Some BU news from Homecoming and ESPN has a nice writeup about Sam Maniscalco! -

Bradley put on a really nice weekend with all the Alumni events...
I was able to get to the Meet Geno gathering Saturday afternoon - and there was a surprisingly small crowd.
He talked a little about himself, his background, and also a bit about the team.

One story Geno told I had not heard before (we heard the usuals about him outscoring Lebron in HS and how he's really closer to 5-6 than his advertised 5-8), and ...his first experience with Bradley and BU's fan following was in Hawaii about a decade ago...
while he was an assistant at Ohio in 2000-2001, and his team was in the Rainbow Classic.
He notes their first game was against Gonzaga and a total of only 50-100 people were in the stands since this was thousands of miles from either school.
Then their next game was vs. a TOP 25 team, Wake Forest...and again only 50-100 people in the stands.
Finally, they played Bradley, and he looked up and saw about 1500 people virtually all dressed in RED!
He knew then and has always known since that Bradley is a team with a truly GREAT and loyal fan base...and he plans to work hard to earn the respect of Bradley fans.

Then the "Tailgate" event was fun as well.......but Geno's only revealing comment on his first practice was that he really appreciates the hard work the kids are putting in to learn a new system and develop into players that he can use in his system.

BTW -- Bradley won the Homecoming Game -
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19365



Here's a nice story on the Homecoming and unveiling of the new Alumni Center
http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/news/local/Bradley-Celebrates-Homecoming-with-new-Alumni-Center-131923583.html


Too bad Coach Les isn't around to enjoy this - as he is largely responsible for it...
Speaking of Coach Les -
Here's a west coast ESPN guy saying they already love Jim Les at UCD
http://twitter.com/#!/billherenda/status/124999787555725312


And it sounds like Jim is excited to get going with his new team...
http://ht.ly/1f98U2



Some other news around the Valley...and elsewhere...

Early talk at Missouri State is that Mike Bizoukas, transfer from DePaul, will get the nod at point guard..


UNI's Johnny Moran will be returning from torn labrum surgery - and two big men - Austin Pehl & Chris Olivier are both out with foot problems - Pehl with a fracture.


Illini's first open scrimmage went this way according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.....

"Point guard Sam Maniscalco was the standout, making a slew of 3-point shots.

The Bradley transfer also had a friend in the front row as Evan Turner, a former Ohio State star, watched.
“I’m glad he’s here and getting the experience of what the Big Ten has to offer,” Turner said. “He can lead the team. He’ll be able to make some shots and play great defense.”

Sammy didn't miss a single 3-pointer in the scrimmage!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-illini-basketball-scrimmage-warms-up-football-crowd-20111015,0,3683136.story


Sammy also got a nice ESPN writeup!!
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/colleges/post/_/id/4184/illini-counting-on-maniscalcos-health



Here's a Porter Moser story at Loyola
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/colleges/post/_/id/4156/moser-believes-loyolas-future-is-bright



Then in the area of ridiculous news reports we have plenty to talk about...


First one -- duhh...a mind-altering drug is actually found when looked at scientifically to impairs driving performance....well, I never!!
You mean all those years the potheads have been pretending it doesn't affect them, they were LYING??
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700188349/Pot-use-may-nearly-triple-crash-risk.html

And yet another big duhhhh...
and some are acting like this comes as a surprise...

The occupy Wall Street movement turns VIOLENT...
throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails...
This scene looks more like the Palestinians rioting against the police ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/occupy-protests-in-rome-turn-violent/2011/10/15/gIQAhwydmL_video.html

BUT -- don't just say this is isolated and won't happen here...
because it already is..."protesters" are attacking the peacekeeping officers.
One guy threw his legs under a police motorcycle - and the officer immediately stopped and got off his cycle so he wouldn't get falsely accused of running over the jerk...
the guy even tried again and again to jam his legs under the cycle -- likely trying to act injured and land a big lawsuit...maybe he wants to get rich quick and become one of the 1% instead of the 99%!
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/zuccotti_park_cleanup_postponed_7FyMGft7IABwkMxaEW1sYP
http://nation.foxnews.com/wall-street-protests/2011/10/14/wall-st-protest-park-clean-postponed-agitators-celebrate

Hmm...and I still hear claims from some that a Tea Party participant once hurled insults...pretty tame by comparison...

Oh and one other thing....I recall the media downplaying the numbers at other rallies...even trying to deny the 800,000 that appeared on the Washington mall...
and yet we keep hearing about the huge crowds down on Wall Street...but have you ever heard anyone yet say how many there are??

Bet ya haven't -- they seem oddly to be shying away from that...but Reuters isn't afraid to tell the truth...

I have actually tried and tried to find someone in the media who actually gives a count or says how big the crowds are...

The complete lack of even an occasional estimate is pretty telling...
I admit the number of different cities involved is surprising but even then - some of the crowds in even BIG cities like Chicago were CLEARLY less than 1000 - one estimate saying 800!

BUT... here's a REUTERS article that states clearly that there are about 1000 protesters...IN NEW YORK at the biggest of the protests!!!
ONLY 1000!!!!

Remember when the Tea Party had crowds of 100,000+ and even 800,000 on the mall in DC the media downplayed that and said there were only 60,000

Here's the quote...
"Roughly 1,000 protesters were on hand early on Friday at the New York park"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/14/us-usa-wallstreet-protests-idUSTRE79A41E20111014

BUT here's the quote from a smaller city like Carbondale, IL...
"College students around the country are showing
their support for the Occupy Wall Street movement;
that includes at Southern Illinois University.

Thursday afternoon's gathering in front of Morris
Library certainly didn't bring out the large crowds as
seen in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago; only a
dozen or so students took part. "
http://www.kfvs12.com/story/15690529/occupy-siu-draws-small-crowd-with-big-hopes

ARE YOU SERIOUS???? Only a dozen protesters and they have an entire FULL article about it???
Gimme a break -- when I go out with my entire family -- we constitute a crowd of nearly a dozen!!!.....and we don't get writeups in the paper!!!
I guess we should try throwing rocks and molotov cocktails....