We Love No Other

Ouch. 

Nathan (who writes the Postscript article every Monday on the site) and I discuss the 7-1 Illini. I want to type that again. Nathan and I discuss The University Of Illinois Fighting Illini, a football team with a 7-1 record on the season. 7-1. 

This is what we’ve been waiting for. 

Now, when I say "youngest son", he's 27. So don't get to thinking this is me recording a podcast episode with a nine year-old. But we're driving from Idaho to Lincoln, Nebraska today. So we decided to hit record. 

Me losing my mind in the northwest stair tower immediately after the game. 

Martin and I have had so many conversations after games as I would drive back to St. Louis after yet another loss. So this one flips the script. He's driving this time, and we're talking about the #24 Illini. 

OK so this is maybe the zaniest one yet. And I don't have much of a voice. So just... please forgive me for being me. But we're 5-1 and I'm losing my mind. 

This is basically an hour and 12 minutes of Robert & Bob trying to sort through what it's like to cheer for a team that has a chance to win the Big Ten West.

This is probably different from any From The Stands you've listened to. Because my feeling after this win is different than any game I've watched. 

Josh & Jonny from The BoardRoom ask me 17 Illini football questions. Apologies for getting so excited near the end that I slam the table and accidentally unplug Josh's mic for the final 10 minutes. But you can kind of still hear him in the background? Kind of? Maybe?

Thoughts from the field after a shutout. 

I got a little excited here. And I rambled a little too much. But I don't care. I'm as excited as I've been in a long time. 

There's not much to this one. 7 minutes and 41 seconds of me trying to come up with words and failing. All I know: this is painful. 

The first From The Stands that's actually from the stands (after watching an entire home game from the stands) since 2012.

Craig and I have done this since 2014. Before the football season starts, we choose our guys. Who are the stars? Who are the breakout players? Walkons to watch. Freshmen to keep an eye on. This episode: our guys for 2022.

I chat with my Camp Rantoul buddy Coach P after we got to see a full practice on Saturday. We take an hour and a half to go through the depth chart position by position. 

We have reached the end. For this episode, my friend Brandon joins me to discuss the Underwood era. Yes, we were there in Indy for the Loyola loss and we were there in Pittsburgh for the Houston loss, but there's a lot more to this era than just those two losses. No, really, there is. 

This entire series was his idea. And these were his years in school. So Jonny from The BoardRoom (our basketball podcast) joins me to discuss the next five years in our journey: the five John Groce years. Year one? Pretty great. Years 2-3-4-5? Not so much. 

Bob Zuppke (not his real name) joins me to discuss the end of the Bruce Weber era. It was working until it wasn't. We had fixed recruiting until we didn't. And the end was very, very bad.

Length warning of all length warnings: this episode is three hours and nine minutes long. It's three episodes, really. The build-up to 2005, 2005, and then the tumble from 2005.  But mostly 2005. 

My friend Erik (who maintains The Stats) and I recap the years 1998 through 2002. Three Big Ten titles in five years. Not too shabby. 

Part III of this series covers 1993 (NCAA Tournament win over Long Beach State followed by the R32 loss to Vandy) through 1997 (NCAA Tournament win over USC followed by the R32 loss to Chattanooga). My guest: Daily Illini writer/editor at the time (and he's done a *few* more things since then), Will Leitch. 

Part II of my summer series reviewing the last 40 years of Illini basketball. Because it includes 1989, this one goes long. 2.5 hours long. 

Episode 1 of my summer series going through the last 40 years of Illini Basketball. Loren Tate is my guest as we cover the 1982-83 season through the 1986-87 season. From the arrival of Douglas and Winters to the NCAA Tournament loss to Austin Peay (and everything in between). 

I talk to Marc Davidson about his two seasons at Illinois, his professional career playing in France, his years as a high school coach, and his current cancer battle. His honesty, openness, and faith are quite inspiring.