Even more familiar names showing up in the headlines

Of course the one familiar name in the most headlines in Sam Maniscalco...

"Maniscalco is the Man" headlines say...
http://www.illinihq.com/sports/illini-sports/mens-basketball/2011-11-29/maryland-maniscalco-man.html

Paul Klee even pleads "mea culpa" to underestimating Sammy's skills and guts!
But here's a funny line from writer Paul Klee..........
""It's kind of hard to understand how he can get in there
and make layups," said Bruce Weber, whose program is fortunate
Maniscalco was available on the college free-agency market."

Hmmm...so is anyone else gonna come checking Bradley's roster for more "free agents"??? - LOL

And one more that hits home...
"Consider Illinois' fortunes so far if Maniscalco had stayed
at Bradley for his fifth season. Tuesday marked the third tight game
where he made the biggest plays.."

"We should be proud to wear this (Illinois) jersey," said Maniscalco,
..."It's a privilege to put on this uniform."


Zach Andrews is among the leaders and also blocks & double doubles..but showing his maturity as a player he's nowhere near the leaderboard in fouls!

Zach Andrews is 3rd in rebounding among the players who have played more than 2 games...

Ex-ISU signee Justin Dentmon leads all of the NBA D-League in scoring at 28 ppg, and Ex-Missouri State Bear Blake Ahearn is 6th at 26.7 ppg.
Osiris Edlridge is also in the top 30 at 17 ppg.

Dentmon is also in the TOP 10 in 3-pt shooting at 62.5%

Blake Ahearn is averaging 8 assists per game ranking him in the Top four.
Dentmon at 7 apg is 7th.

Ahearn at 32-33 (.970) is the leader in FT shooting...and he's also the D-League leader in Pts-Rebs-Asst combined.


Nice article on BU recruit Tanner Williams
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=571723&query


POB's team Kavala just knocked off the #1 team - Panathinaikos with POB playing a really key role!!
http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Greece/2011/1127_8937_92.asp

Following up on some familiar names

Several ex-Braves are doing very well in their professional careers...here's just a sampling.....

Patrick O'Bryant's current pro team, Kavala in Greece's top pro league, which was one of the bottom dwellers last season, wins again...
as POB had another solid game, 10 pts, 7 rebs..
..at 4-2, Kavala is just one game out of first place...and POB still leads the league with 2.8 blocks per game, and ranks 6th in rebounding with 7.3 rpg

Marcellus Sommerville also had another great game and his Le Mans team beat Poitiers 106-95, Cellus had 19 pts, 7 rebs, 5 asst, and a steal!

Eddie Cage had a fine game Saturday with 19 pts, 4 rebs - making all NINE of his shots including 1-1 from 3-pt...his Andorra team is tied for 1st place at 5-2

Lawrence "Boogie" Wright's Halifax Rainmen (Canadian National League) win again 115-111 - Boogie had 15, 3 rebs, 3 asst and they are battling for 1st place.

Chris Roberts' Fuerza Regia won yet again Sunday - with Chris getting 19 pts, 3 rebs, 3 asst..and are on top of the league.

Andrew Warren was the subject of this article...silencing critics who said he was inconsistent, but he's now doing very well.
His team, the Taipans, who have been a long time bottom dwelling team - is now competitive.
http://www.nbl.com.au/taipans1/news/article/2011/november/warren-silences-critics-as-cairns-taipans-get-revenge/

http://www.nbl.com.au/index.php?eID=tx_cms_showpic&file=uploads%2Fpics%2Fdrew.JPG&md5=03d69b73dd879b68843f2eac8adf7265459fea4e¶meters[0]=YTo0OntzOjU6IndpZHRoIjtzOjQ6IjgwMG0iO3M6NjoiaGVpZ2h0IjtzOjM6IjYw¶meters[1]=MCI7czo3OiJib2R5VGFnIjtzOjQyOiI8Ym9keSBiZ0NvbG9yPSIjZmZmZmZmIiBz¶meters[2]=dHlsZT0ibWFyZ2luOjA7Ij4iO3M6NDoid3JhcCI7czozNzoiPGEgaHJlZj0iamF2¶meters[3]=YXNjcmlwdDpjbG9zZSgpOyI%2BIHwgPC9hPiI7fQ%3D%3D


Bradley's two recruits for next year are also doing very well.
At Dodge City Community College - Tyshon Pickett is putting up double-doubles consistently and is averaging 14 ppg, 10 rpg, hitting 64% of his shots.

PG Ka'Darryl Bell just completed a big time Chicago area Holiday Tournament at st. Patrick's -leading his team won the Championship and playing three great games...
The games are available per online video at the link right below...
Ka'Darryl's averages are 13 ppg, 6 apg
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19772


Here's a couple followups on other players..

-Andrew Bock - who was one of Dana Altman's premier recruits to Creighton -a Top 100 kid who was rated as high as 4-Star....a sure fire star - who flopped royally at Creighton and was ushered out to free up a scholarship.
He transferred to Pacific and after sitting out a year - and after getting the chance to start..he has now kinda bombed there as well.
He's playing now as a sub and getting a couple points per game.

-Michael Ocereobia is probably falling deeper on the list of possibilities for BU.
He's been hampered by injuries but he's not putting up great numbers..
6.2 ppg, 58% field goal shooting, 5.5 rpg.

-Robert Goff - a big man that was once on Bradley's radar screen - played his cards - held out and was at one time last year the hottest BIG MAN commodity getting big time offers from Big Ten, Big 12, & Big East schools.
But then most schools backed off a bit due to his academics and he settled for Marshall.
Surely he should be doing great at Marshall, right?
well...not really - 9.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, and averaging 4 fouls per game.

-note the discussion on Reggie Hamilton...the point guard from Illinois in Class of 2007 who wasn't even listed inside the top 50 players in the state (others in the Top-10 just to remind you - Sam Maniscalco, Evan Turner, Demetri McCamey, Mike Tisdale..)
this kid is one of the best players in the nation now, scored 35 points last night to beat Tennessee, and yet was overlooked by everyone!
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19810

-NIU is really woeful under new coach Mark Montgomery. At 0-6 they really haven't been in a single game yet...
They have a kid who was hailed as a BCS caliber recruit, a difference maker, Abdel Nader..
But Nader is struggling a bit - needing SEVENTEEN shots last night just to score 8 points!
Ex-BU recruit Tyler Storm - who doesn't get a lot of chance to play needed only 4 shots to make 5 points.
Nader's FG shooting is just 33%, and only 50% on FT. He's also averaging 4 turnovers per game.

-Hersey Hawkins' oldest son Brandon Hawkins - was listed as a walk on at Portland State but now he's no longer listed on the roster and is apparently no longer playing.
Hersey's 2nd son, Corey is sitting out a year after transferring to UC-Davis to play for Coach Les.
Hersey's youngest son, Devon, plays high school ball for West Linn HS in Oregon.
Here's a video of Devon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDSEJIfArrs&feature=related

-Manual HS's Marvin Jordan - now at Niagara is averaging 11 ppg, 3 rpg, 2.5 apg.
Maybe 2.5 apg doesn't sound like a lot but consider this...
That figure would easily lead the main point guard at BU who is averaging 2.16 apg.

-Anyone recall Larry Anderson? He's a recruit that Bradley battled right down to the finish and was one of Anderson's final two choices before he decided on Long Beach State. At the time it was made clear that the facilities were the main deciding point and Larry Anderson spurned Bradley because of the the aging on-campus facilities.
At Long Beach State - all he's done is become the team leader in just about everything.
A senior this year - he's averaging 15 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.5 apg. He'd have been a ton in the Valley - too bad we missed on him.

