Latest

Investment

I wrote some of this last night and this morning. And then I bailed on it and deleted it. And then I recorded a podcast with The BoardRoom guys, and I referenced some of this stuff, and now I'm going to bring it back from the dead. You

We Are Who We Are

I’m going to nip this in the bud straight away. If you are reading this and hoping to celebrate an airing of the grievances then you are in the wrong place. I’m not here to dismiss any of your feelings of woe and despair, but I’m certainly

Big Ten Tournament Thursday - Moments

Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more.  Big Ten Tournament Thursday is here again.  It’s my favorite day of the entire basketball season. Because of my familiarity with the league as someone who at least somewhat covered basketball in this conference for the better part of the

Hapless Iowa

I'm rarely confident as a fan. We've been over this. We can be up by 14 with seven minutes left (in a football game or a basketball game) and I'll still be nervous. I've just always watched sports with a "we&

Where Do We Stand? March 12th

We have reached the final WDWS for the year. By this time next week we'll know exactly Where We Stand because the brackets will be out and I'll already be in Denver or Providence or Wichita for the NCAA Tournament game. So this is our last

FJND And Other Football Stuff

I was texting with a friend this evening and he asked me about the oldest piece of Illini garb that I still own. It sent me searching for that picture right there. That's a shirt I wore when I was... 10 years old? I want to say I

One Question Mailbag: The Committee's Approach

Someone asked me a question in a DM on Slack, I started to answer it, and then I realized it would make for a great One Question Mailbag. So I quickly answered his question in a DM'd response and now I will elaborate on that answer here. Here&

GOD We Needed That

The losing streak to Purdue. The failures late in games this season. All of the injuries and illnesses. The embarrassment at Madison Square Garden. It has not been smooth sailing for the Fighting Illini this season (have you heard?), so this win was sorely needed. I'll even say

PMP 2024: The Football Opportunity

This is the final PMP article from the 2024 fundraiser. As I mentioned with the previous one last month, I had two remaining, they were both podcast guest requests, I wasn't able to fill those requests, and so I asked those two donors to request something else. The

Where Do We Stand? March 4th

I saw a debate today in the comments under an Emo Philips tweet about whether "March 4th" is a gerund or an imperative statement. I haven't thought about Emo Phillips in 20 years. I haven't thought about gerunds in 30. But just now, while

Board Crashers

I tweeted the thing about "The Double" (beating Michigan in both football and basketball this year) and then I headed out. My return train left from Ann Arbor at 7:00 pm EST and the game was finished at exactly 5:52 so I had an hour and

Preseason SP+ And Close Games

I've been intentionally avoiding all football talk. As the guy who spent most Octobers the last 15 years screaming "where is everyone going? There are still six more football games! You can pay attention to basketball after Thanksgiving!", I can't in good conscience then

Illini Power Rankings: Self-Awareness Is a Virtue Most Divine

Throughout the Illinois men's basketball team's recent three-game skid, which has been as dark a period of the Underwood era since he was losing exhibition games at EIU (in case you forgot just how dark it truly was at the beginning), I've found myself

TTH

I was a hyperactive kid. My brain really never turned off. And when I was around other people, I cranked it up a notch. I was often trying to impress the entire world. Can you believe it? Yes, you can believe it. Because of this, my mom developed a signal.