Shaun you're officially off the hook.

This is Steve rapping at you. First of all, you might be wondering where is Jtrouble, and his borderline toxic brand of hate filled drivel that he eloquently post throughout the day. Secondly, you are probably wonder what kind of a rapping name is Steve and why doesn’t he bother with proper grammar and spelling? Well, you don’t need to know the answers to those questions but you do need to know that the knowledge I’m about to present to you could change your life, but it likely won’t

Anyway, congrats Shaun Livingston you are officially off my hit list. Being on most hit lists implies that there is some sort of eminent danger and quite possibly death for the individual. However, I’m a pacifist so the greatest consequence to being on my hit list is a stern look, but boy is it ever stern! So rest easy Shaun or rather continue banging your NBA groupies, which I am assuming you do in lieu of sleep.

When Shaun first shunned my beloved Illini I was quite devastated. I was still in the
pre-Weber mode of thinking where I believed the Illini had a good chance of landing anyone who had the Illini in their Top 5 school choices. I had been dreaming of Shaun in Orange and Blue since I read about his awesomeness in the Peoria Journal Star when he was just 15 year old. As he got older and the reports of his awesomeness became more frequent and glowing I began to salivate at the prospect of Shaun taking his place in the Peoria Pipeline and being amazing for the Illini. When Shaun choose Duke it gave me the feeling that he viewed Illinois has a second tier program. Many of the same emotions that I felt when Bill Self left for Kansas reemerged. To make matters worse I feared the Illinios’ focus on Shaun may have caused them to miss out on other prospects such has DeAaron Williams who had signed with Wisconsin. The Illini ended up signing Calvin Brock to fill their final scholarship.

Then something wonderful happened. Shaun Livingston decided college basketball wasn’t for him. I’ve chosen to believe that Shaun knew that he would never play college basketball and that he decided it was better to screw over Duke than the Illini. I realize this is probably a stretch but hey it did allow much of my anger toward Livingston to subside. Sure, he ruined my dream of seeing Dee, Deron, Luther, and Shuan going Globetrotter on the rest of the Big Ten. Still screwing over Duke has to count for something right?

Then DeAaron Williams decided playing basketball at Wisconsin wasn’t his calling. So if your keeping track at home Calvin Brock, at the collegiate level, has out scored Livingston by 84 points and Williams by 58 points. Still, in limited garbage time looked lost out on the basketball court and I worried that he would be a career bench guy. However, this year a new Calvin Brock has emerged.

Now with Calvin Brock finally coming into his own and still having roughly three years of basketball to play it is looking like Shaun’s choice hasn’t been a bad thing for Illini basketball. After watching two games and seeing Brock rebound, defend and hit his jumper I decided it was time to let Shaun off the hook. So Shaun next time you see Calvin Brock be sure and give him a hug and thank him for letting you avoid a very stern look. Then go back to banging NBA groupies.