Halloween Is Today

We've got Illini-Michigan, we've got the Bolts preparing for the Raiduhs, we've got Jed Hoyer planning out the Padres future and we've got Bruce Weber and the boys scoring 95 points in their opening exhibition.

I am liking all that is happening.

Best. Uniforms. Ever.

Those All Whites the Bolts wore on Sunday were the best uniforms I - or anyone else - has ever seen.

Jed Hoyer Dispenses With Grady Fuson

Looks like one of Jed Hoyer's first moves as Padres GM is removing Grady Fuson as vice president of scouting and player development. Fuson was on the job for 5 years.

Scouting and player development is probably the most important job on a mid-to-small market team, so I have no problem with Jed bringing in his own guy for the job. I'm also confident that Jed will select someone who will know what he's doing. I have no specific reason to be confident about that, but I am.

For Grady's part, he did an okay job in his 5 years. Successes and potential successes include Kyle Blanks, Will Venable, Mat Latos, Nick Hundley, Wade LeBlanc and Chase Headley. Disappointments and potential disappointments include Matt Antonelli, Cesar Carrillo, Cesar Ramos and Nick Schmidt. That's not a complete list. That's just a list I copied from an article in the U-T.

As with any new hire, it will take a few years to know if Jed is moving the Drinos player development system in the right direction. I like the direction the system moved last year with all the power arms KT traded for, and the development of players like James Darnell and Jaff Decker. Hopefully Jed can do even better.

It's Hoyer

So the Padres get Jed Hoyer and the Red Sox might hire Kevin Towers.

Nothing against Jed, but on the face of the deal I'm betting Theo doesn't consider this a downgrade.

E-mails To My Advisors Subsequent To The Bolts Loss To Denver

Tuesday morning, in the aftermath of the disappointing Bolts loss to the Broncos on Monday Night Football, I wrote the following e-mails to my advisors Tatt Mareeco, Father D.P. McGillicutty, Geleaux and Tam O'Flannell:

First, at 10:44 AM EST:

F football

Then, at 11:01 AM EST:

That game was stupid. I'm sure McDaniels would have gone for it on fourth down and still got the TD, but under no possible view of the Stokley catch was that a touchdown.

Then, later in the morning, at 11:16 AM EST, I wrote this to my Dad, Mr. Bevormo:

That was a very disappointing second half.

And finally, at 11:37 AM, I wrote this to my friend, The Div:

That jblew.

And that's all I have to say on the matter for the time being.

The Jacob Charest Era?

Who would have thought a month ago that Juice Williams' senior season would coincide with the beginning of the Jacob Charest era? Not me, for sure, but apparently that may be happening as soon as this Saturday in the Illini's tilt with the Boilermakers.

Maybe this is what was supposed to happen this season. Juice was meant to fail, as was Eddie McGee, and when things seem darkest, a young redshirt-freshman stallion emerges to lead the Illini on a monster win streak to become bowl eligible, thus ushering in a golden age of Illini football.

Yep, I'm pretty sure that's going to happen.

An E-mail I Sent To My Advisors Last Week

Here is the text of an e-mail I sent to my advisors last Friday after reading that Bill Simmons had picked the Broncos over the Chargers in tonight's Monday Night Football game. Simmons' reasoning was that Josh McDaniels and Mike Nolan are superior coaches to Norv Turner and Ron Rivera.

Everybody needs to calm down before we anoint McDaniels and Nolan geniuses. Let them win at the Q and maybe we can talk, but so far they have benefited from absurd luck, an easy schedule and knowing a lot about the Patriots playbook and personnel (not to mention Brady dropping multiple steaming deuce piles on the filed at Mile High).

Also, Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey ... meet Phil Rivers, Vinnie Jackson, Antoine Gates, Legs Naanee, Malc Floyd, Chappy Chambers and Darren "Lightning Bug" Sproles.

Good luck with that.

And that's all I have to say on the subject.

Madness, Of The Basketball Variety

Last night was Basketball Madness in Champaign. Freshman Chris Paul won the dunk contest and freshman D.J. Richardson led all scorers in the scrimmage with 19 points.

