Yesterday, I entered a team in the second annual Kiwanis Sports Trivia Championship here in Champaign. While we didn’t win, we had fun and it was for a good cause. Like last year, there was one Illinois baseball question among the 100 questions they gave us. And once again, Lou…
Hard core big league fans look forward to when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. I guess the closest that college baseball has is when players begin full team practice… and that happened for the first time yesterday. Players and coaches convened at the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility (complete…
Shawn L emailed me wondering why I haven’t posted about this particular gem of news. He’s right… it’s pretty significant. The gist of it is that the University of Illinois has announced that they will make admission to all of its ‘Olympic Sports’ free of charge. From the Illini press…
After work today (yes, I worked on a Saturday), I crossed the cemetery that separates the U of I campus and the baseball field and got another look at the nearly completed clubhouse addition at Illinois Field. While I was there, I shot some photos. As you can see, the…
A bit of news in case you might have missed it… there has been a schedule change. Due to the stadium calamity that occurred at the Metrodome on December 12, they have been forced to cancel the Metrodome Tournament. Coach Hartleb was up for the challenge and filled the March…
Tickets for the Big East/Big Ten Challenge went on sale today. From the Big Ten: “An all-tournament pass, which provides access to all 24 games of the Challenge, can be purchased for $25. Individual day passes are available for $10 and admit a spectator to all games at all venues…
The annual Hot Stove Banquet which is sponsored by the University of Illinois baseball team and the Fighting Illini Dugout Club is almost here. An annual tradition, the Hot Stove Banquet kicks off the Illini baseball season and is a good chance to meet the coaches and players. Here are…
Maybe it’s a little for this but Happy New Year! It has been a couple weeks since I posted and I do apologize for that. One month from yesterday, the Illini baseball team will be playing in their first game of the 2011 season. It’s hard to believe. I remind…
A University of Illinois product was inducted into the Waterloo Bucks (Northwoods League) Hall of Fame this year. You’ll have to go back a few years for this one but Tim Lavery who graduated from the U of I in 1999 was inducted in this year’s annual Bucks’ Hall of…
…not sure if I do or not. Here’s an example: Here’s a link to the official announcement and a gallery of the new Big Ten logos. Compare it to an example of the old one (it’s actually still up on the Big Ten web pages): The older one had gradient…