri this year — Palmyra's Jonathon Nutt, South Shelby's Matt Patterson and Knox County's Dennis Dent among those who will be seniors in 2009.

The Missouri girls will have to contend with a pair of Division I players on the Illinois side — Charleston Southern-bound Ali Schwagmeyer of Central and Bradley recruit Leah Kassing of Brown County. Missouri will counter with a trio of South Shelby players who will know exactly what Missouri coach Milly Rash wants them to do.

To get you in the mood for the Classic, we'll be running feature stories on Classic participants the next four Sundays. We'll also have a player feature every day during the week leading up to the game. You'll also notice player profiles appearing every day from now until game day in our "Top of the First" section on the sports cover.

Tickets will go on sale May 12 at the Herald-Whig and both Quincy McDonald's locations. They're $5 each with kids 5 and under getting in for free.

Here's a look at the rosters, in case you missed them:

Illinois Girls
Coach: Ken Schuster, West Hancock
Renita Bunte, QND
Alyssa Duffy, Unity
Randi Gronewold, Illini West
Leah Kassing, Brown County
Emily Mast, W. Hancock
Maggie Reuschel, C-SE
Ali Schwagmeyer, C-SE
Megan Sorrill, Liberty
Cassie Weigand, West Hancock
Devin Wombles, Pleasant Hill

Missouri Girls
Coach: Milly Rash, S. Shelby
Danielle Caldwell, Canton
Miranda Chapin, S. Shelby
Abby Gaus, Highland
Shawna Kriegshauser, Highland
Whitney Kroeger, Palmrya
Erin Mayes, S. Shelby
Alex Milner, S. Shelby
Sam O’Brien, Palmrya
Kassidy Shuman, Clark Co.
Amanda Winters, Clark Co.

Illinois Boys
Coach: Bruce Bonness, Southeastern
Tim Bearden, QND
Shawn Blakeman, QHS
Perry Bonds, Griggsville-Perry
Jordan Cook, Payson Seymour
Garrett Janssen, Southeastern
Tim Jefferson, Southeastern
Ben Kearse, Warsaw-Nauvoo
Jake McNulty, Pittsfield
Mitch Rein, QHS
Matt Welding, QND

Missouri Boys
Coach: Jesse Crawford, Knox Co.
Drew Ayers, Canton
Tad Luebbehusen, Highland
Daniel McMahon, Knox Co.
Nathan Meyers, Marion Co.
John Mims, Highland
Randall Mosley, Hannibal
Cody Musgrove, Scotland Co.
Austin O’Bryan, Monroe City
Cory Schultz, Knox Co.
Colt Sommers, Clark Co.

DOB's Midweek grades

As part of the Wednesday spectacular on the WGEM SportsCenter presented by Hardee's program, Professor Matt Schuckman and I give out our midweek grades for those in and around the sports world. We started this experiment last week.

Here's my list from this week. You can hear Professor Schuckman and me give out our grades every Wednesday at 7:15 a.m. ... or just turn to DOBservations on Wednesday afternoons to see what I had.

If you're interested in listening to the show, click this link between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Monday through Friday and you should be able to listen in.

A — Ashton Gronewold. This weekend’s minicamp with the Bears may be as close to the NFL as the former Carthage star ever gets. Then again, he could turn some heads, earn a shot at making the team in July and become the next Wes Welker. Like Josh Rabe before him in baseball, Gronewold proves to all of those kids that if you put your mind to doing something, it can be done.

B — Kyle Busch. Who needs Tony Stewart when you have the next big thing in racing? The folks at Joe Gibbs Racing should say see ya to Stewart, who wants an ownership stake in the next team he races with. Busch has dominated this season in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series and very well could win the Sprint Cup title in November.

C — Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. When play started on Tuesday, they were in a three-way tie with Boston atop the American League East. Yes, it’s still really, really early in the baseball season, but you have to give a tip of the cap to these teams, neither of which much was expected.

D — Bowl Championship Series. SEC commissioner Mike Slive is expected to present a proposal today at a meeting of BCS honchos for a plus-one format, which would change the BCS to two semifinal games and a national title game. According to ESPN.com, the proposal is expected to be voted down. I hate the BCS.

F — Culver-Stockton College’s basketball coaching searches. It took the school 50 days to hire a women’s basketball coach. Today marks Day 55 of the men’s basketball program held hostage. Face it, both Tim Southers, the new C-SC women’s coach, and whoever gets the men’s job won’t be able to recruit much this year. C-SC fans shouldn’t expect anything out of either program until 2009-2010 at the earliest.

