MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Back before television dictated all night games, the World Series was played during the day.  Don Larsen's perfect game was pitched on a school day, and we all heard about when I came home from fourth grade.

My first game ever my mom took me to see Joe DiMaggio play in 1951.  My first night game my dad took me to see a pre-game home run hitting contest between Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle.  Williams was hurt and stayed in Boston and Mantle didn't play because the field was wet.  Nobody told the fans.  When I was 11 I was allowed to go to the Sunday doubleheaders by myself. 

MW

My third grade teacher (Mrs. Huston) was more of a baseball fan than your 4th grade teacher - we listened to the perfect game from about the 6th inning on!  And I'm pretty sure I was home and SAW the 9th inning, though I've seen so many reruns I'm no longer positive.  At any rate, that is the first World Series where I definitely SAW some of the games!

[Pat Coleman]

A little breaking news this off-season. Trost is gone. Will be announced in the next couple of days. Can't say where. I'll just say you all will be surprised if not shocked. Most will consider it a step back.

Let the rumors begin on the next IWU coach.

If it's indeed Lewis then nobody here will be surprised. It was already discussed in the past few days.

[Gregory Sager]

Dan Sand gets a Karma point for remembering the slick passing Clausen, who was the #1 reserve in the front court on the 1978 championship team and then started at forward the next three years.  Clausen was 2nd in career assists when he graduated.  He missed one game out of 31 as a freshman and then started every game the next three years.  At one time his 120 career games was a D3 record.

If I had known that Jim Clausen was from the QC, I never would've asked the question in the first place. Jimbo was a senior when I was a freshman; I even sat behind him in Principles Of Health Education. I'd always thought for some reason that he went to Rockford Guilford H.S.

[Gregory Sager]

If you lived on the East Coast you would have been hung in effigy long ago.  It's ok to have a favorite team and then abandon them for some good reason, but you can never just switch allegiances unless you become a paid employee of said franchise.  There is at least a twenty year waiting period.  You're lucky midwesterners don't take their baseball so seriously.

Midwesterners don't take their baseball seriously? Pffft. If you're a Cubs fan and you switch your allegiance to the Cardinals, or vice-versa, within no time you'll find someone swinging a fist in your face and knocking out your teeth -- which is admittedly less of an achievement if you started out as a Cardinals fan, since most of them are well short of their original allotment of 32.

The first World Series I remember? 1970: Orioles over the Reds in five. Since I played third base in Little League, I immediately adopted Brooks Robinson as my role model. Unfortunately, I hit more like Brooke Shields than Brooks Robinson. 

[Gregory Sager]

My third grade teacher (Mrs. Huston) was more of a baseball fan than your 4th grade teacher - we listened to the perfect game from about the 6th inning on! And I'm pretty sure I was home and SAW the 9th inning, though I've seen so many reruns I'm no longer positive. At any rate, that is the first World Series where I definitely SAW some of the games!

One of my friends from North Park had an early-evening journalism class that met once a week on Tuesdays back in the spring of 1984. The instructor was Eric Lund, a highly-respected veteran Chicago journalist who had been an editor at the old Chicago Daily News. My friend went to a Cubs game one Tuesday afternoon, thinking he'd have plenty of time to get back to campus and grab a bite to eat before class. Turns out that it was one of those classic wind-blowing-out, last-team-to-score-wins type of games at Wrigley, with the Cubs coming from behind to beat the Giants, 12-11, on a bases-loaded Keith Moreland single. The game went well over three hours, and by the time my friend left the ballpark, caught the el back to North Park, and breathlessly rushed into class it was already well underway.

Eric Lund glared at him and said, "David, how dare you walk into my class fifteen minutes late. I won't continue until you share with us all just why you found it necessary to show up so late."

My friend replied, "I was at the Cubs game."

Eric Lund chuckled and said, "How did you know that that was the only excuse I would've accepted?"

[Pat Coleman]

Since I played third base in Little League, I immediately adopted Brooks Robinson as my role model. Unfortunately, I hit more like Brooke Shields than Brooks Robinson. 

Which is unfortunate, since she was five years old at the time.

[Gregory Sager]

I don't think that Brooke Shields is much of an ideal comparison for hitting a baseball no matter what her age.

[iwu70]

Is it time for Dennie Bridges to coach another year?  Coaching prospects:  John Baines?  John Camardella?    If he doesn't like the financial services business, how about Bryan Crabtree?  I'm just speculating, right?  Lots of other coaches out there who would love to be considered for the IWU job.  I happen to believe the Titans are going to be really good next year, not that much of a rebuilding year at all, though, of course, all the other CCIW clubs will be working hard to be better too.

[dansand]

Dan Sand gets a Karma point for remembering the slick passing Clausen, who was the #1 reserve in the front court on the 1978 championship team and then started at forward the next three years.  Clausen was 2nd in career assists when he graduated.  He missed one game out of 31 as a freshman and then started every game the next three years.  At one time his 120 career games was a D3 record.

If I had known that Jim Clausen was from the QC, I never would've asked the question in the first place. Jimbo was a senior when I was a freshman; I even sat behind him in Principles Of Health Education. I'd always thought for some reason that he went to Rockford Guilford H.S.

He did come to Moline from Rockford (and Guilford sounds right). I think he played his junior and senior seasons for Moline, although it could have been just his senior year.

[Gregory Sager]

He did come to Moline from Rockford (and Guilford sounds right). I think he played his junior and senior seasons for Moline, although it could have been just his senior year.

Thanks, Dan. I have no desire to join devildog29 in the "Making Something Up In My Head" Club. No offense intended, dd29. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I don't think that Brooke Shields is much of an ideal comparison for hitting a baseball no matter what her age.

Now if you had said Tawny Kitaen, that might have been a different story.

[True Basketball Fan]

If indeed Trost is headed to Lewis (we are all waiting impatiently to find out), I would guess that Denny will look for someone from "The Family".  Not just someone who has coached there or graduated from there, but someone who has played there and has a wealth of successful coaching experience.  If that is true, it surely shrinks the pool of candidates down to a small puddle.  I hear names of possible candidates, but they are all so young and inexperienced, especially for taking on the monstrous task of being the IWU men's basketball coach.  With all respect to the younger coaches, I don't think Duke or North Carolina would hire someone young when Roy Williams or Coach K decide to leave.  I think most would agree that IWU is in the same ballpark or even dugout as Duke or UNC proportionally at the D-III level.  Are there any other names the titan insiders might know about?  I guess I'm looking for some heavy hitters, as I'm quite sure they will pop up if and when the job opens. 

[matblake]

If the news about Trost is true, I think that things will take care of themselves for IWU.  I think that one thing the program has going for it is the number of talented graduating seniors.  The casual fan is going to look at this year as a rebuilding year.  It might be possible to have a younger guy come in who has to do a little bit more of "learning the ropes." 

[Knightstalker]

The first World Series I am SURE I saw was 1956 - including Don Larsen's perfect game.  I THINK I saw Wllie Mays catch in 1954 live, but have seen it so many times in replays that I am not absolutely sure.  But I have no memories of 1955, so '56 may be the first.

According to my father the only World Series that really counted was the 55 series when his beloved Dodgers beat the hated Yankees.  Then they packed up and left town a couple of years later and my father hated them, well the owners anyway until the day he died.  They broke his heart, he always insisted that Ebbets Field was the best place to watch a game ever.

[Knightstalker]

I remember my High School Physics teacher using the Red Sox, Yankees (Bucky Dent) game as a lesson in how electronic signals carry through the atmosphere and can be received and viewed on a TV screen.  We rigged an antenna using the steel frame of the school and watched the game.