-Big game tonight (6:30PM) Illinois playing at Maryland, part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. It'll be interesting to see how Sammy does.

-Evansville hosts Alabama State 0-4 - should be an easy win.

-One last followup...
Drake's Josh Young - the sharpshooter who always played well against Bradley - is in Germany playing professionally.
He has turned into a prolific scorer.

Last year he played in the Pro B division in Germany - the 3rd tier of professional play and averaged 26.7ppg, 6.4rpg, 3.0apg, 2.3spg, shooting 3PT at 45.3%!!
Pretty amazing stats that allowed Josh to negotiated with a bigger, stronger team.
..and so far this year at the highest level of Professional ball in Germany, with the WALTER TIGERS Tuebingen team, he's averaging 11 ppg, and 35% from 3-pt, and 82% on FT.

Bradley's now 3-1

It was a winnable game last night but Bradley's lack of depth showed...no consistent shooters, and needing to use deep bench players and walk-ons...
But -- what did anyone expect....they were warned of the fallout and yet we still see some who must not have gotten the memo - laughing and mocking as if there is no fallout...
We are missing at least 3 solid players who would be helping us a bunch - SM, RA, and SH...but even an idiot can't miss that the attendances of only about 7000 are far, far below what we have seen at this point in every regular season since we moved to the Civic Center...
Even last year - when people were unhappy, there were complaints about attendance being down, and Bradley was losing - we drew over 8000 for a home game just before Thanksgiving.

And wonder of wonders.....Geno Ford loses one game and the same, chronically unhappy segment of BU's "fan base" is filled with rips and complaints...even to the point of turning on each other, calling each other names, and acting like children having tantrums.
But then what's to be expected - the name calling and infantile personal attacks are routine.

Did anyone think we'd go undefeated? Is 3-1 at this point in the season so far from what anyone would have thought we'd be?
We lost to a team where their guy was launching distant, fall-away shots that any other time would have been labelled ridiculous -- but they happened to go in.
Sometimes that happens...I am still happy our guys kept fighting and playing hard.
But then, I guess that's what clearly shows that I am a fan, I support the team, and I don't think just of myself and how I could have done it better, as some so-called fans rant.

Like it not, this loss is part of the fallout of making so many abrupt changes that we don't have the depth, the players, and have NOT had the time for Geno to get out on the recruiting trail and haul them in. His recruiting in the short time he's been here is as good as can be envisioned...but how can anyone see that Geno is hampered by the situation -- the fallout of the sudden changes.

And we are going to be big underdogs against Wisconsin - but it would not surprise me if we play them closer than UMKC did since we have better athletes.
Regardless - I am stumped as to how 4 games into the season we can have "fans" throwing Geno and his players under the bus already except that such is the character of the very people claiming to be fans but who seem to attack at every opportunity as if filled with intense bitterness...immaturely seeking someone to blame at every opportunity.
But then..given the past record of fans attacking every previous coach ...does it surprise that they're at it again already?



Here's a very interesting story developing around the sexual perversion issues at Syracuse involving one of the Syracuse basketball assistants..
Seems like the local police department is hindering the District Attorney's efforts to investigate...
so what's the deal? Do the police have some vested interest in protecting the Syracuse program and the perverts in it?

http://is.gd/cnjIf3



News alert for those who ragged on Wisconsin-Parkside and claimed they were a bad team because someone thought they would be last in their league..
They have NOT lost yet...they are 4-0 with an average margin of victory of 18 points and a couple of their vanquished foes are getting votes in the polls!
(Plus they almost beat UW-Milwaukee in their other exhibition!)

So how about Bradley's other exhibition opponent...
Well...Wooster hasn't lost yet either --
since the exhibition game at Bradley, they have won two straight averaging a 20 pt margin of victory!!



Lastly -- have to give a B- grade to Quick Change. I have now seen them at least 5 times as the halftime act and not only have they NOT changed or added to their act over the past 3-4 years...but I don't even think they are as good or smooth in performing it.
I still enjoyed them but several times we saw the other colored glove sticking out of the top hat and have to be cleverly pushed back in by the man, and we also saw the dress completely unfold from top to bottom one time when the covering that was meant to hide it from view failed.
Also - the corny fake flowers from the bottles and other hiding places are not even amateur-level trickery and need to be upgraded.
As for the guy on the message board who claims they accomplish their trick with some kind of high-tech fabric that changes color via electronic gadgetry -- take a hike -- that's not even the least bit plausible.



Getting back to the perversion/sports stories -- this should never be about sports or football or basketball...
this ought to be about finding, identifying, and nailing any and every pervert or predator in this or any other endeavor and keeping them away from kids.
This kind of story where Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim is unconditionally supporting his assistant even if there's solid evidence that the guy is a pervert and preying on kids -- this is sickening.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7270237/syracuse-orange-jim-boeheim-reiterates-support-assistant-bernie-fine

This kind of absolute crap reminds me of all the time after horrific murders - like the Caylee Anthony case, like the John Wayne Gacy case, like the mothers who drove their kids into a lake or drowned them in the tub, like the Columbine murderers or the Gabby Giffords shooter, like filthy-minded perverts in any profession who prey upon innocent kids....
and how right after the horrible facts and details of the crimes are revealed someone always comes forward and says...
"oh but he's (or she's) such a sweet person and I can't imagine anything like this happening" or "it can't be - I have never seen that side to him (or her)...
I guess it only shows a degree of stupidity that I cannot fathom.
Sadly - I think there's more of this to come - since everyone in the media, in Hollywood, and elsewhere preaches that "anything goes"...and that all forms of lusts and perversions aren't really bad at all.......this same kind of perverted stuff is the makeup of jokes and skits on Saturday Night Live -- like it's harmless and no big deal...

BU 3-0

Nice start so far but 3-0 is where BU should be and was expected to be .. but a few nice surprises....Taylor Brown's production already, Jordan Prosser's scoring and rebounding, and Jake Eastman's contributions.
Sadly there are still folks who can't see Jake's benefit to this team...
Prosser is ranked among the Top 20 nationally in rebounding and FG percentage, and leads the MVC in rebounding.

The faster style of play has lead to a few turnovers but oddly -- BU is still averaging at this point only 13 TO per game - still not bad and hopefully should get better.
This team is fun to watch and any good Bradley fans will enjoy them - even if they don't win the Valley....
considering everyone is picking BU last - this 3-0 start kinda has many talking that BU should do better than 10th -- duhhh....as if the gurus were blind, deaf, and dumb and didn't know who Taylor Brown was, or that DSE, WL, JE, and JP actually had some talent!

One down side - and the most obvious evidence of fallout other than the missing 3 players who would have certainly helped us this season (RA, SM, and SH) - is that the attendance thus far is the lowest at this point in the early season as it has been since BU moved to the Civic Center! Way more empty seats than even I expected....
Sure, there are a few season ticket holders who failed to renew - I expected that...but seems the biggest part of the drop-off are the supposedly loyal fans who threw a tizzy fit about the one game being held on campus and proudly "boycotted" even bragging about doing so!
There are quite a few faces that I used to see at games that I simply do NOT see thusfar this year -- some kind of fan that must be....
So much for those guys laying claim to being good fans!

