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

Here are a few more photos from yesterday’s Illini practice at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. This complex is home to the LA Galaxy soccer team and Mr. David Beckham. The field next to where the Illini were practicing was even named after him. Too bad I didn’t see Becks or Posh.

 You might not find it as funny as we did, but I think that everyone can take a little from it. We took a trip via Greyhound leaving at 12:01 p.m. on Wednesday and arrived around … God knows when, it was a blur. We encountered a little bit of everything on the trip, and the following is the greatest hits of the Greyhound bus trip to Los Angeles, Calif. 

10. DRIVER PLEADS WITH PASSENGERS FOR DIRECTIONS

Our first bus driver of our 54-hour excursion was a knowledgeable gentleman from the Chicago Greyhound station who asked the bus passengers, in all seriousness, if anyone knew where I-94 was. While this might not be that funny to some, consider we were about two blocks east of I-94 and we went past two sets of signs for I-94. A minute into the trip and we had already seen the way Greyhound operates. This obvious question proved to be just the tip of the hat to the horrible voyage.  

9. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS HANG OUT IN BUS STATION

For some inexplicable reason, there were approximately 10 birds loose in the St. Louis Greyhound station. While this isn’t necessarily surprising, it was in a great bus station that was likely top class during the Eisenhower administration. Greyhound decided if it couldn’t make its customers happy, the least they could do was please the birds. They provided these wild birds with actual bird housesin the station. Why? I’m not sure, but those damn birds sure were cozy. When we made it to Indio, Calif., we also saw some sneaky pigeons working their way into the station, only to be chased by a three-year old boy. Cute, yes, but he likely was at risk for Avian Flu.

8. THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

While we were sure we would be meeting some definite characters on this trip, there were some special ones that stuck out. First was a man who was rocking a lot of religious apparel, namely an “I heart Jesus” hat that was actually quite fashionable. His highlight was getting into it with two, young black people after re-boarding the bus. He claimed this duo had stolen his seat and moved his bag that should was saving his seat. He started yelling at the entire bus, especially “you people” to the two black people, which I thought for sure would incite some racial violence, but none happened. The religious zealot continued to tell the bus of tales of rapture and Armageddon, saying it would be “Worse than Katrina and the Tsunami.” At the climax of his rant he reached into his bag (which he found in the front row). The passengers gasped for a moment, fearing for the worst, but they were soon relieved to see the Jesus fan pulling out a photograph detailing the end of the world. He was interesting to say the least.

Character No. 2 in the play was Camo Dude. We met this man at the aforementioned St. Louis station, a reformed convict and self-proclaimed alcoholic, was talking with others at the station who were about two hours out of prison. Among other things, said Camo Guy was drinking a 24-ounce Busch Heavy from a plastic cup in the train station and how to water the rain-deprived state of California.

Other small roles in the play were:

Kansas City Chiefs guy; this man, surprisingly, was covered in Kansas City apparel. While this was odd being that we picked him up in Joplin, Missouri, he came up to one of our travel members, Alex, and said something that could not be defined as English, but some how conveyed his point in a grunt that he wanted to sit with Alex. He also snored a lot, which pissed me off. 

Teardrop; One of the recently released convicted, I don’t think he was in for his “teardrop” being that his sentence was only six years, but who knows. He likes meth, has a farm and a six-year old daughter, all by his own admission. He had 29 months added on to his sentence for beating his parole officer after the officer accidentally spit on him. He said the spitting was probably an accident, but he, “kicked his ass anyway.” He ran from the police, but eventually was caught. Not very sly.

7. A FRIENDLY REMINDER FROM THE ST. LOUIS POLICE: DON’T GET KILLED

When we were at the now infamous St. Louis station, there was a recorded message from the Greyhound Company, “The St. Louis police advises passengers not to leave the premises of the station.” The station wasn’t paradise, but it wasn’t Compton. We were walking around some, and saw some of the area, which was pretty sketchy, but it instilled a lot of confidence in me that the Greyhound institution was more or less telling us we might get shot if we left the secure confines of the station.

6. THE STORYTELLING DRIVER

Our third bus driver who drove us through the vast majority of Arizona told us an interesting story around 3 or 4 a.m. The lengthy tale began, “Interesting story about this area, I was driving this route a little bit ago when we were leaving the Flagstaff station. After a while, a bunch of people in the back of the bus were yelling that this guy had a gun and was threatening to kill people and calling people the n-word. Luckily, I worked my way back there and tackled him, I got the gun from him and we called the cops. It looked like a Christmas tree around the bus with all the flashing lights on the cop cars around us. Turns out the guy robbed a bank in the city and was trying to get away. He would have, if it wasn’t for us. It was local news, it should have been national news, I don’t know why it wasn’t, but I was reprimanded by Greyhound, because when we took a picture with the local news, my vest wasn’t buttoned.” He paused after the story in hopes of laughter but like a wannabe comedian quickly pulled another story from the vault. The driver described the dangers of elks and detailed another driver’s previous encounter with the large beast. He then warned the passengers to be on the look out for elk and to yell if anyone saw one.

