Apr 8, 2012, 05:58 PM
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#26 | |
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Location: Urbana, IL
Posts: 430
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:01 PM
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#27 |
 Location: Charlotte, NC
Posts: 4,831
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That's awesome. Good luck, BW!
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:04 PM
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#28 |
  Location: Kelso, WA
Posts: 1,460
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Classy farewll by Coach Weber. I agree with the firing, but wishing him nothing but the best.
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:16 PM
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#29 |
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Tiny Illini
 Location: The basement of the Alamo
Posts: 1,658
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Class act, as always. I shall hope that KSU does well, as I believe that good people should have good things happen to them.
__________________ "The danger is all around us now. Hatred is rising, yet all sides feel more virtuous. We’re asleep to the threat. We can have the most sophisticated Constitution, a brilliant system of checks and balances and a Bill of Rights to safeguard against the tyranny of the majority — yet none of it can stand against the power of hatred." Fr. John I. Jenkins, President, University of Notre Dame |
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:26 PM
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#30 |
 Location: Northern frontier of Illini Country
Posts: 4,326
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Thanks coach. It was classy.
__________________ One does not simply walk into Mordor. |
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:27 PM
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#31 | |
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Banned
Posts: 333
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I'm sure the fresh start will result in strong success. |
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:34 PM
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#32 | |
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:41 PM
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#33 |
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Location: Decatur, IL
Posts: 482
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Not surprised by this at all. Bruce has always been a class act. A shame things had to change, but good things can and do come to an end, and his tenure here was no exception to that. Best of luck in your new gig Bruce!!
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:42 PM
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#34 | |
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Apr 8, 2012, 06:54 PM
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#35 |
 Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 1,953
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I've always liked Bruce as a person, even when I felt we should have moved on from him as a coach. I certainly appreciate this gesture. Truly classy.
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Apr 8, 2012, 07:37 PM
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#36 | |
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Posts: 1,949
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I'll be happy for him if it goes well at KSU, but I think he'll have to find the right group of players, and it won't happen often enough. |
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Apr 8, 2012, 08:07 PM
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#37 |
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Posts: 116
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Whoever designed and approved the ad should have stayed away from the bubble background. Just sayin'.
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Apr 8, 2012, 08:24 PM
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#38 | |
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Admin
 Location: Champaign, IL
Posts: 25,886
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Not a full page ad, despite what BTN's Brent Yarina stated (who strangely copied the image that I resized/resampled and put on the home page of IllinoisLoyalty for his story.)
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Apr 8, 2012, 08:49 PM
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#39 | |
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Location: Northern frontier of Illini Country
Posts: 4,326
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__________________ One does not simply walk into Mordor. |
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Apr 8, 2012, 08:54 PM
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#40 | |
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Apr 8, 2012, 08:56 PM
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Location: Lacey, WA
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Apr 8, 2012, 09:02 PM
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#42 |
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Posts: 308
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good lord folks, critiquing the add.....really. Has any other coach done this? Self...Kruger...? Very classy for how fans bashed him and many continue to do so.
I hope Weber, the 'good guy', finishes first! |
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Apr 8, 2012, 09:06 PM
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#43 | |
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Location: Forgottonia
Posts: 2,896
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Apr 8, 2012, 10:27 PM
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Location: Vermont
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Apr 8, 2012, 11:50 PM
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#45 |
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A Contrarian Prairian Point of View
In the face of the overwhelming praise for this ad from Bruce Weber, I will offer one contrarian viewpoint: First, what WOULD be classy would be for "IlliniNation" to buy an ad, hang a banner, run a big billboard - something - that says "Welcome Coach Groce!" (and the same for the new football coach and women's basketball coach as well, if so inclined). Second, the choice of the word "memorable" is interesting; it is ambiguous. His time here was memorable, that's a fact, but not all that is memorable is something one WANTS to remember. Third, it is really, really, really past time for Bruce Weber to GO, really, really, really GO. Leave. It's starting to have some of the creepy qualities of stalking - the interviews, the ad, the "I'm gonna be at Jarlings and I'll be saying goodbye again and again." Welcome, John Groce! Goodbye Bruce Weber. And by the way, it is "Coach Weber" to KSU. It is Coach Groce to the Illini!
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Apr 9, 2012, 12:27 AM
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#46 |
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Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 78
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Great move by Bruce. I'm very happy he was a representative of the university even though the results never got to what we come to expect. As much as some people may hate it, Bruce does have connections to Illinois and will continue to be present just to stay visible to recruits. I'm sure there will be all sorts of outrage when he comes to the bball banquet but I'm personally happy that he cares that much about the kids he coached for years. I'm excited for the Groce era but will be keeping my eye on Weber and his new endeavor and wish him nothing but the best.
