Football head coach Ron Zook made the trip to Wrigley Field on Sunday for Illini Day and assumed the 7th inning stretch duties.

Some people may remember last year’s debacle, when Zook was caught reading the words to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” from a cheat sheet.

Yesterday’s attempt was a little more inspiring, though if you look closely enough Zook does manage to sneak a couple of suspicious glances at something sitting on the table in front of him . . .

As far as an evaluation goes, pretty much anything beats blatantly reading the words to a song most people learn by the third grade off of a piece of paper. Especially at Wrigley.

It fell somewhere between “I’ve definitely heard worse” and Illinois’ performance in the Rose Bowl.

Zook’s yelling didn’t seem to scare the Cubbies, who went on to win the game 5-3 and complete a weekend sweep of the Rockies.

(Video link credits sportsbybrooks.com and ballhype.com, respectively)

The following column was written by senior writer Jason Grodsky.

Usually this end of the year column is reserved for graduating seniors to say there farewell and thank yous, but the senior class here in the sports department at the Daily Illini is a little thin and as the longest employed person in sports and someone who is moving on I’m going to do the honors.

I feel very grateful to have worked at the DI for the three years I’ve been here and to have had the opportunity to a side of Illinois athletics that few get to see. But it’s my time to step down and move on to bigger and better things and let some of the up-and-coming writers take the reigns and lead the way.

I’ve bled Orange and Blue since the day I was born and grew up watching Illini sports and sitting in the crowds at Memorial Stadium and the Assembly Hall. When I first started working at the paper as a freshman who came a whole two miles away from his house to go to college, I never thought it would take me to the places I’ve been and allow to meet some of the most interesting characters this campus has to offer.

This year alone I’ve gotten to travel to Maui and sit five feet away from the greatest basketball player of all time. The football team’s magical run took me to Pasadena to chat it up with some of the best sports journalists in the world today (even if getting there took a 54-hour Greyhound bus trip from hell). And the best part of all of those trips and the countless others I’ve taken to cover games: I was getting paid to do it. Well, if you call what gets deposited into my bank account every two weeks getting paid.

Getting to where I am couldn’t have been possible without the help from certain people along the way, so I’d like to take the chance to thank them.

First off I’d like to thank former sports editors Erin Foley, Mike Rodriguez, Dave Just and Steve Contorno, all of whom have helped me refine my writing. Erin you taught me the ins and outs and took a chance on a kid who loved sports and gave me my big break. Mike and Dave, you two were probably the most entertaining guys to work under, and Steve, we may not have seen eye-to-eye on everything but I know you’ll make a great Editor-In-Chief.

To my partners in crime: Dan Johnson, Mike Theodore, Alex Symonds, Adam Harris and Jermey Werner. Thanks for making this past year one all never forget. From football practices, to the list of questions we came up with at the Western Illinois game, to the trip on Route 666, to the “bucket o’ beers” in Indianapolis, to not remembering the DI Sports Desk bar crawls, it’s been a great ride and I know you’ll keep up the quality of the sports section and surpass what I’ve done.

A special thank you the Illinois Division I Hockey team and head coach Chad Cassel. Covering you guys was probably the best time I had covering a team. Congratulations on a well deserved ACHA National Championship this year. Figures, I come in after you guys win a national title the year before and then the year I stop covering you guys you win another one. Guess I was the bad luck charm.

A big shout out to all the guys on the Illinois Division II Hockey team (yes, there are two teams). Playing with you guys the last two years has been indescribable and I’m looking forward to another year of late night practices and bus trips next year. I told all of you guys I would eventually get you into the paper.

To men of Alpha Sigma Phi, you’ve made the studying part of college bearable. You truly are gentlemen and scholars, with hearts beneath your vests. My times at the Ole Gal will never be forgotten.

A lot of credit has to be given to a group of guys that I’ve spent a very large portion of the last five-plus years with talking sports and getting into all sorts of shenanigans with. You know who you are and there are too many memories and moments to even start mentioning. I know we have another summer to remember ahead of us, even if Fat City is gone. Lets just all try to stay out of the hospital this year when August rolls around.

Last but not least, I’d like to thank my family. You all have supported me over the years and helped me reach my goals. I’m still convinced that you guys are the only people who even read my articles. A special thanks to my mom who has pulled my all my clips of the things I’ve written to make me an organized portfolio.

The biggest thank you is reserved for my grandpa, John Maurer. You’ve been my inspiration. Without you I wouldn’t be where I am today and I would be clueless in the world of sports, you’ve taught me pretty much all I know and I love you for that.

