Getting Ready for St. Louis

It is still possible to find hotels in St. Louis! Originally I booked a hotel in Collinsville, IL, about 10 minutes from downtown St. Louis.

After thinking this through, and considering the amount of my possible total beer consumption, I decided to try and find a hotel downtown. Success lay at the downtown Radisson.

So, no worries about driving after the National Title Game!

More updates to come....

Big Andy ices his final opponent in Y103 horse to earn tickets to the Final Four!!! 

Sweet Daddy!!!! St. Louis Here I Come!!!!!

YES!!! I will be at the National Championship game on Monday night! All thanks to my brother!!!

My youngest bro was in Decatur, IL last week and had his name pulled to shoot in a nine person HORSE tourney with one of the local radio stations, Y103. Well, today was the shoot off, and guess who the winner was!!! That is right Big Andy!! He said it was like magic, his shots kept falling and he knocked off all of his opponents.

So, the reward is two tickets to the Final Four and two tickets to the National Championship! Nosebleed seats....more than likely. My other brother, the basketball player in the family will be attending the semifinals, but I will hopefully get the chance to see the Illini win their first national title!!!!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE beat Louisville!!!!!!

I am excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Illini Hangover...

I can honestly say I never gave up. I got nervous, I got sad, but I kept saying that we could do it. My brother, my mom, Wisconsin J and my grandma were all here watching it with me. My two week old son slept through the entire event, even through the screams (silent supporter I am sure!).

With 3:53 left to go and my grandma clearly in give up mode, I said, "There is still a lot of time left. We can still pull this out." Maybe part of that was to help convince myself to stay with these guys. I rubbed my lucky Illini socks (unwashed for luck this season), clinched my Illini shirt and wished for the unthinkable.

As the comeback happened, there were lots of yells...clinched fists, wringing of hands. At some point I tore half of my fingernail off as I lept from the chair in celebration. Blood was flowing from my wounded appendage, but I was still in the game...I couldn't leave now.

I had been saying that all we needed was for Dee to get into the flow and cause some havoc. His well timed steal was a watershed moment as the team believed and the crowd came back to life. Luther Head was amazing. No words can capture how much I admire my favorite player on this team.

After Deron hit the three and the game went to overtime, the only thing I could say was "Oh My God!". Two phone calls before overtime, I am still not sure who might have called because all I could tell them was "Oh My God!"

Overtime starts and my finger is still bleeding. I wipe it on my Illini socks, another battle scar from a long season. I know now there is no way we are losing this game. You can see the fire in the eyes of the Illini and the fear in the eyes of the Wildcats. Salim has no answers, Lute is without words. When victory finally came, it was sweet and it was loud in our residence hall apartment. All I could think to do was to run to my window and screech "Oskee WOW WOW!!!" out of the window until my already hoarse voice could take no more. Then, it was time to celebrate...Bud Lights for a trip to St. Louis, cold and refreshing.

Ladies and gents, this was the finest basketball game I have ever seen. My loyalty as an Illini fan may cloud that judgement, but at the very least, it is a comeback for the annals. I spent Saturday leafing through a book my mom had brought up on the 100 years of history of the Illini basketball team. Many of the pages were amazing game summaries. None of them will hold a candle to this victory in Chicago. This is the finest moment in Illini men's basketball history.

We now have the chance to continue the magic. The Final Four was our initial goal. Now that we are there, we have to focus on the big cookie, the championship. I like how we match up with Louisville. Augie should have a big game on a team with no inside presence and our guards match up and exceed the Louisville backcourt. After that I have no doubt we will meet UNC in the title game. I don't know what will happen, but I do know that the Illini have played UNC each of the past two seasons, and we match up very well. I as always, will leave you with a rousing:

OSKEE WOW WOW!!!!

One Shining Moment...

My voice hurts, my body aches, and I am emotionally spent.

The game I have been waiting for all season was an emotional roller coaster, and is indeed the greatest Illini basketball game of all time. An amazing comeback from improbable odds. A team of destiny? Maybe. A team that keeps impressing? Most certainly.

I love this team, I love this coach. The season is validated. I hope the pressure comes off now and we play loose and enjoy our shot at the championship.

Random Musings....

If you couldn't tell from the pictures, I became a new father to a son on March 10th, 2005. Fatherhood has been very rewarding so far. Mrs. IWG and I are trying to hang in with the baby on his schedule and finding it tough to get as much rest as we would really like. Blogging has certainly taken a hit lately...so let me talk randomly.

