Scrivener

I'm too cheap to buy vanity plates. And there are too many letters in "Scrivener" anyway.

Great topic, Taj. I'm surprised to say that, considering the source... ;-) My two cents: Only one team leads me to act like a fool in public -- the Billikens. (When the Billikens beat Minnesota in the Big Dance a few years back, I jumped up and down so enthusiastically in my office that my downstairs "neighbors" actually poked their heads in our suite, to make sure that someone hadn't been murdered.) That said, I have lost my voice at Cardinal games...and the Rams can get my blood racing from time to time. And I get this warm feeling in my heart when other "favorite" teams do well -- including a few college b-ball squads. (Any Majerus-coached team, for example... or most other Jesuit schools when they're not playing the Billikens.) But I don't understand how thicks and others can divide their loyalties between SLU and Mizzou. I believe that thicks is sincere in saying so...I just don't understand it. There's bad blood between the two programs, IMHO. And I usually find that I get that same warm feeling in my heart when Mizzou loses...as when my "second-favorite" teams win.

You make valid points, bonwich. But doesn't Bernie also have some responsibility for getting the facts straight? I know I've seen both Brad and Romar quoted as saying they haven't felt slighted with respect to resources. And then there's the significant commitment of the Biondi Dome, widely reported in Bernie's own newspaper. The point is, Bernie's comment DOES come off sounding like a cheap shot to anyone who follows the Billikens a little. Or at the very least, it smacks of reportorial laziness. I know it's Bernie's job to comment, and to stir up reaction with his commentary...but I don't think it's unreasonable for Billiken fans to take him to task when he shoots from the hip...or trots out the same old tired canards.

Can I beg, borrow or steal some feelings from you... so I can have some feelings, too? Rock on, Warren. RIP.

118, Row AA, Seat 5&6 (Hey, Roy! How's the view down there?)

Agreed, Nark: Marquette doesn't get a pass just by virtue of being a Jesuit university. But they can go a long way toward soothing my ruffled feathers by doing things like continuing to schedule the Billikens in the future. It's hard to know what's beeing going on behind closed doors at these conference affiliation meetings. Still, I have to believe we'da done what Marquette did if the shoe were on the other foot. What it boils down to, IMO, is whether the Golden Warriors now start trying to act like God's gift to college basketball. If they do, then I say a pox on their basketball house. We know where they came from... and frankly, SLU is in pretty much the same zip code.

...in my humble opinion, the Big XII has its fair share of "clunker" match-ups. Who but the most ardent b-ball fan could ever get a charge out of seeing Texas A&M play Baylor? Or how about Nebraska-Colorado? On the other hand, I'm kinda looking forward to renewing old rivalries with A-10 teams like Xavier and Dayton. A-10 may not be a perfect fit for the Billikens...but there's enough common ground to stir up some compelling contests.

Champagne, perhaps, for you Roy. But nothing stronger than Mountain Dew for StLCardinal, please...

46, business writer by trade, BA in Communications '77, MA in English '79. U-News staffer for several years (in the Jean Trimble/Erv Switzer era -- about when bonwich and Taj were cutting their teeth at the keyboard). Watched more Billiken hockey than basketball when I was school...but have had season tix since Bonner's freshman year. Married my SLU sweetheart (we met in the Griesedieck cafeteria), and raised all three of my children to be die-hard Billiken fans. Son #1 attended SLU for two years, before taking time off to enter the Jesuit novitiate. Son #2 is currently enrolled, in the business school. Our daughter -- a high school soph -- loves the the Bills...but says she wants to go to ND and become an architect. Where did I go wrong?

Is that how those lyrics go? All these years, I thought they were singing about a shrimp fork: "Get a long tine Get a long tine..."

...the Led Zeppelin murals in Room 1407 notwithstanding. But then, that was LOOONNGG time ago.

Beyond the Billikens, I watch college b-ball largely for the coaches. Gene Keady...Bobby Knight...Bob Huggins: Few sights in sports pay a larger entertainment dividend than seeing one of those guys blow a gasket. And that little rooster at Charlotte -- Lutz -- he's at least half the show whenever his team takes the floor. Matt Dougherty chest-bumping that Dookie last season...I could go on, but you get the point: Game for game, few sports are better than college b-ball at giving fans what we really want: Grown Men, Behaving Badly -- On National TV.

If the four leave, C-USA is incredibly ugly, IMO. We'd have many more natural rivalries in the MoValley. And you could probably make a case that the two conferences would be at parity at that point. I can barely stand having to play South Florida and East Carolina as it is. Without L'ville, Cincy, Marquette and DePaul in the mix, I see absolutely no reason to stick with C-USA, unless we simply have no other options.

Scrivener's Wife tried hard, for many years, to keep Scrivener's Daughter from catching the Billken bug. (Who can blame her, having already "lost" two sons to this curious affliction?) Alas, it would appear that all of Wife's work was in vain. Daughter bleeds Billiken Blue, too! So clearly, Scrivener's doing something right as a father. And just remember, Taj: Every minute that Scriv's Daughter spends posting on Billikens.com is one minute less she'll spend at the mall!

...against Eastern Illinois, and practically won the game single-handedly. I'm personally grateful for that particular scoring blitz, because I'd invited an EIU alum to the game...and I would have been in for a long ride home, had Drew not spurred the team on to victory that evening. Of course, I wouldn't object to having many more pleasant memories -- of victories against more significant foes -- ignited by the next generation of Billiken players. Starting, perhaps, with a W against Arizona next season?