VANILLA THUNDER PART TWO, THE TWINNING: RIX, ALBERT TOGETHER ON CSTV

“Don’t let the name throw you, Jimmy. It’s not really a floor, it’s more of a steel grating that allows material to sluice through so it can be collected and exported.”

Oh and "best ever line-up of football announcers’? They should probably be required to back that statement up with some sort of ‘data’.

I’ll still take a 500,000-strong goose-stepping Trev Alberts clone army over just one of Mark “Ask Me About My Mangina” May or Lou “Schufferin’ Schuccotash!” Holtz.

not really relevant, but the zooker was interviewed on the local comcast-chicago sports channel last night—-promising illini fans “improvement” in year two

One of the nation’s most dynamic and energetic head coaches, Ron Zook enters his second season at the helm of the Illinois football program. Known as a tireless worker and recruiter, Zook wrapped up season one of the rebuilding process with a 2-9 record, winning the first two games of his career at Illinois. In the season opener, Zook tied a school record with his 20-point comeback win against Rutgers to jump start his second stint as a Division I head coach. Zook became the first Illinois head coach since Mike White to win the first two games of his career as an Illini.

When Ron Zook was hired at Illinois, Chicago Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey wrote “What Illinois got was a man with enough energy to power a few windmills and perhaps tilt a few in the process. This is a man who needs to stay busy.”

Ron Zook calls sleep overrated. He also finds eating can be a nuisance to getting the job done. He is so driven he once said, "Can you imagine how much you could get done if you didn’t have to sleep or eat? (excerpt from an article by Ed Sherman, Chicago Tribune)

When Ron Zook was on John Cooper’s Ohio State coaching staff, they were on the road recruiting when Cooper wanted to stop for seafood. Zook zipped through a Shoney’s drive-thru for clam chowder.

Ron Zook is a man who believes that no time should be wasted. Once when a fire alarm went off in the Florida coaches offices, everybody but Zook evacuated. “If there really had been a fire, I could have escaped,” Zook said. “It’s not that far of a jump.”

While an assistant at Tennessee from 1984-86, Ron Zook once called a defensive backs meeting in the hotel room of one of his players, Charles Davis. When he realized he had forgotten to bring a pad of paper, Zook ripped off the bedsheet and scrawled plays on them. “I went to bed with two- and three-deep coverages underneath me,” Davis said.

Ron Zook says one of his biggest fears in life is retirement. His wife, Denise, agrees, “He is the person he is. I married that person. He made sure I knew what he was like. He has been like this since the day I met him. I just happened to fall in love with him. I wouldn’t change him one bit.”

not really relevant, but the zooker was interviewed on the local comcast-chicago sports channel last night—-promising illini fans “improvement” in year two

A guy I work with is a huge illinios fan, and he pointed me toward zook’s website…this following is real—I didn’t make it up,…the incident when he was a db coach at tennessee is fucking hilarious as is Zook’s philosophy regarding food and sleep, here goes:

Ron Zook calls sleep overrated. He also finds eating can be a nuisance to getting the job done. He is so driven he once said, "Can you imagine how much you could get done if you didn’t have to sleep or eat? (excerpt from an article by Ed Sherman, Chicago Tribune)

When Ron Zook was on John Cooper’s Ohio State coaching staff, they were on the road recruiting when Cooper wanted to stop for seafood. Zook zipped through a Shoney’s drive-thru for clam chowder.

Ron Zook is a man who believes that no time should be wasted. Once when a fire alarm went off in the Florida coaches offices, everybody but Zook evacuated. “If there really had been a fire, I could have escaped,” Zook said. “It’s not that far of a jump.”

While an assistant at Tennessee from 1984-86, Ron Zook once called a defensive backs meeting in the hotel room of one of his players, Charles Davis. When he realized he had forgotten to bring a pad of paper, Zook ripped off the bedsheet and scrawled plays on them. “I went to bed with two- and three-deep coverages underneath me,” Davis said.

Ron Zook says one of his biggest fears in life is retirement. His wife, Denise, agrees, “He is the person he is. I married that person. He made sure I knew what he was like. He has been like this since the day I met him. I just happened to fall in love with him. I wouldn’t change him one bit.”

http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/zook_ron00.html

coachronzook.com

Wow, Doug. No props to Orson for the Grosse Pointe Blank reference? You of all people…

We’re working on the 500,000 Trev Alberts clone army, Doug. Lately, the staff has been busy making ice cream bars and drinking German bier.

you can’t go home again, Orson, but I guess you can shop there.

Oh, that guy. Yeah. He’s an asshole.

Favorite line from that movie period.

If anything this is a great move by CSTV to get Trev Alberts, Chris Rix I’m not so sure where his appeal comes from.

People either loved Trev for his “telling it like it was with no PC filters” or hated him for being an unintelligent boob. Either way he generated tons of chatter and got people to watch, and isn’t that really what his job as a commentator is anyway?

Sure. We’re happy to have him back, even though he falls in the category of “intellectual stuntman” for us.

He played for Nebraska from 1990-93, thats not 2 decades ago. I think he’s a great analyst…where does it say he will be “teamed” with Chris Rix on anything?

Anyway i like cstv and i think its a great move

Chris Rix is biracial. 1/2 Filipino, i believe.

Btw, Nelson is scandinavian – They’d be more suited for baseball commentary, I’d think. During inclement rain they could break into stanzas of “After the Rain”.

Duly noted, Jeff. But even for a biracial guy he’s awfully white.

“You’re some kind of… psychopath”

“No! Psychopaths kill for no reason! I kill people for money-! Wait! That didn’t come out right!”

I wish I owned an electronics store in north Florida. I imagine Gator fans will want spring for the big screen to watch Rix in all is windblown pretty-man glory and Seminole fans will put a boot through their TVs every time Rix appears.

I never thought I’d be in a position to type these words, but here goes: “I kinda agree with fart”

Alberts was at least ballsy enough to offer opinions on Gameday, rather than the party-line tripe that we usually get from ESPN on Saturdays. He was also somewhat intelligent and articulate, which was refreshing (re: Bob Davie, Lou Holtz, etc).

And I submit this: if he would have been on Gameday last year, he would have been a nice foil for all of the USC-fellating that we had to put up with on that show.

Orson, you guys are too tough on Trev. He was clearly the second best analyst ESPN had on the CFB beat, and you have to admire at least a little anyone who is willing to say F-you, I deserved the promotion, I quit. Most of us have been there; few of us have had the guts to pull the trigger.

Now Rix, what’s up with that? Maybe they’re trying to cross College Gameday with The 700 Club or something.

Here here!! College Gameday last year, at least in the studio, blew so bad!! And this year who did they decide to replace Holtz with…Todd Blackledge? He is and has always been the biggest “Yes-man” in college football. I may actually have to break down and start watching FoxSportsNet’s broadcast. To hear the asinine drivel between him and Mark May might be too much to absorb. I mean, could there be a stupider tandem anywhere And on “the network” no less.

Frankly, it really hasn’t been the same since Craig Kilborn left. All the fun’s gone right outta that place. Except maybe Brian Kenny on his boxing segments.