Sportstars
2017 Football’s First Pick
It’s not until the hot days of August that Northern California football teams will start official practices, but for us at Cal-Hi Sports the kickoff of preseason for many years has been the annual Nike-sponsored camp for Northern California’s top college prospects that is now known as The Opening... Read more
De La Salle High School Baseball: League Of Their Own
Sorting Out NorCal Best Baseball League De La Salle high school baseball team charges the mound to celebrate its 2016 North Coast Section Div. I title. The East Bay Athletic League has won five of the seven Div. I title since 2010. The EBAL also claimed the 2016 Div... Read more
City of Stars
San Francisco’s First Public School State Basketball Champion Had Plenty Of Noteworthy Predecessors. Yes, it’s true that Mission High became the first public school from San Francisco to win a CIF state basketball title when the Bears turned back Villa Park 82-75 in overtime on March 24 in the... Read more
Streak Smarts
A 50-plus Game Win Streak Has Chino Hills Boys Hoops In Rare Territory    Win streak records are especially fun to keep track of because when challenging teams come along over the years — and there aren’t many — it’s natural to relive those moments and bring back those... Read more
Musings On The CIF State Bowls As Football’s Final Weekend Approaches
   If anyone out there remembers some of our ancient Cal-Hi Sports newsletters from the 1980s or 1990s, they’ll recall that founder and record book compiler Nelson Tennis (my uncle, who died in 2004) did a short series of comments he called “Random Remarks.”    With that in mind,... Read more
 Folsom Graduate Jake Browning Has A Chance To Join A Very Short List of NorCal Heisman Trophy Winners
   Folsom Graduate Jake Browning Has A Chance To Join A Very Short List of NorCal Heisman Trophy Winners    Northern California didn’t have much of a connection to the Heisman Trophy for the first 30 years in which college football‘s most prestigious award was handed out, but then... Read more
Assessing the NorCal Sports Landscape
One Month In. And just like that, September was gone. Our first full month of the 2016-17 year in high school athletics was a pretty eventful one. This is always a time of year where I like to use this space to take note of what we’ve learned about... Read more
Timing & Impact: The Science Of Covers
   It can be quite a thrill to be featured on the cover of a magazine, whether it’s a regional/statewide high school sports publication like SportStars, or Time Magazine.    Former Pitman-Turlock three-sport standout Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers was on the cover of Time in late... Read more
A Spike In VB Rankings
   Girls volleyball is back. Well, not really, but as a sport in which Cal-Hi Sports will be offering a state ranking it is.    One of the main reasons we’re re-firing a State Top 20 each week, beginning Sept. 21, is that it’s part of a further evolution... Read more
Doubling Down On Teaming Up
   Back in 2013, when we first partnered with Mark Tennis and Cal-Hi Sports, I wrote a column here announcing that it was a no-brainer. And to what should be nobody’s surprise, Mark’s columns, notes and rankings have been a great, and reliable feature in our magazine each month... Read more
   I’ve been playing club volleyball for several years, and I’ve always been an opposite hitter.  But now my high school coach wants me to be the setter. I’ve never been a setter, but he told me I’d be the best one we have. I would rather play outside... Read more
   We made it, fans. We’re on the other side. There were some dark days there, I know. Times where we were forcing ourselves to watch NBC’s ridiculous tape-delayed Olympic feed. But we survived. And Football — yes, with a capital ‘F’ — has arrived.    Once again I... Read more