IlliniKrush

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 27, 2012 -> 12:51 PM) They're still not the quality of major conference teams. I'm not saying it's a guaranteed 4-0....God knows Illinois football can never make it easy. But those are four games they SHOULD win. Would you like them to play 4 BCS conference teams the first 4 games? Only one's a 1-AA. The point is they aren't nobodies. Nobodies would be 4-0 by rolling the ball onto the field and having a picnic. 3 of the 4 should be good/close games. The schedule is not easy to start the year.

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Aug 27, 2012 -> 01:29 PM) It seems like he tries out a few new lines each year. I think "hell, yeah" has been retired from his rotation. Same with "an A-BOMB by Dunn" Well he just used A-Bomb on a Flowers HR, so it hasn't been retired. QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 27, 2012 -> 01:33 PM) Since "it's all good" always rears its head during the best of times, I've learned to love it. Kind of like when something is so bad, it's good. As I said about "appreciate the game" before the season, we will all appropriate it as awesome when we win it all. "It's all good" started with the trap in the outfield in a game a few weeks ago, presumably costing us, and they came back to score anyway. It made sense there. Now Hawk is using it for the hell of it when it doesn't make sense.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 27, 2012 -> 11:53 AM) I'm pumped for this weekend, but I know that generally college football is terrible for at least another month. Illinois plays a bunch of nobodies until conference play. Um, what??? It's pretty much the opposite. Saying we're playing nobodies would imply we'll have an easy 4-0 start. Hardly. 2 non-conference teams that might combine for 20 wins and a late night road game, that's 3/4 games. Western Michigan is a solid team, Carder is outstanding, that is going to be a really tough game to start with (see: last year). Arizona State is down a bit from last year, but a night road game in the Pac 12? Probably a pick em game at best. Louisiana Tech...assuming you just saw the name and figured they suck. If the game was on a neutral field, La Tech would be favored (plus they have a vote in the poll). They'll probably win the WAC. Lost by 7 to TCU in their bowl game last year. 1/4 games is against a nobody, Charleston Southern. This is actually extremely far from an easy schedule, especially with a new coaching staff coming. All winnable, but easily could be 1-3 if they don't play well in every game.

QUOTE (Noonskadoodle @ Aug 24, 2012 -> 11:26 PM) I will never forget that El Duque performance haha I was at the movies with some buddies watching the 40 year old virgin & kept on leaving the movie & going to the bar/restaurant in the theatre to watch the game. Once that inning came up I said forget the movie & never went back to watch it haha That 05 run was so special. The 4 CGs against the Angels is so impressive & I really don't think we will ever see that again in the playoffs. ...why are you going to a movie in the middle of a playoff game?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 23, 2012 -> 02:44 PM) Anyone catch the All Access special on OSU last night? I wanted to run out and hit someone after watching it. So glad football is f***ing back, and this year I actually have a head coach. I saw a lot of it today. I want to grab an air mattress and go take a nap.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/...ts-freeh-report My favorite quote from Spanier: "Why on earth would anybody cover up for a known child predator?"

Yeah, I was dripping sweat, everything was soaked. Ass and quads sure got a workout. I had never done a hike before. It was fun but a lot of work.

While in Vancouver we climbed to the top of Grouse Mountain. Felt very accomplished afterwards and the view was great. Trail Facts Length: 2.9 kilometres (1.8 miles) Elevation Gain: 853 metres (2,800 feet) Base: 274 metres above sea level (900 feet) Summit: 1,127 metres (3,700 feet) Total Stairs: 2,830 Statistics: Annually, over 100,000 people hike the trail. Average Time: On average it takes up to an hour and a half to complete the hike. For novice hikers, two hours is recommended. Participants: Hikers range in age from 7 to 90, with an equal male/female split.

I think I would have done the same thing in this situation, just reacting to a huge milestone ball that just went over my head. Too bad he was stripped of the ball on top of it. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...cGFnZQ--;_ylv=3

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Aug 19, 2012 -> 08:26 PM) My bottom lip just got really swollen on he left side for no reason. This is weird. Allergic reaction to something? Sounds like it if it's the only symptom and you don't notice anything else weird. One time I had an allergic reaction to a sandwich and my fingers were really swollen. Didn't hurt, no other symptoms, but looked at my fingers and they were ginormous. It was odd.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 16, 2012 -> 03:56 PM) What a myth. ND is recruiting the same players everyone else is. What initially made Notre Dame special was that they were incredibly powerful at playing football, that was destroyed a long time ago. And the "they play on national TV every Saturday" thing.

Called his walkoff HR before the inning started. Laughed my ass off when it happened.

