Oh boy, its Southern Illinois Day, which isn't a holiday but dammit, it ought to be. We all ought to have the day off work (paid, of course) so we can go to the bar and get properly primed for the hated Salukis. Someone once wrote that the Salukis are "an unholy abomination on this Earth, and they must pay." Put on a bow-tie, read that to yourself in your best George F. Will voice, and tell me you don't believe it.
I don't care that the media will try to tell you this year's first matchup doesn't have the luster of years past. They'll try to make you believe that because Creighton and SIU are, for the moment, middle of the pack teams in the Valley, the game is of little significance. They are wrong. FSN Kansas City will try to tell you the Nebraska-Iowa State game is the better contest, an opinion they drive home by bumping the Creighton-SIU game from their airwaves in favor of that mediocre Big XII game. They are fools.
Folks, do not be distracted from the task at hand. Southern Illinois has won 9 of the last 10 regular season meetings with Creighton. Southern Illinois has only lost once in the Qwest Center. This cannot continue.
We as fans need to get nasty. We need to be on them before the game starts. They need to feel unwelcome. On Wednesday night, it is time to release anything you've been holding in. Whatever is wrong in your life, it is because of the Salukis.
Get passed over for a promotion...its their fault. Girlfriend break up with you...its their fault. Wife force you to go see "Bride Wars"...its their fault. Husband a lazy oaf...its their fault. Car trouble...its their fault. Global Warming...its their fault. The economy...its their fault. Get laid off from your job...its their fault. Bad grade on a test...its their fault. Boss a jerk...its their fault. TPS reports filling your inbox...its their fault. Nickelback exists...its their fault.
Its not enough to beat them. I want to destroy them. I want to rip their heart out and show it to them while its still beating, reminiscent of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. I want shoulders lowered, I want elbows, I want blood. The Salukis play tough basketball, we need to be tougher, we need to be nastier. I want Kyle Korver/Joe Dabbert in the MVC finals effort. I want SIU to leave Omaha wondering if they should shut their basketball program down and give up.
Now then, any questions?
One Big Paragraph With Lots O'Dots (TM): Southern Illinois started league play 0-3, but has won two straight coming into tonight's matchup. They've struggled away from Carbondale, winning just two of eight contests ... Senior Bryan Mullins is, annoyingly, still around, and the reigning MVC Defensive Player of the Year is once again no one's darling on the stat sheet, but leads the country in intangibles. His 9 points, 6 assists and 2 steals are among the team leaders. His tenacity on defense sets the pace for the bevy of newcomers getting their first taste of the CU-SIU rivalry ... One such newcomer is Kevin Dillard, who leads the MVC with a 51% shooting percentage from three-point range. Dillard is averaging 17 points in conference games, tops in the league. His skills have already become tiresome and I haven't even seen him play in person yet ... The usually stout Salukis are practically even on the boards this season, with a slim 0.9 advantage over their opponents. This, of course, is marginally better than the Jays minus-Infinity average on the boards each game ... Tonight's game can be seen throughout the midwest, except for Omaha, which will be getting the aforementioned Nebraska-Iowa State game instead.
The Last Time They Played: The Jays exercised some demons the last time the teams met, finally handing Randal Falker and Matt Shaw a loss in the series. The Jays 72-53 win was notable not only because it was the Jays first win in 10 games during the regular season (dating back to, believe it or not, Kyle Korver's senior year), but because P'Allen Stinnett had a massive dunk AND a circus shot, both of which I uploaded to YouTube. Why is this notable? Check out the comments on those videos. There's been a war going between Jays fans and Salukis fans all summer, fall and now into the winter. Its hilarious. Someday I'll compile the best of those comments and publish them. Today is not that day.
Gratuitous Linkage: Economists are unable to determine if the recession has affected T.J. Maxx, this according to The Onion.
"The state of this store does not in any way correspond to our standard criteria for judging long-term viability," said economist Graham Stinson, referring to Chicago's Fullerton Avenue branch, where more than half of the fluorescent lights are burnt out. "For instance, the canvas bins heaped with broken stemware in aisle six may be a sign that T.J. Maxx is on the verge of complete bankruptcy. Either that, or it's doing perfectly fine. It's impossible to say which."
Why did I choose to link to this article in the Gameday post for this particular game? You're smart, you figure it out, big guy.
Official Gametime Snack: Hot Dogs! Eat early, eat often! Myself, I plan on getting one hot dog for each hand. That's two, for those of you reading this who may have only a fourth or fifth grade education.
The totally random song I'd play right now if I were still a radio DJ: The same song I always recommend for this game between the Little Egyptians and the Hilltoppers: "Walk Like An Egyptian" by The Bangles. Why? One, because Suzanna Hoffs is (was?) hot. Two, because this video reminds me of my childhood. Three, because the four-finger poke move is not a foul in some parts of Illinois, something this video reminds us of for the rematch in a few weeks. Four, the animation of the Statue of Liberty at the end of the video is a Nostradamus-esque prediction of every defensive move Randal Falker ever made. And five, because I owe it to you after playing the Village People's "In The Navy" before the Bradley game. Some would argue I'm still in the hole despite this entry. To these people I say, come back on Saturday.
Prediction: Vegas says the Jays will win by 10.5. I say the game will be closer than that because dammit, SIU isn't annoying because we beat them by double digits, they're annoying because the games are always close and lately, they always win. On this night, they're still annoying, the game is still close, but this time the Jays win for the second straight time over SIU. Jays 65, Salukis 54.
