Spring Is Here!

Well, sort of.

Today, spring sports season in my coverage area officially begins when Hart faces Mason County Central in girls soccer. The first scheduled spring event was actually supposed to be three weeks ago, but here we are.

Most other schools in the area besides Hart are on spring break this week, so next week is when things really get going. I have a loaded schedule of potential events to cover next week - unfortunately, the weather forecast looks less than promising.

Stay tuned to my Twitter account — @ARoberts_WLB — and the pages of Oceana's Herald-Journal and the White Lake Beacon to find out what games are happening when, and if they happen, how they went!

Boys Basketball District Preview

Hart's James Freeman has the Pirates soaring
into district play with two straight wins.
(Photo by Andrew Skinner)

And here we are. This is a little later than I wanted this to get put up, but we are off and rolling with the district tournament starting on Monday.

The girls' district preview lost relevance quickly. Out of the eight teams I cover, seven lost their first game, with only Shelby still alive.

Again, in alphabetical order, team records in parentheses:

Hart (4-16)
Season recap: In what can only be described as a happy accident, Hart will enter the state tournament as the second-hottest team among our area schools, because the Pirates have won two games in a row. Hart defeated Mason Co. Eastern and Hesperia this week. Never mind the fact that the Pirates have lost 43 conference games in a row: They're red-hot! In truth, Hart isn't that bad a team — they're just very small and are lacking in top-end talent. Brandon Amstutz is the Pirates' most explosive scorer, while James Freeman is the most reliable. Travis Hall has stepped up of late as well.

District draw: Hart drew a bye. That's the good news. The bad news is they'll be facing #5-ranked Shelby in their district semifinal game.

Prediction: Shelby wallops Hart in the semis.

Hesperia (4-14)
Season recap: Hesperia's had an interesting year. For much too long, they'd played only three games, and due to the 18-game CSAA slate they faced, it wasn't until yesterday that they played a non-conference game (Hart). Still, the Panthers have been playing some great basketball. Last week, they took Reed City, the CSAA's best team, into overtime before losing, and also played tough with Big Rapids. However, it hasn't clicked into consistent success for the Panthers yet. The future looks pretty bright, though, as Traxton Gordon and Nathan McKeown, two of the team's best four players, are only sophomores.

District draw: Hesperia faces #5 Shelby in pre-district play. Panthers' coach Randy Gordon joked to me this week that he should petition for a move into a different team's district, as this is the second time in his three years that he's drawn Shelby in round one.

Prediction: Pain. (Ok, I had to say that.) Hesperia loses to Shelby.

Montague (9-10)
Season recap: Montague started the year with just two players who'd ever played a varsity minute — Luke VanBoxel and Chayce Lohman, both seniors. Although VanBoxel is one of the state's top scorers, most recently dropping 35 points on Whitehall Thursday night, it's still markedly impressive given that paucity of experience that the Wildcats managed to go .500 in a tough West Michigan Conference. Thursday showed what the team is capable of, as the 'Cats topped Whitehall, who was only playing for a share of the league title. Sophomore Jacob Buchberger has emerged as a legitimate second scoring threat, not to mention as the 1950s edition of the All-American boy (QB of the football team, point guard of the hoops team and second baseman on the baseball team). Ben Rupert, unfortunately, hurt his shoulder the weekend after his best career game and is out for the season.

District draw: Montague got a relatively cushy draw, facing Holton in round one and then White Cloud in the semifinals. Neither team is good, so the 'Cats should be in line for a battle with Shelby in the finals, gunning for revenge for the Tigers' upset of them in last year's semifinals.

Prediction: Montague and Shelby should play a pretty good game, but the Tigers have too much firepower.

Pentwater (13-7)
Season recap: For a team replacing a 1,000-1,000 guy in Erik Wallstrom, Pentwater's done pretty well this year. The Falcons have 10 conference wins behind the Wagner brothers, Alex and Sam, as well as Chance Helms, each of whom average at least 11 points per game. They have a strong team that won't be an easy out for anybody. Their biggest flaw is probably size, an understandable issue for a team that had Wallstrom gobbling up every basketball in sight a year ago. However, they can shoot the lights out at times, particularly Alex Wagner.

District draw: Pentwater is on the opposite side of Baldwin in this bracket, which is probably the most important thing. They face MCE first, then Brethren with a win.

Prediction: Falcons beat MCE, but Brethren's hosting the district, and home-court advantage will carry them past Pentwater.

