About This Blog

I care about four sports teams (in no particular order):

1. the San Diego Padres

2. the San Diego Chargers

3. Illinois Fighting Illini basketball

4. Illinois Fighting Illini football

I care very much about these four teams and want them to win, respectively, a World Series, a Super Bowl, an NCAA Championship and a BCS Title.

At present, none of them have.

What, you say? The Chargers won the 1963 AFL Championship by crushing the Boston Patriots 51-10? Yes. They did. But you know what that means? Dick. Sure, it's nice to think about Hadl tossing feathery bombs to a streaking Lance Alworth wearing a powder blue jersey under powder blue skies at Balboa Stadium on a sunny Sunday afternoon in 1960s San Diego. Or Paul Lowe and Keith Lincoln running amok behind massive holes opened up by Sir Ron Mix. Or big Ernie Ladd and Earl Faison stomping on running backs' hopes and dreams. But you know what? F all that. The fact is the Chargers have never won a Super Bowl and that's what needs to happen. They were close from '79 - '81 with Coryell and Fouts, they made it to the Game in '94 with StanDiego, Seau and Bobby Ross, and they had the best team in football in '06 only to lose in dagger fashion to the Pats in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. And now they sit at 1-3 and the world is counting them out and saying that Norv Turner has no chance to lead them to a Super Bowl victory. That is where the Chargers stand.

The Padres? We don't need to discuss Monday night because you all saw it and, whatever you want to say about Holliday never touching the plate, the fact is that that game shouldn't have even been played. The Drinos (as I routinely refer to the Padres) should have wrapped the whole thing up on Saturday and been playing for the NL West title on Sunday afternoon. But you know what? That didn't happen. So we wait until next year when A-Gon, Bardo, Peav, CY and the rest of the boys will try to do what Gwynn, Garvey, Camniti, Kev Brown, Bochy and the rest of the old time Padres couldn't do. A.K.A. win a World Series. That is where the Padres stand.

Fighting Illini hoop? Whoa is me. Remember Spring 2005? Remember that? Deron Williams, Dee Brown, Luther Head, Roger Powell, James Augustine, Jack Ingram, Nick Smith, Rich McBride. Those guys ran Bruce Weber's motion offense to absolute perfection, at times making basketball look like an actual living breathing art form (one February game against Northwestern comes to mind). And the comeback in the Elite Eight game against Arizona. Greatest. Game. Ever. Followed by a dismantling of Pitino's Louisville squad to set up a showdown with a beastly North Carolina squad led by McCants, May and Felton that ended in heartbreak when Head and Williams suddenly went cold in the last minutes and Felton came up with a HUGE steal and a dagger three to end what would have been - had the Illini won - one of the greatest seasons in college basketball history. You remember all that? Of course you do. But whither the Illini now, three seasons later? Eric Gordon de-committed and will play for the Hoosiers, Jamar Smith is a redshirt because he drank tequila, drove and almost killed Brian Carlwell, Brian Randle is constantly injured, a bevy of top in-state recruits have committed to programs across the country, and Quinton Watkins failed to pass academic standards and could not enroll at Illinois. And now Weber will go into the 2007-2008 season with a possible starting backcourt of Steve Holdren and Trent Meacham. That is where Illinois hoops stands.

And that leaves the Zooker. What a beast. Illini football currently stands at 4-1, a lone shining star among the four teams this blog humbly dedicates itself to. How improbable is this, you ask? Damned improbable, I answer. Just over a year ago in September 2006 I witnessed live an Illinois-Rutgers football game that, on the Illini side of the ball, was perhaps the worst showing of organized athletics anyone has ever seen. Ever. And that happened at a time when the Bolts were starting a 14-2 season, the Drinos were closing in on their second consecutive division title and Bruce Weber's boys were gearing up for Brian Randle's break out season (still waiting on that one). How long ago all that seems at the moment. Because at this moment the Zooker is ripping sh** up and, if his team pulls off a win at home against Wisconsin on Saturday, the Illini will taste a little Top 2 5 for the first time in a long time. That is where Illini football stands.

So that's what this blog is about. The Drinos, the Bolts, Illini hoop and the Zooker (at least as long he coaches the Illini). And as for expectations of posts, this is not a blog that will have a new post every day. Rather, the initial goal is to post the day after one or all of these teams plays a game, with a rundown of the key plays in the game, hoping to identify at what point of the game the momentum switched from one team to the other.

So look for the next post sometime on Sunday discussing the Illini-Badgers game. Then another on Monday about the Bolts-Broncs.

Holy snakes those are big games.