FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

I remember seeing the New Zealand rugby team do something similar to the HAKA before they play as well.

What you saw is the haka that New Zealand's All Blacks do before every rugby match. The haka is a Maori tradition. (The Maori are the Polynesians who were New Zealand's original inhabitants.)

Several Polynesian cultures have their own stylized war dances. The Maoris have their various haka (it's both a singular and plural noun). The Samoans have the siva tau, which is also customized for each group (North Park, USC, Arizona, and BYU are the only college football programs that have a siva tau). The Tongans have the kailao (also called the sipi tau), and the Fijians have the cibi. These cultures also have non-belligerent ritual dances that are male-only, female-only, or coed. Some are slap-stomp-chant-and-gesture dances like the siva tau or the haka, others are more rhythmic and more recognizable by Western standards as being a form of dance, such as the hula of Hawaiian culture.

Ritual dancing is a big part of the cultural inheritance of the various Polynesian peoples. That's probably why Wheaton's never recruited any Polynesians; it's never been a dance-friendly school.

Definitely a culture shock to go from the Pacific Islands to city life in Chicago.

Massive culture shock. My favorite fish-out-of-water Samoan story concerns an NPU football player who shall remain nameless, who, on his first day at North Park, felt homesick and wanted some familiar food. So he walked across Foster Avenue to McDonald's and ordered rice and spam. Apparently, you can order that at a Samoan McDonald's. (Spam is incredibly popular in the Pacific islands, a holdover from the U.S. military presence in World War II. Hawaiian supermarkets have entire aisles devoted to spam, and over there it comes in lots of different exotic varieties besides plain ol' spam, such as this and this and this and this.)

(The Monty Python guys would have a field day with their classic sketch if they were to ever reunite to do a show in Honolulu.)

I like the pregame routine they have that's pretty cool but is it too aggressive in this day and age :-)

It's pretty mild-mannered for a people who have a 3,000-year tradition of hand-to-hand combat. There's a good reason why Samoans took to football like ducks take to water.

Also there is balance in the world now that 2 alumni of Wheaton Men's Soccer are playing professionally in Sweden.
http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2016/8/17/stephen-golz-sweden.aspx

Par for the course, since several of Wheaton's best football receivers in recent seasons have been Swedish-Americans.

[USee]

Article from IWU's media day:

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/football/titans-aim-to-do-just-one-thing-to-get-over/article_1e8f004d-66c8-57b8-8370-2fa3477aeaee.html

Starting last season with seven straight victories and finishing with a 7-3 record has gnawed at Sean Garvey and his Illinois Wesleyan football teammates for the last nine months.
"If we take care of one extra thing — whether that being one more tackle or one more caught pass — that changes the season for us," said Garvey, the Titans' two-time all-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin linebacker.
"We're sitting here 10-0 and conference champs. It stings. It stings a lot, but at the same time it fuels us this year and give us energy to get out here and get after it."
The Titans have adopted the motto, "Just One Thing," for the 2016 season after falling short against North Central and CCIW champion Wheaton before being upset by North Park in last year's season finale.

[USee]

Report from Augie:

http://qctimes.com/sports/college/augustana/augustana-football-prepares-for-new-chapter/article_11a3cf73-fc5e-5ee2-b14c-f4d5186cc7c0.html

"You don't replace Sam Frasco," Bell said. "There's not another cat out there that has that skill set, not at this level. He was very talented in terms of what he was good at, elite, at times, but we'll have to be more balanced."
Despite Frasco's brilliance, the Vikings went 14-16 and never finished above .500 in three seasons with him at the helm, going 4-6 last season. Though replacing someone of his caliber is no easy task, the Vikings are excited about the opportunity to become a little more versatile on offense.
"He was a big part of our offense but it was a little bit one-dimensional," sophomore running back and former Geneseo standout Ryan Pitra said. "This year, we've got some good quarterbacks, we've got a lot of experience in the running back position so we should be able to pass the ball as well as run it so it's going to even it out and open up holes on both the running and passing game."
Right now, there is a healthy competition between sophomores Luke Bleyer and Zachary Fuller for the starting quarterback job. Bell said Fuller is a bit more mobile, but he likes Bleyer's accuracy.

