College Writer, Southern Illinoisan

I spent three days in Carbondale once. How those college kids ever graduate is beyond me.

 

The campus has cooled down considerably after the Halloween night riots a few years back.

 

It actually was mellow in an everyone's-been-drunk-for-days-have-another-beer sorta way.

 

wow smokey ... i heard she was a riot.

dude i know probably wouldn't have liked being yelled at in front of his peers, so i have to wonder.

 

Quick Southern story (that may be continued later for lack of time ...)

A guy I knew was getting ready to take a test, and his friend stumbles in just before it started. Likely it was his first time even being in the classroom.

"What happened to you?" the first guy asks.

So the second guy launches into a tale of going out drinking in Carbondale. He had driven his car to the area where the bar was. Then they decided to go to Marion in someone else's car ...

 

A friend of mine is a longtime sportswriter for the Southern Illinoisan. Can't speak for most of the crew there, but he's spoken highly of the sports department.

In college, I went over for Halloween.

Two days later, I made it back home. Unfuckingbelieveable time. And my car smelled like whiskey for two months. And I don't remember drinking it.

Decent town, good sports teams in basketball and football, and they have one of those burritos-as-big-as-your-head places.

I still go there to drink and eat unhealthy food once or twice a year since it's just a couple hours away.

 

And yes -- Cairo, Illinois, to borrow a line from my friend Bubbler, "sucks out loud."

Last time anyone heard from that town, they were being talked about on Sportscenter for participating in a two-school brawl in the state tournament with nearby Massac County.

 

The editor in chief, James Bennett, has extensive experience working in sports departments, including large newspapers.

 

From the not-as-cool-as-Moddy Pipeline:
Robert Crow has accepted this job. IIRC, Crow covered Wyoming basketball for Casper, in addition to some desk work. Good guy, and should do well covering SIU.

 

To continue the story:

So they go to Marion and drink for hours. The night winds down, and they go back to Carbondale. The first guy's car is nowhere to be found.

Eventually they deduce it was towed. So they drive to the lot and see it behind the chain-link fence.

Other guy gets out, pushes against the fence and says: "I could take this down."

He proceeds to drive his car into the fence until it gives way. The other guy takes his car and goes home. The next morning, he concludes this story with: "And I stole my car back."

Later that morning, the police stop by for a chat. They tell him they won't throw the book at him if he gives up the other guy. So he does.

He goes to court on a criminal damage to property charge. He's convicted, but the sentence is suspended.

He manages to get through college without any more criminal charges. But a year after graduating, he's stopped for speeding. First thing the cop says after running his license: "What's up with this criminal damage to property charge?"

Apparently he got out of it, though.

 

And seriously, who among us HASN'T lived this scene at least once?

 

Didn't Klee come from Casper as well?