But, as I have always said there are different kinds of fans - some better and more loyal -- and nice that Geno gave some kudos to the former on the radio today for supprting this team think and thin and showing up when nobody expected BU to be 3-0.

Come on out and watch & support the Braves.....and keep logging onto the best and busiest fan message board anywhere in Central Illinois -
www.BradleyFans.com

Busier, more info and interest by far than all the other Valley sites, and busier by 160-3 margin on any given day like today! Check it out...and it's not a subscription site run by ISU fans! Just folks who have full time jobs and families but who still find and post all the most useful news and breaking info on Bradley basketball. Every tidbit of info or news on Bradley shows up there first thanks to the great informed fans base on BradleyFans!
Singlehandedly saving many people $250 per year trying to find any info somewhere else!

The Great Success at Renaissance Arena

Bradley held their first Division I game on campus in 30 years last night and it was a tremendous success. In fact it was a TREMENDOU SUCCESS. Ticket sales were slow at first and a few people grumbled - none more prominently than one local newspaper sports editor who proclaimed repeatedly this was a bad idea.

BUT - it turned out to be wildly successful, much to the chagrin of those who have dissed on the whole idea since it was first proposed more than a year ago - and was announced as planned several months ago.

Here's just a little sampling of how successful it was..

-the players and coaches all unanimously agreed it was wildly successful and was a great idea. NOT one negative comment from anyone who was there at the game except one (see below).

-1400 Bradley students bought tickets and attended the game -- 1400 -- that's probably MORE Bradley students in one building that has occurred in many decades.

-1400 Bradley students may even be MORE than there are attending classes on some nice days in the spring!

-everyone who bought a ticket and attended - even season ticket holders, sat in a seat that was NEW to them - a new experience, with many new or different people sitting nearby from what they were used to. This was great as it gave a chance to see and meet new Bradley fans...and enjoy a NEW experience.

-the place was, of course, packed and tremendously loud. Loud enough so that you couldn't even stand face to face and talk to someone - you had to lean over and shout directly into their ear.

-the fans were wild, too -- standing and cheering - not just the students..very few blue hairs staying in chairs.

-the message boards are filled this morning with numerous threads discussing the success of this event - at least half a dozen different discussion threads - all noting what a great time everyone had and what a success this was right from the very idea.

-you practically can't find a single person with anything negative to say...practically - except for that very same local newspaper sports editor who has been dissing on this whole idea for months -- somehow he saw this game very differently from the thousands who were all there enjoying it...and his column had at least a dozen rips on this game, the students, and the whole idea.
Somehow he seemed to have a bad hair day with this game while over 4300 were having one of the best times of their lives.
Does this maybe say something about his perspective and how negatively biased this writer must be? What's the basis for his negativity and grudge against the school he claims to be a 3-generation devotee of?

Why comments like this about the surprisingly HUGE mass of 1400 students in attendance..
"a couple or three hundred students left at halftime and did not
return. Must have had to get to their 8:30 night classes. Or something."

And instead of a compliment to the BU administration for all the hard work in making this a success, he never mentions that and instead says..
"..it wasn't the mighty roar that drove generations of Peorians to
premature hearing loss from time spent at Braves games in old Robertson
Field House.
..they need the administration to care about the students again. The sad
fact for too long on the Bradley campus has been that the basketball program
is invisible."
"One game played in Renaissance, a campus arena much too small for the
season-ticket base, won't fix that."

I don't get it --- does this writer go to a restaurant and ask to be served - then when he gets a great meal JUST AS HE ASKED -- he responds..
"..This won't cut it -- this is only one great meal - I need something like this many more times before I am satisfied.."

Oh well......the people that Bradley did this for sure appreciated it...the students and the rest of the fans.......
I got a laugh seeing a 4-page thread on one message board about this game -
gotta see -
BUT -- the first three pages of posts are from BEFORE the game was played, and are gripes and complaints about this being a bad idea and even predictions that it'll be a flop!

Then one guy who I talked to at the game and who was having a GREAT time with front row seats....posts how everyone was wrong and they missed a great game - then the whole thread goes silent - nothing -- only 2 posts were made from after the game and neither actually discussed how great the whole game and event was!!!
I guess the certain negative aspect of the fan base there is stunned by the facts and doesn't have any more defense for their gripes.



Getting to the game itself......

We still lack a consistent outside shooter but Shayok Shayok nailed a couple outside shots and made the defenses pay.
Jordan Prosser filled the middle and nearly had a second double double with 15 pts, 8 rebounds.
Walt Lemon kept his fouls and turnovers down and contributed significantly to the offense.
The lack of depth at the post forces Prosser to avoid tight defense - giving opponents some pretty good looks down low...
I think using AT or even DH early in the game to lay some hard fouls on their post players might send the right message and keep them out of the paint.
Dyricus keeps having leg cramps -- I need to tip him off to a little traditional cure...

Even the cheerleaders came well prepared in older throwback uniforms.

Hot dogs were 50 cents...and there's plenty of concessions and restrooms so even a packed house had little to complain about.

All in all it was a 100% POSITIVE experience - so I am simply stunned that there are still a handful who find things to gripe about.
Some of the gripers say they do not read this blog but they always seem to know what I am saying - so I expect they will read this and know who I am talking about.
Misery loves company and bitterness destroys the vessel that holds it...
give up the griping and be a fan.....4300 people will tell you it was a truly great experience - sorry you missed it.

Lots of interesting Valley News

There's a lot to talk about in the Valley, some good and some bad...First, the good!

Bradley returns to campus for a home game tonight. Although Bradley has played numerous preseason exhibition games on campus in recent years, this is the first regular season game since Bradley beat Illinois Wesleyan in the old Fieldhouse on December 1, 1993, an 81-63 win in front of 5205 fans.The last game against a D-I opponent on campus was March 18, 1982 which was a 3rd round game in the NIT.Bradley won this game over Tulane 77-61 on their way to the NIT TITLE a week later in New York.>>

The last time Bradley played a regular season game against a D-I opponent on campus was February 27, 1982 - the final regular season game of the 1981-82 season, a tremendous game that I recall well - but a heartbreaking OVERTIME loss to #8 ranked Tulsa 82-79 that hurt BU's chances of an NCAA at large bid...but set up a memorable run to the NIT Championship.>>

This will be an exciting game against decent opponent tonight, SEMO - who have some fine players. However -- I am puzzled why we have to pay them so much to come and play us in Peoria. This is a team that would have probably come for a dime just to "play up" against Valley opponent.$70,000 sounds like a lot of money - http://www.semissourian.com/story/1784881.html--

But Bradley also has some very fine players....with Taylor Brown, Dyricus Simms-Edwards, Jordan Prosser, and even a couple freshman excelling and standing out thus far. It's beginning to look like just maybe the players we had already in the fold at BU were not so bad as some whined about. It's becoming pretty obvious that it was just the injuries that hurt BU.--

AND TONIGHT -- we need a great crowd - but thus far crowds have been down -- obviously a part of the fallout from last spring that doubters simply don't want to see.


More good -- the Valley still is getting some pretty good press - some saying we're going to get multiple NCAA bids...and I certainly hope so....as long as the negatives coming out of the Valley don't hit the national newswires....http://is.gd/LuGjVt

The Evansville win vs. Butler and Drake win vs. Iowa State helped a bunch but we need some more BIG wins -- GO Aces tonight against the Hoosiers!

More good - for BU fans - after 5 games BU recruit Tyshon Pickett is hitting 65% of his field goal attempts, hauling down 10 rebounds per game, getting 2.2 blocks.