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Apr 9, 2012, 02:04 AM
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Apr 9, 2012, 07:14 AM
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 Stop. No one cares about the Cats except KSU fans. I don't care for that at all. Bruce Weber is extremely annoying to me and this ad makes it more so.
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Apr 9, 2012, 08:24 AM
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#49 |
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Posts: 351
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Weber World
I think the fact that Bruce Weber won’t leave, will apparently continue to leave little “notes” for us, show up at various places and events in C-U, continue to refer to himself as “coach Weber” to Illinois fans, and be otherwise drawing attention to himself endlessly is just further example of his relentless stubbornness, passive-aggressive personality and inflated sense of self. We can now see that he will never go away. It is creepy. Show me any other coaches anywhere who act like he has acted – the crying family along with him crying at his “last” press conference, having some of the team at that same press conference (why have team members there? It is just wrong and creepy, yet so “Weber”), the ongoing insertion of self into things Illinois and C-U well after being fired and hired elsewhere. He is tainting what should be a happy, hopeful time and he knows it; he cannot help himself. He has to insert himself. He has to control. He does not care that his insistent need to control is destructive, just as he did not care that it was destructive on the Illinois court for so many years. The fact that his ongoing need to control and draw attention to himself brings out vehement and adamant polarized attitudes about HIM is evidence of a personality problem. I’m on “one side” about him and most others, not all but most, here are on a different “side” about him. The “other side” finds him good, great even, classy, good guy, more than a few even say he was/is a great coach, smart, that problems were the players’ fault, that he had players insufficient to his coaching greatness, etc. etc. etc. I have a very different opinion of him. I was very glad he was fired and thought it was LONG overdue. Now, however, it is clear that Bruce Weber’s personality and his needs – and he is VERY needy – will suck the air and light and joy out of the immediate future (and perhaps much longer) as well as the past few years. A crying press conference, using the team members as backdrop for that drama, having his crying family as backdrop for that drama, the Jarlings appearance – announced by him, the announcement of the orange ties auction, the self-important interviews that revise history according to Bruce, the ad, the juxtaposition and equivalence of KSU’s colors and Illinois colors in an ad ostensibly to “Illinination” - sending the message that both are now his and are equal under him, the banquet to come, likely more interviews around that, and on and on. He is poisoning the well because he has to. That he has plenty of partners here is amazing, but that kind of personality is quite adept at amassing a “fan club” around their neediness and self-involvement. I really feel for Mike Thomas and John Groce. This is not a normal coaching change, this is not a normal transition and this is not a normal series of events. Welcome to Weber World where his cult here is more than happy to cry and cheer for him ad nauseum, ad infinitum. Where there are those who are so willing to revise history in his favor (Jani Lane? Jani Lynn?) as to say his record was better than Bill Self's would have been - a real sleight of hand to compare the actual versus the hypothetical, as if factual. This is all pretty pointless because it is completely apparent that Weber will be with us, he will ensure that he will be with us, and his adoring fan club will guarantee that we all view Weber World through glasses manufactured and sold by him and them. By the way,where are the interviews with Wayne McClain? Will he be helping Bruce recruit for KSU in Peoria? And if Bruce is so great, why aren't there associate coaches clamoring to work with him at KSU? Surely Izzo can muscle some up and comers to go work with his BFF Bruce and stick it to Illinois, eh?
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Apr 9, 2012, 08:39 AM
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#50 | |
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Posts: 351
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Now, if Bruce returned that buyout or even some portion of it - the MILLIIONS unearned and undeserved - to, say, scholarships or just to the general fund - THAT would be something worthy of note. But an ad - about HIM and even making his new job at KSU and the Illini seem somehow, bizarrely equivalent? No, that's just Weber loving Weber and enjoining YOU to love Weber, too, 'cause Weber must have all your love, your appreciation, your accolades, your excuses and oh yeah, hand over all your money, too, because that will really show him how much you love him. Nope, it's just creepy and wrong. But you go ahead and enjoy that WeberWorld Club and the membership ads. He just used some Illinois money (unearned and undeserved, saying again) to say "Go Cats" in a Champaign-Urbana paper and you think that's fine. Nope, that's fine FOR WEBER (and maybe the paper's revenues and I DO support helping newspapers). Return the money, Weber; therein would lie the appreciation. |
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