MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

This is Decatur we're talking about, after all. Think Burgh Hall circa 1983, only with 80,000 people in it instead of 200.

Burgh Hall is nicer than Decatur !!!

Burgh Hall is currently undergoing a near-complete renovation (not "complete," because all the bathrooms were upgraded the last two summers) and should be a far more attractive and comfortable facility when the students return in late August.  In addition to all new rooms and furnishings, there will be a more welcoming student commons.

You won't have Burgh Hall to kick around any longer.

Yes, a friend of mine who is one of NPU's engineers gave me a full update on the facelift that the old girl is getting this summer. I won't be checking it out, though -- I'm sick of envying all of the improvements to the campus that the current generation of students can enjoy that I couldn't. I'll stick with my memories of the old Burgh Hall, with its either-freezing-or-boiling temperatures, its World War II vintage intercom system, its disgusting carpeting and chipped linoleum, and its cinderblock walls painted a ghastly puke green, thankyouverymuch.

Spoken like a true 'Old Fart'!  Welcome aboard!

Except that Franklin Hall didn't even have an intercom, you spoiled brat!

Get off my lawn!

[Dennis_Prikkel]

This is Decatur we're talking about, after all. Think Burgh Hall circa 1983, only with 80,000 people in it instead of 200.

Burgh Hall is nicer than Decatur !!!

Burgh Hall is currently undergoing a near-complete renovation (not "complete," because all the bathrooms were upgraded the last two summers) and should be a far more attractive and comfortable facility when the students return in late August.  In addition to all new rooms and furnishings, there will be a more welcoming student commons.

You won't have Burgh Hall to kick around any longer.

Yes, a friend of mine who is one of NPU's engineers gave me a full update on the facelift that the old girl is getting this summer. I won't be checking it out, though -- I'm sick of envying all of the improvements to the campus that the current generation of students can enjoy that I couldn't. I'll stick with my memories of the old Burgh Hall, with its either-freezing-or-boiling temperatures, its World War II vintage intercom system, its disgusting carpeting and chipped linoleum, and its cinderblock walls painted a ghastly puke green, thankyouverymuch.

ah, yes, the vintage squawk box intercom system - which with two alligator clip cables attached to my reel-to-real tape recorder the entire dorm received classical
music one Saturday evening.  Nothing like Beethoven's 7th Symphony in stereo from a hundred intercom squawk boxes.  Quite the sound.... quite the immediate cursing as well....

MW - great memory

[Titan Q]

A few CCIW recruits will participate in the annual IBCA all-star games tonight at the Shirk Center in Bloomington...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/06/28/usports/doc4865b7deea68e878800362.txt

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x19926540/IBCA-an-area-affair


3A/4A game (7:00pm):

Dexter Walker, IWU (6-6/215 SF/PF, Morton) - 18.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg

1A/2A game (5:00pm):

Chris Anderson, Augustana (6-4 SF/PF, West Carroll) - 17.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.7 apg
Joel Benson, North Park (6-5/225 F/C, Westminster Christian) - 18.3 ppg, 10.8 rpg
Zack Boyd, Elmhurst (6-2 G/F, Warrensburg-Latham) -  23.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.4 apg
Jeremy Pflederer, Wheaton (6-0 PG, Tremont) - 25.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg
Lee Piccinelli, North Central (5-11 PG/SG, Henry) - 26.8 ppg
Jordan Zimmer, IWU (6-4 G/F, Delavan) - 23.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.1 apg


Here is short piece from WMBD news on the event, including an interview with Dexter Walker...

http://centralillinoisproud.com/media_player.php?media_id=12631

[Titan Q]

Decatur Herald & Review on Joe Hakes...

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2008/06/27/sports/millikin/1033708.txt

[Pat Coleman]

Joe -- will you still be the chair of the men's soccer committee?

[joehakes]

Right now the plan is for me to switch my regional chair role to the Central region since that is open and then I will be able to chair the national committee.  At first it did not look like that would happen but it looks like it will work.  I am glad that I can finish out my term (four years) on the committee.

[Gregory Sager]

Decatur Herald & Review on Joe Hakes...

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2008/06/27/sports/millikin/1033708.txt

From the article:

A former men's soccer, men's tennis and women's basketball coach at North Park in the 1980s, Hakes sounded ecstatic to be back in Division III.

