Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (Boogua @ Nov 30, 2012 -> 09:08 AM) I'm not sure I buy all the recruiting stuff he said. Zook's 2010 and 2011 classes weren't very good. It looked like he lost some of that recruiting mojo. If this (getting Miles, Morrison, and Brown) were somehow proven to be true I would want to kill someone. Yeah, f*** that article. Both Weber and Zook were spinning wheels. This entire email/article/post completely ignores the fact that Zook was an awful coach and lucked into that Rose Bowl. His players rarely showed progression throughout a season, and the team for sure didn't. The weakest link in the entire team was special teams, Zook's supposed forte. He benefited from crazy good recruiters to get athletes, but they never were coached properly. Since 2005 Illinois has had just as much talent (if not more) than every team in the Big Ten, but it resulted in barely anything. I think Illinois CAN be the next Wisconsin - an annual contender for the Rose Bowl. There's no reason they can't be better than Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota or Michigan State. It's a basketball school sure, but once the ball gets rolling fans come out and the support becomes huge. I was at that ASU game last year and you could feel the energy in the stadium was like the 80's and early 90's when Illinois was a good program. Zook was never able to capitalize on the success, just like Weber. If Thomas was hired because he was willing to fire them both, good. They both needed to go and probably should have been shown the door sooner.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 02:21 PM) For $100 I'd probably do it too, although you gotta check on the price of the glasses too, is that included? Yeah you get 2 with the TV. Looks like they're 20 bucks for each subsequent pair.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 12:45 PM) Is 3D literally the only thing that you get improved for that $250? Actually it's only 100 bucks more now. w00t amazon. I'm thinking 100 bucks might be worth it just to have it for s***s and giggles. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076M04QU (non 3d) vs. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0077QTSQM It has a faster "clear motion rate" at 480 than the non-3d at 240. Other than that I don't see a difference.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 09:35 AM) Yeah, with the weak draft class this year, I think those questions are irrelevant. You know that Zeller has at least one elite NBA skill - his motor combined with his speed will make him, at the very least, a good NBA player for a number of years. When you look at a top 3 pick (where he certainly falls as of today), if I'm Washington or Charlotte, I want to see how I can feature Zeller offensively. Can he be a pick and pop, pick and roll big? Is he strong enough to finish consistently at the rim? Does he have the ball handling skills to make himself a nightmare off the dribble? I guess my point was that, in a weird way, the vast array of options IU has offensively means that Zeller doesn't get the 20+ shots a night that would enable him to put up Michael Beasley or Blake Griffin type numbers and showcase his full offensive skillset to NBA GMs. There's certainly a difference between featuring that in workouts against a chair and doing it consistently for 30+ games. Couple thoughts from last night's Illinois game: 1) Tracy needs to work on what he does when he penetrates deep. Seems that he gets tunnel vision, gets caught in the air, and commits turnovers that way. Certainly fixable. 2) Would be nice if the lightbulb went on for Egwu on the offensive end. He's a hard worker with a steep learning curve since he picked up basketball late. He seems to have a soft touch around the rim, and maybe that projects to a breakout junior year. 3) Bertrand, DJ and Tyler Griffey look so much more confident shooting the ball this year. Bertrand especially. Luther Head is the last Illini I can think of that made such an improvement. Their jumpers even look a little alike. 4) Very excited for the true road game at Gonzaga a week from Saturday. A win there and I might start believing this is a 4 or 5 seed instead of a bubble team. I'm with you. At this point I'd rank the Big Ten as follows: IU OSU MICH IL/MINN MSU WIS NW/IOWA PUR NEB PSU

Anyone have a 3D TV? The wifey and I are looking to upgrade a 27 inch tv with a 40 inch (limits of our armoire) that has apps and wi-fi. Samsung had a 40 inch that will fit and it comes in both 2d and 3d versions. The 3d is like $250 bucks more and I'm wondering if it would be worth it. I have a ps3 with some games that are 3d ready (the show, uncharted 3, ACIII) and I have directv which offers a few channels in 3d. I enjoy 3d movies in IMAX, and I played uncharted 3d at a friends once and it was pretty cool (on a 55 or 60 inch tv thought). Just not sure if it's worth the upcharge.

I love that Groce lets them shoot. Illinois has a lot of good shooters , something you didnt see last year.

Illinois screwing around here

Every building downtown requires union workers, from electricians to movers. It's pathetic. When my firm moved offices, we needed to install an electric card thingy for the door to unlock it. The job took 4 hours with about 4 people. To run on electrical wire and hook it up. The grand cost? 3,000 bucks. That's the problem with unions and why the majority of Americans think they're bogus. We should have been able to hire a one-man electrician owning his own business that would have gotten the job done in an hour and charged a couple hundred bucks tops.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 05:32 PM) Bunch of black teens in a car playing music too loudly get shot at by a middle-aged white dude. It's not exactly going out on a limb to draw that inference. Then why is this fact relevant?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 11:43 AM) I've seen us come close, but undoubtedly somewhere on the road like in Madison you trip up. Or with Illinois against Matt Sylvester. It all comes down to getting a top seed and getting hot anyway, turns out nobody remembers conference titles or records. That sucked so hard.

Holy crap Homeland was good. This season has been so intense, I was surprised at the end when they said there were three episodes left. Though I agree with Greenwald at Grantland - suspending disbelief about certain plot points is getting a little more difficult. You do it because the story itself is so good and the characters and actors are so good. But reality is basically out the window now.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 11:08 AM) You mean when everyone will be watching the OSU-Duke game? Not from 8-8:30ish!

