SOC - Nebraska

I've written an SOC before every Illini football game since the 2009 Missouri game in St. Louis. And I believe that this is the first one I've written while riding in a vehicle. I've written them while rolling through Indiana and Ohio on an overnight train to Penn State, but I don't think I've ever written one while in a car.

Why am I writing this one in a car? Because my wife and I are headed to O'Hare to pick up our son and granddaughter who are flying in for this Nebraska game tomorrow. Flight to Chicago: a reasonable amount of dollars. Extending that flight to Champaign: $100 billion dollars on the Thursday night of dad's day weekend. So he booked the flight to O'Hare and we told him we'd pick him up.

Right now we're at that spot where the lights begin just south of I-80. You know the spot. Somewhere around Monee I think. All of the sudden, after driving from Champaign in the dark, now there are street lights for the rest of the trip through Chicago. I have a Powerade Zero Mixed Berry by my side, I have my laptop on a pillow on my lap, and I'm ready to SOC. And then I'm ready to hug a little 4 year-old who can't wait to wear her Illini cheerleader outfit (over a sweatshirt and sweat pants) tomorrow. When your granddaughter in Idaho chooses to be an Illini cheerleader for Halloween, YOU HAVE DONE THINGS RIGHT IN YOUR LIFE.

(Indoctrination. It's legitimately indoctrination.)

OK, my feelings towards this game. I'd say that I'm all over the place. Let me write out some of those places.