No New Basketball Arena??

Did Ron Guenther blow the best chance to renovate Assembly Hall or build a new basketball arena in the wake of the Final 4? I got this e-mail from someone:

The biggest debacle in the Memorial Stadium renovation is simply put that they are doing it before they address Assembly Hall. Sorry, but simply put ... the basketball team was red hot, and you could have sold out your suites and probably sold out a section of club seats, too in about a week. Yet, instead, because we are a "football school" we decided to go out and renovate Memorial Stadium and beg for money while the iron was cold.

Now ... it looks like when we need to beg for money for Fighting Illini basketball, the iron will not be red hot as it was. For any one to predict that Illinois basketball would not have been as hot as it was after the 2004-2005 season when we started to ask for money for a renovation project, would have been common sense. Yet, our Athletic Department and University instead went for the difficult sell instead of the easy sell.

Now, they are, unfortunately, probably going to struggle to get the money raised for the Assembly Hall renovation as well since the people that would have donated money hand over fist may be tightening up their wallets after watching the Memorial Stadium debacle.

This school's desire to battle Michigan and Ohio State for football supremacy is a dumb direction. What they should be doing is continuing the battle to making Illinois the premier basketball program in the Big Ten. Now, we are slipping from our perch of the last eight - ten years, and it will be tough to climb back up. We should have been putting more and more resources into basketball.

We know basketball supremacy is achievable ... we also know football supremacy is not. Yet, we decide to keep pushing that rock up the hill only to start over again every day like a modern-day Sisyphus.

Congratulations, Tim Brewster!

Former Illinois football captain has been named the head coach at Minnesota. Tim was my first choice to replace Guenther's hire Ron Turner. Alas, Guenther didn't even give Tim an interview. If Tim does well at Minnesota and Illinois continues to flounder, it will be yet another black mark on the Football Guy's legacy. So much for loyalty!

Thank You, Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times!

I am not sure if he is talking about this blog in today's column, but we are glad someone in the media is noticing that Fighting Illini fans are fed up with Ron Guenther!

Where is the Media Outrage? Part 2

You would think the local Champaign-Urbana media would be all over Coach Guenther's disastrous reign as Illinois Athletic Director. Think again! Loren Tate thinks Ron Guenther is one of the best athletic directors around. Of course, Loren thinks all freshmen should redshirt and that Illinois can't possibly compete with "real" athletic programs like Michigan or Ohio State. What a joke!
Problem is that no other local sportswriter has as much clout as Loren. The local media knows that Illini sports is their ticket to a bigger job, or, if they want to stay in Champaign a long time, they need to be postive towards Illinois for job security. Heck, any local sportswriter who dares to write a critical story on the Fighting Illini will probably be demoted to covering junior varsity girls cross-country races between Arcola and Monticello.

Also, get well wishes to Jim Turpin, who apparently fell ill during the iowa game last night. Another guy who got thrown under the bus by Ron Guenther. See Sheppard, Jim.

Where is the Media Outrage? Part 1

I don't understand why the media gives Ron Guenther a free pass on his dismal record. This is especially true of the Chicago media. As we all know, the Chicago media doesn't like the Illini unless the Fighting Illini are winning (like the 2004-05 men's basketball team). Heck, look at all the hatchet pieces from jabronis like Teddy (Why does a grown man insist on being called "Teddy" anyhow?) Greenstein and Bob "Sako" Sakamoto of the Chicago Tribune questioning how Ron Zook is able to get top recruits despite the football team being so bad.

The Chicago media loves to rip people, and one would think that Ron Guenther is a perfect target. Oh well.

DIA fires Jim Shepard. So much for Loyalty!

The DIA has fired Jim Shepard, who has been the PA announcer at Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall for over 20 years. It wasn't his decision. Darn shame. His corny "First & 10 for the Illini" made us laugh during the dark days (still ongoing) at Memorial Stadium. Who can forget his "Dee for 3!!!!!" on the PA at Assembly Hall? Nice guy, he will be missed, although he will still do football in 2007 and then be out.

Once again, the DIA treats a long-standing member of the Fighting Illini family like garbage. Heck, the DIA forced out Jim Turpin a few years ago.