Illini Sports Saturday

Today I went to see the Fighting Illini football and hockey games and finally got to take some photos. Football was against Penn State, and while nobody really expected us to win, I for one would have been happy if we came within 8 points of a victory. We kept it close in the first half, while neither offense could really get things going. But in the second half, it seemed like we had a defensive meltdown. It didn't seem like Penn State was really doing anything spectacular, but our defense was missing tons of coverages and allowing lots of lanes for backs to rush through.

After a frustrating 3rd quarter and beginning of the 4th quarter, I left the game while we were down 28-3. This marks the first time I've left early from a sporting event, though this was also partly because of the cold weather. Anyway, the final score of the game was 35-17, and here are some photos.

Block I: a student cheering section at the north end zone. You need to get

special tickets to be able to sit here, and these usually sell out by June.

The crowd is always asked to wear orange, but tons of people

always show up in blue, which is Illinois's other school color.

So the "orange out" we were going for didn't quite work

C'mon, how hard is it to just wear orange??

Cheerleaders during a time out.

Marching Illini at their post in front of Block I.

The closest we came to a touchdown while I was there.

Sadly, all we could get out of this is a field goal.

Jumbotron at the south end zone. In the background is

Assembly Hall, where the basketball games are held.

Marching Illini. They're awesome!

Illini rush onto the field ready for the second half. The score at

this point was 7-3, Penn State, so as of then I was satisfied.

A portion of the Marching Illini came to my section. My

view was partially blocked, but we got some good music.

The hockey game I'd have to say was much more exciting, and after going to two football games and two hockey games, I must say that I have enjoyed the hockey games much more. Today we had a close game against Lindenwood, where we lost 3-2. Lindenwood was definitely helped out by some bogus no-calls from the referees. In particular, the worst interference no-call of all time led directly to their first goal, after one of their players who had fallen then proceeded to tackle an Illini player, which opened up the player he was guarding to a breakaway straight to the goal. It was still a good game though, and I'm looking forward to seeing the Illini bounce back.

Pictures!

Shootaround before the game.

Zamboni!

And the game begins...

Harassing Illini at their post above the Illini bench. Their job is

basically to insult and annoy our opponents, which is quite fun.

The seating is up on a balcony, so it's really easy to get a good

spot right behind the glass. I prefer staying up high, but it's a

different experience seeing the game from here.

Before each game, when the opponent's starters are being

introduced, the crowd yells "you suck!" after each name is

announced. Of course, when our team is introduced, we cheer loudly.

Whenever we score a goal, the crowd chants "it's all your

fault!" at the opponent's goalie. Then the song "Rock and

Roll, Part II," also known as "The Hey Song," comes on...

except we tack on a "you suck!" after every "hey!"

Celebration!

The Patriots-Cardinals game on Sunday was kind of pathetic, but this snow angel touchdown celebration by Wes Welker was one of the high points.  Gotta love the commentating.

And here is an interesting article I found on the name "Jesus"

On Thursday, Christians will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Was the Christian Messiah the first to have that name, or were there a lot of Jesuses running around back then?

Many people shared the name. Christ's given name, commonly Romanized as Yeshua, was quite common in first-century Galilee. (Jesus comes from the transliteration of Yeshua into Greek and then English.) Archaeologists have unearthed the tombs of 71 Yeshuas from the period of Jesus' death. The name also appears 30 times in the Old Testament in reference to four separate characters—including a descendent of Aaron who helped to distribute offerings of grain (2 Chronicles 31:15) and a man who accompanied former captives of Nebuchadnezzar back to Jerusalem (Ezra 2:2).

The long version of the name, Yehoshua, appears another few hundred times, referring most notably to the legendary conqueror of Jericho (and the second most famous bearer of the name). So why do we call the Hebrew hero of Jericho Joshua and the Christian Messiah Jesus? Because the New Testament was originally written in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic. Greeks did not use the sound sh, so the evangelists substituted an S sound. Then, to make it a masculine name, they added another S sound at the end. The earliest written version of the name Jesus is Romanized today as Iesous. (Thus the crucifix inscription INRI: "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum," or "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.")

The initial J didn't come until much later. That sound was foreign to Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Not even English distinguished J from I until the mid-17th century. Thus, the 1611 King James Bible refers to Jesus as "Iesus" and his father as "Ioseph." The current spelling likely came from Switzerland, where J sounds more like the English Y. When English Protestants fled to Switzerland during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I, they drafted the Geneva Bible and used the Swiss spelling. Translators in England adopted the Geneva spelling by 1769.

In contrast, the Old Testament was translated directly from the original Hebrew into English, rather than via Greek. So anyone named Yehoshua or Yeshua in the Old Testament became Joshua in English. Meanwhile, the holy book of the Syrian Orthodox church, known as the Syriac Bible, is written in Aramaic. While its Gospels were translated from the original Greek, the early scribes recognized that Iesous was a corruption of the original Aramaic. Thus, the Syriac text refers to Yeshua.

Bonus Explainer: What was Jesus' last name? It wasn't Christ. Contemporaries would have called him Yeshua Bar Yehosef or Yeshua Nasraya. (That's "Jesus, son of Joseph" or "Jesus of Nazareth.") Galileans distinguished themselves from others with the same first name by adding either "son of" and their father's name, or their birthplace. People who knew Jesus would not have called him Christ, which is the translation of a Greek word meaning "anointed one."

Merry Christmas!