War Hymn v The Victors

This post is being brought on by Vivek's comment posted here.

The Victors over the Aggie War Hymn? Not a chance. I don't even really have to write much to prove my point.

The Aggie War Hymn litteraly makes Kyle Field shake. In the press box there are warnings to first timers that the press box will actually move from side to side during the song. A fight song cannot be based only on it's words or music, but rather by what it compels the fans to do.

Watching 82,ooo+ fans sway back and forth like a saw is much more impressive than watching 107,000+ fans shake their fist at the same time in Michigan.

If you have never seen it, just watch this video first to pique your interest:



Then watch the full show:


Now compare it to a video of Michigan Stadium, and believe me, this was about the best I could find:



Honestly, I think even this version (with the image burned into my eye) is better than The Victors.




Don't want to lie, I like the Mich song, but come on, better than the War Hymn? No way.

The Chief Has Left The Building

So, as all of you know, my alma mater, the University of Illinois, retired its controversial mascot, Chief Illiniwek, last week. There are no planned replacements, so Illinois will soon join the legion of Big Ten teams without a mascot.

This disappoints me, if only because the University did not listen to the replacement I advocated while a student and continue to advocate now. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you what ought to be the new symbol of the University of Illinois Fighting Illini: the Drinkin' Lincoln.

The list of virtues of the Drinkin' Lincoln is endless. Illinois, after all, trumpets its status as the Land of Lincoln, so why shouldn't its state university celebrate the man who is arguably our nation's greatest president? The mascot would also fall into the "hilarious" category of non-live mascots, which is clearly the best kind. Just think of it: Abe Lincoln, with one of those beer helmets rigged up to his oversized top hat, doing pushups after every Illinois touchd...ok, well, so maybe he wouldn't do many pushups. But just imagine him getting passed up the student section.

And, as you can see, it doubles as edgy political satire. Angry at U of I for getting rid of the Chief in favor of that every present bogeyman called "political correctness"? Replace him with a good natured, but still somewhat offensive mascot! Critical of any of Lincoln's policies or just looking for commentary on the state of our presidency by this almost mocking take on an illustrious president? Then this mascot's for you!

Truly, the Drinkin' Lincoln is the mascot of the future for the University of Illinois. Now, if only people would listen to me...

Genesis 1:2

Like Vivek said, there are three of us. Each with our own disdain for teams, conferences, selection process, states and cities, but we share the common goal taking the common bar argument and putting it on the web.

He’s Big Ten born and raised; I came out of the womb with the knowledge of two facts: the Texas A&M Aggie War Hymn is the greatest fight song in the history of the world, and t.u. has the worst collegiate athletics program in the history of the NCAA. The Big 12 is the where I saw college sports reach a new elevation, but choose to fight for the little guys in mid-major, non-BCS conferences, while studying at Missouri State University.

Be prepared for debates between the conferences and regions as three guys who only know each other from circumstance try to shuffle thru the mindless numbers that compose the NCAA.

A few expectations you should have of us:

• We'll be objective.
• We'll be biased.
• We'll attempt to be funny.
• We'll attempt to write well.
• We'll attempt to actualy employ some sense of real journalism.
• We'll probably bash on Notre Dame, a lot.
• We'll probably bash on the Pac-10, a lot.
• We'll argue.
• We'll agree.
• One of us (me) will always be right.

In the next few weeks, we'll post reactions to conference tournaments, make bold predicitions, discuss snubs, and probably argue why Greg Oden should not be allowed to play with 18-22 year olds (the guy is seriously 35).

Sit back, enjoy, and comment all you want. That's what we're here for.

Screw the Pac-10.

The Beginning

This is a blog. What sort of blog? It's a blog about college sports, which never fail to cause my productivity to plummet.

Specifically, this blog will mostly be about football and basketball, with dashes of baseball, tennis, and hockey thrown in. There are three of us, spread out geographically, with entirely different interests team-wise. We really don't agree on much, not even about how little we like Notre Dame.

My own biases? I'm Big Ten born and bred: a lifelong Meeechigan fan who went to Illinois and now goes to Penn State.

The only region you won't see covered here much is the West Coast, because none of us really care. For those few of you who stumble across this blog in its infancy, you probably won't see much until next week, for conference tournament coverage.

So what should you, the reader, possibly expect from this blog? A dose exceeding your RDA of juvenile humor and rants, probably. Some statistical analysis. Lots of love for live mascots, especially those that are actually dangerous. Occasionally you may even see something resembling cogent analysis.

And what is Pepidemiology, anyway? It's the science of fandom in sports, as demonstrated by Every Day Should Be Saturday.

'Nuff said.