Finally, thank you to anyone who read any of the things I’ve written. It’s been a pleasure and trust me, I leave you in good hands.

Today marks college football’s second coming of Christmas in National Signing Day. It is the first day that recruits for the class of 2008 can put their name on the dotted line of a National Letter of Intent to officially become a part of a college football program. And Memorial Stadium wasn’t numb to the buzz of this Wednesday.

Ron Zook and his staff have pulled in another group of talented athletes for next year’s football squad that is ranked in the top 25 by both Rivals and Scout. The highlight of the day for Illini fans had to be when Florida defensive tackle Corey Liuget stuck with the orange and blue when his LOI hit the football office fax machine at 10:26 am. On the other hand, Illini nation was dealt a bit of disappointment when highly touted Jacksonville-area running back Jamie Harper spurned the Illini and other programs for Clemson. But all in all, it was a good day for Ron Zook and his staff. Every recruit who was verbally committed signed on with the Zooker, so there were no surprises there.

And this is definitely the deepest class by far of the three Zook has pulled in since being in Champaign highlighted by athletes at receiver such as Cordale Scott and A.J. Jenkins, cornerbacks Patrick Nixon and Tavon Wilson, and tons of beef on both lines with Liuget, Graham Pocic, Reggie Ellis and Tyler Sands. Illinois also inked a quarterback for the post-Juice era with North Carolina native Jacob Charest. You can look at a full list of the class here.

For comments from Zook on the class and a live report from Adam Harris, tune into WPGU 107.1 FM at 5pm, also online at the217.com. You can also pick up a copy of Thursday’s Daily Illini and tune into WPGU Saturday at 6 pm for a full breakdown of the class, the Illini’s prospects for the class of 2009, and an exclusive interview with Cordale Scott.

Game photos! Enjoy. It was hard to watch. Also some parade photos from earlier in the morning. It was a long day.

Kevin Mitchell reacts after the game as teammate Justin Harrison tries to comfort him.

Zook watches his team.

Hershel scores a TD for USC.

At least someone on Illinois had a good game.

Some people dressed up for the occasion.

I don’t know why she was smiling so early in the morning.

These guys aren’t very fond of American government.

See more photos: Aaron Facemire + Josh Birnbaum + Roxy Ryan + Brad Vest

I’ve been lazy about posting, so here’s an overview of our Rose Bowl trip thus far.

Juice walks into Media Day

Illinois’ Mike Ware jokes with reporters at Lawry’s Beef Bowl

A fan poses for a friends

Watching practice at USC

Antonio Steele and players interview each other with water bottles as microphones

See more photos: Aaron Facemire + Josh Birnbaum + Roxy Ryan + Brad Vest

The Poinsettia Bowl.

It all starts with the Poinsettia Bowl.  A clash between the Utah Utes and the Navy Midshipmen.  Tonight’s clash starts the best time of the year, sans March Madness, in sports–the college football season.  I will get to see two or more good college football teams clash at a neutral site for all but three days from now until January 7 of the New Year.  Obviously, the highlight for all of those in the great state of Illinois will be the New Year’s Day matchup between the beloved Orange and Blue and the number six USC Trojans at the Rose Bowl.  And regardless of the outcome, the pageantry and atmosphere in Pasadena should be enough to sustain the recently win-starved and now nourished Illini fans.

But my favorite part is not only getting to season my favorite team since birth in a BCS bowl, but getting to watch good college football for almost every day for almost three straight weeks.  This is where the proponents of a playoff in major college football miss out.  Granted, the bowl system is all about money and a playoff is not a likely scenario no matter how many dual titles are handed out by the pollsters, but the magic of the bowl system, is all about the experience, not so much the destination.  And I know that the BCS may have its flaws, but you can’t replace the unforgettable postseason encounter.

The experience a college football player gets from a bowl game, win or lose, is something they take with them forever.  It helps the players get real-time experience, helps for recruiting, it helps the fanbases and as seen in the C/U area already, helps stimulate the campustown economy.  The bowl season also rescues sports fans from the huge empty crater that is college sports on television during finals week, not to mention the meaningless NFL games that can force even the biggest die-hard to start sawing logs on the couch.  Gimme any of this season’s bowl games over Z-fests like this weekend’s Kansas City at Detroit or the Falcons visiting Arizona in Glendale.

