When the corn isn't growing in Illinois

When the corn isn't growing in Illinois there is always basketball. At the holiday break near the end of the year, there is always a holiday tournament somewhere in the state... in fact quite a few of them. Many have existed for years. Some have just a few schools. Some are the granddaddy of them all. The State Farm Holiday Classic is one if not the granddaddy. The Classic (as it is known by it's shorter name to many) has been around long before State Farm was it's title sponsor. It has grown over time but has hosted 64 teams for a good long time. It is Co-ed wit 32 girls teams and 32 boys teams. Most teams come from Illinois, but the past has seen other parts of the United State represented as well.

The Classic just concluded. There will be coverage by Alan Look Photography - Bloomington - Normal's Best Look in Sports Action Photography in the Normalite Newspapers and in the February issue of Best Look Magazine. Until then, you can enjoy this gallery of images.

2015 State Farm Holiday Classic - Chimperscage - Images by Alan Look
- Chimper

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Redbird Classic - a real winner!

Illinois State University Redbird Women's Volleyball hosted a 4 team volleyball this past weekend. Participating visiting teams were #7 ranked Marquette Golden Eagles, #7 ranked University or Illinois Fighting Illini and the Knights from the University of Central Florida. Events kicked off on Friday evening with the Knights and Golden Eagles followed by ISU v the Illini. Both those matches went 4 sets with Golden Eagles defeating the Knights and ISU upsetting the Illini! On Saturday UCF took on the Illini in a morning match. The Illini fell once again moving their record in the tournament to 0-2 and setting UCF's record to 1-1. The evening matchups included a 5:30 match between UCF and Illinois State and the nightcap was Marquette and the Illini. Both matches went 5 sets, both thrillers with ISU taking the win over UCF and the Illini besting Marquette. Sunday afternoon, the final match between Marquette and Illinois State was nothing short of epic...

Football season gets started with ISU Redbird Red-White Scrimmage

The local football season kicked off today with the Illinois State Redbird Red-White scrimmage. A healthy combination of fans and students attended the event and the preliminary activities which included the annual student promo photo on the field in Hancock Stadium with the Big Red Marching Machine, cheerleaders, flag corp, and Redline Dancers forming ISU all wearing red shirts. High School football will follow in 13 days with the first Friday Lights games. Get out this fall, support your local teams and see some of the great talent that passes through our communities! Red-White game gallery

Locally seen talent to Quarterback in NFL SuperBowl

On September 15th, 2012 Jimmy Garoppolo visited Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University as the starting quarterback for the Eastern Illinois Panthers. Who knew that 8 years later he would become one of 2 starting quarterbacks in the NFL's SuperBowl. Jimmy of course is the 2nd starting Quarterback from Eastern to do well. Ten Years before, another named Tony Romo completed his senior year at Eastern. Tony went on to an NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys. Freelance photographer Alan Look was fortunate to have captured both players in action. The image of Tony Romo was taken at Eastern during the Homecoming game in 2002 against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. The image has been used by national media and in several books. The images of Jimmy Garoppolo were both used by Upper Deck as trading cards for his rookie season.

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