If you haven't seen this press conference by Bruce Weber, you need to click the screen. You won't believe who he has to thank. Please note that you need to enter information and have your phone nearby to get the full effect.
Seriously. Kudos to the Illinois Staff and Bruce, who made this happen!
Go Illini and Go I-Fund!
Sorry for the delay in updating my blog, but after last night, I had to say something about the game! I was fortunate to meet up with some old fraternity brothers at a sports bar in Naperville to catch up on old time, but I was keenly watching (mostly in dismay) of the game going on the big screen.
In between getting caught up on fraternity brothers and initiation week stories, I watched an incredibly talented Northwestern team hit shot after shot, backdoor cuts, and three pointers while our Illini couldn't even dribble the ball.
I didn't mind so much being behind at halftime, but it told the guys that I think Illinois will probably keep it close, but then NW will put the dagger in us in the second half. Going into the 10 minute mark, we were only down by 10 and I remember Bill Self saying, down by 10 at 10, down by 5 at 5 and you still have a chance.
We were down by 13 at 7 minutes left. Gulp.
This definitely had the feel of the 2005 Arizona game, but I never really felt a momentum shift as I did there. I felt it was first the press we put on NW that really caused problems (normally problems that plague us) and NW inability to score any good baskets.
Did anyone else feel that Meachem was incredible, but it didn't seem like he took over the game, but just played his role extremely well?
At the end, the first of us old fraternity boys were screaming in a near empty sports bar, just like old times.
Hats off to NW, who I honestly was willing to lose to last night. They played an incredible game. However, I'll take a win when we can get it.
Go Illini!
BTW, hats off to our friend Scott Nagy, coach of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits and former Illini assistant coach, who also won their game last night vs. S. Utah!
It's that time of year again and hats off to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals for making it to the superbowl. More importantly, there are three former Illini in the Superbowl this year: Carey Davis, Neil Rackers and Nathan Hodel.
Read more about it here, but I hope that this game goes down to the finish. As a guy who works for an NFL agent and has no guys in the superbowl this year (vs. 3 in last year's), it'll be good to watch it without having to root for one side or the other.
Sorry for the delay in getting back into the swing of things. The holiday's took a lot out of me, but hopefully will get back on the wagon here soon!
Go Illini! Congrats to the 17-3 ranked basketball team!
It's official, 5'11" guard and top Illinois basketball prospect Tracy Abrams has committed to the Illini, which expert feel will lead to another highly ranked crop of recruits in 2011.
A Mt. Carmel product, his signing will hopefully have the same effect as last year with Illinois getting top 20 class with the signing of Paul, Bertrand, Richardson and Griffey.
Boy, it's good to hear how well Weber is recruiting over the last couple of years. The great part is that many times good players go to okay coaches who can't get them to their full potential. I'm pretty confident that Bruce and his team will be able to maximize the talent they are getting in '09, '10 and now '11.
Go Illini!
Details are sketchy, but it is confirmed that Illinois LB Martez Wilson is at Carle Hospital due to a late night incident at FuBar in Champaign. Word on the street is that he was knifed during a scuffle, but due to recover.
While I don't like separating out athletes from students, it amazes me how much trouble our athletes are getting into over the past couple of years. You can blame the coaches, the environment, the pressure, but it comes down to the individual putting themselves in a compromising position.
I do hope that Martez gets better and learns from this, but I don't know the full story.
Best Wishes and Go Illini!
Well, it's official. After starting up the tradition once again, the requests for off the field performances has started up again.
Yesterday, the council received a request by a notable alumnus of the University of Illinois who wanted the Chief to perform at his upcoming wedding. I'll admit, now that we aren't under the University banner, the opportunity to promote the chief more extensively has come up now and then.
I actually talked to another proud Illini dad earlier this year asking the same thing. His daughter, another Illini grad, was getting married and there were multi generational Illini alums in attendance. This proud father wanted to give his daughter an unforgettable gift.