Reeths-Puffer (3-15)
Season recap: This is exhibit A of why Montague's season has been so impressive. R-P entered the year with ONE player who'd ever played a relevant varsity minute, DeAndre Oaks-Owens. And it has shown. The Rockets have been out of most of their games by halftime. However, they've picked it up recently, even beating Zeeland East to avoid a winless O-K Black season Saturday.

District draw: The problem is, the Rockets are facing unbeaten, top-ranked Muskegon in their first district game.

Prediction: RP bounced by Muskegon.

Shelby (18-2)
Season recap: You really have to hand it to Shelby. Last year, they replaced their entire starting lineup from a state-semifinal team and still came within a buzzer-beating tip-in basket of winning a regional title and playing in the quarterfinals. This year, they didn't have to replace as much, but still quite a bit, and the Tigers rolled to a WMC title and until Thursday hadn't lost a game with a full roster (Jason Beckman's absence contributed to Shelby's loss to Whitehall). They enter postseason play ranked fifth and, with no ranked teams in front of them for a while in the bracket, poised to make a deep run. They have great shooters in Beckman, Devin Mussell, Caleb Anderson and Spencer Landis and they have inside power in Andrew Beckman (Jason's cousin) and Jeff Beckman (Andrew's brother). Coach Rick Zoulek loves running out a deep bench, and it's paid off this year.

District draw: The Tigers have a dream draw. There isn't so much as another team with a .500 record in their district (Montague is closest), and there's no other ranked team in their way in the regionals (Pewamo-Westphalia, who would be a regional-final opponent, is closest, having gotten a pair of votes in the most recent AP poll). There's not even a ranked team awaiting them in the quarterfinals, although a few teams receiving votes are there.

Prediction: Shelby just lost to Mason Co. Central, which is probably the best thing that could've happened to them. That final bit of edge will get Shelby to the semifinals. There, we'll call a Tigers' loss, probably to third-ranked Boyne City, who would meet them in the semis. But I wouldn't be at all shocked if the Tigers manage to squeeze their way to the title game.

Walkerville (0-18)
Season recap: We're at 103 losses and counting for Walkerville in a row. A recent Deadspin.com post linked to an article claiming that 88 is the national record for a high-school basketball losing streak. If that's true, then the record resides in West Michigan. Sam Sweet, despite this, will surpass 1,000 career points, most likely Saturday against Bear Lake.

District draw: Walkerville won't even have the luxury of a potential upset victim in the district tournament, because after a bye, they'll get Baldwin, who's 14-0 in West Michigan D League play.

Prediction: Loss #105 against Baldwin.

Whitehall (14-4)
Season recap: Whitehall lost one of the program's best ever in Isaac Love, but not a lot else from last year, so the Vikings have been able to ride captains Matt Rohen and Matt Russell to a really nice season and a second-place finish in the WMC. Besides Rohen and Russell, Dylan Medendorp and Noah Trombley have been key cogs. Keenan Aylor is done for the year with an ankle injury, but the Vikings boast a nice array of size on the interior.

District draw: Whitehall draws Spring Lake in exhibit A for the pro-'tournament seeding' argument. The two teams were two of the hottest in the state before losing their finales Thursday, with only one loss each in the year 2014 (Whitehall to Class C #5 Shelby and Spring Lake to Class B #1 Godwin Heights). Their pre-district game is probably a de facto championship for the district. The winner probably gets #10 Comstock Park in regional play.

Prediction: I'd like to predict Whitehall will win the district, but I'll take Spring Lake to repeat last year's district title game win over Whitehall.

Girls Basketball District Preview

Montague's Hailey Cockerill will be one of many
area girls' basketball players hoping for district success
when the tournaments start next Monday.
(Photo by Andy Roberts)

We're already closing in on the end of basketball season in West Michigan (which is depressing, because there's still 2 feet of snow on the ground and ostensibly we're supposed to play girls soccer games and baseball/softball doubleheaders in about a month). The eight area schools we cover will be playing district games in girls basketball next week and boys basketball the week after that, so this seems like a good time to catch up with both. I'll run a boys preview next week.

In alphabetical order, records in parentheses, here we go. Note that the girls' teams all have one or two regular-season games left.

Hart (4-12)
Season recap: A combination of space issues and snow-outs have kept me from actually seeing Hart play in person since their season opener against Mason County Eastern, but the results I've seen from them seem to indicate that they're improving. The squad I saw in December could hardly get out of its own way, and the team lost a string of games to start the season. The Pirates are basically a .500 team since that opening skid, though, and Baylee Draper and Madison Hegedus have emerged as viable forces in the post — in Draper's case, particularly on defense.