5. MACED IN THE FACE

When we were leaving the Albuquerque station we had just come back from a local watering hole called Tuscano, where we vastly overpaid for some beer. We were feeling relatively good when Jason Grodsky, a football writer, noticed a man getting maced outside by the station. The police…maybe…ripped off his hat, continued to mace said guy and used some physical force to subdue him. I felt bad for the guy, but all of us were just kind of laughing at him from the confines of our mace-free bus. Sucker. 

4. THE LOVE GLOVE

While we had some memorable quotes from the characters we met, the first that made the list came from Camo Guy. We were talking about healthy living during our five hour delay, and Camo Guy was talking about healthy eating and eating broccoli. Another healthy thing? Intercourse, as long as you are protected. “Ain’t nothing wrong with a little bump and grind, as long as you wear a love glove.”

3. BORDER PATROL JUMPS THE BUS

Back at the Indio Greyhound station near the California-Arizona border there was another occurrence that went down. When we were pulling into the station, I spied immigration agents waiting for us. I didn’t think they were going to investigate the bus, but I was sorely mistaken. Before any of us got to get off the bus, two immigration agents got onto the bus and ordered everyone to sit down and get out identification. I was confused, and scared that I wouldn’t find my ID and be sent to some random country of their choosing. While that didn’t happen, a “backwater” white gentleman asked if “All the white people could leave the bus.” The agents ignored his question and like the other 46 passengers he was forced to his citizenship. Our bus was moderately populated with minorities, so I was slightly concerned that some business might go down. Unfortuntately someone was questioned by the immigration services and he was forced to leave some one who I am assuming was his wife. We discovered he was a resident of Peru and from the agents less than friendly demeanor with him, he might have been an illegal. It was a rather surreal thing to see the Peruvian taken from the bus and then have to get his luggage and be detained by the immigrant services.

2. JESUS FAN LIKES COOL TEMPERATURES

The religious zealot makes his second appearance in the top ten with his memorable quote of the trip. Our second bus driver asked us if we thought that the temperature on the bus was acceptable, or if it was too hot or cold. The zealot didn’t seem to think that it was good enough and tried to persuade the driver twice to lower the temperature some how. After three unsuccessful attempts, he tried to ask Alex and another football writer, Mike Theodore, if they could ask the driver to lower the heat. Alex and Mike didn’t understand his pleas at first either and it took him another attempt to finally convey his message to the two. Alex didn’t particularly care for him and his constant complaining and told him to “Let’s see if it gets any better, then maybe I’ll go talk to him.” The zealot wasn’t satisfied with this response, and a few minutes later, while shaking like a leaf, he screamed in some very poor English, “Issssss toooo Haaawwwt!” I don’t know if it was the fact that he seemed a lot bit crazy or if we were starting to become delirious, but this caused us to lose it in a fit of laughter, and caused the vast majority of the entire bus to hate us. Screw them.   

1. THE NEW GREYHOUND—JUST AS CRAPPY AS BEFORE

The top-notch customer service from the Greyhound Company. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for anymore from these people. You ask a question about time of arrival, they didn’t respond or give a crap, and just seemed to make things longer. We were delayed approximately 10 hours during the entire trip. Luckily, we skipped stops on the way to LA and made up time, getting in around 5 p.m. today, when we should have been around 11 a.m. 

This was only the beginning of the trip, but I have a feeling that many more wacky adventures will be ensuing. Stay tuned to DailyIllini.com for more riveting updates.

We got into Phoenix, AZ, on the morning of the 28th. Greyhound sucks. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Here are some pictures.

Finally, we arrive.

cross posted, and more after the jump, from facephotos
+ Josh Birnbaum + Roxy Ryan + Brad Vest

At this point, I fell off on the photo documentation. Didn’t have as much zeal as the days before, unfortunately. The bus was gradually more tardy and I was getting a little bit sick from lack of good sleep. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, we all decided to got to a bar near the station. Everyone decided a few drinks would help us sleep. I, being under 21 years of age, did not and could not partake. Damn.

Here is Brad and Josh as we left the bar that I believe was called Tucanos. Josh was taking forever to drink his beer, so Brad and I waited while the others got back to the station.

cross posted, and more after the jump, from facephotos
+ Josh Birnbaum + Roxy Ryan + Brad Vest

More to come…

The second day was on and off. Everyone was tired because of Greyhound time. We stopped two or three times during the night and was ordered off the bus. No more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. “Sucks a lot!” We gradually fell more behind as the incompetence of the Bus grew.

In Amarillo, Josh, Brad and I stopped at a Japanese food place a block away from the station. I had not been to Texas for a couple years, but I remembered everything as I walked in the door to this place. A man standing behind a sushi bar greeted us with a “Whats up Amigos?” in broken english. He had a 10 gallon hat on, and a western style shirt. Classic. Everything is not only bigger in Texas, it is much, much more cowboy. We met a guy from the Bay Area while we where waiting for the food. Talked about Bhutto’s assassination and surfing. What a Californian.

We got the food to go and went back to the bus stop, as we feared we would miss the Bus. Much to our chagrin, we did not even come close to missing it. The bus was being changed because the heater of the old one died. As if we couldn’t tell on the way. It was really, really hot during the night, then really, really cold during day. I hate you Greyhound.

So we were running even more late.

Brad didn’t want to waste his wasabi.

cross posted, and more after the jump, from facephotos
+ Josh Birnbaum + Roxy Ryan + Brad Vest

 More to come…