In the MVC stats - Jordan Prosser leads in rebounds and is 3rd in the NATION, while two of the top four scorers in the Valley are BU players (TB &DSE).


Now the bad - First - a mention of the passing of Bradley basketball legend Bob Carney -- a truly great player but also a great man and incredibly well loved by everyone who knew him - he has already been missed, as I have the pleasure of sitting two rows in front of his season tickets and have enjoyed many chats with Bob & his wife - and have already missed seeing them. RIP.


And the really bad Valley basketball news........I don't think I can recall a team in the Valley in any recent decade that is as bad as SIU looks right now.They lost on their home court to a bad, transitioning D-II team - a team that went the next night to another D-II school and got blown out.
BUT SIU lost looking really bad .....Then last night they not only lost to Saint Louis -- they embarrassed themselves and the Valley. They were never even close - they trailed by 20 early and the final score would have been a 25+ point margin had Rick Majerus not flooded the floor with deep subs.
And SIU simply doesn't play the kind of ball that's going to win games. Everyone just dribbles and shoots - no passing - totally selfish play. They had ONLY one assist in the entire game - how is that possible?

That may just be some kind of all time MVC or NCAA record - and if not it is only one away from the record!!!


BUT -- you haven't heard the worst -- as bad as SIU is - they do have two legitimate D-I players in Bocot & Seck - but both are seniors and will be gone next year. How are they ever going to find anyone they can schedule and beat next year?

Since the Rich Herrin era - SIU has had only 3 losing seasons and all three have now occurred under Lowery's watch and the spectre of several more loom large!
AND yet - the usual crowd who dissed on Jim Les used to praise Chris Lowery endlessly - even our local press did as if they'd have traded what we had in a heartbeat to get CLo! Can you imagine -- Lowery never even had injuries that might have accounted for his team's dismal performances. There's really nobody the SIU fans can blame except Lowery and whoever gave him a 7 year extension at 3/4 mil!

Then we have the two ISU players arrested for assaulting an apparent downtown bar patron at 2AM last Sunday morning..Now I don't want to get into a terribly big argument but this comes on top of numerous other alcohol issues and arrests, DUI's, robberies, player dismissals for arrests, even child rapes at - among the basketball players at ISU recently -- they even had a stretch with Levi Dyer & Brandon Sampay of TWO DUI's concurrently that Jank said he'd penalize strictly yet none of those guys ever missed a single game or even a practice as has been thoroughly documented.I agree BU players have had some issues - but all have FAR more minor and almost trivial in comparison.

Although I saw all this coming years ago - with the behavior and the poor scheduling, poor recruiting, and terrible performances - that ISU and SIU have clearly defined themselves as the BOTTOM of the Missouri Valley. Their fans have tried like crazy to fire slurs and insults at BU and the Bradley players and even the Bradley fans - but the facts clearly define otherwise. Where some fans were saying the Valley should dump Evansville a couple years ago - I think now we need, unfortunately to look at SIU & ISU...they're both scheduling and playing worse than D-II's and their criminal and arrest record is hard for the rest of the nation to miss. I guess I'd feel sorry for their good and loyal fans - but there don't seem to be very many. Thankfully most fan bases are more upbeat even when their teams falter or suffer through injury.


Here's a laughable bonehead comment by our President -- but here's the odd thing...If George Bush, Gerald Ford, Dan Quayle, or even Michelle Bachman had made this comment, it would have been on the front pages of newspapers and on Saturday Night Live for YEARS!!!And yet HERE is OUR President - who was BORN (supposedly) in Hawaii -- and he doesn't even know that Hawaii is part of AMERICA!!!He says Hawaii is part of ASIA!!!Is this profoundly stupid or what??
http://is.gd/IudeJV


Just as predicted - the Wall Street movement people are suddenly realizing how stupid their demands are -- that they want money handed to them and taken away from people who worked to earn it.Al a big blow to their cause - yesterday the New York Supreme Court ruled that they cannot "occupy" the public park - that it is illegal for them to claim as their own the property of the state!So most have packed up and gone - leaving behind their filth, waste, drug paraphernalia, condoms, and rubbish...and now there's only about a dozen of them left.BUT - never underestimate the wackiness of anarchists and lazy people who want others' money! They'll be back or they'll simply start taking over houses in your town!
http://is.gd/pvjUHs

Bradley 2011-2012

I think this team is going to be exciting even given the shortcomings...
we signed 5 new players last spring and then two more this fall - and yet none seem able to help much in several key areas...

We are shallow in the post - with Jordan Prosser doing a great job then Anthony Thompson backing up, but Thompson is gone next year (and has been inconsistent thus far this year), Will Egolf is still uncertain at this time, Nate Wells isn't available this year and will be raw the next, and so we will remain shallow at the post.....
not saying we will be weak in post play if JP can have more games like yesterday's.

We still don't have a good outside shooter anywhere on the horizon. This is probably our biggest need.

Point guard play will haunt us -- need I say much about Walt Lemon having a bad game yesterday..
Donivine will help a bunch - lots more than most "experts" have said in their uninformed way. Then we do get Ka'Darryl Bell next year but he also will be brand new and raw.


Anyway - despite the areas noted, this is an exciting team with several top players..
I am surprised there were so many empty seats - but it's undeniable proof of the fallout from the last eight months.
I cannot recall a season opener with that few fans in the seats. Lots of the empty seats were people who never missed a game...but a lot were also the people who shoot their mouths off about how great of fans they are, then they rag on the team non-stop and are MIA at home games.
Yeah - right...tell me again how much BU needs more fans like that. But with a few more wins the fans will start coming back....


BTW -- the MVC stats now list Jordan Prosser leading the league at this early stage...also note two Bradley players (DSE & TB) among the top four in scoring..
http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/ind.pdf

In fact - Jordan Prosser is 3rd in the entire nation in REBOUNDING!
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/stats/bycategory?cat=Fielding&sort=27&conference_id=NCAAB


I think people are missing a great opportunity if they have passed on the Bradley Braves Club...
membership starts very economically and at many levels you even get a parking pass to be able to park right across the street from the Civic Center.
Are you Fan Enough?? Membership does have its privileges... ;)


Ex-BU recruit Darius Smith who went first to UConn then to juco then committed to EIU -- seems to be MIA also -- he's not playing and not on the roster.
My suspicion is that he got booted.


One ex-ISU Redbird doing well on the court is Chicago State's Jeremy Robinson.
The kid never got a chance at ISU and was run out - now getting 20 ppg & 8 rebs and may the only bright spot at Chicago State.

But perhaps one reason not many schools went after Jeremy after he left ISU...he does have a pretty significant issue legally...
Not only has he never kept a few of his court dates and has some other more serious recent issues...

Even ISU legend Osiris Eldridge still has issues pending --
three and a half yearsand he's still never settled up.


But he's not the only Valley guy frequenting the legal system in Bloomington -- even SIU superstar Justin Bocot keeps getting into trouble when he's home from college -

Speaking of SIU -- the D-II team they just lost to went a couple days later to play University of Southern Indiana, where Ohio Dominican (whoever they are??) got clobbered 71-48!!
Remember - Southern Indiana is currently being coached by an ex-SIU assistant who many Saluki fans would like to have right NOW to replace Chris Lowery as head coach.

If you want just a sampling of how the SIU fans feel about their home team and coach -- then don't go to the Saluki message board -- I am afraid that would scar you for life -- it's taken a horribly negative and hateful turn - kinda like Valleytalk used to be and how a certain other Central IL board is currently headed at light speed...