I — Roger Clemens. It would be easy to give him an ‘F’ for the news that broke about his alleged affair with country singer Mindy McCready, but who knows how deep the Clemens saga goes. First, he was on HGH. Then he admits that his wife took HGH for a photo shoot. Then it comes out he may have had an affair with a 15-year-old when he was 28 and married with kids. The final chapter on this soap opera has yet to be written.

Good bye, SI

When I go to the mailbox on Thursday, I won't get my Sports Illustrated. Seems like that for the last couple of months, my SI was coming religiously on Thursdays. When I lived in Champaign, it always came on Wednesday.

Now, it won't come at all. The folks at SI told me that if I don't subscribe soon that my service would be interrupted for the first time since 1993, the year I graduated from college. I've been an SI subscriber forever. I remember getting the magazine when I was 12 or so, meaning I've been with them for last 25 years. I'd keep my favorite covers. I remember having the one of Villanova's Gary McLain up in my high school locker. The work SI did to expose the story behind the Cinderella story was great. If you forgot, McLain came out a few years after the Wildcats' upset of mighty Georgetown and admitted he was high on cocaine at the time of the game.

In my basement, I have a collection of every SI cover that Walter Payton ever appeared on.

Still, I had to file the divorce papers.

Today's SI isn't what it was 25 years ago. Or even 5 or 10 years ago. Too much fluff, not enough substance. The first page I'd go to the last few years was the last page, which is was Rick Reilly's domain. I bumped into him at the Masters in 2005. We were waiting at the 10th tee on Sunday as Tiger Woods and Chris DiMarco played the 18th. He wanted to know if No. 10 was where the playoff was going to start. I shrugged my shoulders and told him I didn't know. Lot of help I was to one of the great writers of our time. The playoff started on No. 18, meaning my front-row seat at No. 10 was now in the very back row at No. 18.

Reilly's no longer at Sports Illustrated, having cut a deal last year to go to ESPN. Instead, SI turned to former ESPN talking head Dan Patrick.

This "trade" was worse than Brock for Broglio.

Patrick's page, which is lost inside the SI Players section, is awful. He has a short Q&A with an athlete — that is much shorter than what he did when he wrote for ESPN The Magazine — a list — that isn't funny — and tries to write captions for a photo — again, not funny.

Other than the "Golf Plus" section, I rarely read through the magazine.

A few weeks ago, I had the checkbook out and the check written. I was going to do another three-year hitch for $1.69 an issue. A tremendous savings, as least that's what the letter told me. I was even going to get a cool bag to take to the gym. Won't the guys playing noontime ball at the Y be impressed?

I was set to send them $263.64. Then I stopped and ripped up the check. Eventually, that money I decided not to send SI will buy me about 10 gallons of gas.

I may buy an SI every now and then, especially if they ever get smart enough to put Tony Romo on the cover.

I still subscribe to ESPN The Magazine. Not that it's great copy, because it isn't. I get to be an ESPN.com Insider because of it. There's a lot of good stuff on ESPN.com's Insider.

Rick Reilly will be writing for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine soon.

I bet his column will be the first thing I turn to.

Fight night's all right

When it comes to entertainment options on the weekend, it's no secret that Quincy is a bit challenged.

Sure, you have the movies. It's nice to go to a bar now and not having to go home smelling like one. But in a search for something different, I found my way to the Oakley-Lindsay Center on Saturday night for the latest Extreme Challenge card.

A bevy of local mixed martial arts fighters took to the octagon in front of a standing-room only crowd at the OLC.

I was surprised with how many people showed up. The crowd was loud for most of the night and definitely had its favorites. With a lot of Quincy fighters on the card, I probably shouldn't have been too shocked.

The best bout of the night was the second when Quincy's Bill Friday, who I'm told is all of 17, fought back to beat Brad Engle 28 seconds into the second round with an Anaconda choke. An Anaconda choke? That just sounds painful.

There was also a grudge match between Triopia's Darren Jacoby and Mount Sterling's Jeremy Ward. A few years back, Ward and Jacoby got into a brawl during KHQA's Do or Die Bowl. Jacoby easily won the match and jumped up to the top of the cage to celebrate his victory in front of his legion of fans that made the trip.

Quincy's Juben Moss made quick work of his opponent, winning in 28 seconds, and may have had the biggest fan base with dozens of his fans wearing pink shirts.

