Chief Illinilinks: Sports Just Don't Seem All That Important Today

It's rather hard to sit here and write something about Illinois sports this afternoon given what took place in Connecticut today. None of it seems all that important right now. In fact, it's meaningless.

Of course, that's not just today. Sports are meaningless in and of themselves and they always have been. That's not to say they don't mean something to you, but their only true purpose, the reason we love sports so much, is they serve as a distraction from life.

They're a distraction from today's events in Connecticut. I just can't find the motivation to get distracted today.

I know it doesn't mean anything, but I'd like to send my condolences to the parents and family members of those lost in Connecticut in another heinous school shooting. Honestly, I don't know what's worse. The fact that somebody would go into an elementary school with an assault rifle and start shooting children or the fact that I feel like I've become numb to the occurrence.

It's really not all that rare anymore, is it? It happens so often that not long after the news broke I saw people on Twitter comparing the different school shootings and ranking which ones were the worst. Think about that.

Or if you prefer not to think about that -- and I sure as hell can't blame you for feeling that way -- peruse these meaningless links instead. They won't erase what's happened, but at least you'll get a break for a few minutes.

Elsewhere

-- "I'm not surprised. I knew if we worked hard we were going to get some recognition at some point. For it to come this early, I'm not really that surprised. We go into every game fully expecting to win. We didn't pay attention to the rankings. When it came, it was pretty cool," Brandon Paul on our 11-0 start to the season.

-- It's a simple formula: If the Illini keep winning, more and more fans will begin filling Assembly Hall again.

-- My old friend Eamonn Brennan has his own set of B1G Power Rankings and they look a bit different than mine. But that's because Eamonn's wrong. This is what happens when you graduate from Indiana, E.

-- Has anybody in Champaign-Urbana done this to Oskee Wow Wow yet?

-- Stupid Iowa baseball players. Everybody knows it's not ghosts stealing your underwear, but underwear gnomes.