...The Schiavo case is killing the Republicans. Several polls have shown approval ratings for the Congress and for Bush dropping signifcantly. The CBS poll tonight had Bush at 43%, ouch. This is not surprising considering that 83% of Americans say they would not want to be kept alive were they to be in the same position. I hate that this became a rallying cry of DeLay and the pro-life Republicans, trying to politizice and mobilize the theo-cons of the Republican party. It has certainly been an active conversation in our household over living wills and wishes. I suspect that many Americans are making sure their wishes are known. I hope that the young lady passes peacefully soon and no longer has to suffer in this world.

...Last weekend was some of the best college basketball I can remember. I was truly stunned (and secretly delighted) to see kU lose in the first round of the tourney. I do believe that it was the largest upset ever and a wasted chance for a loaded and talented kU team that never found it's groove. The part of me that likes Bill Self as a person felt very sad for him, but the part of me that is an Illini and Mizzou fan was excited to see kansas bounced from the tourney. Otherwise, I really enjoyed watching the other upsets and great performances. March is truly my favorite sporting time of year.

...My thoughts are turning to baseball and the White Sox. I was sad to see some of my favorite sluggers depart this past offseason. Watching Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez with other teams will be difficult. I hope the small ball and strong pitching staff of the Sox will help them knock off the Twins and have a shot at a pennant this year. I like being a White Sox fan because I get to sit back and watch all of the Cubs and Cardinals fans hammer each other over their mediocrity!

...The signs of Spring are starting to poke through in Northern Iowa. The wind is less biting and is becoming pleasant. The sun is out longer and the daffodils are peeking through the soil. I can't wait to see some green on the trees. The spring means the summer and the end of the school year is close. This will be my third class of students that will be moving out of the halls this summer and I will be saying goodbye to some excellent leaders and staff. I am not looking forward to seeing some of them go. The end of the year is the hardest part of working at a University because you are constantly losing people you care about and having to say goodbye to good friends.

Tomorrow I will begin the process of interviewing new Hall Coordinator candidates for our department in an annual renewal process. I will also be gearing up for what I hope is a special weekend for the Illini. I truly believe this team has a purpose/destiny to fulfill. I just hope Arizona or Oklahoma St. dont't have a more important destiny!!!

Why Every Illinois Fan Can't Wait For Bruce Pearl....

...alternately titled, why every true Orange Blooded fan should hope we whomp Wisconsin-Milwauke by 70 points.

But first Kudos to Illinois for rediscovering portions of their game. The guard play still has me extremely worried about this team right now, and I know that whoever we face in the Elite 8 will be our toughest match up of the tourney.

Now, onto Pearl. It does take a deep fan to appreciate and understand the animosity towards UW-Milwaukee coach Bruce Pearl. Mark Tupper does a decent job of summing some of it up in his column on Pearl. Another post on the history of the incident, including how Digger Phelps was involved (explaining his animosity toward Illinois) is here. (This is a detailed must read.)

However, let me tell you one fans perspective. 1989 was the last time the Illini made the Final Four. It was a year that they should have one a National Title behind a stellar lineup. Lou Henson was at the top of his game and was about to reap the national reputation he had been waiting for. Talent was going to flow into the program like never before and Illinois, although having lost a chance at the title, would be a major player for years to come.

The recruiting centered around Deon Thomas, a horse of a stud from Chicago Simeon. A lynchpin that would hold the middle for the Illini for the next four years. A nucleus to build championship teams around. Deon was recruited by a number of schools to come and play. One of them being the University of Iowa where Bruce Pearl was an assistant coach. Pearl was pissed that he could not land Thomas. Here are some quotes:

According to the Illinois side of the story, Iowa assistant Bruce Pearl kept
badgering him even after Thomas had already announced his intentions to play in
Champaign. But Pearl continued to call Thomas at home and secretly taped the
phone conversations. One time, Pearl was pestering Thomas about alleged money
and automobiles Illinois had offered him to get him to sign on the dotted line.
Thomas finally said something along the lines of “yeah, yeah that’s right” to
get the relentless recruiter off his back. Pearl then took the tapes and turned
them over to the NCAA. Although most of the allegations were dropped, Illinois
was found guilty on lack of institutional control.