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 10:56 AM) Two things: 1) I am not buying this Illinois team yet at all. Last year's team was 10-0 before collapsing down the stretch. This is a team this is going to live and die with the three and doesn't really have an impressive win yet. Bertrand and Paul are the only two guys I expect will be able to create their own offense in the B1G and they will no post offense (part because Egwu isn't there yet and part because the guards are awful at feeding the post). They will win some games they shouldn't and lose some games they shouldn't. I like Groce, I like what I see so far, but I still fully expect this to be a bubble team come March. 2) I raise this observation from an NBA standpoint as to Zeller, not to be critical, but because I think it's an interesting discussion point. If I were an NBA GM, my concerns with Zeller would be (a) can he consistently knock down an 18 footer, and (b) can he beat bigger defenders off the dribble. I don't think he can showcase those skills this year because IU is extremely balanced offensively. With the weak draft class this year, it's irrelevant. Zeller will be a top 3 pick. But if IU had fewer options offensively, Zeller would get 20 shots a night and be able to show just how good he really is offensively. I agree with this, but the signs of change from this year to last are everywhere. They have more possessions so they're able to get out of shooting funks easier. They've had last minute wins and I think that's a part of believing they can win. Last year the team would have folded and Leonard would have cried on the bench. There is optimism in the program again, and I really hope people show up for the game tonight and put on a good show for the cameras.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 09:56 AM) Yeah, that crowd at Assembly was pretty insane, though NC played right into their hands by not getting back on D. Or boxing anyone out, or boxing the right guy out, or switching, or crashing the boards or anything called playing offense or defense. I'd be hella pumped if I were an Indiana fan, but objectively that win last night was a win against Purdue or Northwestern. UNC is not a top 25 team. Not even close. I'd be more excited about the gut-it-out win against a good Georgetown team than the blow out last night.

I hate Indiana, but I was "with" them last night when in the middle of the broadcast Dukie V couldn't stop blowing Coach K on air, and in the midst of a 20-25 pt blow out, proclaimed that no matter what Duke was his #1 team in the country. That guy is so obnoxious. I can't wait for Duke to get bounced early from the tournament this year. Unfortunately, because UNC is not good, they'll easily win the ACC and coast to an easy #1 seed.

North Carolina is terrible. No defense. Indiana looks good, but they're getting easy shots.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 01:39 PM) When the crate arrived, Margaret and her kids were put on a train immediately. Did they ever explain where Gyp gets the liquor from? He seemed to suddenly be able to take over the liquor supply rather easily. Was that explained? I must have missed that. I thought the end of last week's episode was just Margaret screaming. Either way, that's a reasonable assumption. Yeah they've glossed over Gyp's alcohol supply. Initially it was stealing from Nucky, but at some point he was able to start importing it near Atlantic City.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 12:34 PM) The Walking Dead keeps getting better and better. There's just no way to make fun of it now. There are still a ton of problems with the show, but I agree it's gotten a lot better and it's a lot more fun to watch now.

GREAT episode of Boardwalk. What a fantastic season. I'm still confused about how Masseria knew Owen was coming though. At best Lucciano could describe what he looked like and warn him that a hit attempt might be coming, but would that really have been so easy to spot? Owens death, while telegraphed given he and Margaret's plan to "escape," still seemed a bit abrupt and not explained all that well. I was hoping for some kind of a flashback to explain what happened, but maybe not. Hopefully Richard doesn't die. It looks like he's about to go all Matrix-style on Gyp's crew. Lastly, what happened to Margaret? Wouldn't Gyp try to go after her and the children right away to flush Nucky out?

Illinois looks 1000 times better than last year.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 21, 2012 -> 11:43 AM) You certainly picked the wrong time to drop the show. This season has been fantastic. The last two have been pretty meh, but the start of the season was pretty fantastic. HUGE step up from last year.

I have the Asus Infinty. http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-TF700T-B1-GR-10...y/dp/B008F4NL04 It's been great for me, mostly using it for gaming, web surfing and movies/tv shows on planes. My only real complaint is that flash freezes up the browser more often than I would like. My android phone has the same sorts of issues, but it just doesn't feel like it happens as often.

Caught up on Homeland last night. The Brody/Carrie stuff makes zero sense to me, from either sides perspective. I mean, they're both broken people so they gravitate towards each other, I get that. But 1. he's a terrorist, Carrie fights terrorists, and 2. Carrie's crazy, and Brody knows this. The whole make-out scene at the retreat (nice house, btw) was so...misplaced? Also, the Sal stuff with that prisoner was great. That whole side plot was A+ material, especially how it ended.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 16, 2012 -> 10:57 AM) It is bad because it often ends with minority groups having their rights violated or denied, often violently. Why is it so good that local governments should be able to violate someone's civil rights? It's funny though, that these protections STARTED at the local level. That's the big momentum swing right now with a lot of issues. One state starts, others, if they choose to, follow. The federal government doesn't need to be involved. I don't buy the "I can't move" excuse. If it's that bad, leave. Just like anything else.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Nov 16, 2012 -> 10:17 AM) um... the details aren't but the concept IS exactly the same. treat someone as inferior to you because of the way they're born. And again, that concept can be applied in millions of cases. Chicago needs to pass a law that protects north side white sox fans from being discriminated against in north side bars. They need to pass a law protecting smokers from being discriminated against in every business establishment in the city, and on and on. Why is it so bad that local governments/communities get to decide who gets that protection and who doesn't?