"Back in Division III"? I must've missed the memo that announced that Gordon College had left D3.

The CCIW reached a significant milestone with Joe's hire by Millikin. That, plus Jack Surridge's handing over the reins of the NPU women's basketball program this spring, means that all eight CCIW schools now have a full-time athletic director. No longer will anyone in this league have an AD who also doubles as a coach of some sport; they're all strictly full-time administrators now.

Joe and Pat, how prevalent is the full-time AD trend within D3?

[Mr. Ypsi]

I've confined all previous Tigers posts to MIAA (ranging from WTF is wrong to are they finally getting there), but thank you Cubbies for doing your part!   Now, who is in gonna step up and slow down Pat's Twinkies?

Guess I won't complain TOO much until Detroit can finally reach .500 and STILL can't gain ground.

Well, the Tigers are finally over .500 for the first time this year, the Indians and Royals are fading in the rear-view mirror, but the Twinkies and Pale Hose are also feasting on Triple-A competition (NL, AAA, same difference!).  Cubbies, thanks for last weekend; wish you had remembered about this weekend.

I guess we're gonna have to dig ourselves out of the hole we dug.

[Pat Coleman]

Decatur Herald & Review on Joe Hakes...

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2008/06/27/sports/millikin/1033708.txt

From the article:

A former men's soccer, men's tennis and women's basketball coach at North Park in the 1980s, Hakes sounded ecstatic to be back in Division III.

"Back in Division III"? I must've missed the memo that announced that Gordon College had left D3.

The CCIW reached a significant milestone with Joe's hire by Millikin. That, plus Jack Surridge's handing over the reins of the NPU women's basketball program this spring, means that all eight CCIW schools now have a full-time athletic director. No longer will anyone in this league have an AD who also doubles as a coach of some sport; they're all strictly full-time administrators now.

Joe and Pat, how prevalent is the full-time AD trend within D3?

It's growing. I would guesstimate that probably 60-70% of Division III schools have an AD who is not also a coach.

Baldwin-Wallace just went that route for the first time as well.

[joehakes]

It is defintely the trend.  The expectations of the job and the difficulty of balancing attention toward all programs in a department has grown.  It is hard as a coach/AD not to hurt your own program in attempting to be fair, be accused of favoring your own program, or both.  The AD job is different than it was 10 years ago. 

I have done it both ways, and one is much more effective as a full-time AD than in a dual role.

[Gregory Sager]

Make all the little gibes you like, Chuck, but in spite of the fact that the AL has had the preponderance of major league talent throughout this decade it's still the NL that plays actual, genuine baseball the way the sport was designed to be played -- with nine players per side instead of ten.

And the dominance of one league over the other in interleague play doesn't mean jack when it comes to the ultimate prize, which is a World Series championship. It pains me to mention this, but just ask these guys what I'm talking about. You can have a crappy regular-season record and represent the second-best of the major leagues in terms of overall talent and interleague record, but once you get to the WS it's all about winning a best-of-seven, not a best-of-162.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, I can assure you that the 2006 WS pains me even more than it pains you, since the Tigers had a magical season totally out of the blue (I kept expecting their collapse right up to late August - that season was not anticipated for at least 2-3 more years).

But don't be such a selective traditionalist.  By pre-DH playoff standards, St. Louis would not have even BEEN in the post-season!  They are one of the top examples, along with Villanova bball, etc., that the Champion is not always the best team - just the hottest.  And, personally, I've made peace with the DH - watching most pitchers try to hit is just too painful!   (And I like that you can remove a pitcher only because he is not doing his real job, instead of removing him because it is his turn to strike out!)

[Gregory Sager]

Greg, I can assure you that the 2006 WS pains me even more than it pains you, since the Tigers had a magical season totally out of the blue (I kept expecting their collapse right up to late August - that season was not anticipated for at least 2-3 more years).

I figured it would, but believe me, as a Cubs fan that WS title by the Cards was very hard to swallow ... much, much harder to swallow than seeing the White Sox win it all in '05. I know that White Sox fans don't like to hear this, since to them the rivalry with the Cubs is a matter of life and death, but the Cubs have a much bigger (and more important) rivalry with the Cards than they do with the South Siders. We Cubs fans save our deepest hatred for the team on the other side of the Mississippi, not the team from the other side of town.