Now, Thomas was cleared of any wrong doing. Maybe he did get a car and cash, it would not surprise me. U of I had been in trouble for recruiting issues in the past so it is not out of the question, but as Jay Mariotti points out, Kendall Gill at the time was driving a car with a hole in the floorboard. The ramifications of Pearl tattling when he did not get what he wanted crippled the Illinois basketball team for the 1990's. U of I lost scholarships to give out, was suspended from postseason play for a year, and was given recruting restrictions. The sanctions killed the momentum we had, and ultimately cost Lou Henson his job. Read this quote from 1996 when Lon Kruger was hired to replace Henson as coach:

Illinois still hasn't fully recovered from NCAA sanctions in 1990 for violations
which included improper recruiting contacts by Collins. Since then the Illini
have never won more than 19 games in a season and are 1-6 in postseason play.

What should have been our years turning Illinois into a dynasty were laid assunder by a jealous assistant coach in Pearl and a vindictive Head Coach at Notre Dame, Digger Phelps. It was a hard lesson learned to make sure we were operating cleanly, but we did not escape it for 9 years until 1999 when we won the Big 10 title. In an ironic twist, it took Pearl 9 years at Southern Indiana before he was even given a chance to coach at a D-I school. He broke the coaches code and he is a scum ball. I had the chance to work with Deon Thomas each of the three summers after he graduated at a summer camp in my hometown. He was a great guy and very easy going...except when talking about Pearl and Iowa. I hope Weber brings in Thomas (the all time leading scorer in Illini history) to give the pregame pep talk.

No game in this tourney will give me more pleasure than to see the Illini disembowel and burn Pearl's team. I admire his players and their tenacity, but the man is pure creamed shit in a can. He will look lovely smeared all over the walls of Allstate Arena.

The Iowawineguy Family 

Max Waves Hello 

Grandma Kathy and Max 

Max the Fan 

Max After Bath 

Mom and Dad 

Baby Max with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Dave 

Maxwell Gregory James Thompson, chilling out. 

Social Security and Bush's Big Gaffe

It looks more and more like the attempt by Bush and the Republican noise machine to privatize and eliminate Social Security is going to crash and burn as hard as any of Bushy's business ventures.

Up and down the board, private accounts have fallen on deaf ears. The AARP has said that they are a bad idea, and the Republicans have turned on this organization in an attempt to smear them. Young people are not sold on the private accounts. In my humble opinion, it is because young people have no flipping idea on what investment managment means, it scares them to death!

The Republicans have been selling a phony bill of goods, trying to convince Americans that the SS system is going to go bankrupt or insolvent long before it is actually going to. The system is secure for a number of years still, but changes do need to be made soon in order to keep it in good working order.

Here are my thoughts on Soc. Security.

1. The program as intended was not meant to provide retirees with a rich and healthy pension for them to live in the lap of luxury. SS was developed to make sure people could live and eat when they retired or became unable to work. The Repubs would have us believe that SS is meant to be an investment vehicle...a way to increase your retirement payouts so that you can have more money to spend. This was not the purpose, and will not be the purpose even with private accounts.

2. Real reforms are needed for SS. However, the kinds of reforms that should be enacted are not politically popular. For example, human life expectancies are getting longer....raising the retirement age would help. Also, some of the richest Americans obviously do not need more money in their retirement. Means testing, or assessing need may help save money in the system.

3. The solution is NOT to raise the payroll tax.

4. We cannot continue reckless government spending and amassing a gigantic National debt AND save SS. The government has to be fiscally responsible for the decisions it makes....maybe dropping $200 billion on an unneccessary war in Iraq could have been a place to start....

Senior Night

Lots of emotion for the final home game for the 28-0 Fighting Illini. Mark Tupper sums it up great with his column today.

For me, Senior night at Illinois is always emotional. When the Peoria guys left and Brian Cook's last home game...they get me a little weepy. Tonight will be no different. It has been so much fun to watch this team play this year. After these last two games, the fun gets put aside as it is all about getting down to business and winning championships. The memories of this year will live with me for always. This group of seniors (Nick Smith, Roger Powell, Luther Head, and Jack Ingram) has has an incredible run. During Nick's 5 year tenure Illinois has been 130-31, won four Big Ten Regular season championships (shared two of them), won the Big Ten Conference Tournament once, and is now pressing for an undefeated season. Simply incredible.

After the game tonight, the Illini will also receive their Big Ten Championship Trophy...what a night to be at the Assembly Hall! I truly believe that these last two games against Purdue and Ohio State will be wins for the Illini. I don't know what will happen from there, a loss in the Big 10 tourney is certainly a possibility. However, I do not think this team will lose in the NCAA tourney. I think they will be champions, but that will also depend on Selection Sunday.