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I started following the Bills as a kid, around 1985 or so.  My dad would take me to a few games at the Kiel Auditorium every year, and I was a big fan of those Gray/Douglas/Bonner teams.  Each year I was certain that the Bills would make it to the Big Dance, and each year we'd lose to Xavier in the conference tournament (I think there might have been a loss to Detroit or Loyola sprinkled in as well).  The two NIT runs were certainly a lot of fun though.  It's a shame we couldn't have won one of them.

In high school, I explored several different options - Mizzou, a couple of Big Ten schools, and a few Midwestern and West Coast liberal arts colleges.  The big schools seemed too big and the small schools seemed too small. 

I decided to attend SLU while watching the Bills beat DePaul at the Arena.  Spoon was starting to turn things around, and there was once again excitement and optimism surrounding the program.  Basketball Reference tells me this was February 27, 1993.

My first three years of college brought two NCAA appearances and an NIT (we don't need to talk about the 96-97 team).  The Bills rattled off 13 wins in a row to start the season in my freshman year, students "Spooned" the quad before big games, and we even camped out at the Arena to get tickets for the Cincinnati game.  I missed one game in those three years - the Memphis game in 1994, because I was pledging a fraternity and we were in the middle of "I-Week."

I've had season tickets ever since I finished my MBA and was no longer able to get student tickets.  I try to take my son to a game or two a year, and although he plays lots of sports, he's not really into watching sports of any kind.  Hopefully he'll come around at some point.

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1 hour ago, rgbilliken said:

Mine is simple: Always been a fan of Jesuit teams who wear blue (grew up going to Creighton games during the Dana Altman/Kyle Korver era). I went to SLU during one of the best times to be a Billiken fan (Fall 2008 to Spring 2012).

Also, since I've been following them, there's always been some eye candy on the team, which doesn't hurt. Am I right guys???

Totally.

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20 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

I started following the Bills as a kid, around 1985 or so.  My dad would take me to a few games at the Kiel Auditorium every year, and I was a big fan of those Gray/Douglas/Bonner teams.  Each year I was certain that the Bills would make it to the Big Dance, and each year we'd lose to Xavier in the conference tournament (I think there might have been a loss to Detroit or Loyola sprinkled in as well).  The two NIT runs were certainly a lot of fun though.  It's a shame we couldn't have won one of them.

In high school, I explored several different options - Mizzou, a couple of Big Ten schools, and a few Midwestern and West Coast liberal arts colleges.  The big schools seemed too big and the small schools seemed too small. 

I decided to attend SLU while watching the Bills beat DePaul at the Arena.  Spoon was starting to turn things around, and there was once again excitement and optimism surrounding the program.  Basketball Reference tells me this was February 27, 1993.

My first three years of college brought two NCAA appearances and an NIT (we don't need to talk about the 96-97 team).  The Bills rattled off 13 wins in a row to start the season in my freshman year, students "Spooned" the quad before big games, and we even camped out at the Arena to get tickets for the Cincinnati game.  I missed one game in those three years - the Memphis game in 1994, because I was pledging a fraternity and we were in the middle of "I-Week."

I've had season tickets ever since I finished my MBA and was no longer able to get student tickets.  I try to take my son to a game or two a year, and although he plays lots of sports, he's not really into watching sports of any kind.  Hopefully he'll come around at some point.

Did you commute?

crazy to think choosing school for their bb team as regular student :)

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I grew up in Richmond Heights, went to Little Flower, SLUH, and along with about 1/3 of my classmates to SLU.  I look back and it seemed like 8 years of high school.  I walked on to the freshman  team in '60-61,  made lots of new friends then.  The dominant team then was the soccer teams, they won the NCAA title every year.  The basketball team had it rough in the old MVC with Cincinnati , Witchita St., Bradley, etc. were all great teams then.  I left SL upon graduation in '64 but still stay a faithful fan to Alma Mater.  I don't understand why having the only D-1 team in town, SLU isn't more dominant, since the Hawks moved to Atlanta there is no hoops competition like there was back then.