But don't be such a selective traditionalist.

There is no other kind of traditionalist, Chuck. Progress does bring about necessary and valuable innovations, even in the hidebound world of baseball. The integration of the big leagues in 1947 is the most pertinent example, but there are lots of other changes big and small that even the most conservative baseball fan has embraced ... from the abandonment of the old flannel uniforms to the elimination of the reserve clause to expansion (because nobody believes that baseball would best be served by having only sixteen major-league teams nowadays).

By pre-DH playoff standards, St. Louis would not have even BEEN in the post-season!  They are one of the top examples, along with Villanova bball, etc., that the Champion is not always the best team - just the hottest.

I don't have a problem with the expansion of the playoffs. Some traditionalists didn't like the wild card, but since the major leagues moved to divisions in 1969 it's not as though the team with the best record in each league is the only one that get into the postseason anymore, anyway. Heck, it's not always even the two best teams that got into the postseason; in 1973 the New York Mets won the NL East -- and, eventually, the NL pennant itself -- in spite of the fact that there were three teams in the NL West that had better records than the Mets.

The DH and playoff expansion are two completely separate subjects.

And, personally, I've made peace with the DH - watching most pitchers try to hit is just too painful!   (And I like that you can remove a pitcher only because he is not doing his real job, instead of removing him because it is his turn to strike out!)

Pitchers aren't necessarily automatic K's. Some of them (Carlos Zambrano, Micah Owings, Cole Hamels, Jason Marquis, etc.) are actually very good hitters. And even the worst of them are expected to be able to lay down a bunt, and bunts are frequently among the most interesting and exciting plays in baseball (because they so often lead to close calls).

The gratification of watching some slugger who is either too old or too inept to play the field (e.g., Travis Hafner, Jim Thome, Frank Thomas, Big Papi) sit on his duff for nine innings and come up once every two or three innings to swing from his heels doesn't compare to the loss of strategy involved in abandoning the pitcher's role as a hitter -- and that strategy involves how the manager handles his pitchers as well as lineup management. AL baseball is a home run derby; NL baseball is a chess game. Plus, the fact that you can't hide your poor fielders in the NL means that managers are forced to take the risk of playing the likes of Alfonso Soriano and Adam Dunn in the field -- which lends even more strategy to the NL game. Do you sub out your iron-gloved slugger in the late innings in favor of a good-field, no-hit defensive sub? If so, how big a lead do you have to have before you risk it?

Baseball is the thinking man's sport, and the NL plays the thinking man's version of the thinking man's sport.

[Pat Coleman]

AL baseball is a home run derby; NL baseball is a chess game.

Home runs per game per team, NL: .998
Home runs per game per team, AL: .947

Source: MLB.com

To me, there's nothing cooler than seeing a pitcher hit. And nothing more pathetic than seeing a pitcher bat who cannot hit.

[AndOne]

Greg, I can assure you that the 2006 WS pains me even more than it pains you, since the Tigers had a magical season totally out of the blue (I kept expecting their collapse right up to late August - that season was not anticipated for at least 2-3 more years).

I figured it would, but believe me, as a Cubs fan that WS title by the Cards was very hard to swallow ... much, much harder to swallow than seeing the White Sox win it all in '05. I know that White Sox fans don't like to hear this, since to them the rivalry with the Cubs is a matter of life and death, but the Cubs have a much bigger (and more important) rivalry with the Cards than they do with the South Siders. We Cubs fans save our deepest hatred for the team on the other side of the Mississippi, not the team from the other side of town.

Amen, brother!

NOTHING so hard to take in baseball as a Cards win no matter regular season, playoffs, or WS.

I guess I am fortunate I live in the suburbs, and can say I am a CHICAGO fan. I happen to like the White Sox too. I want them to be in the WS--and I want them to play the Cubs and have the Cubs win.  Its just that I like the Cubs a little better.
If I lived in the city, I don't believe I'd be able to say that. It seems like everyone I know from the city feels that have to choose. They can't root for both the Cubs and the Sox. Thats a sin in Chicago. Its like the Civil War--you're either north or south.
The other thing I've observed over the ages is that to most Sox fans, a win by the Cubbies is the worst thing that can happen, but, as Greg said, the worst thing to most Cub fans is to be beaten out by the Cards.