"The Smoker"

[SFP]

If anybody cares to put out a private report of this smoker I would be interested in being included on this list. Thank you!

add me into the list as well!

[kds]

add me into the list as well!

I would like to be added to list also. Thanks

[tornado]

*** warning ***
This is a resurrected thread from 2012....


Tonight is this year's ISC (Independent Sports Club) "Smoker" - although the local media now refers to it as a "non-smoker"..
It is tonight at the Gateway Building (don't go to the Lariat Club) and both Illini's John Groce & BU's Geno Ford expected to be there...hopefully some good info will be revealed...
Since all the media will be there - don't expect to hear too much "secret stuff" as we know they won't be able to talk much about recruiting, etc..
but some who are at the smoker always have and most certainly will report what's said on the Illini message boards...

BTW - John Groce just had an Illini Media Day press conference and talked about his team to the media

http://www.illinoisloyalty.com/GoIllini/20131009_john_groce_press_conference_7?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

http://www.illinoisloyalty.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=799957#post799957

a few tidbits...
"Groce: Rayvonte Rice can play four positions. He learned multiple positions last year while sitting out."
"This team is shooting a higher percentage of three-pointers at this point in practice than last year."
"Using acronym E.1.H. Every One Helps."
"Surprised and disappointed by Ahmad Starks decision, but we got to move on.
.. Disappointed with inconsistencies of some of the hardship cases."

[bigjimmy]

Hopefully a full report will be forthcoming.

[tornado]

some reports from the Illini boards..odd that there was apparently no coverage in the newspaper??

-Geno was entertaining
-Groce said Egwu is currently the team MVP - Rayvonte Rive is most improved
-some comments about the recruits not being fundamentally sound

then I found this interesting...
-"He did say he was bothered by how obsessed fans are with recruiting and recruit rankings.
He says to some fans it is more important than the games and that fans need to gain some perspective.
Coach Groce also discussed how tough it is to schedule home games and that we needed more games at home."

seriously - you have a fan base that is so passionate and so involved that they even care about recruits - and he's complaining about it???P
Here's some photos from the event - great job by Bob Hunt....
does not look too crowded with media people- pretty much every picture has plenty of beer bottles!
I see that Danny Adams was there and Dave Reynolds - maybe he got home too late to write a story and we'll get one tomorrow -

http://bobhuntsports.com/p581484295

[Da Coach]

The Independent Sports Club that hosts the annual Smoker, is a great organization in Peoria that does not get enough recognition for what they do. It is made up of members who donate a lot of their time and money, to help raise funds to provide equipment and help to schools and local youth sports organizations. The Smoker is their most publicized event, but they are involved in many events throughout the year.
Here was a nice article from a year ago about the ISC-

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x1238776448/Independent-Sports-Club-is-not-just-blowing-smoke

The ISC produced this nice scedule poster that was handed out at the event last week. I have several if anyone is interested.

[tornado]

never did see much coverage of the event - that's too bad - I've had people ask and had been saying there's surely gonna be some article come out but none has...
One of the Illini boards did have some intelligent coverage of the event...
some banter of Illini to BU and BU to Illini transfers, some admonishment not to put any controversial comments on the internet, and more on Groce's problem with fans who are obsessed with recruiting...and one Illini poster kinda rips Groce then one of the discussions turns into back & forth bickering (sound familiar?)..

http://members.boardhost.com/onedeuce/msg/1381428533.html

btw - how come there's no "Smoker" for the women's basketball coaches....every time we ever have a preseason event for men's basketball it's combined nowadays due to PC with the women's BKB

[BUBeam]

The smoker started back when the PJStar has a weekly sportswriters radio show, and The Independent Sportsman's Club asked the paper to do an "unplugged" version as a fundraiser. They did that one at Alexanders. It then moved downtown, and for a few years featured a rotation of mostly HS coaches being interviewed by 3-4 reporters on stage. It was much like a radio format, but again - unplugged, sometimes off color (especially when Theobald was there) and off the record.

In Bill Self's first season at Illinois, the event moved to the Lariat, and the format changed. The focus was the Illini coach and the Bradley coach (Mo at the time), on stage with three JS reporters - and a roving moderator/emcee was added to facilitate questions from the crowd. The only change to that format has been there are now just two JS reporters (Dave Reynolds and Kirk Wessler the last two years), and the serve as co-emcee/mods, asking questions, roving the room and getting audience questions for the coaches.

Always ... everything has been stressed as off the record. There has been a greater emphasis placed on that in recent years, with the explosion of social media. The event almost lost Weber after his comments about Indiana in the wake of Eric Gordon got posted on a message board and caused an uproar. The coaches remain concerned about things like that happening, so ISC each year makes a little bigger deal about keeping what's said in the room. This event is not only fun and at least somewhat informative for the fans/attendees, it also raises tens of thousands of dollars each year that are donated by ISC to area youth sports programs and scholarships. Everyone wants to see that continue, and it would be a shame to cause either coach to feel he has to be completely button-down, or perhaps simply not participate anymore. This is not a Bradley event, it is a fundraiser for the ISC. It just so happens many of Bradlys best and most loyal fans do attend

[tornado]

I know but as I had said --

... in every prior year the "rules" were the same yet there was not only an article or two in the paper the next morning covering the things that were discussed, but just do a past search on our board and find that several people would also post many of the things that were said verbatim...
Unlike those past years - nobody said, wrote, or posted much of anything this year leading me to believe not much of any "juicy" nature was said...
I doubt that suddenly after more than a decade of "Smokers" everyone from the press to the fans suddenly decided to "follow the rules" and keep everything "in the room" and "unplugged".

One other interesting factoid....if something UNPLUGGED was ever going to be said - then one thing that might squelch that would be having the coaches' boss (Athletic Director) sitting on the podium next to him.
I do not recall ever at any smoker in the past that one of the AD's was there.

[BUBeam]

Perhaps that is correct, but it seems we will never know.

[lefty]

I guess if you want to know about the smoker you have to get a ticket

That's what I did

[Buesch N Chips]

I agree with tornado that it was probably pretty tame. You can tell people to not report what was said, but everyone knows it will get reported, so I am guessing the coaches resorted to coach speak and harmless stories. Nothing to see here.

[Chico]

I guess if you want to know about the smoker you have to get a ticket

That's what I did

Used to be our group, all long time ISC members, would attend the smoker and all the other events the club sponsored. But it got to the point where the smoker was sold out far in advance before many club members could purchase tickets and it was attended by many non ISC members.

[lefty]

Chico---just read your post here and then it was gone.....

[LongTimeFan]

I must have missed it also.