I may have come off as a tad grumpy when I insinuated that the Big Ten modifications to Wrigley Field for the Illinois-Northwestern football game were a “joke”. Funny what an Illini 48-27 win and a Mikel Leshoure 300+ rushing performance can do to temper one’s opinion.
Bleed Cubbie Blue’s Al Yellon, who attended the game, had a more positive spin on the whole affair:
But when the Cubs, Northwestern, Illinois and the Big Ten put on a spectacle as entertaining as today’s 48-27 blowout by the Illini over the Wildcats, it shows off Wrigley to a national audience as the terrific place it is…
…For those of you who cried, "travesty", "joke" or "disaster" yesterday when the rule changes were announced, I say: kwitcherbitchin. Playing every offensive series facing the west end zone had absolutely no impact on the flow of the game. The officials seemed briefly confused the very first time they had to reposition the ball, but after that it all went smoothly.
Boy, it’s almost like Al’s talking to me. I will indeed kwitmybitchin’.
Rumor has it that there was a lot of good-natured Cubs-Sox trash talkin’ going on between the Illini players. No word on which contingent was larger.
Congrats to the Illini who are in line for a bowl bid for the first time since 2007.