Instead check out this article in the SIU campus newspaper - guys who are usually fiercely LOYAL to their team --
http://www.st-extra.com/extra/?p=536

And to think a couple of self-proclaimed BU experts had wanted us to go after the two juco kids that went 5-17 for SIU against D-II opponent.

Exposing fallacies in and outside of sports

The one I hear all the time is that you can't blame the refs and that the refs are just doing their job and are unbiased.

BUT -- surely you've seen the NUMEROUS studies and statistical analysis proving otherwise.
Clearly there is rock solid proof that refs do show a bias based on the higher ranking team or who is the home team or who has had the most fouls previously...
Those studies are really hard to refute...so I believe that refs are biased and prone to using prejudice when making calls - I see little evidence offered objectively to back up the "unbiased" claims.


One more argument I have heard recently is that you can't judge someone else's "fandom" - but I think that's been debunked as well. Clearly fans have openly and freely identified themselves sufficiently so it IS easy to see there are different types. The main difference in my eyes is that some fans support their teams even if the outcome is unpleasant - and others require some kind of "stroking" of their own egos or requirements before they are fans.
Their own words on most occasions define them.
I also notice that the very fans who call themselves the BEST fans not only rarely ever support their team or institution financially -- but they go one step further - they launch attacks against those who are good fans. Heck -- all you have to do is go to a few message boards - and look at the Saluki one if you don't want to look locally - and see the immature and mindless attacks on the very people they claim to support...but then they also turn their rage on each other plummeting their message boards into the cesspool.


Here's a few that do not involve sports...

-"When people spend more money it's good for the economy"
...we are told this many times by many different sources - politicians, media, etc...
They use the example that around Christmas when people spend more, then the economy is better..
Even if they have to borrow or run up big credit card debt - they still tell us we need to go out and spend more.

But - first, they don't bother to tell you that all those extra people who get employed around Christmas are then laid off right afterwards.

Then they overlook the fact that not all spending helps the economy! Much of it pushes people further into debt so that all it takes is one unexpected crisis that overloads their ability and bankrupts them.
If just anyone spending more always helped, then wouldn't it be good for our economy if we had an epidemic and everyone had to spend more money on health care to get better?
and yet - unexpected medical expenses are often cited as the cause for personal bankruptcies. But - many if not most of those people claiming the medical costs bankrupted them were already on the verge of bankruptcy via their own irresponsible spending.

Or - another example - wouldn't Louisiana have been way better off after Katrina - since everyone who had damage obviously had to spend a whole lot of money to rebuild and get things back where they were?

Or how about this one -- if we just want to make everyone spend more because they say it's good - then just raise prices on everything by 50% (that's called massive inflation) then everyone will have to spend more and put MORE dollars into the economy. According to the BS we hear all the time - then we'd have a GREAT economy if we all started spending MORE.

Nope - the answer isn't for everyone to spend more - it's for everyone (government included) to spend less - but where needed, spend more wisely and then save more of what you then do NOT have to spend -- that would help people wipe out their debt and gain savings! It also requires people to work hard for what they earn - but that brings me to the next example of ridiculous fallacies...


-"People DESERVE to be paid a decent living" or stated another way "The Occupy people who are holding signs demanding a share of someone else's wealth have a legitimate point"
...wow - I don't know where to start on this one....

Throughout all of history, if someone wanted to get ahead or make money -- they went out and worked HARD. If they wanted to do better, then they worked HARDER.
And if they want to be the best in their field, the worked the HARDEST!
Throughout my entire life - nobody's handed me anything I didn't work for and deserve. Yet - if I wanted to earn more or have more - I went out and worked HARDER or produced MORE.
But now we have this insane philosophy where people gang up and hold signs saying..
"We want to be paid more - and while you're at it - we also want to work fewer hours and have less responsibilities"
Say what?? This is the exact opposite of how people earn a living throughout all of history -- seriously we now have gobs of people expecting to make more money by working less but by ganging up on the guy signing the checks!

BUT WAIT -- there's even now a new movement that goes infinitely further...
Now we have a bunch of violent loonies holding signs saying in effect --
"We don't even want to work at all -- we just want someone, preferably government, to take wealth from those who have earned it and give it to us even if we never did a thing to deserve it! In fact, if government doesn't do it - we'll show off a bit of our thuggery and violence and maybe we'll just take it ourselves".

Good luck -- but I have a sneaky suspicion that even if we took all the wealth in the nation and put it in a pot and then divvied it all up - what we'd have all over again in just a matter of a couple years - is exactly what we'd started with!
We'd have the hard working, well educated, and ingenious people earning it all back and becoming wealthy again. And the lazy, sloppy, selfish, demanding people who are unwilling to work hard and simply holding their hands out expecting someone else to do their work for them would find themselves right back where they were once they've finished greedily spending and wasting all that they unethically ripped off those who did work for it.
Life has a way of working out that way -- except in Communism -- but then many of the Occupy people openly identify themselves as Communists.


-as per the Penn State stuff we see endlessly - "failure to report such a crime makes those who fail to report JUST AS GUILTY as the perpetrator"
....well, I for one do not agree -- the guy who is guilty is the one who is by far MOST guilty....and the failure to report is sad but in most cases not illegal.

Anyway -- how about those coming out now 15 years AFTER the fact saying they now KNOW about Herman Cain committing harassment and abuse -- what about their failure to report for a decade and a half?
Could not the same things be said about them? If what they say is true - then could they bear part of the guilt by knowing something and having the responsibility to report to the proper authorities - yet NOT DOING SO?
Why does the press go so hard after so many at Penn State - yet the real perpetrator is barely mentioned in most of the news reports?

Let's be fair -- let's hit the nail on the head -- any adult who takes advantage of or who rapes or attacks children is the real, evil criminal here.
Why does the press seem to go out of their way to deflect the attention from the real criminal?
We have others in public life who have been similarly guilty of horrific crimes against CHILDREN - and who have been protected by the press....who seem to have been given a FREE PASS...despite serious assaults and sexual crimes against children.

Here's some examples -
Congressmen Gerry Studds & Dan Crane...who were found to be using an underage pages as their whores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_congressional_page_sex_scandal

We still have one of these perverts in our Congress - Barney Frank...who doesn't even deny using underage male pages for his sexual purposes...
http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/rep_bios.php?rep_id=32707663&category=scandals&id=20100403123938

I guess by today's standards -- all those other congressmen who knew about Frank and his perversion are equally culpable and guilty?

Here are a couple more examples...

***Here's a very similar case but it is getting no attention from the media at all...

It involves little girls as young as 10 years old who are being raped - and when they go for HELP to a well known system of health facilities, Planned Parenthood,
their rapes are NOT being reported as required by law, and by common sense.
Does this NOT make every one of those people in the Planned Parenthood organization - who all know this is happening - JUST AS GUILTY of the RAPES?

But it even goes several steps further and involves major coverups and fraud by the health facilities and people in government.
When the facts and charges that 10 year-olds were telling the officials they had been raped, subpoenas were issued for the documents & records from Planned Parenthood, and the health facility declined and has fought the orders ever since.
But they did release a few heavily redacted and altered documents - enough that the judge pursued the order to get the rest of the relevant records.

When the health facility finally did comply and release what the courts asked for they released the documents to the Kansas Health and Human Services.
BUT - then those people in the government chose to destroy the documents to help hide the horrific crimes against children as young as 10 years old - and help protect their buddies at Planned Parenthood.