District draw: The Pirates caught a break in the district draw when Shelby and Holton, the two best teams in the district, were sorted in the other half of the bracket. Hart faces White Cloud, possibly the weakest team in the bracket, in a pre-district game, then would face Montague on Wednesday, a team Hart was behind on the totem pole at the start of the season but since has arguably surpassed.

Prediction: Hart reaches the district finals before losing. With a lot of young players on this year's team, Hart has a chance to be a decent team next year.

Hesperia (1-14)
Season recap: It's been a rough go for Hesperia. Coach Tom Welsh abruptly resigned four games into the season, leaving athletic director Mike Fosburg to take over on an interim basis. The Panthers didn't have a lot of talent to begin with – the team basically revolves around senior Lauren Zeerip, with sophomore Mariah Stitt a consistent second scorer and occasionally capable of brilliance — and not having a full coach hasn't helped, as Hesperia hasn't won since Welsh took off. However, the Panthers did play probably their best game of the year in a 12-point loss to CSAA second-place team Chippewa Hills in a game the Panthers were in all the way. Also: I should note that I haven't seen this team play in person yet. I've tried to 3 times, but 2 of those games were canceled without my knowing about it until I showed up for the game, and the other took place despite snowy conditions Monday night that were so awful I made the executive decision not to risk my life for it. I'll finally see them when they take on Shelby in a pre-district game Monday.

District draw: Hesperia's snakebitten season continued with the draw, where they face Shelby, probably the best team in a spectacularly weak district. Even if they pulled off a shocking upset, they'd face the district's second-best team, Holton, in the second round, a team the Panthers have lost to twice already.

Prediction: Hesperia pushes Shelby early into the second half, but loses their opener.

Montague (5-14)
Season recap: I had vaguely high expectations for Montague coming into this season, as the Wildcats returned most of their important players from a year ago and seem to have a decent base of talent. But it hasn't come together for them at all, and of all the teams I cover, this one seems to have improved the least since the season began. There are bright spots — Elyse Taylor, Meghan Olson and Katie Webster all bring different talents to the post, and Hailey Cockerill and the Shugars sisters (Morgan and Kenadee) are a gifted backcourt — but they just can't seem to get it to click.

District draw: Montague probably got the cushiest draw of any team in the area, not only dodging Shelby and Holton in the Hesperia district until a hypothetical final, but getting a bye. They face the winner of Hart and White Cloud on Wednesday and would get Shelby or Holton in the finals.

Prediction: Montague loses a close game to Hart in the semifinals.

Pentwater (10-8)
Season recap: Pentwater has come a long way from the group that didn't even have enough experienced players to field a varsity team in 2011-12. The Falcons are still not major contenders, but they're a solid, .500-level team in the West Michigan D League, which is a pretty terrific accomplishment for coach Jeff McDonough on a team still almost completely devoid of experience. Arguably the Falcons' best player, Taylor Wilkinson (23 points and 16 rebounds in Tuesday's win at Brethren), is in eighth grade and only eligible to play varsity because of an exemption in the rules regarding low-enrollment schools. Their second-best player, Linnea McDonough, is a freshman, and their third-best player, Emily Gebhart, is a sophomore. This team has an extremely bright future, and the present isn't bad either.

District draw: Pentwater, unlike the above, is a Class D school, so they're in a different district, the one at Walkerville. The Falcons unfortunately draw one of the best teams in the WMD, Manistee Catholic, in a pre-district game. If they win, they face Mason County Eastern.

Prediction: Pentwater loses to Manistee Catholic. Too bad, as it would've been nice to see what the young team could do deeper in the tournament.

Reeths-Puffer (12-6)
Season recap: It wasn't that long ago that R-P was making me look ahead to the regionals and perhaps farther. R-P started 9-2, and despite their lack of size, they more than made up for it with terrific speed and athleticism. However, the Rockets seem to be hitting a bit of a wall of late, and I'm not sure what to make of it. High-scoring Kalisa Williams is the big star, although Camaryia Williams, listed at 5'5", might be more important as the primary ball-handler and rebounder. The Rockets are only 5-4 in O-K Black Conference play. There's no questioning the team's talent, but I wonder if they'll have the horses to play their to-the-wall style in the postseason.

District draw: The Rockets are in Class A, and will host the district tournament. They face Muskegon in the pre-districts, who they just lost to on Tuesday. If they win that, they would essentially get a bye to the finals as they play terrible Kenowa Hills in the semis.

