illinois-illini - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Illinois Athletics Director: I Love Our War Chant, But We're Getting Rid Of It For Some ReasonThe University of Illinois announced today that they would stop their traditional practice of playing “war chant” music at athletic events, a decade after they discontinued the use of their Chief Illiniwek mascot at the NCAA’s behest. That should be a step in the right direction, or at least a step ...

Illinois Is Paying Lovie Smith A Lot Of Money For This ShitWelcome to the Deadspin 25, a college football poll that strives to be more democratic and less useless than every other preseason poll. Leading up to the college football season kickoff, we will give you previews of the 25 teams that you, the readers, voted to be most worthy of writing about. Now, ...

Illinois Reaches $250,000 Settlement With Victim Of Tim Beckman's Abusive CoachingThe University of Illinois has agreed to pay Simon Cvijanovic, a former left tackle for the Illini football team, a one-time payment of $250,000 for injuries and medicals expenses Cvijanovic incurred while playing for head coach Tim Beckman, who was fired after an investigation substantiated claims ...

Cliff Alexander Fakes Out Illinois, Commits To Kansas Instead [Updates]

Cliff Alexander, a 6'8" forward from Chicago, gave Illinois fans one last hilarious kick in the balls as he faked pulling on an Illini cap before switching to his actual selection, Kansas....

I Was Piggybacked By The Piggyback Bandit

The Piggyback Bandit, aka Sherwin Shayegan, is the bogeyman of high school sports. As chronicled by Grantland's Bryan Curtis, the 31-year-old Shayegan has spent the last few years showing up randomly at sporting events, pretending to be a player, manager, reporter—anything to get close enough to the...