Arch Rival preview
After attending Fan Appreciation Day at Memorial Stadium last Saturday, I will state this of our Fighting Illini football players: there is more enthusiasm and emotion among them than I have seen in a long time.
As a former coach, I am concerned about the tough schedule they face this season.
As a former player, I am optimistic that this challenging schedule presents a lot of great opportunities. As I have said before, no opponent has seen their new offense or defense and that is something to get excited about. These players do not care what happened last season against Missouri — or the previous four years for that matter.
All they know is their season starts September 4. I believe Missouri should be prepared to get a taste of their own medicine. The coaches, I am sure, can live with physical mistakes as long as we remain positive and limit our mental mistakes. This is an exhilarating time to be an Illini fan!
| Dynamite weekend heats up the Spa
It's time for the premiere 3-year-old race of the summer, yet once again, the best 3-year-old in the country is not entered to run in it. This leaves us looking for the second or maybe third best 3-year-old in the land, but you won't have to look far if you were watching the Grade I Haskell Invitational on August 1st. While Lucky was finally able to shake his bad fortune and prove once and for all his status on the totem pole, the runner-up in the Haskell was making a break-out performance that ranked him as a notch below the winner of that race. Now he will use that prestige to make his mark against a tested group of graded stakes winners and some hungry wanna-bes in the historic Travers this Saturday at Saratoga.
The Fighting Illini preseason football practice schedule ended on a high note (despite the injury to presumed starting junior Strong Safety, Supo Sanni) with the second scrimmage showing promising improvement in all areas. Our offense will be more consistent with veteran linemen Allen, Hunt, and Thornton protecting their teammates. We have an experienced wide receiver core with Jenkins, Fayson, and McGee, along with the addition of TE Evan Wilson and two freshman sensations Milliness and Lankford. Led by QB Nathan …
For a day in late August, there sure is a lot to tell you about Illini Basketball. Luckily, I can make it quick — especially because muting the volume on my toy camera kills its internal microphone. I captured 8 great interviews, I just now discovered, as complete silence. This will save you a lot of time. The newsiest story of the day went completely unplanned by the sports information staff. Redshirt freshman point guard Kevin Berardini got his first …
As an avid Illini fan, I am excited to report that Camp Rantoul 2010 has been a huge success for the football team. What this team has accomplished in two short weeks is impressive to say the least. We are steadily making those much needed improvements before facing Missouri in the State Farm Arch Rival game in just two short weeks. Week #1 at this year's Camp Rantoul was spent battling the elements. Central Illinois has never been known to …
Though it has earned the nickname of the Graveyard of Champions, horses don't come to Saratoga to lose. The very best horses across the nation travel here to compete in the biggest collection of America's most historic races. Saratoga celebrates its past more than any other track; patrons cannot help but be exposed to the history walking into the mouth of the grandstand—a canopy of banners hang from the ceiling with the names of all the annual major stakes races: …
Some of you may have seen them around town, those funky toed shoes some runners wear. You know what I'm talking about; the runners look like they have webbed feet. Everybody stares at them. The people wearing them are usually running on grass, and they have a slightly unusual gait, like they're running gingerly, afraid they will trip and stub their toes. You might expect that when people are (basically) running shoeless through Champaign-Urbana. Those who use the Vibram Five …
When I tell people I've been to the Kentucky Derby, even those with the most casual interest in horse racing light up and divulge their desire to see the spectacle that is the first Saturday in May in Louisville, Kentucky. The very next thing that comes out of their mouth is always along the lines of, "Don't you have to be grandfathered into tickets?" While Churchill Downs has answered that question by selling a limited number of grandstand seats to …
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is John Johnson. And no, I am not the QB who guided the Fighting Illini to victory over East Carolina during the winter of 1994, fearlessly crushing the competition at 30–0. Now that was an amazing era in Fighting Illini Football; the Liberty Bowl had been our sixth bowl appearance in only seven years. But no, I am not that John Johnson. I am just a humble fan with a passion for football. …
It's a veritable clash of the Titans at the grand old Spa this Saturday, when the two best male routers on dirt go head-to-head in the Grade I $750,000 Whitney Invitational Handicap. When it comes to the numbers, the two giants are equally matched with 7 wins in 10 starts; but as for which between them carries Thor's Hammer, it's no question that Quality Road towers over Blame as the heavyweight titleholder. Big, bad Blame is most recently coming off …
Most Recent Sports Comments
Jamie, you gave me goosebumps talking about the race with Rachel Alexandra and Life at Ten, wish I could be there!! Go Rachel!!!!!
Hope for the best, expect the worst. 81-126-2 FIRE RON GUENTHER
Beat Missouri and there is validity here, but until this team wins a game it should not, it is all speculation.
Gret pix, Jamie!
I think any conversation about the limits of the human body are innately limiting. As a non-yoga guy, seeing a skilled yoga person twist his or her body in unthinkable ways challenges my ideas of what the body can and cannot do. Heck, seeing George Clooney double over and…
But couldn’t you receive the same benefits (balance, muscle strength, etc.) from doing yoga barfeoot? From everything I’ve read, the Vibram Five Fingers seem to limit the distance you are able to run, and I am not convinced that is such a good tradeoff. Heck, Pheidippides…
The thing people don’t realize about barefoot running/ five fingers before they try it is that they have been completely isolated from their environment by their shoes. For example saying that hard surfaces like concrete are a recent invention., In the summer trails with a lot of…
Rob, Zola asks you to read further: “I no longer run barefoot,“ she said. “As I got older I had injuries to my hamstring. I found that wearing shoes gives me more support and protection from injuries.“ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/aug/10/southafrica.past1
Many people, including myself, run barefoot on concrete, asphalt, grass, and dirt. No problems. You actually end up with LESS impact than if you were shod in crazy cushioned/supportive shoes. Your body adapts and you land with less force. Think short, quick strides with bent knees. I…
Most Recent Comments
Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.
Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is. But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…
Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…
I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get. I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library. None of those activities…
These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…
(speaking as a Savoy resident) By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc. This is how library systems work. The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…
I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“
I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?
Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.
The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.
Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
Thanks for the article, Ben. I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar. A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…
Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.
good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…
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Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.