By Woodrow Carroll Going into last Saturday’s Minnesota at Illinois’ football game, Illinois head coach, Brett Bielema, had a 10-0 lifetime record against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Seven of those victories were from when Bielema was the Wisconsin coach and the final three were a product of Bielema’s last three
By Woodrow Carroll The University of Illinois may belong in the Top 25 of the various collegiate football polls. What Oregon proved last Saturday, was that the Illini are not worthy of inclusion in the Top 10, of any of the polls. Oregon defeated visiting Illinois, 38-9, in what was
By Woodrow Carroll Illinois’ three major college football programs, Illinois, Northwestern and Northern Illinois, all showed a decided lack of offensive punch last Saturday. Combined the three teams scored only 30 points. Fortunately, Illinois had 21 of those points and, along with a stout defense, the Fighting Illini came away
By Woodrow Carroll It was a rare weekend for the state of Illinois’ major college football programs when Northwestern, Northern Illinois, and Illinois each recorded victories last Friday and Saturday. And for a bonus the Chicago Bears won. What is going on? The Northwestern Wildcats (3-3 and 1-2) got things
By Woodrow Carroll Trailing the Massachusetts Minutemen, 13-7, at halftime Saturday, Oct. 5, the Northern Illinois football team was up against it. The luster surrounding the Huskies’ upset of Notre Dame had long since faded. A shocking loss to MAC rival Buffalo was followed by a tough loss at North
By Woodrow Carroll It was homecoming week at Hinckley-Big Rock High School last week and Royals did themselves proud. For starters, the HBR soccer team won a 7-0 shutout game against visiting Yorkville Parkview Christian Academy Falcons last Friday, Sept. 27. However, the game seemed a bit secondary to the
By Woodrow Carroll After suffering a shocking upset at the hands of Northern Illinois University, there was a feeling that Notre Dame would be fired up when they played Purdue last Saturday at Purdue. It was true! Notre Dame (2-1) won, 66-7, and were up 42-0 at halftime. Historical note!
By Woodrow Carroll Due to a bye week, the Northern Illinois football program will have an extra week to savor their 16-14 monster upset of Notre Dame last Saturday in South Bend. The next game for Northern Illinois will be at home Saturday, Sept. 21 against Buffalo, a Mid-American Conference
By Woodrow Carroll Does it bother you to contemplate the thought of a nice (ostensibly) Irish girl shooting a former Notre Dame Fighting Irish football star in the back. Well it should. Before we continue much further, be advised that tongue in cheek will be at play in this article,
By Woodrow Carroll The Milwaukee Brewers are almost a sure bet to make the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs this season. At the start of this week’s action, the Brewers were 11.0 games ahead of the opposition in the National League Central Division and for the Brewers to not finish
By Woodrow Carroll Last season was a good one for the Northern Illinois University football program. It finish strong and fans likely will remember the team fondly. Ten games into the 2023 schedule, Northern Illinois was 4-6 and struggling after opening the campaign with a big road victory at Boston
By Woodrow Carroll A look at the names of many of the sports teams around the country, there can be wonder how the names, or more rightly the nicknames applied to the teams originated. For starters, the NBA (National Basketball Association) has three teams with names that seem a bit
By Woodrow Carroll After watching the Chicago White Sox struggle the first part of this season, there were observers who thought the team might pick up the pace following the all-star break. Although few, if any, nobody envisioned the Sox stringing together a long winning streak, the more optimistic Sox’
By Woodrow Carroll Occasionally, when surfing the web, one comes across an interesting bit of reading. One interesting article was on Olympic Games athletes who died before their time. All too often it was a war or military conflict that brought about death. The individuals were in the modern Olympic
By Woodrow Carroll The Atlanta Braves have been one of Major League Baseball’s success stories in recent seasons. The Braves have made numerous playoff appearances, highlighted by a World Series championship in 2021. This season, Atlanta is well positioned for a playoff berth as a wild-card entrant, although winning the
By Woodrow Carroll To many younger fans it may be difficult to know that there were many cities which at one time had two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. In the late 1950s and early 1960s only Chicago had more than one team in the metropolitan area. In 1952 there
By Woodrow Carroll With the death of Major League Baseball icon, Willie Mays, last week, the distinction of being the oldest living Hall of Fame member belongs to former Chicago White Sox great, Luis Aparicio. In addition Aparicio, 90, is the lone Sox member alive of the 1959 World Series
By Woodrow Carroll Last week basketball icon Jerry West died. Similar to so many stars, Jerry West left many memories to many fans. Much of what most fans remember about West centers around his time in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers.. Yet, similar to so many great athletes,
By Woodrow Carroll The recent death of former National Basketball Association (NBA) star Chet Walker brings to mind how talented athletes face each other at an early age, then, often later end up do battle at a higher level, or, as teammates, in some cases! Chet Walker went to high
By Woodrow Carroll Every Major League Baseball team goes through a stretch that ends being viewed by many observers as the worst in franchise history. Coming into this season, many long-time Chicago White Sox backers will say the 1970 Club stands as the franchise low point. In 1970 the White
