News of the Arroyo
Title: | Illini vs. the world |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2008-01-01 |
Summary: | January 1, 2008 - Illinois fights for recognition and dignity in the Rose Bowl. |
Author: | Jay Mariotti |
Publication: | Chicago Sun-Times |
Content: | Illini vs. the world PASADENA, Calif. -- Once every generation or so, an end zone is painted orange in a green canyon somewhere north of Hollywood, somewhere back in time. It\'s the most invigorating experience in sports, to launch a new year amid the chichi glamour of the Rose Bowl, and today, a new gaggle of players with ILLINOIS on their helmets will burst from the tunnel and into the sunshine. Hopefully, for the sake of Ron Zook and a state he once called ``Illi-noise,\'\' that is not all the Fighting Illini do. Merely showing up -- which is about all they did in their last visit 24 years ago -- only will confirm a nation\'s preconceived ridicule. Illinois head football coach Ron Zook (left) and Southern California head football coach Pete Carroll admire the Rose Bowl trophy during a news conference Monday. USC will face Illinois in the Rose Bowl on New Year\'s Day in Pasadena, Calif. They\'re being called unworthy intruders, remember, having lost three games and rating a mere 13th in the Bowl Championship Series standings. The national media are skeptical, all but calling the game ``The Stepdaddy of Them All.\'\' Vegas is laughing, making Illinois the most lopsided underdogs -- at 13 1/2 points -- of any team this bowl season. As for the celebrated opponents, the USC Trojans, they are playing a half-hour from campus and hungry to stop the buzz that they\'re no longer college football\'s pre-eminent program. Defensive end Lawrence Jackson went so far to have fun with the nickname of the Illini\'s star quarterback, Juice Williams, which is typical of the California-cool arrogance in the air. ``I won\'t call him Juice. I don\'t buy into the hype,\'\' Jackson said. ``I\'m not a big fan of nicknames. His mom named him Isiah, so we should call him Isiah.\'\' An old USC running back, O.J. (The Juice) Simpson, will be pleased. Then you have the cultural dissing, the idea that Midwesterners are a bunch of hayseeds and goobers. In the Los Angeles view of popular culture, anything west of the 101 Freeway is backward, making Illinois either another planet or the place where Oprah is stuck doing her show. Out here, they think we\'re just getting our first iPhones. Low-rise jeans are coming next decade. But if I know Zook, the coach whose hustle and self-belief has fueled a Rons-to-Roses turnaround in short order, he already has pumped these and other slights into his team\'s consciousness. ``If we believe everything that people are saying, we might as well go home -- not play the game and save the equipment,\'\' The Zooker said. ``But if you\'re a competitor and you love to compete, what better challenge than to play one of the best teams in the country?\'\' It is vital for the Illinois program, not to mention the honor of a bedraggled Big 10, to at least make this an exciting game. After all the Zook hype and revamped national perceptions about a previously downtrodden program, they certainly don\'t want to squander this momentum by being skunked. That\'s what happened here in 1984, when the Illini lost 45-9 to UCLA. That\'s what happened early in the 2001 Sugar Bowl, their only other major bowl game of late, when they fell behind 27-0 and lost to LSU. By staying close to USC -- or, dare I say, winning the game -- the Illini can erase all fluke talk and cement their status as an emerging power. You\'ve seen how the basketball program has slumped in the three seasons since Bruce Weber, playing with Bill Self\'s players, lost in the national title game. There are recruits to win over, media to hush up, long-term images to build and seats to fill in a renovated Champaign stadium. And if they\'re routed again? First, they\'ll have to deal with the snarling wrath of proud alumnus Dick Butkus, who addressed the players at practice and reminded them that they did venture to Columbus beat a little old team called Ohio State, which is playing for the national championship next Monday. ``Nobody expected them to be here and a lot of people don\'t want them to be here, so what an opportunity to make everybody eat their words,\" Butkus told the media that day. They also don\'t want to disappoint other Illini alums, from Roger Ebert to Jerry Colangelo to Hugh Hefner (B.A. 1949), who actually will pull himself away from bikinied lasses at the Playboy Mansion to watch the action. But just so you know, nobody in the Illinois camp is thinking the worst. ``I\'m equating it to a 2-year-old inside a cage full of snakes,\'\' said offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. ``Our guys don\'t really know they\'re dangerous. They are so naive to the Rose Bowl, and that\'s a good thing. We\'re going to show up and play ball.\'\' ``We won at Ohio State in front of a hostile crowd. Why would this rattle us?\'\' said freshman wide receiver Arrelious Benn, whose gamebreaking abilities will be needed for any upset chance. ``We\'re gonna have our fans all over the stadium.\'\' Indeed, more than 35,000 Illiniheads are expected in the 92,000-seat bowl, many buying tickets from USC fans totally bored with anything but a BCS title game. From the start, the Illini have called it a business trip. Not that they haven\'t had their fun. Zook was amazed the players loved a particular ride -- ``the teacup?\'\' he wondered -- at Disneyland, which he might have discovered years ago if he wasn\'t so immersed in the coaching racket. They won Lawry\'s Beef Bowl, setting a record by eating 870 pounds of prime rib, though only reaffirming Midwest stereotypes. They got swag from the bowl committee, including wireless headphones and backpacks. They met the Rose Queen. They saw a show at the Improv. They were interviewed by more media than they want to see again. They dealt with a two-hour power outage at the team hotel. They stayed out of trouble. And now, with the San Gabriel Mountains looming at the foot of the Arroyo Seco, it\'s time to prove they merit one of sport\'s grandest stages. These haven\'t been prosperous times on the local sports scene, with the Bears, Bulls and White Sox falling hard from grace. It was only a few weeks ago when Illinois guy Barack Obama, meeting with editors at the Boston Globe, marveled at the success of the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and even Boston College. ``What are you putting in the water here,\'\' he asked. ``Can we get some of that?\'\' The Illini can put some wine in the water. ``When you talk about where you want your program to be, you look at Southern Cal,\'\' Zook said Monday. ``It\'s year after year after year. We\'re not where we need to be yet. The thing I\'m excited about is, we\'re going to have that opportunity.\'\' The end zone is orange, the sky is blue. Don\'t blow it. |
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