For all the excitement about next Tuesday's Rose Bowl game between our Illini and those suddenly hateable USC Trojans, it has one major downside: Everybody's talking about the damned Chief again.

We've made our thoughts about the Chief pretty clear: We never much cared for him, but mostly, we just tired of the debate and hoped his absence would stop people from talking about him. Not bloody likely. Chief supporters are "gearing up" for a big Rose Bowl push, and, having attended two Illini sporting events in the last week, we can assure you that every damned shirt has CHIEF on it. The white people sure do love their Chief.

Anyway, let's fight the real enemy, people: The cheap tickets given out to friends of the University president. As if it weren't hard enough to get tickets.

Illinois Fans Fighting For Mascot Revival [Sports By Brooks]
Something Smells, And It's Not Roses [Chicago Sun-Times]

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