Still Using Cassettes (Hopelessy Behind the Times)

FRIDAY, JULY 1

Went to Quality Tire in Spring Grove to check on the Malibu and then to McHenry to check out some garden centers at Wal Mart and Home Depot and then bought three 5-pack Maxell cassette bricks and a Sony Radio, Cassette and CD boombox player using a 30% off coupon.  Nowadays a cassette brick costs $9.99 at Meijers which is the only place I know of to buy a brick.  The boom box usually cost $69.99.

Gas on Illinois Highway 31 was $5.15 and $5.05.  Getting better, but still way TOO expensive

Stopped at the Spring Grove Jewel on the way home and bought six 12-packs of Diet Coke for Liz at 3 for $10, a real good deal these days of inflation in pretty much everything.  (Sale prices on these used to be 4 for $10.)

I see that USC and UCLA are going to join the Big 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.  That will make it the Big 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.  Time for a name change.  Another case of the rich get richer among the so-called Power Conferences.  I liked the old days where conferences were based on regional location, but not no more.

Picked up the Malibu which ended up with $460 in repairs.

Met the usual suspects at Johnny's Cafe in Fox Lake and then went to the Fox Lake American Legion.

But, I Like Cassettes, and, Even More Important, Know How toUse Them.  -RoadDog

From Happy to Sad-- Part 5: #3 Nebraska and #2 Wisconsin

3.  NEBRASKA--  Even if the game is a dud, you'll never forget your first trip to Memorial Stadium.  It is well-situated  near booth the campus and downtown Lincoln, where the most intense pregaming takes place.

The "O" Street area is full of college bars and the Haymarket part of downtown is just the place for you late 20s and 30s folks.

The experience of the fans of the visiting team is unmatched, with upbeat "Sea of Red" locals saying, "Welcome to Lincoln!  Hope you enjoy the game!" and inviting you to their tailgate for free food and drink.

Eat a corn dog and ask who the third-string punter is.  Husker fans will know.

2.  WISCONSIN--  Tradition and winning combine for a fantastic atmosphere.  Wisconsin has it all.  When "Jump Around" blasts at Camp Randall before the fourth quarter and the stadium literally starts rocking, you know you're at the Big Ten's best parties.

Wisconsin doesn't have a central tailgating area, but feel free to pop onto a lawn for a house party and buy a red Solo cup  and tap a keg.  Fans mill in and out of bars on regent Street.  Grab a couple of Spotted Cows (craft beer, hey, it's Dairy Land for crying out loud) and some brats to feel like one of the locals.

Fans even stick around for the postgame celebration with the marching band, known as "The Fifth Quarter."

So, Who's #1?  --RoadDog

DID YOU KNOW (From the Orange Peel Gazette):  The longest one syllable word in the English language is   "screeched."

From Happy to Sad, Big 10 Football Fun-- Part 3: #5 Ohio State, #4 Iowa

5. OHIO STATE--  The first time you see the "Shoe", you might be awed by its size and grandeur.  There is a massive tailgating area and then, that marching band, which bills itself as TBDBITL:  "The Best Damn Band In The Land" and they live up to that as well..  Before the game, about 10,000 fans go to the St. John Arena  for a concert.  However, OSU fans have a reputation for being less than cordial to visiting fans.

Though I am definitely NOT an OSU fan, one year a buddy and I were in Columbus when the Buckyeyes played Indiana at home.  And, I was pulling for OSU, something I thought I'd never do.  But it is always more fun to be cheering with the home team when you are in their home.  I had a real good time at several bars.

4.  IOWA--  When "Back in Black" plays, the crowd roars in anticipation of "The Swarm" where Iowa players lock arms before running onto the field.

And recently, they have added another tradition, "The Wave" as fans show support for patients in the children's hospital that overlooks the stadium.  That to me is probably the greatest college football tradition anywhere and really moves you as you can see the kids waving back.  I'm getting tingles just typing this.

Kinnick Stadium is a classic brick stadium that seats about 70,500 fans, but there are often 100,000 or more people in black and gold milling around.

--RoadFan

From Happy to Sad, Big 10 Football Fun-- Part 2: Minnesota, Indiana, MSU, Michigan

9.  MINNESOTA--  TCF Bank is the most modern stadium in the Big Ten and a huge improvement from when they played their home games in the Metrodome.  Finally a home field on the campus and, and you can buy beer.

8.  INDIANA--  The Hoosiers have a late arriving crowd, especially for noon games.  There might be 15,000 fans in the stadium at kickoff and twice as many in the parking lots.

7.  MICHIGAN STATE--  A huge, underrated walk along the Red Cedar River on a fall day as the leaves are changing is a must..  Spartan Stadium is blah, but the tailgating is astounding.  Drink beer, not the water.

6.  MICHIGAN--   The Big House is an intimidating, massive stadium, sometimes referred to as a crater with a football field at the bottom.  Some consider it a sure-fire bucket list item, and that fight song will sure stick in your mind.

Football Saturday, You Know.  --RoadPunt

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CROSS PURPOSES:  "Ferry Cross the Mersey" was a 1964 hit song for which British Invasion group?


Gerry and the Pacemakers

From Happy to Sad: Where to Go for Big Ten, 11,12,13,14 Fun-- Part 1: The Bottom Five

From the September 21, 2018, Chicago Tribune by Shannon Ryan and Teddy Greenstein.

Well, it's that time of the year again.  Leaves are turning, beer is flowing, winter's on its way.  Where to have a lot of fun at football games in the Big Ten, 11, 12, 13,14:

(Not exactly sure how come they still call it the Big Ten what with 14 teams, but I'll simply refer to it as the Big Ten after this.)

