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Mark Lazerus

Sports Editor Mark Lazerus has been honored nationally by the Associated Press Sports Editors each of the past three years, has won 15 statewide writing …Read More

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  • Lazerus: Grigson is Highland’s new favorite son

    Somewhere buried in a closet in Dave Milausnic’s house is a bunch of Colts gear he’s never touched. His wife, Robyn — an Indianapolis native and Colts fan — bought it all for him, but Milausnic bleeds the blue and orange of the Bears. Well, that all …Read More

  • Lazerus: Transition, not change, at Valpo

    At the end of the school day on Wednesday afternoon, Dave Coyle was sitting in Mark Hoffman’s office, and the two were talking Valparaiso High School football. What else is new? These two have been doing that for 22 years now — Hoffman, the head …Read More

  • Lazerus: Will the real VU please stand up?

    VALPARAISO — This wasn’t exacty bragging. It certainly wasn’t trash talk. It probably doesn’t even qualify as a guarantee heading into Valparaiso’s Horizon League home game tonight against Milwaukee. Fact is, Ryan Broekhoff almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “If, no when, WHEN we get …Read More

  • Lazerus: VU's foreign players improvise on Christmas 

    VALPARAISO — In the corner of the Valparaiso house that Kevin Van Wijk rents, there’s a plastic Christmas tree. Underneath it are some presents that his parents bought when they were in town over Thanksgiving break. On Christmas morning, he’ll fire up his laptop, Skype his …Read More

  • Lazerus: Intriguing season on the Horizon

    Back in September, after writing a column musing about the intriguing but far-fetched idea that Butler could be scooped up by the Big East in the wake of the nationwide shakeup that saw that conference badly plundered from a football standpoint, I received an e-mail from …Read More

  • Lazerus: Pinpointing the parochial problem

    The way Bobby Cox sees it, the problem isn’t that seven of the eight schools playing in the Class 1A to 4A state football championships this weekend are Catholic schools. It’s that four of them won state titles last year. And are, frankly, very likely …Read More

  • Drews cope with simultaneous cancer diagnoses together

    VALPARAISO — Homer Drew — ever the ham, ever the showman — heard the doorbell ring on Oct. 24 and went into full-blown acting mode. He frantically looked around at all the flowers and food dishes and cards and tokens of affection that had turned the …Read More

  • Lazerus: Ex-Dogs make new memories at Crown Point

    CROWN POINT — Matt Jansen and Nick Ciochina don’t cry themselves to sleep every night, thinking of that fateful Friday night in November of 2005. “Well, I might a little more than Matt,” Ciochina says with a chuckle. But that doesn’t mean the memory of that game — one of …Read More

  • Mark Lazerus: Bryce preaching, practicing patience

    VALPARAISO — Homer Drew’s feet would be pressed together, his hands clasped, almost as in prayer. He’d bend at the waist, turn his head toward a referee and say something like, “Oh, you’re a better official than that!” “Always very positive with them,” Bryce Drew …Read More

  • Lazerus: Youth is served for Crown Point

    MERRILLVILLE — Tristan Peterson and Jake Jatis always hoped they’d be in this position — the starting tailback and the starting quarterback playing for Crown Point in front of thousands of fans in the sectional championship game. They just never dreamed it would happen this year. “No …Read More

  • Lazerus: Wheeler a foe and an inspiration

    Pat Brown knows the deal. He’s under no delusions. The North Newton football coach knows exactly what I, you and everybody else thinks about his team’s chances in Friday’s Class 2A sectional championship game against unbeaten Wheeler. “I could probably tell you with 90 percent …Read More

  • Lazerus: Wheeler's Naspinski displays his toughness

    VALPARAISO — Nick Naspinski took a few exploratory stutter steps, waiting for an opening. It never came. So Naspinski did what athletic teenagers with no regard for their physical well-being do. The Wheeler quarterback ran right at two Rensselaer defenders and leapt for the end …Read More

  • Lazerus: Back to work for Wheeler

    What do you do when you climb Everest? When you capture your white whale? When you slay the giant? You enjoy it. For a few hours. Then it’s back to work. “We really enjoyed it this weekend,” Wheeler coach Dan Klimczak said of his Bearcats’ 12-7 …Read More

  • Lazerus: A blind squirrel in search of a nut

    The IHSAA blind draw stinks blah blah blah. It’s unfair to teams that have earned the right to blah blah blah. Undefeated teams shouldn’t be treated the same as winless blah blah blah. You get it. I hate the blind draw. I think it’s awful and …Read More

  • Mark Lazerus: Amin goes from VU to ESPNU

    Here’s what Adam Amin’s schedule looks like this week. This past Saturday, he took the red-eye from Miami to New Jersey. He then hopped in a car and spent all day Sunday on I-80, driving home to Chicago. After a day off on Monday, he flew …Read More

  • Lazerus: Naspinski embraces new role

    It’s one of those calls you never enjoy making. Yet in this business, you make them all the time. The star player on an elite team gets injured. He’s out for the season. His team’s championship hopes are dealt a severe blow. His college aspirations …Read More

  • Mark Lazerus: Horizon League content to skip conference chaos

    Let’s put this one to bed once and for all. “This rumor that we’re going to be the 16th member of the ACC is not true,” said Valparaiso director of athletics Mark LaBarbera. He was joking, of course. But who can tell these days? With high-profile colleges …Read More

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