I was lucky to start following Illinois football when I moved to Illinois in 1982 after finishing my first 7 years of military service. I was a fan from the minute I stepped on campus as a transfer student, and had the pleasure of watching the beloved during the White & Mackovic years, so I thought we ALWAYS had a rich tradition of winning football. Little did I konw . . . Only after I graduated in '85 did I learn of some of the history BMT (Before My Time) and figure out that we actually had a pretty poor winning football tradition. Since then, we've been pretty pathetic :frustrated:
I still love football, and yearn for the to come back and restore winning to our teams. I've earned to be patient with my kids, and I'll continue to be patient with Lovie.
I'm not sure this is completely true. Prior to the 80's, we certainly had some lean years but we did have some really good history as well. In fact, I thought we were on part with Michigan until about 50's/60's when each program went in different directions. The post 80's Illini have been pathetic and it would be really nice to get back to some level of competence as I simply love the game of football. Basketball is okay, but football is king in my mind.