Illinois Fighting Illini 4-0, Time to Prove Something

Great big win for the Illini today over Gonzaga. The final score was closer than the game was, as the Illini flirted with a 40 point lead in the second half. It was the first time I got to watch the Illini on TV, which is the only way I get to see them now since Self left and took my courtside seats with him!! The shooting of our team is just ridiculous, they are averaging more than 10 three pointers a game.

I was impressed with the team, although I would still like to see more inside-outside balance. However, the team looks good, and the bench players have really come along way.

Now, we will have a chance to make a huge statement on Wednesday night, when #1 Wake Forest comes to the Assembly Hall. I am nervous for the game. Illinois has had huge expectations before, and we have all been disappointed (I am talking Frank Williams y'all!!!), so I will feel better when the game is over. I am optimistic though...I remember what happend the last time a highly ranked ACC team came to Assembly Hall (Illinois over North Carolina 92-65). The Assembly Hall is a magical place, and it will be off of it's rocker on Wednesday night, but make no mistake, Wake Forest is the real deal. Chris Paul and Justin Gray will match up with Dee and Deron, so hopefully we can look for a good game from Luther. The subs will have to do a great job as well. It is another chance for Illini to make a statement and win big on the National stage. I am hoping they do well, I think they can.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I give thanks for a wonderfully supportive and beautiful wife.

I give thanks for the little boy that will soon be here to bless our life.

I give thanks for my family, who supports and loves me.

I give thanks for the friends in my life for their friendship and laughter.

I give thanks for the good health I find myself in.

I give thanks for having a home, food to eat, and enough money to live comfortably.

I give thanks for my dog.

I give thanks that I live in America.

I give thanks to the Spirit, for all the amazing blessings of my life.

I give thanks to you, readers of my blog, for putting up with my rants!!! Have a great holiday!!

The NBA

NBA= Nobody should Bother Anymore. What a terrible spectacle this weekend in Detroit. The fans do have a heavy share of the responsibility, but the players have been punished in a fitting way for the stupidity of their actions.

The NBA is a joke of a professional league. These fools display no talent, no teamwork, and put out a me first attitude. Why should I pay to support that? The NBA has made it's own bed, and now they must lay in the results of it. This used to be a proud and honorable league...until David Stern. Remember the great team play of the Showtime Lakers, or the Celtics? How about the thrill of the role player on the Bulls title teams?

Now, the league has turned into the worst sort of organized playground ball, except they are all millionaires. Coaches cannot contain their players...they are making a mint as well. The court clears for the star players to have their showtime. The whole game is slow pace show off basketball, until the last few minutes when the teams actually pretend to care. Play some damn defense for God's sake!!!!

The NBA should also have a rule on early entry like the NFL. Who wants to watch 18 year old millionaires pout, wine, play bad basketball, and then get into trouble.

To hell with it, I hope this spells the end of the league, and then we can concentrate on a pure team game. At least college basketball is still entertaining, and you can feel good rooting for the majority of the teams.

Illinois Fighting Illini 2-0

The Illini got their second win of the season today over Florida A & M, not quite the type of opponent that is going to help get Illinois ready for Wake Forest, but still a good chance to get the subs plenty of playing time. 20 points from Dee Brown, 11 from Deron (more important 8 assists), although Deron was 2-8 3 pts. Roger Powell contributed a good game on the boards. This week will mark an uptick in the opponents, the sometimes dangerous Oakland, and the always tough Gonzaga at the Wooden Tradition.

Mizzou Tigers 2-1

Suffering their first loss at the new Paige Sports Arena, to lowly Davidson...I feel bad for the Tigers. Quin Snyder has brought shame on that program, and they may struggle mightily.

Illinois Fighting Illini 1-0

Illinois got the college basketball season tipped off with a win over Delaware St. Great balance among the starting five tonight in a tune up win over a cupcake opponent. Looks like #3 North Carolina (or the most overrated team in America with the most overrated coach) will lose to the mighty Santa Clara, slayer of giants. That means the Illini will be bumping up the polls next week. It is a long season, but always great to start with a win!!

Kansas took a close win at Fogg Allen over Vermont, who is an awesome, awesome low major program. Of course, I constantly wish Bill Self continued turmoil and Roy Williams syndrome at Kansas....minus the Final Fours.

It is here baby! College basketball!! See you in St. Louis!!!

Can't We Have Any Fun Any More?????

So there is this whole flap about the Desperate Housewives intro on Monday Night Football this week. Now, the show is one of the best new shows on TV this year, and I am wondering why they need the promotion on MNF, but the larger question is: when did everyone lose their sense of humor????

