Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Chief Update plus the QB "Decision"

A couple of thoughts for the middle of the week:

1) The Chief.

For once there was some good news for Chief supporters to cheer and that was the ruling by an Illinois Appeals Court that Chief Illiniwek does not violate the state's civil rights laws. This was a decision that upheld an earlier ruling by a trial judge. While this does not affect the ongoing battle with the NCAA, it is a positive.

At this point, the University has NOT made any decision on how to proceed with regards to the NCAA situation. The article about yesterday's court ruling shows once again how it is ridiculous that the NCAA can try to dictate what an institution that is basically an entity of state government can and cannot do. The Illinois General Assembly declared the Chief to be an "honored symbol of a great university" in a 1996 law and that position has not changed in any legislation that has been passed since then. Perhaps the State of Illinois should sue the NCAA for telling it what to do.


2) Illinois' Starting Quarterback

It is time for Illinois to start Isaiah "Juice" Williams at quarterback for the remainder of the season. I realize that giving him his first start in Illinois' Big Ten Conference opener against Iowa may not seem like the ideal situation in which to put a freshman quarterback who has only played parts of 3 games. Frankly, it isn't the ideal situation. But the fact of the matter is that this Illinois team is probably not going to win many more games this year (I would love to be proven wrong on this but that is the likely reality and I am hoping for just a couple of more wins at this point). Tim Brasic is not the future of this team. Juice is a big part of the future. It's time to play him. I believe he is mentally tough enough to handle the challenges he will face in this position and the experience will benefit him and the team in the future.


Until later, Go Illini.



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