InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
Illini Football 2023
- Status
I want my life to be baseball. A long sunny day at the park.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Yep, I genuinely and completely love both. There is absolutely no reason at all to have to choose!This gif seems obligatory at this point…
I want to watch a football team that is competitive and nationally relevant all the way until our December (or hopefully January!) bowl game and a basketball team that is competitive and nationally relevant until well into late March!! The glorious overlap from November to January is icing on the cake!
The idea that schools are often "one or the other" is completely antiquated now a days, IMO. We have the money, we have the fans, we have the facilities. We can and should be good at both.
Love whatever sport you like, as many as you like. Just know that their performance is sometimes a Divine Comedy.
ILLINI NINE CIRCLES OF DANTE’S INFERNO
SLUSH FUND – you achieve mediocre results despite paying your players. Your prayers for assistance are answered with Jim Valek.
GROCE RECRUITING – you are cursed to wander the earth, fettered in heavy chains, searching in vain for a point guard.
BRUCE PEARL – you are forced to push a Chevy Blazer uphill forever, but it always rolls back down over you.
BECKMAN LASAGNA – alternating layers of cheese, pasta, and chewing tobacco. Hey, if you take out just three layers of tobacco, you’d be a winner.
2005 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – you are pounded by Sean May for eternity. Saint James of Augustine is attacked by three black-and-white-striped demons.
IDKWTI – you must watch Shaun Pruitt shoot free throws until judgement day.
1989 FINAL FOUR GAME – third appearance by a Sean / Shaun here…your attempts to box Higgins out fail for all time.
1997 FOOTBALL SEASON – no matter what you try you can never win. You almost wish Tepper was back, and this thought sears what is left of your soul.
AUSTIN PEAY – you must stand on your head and listen to Dick Vitale talk about Duke forevermore.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
^^^ good job ^^^
sadly , there are about 99 levels of Dante’s Illini Inferno .
I’m not going to add any , outta fear of getting terribly depressed . Sure , we’ve climbed to the top of the mountain a few times , but it’s usually followed quickly by a kick to the nuts and we find ourselves at the bottom of the valley the next year or so
sadly , there are about 99 levels of Dante’s Illini Inferno .
I’m not going to add any , outta fear of getting terribly depressed . Sure , we’ve climbed to the top of the mountain a few times , but it’s usually followed quickly by a kick to the nuts and we find ourselves at the bottom of the valley the next year or so
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
Well, I do know that the Buffalo Bills swapped first round picks with Green Bay about 15 years ago. Bills got JP Losman; Packers got Aaron Rodgers. And a few years ago the Bills traded down and gave the Chiefs the pick they used for Patrick Mahomes. So there's that...not like the Bills ever needed a quarterback for those 15 years, either....
According to Wikipedia Nebraska and Syracuse were the only two schools who offered Donovan McNabb a scholarship to play QB.
TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
Made the final five
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brady#Early_life
Think he had his heart set on Michigan though.
BTW
Yeah we’re definitely happy a guy with an argument to be the greatest football player ever isn’t connected to our school…
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I was going to start doing this every week for fun ... Big Ten TV ratings for last week (all times CST) below, including our future members when available!
1) 3.22 million for #7 Penn State at Illinois - 11:00 am on FOX
2) 2.82 million for Western Kentucky at #6 Ohio State - 3:00 pm on FOX
3) 1.58 million for Minnesota at #20 North Carolina - 2:30 pm on ESPN
4) 1.32 million for Bowling Green at #2 Michigan - 6:30 pm on BTN
5) 1.25 million for Syracuse at Purdue - 6:30 pm on NBC
6) 907k for Northern Illinois at Nebraska - 6:00 pm on FS1
7) 828k for Georgia Southern at Wisconsin OR Louisville vs. Indiana (Indianapolis) - both 11:00 am on BTN
8) 776k for Virginia at Maryland - 6:00 pm on FS1 (Friday night)
9) 720k for Western Michigan at #25 Iowa OR Virginia Tech at Rutgers - both 2:30 pm on BTN
Also for fun, including ALL games, this is the average rating by network for the week:
CBS: 5.42 million (only one game - South Carolina at #1 Georgia)
ABC: 3.58 million
ESPN: 3.49 million (Colorado/CSU provided 9.3 million of this average)
FOX: 2.41 million
NBC: 1.25 million (only one game - Syracuse at Purdue)
BTN: 1.07 million
ESPN2: 682k
FS1: 509k
The CW: 205k (only one game - VMI at NC State)
ESPNU: 110k
NFL Network: 81k (only one game - James Madison at Troy)
CNBC: 20k (only one game - Morehouse at Albany State)
So, let this sink in how important it is to stay off of certain channels! Kentucky's prime-time ESPNU game only drew about 35k more fans than James Madison at Troy on the NFL Network, simply because ESPNU is terrible.