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11 minutes ago, sonoma bob said:

I grew up in Richmond Heights, went to Little Flower, SLUH, and along with about 1/3 of my classmates to SLU.  I look back and it seemed like 8 years of high school.  I walked on to the freshman  team in '60-61,  made lots of new friends then.  The dominant team then was the soccer teams, they won the NCAA title every year.  The basketball team had it rough in the old MVC with Cincinnati , Witchita St., Bradley, etc. were all great teams then.  I left SL upon graduation in '64 but still stay a faithful fan to Alma Mater.  I don't understand why having the only D-1 team in town, SLU isn't more dominant, since the Hawks moved to Atlanta there is no hoops competition like there was back then.

Speaking of having it rough, I bet it sucks living in Sonoma County.  Heard Russian River Brewing is awesome.

Back to your point, there are zero reasons why SLU can't be one of the hottest tickets in town. First off, there's one less ticket to purchase with the Rams moving. Additionally, as you said, it's the highest level of basketball in a metro of almost 3M people. Ford has done a great job of hyping the Billikens as St. Louis' team. Another winning season and tourney run next year should help things considerably. I'm buying season tickets this year for the first time.

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Well, since Pistol mentioned me in his testimonial, I guess I should also.  I began following SLU basketball around '60.  Bennington was the coach and resided in ST. Luke's parish, where my family also lived.  The Nordmann brothers were the big draw although I thought even as a kid that Donnell Reid was even better than Cincinnati's Big O.  My dad's company had season tickets to both the Hawks and SLU, so I saw many games at the old Kiel throughout my youth.  John Smith, who went to McBride H.S. became a quick fave (my dad and brother went there and so did I, eventually).  SLU's baseball coach "recruited" me for baseball (actually he just asked if I had committed to a college and when I said I was going to SLU he assured me a spot on the baseball team - took awhile to get some of the very minor scholarship money they had for baseball).  Missed a total of two basketball games in my four years (and only one SLU hockey game) and have just continued to attend games ever since.  It's only been since Chaifetz opened I actually have the tickets in my name, but I have lived and (mostly) died with this team for almost 60 years.  I've kind of gotten accustomed to the lows of the program, but that just makes the highs (like winning four games in four days) so incredibly sweet!

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7 hours ago, Matty Light said:

Cedar Rapids.  How about you?

Des Moines (Norwalk), brother. I've spent a fair amount of time over there. Did some mission work after the floods in Cedar Rapids about ten years ago. Go there for my job as well occasionally. Go Kernels!

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6 hours ago, Slu let the dogs out? said:

Speaking of having it rough, I bet it sucks living in Sonoma County.  Heard Russian River Brewing is awesome.

Back to your point, there are zero reasons why SLU can't be one of the hottest tickets in town. First off, there's one less ticket to purchase with the Rams moving. Additionally, as you said, it's the highest level of basketball in a metro of almost 3M people. Ford has done a great job of hyping the Billikens as St. Louis' team. Another winning season and tourney run next year should help things considerably. I'm buying season tickets this year for the first time.

My folks live within spitting distance of Russian River Brewing. The Pliny the Elder is outstanding, I have yet to get a glass of Pliny the Younger. With the second location open now, I've heard that my chances will be much better. Bear Republic in Healdsburg is another great place to have a beer or 6.

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9 hours ago, hoppybeer said:

My folks live within spitting distance of Russian River Brewing. The Pliny the Elder is outstanding, I have yet to get a glass of Pliny the Younger. With the second location open now, I've heard that my chances will be much better. Bear Republic in Healdsburg is another great place to have a beer or 6.

I camped out overnight to get Pliny the Younger in 2016. My group was in the first dozen or so to get it that year. Crazy experience, but it was worth it. We wound up in all kinds of media photos and local news broadcasts. I'm in the green jacket in the first photo and middle of the second.

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Russian River is worth the trip any day, though. The beer is world-class across the board and the pizza is, too. I like Bear Republic, but it's not on the same level as RR.

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Bear republic isn't on the same level as Russian River, but it gives me something to do when my wife and sister in laws are out sampling wines. A couple of cafe racers and a jalepeno tower makes the day go by.  Apparently with the new RR location in Windsor, they make enough Pliny the Younger to share it with some of the other local establishments. The pizza is still outstanding in the new location as well.