I can understand, but I just couldn't do it. And we can't do it for this notable alumnus, who I know both the husband and fiance and would do most everything else for them to make their wedding special. However, we just can't do it.
While it's wonderful to think of how cool it would be to have Chief Illiniwek show up to your wedding or bar mitzvah or prom, it goes against the grain of the respect and tradition we owe this tradition and the potential of opening a pandora's box of problems in the future.
The allowance of one, albeit pure in nature, opens the door to two, then three and more opportunities. Every opportunity forces us to determine why one and not another. Well, maybe we start charging higher fees to raise money or start a committee to review these requests. Ultimately, there will inevitably be disappointed people who will feel hurt that we didn't pick them....all because they love the tradition so much.
Therefore, at this time, the Chief won't be open to "gigs" today, tomorrow or most likely ever. In my mind, it's not right and to those who have been thinking about calling us for an event, I'd ask you to call The Other Guys, an Alumni Band, or even a former football player to come to your reception. They'd love to do it and would take your money handily.
We however will continue to work on the new direction of the tradition and hope the next time he dances, it's once again in the right venue for the right purposeand at the right time.
Go Illini! Beat Georgia!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I took video courtside of the Chief Illiniwek: The Next Dance event on November 15th. I had some issues with uploading until my good neighbors had the exact model I needed to get it finish.
Extended Cut Available
Above is the video for you to enjoy, but I also took some addition video before the event and even backstage in the dressing room. To see those...click here.
For the last year, I've been working on a sports social networking site called FanFuego.com, which helps connect pro athletes with passionate fans. After taking a look at the video, feel free to look around, open an account and let me know your thoughts. We've just gotten into beta, but we've got some cools thing coming up soon. I'd love you guys to be my beta testers!
Thanks everyone for your support and go beat Northwestern!
Go Illini!
Meet JP Hayes...who qualified for Q school, which is the qualifying school for the PGA tour. More than a day after he qualified for Q school, he realized that he was playing with an Illegal ball, called himself on it..thus disqualifying himself from Q school.
What did that mean? Losing exempt status from the entire 2009 PGA Season and adding on to already $7 million in career earings.
I've always been raised that integrity is what you do when no one is around. JP Hayes shows a level of integrity that is sorely missing these days. Good for him and I hope we all can follow in his example.
Here's a link to the article...but definitely something to think about going into the weekend.
Go Illini!
I saw this recently and had to share with Illini fans! The only place I knew who could do something like this was FatHead, but it was really for professional athletes. This takes it one notch lower...your soon to be professional child! The site is called StickyFan.com and looks like a winner to me!
Deron...Dee...J Leman...Zook...Chief?
Here is a link to the original article, but I've also posted below:
If Your Child Athlete is Really So Awesome, Get a Life-Sized Cut Out of Them
Many people decorate their workspace with pictures of their families. Often, these photos serve as a good conversation piece. But, what if you could have a life-sized cutout of your kids, playing sports? That’s where StickyFan comes in.
The service lets you upload a photo of your kid (or really, anyone, but the focus is on child athletes) and then order either a huge cutout or a poster. Cutouts can be up to 6 feet tall, while posters are 24” x 36”. Stickyfan offers its own photo editing tools, and sends you a proof of what your cutout will look like within 24 hours of submission so you can approve it or request changes.
Of course, some might look at placing a life-sized cutout of your kid in your office as a bit gratuitous, but I’m sure plenty of child athletes would love to have one for their room. After all, life-size cutouts and posters of professional athletes have always been a staple of kid’s room decorations. StickyFan is also doing some smart marketing, offering youth sports leagues an opportunity to utilize the service for fundraising.
Meanwhile, since my youth sports career peeked around age 12 and I have no kids of my own yet, I’ve taken the humble measure of ordering a life-sized cutout of myself on top of a mountain.....
The Honor the Chief Society and Students for Chief Illiniwek has posted video of last Saturday's dance on you tube, but you can see it here as I have posted it below!
In addition, here are other videos from that day!
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