'My buddy is a booster and he is pissed.'

Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore...

*'My buddy is a booster and he is pissed'....

-Oh yes the yearly message board posts after a disappointing loss/season.....'my buddy is a booster and he is pissed….if Illinois doesn't make some changes to the coaching staff...he is done'.....yeah OK....here is what the average Joe Illini fan doesn't understand about 'booster culture' in CU.

Learned this observing Ron Guenther as athletic director and it still holds true today....Athletic department/AD has maybe a half dozen boosters/donors they 'pay attention to'....over the years names like Shad Khan, Clint Atkins, Peter Fox type of big shooter donors that had the ear of the athletic department...they are/were patron boosters....not activist boosters that would call and 'demand' changes…..AD had them in his pocket/consulted them when a decision was being made....type over the years trusted the AD to 'make the right decision’…..just like it is now.

Bitch and moan boosters?….Josh Whitman just as insulated from them now as the old german was (Guenther the Logan Roy of Illini AD's in terms of being kept away from ‘the assholes’ as one DIA type called them)....Whitman like Guenther first few years as athletic director ‘man of the people’ once established….insulate themselves…sure you might have rubbed elbows at a meet and greet with the AD……he politely nodded at your opinions…..good luck getting an appointment with him in his Bielfeldt office.

Thing about bitch and moan boosters....'if they don't make a change I am not giving anymore' types……DIA will shuffle them off to some down the line staffer....who will listen/understand their frustration...sure once in awhile someone will quit giving out of frustration.

Deep down DIA knows majority of bitch and moaners loyal to the colors...want to be a part of the cool kids club/love the perks afforded to being a booster....let em' express themselves knowing next donation time....they will give....why when I read ‘my buddy is a booster and he is pissed’…roll my eyes.

*Something that makes me laugh...

-All the talk about a bill from Congress that will 'legislate' colleges revenue sharing with athletes....make NIL obsolete....my ass....schools that cheated before now know better ways when 'paying players/their families/reps' so the under the table cash will become ever worse that it was pre-NIL

How will the legislation combat this for example?....Illini player minutes after the NCAA loss to Kentucky getting an NIL offer from another Big Ten school still in the tourney (reportedly)....offer went thru a 'friend' of the players family who had strong ties to....Big Ten school making the offer....with the NCAA toothless....no legislation going to stop that kind of 'tampering' and 'tampering' will get worse and worse....programs following the letter of the law as usual most 'penalized' cause they can't/won't compete with those offering under the table inducements thru 'friends' of the program...always someone willing to do whatever it takes to win….ask Jim Harbaugh about that.

*Football tidbits...

-Defensive tackle TeRah Edwards denied another year playing with the Illini....it was a long-shot appeal..."We are disappointed by the NCAA's decision to deny TeRah Edwards' waiver for eligibility in 2025," head coach Bret Bielema said in a statement. "We submitted TeRah's case in January with the belief that his unique circumstances were grounds for the NCAA to grant him eligibility this season. Last week, we were informed that he would not get the season that we believe he deserves'......some decent nose guard/defensive tackles that could get 15-20 snaps B1G level in the transfer portal this spring.

-Illinois first power four offer to Downers Grove (Ill.) North's Will Vala....2026 tight end/defensive end all of 6-foot-4, 220-pounds....on film tackles/has bend rushing the passer....excellent hands/breaks tackles after the catch....play him on either side of the ball...another top 20 type of player in-state class that got next to no publicity heading into spring....good job by Bielema's staff being ‘first’.

-The Black Cat Terry Hawthorne supposedly back at Illinois in an off the field role for now...former Illini cornerback started his coaching career in Champaign...then on the Arkansas staff...most recently coached defensive backs at Southern Illinois...good to see him back.

First heard of Black Cat summer of 2007 from Illini assistants Jim Pry and Reggie Mitchell...saw him play in a playoff game vs. Moline Browning Field later that fall...junior year....when I see his name think of this story.

My Buford T. Pusser experience…..Running a recruiting website meet different people on-line....early 2008 one Illini fan e-mailed asking for advice getting a job in football....this guy had taken an on-line course ‘how to break down football game film’ (which was a fuckin’ scam ‘course’)....asked if he could call me/ask some questions...sure...give him my cell number....dude calls wants me to recommend him to Zook's staff for a job in the film room...tell him, 'Don't have that kind of pull'...he goes off starts calling me names....while I try to tell him gotta work your way up the ladder.

Believed he deserved a job cause 'I discovered Terry Hawthorne and I have an eye for talent'....ummm OK...every so often I would get a text calling me a 'lying dickhead/asshole’ or some variation of that from different numbers....figured out it was the guy each time….changing numbers...yeah I know a psycho.

Visiting my parents in Moline....get a 'lying dickhead' text....remember the guys name thought he was from the Quad Cities….find his address...lives in Rock Island not far from my parents…...yes I know what I did was stupid…. might have gotten me shot/arrested for harassment...decide to go over and knock on his door....Dude comes out, I ask him if he is well I will keep his name out of this….Answers ‘yes'…..Tell him who I am…..’can you stop texting me lying dickhead' and various other profane comments?....He denied it was him...went right back inside...never got another 'lying dickhead/asshole' text again...at least not from him.

*'Guess that Illini'...

-Three quick hits…three former players...

Basketball player....summer workouts not making his time on the sprints...assistant coach yells, 'if this was a race to Kam's you would beat all these fuckers cause that's all you care about...being the first guy at Kam's'.....late bloomer staff 'thought' they got a steal....player left a couple of seasons at Illinois….ended up at an AAC school for two years looks like he averaged a point and a rebound per game there....Guess that Illini.

Football player got a preferred walk-on spot cause of 'family ties'...in reality was the coaching staff's spy on the team that the other players never trusted cause they knew what he was there for....some of the things he would snitch on his teammates about……tell the staff which player was sleeping with another player’s girlfriend…..which players were out at the bars every night……which players were talking shit about the coaching staff…..crap like that....freshman year player on traveling squad to another Big Ten school....no place for him to dress in the locker room so was put in a bathroom stall with a hook for his clothes....while warming up on the field....other players went in took a shit in ‘his’ toilet...didn't flush marinated till at least halftime....Guess that Illini.

Basketball player....got into an altercation with a bouncer outside Green Street bar...spit in the guys face....arrested...assistant who handled such incidents went down to the police station bailed him out....telling player (paraphrase)...'next time bitch slap the guy….you might be able to talk your way out of it...you spit on someone...they never forget that shit….can’t talk your way out of it.'....Guess that Illini.