The modern coach-player relationship
Instead of coming home after the Northern Illinois University-Nebraska football game, it was back on Interstate 80 for another 850 miles west to Salt Lake City, Utah for a family visit. Instead of football, I thought about leaving hardcore volleyball country to women's gymnastics.... more
Harvest: My favorite time of the year
The feeling of Autumn is in the air. Breezy warm days and chilly nights. Evening skies filled with stars. The rustling of the wind as it blows through the amber waves of grain. The smell in the air of a campfire.... more
Two kinds of football
It was off the high-school beat and on to Northern Illinois University football at Nebraska last week. Before getting into that experience, the amazing comeback by Polo's football team against Cambridge (Ridgewood) needs to be discussed.... more
Looking at land prices
Every year I get dozens of calls from landowners asking me what is the selling price of farmland or the going rate of farm cash rents. While the dollars and cents part are the predominant thing they look for, there’s more that goes into negotiating a viable sale price or cash rent. However, being a farm owner in Illinois with its rich soils has its advantages as both sales prices and cash rents tend to trend higher that other parts of the country.... more
Polo-Milledgeville did not disappoint
This past weekend’s football road trip took me to Polo, site of the rivalry game with Milledgeville. It did not disappoint.... more
Letter: Thanks to Dick Little and White Pines Ranch
Sometimes one event can change the course of your life. Last month, when Richard “Dick” Little died, a few days short of 97 years old, I thought back to that event for me. I was 13 years old, living in Joliet, and one Sunday read Parade magazine in the Sunday paper. I had never looked at it before – but I found an ad for White Pines Ranch in Oregon. I begged my parents to let me go to the ranch for two weeks – I loved horses. So, in June 1970, I met Dick and Dee Little, Gig, Sue, Andee, Bub and many others who would become and still are an extended family for me.... more
Agriculture and emissions
Seems every day we hear more in the news about carbon and how we need to reduce our carbon footprint to save the earth. We can argue the science all day long and most likely will not come to a resolution. However, what bothers me is how the environmental community keeps pointing a finger at agriculture and blames us for the problem. Even US Energy czar John Kerry joined in the fray. What do you expect when he is a follower of Al Gore.... more