... this is not just sour grapes (it's mostly sour grapes, but hear me out). We need to get out of this series. Or at least not renew it whenever it comes up for renewal. Illinois is so far in our kitchen it's not funny. They are making breakfast, reading the paper, smacking our wife on the butt as she walks by. They are pwning us right now.

We need out of this game. If we're not going to win it more than once a decade, then this game doesn't do anything for us ... except dash our basketball hopes two days before Christmas.

I don't care who our coach is, Illinois just has our number. Norm couldn't win this game on a consistent basis. Jokey Smurf certainly couldn't and now it appears that Weber is going to clownsuit HCMA every December.

Unless this is just a huge revenue generator for us, then I see no reason why we play this series anymore. If you want to keep playing Illinois, I guess I could live with playing them home and home. But punt this game in the Lou. Tell me, are we really attracting recruits by these repeat performances (I believe we've lost the last three high-profile StL b-ball recruits ... thankfully only one of them to U of I).

I would much prefer a series with Tennessee or Kentucky or Iowa or Arkansas or any of the other 14 states we border with. Play that game in St Louis for all I care, but stop playing the Illini. It doesn't nothing for our program except depress the fanbase.