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1 minute ago, hoppybeer said:

Bear republic isn't on the same level as Russian River, but it gives me something to do when my wife and sister in laws are out sampling wines. A couple of cafe racers and a jalepeno tower makes the day go by.  Apparently with the new RR location in Windsor, they make enough Pliny the Younger to share it with some of the other local establishments. The pizza is still outstanding in the new location as well.

Yeah, they send kegs of Pliny the Younger to a lot of accounts all over the western US. They originally let people take home growlers of it from the brewpub, but stopped after they started seeing them go for hundreds online.

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My brother graduated from SLU, and he introduced me to college BB and the Billikens when coach Grower joined the team in the early 80s.  As a young business man and manager I was intrigued with the challenges faced by coaches, thier different styles and approaches to recruiting, team building and strategies.  I've been faithful through the highs like Spoonball, the Conklin smash and lows, like losing Upchurch, Situations 1 and 2.  I loved the coach Growers vision, Spoons charisma, the geniousness of Coach Majerus strategy and now the exceptional recruiting of Coach Ford.

I moved to Florida and even though my daughters went to the University of Florida, I just never cared about any other team like I do the Bills.

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On 4/2/2019 at 8:16 PM, hoppybeer said:

My folks live within spitting distance of Russian River Brewing. The Pliny the Elder is outstanding, I have yet to get a glass of Pliny the Younger. With the second location open now, I've heard that my chances will be much better. Bear Republic in Healdsburg is another great place to have a beer or 6.

Just read this and I'm in Sonoma today staying at Kenwood Inn.  Just ordered a Pliny the Elder at lunch after tasting at Arrowhead.

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Went to SLU to attempt radio and TV and thought St.Louis was the larger metro market for that over Gannon in Erie, PA.  Also accepted into Marquette but thought too damn cold.  Didn't know squat about Mizzou's media rep and thank goodness I never saw Wash U.  

Coming off an appearance in the PA State Legion Baseball Series, walked onto SLU baseball team after spending freshman year as the hockey beat writer for the Unews.  Was one of three guys on team in dorm and had no car so had to beg to get to practices held mostly at parks around city ---- Tower Grove, Forest, Carondolet.  Became good friends with P Dennis Becker who later played in Phillies farm system; classmate of freshman SS Paul Dix.  Brother Jim Dix was coach (or was it Tom Dix?).  One was ours, the other was at UMSL.  Said fuok it when I discovered wine (Fridays), women (frats and sororities) and song (more frat).  Did not see one game of the Randy Albrecht Bills in 1975-76.  Didn't care.

Something happened in 76-77.  Got to know Carl Johnson, Mark Rhode, Henry Tiggs, Craig Shaver and Curtis Hughes.  Damn --- they were just regular guys.  Starting going down to the old Kiel for games.  Loved that place (except for the ride and walk up the ramps).  Had those easy-to-come-by front row seats and saw Larry Bird, (boy was he ugly), UC's top-ranked Bearcats, the Doctors of Dunk.  Got hooked.  Still covered the hockey Bills and later assumed the throne (and mic) at Billiken hockey in the Checkerdome for my last two years 77-79.  Continued writing and became Unews sports editor senior year (along with the dearly departed Joey Bonowich).  Graduated but kept my SLU ID and kept getting into games free for a few years.  Once outted, bought season tickets at Kiel.  Did that half-and-half until I moved the relatively new Mrs. Taj and baby girl back east in 1988.  

Kept going to games that I could and made an annual trip to all tournaments (except Memphis of course) as a reunion with the guys I still see today.  Met Sign Kid and started driving him from GeeDubya to tournaments as well.  Became a fixture in Atlantic City to the point that I was out drinking with Levrick, McIlhagga, and staff.   Met Meg Connelly and kept it up with alumni gatherings in DC, NYC, St. Joe's, La Salle, Brooklyn and DC again.  Maintain AD contacts and Chris May to the point John Edwards was kind enough to tour me and the Mrs. singularly this year at Chaifetz.  Have met a lot of great guys on here over the years since Sign Kid birthed this bastard child way back at  the beginning.

Now, short of the Mrs and now grandkids, its the only real  passion I maintain.   

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