Go Illini!

If we hadn't moved back to California from Champaign, Illinois 22 years ago, I know where we would be right now. Assembly Hall at the University of Illinois Campus watching our team play Purdue. No underground parking so we'd be walking across the prairie land, 28 degrees with 20 percent of freezing rain before the game. We'd be wearing orange like maybe 90 percent of the other fans in the bleachers. We'd know the coach, Bruce Weber, because John would have been editor of the Champaign News Gazette until he retired. We might go to a party after the game. We'd know everyone there.

But we left Champaign to move to Ventura and never again have we been so attached to a college basketball team. When we lived there, U of I basketball players would stop by on Halloween just to say hello. My favorite player was Tony Wysinger, 5'9 guard who had more heart than players a foot taller. I loved to watch him drive to the basket, spin around and lay the ball into the basket to the chagrin of his opponents. Another favorite was Steve Bardo who is one of the announcers for tonight's game. We tailgated before football games in the fall and loved to watch the band sneak into the stadium with their hats on backwards for some reason.

Now we're watching the game in the comfort of our living room, wind howling outside, stormy but 46 degrees. I miss those nights of squeaky gym shoes, enthusiastic cheers, the feeling of being part of a tribe. Score at the half: 32-28, Illinois.