From The Stands - Purdue

I need to note a moment here. It's important that I tell you this before you listen. I finished recording here in my Personal Pressbox and then I got out my laptop to immediately upload everything. As I did that, an IlliniBoard subscriber came down the stairs to say hi. I've talked with him before - his name is George and he's an Illini fan in Hawaii. And he flew in for this game.

I started in with "oh man, sorry you came all this way for THAT" but he wasn't having it. He hadn't been to a game in 10-15 years and he made this trip specifically to see what I had been writing about: the new energy inside Memorial Stadium. And while he was sad about the loss, he was still buzzing about how much different it is since the last time he flew to the mainland for a game (let's guess it was around 2012 or 2013). Everything he wanted this stadium to return to had returned.

I needed to hear that. It doesn't make me feel better about what I'm about to describe in the recording below as our worst performance in at least three years, maybe seven, but I needed to remember that. We all wanted exactly this. We're all now equally worried that it will go away, just like the first fight of a new relationship, but I needed a reminder that we got what we prayed for.

I mean, look at that photo up top. Look at that environment. (And no, don't look at the empty seats at the front of the section below me - they block out 20 rows for the Alumni Band and it always looks like that for homecoming). Every other section was full and vibrant and loud.

George shook my hand and ran up the stairs, knowing I needed to publish From The Stands. And I sat here taking it in for a moment. Fantastic tailgate today. Perfect weather. My oldest and youngest sons up in my Personal Pressbox with me. We finally have momentum to the tune of 7 sellouts in 10 games. It's important to acknowledge it, I think. A fall Saturday in Champaign is now light years from 2012.

We just have to fix the footballing again, unfortunately.