Prediction: Hard to see the Rockets getting past Muskegon. The Big Reds' best basketball of the season is being played now while R-P's was seemingly played in January.

Shelby (11-8)
Season recap: It's hard to tell whether Tigers' supporters should be pleasantly surprised or disappointed by this season. On the one hand, Shelby lost more talent than maybe any other year in school history after the graduation of Class C all-state first-teamer Sydney Czurak and underrated all-conference point guard Abby Rodriguez from the 2013 state quarterfinalists. On the other hand, there's still lots of talent on this team (most notably senior Tristen Moore on the inside), and it feels like Shelby maybe has been playing with a bit of a hangover from that playoff run. On the whole, though, it's been a decent season, and Shelby hasn't taken any really bad losses — they just aren't beating everyone anymore. They did manage to sweep Whitehall and look to be the third-best team in the WMC.

District draw: I don't know for sure that Shelby faces the weakest district slate of any team in Michigan, but I can't imagine it gets any easier than one-win Hesperia, then a Holton team that's near .500 but also lost to awful White Cloud, then either said White Cloud team, Hart or Montague, none of which is even close to .500.

Prediction: Barring an upset, Shelby will capture the district title, but they'll probably run into consistent Class C power Morley-Stanwood in the regional semifinal, and that's probably not going to go well for them.

Walkerville (3-16)
Season recap: Like Montague, this is a team that feels like they should be better than they are. The Wildcats returned almost everyone from last year's squad that finished with a similar record, and they've played some good basketball at points this year, but it just hasn't clicked. Their main problem is offense — the Wildcats play good defense most of the time, but can't find anyone who can consistently deliver high scoring. Melanie Drum and Mandy Achterhof come the closest, but if Walkerville is going to do any winning in districts, it'll have to be in a slugfest.

District draw: Walkerville got a fairly fortunate draw in their home district, facing Brethren in the pre-district round, a winnable game. If the Wildcats can win that one, they'll face an awful Baldwin squad in the semifinals before running into Manistee Catholic or Mason County Eastern in the finals.

Prediction: Walkerville makes it to the finals. Why not?

Whitehall (9-9)
Season recap: The record doesn't show it, but Whitehall is capable of being a really good team. They have one of the state's most unstoppable players in junior forward Emily MacArthur, who's good for 20 and 10 (at least) almost every night regardless of how many players the other team sends at her. Senior point guard Jenna Pesch is at times a potent scorer, and the Vikings have a decent array of role players that occasionally deliver big-time performances. Whitehall has dropped a narrow game to WMC champion Oakridge this year, as well as nearly rallying from a 20-point deficit against second-place Mason County Central after a terrible third quarter. They also had their chances to beat Shelby the first time the teams met. Consistency has been the bugaboo for Whitehall, as they've not been able to get every facet of their game going at any time.

(Apropos of nothing, I like — to varying degrees — all the coaches I deal with in this job, but no one speaks with more candor than Whitehall coach Rachel Kent. She's not afraid to say so if she feels like her team laid up a stinker, most recently referring to a "terrible performance" by the Vikings in a 30-point loss to Belding Wednesday night.

District draw: Whitehall has a layup of a game against Fruitport in the pre-district round of the Orchard View tournament, but the Vikings have the tall task of Oakridge awaiting in the semifinals. It's not a game Whitehall can't win, but they'd have to play their best game of the year to do it.

Prediction: Whitehall does play a really good game against Oakridge, but the Eagles are just too good.

The Wrong Kind of History

Walkerville's Darrell Brown (right) and
Mason Co. Eastern's Michael Matzen in
rebounding position Tuesday night.
Walkerville's current losing streak of
over four seasons is due to end soon.
(Photo by Andy Roberts)

With some help from colleague David Bossick at the Ludington Daily News, I recently discovered that Walkerville's boys basketball team is currently in the midst of the longest losing streak in the recorded history of Michigan high school boys basketball.

Walkerville's last win was a 2009 district tournament win over a now defunct school called Greenville Grattan. The Wildcats have lost every game they have played since then, a streak that spans the entire 2009-10 through 2012-13 seasons and the six games they have lost so far this year, the most recent a 55-50 heartbreaker against Mason County Eastern. As far as I've been able to tell from looking through the Oceana's Herald-Journal archives, the streak is at 88 games.

The longest streak on the MHSAA record books is 75, a mark held by Farwell from 2000-03 and — as luck would have it — Walkerville from 1961-67.

It seems likely to me that the streak will end at some point this year. The Wildcats didn't play particularly well against MCE, shooting 5 of 18 from the free throw line and missing multiple breakaway layups, and still had chances to win. Hopefully for their sake, the streak will end soon. If it doesn't end this year, it should end next year — the Walkerville JVs have won several times already this season.

Obviously, Wildcats' fans have to feel for Sam Sweet, who is practically carrying the team on his back. Sweet, who at barely six feet (if that) is one of the tallest players on the team, is a double-double machine who routinely posts point totals near the 30s, and he dropped 32 with 11 rebounds Tuesday night. He was a second-team all-conference pick last year and probably should have been first team but for the fact that his team didn't win a game. Sweet, a senior, played five (five!!) varsity sports in 2012-13 (basketball, cross-country, baseball, track and soccer) before dropping soccer this year to focus on CC, probably his best sport. I've never heard of a player even trying to play five varsity sports before (most schools don't even permit you to play more than one sport per season). If there's such a thing as sports karma, the hardworking Sweet will be rewarded with at least one victory this year.

Shelby Tigers Hope to Flip 2012 Script This Week in Semis

Here's the preview story I wrote for this weekend's semifinal football game between #9 Shelby and #4 Clinton. The winner will play the winner of #1 Ithaca and #3 Montrose next week for the Division 6 state championship.

----------------------------------------------------------

The field hadn’t even been cleared from Shelby’s state semifinal loss to Ithaca last November when Tigers’ coach Lorenzo Rodriguez intoned that his team planned on returning the following season and changing the outcome.

That moment has now arrived for the Shelby Tigers, courtesy of a dominating 33-7 win over Schoolcraft Saturday afternoon in the regional finals. Shelby will go up against its toughest opponent yet, the Clinton Redskins, Saturday afternoon, with a 1 p.m. kickoff lined up at Thornapple-Kellogg High School in Middleville.

Clinton, making its first semifinal appearance since 1990, will enter the game undefeated, out of the Tri-County Conference. The Redskins have won every game by double digits, 10 of them by 20 or more points, and are coming off an impressive 47-28 win last week over Constantine, the state runner-up the last two seasons.

However, apart from studying the teams’ formations on film, Rodriguez and the Tigers aren’t too concerned with what Clinton has done leading up to the game — only what it will do Saturday.

“We try not to look into that too much,” Rodriguez said of Clinton’s season. “We can only control what we can control. We just have to take advantage of every opportunity we get and limit their opportunities.”

Shelby’s biggest advantage might be that semifinal game it played last season. Clinton’s team hasn’t even been out of the pre-district round since 2009, so the edge in playoff experience is clearly in the Tigers’ favor. “You’ve been there before,” Rodriguez said of the experience the Tigers banked a year ago. “You experienced the difference in atmosphere. This week we’ll be on a high school field, and not a college field. That will help both teams to soothe the nerves. We’ve told the kids it’s just another high school facility like ours.” 

Clinton boasts a potent offensive attack that’s scored 39 points or more in each of its last nine games. Like the Tigers, the Redskins have several players that can provide the fireworks at any time. All-purpose threat Matt Sexton scored five touchdowns for Clinton against Constantine, while Collin Poore has amassed 400 yards rushing over his team’s last two games. 

T.J. Baker is the Clinton quarterback, and he is more than capable throwing or running. While the Redskins generally don’t throw much — Baker’s season high in pass attempts is 16 — the senior is efficient when he does, with over 14 yards per attempt. He’s also amassed 641 yards rushing this season on over nine yards per carry. 

“They throw the ball really well,” Rodriguez said of Clinton. “They have some great athletes, the quarterback and (Sexton), and they all have great speed.” 

Sexton is also Clinton’s leading tackler, with 73 total takedowns this year, nine of them for loss. Baker, meanwhile, is the big-play man in the secondary, with four interceptions on the year. 

Shelby will counter that speed with its power. The Tigers have built their identity on their success on the offensive line over the last two seasons, and it was rarely more evident than last week, when Devin Mussell and David Guerra combined for nearly 300 rushing yards behind the front five. 

Should the game come down to a pass, the Tigers will need to be more successful than they have been. Andy Fortier completed three of 12 passes last week, overshooting some open receivers. If the senior can find his targets, like tight end Brody Lee and the all-purpose dynamos Mussell and Guerra, Shelby could put up some big plays. Then again, if the Tigers can rip off long runs as they did so consistently last week, passing might not be necessary. 