But for all of you proponents of a playoff in college footall, I want you to watch some of the constant football action over the next couple of weeks and look at the tradition, along with the passion and wide eyes of the players and coaches involved, and think for a second if a playoff could make up for all of the pageantry and excitement brought on from the (second) best time of year.

Vince Young celebrating after perhaps the greatest bowl game of all time. Courtesy of www.austinist.com

The magical season for the Fighting Illini football team just keeps on rolling, and the awards have also started coming in. The Big Ten announced their slate of awards this evening and the results bode well for the Orange and Blue. Coach Ron Zook won the conference’s Coach of the year award (no surprise). Rashard Mendenhall won the offensive player of the year award, the first for a football player in Illini history. And one of the Dunbar sensations, Arrelious Benn, raked in the school’s first Freshman of the Year Award since Simeon Rice in 1992.

Big Ten coaches tabbed eleven Illini to All-Big Ten squads, with Mendenhall, J Leman, Martin O’Donnell and Vontae Davis all getting first-team honors. Offensive linemen Xavier Fulton and Ryan McDonald were named to the second team, and quarterback Juice Williams, safety Kevin Mitchell(the “other Juice”), kicker Jason Reda and defensive linemen Will Davis and Chris Norwell all received honorable mention.

In the media’s edition of the all-conference team’s, the only changes were Vontae Davis being apart of the second team, Xavier Fulton getting honorable mention and Will Davis getting second team honors. So the magical ride continues, and one can only wonder if these accolades are just the beginning for some of the Illini in this special season.

Also, the Illini gridders are getting national recognition and one SI writer is projecting them in the BCS

The head coaching job at Notre Dame is right up there with manager of the Yankees or Tiger Woods’ caddie: you’re expected to maintain the excellence, help bring in trophys and not blow it. Right now, Charlie Weis is blowing it. The team, as I’m sure everyone is aware because it’s on TV every two minutes, is 1-8 and just lost to Navy. Not only that, the Fighting Irish had great recruiting the last few years and are still losing horribly to mediocre/bad teams. Normally, this isn’t acceptable at Notre Dame, but there’s been no speculation from the University that Weis’ job is in danger.

This will probably open up a can of worms bigger than Charlie Weis himself. I don’t mean to start trouble, I ain’t lookin’ to pick a fight. I’m just wondering one thing: why hasn’t Weis been fired yet (and why won’t he be fired at the end of the year)?

To me there are only three legitimate answers to that question. Let me put aside my hate for Notre Dame, the media’s over exposure of Notre Dame and the BCS’s perennial lust for Notre Dame and attempt to present those answers as logically as possible (on a side note, is it wrong to love Rudy and hate Notre Dame? Discuss).

1) Notre Dame doesn’t want to look stupid.

Charlie Weis was a second choice who was looking to get out Bill Belichick’s shadow more than trying to land the coaching gig. Sure he had “success” early — a 9-3 season capped with a loss in a bowl it didn’t deserve to be in with a team he didn’t even recruit. Notre Dame thought it had found the right man for the job, a diamond in the rough, and gave Weis a huge contract extension worth about $30-40 million over 10 years JUST SEVEN GAMES INTO HIS FIRST SEASON. I don’t care if he wins the National Title, the Noble Prize and the Presidency in his first season, until he’s proven he can perennially sustain a program with his own recruits, you don’t give a guy a deal that big. Now, they’re stuck with this big guy, his big contract and something that feels a lot like pride right now keeping them from terminating his deal. It was dumb to give Weis this contract and if Notre Dame gave him the axe it would be like admitting their moronicness.

2) Notre Dame has no better option.

Consider what Notre Dame has gone through since Lou Holtz left, the team’s last championship coach: at least three losses every year, eight bowl appearances and eight bowl losses, three coaches, four .500 or less seasons and a mediocre 76-54 record. It’s no longer the most attractive job available. Coaches would rather start out at programs where they can build a system without being in the spotlight right away (not on NBC every week and mentioned in every Sports Center segment) or programs that have had more success since 1988 (the Irish’s last championship). The last time Notre Dame fired a coach, they pretty much offered the man they wanted to replace him — Urban Meyer — all the perks you could imagine, and he still ended up in Florida. The head coaching position at Notre Dame is no longer as attractive and the Fighting Irish would be hard pressed to find a big enough name willing to take the job.

3) Notre Dame is racist.

There, I said it.

When Notre Dame fired Ty Willingham, they claimed the following:

“We simply have not made the progress on the field that we need to make. Nor have we been able to create the positive momentum necessary in our efforts to return the Notre Dame program to the elite level of the college football world.”

