There is a huge connection between Loyola and St. Louis. I read recently where St. Louis was the 2nd largest metro area outside the Chicago area (behind Cleveland) for Loyola students. Hopefully, there will be plenty of Loyola students/alumni there during Spring Break to see the Ramblers.

Fr. Garanzini is from St. Louis, and recently retired St. Louis University President Fr. Lawrence Biondi is a Loyola graduate from the Chicago area. Prolific board poster ahunte1 is from St. Louis, and BigJoe's wife and sister in law are both from St. Louis and graduated from Loyola. Loyola has had a number of basketball players from St. Louis-- the Smith twins and Jonathan Freeman in the early 2000s, and Christian Thomas on the current team. Porter Moser was assistant coach at St. Louis, and former Loyola coach Jim Whitesell took his place when he left the Bilikens. The current St. Louis head coach, Jim Crews (who used to give Loyola fits when he coached at Evansville in the old MCC) grew up literally next door to my house in Normal, still owned and occupied by the Crews family.

Again, there are five Amtrak trains each day in each direction between Chicago Union Station and St. Louis Gateway Station, just 130 yards or so from the Scottrade Center. It's a fun and relaxing trip, and a good way to go if you don't want to deal with the hassle of driving. Amtrak has WiFi, a bar/cafe car, and the 110 mph stretch between Dwight and Pontiac helps keep the train mostly on schedule. One way coach fares are as low as $27 if you buy in advance, about what you'd pay for gas alone in an economy car.

No, never...at least never on the same weekend. Washington Street is a great area now, completely redone over the last 5 years or so. A good friend of mine had a condo there until recently, and it's definitely buzzing at night. It's on the opposite side of downtown, but downtown is that big, especially compared to Chicago. Closer to Scottrade, I'd rate my top 2 restaurants Charlie Gitto's (who also has a place on the Hill), and Mike Shannon's. I'm not sure if Ballpark Village next to Busch will be open in March or not, but there's supposed to be some good places in there when it does.

Edit: It looks like Ballpark Village won't be open until opening day at Busch, a couple weeks after the MVC Tournament. Bummer. http://fox2now.com/2014/02/02/take-an-e ... struction/

One thing to take into consideration with potentially staying on the East side these days is they've been doing a LOT of construction on the bridges, as part of an overhaul with a brand new bridge dedicated to solely to I-70 (instead of the joint I-55, I-64, I-70 Poplar Street bridge that's been the main bridge over the river for years). Depending on your luck with traffic, you could sit for a long time.

Can you dig it, Ramblermaniacs?...
On your way to or from St. Louis, check out Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville, IL. This archeological site represents only a tiny fraction of a huge metropolis 1000+ years old. What is now St. Louis was merely a suburb of Cahokia. Climb to the top of Monks' Mound at Cahokia, the largest prehistoric man-made feature north of Mexico, and see the St. Louis arch in the distance. Puts a lot of things in perspective.

OK ROGGIRL. If we are going to turn this into a historical trip
1. Kaskaskia Illinois. The only town in Illinois WEST of the Mississippi. about 40 miles south of St. Louis. Also it is the first capital of Illinois. Was involved in the Revolutionary War.(RW soldiers buried there) plus a huge bell given to the Americans from Louis XV of France for helping to fight the British.. It was originally east of the MISS but flooding and earthquakes moved it west as the channel changed. Still belongs to Illinois.
2. Lewis and Clark Historical Site. Just across the river in Hartford Ill. It is where Lewis and Clark wintered before heading up the Mississippi ( couldnt winter west of the MISS because still under Spanish Control)
3. