Baffoe: The Greatest Rivalry In Illinois, From A Guy Who Has Been On Both Sides
By Tim Baffoe-
(CBS) Depending on whom you ask, I either was or am on the wrong side. See, I am one of very few to have partaken on both sides of the annual South Side Civil War that is the Mt. Carmel vs. St. Rita football rivalry, which continues Friday night at St. Rita at 7:30.
It will be the 88th meeting of the two storied members of the Chicago Catholic League, a rivalry that Yahoo's Rivals.com and ESPN's Rise both call the best in the state of Illinois. The Caravan lead the overall series with a record of 57-29-2, though the Mustangs currently have a three-game winning streak. But what makes this rivalry bigger than any other local one?
Some would argue that it's not so much about winning a football game as it is winning bragging rights across the entire South Side and its surrounding suburbs. Many of the players on both teams went to the same grammar schools, were teammates on seventh and eighth grade squads, have parents that are coworkers, or even have a relative at the opposing school.
From Palos and Chicago Ridge to South Holland and Dolton to Lansing to Hyde Park and everywhere in between, young men attend these two proud schools. In many ways, they are mirror images of themselves—both drawing enrollment heavily from the city's Southwest Side, both with exceptional college preparatory academics, both almost equal in racial/ethnic diversity, both which rich histories and notable alumni, and both with top-notch athletic programs.
Others would say the game is a respect issue. As a teenager, my daily routine was being practically tasered out of bed by my parents, sleeping in the clothes I was wearing to school, and running outside just before my buddy pulled away in his parents' minivan. I shake my head now at students who can't show up to school on time, but then I remember barely getting there on time myself at seventeen, or accepting that our whole car would be late and then going out to breakfast and taking advantage of one of the free days at a museum, then showing up to school at lunchtime. It only equaled a tardy, and $5 got us out of the JUG (we Catholic schools call "detention") we'd have to serve. Hell, one guy in our carpool used to get dressed in the car on the ride to school almost every day.
Between cigarettes and rushing through Coach E's Physics homework or Sister Hurley's calculus problems on the bumpy ride to 6410 S. Dante Ave., we'd usually cross paths with a car-full of St. Rita guys. The requisite middle fingers would all go up, more as a respectful acknowledgement than anything vitriolic. There never was nor is today any real hatred between the two schools, but more a burning desire to defeat an opponent that is truly respected. Most fans of one school will root for the other when playing a different team—it's a Catholic League pride thing.
Though, it is odd that a person often just assumes I am a St. Rita grad when they hear that I teach there (fourteen current SR staff members are alums). When I say that I'm a Mt. Carmel grad, confusion usually hits that person's face, following by a question somewhere in the ballpark of "Why would you do that?" Especially if they know that my dad, four of his brothers, my youngest brother, and two of my cousins are MC alumni, too.
I should also admit now that I did not play football while at MC, though they won state championships my junior and senior years. Something about not being very good at the sport but going along for the ride didn't appeal to me, so I focused my energy on making life difficult for teachers (damn you, karma) and writing. I did attend almost every game, though. Just making a preemptive strike against the fools who believe anyone who didn't play a sport cannot have an educated opinion on it.
There is also the argument that the matchup is usually some of the best high school football you'll see all year. Both programs are always solid, always producing some Division I talent and even NFL talent from time to time (at least 22 alumni from the schools played in the pros, with Vikings QB Donovan McNabb, Eagles QB Mike Kafka, and Lions P Ryan Donahue as active representatives). And it's not that flashy finesse game they play over in the DuPage Valley either. The Catholic League is all about defense and a great running game and Ditka and sahsidge. Seriously, though, it's usually a quality product when these teams meet up—very much a chess match between coaching staffs. I mean, they filmed part of Rudy at Old St. Rita Stadium using Mt. Carmel players and coaches.
And, yes, I took a jab at the mighty DVC, the rich kids' conference that thinks they are so much better than the CCL, whose argument always boils down to "Your schools get to recruit; ours don't." True, Carmel and Rita recruit grade schoolers, as do all CCL high schools, but the misconception is that the recruiting is done strictly for athletics. Students families are paying a hefty tuition (about $9,000 a year for both school right now), but that's the cost of a private college preparatory education.
To keep the doors open and constantly keep up with technological and architectural advances, along with basic campus maintenance—and let's not forget those greedy teacher salaries (which are much less than those of their public school counterparts and without the security of a labor union)—the private schools need to be as close to capacity as possible. Students are recruited, and some happen to be excellent athletes, but also excellent artists and writers and whatever it is they do in the science labs. And these two schools have about 1,500 students combined, which is less than any single DVC school enrollment by at least hundreds.
And of those 1,500 at Carmel and Rita, the vast majority are sons of firefighters, police officers, tradesmen, nurses, and school teachers, very unstereotypical of the all-boys private schools of big and small screen. Don't let the dress code fool you—they are no Hogwarts (that's St. Ignatius). And because these schools are not Affliction shirt and Real Housewives of Naperville assembly lines, there are bonds formed between students and their classmates and faculty and staff that go beyond the walls.
No student at either school is a number, nobody gets lost in the shuffle. I know that not one of the 700+ St. Rita students can walk by school President Tom McCarthy, OSA, without him speaking that kid's name, and I'm sure Fr. Tony Mazurkiewicz, O. Carm. has a similar rapport over at Mt. Carmel. These are families, not factories like public schools.
As an English teacher now in my fifth year at St. Rita, I know that the whole thing is not about standardized test scores and meeting state quotas. It's about helping build these kids into respectable men who will go on to do great things. It's not textbooks; it's life lessons and preparing these guys for the real world, and I don't mean just in a job-sense. That gets done in spades at St. Rita and Mt. Carmel, and I am immensely proud to be associated with both institutions.
And Friday night is a chance for both families to let their hair down, have some fun, and appreciate what they have and each other, while simultaneously hoping their team destroys the other. But regardless of outcome, fans of both schools will still be sharing drinks together at the Western Ave. bars, and the students will still intermingle at South Side parties Saturday night.
So if you can, I invite you to travel to 77th and Western Ave. and join 10-12,000 fans for the game tonight. If you can't make it, it also happens to be MeTV's game of the week and will also be shown on some internet sites as well. You won't be able to get the whole experience unless you're in person, but watching it on a box should still be entertaining.
Oh, and because I get asked this every year dozens of times, GO PAYCHECK… I MEAN… GO MUSTANGS!
Tim Baffoe attended the University of Iowa and Governors State University and began blogging at The Score after winning the 2011 Pepsi Max Score Search. He enjoys writing things about stuff, but not so much stuff about things. When not writing for 670TheScore.com, Tim corrupts America's youth as a high school English teacher and provides a great service to his South Side community delivering pizzas (please tip him and his colleagues well). You can follow Tim's inappropriate brain droppings on Twitter @Ten_Foot_Midget , but please don't follow him in real life. He grew up in Chicago's Beverly To read more of Tim's blogs click here.
