St. Louis Post-Dispatch: MVC Winners in Realignment

[ValleyFAN]

Some joker on the UIC board just called my Bears "Mizzou State". So UIC is now officially my least favorite fanbase on the conference, although he might be their only fan, not sure.

At least UIC has an active board. Looking at you Belmont. With as much success as that program has had, it is mind boggling that there isn't a fan message board. What's the deal Belmont fans?

Now another UIC poster has dropped the "state" and now referring to the Bears straight-up as "Mizzou". Who the heck are these Chicagoans? lol. I vote to temporarily kick UIC back out of the league.

[ValleyFAN]

Some joker on the UIC board just called my Bears "Mizzou State". So UIC is now officially my least favorite fanbase on the conference, although he might be their only fan, not sure.

At least UIC has an active board. Looking at you Belmont. With as much success as that program has had, it is mind boggling that there isn't a fan message board. What's the deal Belmont fans?

Now another UIC poster has dropped the "state" and now referring to the Bears straight-up as "Mizzou". Who the heck are these Chicagoans? lol. I vote to temporarily kick UIC back out of the league.

Seriously though, as a Missourian I am continually surprised by the number of people that think the word Mizzou is a nickname for the whole state, which it is not. Mizzou refers specifically to the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Its something Bears fans are used to when we are playing P5 schools but never thought I'd see it from a league member. SMS yes, but never Mizzou!!

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

Some joker on the UIC board just called my Bears "Mizzou State". So UIC is now officially my least favorite fanbase on the conference, although he might be their only fan, not sure.

At least UIC has an active board. Looking at you Belmont. With as much success as that program has had, it is mind boggling that there isn't a fan message board. What's the deal Belmont fans?

Now another UIC poster has dropped the "state" and now referring to the Bears straight-up as "Mizzou". Who the heck are these Chicagoans? lol. I vote to temporarily kick UIC back out of the league.

If it makes you feel any better, Ameren runs a commercial during the Saluki pre and post game talking about the benefits of “Downstate Illinois.” Nothing says you are from Chicago faster than calling us “Downstate” instead of Southern. I cringe every time I hear it.

[Bigdfromuic]

Some joker on the UIC board just called my Bears "Mizzou State". So UIC is now officially my least favorite fanbase on the conference, although he might be their only fan, not sure.

At least UIC has an active board. Looking at you Belmont. With as much success as that program has had, it is mind boggling that there isn't a fan message board. What's the deal Belmont fans?

Now another UIC poster has dropped the "state" and now referring to the Bears straight-up as "Mizzou". Who the heck are these Chicagoans? lol. I vote to temporarily kick UIC back out of the league.

Head over to the UIC board and correct them lol. Trust me, UIC fans and admins are pretty sensitive about names, so much so that we used to distribute media guides (maybe still do) with instructions to only call us UIC (and that “Illinois-Chicago” is never acceptable). I think most UIC fans would try to respect the preferred names if they’re pointed out.

[BCPanther]

Maybe UICs complete amateur hour broadcast team shouldn't have spent most of the game calling us Northern Illinois last weekend. Much like you, we are UNI. Full Stop. Nothing else. (Mike Reis gets a pass for calling us Northern because it's become a charming joke up there with Frostbite Falls).

Once your guys get it right, you can start expecting it from others.

[Bigdfromuic]

Maybe UICs complete amateur hour broadcast team shouldn't have spent most of the game calling us Northern Illinois last weekend. Much like you, we are UNI. Full Stop. Nothing else. (Mike Reis gets a pass for calling us Northern because it's become a charming joke up there with Frostbite Falls).

Once your guys get it right, you can start expecting it from others.

I’m not a huge fan of our broadcast team personally, nor our broadcast in general. And I did hear the “Northern Illinois” stuff and cringed accordingly…but these mistakes happen from all broadcast teams…mispronunciation of player names, school names, misidentification of players, etc. I’ve heard “Illinois-Chicago” a number of times. Hell, in a recent game they were talking about Toby Okani (one of our top 2 players) during warmups but were showing Bessanty Saragba instead.

[BCPanther]

Maybe UICs complete amateur hour broadcast team shouldn't have spent most of the game calling us Northern Illinois last weekend. Much like you, we are UNI. Full Stop. Nothing else. (Mike Reis gets a pass for calling us Northern because it's become a charming joke up there with Frostbite Falls).

