Chief is gone, why am I so upset?
I went to University of Illinois when the Chief controvery started. I was naive back then and had an unreasonable stand to blindly support the Chief. Working at the Daily Illini, and being pro-Chief, put you in the minority back then, and now I am sure. In fact, there was a time when they wanted to change the name of the newspaper to be more PC.
As I moved away from college, I felt that I grew. I felt that I matured in a way where I didn’t live and die with an Illinois loss. I always thought I would be fine when the Chief finally left the university as I knew it was just a matter of time. I should have gotten a hint that I had not come as far as I thought when Luther Head back-rimmed the open three pointer that most likely would have been enough to win the national championship and I was depressed. I was happily surprised though that I felt good about a season that didn’t end in a win. So, I must have grown some.
With growing up and being more mature, other things happen and the most significant of those was having children. Your entire paradigm of life changes at that moment. You realize the idealistic fights give way to the pragmatism of providing and protecting the little eyes that trust you for everything.
Somewhere in there, my oldest son, who is only 2 years 8 months at the time I am writing this, has been telling me for about 8 months that he wants to go to Illinois. He wants to see the Alma Mater. He can sing the Alma Mater and he wants to see the Chief. If you ask him if he wants to go to Harvard, he will tell you, “No! I am going to Illinois.” This “brainwashing” wasn’t purposeful on my part, in fact I would rather have him, and my younger son, aspire to Harvard. The problem has always been that I would like for both to go to Illinois. I wanted them to walk on the quad. I wanted them to sit in Follinger and listen to a boring lecture that has way to many people and not enough learning.
Even before that though, with his excitement for the University of Illinois, we intended on going down to show both the campus, the Alma Mater, and most of all show them the greatest halftime show in sports. That included the Chief and the singing of the Alma Mater.
I cannot help the fact that in some way I feel that has been ripped away from me by the Politcal Correctness Police and the power-abusing NCAA. I want the people that were so anti-Chief, saying it was offensive, to produce one member of the Illini Tribe that finds the Chief and his halftime dance offensive. Oh, they cannot. Why? The Illini were slaughtered and forced off their land, not by the white man, but by other Native-American Tribes. This didn’t happen only once, but many times until the Illini were eventually disbanned and the remaining forced out to Arizona where they absorbed into another tribe. So, although there may be a bloodline link somewhere to the Illini Tribe, nobody will ever be able to establish it. Why? The Illini were slaughtered by the same people that now claim the Chief is offensive. I guess a guy dancing around in a head dress, bringing thousands of people together in unity is offensive, but genicide is not.
I hope I can convince my sons in the next 16 years to be Badger fans or hopefully a Crimson fans.