ChimpersCage

--> Sports fans love a good player tribute or memorial.   They flock to places like stadiums, the various hall of fames, hometowns of heroes and museums to see artist’s renditions of the athlete and their careers.   There are simply hundreds of places to visit to pay homage to the many great athletes of the world.   Bloomington Illinois has added a venue in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery!   A cemetery is not your standard variety venue. Many cemeteries feature stone art.   Many old stones were carved with scenes of nature or animals and the way those are depicted generally has a meaning.   There is some of that art in Evergreen Memorial, but there is also new art that just grows with the trees.   It all began in 2015 when a tree died near a spot where a plane had crashed during the Memorial Day ceremonies of 1948.   Instead of cutting down the tree and removing the stump, management decided to have it carved into a memorial com...

Now available online - viewing and electronic downloads are free, but grab a copy of the printed edition.  It really pops! Best Look Magazine, Volume 4 Issue 3, August 2015 By Alan Look in Best Look Magazine 32 pages, published 8/15/2015 Best Look Magazine August 2014 Volume 4 Issue 3 - Number 13

Spring was certainly in the air.  A special event had the Shirk Center parking lot full.  Women's soccer was holding in intrasquad practice game.  The baseball team, softball team both held double headers and the men's lacrosse team was beating up on an opponent! 2015 Illinois Wesleyan Titan Baseball photos - Images by Alan Look 2015 Illinois Wesleyan Titan Women's Softball photos - Images by Alan Look 2015 Illinois Wesleyan Titan Men's Lacrosse photos - Images by Alan Look  - chimper -

The long ball was in play several time for the CornBelters v the Crushers on Saturday night 7-26-2014, but in the end the 'belters needed to belt 3 more for the win.  Crushers 8, CornBelters 6 at the last out. Coverage from the 1st half of the season will be coming in the August edition of Best Look Magazine .  Expect it to be available on the 15th. 20140726 Lake Erie Crushers at Normal CornBelters baseball photos - Images by Alan Look  - Chimper -

It was a fairly windy Saturday, but lots of beautiful people showed up at Duffy Bass Field to watch the middle game of the series between the Salukis of Southern Illinois and the local Redbirds of Illinois State.  The Redbirds didn't let them down, defeating the foes 2-1 in a 15 inning marathon.  It was the second straight extra inning game as Friday evenings contest went 12.  Fridays game ended with a walk off homer, Saturdays with a sac fly driving scoring a baserunner. Southern, over all is a game under .500 but their 3-11 record in the Valley shows the struggles they are having this season.  The Redbirds are 28-12 and 8-5 in the Valley after the win on Saturday.  At Duffy Bass Field, the Redbirds are 10-2. The highlight in the first 8 innings was a home run hit by Paul DeJong over the right field boards. 20140426 Southern Illinois at Illinois State baseball photos - Images by Alan Look

Wichita State seems to be some sort of a nemesis for Illinois State.  Twice this year being the spoiler. The Baseball Redbirds completed the regular season with the most wins, but lost 5-2 on a miserable cold and rainy late May evening at Duffy Bass Field, walking away with 2nd in the Missouri Valley Tournament.  Still an awesome season by any reasoning. A small gallery of images from Alan Look Photography are here:   MVC Baseball Tournament Championship Game Alan Look Photography's complete archive of Illinois State Baseball Images are here:   2013 ISU Redbird Baseball Be sure to check out Alan Look Photography , the Normalite Newspaper , and Best Look Magazine for all of the Best Look in Sports Action photography in Bloomington Normal and McLean County .  - Chimper -

A quick escape from the home repair season on Saturday night took me out to CornCrib stadium on the campus of Heartland Community College, also the home of the Normal CornBelters professional baseball team.  The CornBelters have had a pretty tough season, but on this night they had a bit of a batting revival in the first and second innings.  Seven total runs in the first two innings.  Four of those runs were the result of 2, 2-run homers.  Patrick McKenna belted it over the fence in both the 1st and 2nd innings, each time with Tyler Wiesemyer in scoring position. It was a nice night at the Crib. http://alanlook.photoshelter.com/gallery/20120811-River-City-Rascals-v-Normal-Cornbelters-photos/G0000UY3IG17Q9xE/C00003i7DtyYL7og