[USee]

Millikin article:

http://herald-review.com/sports/millikin/millikin-s-new-product-ready-for-field-test/article_414d2581-a542-56d5-b5d0-759a1e42c845.html

Wanting to get the Millikin name out there, Gritti said he and his staff got to nearly every football-playing high school in the state of Illinois. They met with coaches face-to-face and talked to players when they could.
"We wanted to make sure everyone knew Millikin had made a commitment," Gritti said.
And they didn't concentrate on the traditional football powers, understanding the smaller schools can produce gems overlooked by many recruiters.
"We're scouring the country right now," Gritti said. "If they are interested in coming to Millikin, we're going to make a pitch for them."
It paid off. Getting involved late in the recruiting chase didn't seem to hurt much. Millikin could have at least 71 new players when it takes the field today. That includes a handful of transfers, some from Division II and Division I schools.

[kiko]

I remember seeing the New Zealand rugby team do something similar to the HAKA before they play as well.

What you saw is the haka that New Zealand's All Blacks do before every rugby match. The haka is a Maori tradition. (The Maori are the Polynesians who were New Zealand's original inhabitants.)

Several Polynesian cultures have their own stylized war dances. The Maoris have their various haka (it's both a singular and plural noun). The Samoans have the siva tau, which is also customized for each group (North Park, USC, Arizona, and BYU are the only college football programs that have a siva tau). The Tongans have the kailao (also called the sipi tau), and the Fijians have the cibi. These cultures also have non-belligerent ritual dances that are male-only, female-only, or coed. Some are slap-stomp-chant-and-gesture dances like the siva tau or the haka, others are more rhythmic and more recognizable by Western standards as being a form of dance, such as the hula of Hawaiian culture.

Ritual dancing is a big part of the cultural inheritance of the various Polynesian peoples. That's probably why Wheaton's never recruited any Polynesians; it's never been a dance-friendly school.

This is like the opposite of getting Ypsi'ed.  We need a catchy name for it... 

[Gregory Sager]

Contraypsied?

[izzy stradlin]

Looks like JJ Clark has the added title of associate d-coordinator at Wheaton (even though his 2016 bio still says corners and def passing game):

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/staff.aspx?staff=193

I am guessing this was the guy Swider had pegged to replace Langs when Langs did get a HC job however he wasn't there experience wise.   I'll bet Langs and Clark are attached at the hip this fall. I like that Swider is really trying to stay young with his staff as I think it really has payed off in recruiting over the past few years. 

[bashbrother]

Anyone know if Wheaton and Wabash have their annual scrimmage today?

[Zeus51]

Anyone happen to catch the North Central and Benedictine Scrimmage yesterday?

Any Thoughts?

[USee]

Anyone know if Wheaton and Wabash have their annual scrimmage today?

Yes they do.

[USee]

Anyone happen to catch the North Central and Benedictine Scrimmage yesterday?

Any Thoughts?

North Central is better.

[wally_wabash]

Anyone know if Wheaton and Wabash have their annual scrimmage today?

Yes they do.

I'm here. I'll let you all know what happened tonight. Practice kicks off in about 12 minutes.

[AndOne]

Anyone happen to catch the North Central and Benedictine Scrimmage yesterday?

Any Thoughts?

North Central is better.

This is truly a scrimmage of convenience as the schools are 3 miles apart down Chicago/Maple Ave.
Not sure of the value to NCC as Benedictine withdrew from their annual game a few years ago after becoming tired of being pounded on a fairly regular basis.

[wally_wabash]

Let's all be thankful that none of this counts.   

[izzy stradlin]

Let's all be thankful that none of this counts.   

As long as there are no injuries.