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The 200 Level + I Have To Ask… + Champaign Is Also A Band
New Podcasts:
The 200 Level - Dare to Dream: 2020 Edition (9/21/20)
The 200 Level - The Kingfisher Cometh (9/24/20)
Champaign Is Also A Band - Keegan Gulick of Ghoul Jr. (9/25/20)
New Reads:
SVP of Operations: A Brief Glimpse into the Angry Right
Sports Thing:
This week’s news of a UIUC Senate vote and an Audubon Society endorsement can only lead to one rational conclusion: The Kingfisher mascot debate is back, baby! Hell yeah!
Predictably, everyone’s mad. This Illini fan is going to punch someone (?)
Generally, this is the point where a pro-chief person would argue that the chief is a symbol, not a mascot. I’ll hand it to them, this is a surprising amount of nuance. Too much nuance, honestly. It doesn’t really matter what the chief is in this faux-important college sports universe. What matters is that the Kingfisher checks all the important boxes.
Not racist
Native to Illinois
Doesn’t involve a minstrel show
Fierce (more on this below)
Naturally orange and blue
Not racist
Seriously, though. Do a Google Images search for “Belted Kingfisher.” Every other picture is of these birds going to town on something - a crawdad, a frog, a fish, you name it. This bird isn’t scared. It would also serves as a natural compliment to an Air Raid offense, the most exciting facet of College Football:
Imagine this: you’re in a dark alley at night. All of a sudden you hear the flapping of a Kingfisher squad high above, getting ready to dive like some sort of Hitchcock-inspired fever dream.
For lack of a better phrase, you’re fuckin’ toast:
We shouldn’t be comparing the new prospective mascot to the old one. The old one is kaput. It doesn’t deserve the recognition. Institutionally invalid, dead and never coming back, etc. etc. What we should do is try to have some fun with the new one. It’s a golden opportunity, a fresh slate.
Plus, if anyone needs any indication of how campus (you know, the actual people who attend the University) feels about this, the Senate vote was 105-2, lol.
Not even close.
News Thing:
The University of Illinois got ripped pretty badly over two weeks ago when COVID-19 cases started to tick up after move-in. There was a (pretty funny) XKCD comic about it. They got (kind of) lambasted in the New York Times and Bloomberg for being an example of, despite the most robust testing infrastructure in the country, harboring a COVID hotspot.
As we’ve come to find out, this initial surge was driven by imported cases. Now, it’s two weeks later and UIUC has maintained a positivity rate of <0.5% for 16 straight days. We were all quick to blame undergrads and doubt the system, but now that it’s working, I wonder when the national stories will come? The story didn’t end up amounting to a quick failure, it’s the opposite: a success story.
Luckily, local media has picked up the slack - WILL has been doing a great job following up on it. Read their coverage in comparison to ISU here and on UIUC’s plan to expand testing to all of C-U (!!!) here.
Here’s some less contentious food for thought: is Bill Murray the most famous Illini fan?
Probably. Happy Birthday, William.
One more thing: if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, check out Pygmalion. Our hometown fest had to call some audibles this year, but they’ve done a great job building something that’s way more innovative than your run-of-the-mill virtual event.
Plus, they’re donating 100% of the proceeds to some great organizations. Everybody wins.
Music Thing:
And finally, this newsletter’s namesake:
Have a good weekend. Be great.