March 9th, 2020
Illini fans, how’s it going? It’s been another fun week here in Champaign/Urbana with the Illini basketball team splitting their games this week, losing to Ohio State on Thursday night but finishing the regular season strong by defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes in a very close match on Sunday night landing us a 4 seed and a double-bye in this week’s upcoming Big 10 tournament. For the first time since I have been here at UIUC I get to wait until Friday afternoon to watch the Illini play in this tournament.
Watching Illini basketball wasn’t the only thing that I have been up to this past week. I was given the chance to anchor Good Morning Illini for the Unofficial St. Patrick’s edition of the show on Friday with veteran anchor Jared Farmer. I had a few rookie mistakes being behind the chair but overall I think it went well and I hope I get the chance to give it another try later on this semester.
The final aspect of my weekend was on Sunday morning when I went to the Atkins Tennis center for my first time ever. I’m a little bummed that I hadn’t been there before because it is an extremely nice facility and I can see why Illinois has had excellent tennis programs in the past. I wasn’t there as a fan though, I was there for business. I was tasked with creating a player profile of women’s tennis player Mia Rabinowitz for this week’s Illini Sports Night. Make sure to tune in this Friday night at 5 p.m. to check out this player profile as well as all of the other exciting sports action happening here on campus.
March 3rd, 2020
How’s it going UIUC! It was another exciting week to be an Illini fan with the big wins against Northwestern on Thursday and Indiana on Sunday. The Northwestern win was somewhat expected but it was still nice to see the team go out there and finish their business as expected. The Indiana game on the other hand was a little bit more stressful but the orange and blue pulled it off with a 67-66 win at the State Farm Center. I’m excited looking ahead to this Thursday as the Illini take on the Buckeyes out in Columbus to try and continue their win streak and put the tally up to 5.
Looking ahead to this week in the Good Morning Illini world I will get my first chance to be an anchor. I’ll be joined by veteran Jared Farmer so hopefully he will be able to show me the ropes on for my first time in the chair. The studio will be extra excited since this Friday is Unofficial St. Patrick’s day so we will all be able to wear our finest green attire into the studio. I am also excited to see all the different packages that the other students will have provided and we will get to introduce our new meteorologist Max Claypool into the studio to fill in for Will Smith to give us a rundown on what the weather will be looking like for one of the biggest weekend of the year down here in Champaign.
This week is shaping up to be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to being a part of the Good Morning Illini crew and to take a step back from Illini Sports Night for a week. Make sure to tune in at 10 a.m. for Good Morning Illini and then at 5 p.m. for Illini Sports Night.
Quick Hit – Underwood Nominated
February 24, 2020
We Got This Promo …
Blake Landa
February 14, 2020
The very first episode of Illini Sports Night aired this past Friday night at 5pm and I got the chance to promo the show with Nathan Dehaan on Good Morning Illini earlier that morning. For the promo we got to talk about the interview that we had with Will Leitch, University of Illinois Alumnus and founder of the website Deadspin.com. I got to film the Will Leitch interview earlier in the week and I go to talk to him afterwards and hear some of his thoughts about the men’s basketball team. It was very cool to talk with a journalism “celebrity” and hear his insight into the world of sports. He also was the first person to break the news to campus that there was “no structural damage” to Ayo Dosunmu’s leg which was exactly the good news that I was waiting to hear after watching Ayo go down with an injury at the end of the Michigan State game. Getting to watch the premiere of the show on Friday night was an exciting time and it has me looking forward to creating much more content for the show as the semester progresses.
I was also given the opportunity to cover Senior Day at the State Farm Center for women’s basketball on Sunday afternoon. I have been to a handful of women’s basketball games at the State Farm Center but this game had the most energy of any that I had been to. There was plenty of fanfare for the six graduating seniors of the women’s team including having all the players out on half court before the game began to accept framed jerseys to commemorate their time at the University of Illinois.