When they did finally have to release documents - it was plainly obvious that they had faked and simply made up & manufactured phony documents thinking the legal officials wouldn't know - but they did because the records were totally different from the ones already received and were obviously just falsely generated to hide the fact that they had illegally shredded all the real documents to hide their crimes.

And who was it that ordered the privately owned Kansas health facility & the Kansas department that oversees them to illegally shred the damning records?
It was Kathleen Sebelius - one of the highest officials currently in federal government now a Cabinet member!

...and yet virtually all of this story will likely come as a complete surprise to most because it is simply not being reported - apparently to hide the crimes of the organization that is enabling the rapists of 10-year-olds to get away with it!

Hiding rapes of children, allowing the rapists to go free and rape some more, falsifying medical records and shredding the real ones to hide the crime, lying to judicial officials to protect a HUGE, national billion-dollar health corporation, corrupt officials everywhere, providing false information per subpoena, and HIGH LEVEL politicians intentionally acting to hide the evidence of the crimes .. are an amazing case that should be getting the same press as this one at Penn State - too bad it's not.
Clearly by the current definition - these people -- all the way up to the President are also complicit in the rapes of children!
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/281511/shredding-kathleen-sebelius-michelle-malkin
http://www.worldmag.com/mobile/article.cfm?id=18794

This story has been dragging on since 2005 and yet virtually no attention - not even from Kansas press -- and certainly not from anyone nationally.


Here's another one -
It appears we have a little mini-version of the Penn State mess going on at Marquette basketball....

It dates all the way back to last season and at least 5 (or more) basketball players are clearly involved in at least TWO separate sexual assaults against women on or near campus...that are being covered up and whitewashed by the Marquette people.

However -- after all this time - the university has never yet released the names of the perpetrators...and even one of the assaulted women is now yielding her privacy to come forward with her pleas to stop the coverups...

The university has stonewalled every effort to try to charge or even identify the perpetrators...
Now the FEDERAL government is coming in to check on these assaults..
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-us-education-department-investigates-marquettes-response-to-sex-assault-allegations-against-athletes-20111110,0,4852788.story

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-21/sports/ct-met-marquette-sex-assaults-20110621_1_sexual-assault-sexual-attack-allegation-crimes

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/16076763

http://www.wisn.com/news/27345574/detail.html

I predicted elsewhere there'd be a complete whitewash and coverup -- and it goes on and on while the victim simply wants openness and justice...
I wonder how ballistic our press would be if this was happening locally at BU??

The coach and AD said the situation would be handled internally and that the players involved would be disciplined -- and yet NOT ONE player has missed even one game, exhibition, closed scrimmage, or anything -- sound familiar?

These stonewalled charges & assaults don't even include the assault & battery arrest Marquette's Vander Blue had last year...
http://www.ballinisahabit.net/2011/04/vander-blue-facing-assault-and-battery.html

These are all real assaults, real victims, some teenagers....not just a busted lips with trumped up allegations!
Where's the justice and the media coverage?

Low attendance numbers further explored...

I guess I am a little puzzled as to why some didn't make a bigger deal out of this....
had it happened last year or the year before - it would have been the hot topic for weeks.

Bradley's exhibition at Renaissance Coliseum this season drew only 1800 while the first one last year - also held at Renaissance drew OVER 2500.
Bradley's first exhibition game at Carver Arena (part of season ticket package) had an official attendance of 6797, but in the PJS coverage the writer said he thought there were
no more than 4500 there.

Here are the attendance figures for the Carver Arena exhibitions in the past several seasons...

2010-2011 - there was none but there was a D-II opponent to start the season, Texas A&M-Kingsville, and that game drew 8014.

2009-2010 - Lewis - 7966

2008-2009 - Lewis 8100, and a 2nd exhibition at Carver - UW-Platteville - 8294

2007-2008 - Quincy - box score N/A

2006-2007 - Northwest Missouri State - 8093

..and so it goes....the attendance for every exhibition game ever held at Carver has been 8000 or so -- sometimes more....
So, isn't anyone at least a bit concerned about the Renaissance Coliseum exhibition drawing 30% fewer fans than other years? And the exhibition games at Carver drawing likewise around 30% or more fewer fans than the historical averages?
And haven't we also seen that game tickets for SEMO and other games are going slow?

And this comes at the very time Bradley is getting the most remarkably shining press and many, many fans are enthusiastic about the future and curious about the new players & coaches?
So -- why the low numbers? Could it just be that some who predicted this exact scenario were 100% right? That many fans - the ones who were faithful and loyal for years but who didn't spend time griping on message boards - that those fans are largely put off by all that has happened (call it fallout if you want)?
Of course we're gonna see the anti-BU crowd and anti-JL crowd reach way back and again try to drag out the coach that's now been departed more than eight months - and try to blame him.
Didn't we see a ton of anti-JL stuff in the past few days coming from the PJS?

Most of the best and most loyal Bradley fans are all still around -- I saw them Tuesday night -- and talked with many of them before and after the game.
BUT -- some were conspicuously missing -- some even, who I am told, did not even renew season tickets. (See the previous blog entry)

BUT -- this is a good young team despite the negative stuff many of the anti-BU people are spewing -- and they're fun to watch.
The attendance numbers will improve but it will probably take a decent run of wins to trigger it....
But again -- I think this simply proves there are DIFFERENT kinds of fans...
some who are intensely loyal and they are at every game regardless of the negativity. Others still need to be stroked....they need to see the team winning before they come. This is understandable -- all teams have fans like this. These are fans that are perhaps best described as semi-loyal and the team will have to win those fans back.
I think they will but it'll take some time.
Either way - there clearly IS a distinct difference - and NOT all fans are the same or are they equally as loyal. One can easily perceive the difference.
And the evidence of the fallout is also there - it would take a total ignoramus to deny it - but some of those exist also. ;)

A tremendous opportunity missed!

There were a lot of empty seats -- it was an exhibition game -- but I think there was a lot of missed opportunity...

-First - a missed chance for folks to get virtually courtside seats - better than most people ever get. I needed some extra tickets so I got there early and there were seats not only in the lower bowl but at midcourt only a couple rows from the court...
and the reason some of those seats are NOW available is because there ARE people who did not re-up on their season tickets -- people who have moved out of town, or for whatever reason -- but the seats I got on little notice were INCREDIBLE.

-but even if people were further back in the lower bowl - there were still many unoccupied seats right down by courtside that they could have come down and taken and enjoyed.

-lastly a lot of people stayed home because this was an exhibition game....and I don't want to sound like I am getting down on fellow BU fans, but what they heck -- it's still a Bradley game and those "fans" need to show up!
As I said elsewhere - the low attendance and the slow sales for tickets to the other games and the games at Renaissance Arena are unfortunate -- the people claiming to Bradley fans but who are waiting to see how the team is going to do are missing out...

plus -- those folks who simply are going to wait and catch the games later may have missed the last chance to see Nate wells. If he redshirts then he is not going to play any more....look for Nate to stay on the bench and not play the next game and thereafter. There's a chance they still might use him but not likely he'll play in the next few games so that they can keep the redshirt option open.

Finally - a few of the folks who have loudly claimed to be the very best Bradley fans - are among those who were no-shows last night...so those folks really make it easy to support the argument they are NOT good fans.
They are fair weather fans.
That's OK -- every team knows there are fair weather fans and if the team does well enough they'll get some of those fans...some will buy tickets for upcoming games and some will be walk up buyers...
but I think it clearly shows there are different degrees of fandom.
If the shoe fits ....

