Talk Back! 
Most Read stories this week
Most Emailed stories this week
Ignore the talking Web heads
CHAMPAIGN - One thing about blogs, those Web site bulletin boards where anyone with a computer and the ability to avoid cuss words can belch up an opinion for the whole world to see:
When it comes to sports, everyone has an opinion, and those with contrary opinions are either wrong, idiots or Indiana fans. Maybe all three.
If I write that Illinois will lose its next football game, there quickly will be four dozen responses saying they agree, they disagree or they violently disagree and, oh, by the way, anything new on Eric Gordon?
These are uneasy times for Illini fans, and limiting our conversation to the realm of football, the prevailing sentiments are these:
Illini Athletic Director Ron Guenther is a bum who couldn't pick a football coach out of a lineup that included Vince Lombardi and the Seven Dwarfs.
Current head coach Ron Zook is a loser who inherited a mess from Ron Turner, another loser, who inherited a mess from Lou Tepper, a bespectacled loser, who inherited a developing mess from John Mackovic, who inherited a program that was melting into a mess under Mike White, who inherited a Major League mess from Gary Moeller, perhaps the ultimate loser.
Oh, and Ron Guenther hired them all. Actually he didn't, but why let that fact stand in the way of a popular storyline?
And somewhere along the way, a man with a goat was denied admission to Memorial Stadium, and he retaliated by placing a 100-year curse on the football program, punters in particular, and perhaps Eric Gordon.
That pretty much brings you up to date.
From my perspective, I see a large and dedicated pool of frustrated fans who are understandably skeptical about anything trumpeted as "hope," "optimism" or "progress" within the Illini football kingdom. They've been set up to be disappointed too many times to count, so when you tell them that Ron Turner should be able to parlay the 2001 Big Ten championship into measurable recruiting momentum - well, grizzled fans clench their teeth, knowing a succession of recruiting busts are right around the corner.
And they're right.
And when you tell them Ron Zook is, in fact, turning recruiting mistakes into recruiting miracles, they recoil in anticipation of the next letdown. "Yeah," they write cynically, "but he couldn't coach those kids to cross a busy intersection without getting run over by a bus."
Last weekend's numbing defeat at Rutgers didn't help matters. If anything, it simply ignited another wave of doubt and irritation, which has crashed ashore all week in Illini Nation, eroding whatever hope might have been building after a respectable opening-weekend victory over Division I-AA Eastern Illinois.
It's Syracuse coming to town Saturday, and without being too dramatic, this is the most important game Zook has faced in his 13-game tenure as Illinois' head coach.
Those of us in the business of guessing won-loss records went through the schedule before the season and tried to pinpoint potential victories. I saw four: Eastern Illinois, Syracuse, Ohio University and either Indiana or Northwestern.
I realize Illinois could stumble and win less or it could surprise and win more. But 4-7 has been my "over-under" line on the season. That, combined with the ability to play more respectably in the losses, would be my litmus test for progress.
But the degree of ineptitude at Rutgers was disturbing. And if Illinois falters against a Syracuse team that fought for two overtimes before losing to Iowa last weekend, 4-7 will seem like a mountain this team can never climb.
For one thing, Ohio appears to be better than expected. Its victory over Northern Illinois in DeKalb last weekend was impressive, and it's an indication Ohio won't easily be defeated in Champaign on Oct. 14.
And if Illinois falls to both Syracuse and Ohio, it will need to hustle to equal last season's mark of 2-9. And 2-9 will be tough to sell as progress.
I, however, am more than happy to trigger the cat clawing here and on our Web site, which is why I'm picking Illinois to win Saturday.
I witnessed the debacle at Rutgers live and in person. I'm more confused than ever about quarterback Tim Brasic, the offensive line and a punting strategy that looks like it should somehow include Will Ferrell. And over the years, I've come to believe that if anything bad or bizarre can happen to the Illini, it probably will.
Despite that, I'm going against the curse of the goat, against the bloggers' belief that Ron Guenther hired Dopey to coach this team and that Dopey and his players might be crushed getting off the team bus.
I'm taking the Illini, and that includes Guenther, Zook, Brasic, punter Kyle Yelton, the ghosts of Ron Turner and Gary Moeller and even the mythical goat. I'm betting on all of them.
And I'm doing so with complete confidence. Confident that win or lose, our bloggers will have no shortage of opinions on the subject.
Mark Tupper can be reached at mtupper@herald-review.com or 421-7983.
Previous Page 
Subscribe 
Email Alerts 
Print this story 
Email this story
del.icio.us
digg
newsvine
facebook
Search By Issue 