Sunday Fighting Illini Bird Blogging

Bosco the peach-faced lovebird is so amped up over the Fighting Illini's decisive win over Louisville yesterday in the NCAA basketball tournament that he insisted we bring him his new Illinois shirt, custom made by Andrea Sterling:

He got all excited about the Illiniwek turtleneck, and insists that it will bring continuing good luck to the U of I team:

Bosco, however, refused to try on the shirt at this point. He insisted that a bird-brain wearing orange and blue Illini gear before Monday's tourney final between Illinois and the North Carolina Tarheels might jinx the outcome. Since he's a big Illini fan (like me) he won't don the shirt until the final buzzer of Monday's game, when he can celebrate what he hopes will be the first Illinois victory in the NCAA tournament in 100 years of Champaign-Urbana basketball.

Bosco ended the shirt session by becoming more interested in the camera than anything else, and he ran toward the lens while peeping Oskee Wow Wow at the top of his lungs:

Old Princeton yells her Tiger,
Wisconsin, her Varsity
And they give the same old Rah, Rah, Rah,
At each University,
But the yell that always thrills me,
And fills my heart with joy,
Is the good old Oskee Wow-Wow,
that they yell at Illinois.

Os-kee Wow-Wow Illinois,
Our eyes are all on you.
Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois.
Wave your Orange and your Blue.  (Rah! Rah!)
When the team trots out before you,
Every man stand up and yell.
Back the team to victory,
Os-kee Wow-Wow Illinois.

He finished with renditions of the Illinois Loyalty song and Hail to the Orange:

Illinois Loyalty:
We're loyal to you Illinois,
We're "Orange and Blue," Illinois,
We'll back you to stand
'Gainst the best in the land,
For we know you have sand, Illinois,
Rah! Rah!
So crack out that ball Illinois,
We're backing you all Illinois;
Our team is our fame protector,
On! boys, for we expect a vict'ry from you Illinois!

Che-he! Che-ha! Che-ha-ha-ha!
Go Illini go!
Che-he! Che-ha! Che-ha-ha-ha!
Go Illini go!
Illinois! Illinois! Illinois!

Fling out that dear old flag of Orange and Blue,
Lead on your sons and daughters, fighting for you;
Like men of old, on giants placing reliance, shouting defiance
Oskee wow-wow!
Amid the broad green plains that nourish our land,
For honest Labor and for Learning we stand,
And unto thee we pledge our heart and hand,
Dear Alma Mater Illinois.

Hail to the Orange:
Hail to the Orange.
Hail to the Blue.
Hail Alma Mater,
Ever so true.
We love no other,
So let our motto be
Victory, Illinois, Varsity.

(And, yes, I really know all the words to these and sang them many times when I was in college at the Big Ten school, U of I. For a time I even sat in "Block I" where you hold up cards to form patterns and words to cheer on the team. Yikes.)