And what's with a fan message board claiming to be a Bradley board not even having a SINGLE discussion thread about a home game - even well more than 12 hours after the game is over? Can you say demise???

More on failing public schools

Yet another front page story on the failures of the Illinois High Schools - specifically Peoria District 150
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x251091028/Central-Illinois-schools-fall-short-of-increasing-No-Child-Left-Behind-standards

"Every high school in central Illinois - with the exception of Dunlap, which is one of only eight high schools in the state to make Adequate Yearly Progress -
has been labeled a "failure," according to standards .."

but here's the answer from the people who run this failing system...
"We are not failing. The system is failing us"
http://www.pjstar.com/topstories/x251091034/We-are-not-failing-The-system-is-failing-us

That seems a little like losing a basketball game by 50 points are then saying "we are not losing - the game is losing" or "the system we're using is losing"..
...although I fully agree that it is not the school personnel's fault entirely -- the lazy parents who do nothing but let their kids watch MTV and eat twinkies & the outside special interest groups who make their endless demands are partly to blame as well.

The print copy of the paper has an exhaustive list of the test scores of every area public school DISTRICT - which encompasses 250 different schools...
and only 16 public school districts out of the 74 listed - ranging from Macomb to Henry to Eureka achieved passing scores.



Lastly -- the social engineers in and outside of government have been tinnkering with the public school systems for decades -- banning anything that remotely resembles faith or religion - even teaching morality and right-and-wrong - encouraging promiscuity, softening anything that actually resembles discipline, and dumbing everyone DOWN & discouraging achievement, so the slowest students don't feel so bad about not passing...
I just wonder if those social engineers whose ideas have caused this failing mess (many of whom run teachers' unions and minority focus groups) will step forward and take responsibility...


Lastly - I have mentioned it before - there are schools - large & small - that are major successes and that get recognition nationally! And yet we mention them only in passing instead of looking closely at them and maybe modeling the rest of the failing districts after the ones that succeed. They mention Dunlap as a success but it isn't the only one locally --
Not surprisingly - most of the people who run or support the failing system claim that the answer is MORE MONEY -- when the facts prove otherwise as those local systems that are succeeding actually run their schools on LESS money per pupil than the failing public schools do....some on as little as HALF the funding as the public schools!

Can't tell which group of people are more loony...

Some people compare the "Occupy" movement with the Tea Party movement...
Regardless of what you think politically - there are some vast differences between the unanimously peaceful but effective Tea Party movement that led to more than a 100-Representative swing in the last election compared to this new movement who call themselves Occupy Wall Street.

It has been hard to figure out what they want - as interviews with individuals rattle various thoughts all over the map - but mainly it's a demand by people to take away wealth from those who have it or who have earned it and redistribute it & give it away somehow to those who did not.

But here's where NOBODY can deny that this new movement differs VASTLY from most other political movements -- even the political movements of the 1960's that also involved arrests.
The big difference is that most of those other movements WERE PEACEFUL -- and the arrests were for peaceful civil disobedience.

This new Occupy movement is quite VIOLENT....and the press is being derelict (as usual, so what's new) in reporting the dark and ugly side to this movement.
Just google "Occupy" and "violence" and see what you get...
Of the 40 million hits you get that seem to connect the movement with violence - very few are the mainstream media.
BUT -- there's been violence in New York, Oakland, Portland and just about every site the protests have occurred...even the overseas ones.

The violence includes rapes, and sexual assaults that the NOW are very strangely silent about...

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=47213
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/woman-raped-in-tent-at-anti-capitalism-protest-1.1131436
http://nation.foxnews.com/wall-street-protests/2011/11/02/now-silent-occupy-wall-st-sex-assaults


These protests are now turning into total anarchy and lawless rage and crime...
and even some of the supporters like the Democrats and the liberals in Hollywood are beginning to back off their support (although I see millionaires Jesse Jackson and Michael Moore are still spewing their hate at the protests).

BUT have you seen the new "FACE" of this protest??

The protesters are all buying and wearing this mask....
.....it's a silly mask the Occupy people are using and it's from the movie & story that's called...

"V for Vendetta"
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c0/V_for_vendettax.jpg/180px-V_for_vendettax.jpg

This is exactly the cause that LOONY guy tried to claim when he shot up the school board meeting a year ago in Panama Beach, FL
http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2010/12/more-on-loony-guy-who-shot-up-panama.html

NOTE how this totally loony guy Clay Duke also takes the "V for Vendetta" logo for his own cause...
http://www.theamericanpress.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Clay-Duke-300x300.jpg

And as you can see in my blog post from that time - the cause is a phony cause...and it's a laughably stupid endeavor that they think will help them, but in reality it just shows their complete ignorance of the very facts involved in their choices...

First - because it is really all fiction...comic book crap...although it's loosely based on Guy Fawkes.

But second - because at the time "V for Vendetta" was written - it was about the future -- the 1990's -- where supposedly government would become OPPRESSIVE -- which, of course, these protests alone prove is NOT the case -- as people today have MORE freaking rights than they have ever had in all of history...they can do just about anything thy want in the name of free speech and get away with it!!
Just look at all the damage, vandalism, and trashing of cities and parks committed by the Occupiers (plus the rapes, assaults, etc.) and they're pretty much getting away with it all at taxpayer expense.
So much for government oppression - sounds more like the diametric opposite of permissiveness.

BUT also - read on in my blog piece -- the model for the character was Guy Fawkes from the 1600's -- a totally self-absorbed person who did everything he did for PURELY selfish reasons - and NOT in any way to better society -- and used VIOLENCE to get it done -- how ironic that these protesters are also using VIOLENCE!

One repeating story you see in the news was the poor Iraq war veteran who was hit in the head by something -- possibly a brick that was thrown....and suffered serious injury...
Some have made the claim he was struck by something the police threw or that he was beaten BY police -- but that is highly doubtful -- the cops are not throwing BRICKS which is what some witnesses claim happened...and nobody whatsoever witnessed the guy getting beat -- they simply found him laying on the ground...already injured.

...but the story is being portrayed as if he's getting injured by the enemy for fighting YOUR CAUSE!!!!

Scott Olsen
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/update-iraq-war-vet-injured-in-occupy-oakland-awaiting-brain-surgery/

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Scott-Olsen.jpg

It was almost certainly one of his OWN buddies and co-protesters who launched the brick that nearly killed him...as can be seen in the videos, the only people throwing projectiles are the protesters!!
In other words...he was severely injured and almost killed by the VIOLENCE of his OWN cause...


Here's another note about this "Iraq veteran" Scott Olsen...
....the guy is a pretty far left loony himself...
He runs a FAR LEFT anti-military web site that rips the US Government and cites the rapist-Wikileaks guy and also the traitor Bradley Manning - the gay serviceman who gave away US secret documents because he wanted to punish the military for it's stance on homosexuals.

As you can see from the videos.... with 20 different people standing right and with cameras rolling during this protest -- not one person -- NOBODY has yet offered any evidence of what hit Olsen in the head and who threw it!!


So - the Occupy protests are mainly lazy thugs and whiners who want something they never worked for nor earned. They want handouts.
They should learn from the Tea Party people and go to the ballot box if they want to get change....
And speaking of change -- the party MOST of them say they favor is the party that promised change, controlled every aspect of the government for two years but produced only bad change - huge handouts that were ineffective and ruined our economy.
Oddly - when interviewed, only 35% of the Occupy protesters claim to have voted in the last election -- and the truth is probably less than that!
They have zero credibility if they aren't even going to vote!



