88 Illini: #44-#41

I just went scrolling through the archive looking to see where I was at on my countdown on July 16, 2024. And I paused when I saw the 40-some comments on the "SOC - Eastern Illinois" post last August, not remembering that it was that article where I told everyone that I wasn't able to finish The 90 Illini. The comment section was... displeased. For whatever reason, I thought I wrote that in a different article but I guess it was in the SOC.

What I found when scrolling back through: A year ago today, I was writing the 90i post for #75, helplessly behind. So now that I'm still on track at #44 (there are 44 days until our first game), maybe now is a good time to address some of that? There's some stuff I wanted to say about it all that I just haven't. I'll put up the paywall right here so that I'm speaking only to the community (and then I promise to get to #44 through #41).