Talkin' Sports, Madison-Style: The boys of summer (or is it late winter?)

....we interrupt Cory Heidelberger's political coverage to bring you this decidedly a-political sports blog!...

Now that basketball is FINALLY done, we are starting to wind down for the next few weeks or so at the radio station. By my count, I did about 63 basketball games this winter... that's a lot of ink used to mark the scorebooks, a lot of popcorn eaten, and a lot of late hours! But I loved it all and I'll be ready to go by the time next season rolls around.

Well, basketball is ALMOST done... Tony Fiegen and Chad White, along with several excellent boys and girls basketball players, will be suiting up this weekend for the 22^nd Annual Three-Class Shootout in Salem. Tony and Chad will play for the Class “A” team, which also includes such standouts as “Spirit of Su” winner David Maxwell of Parkston, as well as Austin Eichacker of Lennox, Ben Miller of Sioux Valley and even Keith Cutler and Colin Ringling of Platte-Geddes. Orion Thompson from DSU will coach the boys, so if you get the chance, stop out to see the games... it'll be the only time you'll get to see Chad and Tony play in DSU uniforms!

Speaking of DSU, I have to give Ken Prorok and Dean Berry a lot of credit. Being softball and baseball coaches in the upper Midwest, there's always a good chance you'll have more games canceled than played due to the weather. So far, this spring has not proven that axiom wrong. Were I “Rock” or “Dean-O” or even MHS Baseball Coach Chris "Wabs" Waba, I'd probably forgo shaving my head and start tearing my hair out at the roots! But they understand this is part of the season and they've shown the patience of saints.

The DSU Baseball team is hosting Mayville State in a six-game series this weekend... weather permitting, of course.

Speaking of baseball... KJAM will broadcast the Corn Belt League once again this summer. There will be a little different look to the league this year as Randy Townshend has re-formed the Canistota team this summer after a 15-year hiatus. Canton is dropping out of the CBL to join the State Line League... we wish them the best of luck there. Madison will be hosting the District tournament in late July; already, the Broncos have asked me to do public address for some of the games. This is a great opportunity for Madison to show itself off to the rest of the league... perhaps the Chamber can do a little promoting of this event, hmmm?

We'll broadcast weeknight games on FM 103.1, and Sunday games on AM 1390. On top of that, we'll also carry all the District and State Amateur games featuring our CBL teams.

Finally, the Major Leagues are already up and running. The Twins are picked by Sports Illustrated to finish first in the AL Central, which is nice. But they better show some more offense than this opening series against Seattle. The Twinkies added some power with former All-Star Joe Crede from the cursed White Sox, but so far he's been hit-and-miss... could still be working the starch out of his new uni! Of course, Joe Mauer is still on the DL as he's having issues stemming from kidney surgery during the offseason. He can catch, and he can hit... the stinker has been that he can't run without a whole bunch of pain. If the Twins can get him healthy tute 'd suite, then the Hump-dome could end its life on a very sweet high note!

Well, that's the sports for now. Have a Happy Easter and drive safely this weekend... the life you save may be mine... I'm off to watch “Leatherheads!”