For a feature story in this issue of SportStars, the question was asked if this 2017 edition of the Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland football team might be the best in school history? The Dragons, after all, seem to be even more loaded than last year when they went 15-1 and won the... Read more

Alas, it’s here. Our labor of love, and admittedly my favorite issue to work on every year. This is the eighth edition of our Football Preview, and I feel like it gets better each time we do it. This year we added our newest wrinkle, adding a Southern California edition... Read more

We begin our 2017 Football coverage by revealing teams #20-11 in our NorCal Preseason Top 20 in a daily countdown to Aug. 24 when #10-1 are revealed in our 2017 Football Preview Special. If you need to catchup, here are links to previous entries: | No. 20 Foothill (Aug. 14)... Read more

We begin our 2017 Football coverage by revealing teams #20-11 in our NorCal Preseason Top 20 in a daily countdown to Aug. 24 when #10-1 are revealed in our 2017 Football Preview Special. If you need to catchup, here are links to previous entries: | No. 20 Foothill (Aug. 14)... Read more

We begin our 2017 Football coverage by revealing teams #20-11 in our NorCal Preseason Top 20 in a daily countdown to Aug. 24 when #10-1 are revealed in our 2017 Football Preview Special. First up: Foothill-Pleasanton.   NO. 20 FOOTHILL-PLEASANTON   2016 REVIEW: 6-5 and unranked in our final rankings  COACH:... Read more

Examining CIF’s Shift To A Competitive Equity-Based Playoff System • Story by CLAY KALLAM | Illustration by MIKE DECICCO It used to be so simple: How many students a school had attending once determined what division it played in. But now it’s a brave new postseason world for high school... Read more

Well, there’s summer in the rearview mirror. It’s shorter every year. But unlike some of you athletes who may be groaning at a return to the books, the calendar’s turn to August fires us up. Now is when we get to really dig in to the upcoming football season and... Read more

Welcome to the fifth annual Bay Area 75 — SportStars’ countdown of the top 75 Bay Area athletes from the 2016-17 school year. The only criteria used in generating the list were that the athletes must be from one of the nine Bay Area counties, and they must have played... Read more

You’re at the second of four segments. If you haven’t seen the previous entries, find them at the following links (or skip ahead to end, if you must): Nos. 75-51 / Nos. 25-6  / Nos. 5-1 50. TIERRA ROBINSON-JONES Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland – Track & Field – Junior Among the best long sprinters in... Read more

The Obstacles Are Plenty And The Odds Are Long — But It’s Still Just Basketball • Story By CLAY KALLAM COLORADO SPRINGS — It’s all pretty familiar. Navigating in and out of the airport, getting the rental car, driving to the hotel, finding the gym. Maybe you expected the United States Olympic... Read more

  Player Of The Year, Iimari Thomas of Sacred Heart Cathedral-S.F., Headlines Our Top 15 Players From 2016-17 • There’s a computer program buried deep in the bowels of the massive MaxPreps’ database of girls high school basketball teams, and it churns through the wins and losses — and margin... Read more

CIF Open Division runner-up Woodcreek was never budging from the top spot, but deciding what to do with state-champions St. Patrick-St. Vincent and Mission-S.F. was a bit tougher. We had the Bruins one spot ahead of the Bears before the state finals, and chose to keep it that way —... Read more