Category Archives: Uncategorized

November 8th, 2022 was a day filled with a lot of uncertainty politically in America. After the events of January 6th, 2021, there will seemingly always be a fear and concern about democracy in our country. There was, and still is, a fear that candidates that lose an election will falsely accuse the election ofContinue reading “Donald Trump Isn’t as Powerful and Joe Biden Isn’t as Bad as Many People Thought”

Winning. That is the goal of every athletic competition. It is what athletes and fans take pride in, and what every organization is professional sports is judged on. As a lifetime fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, I have gotten to root for a lot of winning teams. In fact, since Bill Dewitt became theContinue reading “The Curious Case of the St. Louis Cardinals”

Like most people, I woke up on March 26, 2022 to the sudden and unexpected news of Taylor Hawkins passing. At first I couldn’t believe it, but as I continued to scroll through Twitter it was all that I saw. A man whose spirit for music and life was so great it drew thousands ofContinue reading “Remember Everyone Like You Remember Taylor Hawkins”

Yes, Albert Pujols is back where it all began. And yes, I’m am all sorts of nostalgic and excited to see him playing for the Cardinals again. He is the reason that both of my boys have worn #5 throughout their entire baseball playing careers, even though they both only have faint memories of himContinue reading “The Real Reason I’m Excited About the 2022 Cardinals”

Staying home during Spring Break while others go off on luxurious family vacations is nothing new for me. It’s just part of spending a life in education and working for intrinsic satisfaction versus the nice paychecks. I’m not bashing or jealous of others that get to do those things, but this year is even aContinue reading “Don’t Judge Someone For Smelling Like Marijuana”

Coming up on the eve of the Final Four, the news around college basketball seems to be more focused on player and coach movement than the teams that are still playing for the sport’s biggest prize. The landscape around college basketball and sports has changed drastically with NIL deals and the transfer portal. Those twoContinue reading “Cinderella’s Last Dance”

Those words were used by former Illinois football coach Lovie Smith when explaining the dismissal of some of his more talented players from a promising young core. At the time, Illinois fans were frustrated with both the players and the coach as a languishing football program was dismissing a couple of players who received muchContinue reading “Sometimes Divorce is a Good Thing”

In order to be victim of your own success, a person has to have a lot of success. While coaching at Purdue, Matt Painter has had a lot of success. During Painter’s 18 seasons as head coach at Purdue, he has accumulated a 384-192 record, winning .667% of the games he has coached at hisContinue reading “Matt Painter and the Glass Ceiling”

Raised expectations make failures hurt just a little bit more. The Illinois basketball program has been the best in Big Ten play over the last three years, but thanks to a pandemic and two second round seeding upsets, the Illini have managed only two NCAA tournament wins during one of the greatest three year stretchesContinue reading “Raised Expections Bring Bigger Heartbreak”

I don’t miss Illinois basketball games. You can ask my wife or my family, when Illinois basketball is playing my life pretty much is put on pause. I don’t answer my phone and I don’t go out and socialize to try and “watch” the game. If people in the house want to talk loudly orContinue reading “Back on Top (Officially)”