Got great news today. I have a ticket to attend the Big 10 Luncheon downtown Chicago at the Grand Hyatt. Very excited to see all the great coaches in the Big 10 (and Lloyd Carr too). I have gone the past two years and its lots of fun. Nothing gets me pumped up for the start of the season like this. I met Joe Pa last year... very cool.

You mean there actually is another person in Chicago who is not annointing Lloyd Carr for sainthood? Nice to meet you, Mud. Most in the Chi media pay reverence to him as if he were Vince Lombardi. Not!

Great day at the Luncheon. It seemed like half a Randy Walker Memorial Service and half good ole Big 10 Luncheon. Lots of fans lined up to get signatures. Not alot of coaches made themselves available, but I did get to shake Ferentz, John L. Smith, Pat Fitz, and even Joe Pa's hand. Tiller as usual was very funny on stage. But the highlight of the day was E.B. Housely's (Illini) speech. Tough life the kid had... grew up in Gangland NJ, dad was a Heroin addict. EB really appreciate's what football has given him. It really made you appreciate what college football is all about.

Finally, they always have this raffle where winners get a football signed by all the Big 10 coaches. The QB's in the Big 10 that are in attendance will throw the ball across the Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency to the winner. The years that I have been there, the QBs that have nailed their throw go on to have excellent years (Drew Brees, Brett Basanez) and those that don't go on to have lackluster years (Drew Stanton, Brandon Kirsch). This year John Stocco had the best pass and Troy Smith (ironically touted to be one of the best QBs in the NCAA) skipped his pass off another table.

Great day... feel free to ask more questions.

How did you get the tickets?

You can buy them... but I'm not sure how. A salesperson in the biz I work in invited me. He's invited me 3 years in a row. It's my favorite client gig. Screw the steak dinners and the rounds of golf at Medina... I'll take the Big 10 LUncheon every day of the week.

That doesn't matter.
What really matters is this video: http://www.pissing-babeys.info/ (may require codec download)