FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mugsy]

Moment of Silence:   Brett Favre has retired from the NFL.   

I am a Bears fan, but I am also a Brett Favre fan.  That guy was fun to watch and IMO, one of the greatest competitors ever.  Glad he won't be playing the Bears anymore, but sad to see a football great decide to hang them up.

The majority of Bears fans that I know are very excited about this, but I'm not so sure that the Bears are going to get a break.  To me, Aaron Rodgers has looked pretty impressive on those occasions when Farve decided to let him see the field.  I hope that I'm wrong, but I see Rodgers being a pretty solid QB as well...

I'd certainly take the offense Green Bay will field in 2008 (minus Favre) over the inept bunch the Bear have assembled. 

Let see... a brutally horrible offensive line, check.  A featured RB with 3 yards per carry, check.  No WR that can stretch a defense, check.  A QB that can't take a snap from center, fumbles at least twice a game and is good for 2 INT's per game, check.  Look for Devon Hester to lead the Bears in TDs in 2008... which is not good.

[New Tradition]

Moment of Silence:   Brett Favre has retired from the NFL.   

I am a Bears fan, but I am also a Brett Favre fan.  That guy was fun to watch and IMO, one of the greatest competitors ever.  Glad he won't be playing the Bears anymore, but sad to see a football great decide to hang them up.

The majority of Bears fans that I know are very excited about this, but I'm not so sure that the Bears are going to get a break.  To me, Aaron Rodgers has looked pretty impressive on those occasions when Farve decided to let him see the field.  I hope that I'm wrong, but I see Rodgers being a pretty solid QB as well...

I'd certainly take the offense Green Bay will field in 2008 (minus Favre) over the inept bunch the Bear have assembled. 

Let see... a brutally horrible offensive line, check.  A featured RB with 3 yards per carry, check.  No WR that can stretch a defense, check.  A QB that can't take a snap from center, fumbles at least twice a game and is good for 2 INT's per game, check.  Look for Devon Hester to lead the Bears in TDs in 2008... which is not good.

What are you talking about?  The Bears just signed Marty Booker!  Oh, wait, I forgot its not 2001...

[Gregory Sager]

The Bears beat Favre five out of the last six times they faced him, and six of the eight times that they've faced him under Lovie Smith. I agree with Mugsy -- the Bears have a million things to worry about with regard to getting their own house in order before they start worrying about who's playing quarterback for the Packers.

[VABBlue]

I have no idea what these Millikin guys are talking about. I am a recent graduate from the university (within the past 4 years) and the place is a DUMP! I stayed all four years, and enjoyed my time down there. I choose to move away from the Chicagoland area and experience something new. Believe it or not, there are quite a bit of kids from Chicago.

As for your taste in bars...Are you kidding me?

LSB= DUMP
Winery=DUMP
Blocks= Soon to be DUMP
Kats= DUMP

I don't know what you guys are looking at, but these bars are complete dumps. As for facilities, it's garbage. The institution has made a commitment to the academic buildings (Scovill and the Science Building.) The school I hear has gotten so ridiclious, that it gave the students a certain amount of pages that can be printed per semester (400 or something like that.) If you go over that amount, you pay a certain amount for each page. That's ridiculious!

I do not understand why someone from Florida would want to make a trip to Decatur. I happened to really enjoy the experience, but I wish I would of known what I was getting into when I attended. It will help that Lori Kerans (current AD) is leaving the position at the end of the year.

QUICK FACT : Millikin had ONE winning CCIW conference team last year (WOMENS basketball)... This tells me Millikin is having some major problems.

I've been to the rest of the schools and was very impressed with their ability to support ALL athletic teams. Augustana has a beautiful baseball field, IWU has beautiful everything, North Central is phenomenal (and they are building a new state of the art indoor complex that should be done by next year), North Park has the Holmgren Complex which is beautiful...and Elmhurt, Carthage, and Wheaton are all respectable.