It is also worth noting that Colorado is an absolute ratings anomaly this year, and - at least for the foreseeable future - whatever channel big-time gets their game is going to have an absolute killer weekend. Consider that Colorado vs. Colorado State just drew 9.3 million viewers compared to 8.76 million for Texas vs. Alabama in prime time on the same channel last week and only 5.31 million for Tennessee vs. Florida later the same day - all on ESPN!
1) 3.22 million for #7 Penn State at Illinois - 11:00 am on FOX
2) 2.82 million for Western Kentucky at #6 Ohio State - 3:00 pm on FOX
3) 1.58 million for Minnesota at #20 North Carolina - 2:30 pm on ESPN
4) 1.32 million for Bowling Green at #2 Michigan - 6:30 pm on BTN
5) 1.25 million for Syracuse at Purdue - 6:30 pm on NBC
6) 907k for Northern Illinois at Nebraska - 6:00 pm on FS1
7) 828k for Georgia Southern at Wisconsin OR Louisville vs. Indiana (Indianapolis) - both 11:00 am on BTN
8) 776k for Virginia at Maryland - 6:00 pm on FS1 (Friday night)
9) 720k for Western Michigan at #25 Iowa OR Virginia Tech at Rutgers - both 2:30 pm on BTN
Also for fun, including ALL games, this is the average rating by network for the week:
CBS: 5.42 million (only one game - South Carolina at #1 Georgia)
ABC: 3.58 million
ESPN: 3.49 million (Colorado/CSU provided 9.3 million of this average)
FOX: 2.41 million
NBC: 1.25 million (only one game - Syracuse at Purdue)
BTN: 1.07 million
ESPN2: 682k
FS1: 509k
The CW: 205k (only one game - VMI at NC State)
ESPNU: 110k
NFL Network: 81k (only one game - James Madison at Troy)
CNBC: 20k (only one game - Morehouse at Albany State)
So, let this sink in how important it is to stay off of certain channels! Kentucky's prime-time ESPNU game only drew about 35k more fans than James Madison at Troy on the NFL Network, simply because ESPNU is terrible.
It is also worth noting that Colorado is an absolute ratings anomaly this year, and - at least for the foreseeable future - whatever channel big-time gets their game is going to have an absolute killer weekend. Consider that Colorado vs. Colorado State just drew 9.3 million viewers compared to 8.76 million for Texas vs. Alabama in prime time on the same channel last week and only 5.31 million for Tennessee vs. Florida later the same day - all on ESPN!
and I have lived through them all! what ...er...fond memories! I was a sophomore during the slush fund debacle and the Illini never recovered during my days on campus. what a loser jim valek was! I liked harv schmidt but he wore thin very soon. The rest are more death by a thousand cuts....
The one that sticks in my craw is the slush fund. Self inflicted by a disgruntled athletic association employee. Excessively punished by the Big 10 for "violations" that were occurring at other Big 10 schools and and across the country. Am I still bitter after all these years? He!! Yes!
Not quite in the same league, but we passed on Jay Cutler in the same recruiting cycle as we passed on Rodgers. If I remember correctly, Cutler had actually committed to us and we pulled his offer. Donovan McNabb is another one - he wanted to come here as a QB but we recruited him as a DB
What about Purdue vs Wisconsin.
The announcers would not stop talking about how great Friday night games are due to the increase in potenital viewership?????
2005 was also Self inflicted, but in a much better way (until the endgame).
McNabb would have helped a ton and could you have imagined his success followed by Kittner
TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
Another reason Lou Tepper was an idiot.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I’ll let you know next Tuesday, but from what I’ve seen … not true at all, lol.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Their add-on to that comment was....................."for teams like Purdue, Indiana and Illinois. They then don't have to compete against the plethora of Saturday games."
Quite the insult actually.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Remaining schedule, ranked by likliehood of victory........
1. Northwestern
2. Indiana
3. Nebraska
4. @ Purdue
5. @ Minnesota
6. Wisconsin
7. @ Iowa
8. @ Maryland
Last three are, of course, debatable.
1. Northwestern
2. Indiana
3. Nebraska
4. @ Purdue
5. @ Minnesota
6. Wisconsin
7. @ Iowa
8. @ Maryland
Last three are, of course, debatable.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
After Minnesota‘s loss to Northwestern, I’d switch them and Purdue. Agree with the rest
Iowa stunk vs. PedState.
Basically two groups, 1 - 5 and 6 - 8. Though 6 & 7 are significantly more likely than 8 in my opinion.
- Status