Bradley takes down Illinois State in Redbird Arena!

Redbird Arena - 2-16-2019 Bradley at Illinois State

The Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball outcomes have been absolutely unpredictable this season. A few games back, Illinois State defeated Loyola to take the lead in the conference. Last night they lost to a struggling Bradley team. Actually, Bradley has been staging a bit of a comeback the last few seasons, albeit a slow one. But, nothing seems to happen overnight with maybe the exception of the Loyola Rambler cinderella team last season...Devine Intervention?

The game has always been a rivalry, but in recent years it's been beat up. This game, 9000 people filed in to the 'nest' to watch the game. Some accounts say the contingent of Braves fans that travelled 40 miles from Peoria were more energized. Maybe so, so much red in Redbird that I couldn't tell the fans apart by just looking up. Still, the rivalry wasn't like it was in its heydays a dozen plus years ago when the thunderous crowds could have been heard halfway to Peoria... the years my ears would ring for days and I'd swear I'd wear hearing protection the next year.

Enough of my ramblings... The Valley is truly up for grabs this season. Arch Madness is going to have to sort it all out. Here's to hoping the 'Birds are healthy and bring their best game.

a fairly small Photo Gallery! Hope you enjoy looking!

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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...

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.

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

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