Oh man, this is gonna be a fun season.

Oh yeah, also Jeff Jordan is back to provide some upperclassman leadership in the backcourt.

Huzzah!

Illini Travel To Indiana To (Hopefully) Administer A Beatdown

Last season the Illini rolled over Indiana 55-13 in Champaign, with Juice completing 16-22 passes for 271 yards and 3 TDs, Benn catching 7 passes for 130 yards, and then true freshman Jason Ford rushing for 173 yards on 19 carries.

What are the odds any one of those things happens tomorrow when the Illini head to Bloomington?

I'd say slim and none based on what I have seen from the offense to this point in the season.

But I remain optimistic.

Get r dun, Juice.

Wayne McClain Gets A Promotion

Wayne McClain, Illinois assistant basketball coach and the one with the gray hair in the above photo, was promoted to Associate Head Coach (or is Associate to the Head Coach?) today by Bruce Weber. Though his duties will remain more or less the same, McClain will likely now pocket a bit more caysh to spend in and around exotic Champaign-Urbana.

I remember watching Coach McClain's Peoria Manual teams of the 1990s and rooting as they won four straight IHSA AA titles, three while Wayne was the head coach. Those teams were probably the best in all of high school basketball around the country at the time, led by Frank Williams, Sergio McClain, Marcus Griffin and other beasts (Griffin and Williams were both McDonald's All Americans).

Incidentally, check out this sweet article making the very obvious point that Peoria, not Chicago, has the best high school hoops in the State of Illinois. It's really an incidental point, however, given that Illinois itself has the best high school hoops in the United States.

But I digress.

The bottom line is that Wayne deserves this promotion and I'm excited to know he is getting his due with the Illini. As long as he is around I know the Illini practices will be disciplined, fast paced and, for lack of a more universally known description, P-town style. But I'm sure you get what I mean.

Congrats, Wayne.

Junior Seau Back With A Team That Is Not The Chargers

Junior Seau will not look like this when he plays for the Patriots this Sunday.

Just A Quick Note About Steve Stricker

What a beast.

Way to carry Tiger, Steve.

Nnanna Egwu Is In The Fold

Bruce Weber added another potential beast to the 2011 recruiting class yesterday with an oral commitment from St. Ignatius star Nnanna Egwu. Nnanna is a 6'10" kid who has only been playing basketball for three years and has an unlimited ceiling in terms of improvement. He'll team with the likes of Tyler Griffey and Meyers Leonard to give the Illini a strong frontcourt well into the 20-teens.

So now the 2011 class has a big man and a point guard (Tracy Abrams) but work remains to be done. The Illini want to add 2 or 3 more guys to the class. Here are the main targets:

- Bradley Beal: a slick 6'3" guard from St. Louis, Beal is highly recruited by the big boys and is one of the top ranked players in the 2011 class ... he would be a monster "get";

- Wayne Blackshear: another beast from a stacked Chicago class, Wayne is looking at a bunch of schools and seems to be leaning towards leaving the state;

- Sam Thompson: thin, lanky, 6'6" swingman from Whitney Young in Chicago, Thompson, like Blackshear, is considering a ton of schools, including the likes of Oregon St. which recruits well in Chicago;

- Chasson Randle: a 6'2" guard from Rock Island, Randle is ranked a bit lower than the three other guys on the list but is still the #13 ranked SG in the 2011 class according to Scout.com.

There are a few more guys the Illini have their eye on, but these four are the main targets.

Not to look too far past the '09-'10 and '10-'11 teams, because they are both going to be stacked, but as of now, the 2011-2012 roster is shaping up nicely:

Joseph Bertrand - Jr.
D.J. Richardson - Jr.
Tyler Griffey - Jr.
Brandon Paul - Jr.
Stan Simpson - RS Jr.
Jereme Richmond - So.
Crandall Head - So.
Meyers Leonard - So.
Tracy Abrams - Fr.
Nnanna Egwu - Fr.
[insert beast]
[insert beast]

Nice.

Let's get it dun, Bruce.