Once your guys get it right, you can start expecting it from others.

I’m not a huge fan of our broadcast team personally, nor our broadcast in general. And I did hear the “Northern Illinois” stuff and cringed accordingly…but these mistakes happen from all broadcast teams…mispronunciation of player names, school names, misidentification of players, etc. I’ve heard “Illinois-Chicago” a number of times. Hell, in a recent game they were talking about Toby Okani (one of our top 2 players) during warmups but were showing Bessanty Saragba instead.

It's just weird. We have perfectly professional, and frankly pretty good, local broadcast teams in Cedar Falls, Carbondale, Normal, Murray, Des Moines and Springfield but Chicago and Nashville leave a ton to be desired. It's like bizarro world. Everybody else falls somewhere in between, fwiw...

[Bigdfromuic]

Maybe UICs complete amateur hour broadcast team shouldn't have spent most of the game calling us Northern Illinois last weekend. Much like you, we are UNI. Full Stop. Nothing else. (Mike Reis gets a pass for calling us Northern because it's become a charming joke up there with Frostbite Falls).

Once your guys get it right, you can start expecting it from others.

I’m not a huge fan of our broadcast team personally, nor our broadcast in general. And I did hear the “Northern Illinois” stuff and cringed accordingly…but these mistakes happen from all broadcast teams…mispronunciation of player names, school names, misidentification of players, etc. I’ve heard “Illinois-Chicago” a number of times. Hell, in a recent game they were talking about Toby Okani (one of our top 2 players) during warmups but were showing Bessanty Saragba instead.

It's just weird. We have perfectly professional, and frankly pretty good, local broadcast teams in Cedar Falls, Carbondale, Normal, Murray, Des Moines and Springfield but Chicago and Nashville leave a ton to be desired. It's like bizarro world. Everybody else falls somewhere in between, fwiw...

We’ve had some turnover over the years since Dave Wills left to do play-by-play for the Tampa Bay Rays. We’ve had Jonathan Hood for a number of years now, and he has worked with a few different people - Chris Bleck from ESPN, and now Kenny Williams, one of UIC’s all time greats. Kenny is obviously not trained in broadcasting….he just isn’t very smooth in his delivery (even though his insight as a former player is valuable), and he gets caught up bragging about his own abilities and playing days during the game, which gets old fast. They do add a bit of comedy, which I appreciate.

The bigger issue to me is just the crap production of everything…15+ years into doing this…the audio not coming in until 10 mins in, the camera guy falling asleep and not panning as the ball moves from one end to the other, showing a replay when play has resumed, etc. It’s just a poor product overall and I’ve seen some other Valley productions and have been impressed.

[MoneyPower]

Head over to the UIC board and correct them lol. Trust me, UIC fans and admins are pretty sensitive about names, so much so that we used to distribute media guides (maybe still do) with instructions to only call us UIC (and that “Illinois-Chicago” is never acceptable). I think most UIC fans would try to respect the preferred names if they’re pointed out.

I get this but also don't know why people are getting bent out of shape about it. I went to UIC for a minute, even worked there for a while. And while I say UIC if someone says Illinois-Chicago, I know what they mean.

This is all semantics imo. Mizzou State is not a big deal. And neither is downstate IL. I say this as someone from the Illinois side of the Iowa Missouri border, which is definitely central IL (very different from the southern part of the state).

But if you do go correct people, they'll probably be respectful and try.

[ValleyFAN]

Head over to the UIC board and correct them lol. Trust me, UIC fans and admins are pretty sensitive about names, so much so that we used to distribute media guides (maybe still do) with instructions to only call us UIC (and that “Illinois-Chicago” is never acceptable). I think most UIC fans would try to respect the preferred names if they’re pointed out.

I get this but also don't know why people are getting bent out of shape about it. I went to UIC for a minute, even worked there for a while. And while I say UIC if someone says Illinois-Chicago, I know what they mean.

This is all semantics imo. Mizzou State is not a big deal. And neither is downstate IL. I say this as someone from the Illinois side of the Iowa Missouri border, which is definitely central IL (very different from the southern part of the state).

But if you do go correct people, they'll probably be respectful and try.

It is a big deal to us actually. Mizzou is a totally different university and has nothing to do with us. It’s like calling Mississippi State “Ole Miss State”. It’s just wrong.