14.  MARYLAND:   Probably more into Hoops.

13.  RUTGERS:     Eating. but not much else.

I hate these two above teams being in the Big Ten.  They are not Midwest in any sense.

12.  ILLINOIS:    Bad teams don't attract.  Careful.  Everyone, even us fifty year olds get carded on the party street.  Well. that last second win against Wisconsin Saturday might help a little.

11.  PURDUE:  Low attendance at games.

10.  NORTHWESTERN:    Really not much around it.  But I will be at the game this Saturday.  Sre glad I wasn't there this past Friday against Ohio State.

--RoadTailGate
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CROSS PURPOSE:  Who was the founder of the American Red Cross?


Clara Barton

Death of Joe Paterno

Last night at the Curve Inn in Springfield, Illinois, while watching the Louisville-Pittsburgh basketball game, we kept seeing flashes across the bottom of he screen that the family of Joe Paterno was going to the hospital to see him for the last time.

This morning, I see that he is dead at age 85.

The man had a brilliant career that was marred at its end by a horrendous situation, one that cost him his job (and rightfully so). But I kind of figured that he would not last long whenever the day came that he could not coach his team. It sure didn't.

I never liked Penn State until the time I went to Evanston, Illinois, to see them play Northwestern about ten years ago. I was really impressed when the 75-year-old coach ran onto the field at the head of his team.

We were sitting near the Penn State fans who wanted all sorts of horrible things to happen to him as the team was in the middle of a down time with losing seasons, something they weren't used to under Paterno's leadership.

If they want to know what losing is about, they should have gone to Northern Illinois, where I did.

After that, I became a Penn State and Joe Paterno fan.

So Long Papa Joe. --RoadDog

Big Ten Divisions in 2011

As mentioned in Just Some Stuff earlier, the Big Ten, er 12, has announced the names of its two new divisions now that it will be expanding to 12 teams.

I don't know where they came up with the names Legends and Leaders, but I don't much like them.

For many years, I was no fan of the Big Two Little Eight Conference (Big Two being Michigan and Ohio State). But, I must be living up here too long as I now am a big fan.

Part of the reason I didn't like the Big Ten was that I went to Northern Illinois which really WOULD have liked to be in the conference, but that was never to be.

Anyway, here are the two division alignments:

LEGENDS

Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern

LEADERS

Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Go, You Leaders!! Go, You Legends!! --RoadDog


FUNNY SIGNS-- In a radiator shop: "Best place in town to take a leak."

JSS-- Bowl Games, College B-Ball, Snow, NTN

JSS-Just Some Stuff

1. The Bowl games are mostly over. The Illinois game was a sad affair on New Year's Day. USC had something they wanted to prove, and they did. But, after the last two 2 win seasons, the 9-3 Illini record was quite an improvement and hopefully the team is ready to start many years of winning.

Congrats to Tennessee and Georgia for wins as well. Still pulling for LSU in the national championship game Monday.

2. Conference college basketball is underway now. This is what gets me through the winter. Unfortunately, I will be missing a lot of Big Ten games because of the Big Ten Network. My cable station could take the Home Shoppers Network or religious channel off and put this on and I'd be very happy.

Favorite Big Ten teams, in order: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern.
Favorite ACC teams, in order: North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia
Other favorites: Northern Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee, Gonzaga, DePaul, Marquette, East Carolina.

3. Snow's a meltin'. Temps in the upper 40s and we are quickly losing the white stuff. Driveway and sidewalks all clear now. Because of the really cold temps earlier in the week, the tress had mostly kept their white paintings the whole time. I'll miss that beauty.

4. Been playing some NTN since the new year began. Played at one new site, BW3 in Kenosha, as well as Freddie's, Donovan's, and Hello Folks. We've had 19 top twenties. Not bad.

Last year, Liz and I were able to visit a total of 54 new (by this I mean sites we'd never been to before) places. This puts us up to 619 different sites since we began playing.
My RoadDog player at Hello Folks in Fox Lake, Illinois, broke the 3 million mark recently. When you consider that you usually can only get 2000 points an hour, I'm spending way too much time playing this game.

However, the 3 million at Folks only puts me at #9 in the top ten players. And, #10 will be passing me within a few weeks. Evidently, I'm not the only one with a problem.

Life Goes On. --RoadDog

Pretty Good Weekend for Football

As football weekends go, this was one of the better ones.

My alma mater, Northern Illinois, actually WON a game against Kent State. It was our SECOND victory of the season 2-8. Then there was that great Illinois upset of #1 Ohio State and Wisconsin did a number on Michigan. I like all the Big Ten, excuse me, Eleven, teams except the Buckeyes and Wolverines.

Northwestern beat Indiana. #22 Tennessee beat Arkansas and #10 Georgia did the same to #18 Auburn.

That Navy-North Texas game must have been really something with Navy winning 74-62. Imagine 136 points in a game!!

Yesterday, the Pack rolled easily and now have an 8-1 record. Favre is having a great year and he finally has a good team around him.

My favorite pro team, the Bears played an equally inept Oakland team. For a long while it looked liked the final score would be 3-3 until the fourth quarter when things started happening. The Raiders scored a field goal, then Rex Grossman connected on a long TD pass. Final score was a 17-6 Bears victory to bring the record to 4-5.

A lot of rebuilding has to be done for next year. We need a qb, another rb, an offensive line, and a defense. Last year, it was the defense that got the Bears to the Super Bowl, but something happened this year. The heart is just not there, and I'm not just talking about Briggs' driving habits.

Love That Football. --RoadDog