A.J. Talks

A.J. Smith has - once again - spouted off in an interview with Nicky Canepa, this time calling his Chargers team "soft and bewildered."

I'll say a couple things about this:

- the defense did look soft and bewildered on Sunday night against the Stillers;

- I'm not sure what was more astounding: the amount of time Ben had to throw because of the lack of pressure, or the distance separating Pittsburgh's receivers from the Chargers defensive backs each time they set to catch a pass. Honestly, you'd think one of those things would not happen. Either you're sending a bunch of dudes to get the QB and he has to hurry to throw but a few guys are open, or you only rush four guys but the other seven are covering the receivers tight.

- whether it was a technique problem, a strength and size problem or just a lack of skill problem, the defensive line got overpowered by the Pittsburgh O-Line;

- there are still 12 games left;

- I suspect the Chargers will be 5-2 after November 1, with a 1-game lead in the division;

- Shawne Merriman's comments in response to A.J.'s comments were appropriate. He basically said, "Whatever, I don't care about what anyone else says, I only care about what the players in this locker room think and do."

- I think Merriman's comments will be even more appropriate if he makes a few plays against Denver on October 19th.

Making plays. Making plays.

Eddie McGee Is Starting The Homecoming Game During Juice's Senior Season

This can't be how Juice envisioned things a few weeks ago. The team struggling, the offense unable to move the ball, and he riding pine for the Homecoming game against the Spartans.

A shame. It was nary a month ago this Illini season was filled with so much promise.

The Illini can still turn things around - with games at home against Michigan St. and on the road against Purdue and Indiana, three straight wins are a possibility - but for the time being they'll attempt to do so with Eddie McGee at the helm.

Either way, I just want the Illini to win football games.

Jamal Williams

Dear Jamal,

I miss you.

Best,
Bevormo

More On The 2009 Padres

A couple more things I'm going to remember about the 2009 Padres:

- the new ownership group shelled out a good amount of cash in the June draft to sign Donavan Tate, Everett Williams, Gerry Sullivan, Keyvius Sampson, James Needy and Jorge Reyes; and

- the new ownership group stabbed KT in the back and fired him as General Manager with two days remaining in the season.

My decision to renew my season tickets is now being reviewed.

Kev Correia's Final Start ... A Season of Good

Tonight is Kevin Correia's final start of the 2009 season.

It will be interesting to see how history will remember this Padres team, but here are the handful of things on my mind right now that may or may not form a part of what I think of when I think of this Padres team 5, 10, 15 years from now:

- Giles' horrendous start and injury that strangely sidelined him for the entire season;

- the CY and Peavy injuries that guaranteed the team would not be competitive;

- the weird but glorious 10-game winning streak in May;

- the trade for Tony Gwynn, Jr.;

- the promotion and solid play of rookies Everth Cabrera, Kyle Blanks, Will Venable and Mat Latos;

- the strong bullpen work of Luke Gregerson, Heath Bell, Joe Thatcher and Mike Adams;

- the Scotty "Bombs" Hairston trade that netted three power arms;

- the Peavy trade that netted four arms, including Clayton Richard and Adam Russell, who played key roles down the stretch;

- A Gon's ridiculous first half and strong overall season to net 40+ bombs;

- Headley's strong to quite strong August and September;

- the return of Tim Stauffer;

- the outstanding play of the team overall from July 28 to season's end; and

- Kevin Correia's absolute surprise/beast season that makes him the current Drino ace.

Honestly, if the Drinos were suddenly named the Wild Card team tomorrow, I'd like their chances to win a series more than I liked the chances of the 2005 and 2006 Padres.

I'm going to enjoy the playoffs over the next month because I am a fan of baseball generally, but the real excitement will be the Padres front office marshaling its assets and working the Hot Stove this offseason in preparation for Spring Training.

Bring on 2010.

October ... My Favorite Month

Let's get r dun, October.

You are by far my favorite month:

- crisp Fall weather

- full slate of college football

- full slate of the NFL

- MLB playoffs

- anticipation for college hoops

- Filipino American History month

There really is no downside to October.