Illinois Fans-- Still Racist

Jay Mariotti (the best "kick 'em while they're down" sportswriter in the business) accurately relates the moronic redneck hysteria of Illinois fans:

"Hey, at least Illini Nation had a chance to chant 'CHIEEEEEEEEF!' If all else fails on your biggest football stage in a quarter-century, why not show your rubeness by paying homage to a banished mascot? The band launched into its familiar routine at halftime, prompting fans to see an imaginary Chief Illiniwek and repeatedly chant 'CHIEEEEEEEEF!' Look, people, Chief is gone, buried by the NCAA. And nobody in California seemed especially impressed by your post-death embrace, including Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke, who noted, 'You can buy his memorabilia in school-sanctioned bookstores, see his resemblance on oddly painted fans outside home games, cheer his supporters as they march in the school's homecoming parade and feel his presence at the university's highest reaches.' Way to stand there, in your full-throated fury, and use New Year's Day in Pasadena to perpetuate mass Illiniwek denial."

This is the Plaschke column, also hilarious, that Mariotti mentions. In it, the 2nd Chief of the Peoria Tribe says, "I don't know why a university has to keep alive something that speaks of racism. It just fascinates me that people have to hold onto something that is so hurtful to others." The real Chief also says, "I love it when they say they are honoring us, yet they never ask us how we want to be honored." Ah what typical Fib behavior, nonchalantly offending everyone.