The main event pitted Quincy's Kalel Robinson, who is the 155-pound Extreme Challenge champion and had the belt to prove it, against Jeff Carstens of Des Moines. Robinson, wearing trunks that read "Destroy" did just that, taking out Carstens in just over three minutes of the first round. I was expecting a little more from the main event, but the theatrics after the match were great.

Carstens didn't think the match should have been stopped and didn't take the verdict well. He refused to shake Robinson's hand and exited to a huge round of boos. On the way out the door, he gave the crowd the first double bird salute seen in Quincy since Duncan Reid was coaching at Rock Island. Robinson, who is now 11-0, handled the situation well and acted like a champion.

One of the local organizers said the group is planning a yet-to-be-decided July date at the OLC. Tickets are a bit pricey — going from $25 for general admission up to $40 for ringside — but if you're looking for something different, the MMA might be for you.

DOBservations:

1. The ring didn't look that big. I figured it would be much bigger. It looked much smaller than the rings I've seen while attending WWF (I won't call it WWE) events when I was younger.

2. All fighters must have tattoos. If you didn't have a tatt, you weren't any good — although we did have one no-tatt vs. no-tatt match, which was forgetful if for no other reason than they didn't have any tatts.

3. Don't have too many tattoos. The dude with the most ink got beat down pretty quickly.

4. All of the fighters  — except Carstens — exhibited  great sportsmanship after the match. It was like watching the kids go through the handshake line at a T-ball game. The competitors respected each other. A wise man next to me said that it made sense for the loser to be nice to the winner. "If he killed him inside the ring, what do you think would happen if he started something in the parking lot?" He made a good point.

The never-ending debate: QHS vs. QND

The debate over which high school gets more
coverage seems to flare up the most during
the girls soccer season.

One of the great debates of our time rages in saloons, on various local blogs and in the back of soccer vans in and around the Gem City.

"The Herald-Whig covers Quincy High School more than they do Quincy Notre Dame," one side yells.

"The Herald-Whig covers Quincy Notre Dame more than they do Quincy High School," the other counters.

It's a never-ending battle that was going on before I landed in here in 1997 and will rage long after I'm gone. For whatever reason(s), folks think we favor one school more than the other.

It's a battle we'll never win. All we can do is try to cover the schools as evenly as possible. It's not easy to satisfy everyone, especially when you consider 40-plus other high schools and four colleges in our coverage area who we need to write about this spring. Those schools have baseball, softball, track and tennis teams that would like some coverage as well.

At least since I've been here, it seems the debate fires up every soccer season — moreso during the girls season in the spring than with the boys in the fall.

An unsigned letter with no return address came to our office earlier this week. We'd never kill trees to run this letter in the print edition, but in cyberspace, it's fair game.

This, in part, is from a backer of Quincy Notre Dame's girls soccer team.

This letter actually should've been sent a week ago after once again QND girls soccer got a 3 line article after defeating Jeff City in the last 2 minutes. There wasn't anyone from the Whig of course because the QHS girls had a game.

After opening the Sunday paper this morning and seeing another large article of the QHS girls ... was very irritating. QND did not play this weekend but we have not gotten half of the coverage QHS has gotten!

The Whig did a preview article before the first game for QND. Then we got a picture article after our first game an the only other article that was decent size was when we BEAT QHS. Unfortunately the picture that you chose from that game was terrible. There had to be better pictures to choose from.

We beat Kirksville — 4-0 and got a 4-5 line article at the bottom of the page while QHS also played out of town that week and lost, and they got a third of a page article. QND is continually put under all the line scores. When we beat Jeff City last Saturday in the last 2 minutes, That should render a decent size article. Instead QHS boys baseball was on the front page after losing a doubleheader 8-0 and the QHS girls tied 1-1 and got another full sized article. They've had 6-7 full sized articles and have never been listed under a line score.

The QHS girls play in the Western Big 6 conference, which is a total joke. Those teams are terrible but still get coverage. Is the general rule that if both girls teams are in town QHS gets the coverage since your photographer has a daughter on the QHS team. I know for a fact that one of your writers is very PRO QHS.

I'm just asking for some fairness. Please evaluate the last month of coverage. Even though QND has played less games than QHS, they've gotten cheated from some very good games they've won. Our girls work just as hard as any other sports team.

Lastly, Is there ever a chance that either one of the girls soccer team would ever get anything on the FRONT page for a regular-season game?

P.S. QND plays a good Normal IL team Wed. Could we please get an article on a page that's noticable. Our fans would surely appreciate it and our Girls truly deserve it. Thanks for your time!