As a fellow Millikin Alum', I will defend my school with pride, but question the people who are in charge there. At one point, Millikin was in SERIOUS financial debt.

Get over the bars. They all stink. There is an extremly loud train that runs through campus every 4 hours or so as well.

Goodluck in "The D."

[VABBlue]

This Wingo kid is originally from Casey, Illinois. He has to know someone or have friends attending Millikin.

Classic picture with European coach Rich Worsell. Goodluck kid, it's going to be a long four years at Millikin. I don't see that program improving anytime soon. Dump Neighbur and you may see some improvement. I know the guy won back in the 90's with Brylka, but I think it's time for him to hang 'em up.

[New Tradition]

Wow!  I don't think I've seen a Millikin poster as long as I've been reading this board, let alone posting, and now they are all over the joint!  Welcome, VABBlue.  It will be great to hear the views (albeit opposing, apparently) from down south when the season starts.

[matblake]

Thought I would share this Sagerian quote from the CCIW Basketball board:

In an odd way, Augustana's basketball team has become sort of the hardwood equivalent of its football team. They grind it out, don't do anything fancy, wear you down, and make it tough for you to come back if they have any kind of a lead on you -- but they don't really have the capacity to score a ton of points in a hurry if you have a big lead on them late.

[VABBlue]

Great to be on board. Don't get me wrong, I loved my time at Millikin. However, traveling around to different smaller universities after I was enrolled, it made me realize that there are far better universities in the Midwest.

I just don't understand why people are hyping it up like it's great.

#1. It's in Decatur--Enough said there.

#2. It's in Decatur...

#3. The athletic facilities are awful.

#4. It's a music and theatre school first!


My advice to prospects checking out schools, check out schools all over. I've recently been to DePauw and Wabash and the facilities were phenomenal. Granted, Wabash is all male, but the facilities and alumni support are that of a D1 program.

Downtown Naperville isn't too bad either. Just a quick walk from campus at NCC. Why someone from Florida would go to "The Soy City" blows me mind.

I would like to see the Big Blue be competitive at something other that a sport that draws 67 people (Womens hoops.)

[Carthage Fan]

I have no idea what these Millikin guys are talking about. I am a recent graduate from the university (within the past 4 years) and the place is a DUMP! I stayed all four years, and enjoyed my time down there. I choose to move away from the Chicagoland area and experience something new. Believe it or not, there are quite a bit of kids from Chicago.

As for your taste in bars...Are you kidding me?

LSB= DUMP
Winery=DUMP
Blocks= Soon to be DUMP
Kats= DUMP

I got a kick out of this post.....what college bar isn't a dump?  Any self respecting collegian (is that a word?) wouldn't be found in anything but! 

[formerd3db]

VaBBlue:

Doesn't that seem to be "the thing" for a great number of DIII schools i.e. the loud running trains through and/or right next to campus?   Wheaton has that and several schools in our conference do as well - Hope, Alma, Albion and Kalamazoo!

I can share a train story about that:  "way back when" when I was a student-athlete football player at Hope (actually my freshman year), I recall the first day of practice.  Our practice fields are about 1/2 mile away from the main campus (still are today), and the train tracks run right through Hope's campus at eastern edge.  Players are required to walk to practice - no bicycles or cars allowed.  Well, at the end of practice (after the 12 circut stations) we're all tired and having to make it back to campus, shower and get to the cafeteria by 6:15 PM before it closes.  It's about 5:55 PM, myself and about 5 or so other players decide to "jog it" while the rest of our 110 member team are walking/taking their time.  All of a sudden, just after crossing the tracks, we hear the train whistle blowing and a very long train (they are usually like 275 cars long) comes rolling throuhg (not fast).  We look back and see the entire remainder of the team start "stampeding like a massive herd of buffalo" to get to the tracks and cross before the train gets there - obviously, they didn't make it.  To make a long (and boring ) story short, the 6 or so of us were dressed, had eaten and back to the dorms relaxing or studying before those guys had basically made it back to the locker room.  Of course, they missed the cafeteria meal so had to go elsewhere to eat!  So for the remainder my four years as a player there, I always jogged back to campus after practice, no matter how tired I was.