It is almost time for the 2012 NFL Draft.  The first round will be picked on April 26th, 2nd and third on the 27th, and the remaining rounds on Saturday the 28th. Click to see Alan Look's photographs of 2012 NFL Draft Prospects that cover eligible players who have played in Bloomington - Normal. Tim Jankovich , Illinois State Redbird Basketball coach is once again in the news as a possible prospect for a coaching job at another institution of higher learning.  Several weeks ago it was reported that he was being considered at Tulsa and Kansas State.  News reports this week have him under consideration by Southern Methodist in Texas. 

June 1, 2010 - the home opener for the Normal Cornbelters in the stadium cited as the Corn Crib. I guess that makes the playing surface the Corn Field! The Cornbelters lost the game 3-2 but the fans appeared to be winners. Unfinished as it is, the Crib is an amazing place by collegiate standards, let alone a community college. Even more amazing is the very few dollars overall of government money invested. There are plenty of box seats complete with backs to help keep you comfy and some enclosed suites if you just have to be in your own little group or if you require shade and A/C (at least I think they had A/C). The outfields are accessible and many families were out there on blankets watching the game. The sound system left a little to be desirable, but who really goes to the game to listen to the commentator. You can listen to the game on the radio if you can't understand the PA guy. I really only find the PA useful to tell me who is at bat and maybe a tidbit or two here o...

Well, for me anyway - Saturday was the 1st game. Yes, I know they played one already at Redbird. I was unable to attend. Seems like a lot of ticket holders didn't show up for the game against North Florida either. You missed out. I know, it's not conference season yet, but watching this team was truly special. Defense seems to have been stepped up with the addition of some of the youth and transfers on this years squad. Watching Osiris, Dinma and Phillips are still fun. Dinma is still a hole filler underneath and Phillips is more confident out front. Osiris has stepped back up hit offensive attack (I thought it was a bit muted last season). The new guys make this a real treat. Johnson, Lewis, and especially Carmichael are filing in nicely. If you come to see nothing else, come to watch Carmichael. He's a blocker and he does it with quite a style. 20091121 North Florida v Illinois State - Images by Alan Look

Baseball in the spring seem tenuous at best. It's been raining all spring. Between my day job and all the weather, it has been pretty hard to get out to any baseball or softball games. Well, I finally made one on Saturday morning. The rain came early dumping about a quarter of an inch on the Twin Cities. The games originally scheduled for 10 am, got started around 11. I knew they would be late so I didn't even arrive at the field until about 10 minutes till 11. The games were at Normal Community West (NCWHS), a double header between the Green Wave of Mattoon and the Wildcats of Normal West. It was a bit of a treat in seeing a pitcher from West that normally doesn't pitch a lot. Blake Brown, a Missouri recruit was on the mound and pitched a wonderful 5 and 2/3's innings. He walked away with the win with some great hitting and base running of his own and a lot of team support. Now, the rain - I'm really glad we had that 1.4 inch. It wet the field down and with a 40 mi...

This morning I wast thumbing through the ever decreasing pages in the weekly newspaper I get and found an article about the Masters Golf Tournament that plays this weekend. It seems that all the players are complaining the course is too tough. Too tough? That should make it more challenging for them No more expecting to break par on every hole. I kind of like it. I occasionally take a heavy bag of 14 clubs to the manicured grass at some of the local places. What I do isn't considered golf, but it entertaining and does one good to get out in the open air away from the office and relax. It would really do wonders for those of us who shoot in the 90's or 100's to see the pro's look a little more human, have to reconsider their strategy from each tee, and really have to work for 4 rounds to take home that chump change. (yes, I expect many who read this figure I just don't know what I'm talking about. Let's compare to baseball. The long ball used to be...