From The Stands - Western Illinois 2025

I have no idea why this one is 15 minutes long. I didn't really say much of anything. But here's tonight's From The Stands. 

The shoe feels SO GOOD on this other foot. 

I hope you can hear me. The decision was made to make Club Memorial Stadium even louder this year, so... I hope you can hear me. Sixteen minutes from the stands after the Western Illinois game. 

I had to take my wife to the Indianapolis airport last minute. So with a two-hour solo drive back to Champaign ahead of me, I asked for questions on Twitter and Slack and then answered those questions from I-74. I restricted the questions to four categories: Illini football, Illini basketball, Illini golf, and my high school tennis career. 

Martin & I sat around my kitchen island talking about the 4-month celebration that was the 2024 Illini football season. 

I have no words. I'm still trying to figure out where this one ranks among greatest wins of my lifetime. So here I am wandering around for 24 minutes trying to talk about it. 

I tried to go on the field but they wouldn't let me (said my press pass wasn't one of those with field access. So I went back up in the stands and recorded this as the Illini fans came down to celebrate with the team near the dugout (yes, dugout).  What a win. What a season. What an emotion. 

I knew I had to hit record immediately. So I recorded this one (very short) immediately after the final horn.  I have no idea what just happened but I love it. 

The audio gets better after the first minute. Not much better, but better. This one is just me taking listener questions as I drive from Birmingham to Piscataway dodging snowflakes. 

Just a workmanlike win. It’s so comforting to watch a game like this. So I started talking about it with two minutes left in the game.