Lakes' Blain brothers share success

Right down to their haircuts, Parker Blain and Tanner Blain are different.

Parker, a fan of short, spiky 'dos, is the big brother, not just in age, but in size. He's thicker, so in football, he plays on the line.

Lanky Tanner, who has grown his locks over his ears as part of the popular moppy look, is a wide receiver.

In basketball, Parker hangs around the paint, hustling for rebounds and muscling for position. Meanwhile, Tanner is a gunner from 3-point land and finesses his way to the basket.

“We hear a lot of people say, ‘The Blains this or that,' kind of just always talking about us together like that,” Tanner Blain said. “But people who know us know that we're very different.”

There is one thing about the brothers that has always been the same.

The teams they play on.

Just one year apart, the Blain brothers from Lakes have shared nearly every athletic experience of their lives: from youth iceless hockey to varsity basketball, and everything in between.

Because Tanner, a junior, often played up a grade level, they've gotten to be teammates over and over and over again. They estimate they've played thousands of games together through the years.

Last week, the Blain brothers teamed up for one of their biggest wins ever when they helped Lakes take down North Chicago. To date, it's the most talked about game of the season in Lake County.

Visiting North Chicago entered the game having won 43 straight North Suburban Conference Prairie Division games.

Lakes had a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter but saw North Chicago systematically rip into it until it had dwindled to just 2 points.

Somehow, the Eagles hung tough, and even survived a shot by North Chicago at the buzzer to pull off the upset 68-66.

Interestingly, Lakes was also the last team to beat North Chicago before its streak began. That game took place during the 2006-07 season, also at Lakes.

“We just wanted to beat them so bad,” Parker said. “We had this will to win. We weren't going to give up just because of some streak, which is what I think a lot of teams have done. We were all ready to play and we just went out and did our jobs.”

The Blain brothers certainly brought their hard hats and lunch pails.

Parker came up with all kinds of key rebounds and defensive stops and Tanner poured in a game-high 24 points.

“It was such a loud game,” Tanner said. “Our fans were going crazy and at the end, they rushed the floor.

“I just remember thinking that I was so happy that this happened in Parker's senior year so that he has this great memory. I always want things to go well for Parker.”

Tanner really seems to mean it.

And Parker would probably say the same thing. In fact, he practically did.

“I'm his biggest fan,” Parker said of Tanner.

“And I'm his biggest fan,” Tanner added quickly.

So different from each other, Parker and Tanner are clearly different from many other sets of brothers as well. Particularly brothers who are so close in age.

There seems to be not even a tinge of sibling rivalry between the Blain boys.

Jealousy? None of that either.

Only genuine support and admiration.

“They've got a great relationship,” Lakes coach Chris Snyder said of the Blains. “They're real supportive of each other. If Parker is on the bench when Tanner makes a great play, he's the first one jumping up to cheer. And it's true the other way around.

“They also seem to really push each other and you can tell they've played a lot together over the years. Every now and then in practice, they'll connect on some pass or something and you'll think to yourself, ‘I bet they've done that a bunch of times in the driveway.'”

Soon, the driveway will be all the Blain brothers have.

With Parker set to graduate this spring, they'll be going their separate ways, likely never to play on the same team again.

“I can't believe we're almost done playing sports together,” Parker said. “I think my parents are going to be really sad after our last game.”

“It's going to be so different next year,” Tanner said. “Parker is such a great teammate to me, and to everyone. He's always making sure I'm OK, always making me laugh. I'm going to miss that. I'm going to miss playing together.”

A lot of Lakes fans will probably miss that, too.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com