Athletic director Kevin White made these statements in a news conference. Let’s think now. Has Notre Dame made progress on the field since Weis took over? I think a 1-8 record says no. Has Notre Dame created the positive momentum necessary in its efforts to return Notre Dame to the elite level of the college football world? Notre Dame is more or less the laughing stock of the college football world right now.

Here’s the kicker: “From Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations, in every way,” White said. “But on Saturday, we struggled. We’ve been up and down and sideways a little bit.”

This statement could be used to describe Weis’ team as much as any team Notre Dame had under Willingham.

When Willingham was fired, he was in his third year and his Irish were 5-6 and had at least beaten Michigan, Michigan State and Navy. Weis is in his third year, his Irish are 1-8 and he lost to Michigan, Michigan State and Navy. Willingham had a .583 winning percentage when he was fired. Weis has a .588 winning percentage and this awful season isn’t even over yet. Why, then, is Weis still employed?

You could speculate that the expectations for Willingham, a black coach, and Weis, a white coach, are not the same. Willingham loses badly in three years and there is no hope. Weis loses badly in three years and the team is already looking ahead to 2008. If Weis is given an opportunity Willingham was robbed of, then any and all assumptions can be made as to why a white coach was and a black coach wasn’t — a battle I will leave for Jessie Jackson and Rush Limbaugh.

One of these three reasons is why Charlie Weis still has a job after losing to Navy and will most likely remain head coach of Notre Dame for at least another year. I can’t guess which of them Weis, and Notre Dame, is clinging to, but I can guess that Notre Dame can’t afford to look stupid, hopeless and racist for much longer.

For those of you who read my column today and wanted to see exactly what play in the Louisville UConn game I was talking about you can watch it here

At the end of the video clip the announcers talk about playing through the whistle, as in Louisville should have kept playing until they actually heard a whistle. It is a split second decision to either hit the guy or not hit him. 99 times out of 100 you hit him and that’s a 15 yard penalty. On a fair catch especially, I don’t think that you can really play through a whistle, you need to assume that if he catches the ball he is down.

What the officials did was terrible and the fact that the play was not reviewable just proves to me that there are still issues in the instant replay system.

Around campus I have gotten some responses today about my column.

The most recurring comments have been:

1) But they’re amateur athletes

2) How are we supposed to pay them? Where is this money coming from

And it really makes me angry to hear this.

First off, the only reason they are amateur athletes is because the NCAA bestows them with the title amateur athlete. They put in all the work of a professional, but they receive little to no benefits.

But what about the free education they’re getting?

Well yes, some of them take advantage of that, and that’s great. I support student athletes. But official stats released from the NCAA say that 40% of the nation’s Division I football teams are graduating less than 60% of their players. To me that sounds like a decent percentage are being paid in an education that they don’t even want.

Now who pays whom? Well first off I think it all starts off with royalties. Currently college athletes are not allowed to make money off of their own talent and likeness. The NCAA doesn’t let them do it.

Take this scenario for instance. If you are to go out and buy a #42 Illini basketball jersey right now, are you buying just any Illini basketball jersey? No! You’re buying specifically a Brian Randle jersey, but Brian Randle is not allowed to make a cent off of his own jersey. Why is that fair?

The NCAA and its institutions are able to exploit an athlete’s likeness and give him absolutely nothing in return for his jersey sales under the guise that he’s an amateur athlete and are thus not allowed to get paid. But once again, they don’t have to be amateur athletes; the NCAA just says they are.

Now as far as actual programs paying their players I think the best way to do it is have a scale set up for all of Division I saying that a starter who has played or started for a certain amount of years is entitled to making a certain amount of money. In addition, if a player wins a special award he should get a bonus.

So, for instance, let’s say that Rashard Mendenhall wins the Heisman trophy this year; the NCAA pays him a bonus for winning that award.

The last argument I get that really gets me angry is that they are already earning stipends and getting free stuff thrown at them from boosters. These arguments come from the same people that are calling them amateur athletes! I’m sorry, I can’t accept the fact that because athletes are getting paid illegally by boosters that’s the reason that the NCAA shouldn’t pay them. I hope that under my plan by signing contracts and earning money these under the table deals involving boosters could be stopped once and for all. I think they’re despicable.

Last, I want to apologize to the women’s soccer team. Regardless of the fact that you really don’t earn a lot of money for the school, you are still a great group of people and wish you all the best of luck.

Cheers and go Illini!

Kevin Spitz