Keep an Eye on Marquette...

Rice Lake High School basketball player Henry Ellenson has committed to Marquette University. I expect they will again excel in the sport in coming seasons.

The commitment comes before Henry's final high-school season, so he's smart to have the Decision out of the way, so he and his teammates can concentrate on Warrior basketball and all the other things associated with one's senior year.*

“I felt Marquette was a place where I could make an immediate impact,” Henry Ellenson told ESPN.com, which first reported his decision. “I feel that I will have an opportunity to play multiple positions and show my versatility. Also, I was the most comfortable with the coaching staff, and a chance to play with my brother was ­something that was always big to me.”

His older brother Wally went to play at the University of Minnesota a few years back, and then with the coaching changes, and his ability to excel nationally at the high jump during the track-and-field seasons, transferred out of Minnesota to the Milwaukee school.

This summer,
I was reading the Eau Claire paper, and learned the USA under-17 basketball team had beaten Australia in Dubai, and ended up winning the gold. Later that morning, I saw Mr. and Mrs. walking down the street, and they confirmed: Indeed they were proud of his play, and glad he'd be back after the weeks away, representing his country in the sport. I was more impressed with the globetrotting aspect: imagine the people this young man has played with, and competed against, and the places he's seen (and still will go...) Dubai!

Just good people, all around.
Very down to Earth... Teachers.
Democrats. (with the yard signs to show it...)
Congratulations then to the Warrior, and future Golden Eagle.
It's always good to celebrate hard work paying off, in a rules-based game. Even if we're rather new to the intricacies of sport and the game itself, we can clearly identify success and good men in the making. Sometimes in this country, sports is hope itself.

"Get out there, and get the win."
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* I first saw the high school team play on tv, during the playoffs last season. I went to Thornwood High School in South Holland, IL -- in the same shared school district as Thornton, in a region where the teams are amongst the best nationally. (Eddie Curry went pro: straight from high school to the pros out of Thornwood, years after I graduated. Nobody thinks that is a good idea anymore, thankfully.)