I think this will be the hardest thing to deal with over the next four years, because let's face it, more conservatives + more moral values = loss of fun and laughter in society. The Janet Jackson flap with the FCC is to blame....I mean God forbid that kids, adults, and household pets may have seen a woman's breast for 5 seconds on TV (but really, what a breast to see!). Once we start analyzing every minute of what is on television, in the media, in the movies, or on the radio we continue to lose part of our freedom of speech and expression. But we also lose the fun!!! I think this election has left us all so damn serious it is ridiculous. We are all in "judgement" mode and I think it is terrible. Laugh at MNF. Laugh at the skits...as this article in ESPN shows, they have been a lot worst in the past with no reaction!!

C'mon people! We don't live under communist rule in China. Take the time to express yourself. Laugh at a dirty joke instead of worrying about the impact on your soul. Hug your kids and tell them that you love them. Show them what right and wrong is, rather than worrying that society will corrupt their morals.

LIGHTEN UP!!!!!

The Incredibles

I saw it this weekend with a theatre full of kids. I love this movie. It is so much fun to see the world of superheros and their powers in the Pixar world. I can sense a whole franchise of movies with these fun heros running around with their exploits.

Check this movie out, it is well worth it. Also, before the movie was the trailer for the new Star Wars movie coming out in May.....talk about wetting myself in public. It looks so good. Check out Revenge of The Sith.

Changing of The Guard

Today we say goodbye to Colin Powell. An unfortunate casuality in George Bush's dangerous game of world chess. Powell is a great man, and a good moderate. He was forced to take dangerous positions due to his loyalty to the President, and his credibility may be forever damaged because of it.

Is it just me, or do the wave of resignations signal that maybe folks have not been happy working with Bush. I know that some turnover is natural, but the volume seems high this time. Check it out:

Already Gone: John Ashcroft, Attorney General Don Evans, Sec. of Commerce Colin Powell, Sec. of State.

Expected Announcements Today: Education Secretary Rod Paige, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman

Others Rumored to be leaving: Tom Ridge, Homeland Security, Donald Rumsfeld, Dept. of Defense.

Can it be that these are intelligent people tired of not having their voices heard and being marginalized by a President that does not want to hear facts??

Who knows.

Veterans Day

Originally called Armistice Day to mark the end of The Great War, a war so terrible many thought it would be the war to end all war, in 1918. When man did not learn it's lesson, and World War II was fought, the name was changed to Veteran's Day. It is a day to honor all the past soldiers and present soldiers who keep us free. We honor them for the freedom they gave us, freedom to screw things up from time to time, but freedom for us all. I honor the following:

Sgt. Chet Wilcox, 82nd Airborne Division: Chet is my brother in-law. His four year term of service ended two weeks ago and he is home now enjoying life out of the service. During his service time he served in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also completed the gruelling Army Ranger Training. Chet will be starting college in January.

William Max Coon: My grandfather that recently passed away. Max served in the Army from 1952-1954. He spent part of his term of service in Korea. One of my cherished heirlooms from him is his green Army trenchcoat that he used in Korea. My grandpa still had his M-1 rifle that he used in the Army.

James Thompson: My other grandfather. Jim served in the Army for several years. Jim fought in the Pacific theatre during World War II, including dangerous times on the island of Guam. Grandpa Jim has a great photo album of his times abroad.

Chris Thompson: My first cousin. He currently serves in the Navy. He is moving up the ranks and I believe he is now training submarine crew members. He has been in the navy for nearly ten years now.

Jim Wilcox: My wife's grandfather. Jim served in the Navy during World War II.

Take the time to thank those veterans in your life. They served during hard times when the will of America was truly tested.

A Week To Forget, and Other Ramblings

Well, nearly a week off from blogging and I have a lot to talk about today. Last week was hard enough having my Grandpa pass away, but the election news on top of it made for a very tough week for me.

To say I was devastated by the outcome of the election is to understate my emotions dramatically. I am not going to try and get into logic, rationale, explanations, etc. There are plenty of other places to read about that. I am not going to launch into a diatribe about "culture war" and "the growing American theocracy". At this point, it is counter-productive to talk about the huge rifts between urban and rural America. If you want to explore that more, I suggest Thomas Frank's book, What's The Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. I won't even spew forth my feelings on the way the election was won, by using fear, ignorance, and hate to divide the electorate. No, none of these things are appropriate, and certainly will not make me feel any better.

