D3 Championship Belt

[Gregory Sager]

You might want to consider hanging it across from the visitor's bench in Carlson if it's got that kind of power.

It's just called "North Park University Gymnasium" -- the "Carlson" of "Carlson Crazies" is taken from the adjacent classroom building, Carlson Tower.

Wow, no wonder they haven't had time to upgrade that historic facility  -  they spent all their administrative time/creative juices coming up with that dynamic moniker!

According to Dennis Prikkel, the man who donated the money for NPC to build the gym back in the late fifties, A. Harold Anderson, was given the opportunity to have it named after him. He supposedly looked at it when it was completed and decided that he didn't want to have his name attached to such a third-rate facility.

That story makes the crackerbox's generic formal name even cooler.

Chicago has just defeated Brandeis to become the 6th UAA team to take possession of the Just Bill's b*lt this season.

The final today is Chicago 74, Brandeis 66 at the Ratner Center.

The original b*lt has just been surrendered to Chicago, while the replica b*lt has been surrendered to UAA personnel at the virtual Ratner Center.  The replica b*lt will be flown to virtual UAA Headquarters tonight for the remainder of the season.  The replica will probably be headed to a sports museum in the virtual Boston area at the end of the postseason.

The Just Bill's b*lt is now guaranteed to be defended in the NCAA tournament this year, with the winner of the Wash U at Chicago game next Saturday guaranteed to get the automatic bid out of the UAA to the NCAAs.

The word here in town is that Richie Daley wants to house the Belt^TM someplace special, but the Art Institute, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Field Museum have all turned him down and the Shedd Aquarium won't house it because the leather gets soggy in water.  The Museum of Science and Industry would seem to be an appropriate place for it, since the MSI is less than a half-mile east of the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park, but Daley nixed the MSI's plan to hang the Belt^TM from the conning tower of the museum's centerpiece attraction, the U-505 WWII German U-boat, passing it off to the public as a war trophy. So Daley has instructed that the Belt^TM is either going to be put in Al Capone's vault (which we know has room for it, thanks to Geraldo Rivera) or enshrined in its own D3 Championship Belt^TM Museum -- if Da Mare can get past the civic groups who are adamantly against his building the shrine in Grant Park.

My guess is that the Belt^TM will actually either end up draped around Jay Berwanger's 1935 Heisman Trophy in the Ratner Center rotunda, or displayed in the donut case in Morry's Deli at 55th and Cornell.

[Just Bill]

I love Mayor Daley.  Last election I voted for him seven times.

[deiscanton]

The Just Bill's B*lt is now headed to the NCAA D3 Tournament with a successful title defense by Chicago on Saturday.  As the UAA Champion, Chicago will learn about its next opponent later today when the bracket is released.

Wash U is now 0-3 in challenges for the b*lt.  The Bears's losses were to Virginia Wesleyan in last year's D3 final four in Salem, VA, to Brandeis when the Bears had home court advantage, and to Chicago on Saturday.

[ILive4This]

Chicago has a tough road ahead playing Wisconsin Steven's Point, I think the belt may be going at least temporarily to a WIAC school.

[deiscanton]

Whoever captures the Walnut and Bronze in Salem, VA will also get possession of the Just Bill's B*lt going into next season.  At least the b*lt is being defended in the NCAAs.

[kiltedbryan]

Whoever captures the Walnut and Bronze in Salem, VA will also get possession of the Just Bill's B*lt going into next season.  At least the b*lt is being defended in the NCAAs.

Yes, clearly the B*lt legitimizes the NCAA tournament selections.      

[Just Bill]

UW-Stevens Point, a team very familiar with Belt^TM tradition and protocol, will get the first chance to take it from Chicago.  But that won't be easy.

I asked my buddy Jim Malone how to get the Belt^TM and he said, "You wanna know how to get the Belt^TM? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way! And that's how you get the Belt^TM. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I'm offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?"

Oh yeah, Mr. Malone.  Point wants that deal.

[Gregory Sager]

The Maroons may be from da Sout' Side, but comparisons to Jimmy Malone or any other Sout' Side hardcase on either side of the law end there. The "Chicago way", in reference to the U of C, goes like this: "They pull a knife, you devote four years to building an atom bomb beneath the football bleachers. They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to Regenstein Library to research the impact of the Coase theory upon economic auction and mechanism design."

[Just Bill]

UW-Stevens Point takes Chicago on a ride to the top of the ferris wheel on Navy Pier...and leaves them there, taking the Belt^TM in an NCAA Tournament game at St. Thomas.

UWSP has a permanent display class back on campus since they've held the Belt^TM a lot over the last few years, but they'll have to win another game tomorrow before hiring the armored car to go back to Portage County.

Listen closely.  You can hear Old School shouting, "We're the king of the world!"

[Ralph Turner]

...
Listen closely.  You can hear Old School shouting, "We're the king of the world!"

I thought he was lip-synching Freddie Mercury!

[Just Bill]

Well easy come, easy go.  Buena Vista takes the Belt^TM into the sectionals, despite the fact they mispronounce their own name.

[Ralph Turner]

Well easy come, easy go.  Buena Vista takes the Belt^TM into the sectionals, despite the fact they mispronounce their own name.

I wonder if the B*lt leaves Storm Lake with a different pronunciation. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

So it's the "buelt" now?

[Just Bill]

Start of season to 12/8/07 - Amherst
12/8/07 to 1/20/08 - Brandeis
1/20/08 to 1/25/08 - Rochester
1/25/08 to 2/1/08 - Emory
2/1/08 to 2/15/08 - NYU
2/15/08 to 2/17/08 - Carnegie Mellon
2/17/08 to 2/24/08 - Brandeis
2/24/08 to 3/7/08 - Chicago
3/7/08 to 3/8/08 - UW-Stevens Point
3/8/08 to Present - Buena Vista

[SLP-O-8]

Well easy come, easy go.  Buena Vista takes the Belt^TM into the sectionals, despite the fact they mispronounce their own name.

haha nobody here has any idea what genius decided to pronounce it that way.  I pronounce it wrong quite often and have to correct myself.  However we will hold on to the belt with pride and hopefully hold onto it for a while.