Solid read: http://www.southsidesox.com/2012/8/9/32304...hatch#storyjump

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 10, 2012 -> 02:27 PM) He will still get his chance in the NFL. I don't think he was super high on draft boards anyway. He could be a special kick returner, but he's kind of short to play CB. Obviously he will...but I'm just thinking about the chance to win a Heisman and a National Championship and be playing at a big-time program on scholarship. Not many people have that chance to piss away. Only get once chance at those things.

Ryan Mathews out 4-6 weeks with a broken collarbone. First carry of the game last night.

Sometimes you can have the world, and still manage to piss it away. What an idiot.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 10, 2012 -> 10:30 AM) Bandwagon fan. "Bandwagon fans? He has a Joe Borchard jersey...you don't even know who that is!" "Good point"

http://www.ravinia.org/ParkNRide.aspx We parked in downtown Highland Park (sorry I can't remember exactly where, it was a couple years ago). It wasn't too inconvenient and saved a lot of time getting out at the end I presume. Edit: As long as you aren't hauling 9,000 pounds of crap, the bus ride was pretty easy. We didn't have too much excess stuff.

Time to break out the authentic McCarthy jersey for the game.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Aug 10, 2012 -> 09:59 AM) My daughter's softball team played in their annual end-of-the-year tournament last weekend. On Friday a friend of ours gave her a different bat to try out. His daughter had been using it but her league was done for the season. She usually uses a regular aluminum bat that we picked up for $30 at Wal-Mart. This was a $250 composite bat. On Saturday she managed to hit her very first homerun with it and she was ecstatic. She's not very tall and the pitchers aren't very accurate so even getting a hit rather than a walk is exciting for her. On Sunday they had an umpire that seemed to hold a grudge when the coach complained about a called strike on a bunt attempt where the batter very clearly brought the bat back. There seemed to be 2 different strike zones for each team after that call. In the last inning I loudly mentioned something about an inconsistent strike zone when a pitch right down the middle of the plate was called a ball. The coach turned around and told me “It’s ok, settle down. We’ll get our calls too.” On Monday they played for the championship. The team they faced, to put bluntly, was horrible. In the last inning we were up by about 20 runs. In my daughter’s last AB, she watched a pitch literally bounce on the plate and it was called a strike. The second pitch was in the same spot but she swung at it. The third pitch also bounced on the plate and was called a strike. I again loudly mentioned the strike zone starting at their knees rather than the bottom of their feet. It was literally the worst 3 strike calls I had seen all season long. I heard the coach talking to my daughter in the dugout but all I caught was “I know they weren’t strikes and you know they weren’t strikes…” Afterward he came over and told me that he told the ump to “expand the strike zone”. I hate to be “that guy” at my kids little league game but that seems like a pretty BS move to me. Never in my life have I heard a coach tell the umpire to call strikes on pitches that the kids have been taught all season long not to swing at. He basically took her bat right out of her hands. If anything, he should have told her to go up and swing at anything no matter what. At least she would’ve had a chance then and not been frustrated at the umpire making horrible calls. Or am I wrong? I'll give you an umpire's take...in literally a 20 run game, the zone is getting bigger for both teams (and once it's at 10, you're enough in to do that). HOWEVER, something that bounces on the plate...that's not a strike anywhere. You're expanding it on all sides, everything is still hittable, and if the coach gets it (yours seemed in the same book but not on the same exact page) you're having your team swing at anything "hittable." You instruct them to treat it like a hit and run, etc, learn on hitting bad balls. Taking some swings at pitches you know aren't strikes isn't going to mess you up later, you know you are just swinging to swing if it's hittable. That's the way to speed up what had to be a painful as hell game to watch, and isn't fun for anyone. That game just needs to end quicker than usual. If you call a normal strike zone at that point, you're clueless. But again, you're not calling something that's on the plate, or neck high, etc. You're expanding it enough to get it moving. For example in a HS game you're calling another ball or so on the outside, and you're going further above the belt. But again, in HS, both teams (and most importantly the coaches) get it, and want it, so you never hear a word unless it's like you said, bouncing in or something silly.

Should sell them in white since PSU does white outs. I'm guessing every student would buy one. And yes Balta the best part is "innocent."

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 9, 2012 -> 10:57 AM) And waves up to 20 feet! Damn. This could be a fun one. Quick, everyone go drive on LSD.

Illinois playing Washington at Soldier Field in 2013. Love it.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 7, 2012 -> 05:51 PM) http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thornma01.shtml He's 4-7 this year. That's losing 7 games alone. Yes, Matt Thornton lost 7 games alone. Good call.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 7, 2012 -> 04:35 PM) Thornton has been really getting under my skin this year. He's lost 7 games alone for the Sox - possibly more. LOL, lost 7 games alone. I believe he has a 0.7 WAR.