I will simply say, congratulations Mr. Bush. You have fairly, and soundly won a presidential election. As an American, I value our Democracy and therefore I support the results of the voice of America, even though I may disagree with that voice. To be sure, the message sent by America last Tuesday does not look like the message that I would send. I do not recognize America or her values anymore, but that is why it is important for me to stay engaged in the progress of this country. So, my hope for you Mr. Bush is that you will do well with your victory. Your first four years are nothing short of what I would call a mess, but that is the beautiful part of our system. You now have four more years to start anew, repair what you have broken, and truly strive to be a great President. I hope that you learn from the past four years. I hope that you will fire those in your administration that have failed you and the country. I hope that you will respect that more Americans voted against you than any other Presidential candidate in history. I hope that you will respect that 48% of Americans did not rubber stamp you with a right wing mandate. I hope you are humbled that if not for 70,000 Ohio voters, you would be headed toward retirement.

What does that mean for you? Let me make some suggestions on how to unite and lead for the next four years.

1. If you are going to talk about protecting the sanctity of life, then do not limit it to abortion. Fight for the sanctity of life for our troops, the civilians we harm, those given the death penalty, and those in abject poverty. If life is sacred, then ALL life must be held sacred.

2. If you are going to talk about putting money back in the pockets of those that earn it, then mean it for everyone. Make sure the poor get lots of money back, they are truly the ones that need it. Remember, the country itself needs to have money in it's pocket, do not let these deficits spiral out of control.

3. Remember that we have plenty of problems at home that need attention. Health care and education in Iraq are important, but not more important than taking care of our elderly, poor, and weak here at home.

4. When you talk about faith, and others call on you to use your Christian faith and the Bible to guide you, do not just focus on the parts of the book that teach condemnation. Focus on the love, the understanding, the forgiveness and acceptance of Christ. Focus on the charity, and the call to love our neighbors. Remember that Christ was a giver, not a taker. Do not use his amazing teachings to hold people back, he came to lift us up.

5. Temper the calls for you to wield your new power in a dominant sense. Yes, you are beholden to elements of the right that helped propel you into office, but their agenda will not lead to the greatness of the best free nation on the planet, it will lead to the greatest shame on free people. You must be the steadying voice, to act as the counter to such extreme people such as Coburn and DeMint who were elected to the Senate. They are not the voice of the people.

I hope that you will use your gifted skills at communicating with the everyman to truly unite us. I am ready to support you should you truly be a coalition builder. However, you need to know that the dissent offered by Democrats is valuable and needed. You have won a great victory, and in doing so have eroded some of the checks and balances that are in place to keep one party from domination. Wield your power wisely. We will be watching.


I was glad to see Daschle go, but sad to see that the Dems will replace him with Harry Reid from Nevada. We are going to get in the same mess with Reid, being a Dem from a red state. Glad to see Dick Durbin in the whip seat.

So the election is over, and it has been a large focus of this blog. I think there will be a shift in posts for the good of this site. My next big political mission will be to do what I can to help mid-term elections in 2006. Part of this project will be to do all I can to defeat Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. I love politics and it will never go away, but I need to return focus to the myriad of other things in my life. First and foremost will be the birth of my child in March! I also need to return a steady focus to my job, as being distracted by politics has allowed me to be complacent in some aspects. I also look forward to the upcoming college basketball season (My favorite sport!) and will most certainly be posting about my team, the Fighting Illini. Of course, now that the craziness has ended, I will return to the cellar and begin looking for that next great bottle of wine. The beauty of wine, and of time, is that there are always exciting new things to discover, and the back of every wine bottle has a new story, a new twist, and new beginnings.

The Day That Changed America, One Way Or The Other

No words can express the emotion I will be feeling today. My plans changed when my grandpa died. Funny enough, I thought I would have been staying at the hotel where Tom Daschle and the South Dakota Dems will be having their "victory" celebration. I was going to try and break in. I may be off the blog for a few days while I am at the funeral.

I know the tears will come tonight. How can they not. March of 2003 I got involved in presidential politics by volunteering for the Dean campaign. Since then, I have busted my ass for the Democratic Party...a group I have disagreed with, but who I believe holds the best vision for this country. Tonight is the payoff. It might be tears of sadness, tears for those that will continue to suffer under Bush if he wins.....but I am feeling confident that it will be tears of happiness, tears to signify that hope is indeed on the way. No matter how you feel, vote today. I leave you with the words of the man that inspired me to action, the one that changed the face of the race, and made us all realize how important things are. His words still move me to tears, and provide the inspiration to keep fighting. These words are from his speech withdrawing from the Presidential race. Enjoy.