To this day, my daughter(s) still complain about the trains going through campus and the noise at times.  But I kind of like it - in a sense a neat and historical tradition! (I also kine of liked when we played Wheaton - a train always blasted by during the game, right behind the visitors section of the stadium - although perhaps someone could make a case for that being kind of dangerous for visiting fans if there was ever a train wreck - hopefully never).

[wab64]

   VABBlue....thanks for the comment on the facilities at Wabash-when I first saw them about 15 years ago, I was knocked over. Why the patronizing comment-"granted, Wabash is all male"? Why not? Our new coach, Erik Raeburn, said it would be a cachet in recruiting, Wabash being unique and all. There are arguments for and against ( not to mention the absence of ANY government grants), but the best comment I ever heard came from a student, during the last time the Board of Trustees considered the matter (and a good percentance of the faculty threatened to resign) who said he preferred the environment because "most guys are complete a**holes when there are girls around. Besides, we don't have to blow the athletic budget on field hockey teams, or paint volleyball courts on the basketball floor.     Wabash-class of 1964 

[CardinalAlum]

   VABBlue....thanks for the comment on the facilities at Wabash-when I first saw them about 15 years ago, I was knocked over. Why the patronizing comment-"granted, Wabash is all male"? Why not? Our new coach, Erik Raeburn, said it would be a cachet in recruiting, Wabash being unique and all. There are arguments for and against ( not to mention the absence of ANY government grants), but the best comment I ever heard came from a student, during the last time the Board of Trustees considered the matter (and a good percentance of the faculty threatened to resign) who said he preferred the environment because "most guys are complete a**holes when there are girls around. Besides, we don't have to blow the athletic budget on field hockey teams, or paint volleyball courts on the basketball floor.     Wabash-class of 1964 

I bet the homecoming court is real interesting!!!   

[Gregory Sager]

VaBBlue:

Doesn't that seem to be "the thing" for a great number of DIII schools i.e. the loud running trains through and/or right next to campus?   Wheaton has that and several schools in our conference do as well - Hope, Alma, Albion and Kalamazoo!

Elmhurst and Augustana are "train schools" as well, and the el runs so close to NPU that you can hear it from the southern portion of the campus.

[CardinalAlum]

VaBBlue:

Doesn't that seem to be "the thing" for a great number of DIII schools i.e. the loud running trains through and/or right next to campus?   Wheaton has that and several schools in our conference do as well - Hope, Alma, Albion and Kalamazoo!

Elmhurst and Augustana are "train schools" as well, and the el runs so close to NPU that you can hear it from the southern portion of the campus.

Don't forget North Central and Augustana each have trains that run very close to campus.

[79jaybird]

formerd3db-great story.  Is that the old Grand Trunk and Western line now Canadien National (CN) ? 
Yes, I am a train nerd so here are the railroads and the CCIW schools.

Elmhurst- Chicago Northwestern (CNW) now Union Pacific  line will take you from Chicago all the way to North Platte, NB
Wheaton- Same line as Elmhurst
North Central- Burlington Northern will take you from Chicago's Clyde Yard all the way to Minneapolis.  Good place to go and see trains (if you are a rr nerd) is Rochelle, IL
Carthage-  Chicago and Northwestern line from Chicago's Union Station all the way up to Sheboygan, WI
IWU- Illinois Central /Amtrak  that will take you from Chicago all the way to Biloxi, MS
Millikin- Norfolk and Southern  that is all I know about those tracks
Augustana- CRI&P  the old Rock Island Line that will take you from Rock Island back to Chicago.  Now the line is used by the Iowa Interstate RR as a Regional Link.
North Park- no real freight railroads nearby by the EL is there.

I know, I know- I need a new hobby.