A few more notes...

A couple recent events caused headlines about UFO's being seen...

This one was from a video of a football game..
http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2011/11/video-ufo-seen-during-sunday-night-football-game-2/

...makes you wonder how gullible and stupid some people are!

Again -- OMG -- just this past week - the TV show "Fact or Faked" debunked just about every one of these TV camera streaks...

There's a zillion such claims that these are UFO's and yet they can be PERFECTLY re-created any time you want with a video camera, and a bright light..

They are bugs flying past the camera - tiny little points of reflected light that appear clear & sharp since they are small and won't blur, and thus they seem as though they are up in the sky or in space, but if you had a high speed camera you'd see for sure it is a bug -- but a regular video camera will only catch it as a streak - just as a movie/film camera would

THEN -- the writer gives us this old haggard line that sounds profound and smart and scientific...
"...but as a man of logic it would be unrealistic to
believe that this random planet is the only planet in
the vastness of the Universe to have life forms on it."

Really? -- then what evidence is the guy using???
Have they found life on any other planet??
The fact that they have found none - and that there really isn't much more than the tiniest bit of weird evidence like this tape causes the guy to jump UNSCIENTIFICALLY to the grand conclusion that there's intelligent life elsewhere and they have travelled to earth and now we're seeing them....?
How many more years before people will wise up and actually see the obvious -- there are NO aliens here on earth!!

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) has been diligently looking for 50 years now -- endlessly searching - now using hi speed computers to analyze megatons of data...
and NEVER once has a single NON-RANDOM electromagnetic signal or "message" ever come from or been detected in outer space!!
NEVER!!
Keep in mind our planet generates trillions of electromagnetic signals and messages literally every MINUTE!!! - and has continued to do so for more than 75 years and will continue to do so....for eons into the future...
If even ONE evolving society of aliens anywhere in the UNIVERSE ever progressed to the point where they experimented with electromagnetism, radio waves, or electronic communication then they'd have generated exactly what would get detected elsewhere as non-random E-M signals...and yet there have never been any found -- NONE -- period!

The astounding ABSENCE of any such electromagnetic signals ever detected is incredibly STRONG proof that no developed society is or HAS existed within even several hundred or thousand light years of us...

This argument can't rule out amoeba elsewhere but with no evidence that life exists - isn't a bit unscientific to argue that it MUST? That's like me arguing that ghosts MUST exist because the universe is so big!!

EVEN the astronauts once thought some of the weird streaks and points of light that showed up in their pictures & photos might be mini-UFO's until it was proven that they were tiny bits and crystals of ice that had condensed on the outside of the spacecraft, then came loose as the people in the inside moved and caused vibrations...

Ultimately people can believe what they want but there are easy, logical answers for this stuff - but people don't want to accept them - they want to believe in UFO's..and those same people scoff at anyone who believes in God, angels, or life after death.


Here's another one... -- another classic story..

...people see lights -- they believe they are seeing unidentified flying objects...
then more people see them and a couple get them on videotape...
then the whole city goes bazonkers because there is apparently NO logical explanation -- OMG this MUST be aliens....right???

Then -- the helicopter pilot who was involved 15 miles away with a night-time parachute jump where they carried high intensity flares comes forward and gives all the details...
and...of course his story fits absolutely perfectly and gives the exact PERFECT explanation but...still people won't buy it they still think it was aliens!!!!!
http://news.discovery.com/space/phoenix-ufo-lights-mystery-solved-111104.html

It's amazing -- these people have already made their minds up they are going to believe the PREPOSTEROUS - all the while a simple and easy explanation exists and they are going to disbelieve that!
Boy -- with this degree of stupidity reigning here on earth -- even if there is some alien society somewhere out there -- they're going to steer clear of this planet!!

But the last argument is the most obvious -- if they are UFO's and if there really are aliens up there - and if they don't want to make themselves known or talk to us - or want us to catch them then why do they use bright lights all the time??

A few new items...

Sorry to see Sam Maniscalco's ankles still bothering him -- he's a tough kid and will play through pain, but after all the time off and the surgeries -- it seems none of all that has helped his ankles as much as hoped.
Maybe Sam deserves an explanation from the ankle specialists surgeons in North Carolina as to why investing so much into the surgery has paid off so little....
Regardless, I still expect Sam to be a big help to the Illini.


Eddren McCain landed at NAIA Paul Quinn College in Texas, and had a fine year last season, with 14 ppg & nearly 8 assists per game leading all of college basketball.
However - Eddren is no longer on the Paul Quinn roster this year for his senior season - and I have read that he might have burned out on basketball.


Highland CC is about to open their season -- here's an article mentioning their starting center Michael Ochereobia...
http://www.journalstandard.com/sports/x1992153584/Highland-men-ready-for-big-year


Kyle Vogt has done well for himself and landed as assistant to Jim Molinari at Western Illinois...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=239019#post239019


Boogie's first regular season game in the Canadian National Basketball League is tonight.


Ex-Bradley - even if only for a redshirt year - Jeremy Fears is one of the top stars of the top Austrian pro league - and leads his team in nearly every category...
..scoring (15.3), assists (5.0), steals (1.7), minutes played (32), and shoots 55%.


Ex-BU recruit Stan Simpson did OK last night in Memphis' exhibition game vs. Lemoyne - but so did everyone else as Memphis clobbered LeMoyne by 60.


Coach Cornelius of Yuba College has a really loaded squad this year and is expecting a good season...
http://norcalbasketball.blogspot.com/2011/10/2011-12-yuba-college-49ers.html


Wichita State folks were pleased that one of their recruits for next year had a fine opening game...
Cleanthony Early scored 35 points in Sullivan's (juco) win over Redemption Christian Academy.
http://twitter.com/#!/tropicalshox/status/131769541385654272
...BUT Redemption Christian Academy is a small, private high school - not a college at all!! So I might wonder how significant this accomplishment is for a talented D-I recruit who is a sophomore at junior college playing against a bunch of high schoolers.


Ex-Saluki Ryan Hare booted off the University of Southern Indiana team -- this makes at least 3 or 4 teams he's been booted from...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/oct/31/no-headline---ev_01usimcclure/


Speaking of troubled ex-SIU players -- need I say more...
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2047l9001l0l9235l19l13l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&safe=strict&um=1&tab=iw&q=cache:7GS2ArDS9RgJ:http://www.jailbase.com/en/arrested/oh-mcso/2011-04-15/kevin-dillard-1108130+%22mugshot+of+kevin+dillard%22&ct=clnk


ICC basketball is already 1-0 beating St. Ambrose JV and they play again tonight - against Lewis & Clark.
Their new schedule is finally up..
http://www.icc.edu/athletics/basketballM/players.asp
AJ Guyton is no longer assisting.


Ex-BU recruit Jacob Williams from St. Pat's played his first juco game for Vincennes - and scored 2 pts...
One other juco name to maybe be aware of - at Richard J. Daley College Jeremy Price (from Chicago Curie) - averaging 35 ppg & 9 rpg in the early going.


Ex-Iowa State center and Larry Eustachy player Jared Homan - playing in Italy - slugged his own coach and got kicked off the team for punching out his own coach!
http://www.eurobasket.com/Italy/basketball.asp?NewsID=247120