The biggest key for the Tigers, Rodriguez said, will be matching their strong start from the regional game. Shelby came out with purpose Saturday and surged into an early 20-0 lead behind defense, special teams and big-time runs. If the Tigers’ energy level leading up to the game is any indication, they should be able to do it again versus Clinton. 

“The town is buzzing,” Rodriguez said. “The kids are energetic. We have a new boost of confidence and energy. That’s a great thing for us at this point.”

Oakridge vs. Shelby: How Big Is It?

The answer: Real freaking big.

Shelby's Devin Mussell (in green) tackles Hart's Brandon
Amstutz during last week's Pink and Green game.
Mussell and his Tigers play at Oakridge tonight.
(Photo by Andrew Skinner)

The two teams battle tonight in what is essentially a West Michigan Conference title game. The only way the winner of this one doesn't end up as WMC champion is if Shelby wins AND loses to North Muskegon next week, which would create a three-way tie.

Oakridge enters as the favorite, of course, having gone unbeaten in the league last year. The Eagles haven't lost more than once in WMC play since 2009. They are also ranked #1 in the state in Division 5 and avenged a 2012 playoff loss to Grand Rapids West Catholic in this year's season opener. I saw them thoroughly dominate a good Montague offense in Week 2, and I can vouch for their legitimacy.

Senior QB Austin Wright and senior RB Dan Shoop are the straws that stir the drink for Oakridge offensively. The pair combined for 553 yards of total offense last week, 440 on the ground and 113 on Wright passes. Shelby will counter with some seniors of their own in QB Andy Fortier, RBs Devin Mussell, David Guerra and Forrest Courtright and TE Brody Lee.

Defensively, the Eagles had looked immortal until last week, when they struggled to dispatch Ravenna, 31-27. The best chance Shelby has is to pick up where the Bulldogs left off and score some points. It shouldn't take too many — Shelby's only given up more than a touchdown once in four conference games so far. I think if the Tigers can score three TDs, they should have a good chance. It won't be easy, though. Shelby's D needs a huge game from Courtright at the Mike LB spot, and the Tigers' secondary, led by Mussell and Dylan Unger, will have to have their best games of the season, because Oakridge is not afraid to go vertical.

I wish I could go cover the game, but as it's not a White Lake Beacon-area contest, I can't. Oceana's Herald-Journal editor Andrew Skinner will be on site, though, taking photos for next week's paper. I will be at the Whitehall/Hart game watching one of those teams pick up their first win. However, my ear will definitely be to the ground for updates from the big one in Muskegon.

Bassmaster Elite All-Star Event next week

Below is the first few paragraphs of our front-page story for this week — the Bassmaster Elite Series is bringing its All-Star event to the Muskegon and White Lake areas next weekend.

This weekend, the nationally-known Bassmaster Elite Series will stage its All-Star event locally, with 14 of the top anglers in the country competing over two days of fishing on Muskegon Lake Sept. 27-28, and culminating with the top four placers after two days gunning for the Evan Williams Bourbon Championship on White Lake Sunday, Sept. 29.

It will be the second time in a month that the Elite Series has brought a competition to Michigan after the Plano Championship Chase was held on Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River in late August. Prior to that, the series had never ventured into the state, said Eric Lopez, director of operations for the B.A.S.S. organization.

“We have lots of members in the Michigan area at the B.A.S.S. Nation level,” Lopez said, referring to the organization that certifies fishermen nationwide. “We have lots of people in Michigan who were asking when we were going to do an event here. It’s not that we’ve been ignoring Michigan, but there are lots of great lakes out there. It was time.”

Ultimately it was worth the wait, as Muskegon Lake and White Lake will play host to one of the most prestigious weeks on the tour, Toyota All-Star Week.

“We’re very excited to bring the best of the best to Muskegon,” Lopez said. “We’re bringing in 14 of the best for this three-day tournament.”

Why did the Bassmaster Elite Series choose the Muskegon and White Lake areas to host the All-Star event? Lopez said it came down to the area’s support of fishing.

“There are lots of awesome fisheries in Michigan, but looking at the communities, we wanted to go to an area that believes in and supports bass fishing and has the infrastructure,” Lopez said. “That area meets those criteria.”

Next week, it appears I'll be joining Mike Iacconelli, one of the anglers competing in the All-Star event, for his practice session on the water. This should be enlightening, to say the very least.

In any case, for anyone interested in fishing, this is a big event, probably the biggest sporting event to be held here in recent history. (The event will air in multiple parts on ESPN2 Oct. 13.)