Tatelines Unedited

Bob Hammel, the Indiana Journalism Hall of Famer who for decades ran the sports department at the Bloomington Herald-Times, talks all things Hoosiers - as well as Jim Delany's legacy as Big Ten commissioner - with Loren Tate.

Longtime Illini columnist Loren Tate, once a rascal himself at the University of Illinois (Class of ‘53), chats up today’s Big Man On Campus - Giorgi Bezhanishvili - on his remarkable rise to prominence at the UI.

As part of Varsity I weekend at the University of Illinois, Mary Henson will be honored as an “Honorary I” recipient on Sept. 7 at Colonnades Club inside Memorial Stadium. The better half of Hall of Fame basketball coach Lou Henson invited News-Gazette Media’s Loren Tate into their house Thursday and touched on coaching friends (Bob Knight was nice — at first), Lou’s 15-year battle with cancer (“talk about dogged determination ... he’s a pitbull”) and her love of the UI. “The University of Illinois has always been a wonderful, mysterious place to me,” she said. “I grew up in northwestern Illinois in little Carroll County, a country girl. The University of Illinois was this distant place I heard of, never got to. The fact that I’m getting this award from a place I so revered as a young person, it’s just amazing to me.”

Loren Tate isn't sure AJ Bush, the likely starter at quarterback for Lovie Smith's Illini, will work out. But he does like the offense Bush will run, one that has the quarterback on the move more than ever. In his first podcast back from vacation, the 50-plus-year Illini columnist weighs in on the positives - and negatives - after nearly two weeks of training camp.

A football performance center, a basketball practice facility upgrade, a soccer complex ... the University of Illinois is in the middle of a serious fundraising campaign to improve its sports programs. Senior administator Howard Milton, in the middle of it all, chats with Loren Tate about how much has been raised — and how far there is to go.

A behind-the-scenes fixture with Illinois basketball for, well, forever, Rod Cardinal took a stroll down Memory Lane with Loren Tate. For example: How did you get Efrem Winters ready vs. Kentucky in 1984’s Elite Eight with his sprained ankle? "With a little bit of luck and a little bit of prayer. I just taped the heck out of him and gave him a couple Tylenol. He played on just sheer guts and determination."

In this week's Tatelines: Unedited, Illini beat writer Scott Richey fills in for Loren Tate with the latest on the volleyball players who transfered from Illinois, Brad Underwood's home visit with E.J. Liddell and the upcoming AAU evaluation period.

In this week's Tatelines: Unedited, Illini beat writer Scott Richey fills in for Loren Tate with the latest on the volleyball players who transfered from Illinois, Brad Underwood's home visit with E.J. Liddell and the upcoming AAU evaluation period.

Bruce Weber, who has his Kansas State Wildcats in the Sweet 16, once had Illinois basketball in the limelight. What went wrong? And will Illinois fans forgive him? Loren Tate, who was on press row for all of Weber's years…

Bruce Weber, who has his Kansas State Wildcats in the Sweet 16, once had Illinois basketball in the limelight. What went wrong? And will Illinois fans forgive him? Loren Tate, who was on press row for all of Weber's years in C-U, explains in this week's 'Tatelines: Unedited.'