The Journey: Episode 4
September 23, 2008 10:32 PM
A wide shot of Memorial Stadium filling up in a time lapse was outstanding. Good look at the 4 jets screaming by for the flyby. Juice's big boisterous family section in the first few rows of the East Main (104?) got a lot of air time.
Delivering a pregame speech, Brit Miller was FIRED UP. I think he almost dropped a thunderous F-bomb, but caught himself, aware of the BTN cameras. I don't think there's been any [bleeps] in The Journey yet. Hopefully, as the season progresses, the players relax and stop giving a [bleep] about the [bleeping] cameras and speak how they [bleep] well want to speak.
Onto the game, I've harped on the slow-mo game play technique they use, but I'm coming around to it. They're doing a better job interspersing game play and action on the sideline, such as the celebration on Miller's TD, or the groan on Juice's INT.
Was that Coach Mallory, for the second week in a row, screaming at the top of his lungs at halftime? I wonder if we'll get any coaching [bleeps] this season. I also wonder if the BTN is editing out anything that needs to be [bleeped] out to avoid bleepage.
Back on the field, we got to see some good slow-mos of Chris Duvalt dropping a perfectly fine TD pass, Josh Brent landing on an already-downed Cajun (late hit!), and some spectacularly piss-poor tackling on Louisiana's two 4th quarter touchdowns.
The third sequence is Get To Know You. In past episodes we've gotten to know Juice and his baby daughter, and Ryan McDonald and his scary 400-level engineering prof.
This week we get to know Will Davis and his mom, the Deputy Minister of State for the African nation of Liberia. (I copied that direct from fightingillini.com). Good stuff.
Fourth and final sequence, a little bit of bye week practice. If you were worried that Penn St could be watching and stealing intel, don't be, that week the Illini were working on the Illini, it's this week that the Illini are working on PSU, and that won't be aired until next week.
Finally, coaches Mitchell, Disch, and Zook talked the bye weekend and their recruiting travel plans. In the locker room, Troy Pollard was heading back to Florida for some home-cooked meals, Ryan McDonald and the o-line were going to do some damage at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and Vontae Davis was going to get a massage. Gotta keep the body in shape!
Episode 4 was the best of the 3 half-hour episodes, but the sequencing can use some work. The best part of the show is the games, so put that last. To build the pace, start the first two sequences with Get to Know You followed by practice (or mix them together). Finally, put the two game sequences on at the end. Buiiiild the excitement.
The Journey Thread Filed under: Big Ten Network, Illini Football, Illinois Football: The Journey
