Last Tuesday I went to an Illini exhibition basketball game with Melvin. The game itself is nothing spectacular. We won handily (thank goodness; a lot of Div I teams have been losing to Div II teams this preseason for some reason), there were a LOT of substitutions since the players were still being evaluated, and Bruce Weber even got mad at the effort on the court at one time.
But what really stuck in my mind was halftime. Halftime without the Chief.
I never went to a basketball game at Cal, so Illinois was my only live experience for college basketball game. Although I don't have strong feelings for the Chief, it was odd to watch a game without his performance. The band started playing during halftime and I was like "Wait, why isn't the Orange Crush surrounding the court? Isn't this the Chief set?" And it was. The band played the whole set and people sang during the song, but it felt odd, empty. Not only that, but halftime felt even longer and more boring.
Melvin and I talked about how long it would last. My guess is 4 years. When the stadium is filled with students that haven't seen the Chief live, I believe the Chief will "die."
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