Here's a look at our QHS and QND girls soccer coverage to this point in the season, including games through April 16:

QND has played seven games, four of which the Herald-Whig has staffed. We have run QND stories on:
March 24 — Season preview (with picture), story appeared on page 1B
March 26 — Tie with Helias (pic), 1B
April 2 — Win over QHS (two pics), 1B
April 2 — Sidebar on Leigh McLaughlin (pic), 3B
April 4 — Win over Troy (pic), 1B
April 17 — Tie vs. Normal U-High (no pic), 1B

QHS has played nine games, six of which the Herald-Whig has staffed. We have run QHS stories on:
March 14 — Season preview (pic), 1B
March 22 — QHS tourney (pic), 5B
March 23 — QHS tourney (pic), 3B
March 30 — At Rock Island (no pic), 3B
March 31 — Brittany Senator feature (pic), 1B
April 2 — Loss to QND (pic), 1B
April 6 — Win over Moline (pic), 3B
April 13 — Win over Helias (pic), 3B

QHS holds an 8-6 story lead on QND right now, but that should turn over the next few weeks as QHS hits the road and QND actually plays a few more home matches. QND has just eight home matches this spring as opposed to 12 for QHS.

We likely will cover three more QHS matches this spring — two in their second tourney and the other QND match.

We likely will cover QND at least five more times. Two games at QHS tourney, two more at QND tourney and the second match with QHS. The Lady Raiders are also due a feature story before the second QHS match, which will appear on May 5.

When you add it all up, we will have covered nine QHS and nine QND matches this season. Each school will also have received a season preview story and one feature story during the season.

This wasn't the first complaint we've received this spring about our soccer coverage. A QND parent also asked about our coverage of the two schools. When given the information above, he understood how we did things a little better than he did before.

Unfortunately, people are always going to think we are a little biased in how we cover things. Yes, we do have a photographer whose daughter plays for QHS's girls soccer team. We also have an editor in our office whose daughter plays for QND's girls soccer team. Another reporter has a daughter who plays for the QHS girls basketball team. One of our sports writers has a nephew who played soccer and wrestled at QHS.

Most of the people who work at The Herald-Whig have families and children who participate in interscholastic sports or have done so in the past for both QHS and QND. Whether or not someone's child from the Herald-Whig is going to be in the event has no bearing on how we play or if we cover the story.

If you have a concern with how we cover things, I'm always more than willing to talk to readers about the problem. Feel free to call me at (800) 373-9444, ext. 13365, or directly at 221-3365. My e-mail address is dobrien@whig.com. My only request is that you identify yourself when you call or write. You know who I am, the least you can do is tell me who you are in return.

Let the debate continue.

Gems making headlines

Some interesting news came out of Monday's Quincy Civic Center Authority Finance Committee meeting.

After bursting on to the scene in 1996 and being a money-maker initially, the Quincy Gems sucked some valuable tax-payer dollars out of the Oakley-Lindsay Center earlier this decade. According to Ed Husar's story, the team lost nearly $100,000 over a five-year period. To its credit, the civic center authority knows the Gems can't be a losing proposition on the books.

Instead of finding sponsors to help run the team, why doesn't the civic center look into selling the team, preferably to a local owner?

The franchise is in good shape. There's a strong base of loyal fans who continue to come night after night to see their boys of summer play. Attendance isn't what it was back when the team was at its heights in 1998 when the team went 40-10 and drew packed house after packed house on its way to a Central Illinois Collegiate League title. But it's still not bad. Quincy continues to be one of the main draws in the summer wood-bat league that brings college players from all over the nation to play in the 48-game season that lasts from June until August.

The baseball side of QU-Stadium is still in decent shape — unlike the football stadium on the other side of the chain-link fence in right field. The lighting system is just over 10 years old, while new dugouts were installed a few years ago. The only drawback is that there are no locker room facilities for the teams.

The Rockpile is a neat place to watch a game. With gas prices on the rise, going down to 18th and Spruce and paying a buck or two to watch a ballgame makes a lot more sense than driving four hours round-trip and battling big-league prices and St. Louis traffic to see the Cardinals play. And how often to the Cardinals stand out in the outfield and give autographs to every last kid who wants one? How about never. That happens after every Gems game, which is part of the team's charm.

The Gems aren't going anywhere anytime soon. But with a group pouring millions of dollars into Clemens Field down the road in Hannibal for its yet-to-be named CICL team that will start play in 2009, it will be interesting to see how the Gems keep up with the Joneses.