"Change is hard work. Change does not happen simply because you go to a rally and simply because you make phone calls -- and I know how hard everybody here has worked. But change is a process that you can never give up on because change is the state of America and change is the state of humankind.

So we will continue to fight. This is the end of phase one of this fight, but the fight will go on, and we will be together in that fight. We will continue to bring our message of hope and change to the American people.

We will speak out. We will fight on. We will continue to stand up against the dangerous foreign policy which weakens our security, and stand up against this president who weakens our civil rights.

We will continue to stand up against special interest that prevent change. And we will stand for America's working families for jobs and health care, investment in our children, the chance of all Americans to pursue their dreams.

We will continue to stand up against the divisive policies of the far right. We will no longer be divided by race. We will no longer be divided by gender. We will no longer be divided by sexual orientation. We will no longer be divided by religion. We will no longer be divided by income. And we will no longer be divided by George W. Bush in the White House.

And now that the campaign is stopped, I'm going to say something that all of you have heard me say before.

But I want you to think about it now because now is the most important time that you have heard it. And this is the real message of this campaign and you'll hear it in a different way because I am no longer a candidate.

The biggest lie that people like me tell people like you at election time is that, If you vote for me, I'll solve your problems. The truth is the power is in your hands, not mine.

Abraham Lincoln said that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this Earth. You have the power to take back the Democratic Party and make us stand up for what's right again.

Allow us to fulfill the dream of Harry Truman in 1948 that he laid out where we would no longer be the last industrial country on the face of the Earth without health insurance. Allow us to stand up again for the rights to organize for ordinary men and women. Allow us to stand again for the principles of equal rights under the law for every single American.

You have the power to take our country back so that the flag of the United States of America no longer is the exclusive property of John Ashcroft and Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh and Jerry Falwell; that it belongs to all of us again.

And together we have the power to take back the White House in 2004 and that is exactly what we're going to do."

-Howard Dean

Let's do it together, let's take our country back. Vote today. Vote Democrat. Vote for Hope. God Bless us and keep all of us

1 Day To Go...

A tough day for me today. I found out this morning that my Grandpa Max died overnight. He was my grandpa, the one I was closest too. He had been suffering for years with rheumatoid arthritis, a terribly crippling disease. A couple years ago, due to the disease, his spinal column weakened and he injured his spinal cord in his neck. This, along with four joint replacement operations, left him wheel-chair bound. A few strokes had left him a little short of what he used to be as well, so it truly is a blessing that this homecoming occurred now. Still, I will miss not being able to see him....and I truly regret that he will not get to meet his first great-grandchild in March.

My grandpa helped to shape the man I have become, and helped ground my values. He was a quite introverted man, prefering to be out in his fields than engaged in conversation. Twice in my life he got cross with me. The first time was when I was a young child, and I was acting up in the car and would not behave. I was the first grandchild in my family. Grandpa Max was driving, and when we hit a stop sign he turned around and thumped me on my head with one of his fingers! Well, suffice to say that I was a better behaved child after that. The "thumping", as it became known in my family, is legendary. The second time was during a heated political discussion I was having with my family. My mom's side of the family, with the exception of my mom, are all Republicans. We were talking during the Clinton Lewinsky Republican Coup. I was arguing with my Grandma about how I thought the charges agains Clinton were not very sound. My Grandpa eventually roared in that character counts, and Clinton had shown poor character and judgement. It was the only time that I heard my Grandpa raise his voice, and like the thumping, it made an impact.

I could trust my Grandpa's opinion, because he told it like it was no matter what. He told me what he thought of Clinton, and he and my Grandma told me what they thought of Bush. They could not bear to vote for Bush in this election because of the same loss of character, and a flawed moral compass. They knew that Bush was trying to peddle bruised fruit to the American public. As Republicans, they were able to see past the strangleholds of pary affiliation and know that the right choice was not Bush.

So, tomorrow instead of being glued to the election coverage, I will make the long trip home to be with family. It was only a month ago that I was home burying Grandpa Max's brother. Once again I will serve as a pall bearer...what an honor. To bear Grandpa to rest, the same way he took me on my first combine and tractor rides, by lifting me up in his arms, and carrying me.

My last memories of being with my Grandpa are so special for me. At my uncle David's funeral, I got to push my Grandpa home from the church. It was only a few blocks, but it was just me and him, out in the sunny day. I got to spend those last few minutes with him listening to some last great words of advice, "Try not to hit the bumpy spots. Take your time, we are in no hurry."