champaignchris
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Everything posted by champaignchris
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The other thing about Bielema is that the last few Illini HCs had trouble filling out staffs. Bielema apparently had his staff largely ready to go from day one, which was a big part of why he was hired. Illinois - to AD Whitman’s credit - didn’t skimp on paying the assistants what it took to get them on campus. That seems to be Whitman’s modus operandi in all sports - hire head coaches with proven success and then open the checkbook to get the assistants the coach wants. It’s certainly worked out in men’s basketball.
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Not sure we have the horses to compete with Michigan yet. I will say this Wisconsin win felt different. Felt like a program turning point. There was no fluke to that win. Illinois absolutely imposed their will on Wisconsin the way Wisconsin has on Illinois all these years. That defensive line is for real. That'll keep you in B1G games pretty often. I don't know if the offense can continue to be as efficient as they were Saturday, but it's better than I expected. Bielema is a turd but the guy can apparently recruit and coach in the midwest. The things I’m hearing in Champaign is that he really changed his off field life after having kids. Certainly, publicly, he’s said all the right things and been a great public face for the school. He also talks a lot about his experiences coaching in the NFL after Arkansas, particularly under Belichick, and how that’s broadened his coaching horizons. It’s weird as an Illinois fan because even going back to our good coaches like White and Mackovic, none have ever been so obviously loved by the national media as Bielema is. The ESPN guys just absolutely love him. I’ve never seen the program get the kind of national goodwill that it’s getting right now.
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So like they were under Ron Zook They were 34-51 (18-38) with one regular season winning record under Zook. Right. They were awful under Zook. Just a little less awful than under the subsequent coaches.
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Bears week 4: At Giants Sunday at noon on Fox
champaignchris replied to jersey cubs fan's topic in Other Sports
I’m quite sure he’s thinking about developing a QB. Just not the one currently on his roster. -
Not sure we have the horses to compete with Michigan yet. I will say this Wisconsin win felt different. Felt like a program turning point. There was no fluke to that win. Illinois absolutely imposed their will on Wisconsin the way Wisconsin has on Illinois all these years.
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Win out! 10th vs 13th pick in the draft or whatever? Who cares! This is fun.
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Adrian Sampson… Something there or the Frank Schwindel of pitchers? It’s tough to put too much faith in what he’s doing when the Cubs themselves DFA’d him earlier in the season while Leiter and Swarmer were getting lit up as starters. But at some point, you are what your stats say you are and he has a 3.12 ERA over 130 innings and two seasons as a Cub. From a guy with a 5.40 ERA in Korea in 2020.
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I have a hard time seeing any scenario (other than injury) where he isn’t the 2023 Opening Day starter at 2B, 3B or CF. The Cubs’ off-season job is to acquire enough talent to turn Morel into the 7th or 8th best every day player on the team instead of the 4th or 5th.
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I could see Jerry going with someone like AJ Pierzynski Hell, they’ll probably bring Ozzie Guillen back.
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If he were 10 years younger, he’d actually be a pretty good choice for that team. If the Nats move on from Martinez, I could see that.
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9/27 - Willson's Final Wrigley Homestand Take 6
champaignchris replied to UMFan83's topic in Fred Hornkohl Game Thread Forum
If they finish 5-3, they’ll have gone 50-50 over the last 100 games of the season. -
Bears week 3: Lovie returns noon on CBS
champaignchris replied to jersey cubs fan's topic in Other Sports
Mills is not a good QB. But he was taken 56 picks after Fields and is not a worse QB than Fields right now. Those Texans might be the worst team in the League. -
Bears week 3: Lovie returns noon on CBS
champaignchris replied to jersey cubs fan's topic in Other Sports
probably indifference with some cheers. his years at the U of I weren't great Yea but no one really cares about U of I Football that much. The Hell you say!?! Kidding. It’s true, I know. The few of us out there mostly view him dimly. Personally, I think history will be kinder towards his U of I tenure. He took over a smoking dumpster fire car crash of a football program after the Beckman player abuse scandal and transformed it into a merely conventionally bad college football team. -
Since his last start, 20 games, 29.2 innings, 8 ER. 2.42 ERA.
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Answering myself: Yes, it was.
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Was that just an immaculate inning?
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9/20 - Baseball is occurring
champaignchris replied to UMFan83's topic in Fred Hornkohl Game Thread Forum
They can't. So the question is, is Sampson really a thing? -
9/20 - Baseball is occurring
champaignchris replied to UMFan83's topic in Fred Hornkohl Game Thread Forum
With Contreras, Hoerner and Suzuki all out, it’s gonna suck. -
As far as fan excitement is concerned, I can’t blame my fellow Illini fans. They’ve been so bad for so long. 2nd worse P5 school over the last 10 years (Kansas) and 5th worst over the last 25 years (Duke, Kansas, Vandy, Indiana). There are two generations of fans who’ve never experienced Illinois as a consistent winner. On top of that, DIA has repeatedly alienated the fanbase beyond just the bad football. (I don’t want to get into the Chief stuff except to say that’s only a small part of what I’m taking about here.) The football games are just not fun fan experiences, and someone, somewhere along the way forgot that football games are supposed to be fun. But to your larger point, Illinois should be 3-1 after this week headed into the meat of their schedule. On paper, they may not be favored in any of their next 7 games until they close out with NW. but none of Iowa (home), Nebraska (road) or Purdue (home) look like world beaters. Win 2 of those 3 and then take care of business against the Kitties and they’re bowling, which would be a huge step in Bielema’s second season. (Of course the Illini fan in me knows, deep in my heart, that the fluke loss to Indiana is what’s going to keep them out of a bowl.)
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The pitching staff isn’t bad with some decent young starters. Herget has been good since switching him to closer. But that offense…. Whoof! How is it even possible to have Ohtani and Trout take roughly 1/5 of your team’s plate appearances and still be in the bottom 3 in the AL in practically every offensive category? Ward and Rengifo look like OK players, but after that there just isn’t any other help there.
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That would have been the second longest FG in NFL history. Elite QBs making a five yard conversion happens multiple times every week in the NFL. 64+ yard FG has happened twice in NFL history. The coach’s choice here was bizarre.
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Cal just barely beat UNLV at home, a team that’s 3-17 in its last 20 games. ND might win by 30 without ever throwing a pass.
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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… Lovie Smith.
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Illinois has a very good defense and they’re playing in a horribad division. If they get any kind of QB play at all, they should go bowling and maybe even have their first winning record in a decade. Someone from the West is going to earn the right to get destroyed by an East team in Indianapolis. Why not Illinois? Dare to dream!
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I understand the shift complaints a bit more. The rule seems to go beyond eliminating the shift as its been employed over the last 15-ish years. Shortstops have had their feet in the outfield grass for decades before that. Something I’m curious about… would the shift rule also eliminate the Rizzo strategy of coming way up on the batter for bunt attempts? Not that it’s as relevant any more with the NL DH.