No Class in the Champaign Room

(Pix Credit:Hoosier Scoop)

This post is directed towards Illinois fan, seriously, time to turn the page on the whole Eric Gordon saga. The 18 year old kid changed his mind about going to your school to play basketball and decided to stay in his hometown state.

Get Over It.

Looking at the on court success of both Illinois and Indiana this year, there is no question that Gordon made the correct decision.

The visceral behavior towards Gordon and his family during Indiana's Double OT win Thursday night was deplorable. The constant booing every time Gordon had the ball got old quickly and left me nauseous.

The Illinois player shoving Gordon in the chest during pregame introductions was over the top and an explicit example of poor sportsmanship.

I coach a 7th grade boys basketball team and I would take that kid out of the starting lineup pronto. If one of my players acted like that towards an opponent, he would be on the bench, pulling splinters out of his ass all game.

This whole Gordon incident makes me feel like passing the luffa to Mike Wilbon on his soapbox. I might have to go watch some B rate smut just to feel dirty again.

Even Gordon's family was not safe from Illini fans harassment as they were pelted with flying objects during the 2ndOT. His dad predicted potential problems:

"My mother and father, my wife, all my kids, my sister, several family members will be there," Gordon Sr. said. "I'm not that worried. Hopefully you don't see me on 'SportsCenter' doing something stupid because somebody did something stupid to a family member."

Luckily, no injuries happened to his family but the Fighting Illini's tremendous gritty effort in a close loss was totally overshadowed by the overly childless and classless game environment.

This opinion is coming from a die hard Hawkeye fan who hates the Hoosier basketball program more than any in D1 and thinks quitter Bob Knight is an ego driven, hypocritical prick.


Maybe Illini fan is still bitter about losing their racist mascot and feel the need to use Gordon as your scapegoat. It is not Gordon's fault that Champaign is a crappy college town and has an ugly student body.

It is not Gordon's problem that basketball coach Bruce Weber appears to only succeed with Bill Self's players and struggles with his own guys.

I would focus your energy on the Illinois football program and admire the work of coaching challenged Ron Zook's impressive ability to keep stockpiling football recruits.

My suggestion is to combine your football and basketball programs with Zook recruiting and Weber coaching.

UPDATE: ESPN's Pat Forde agrees with my analysis of the vengeful Illini crowd.

Mac Gs World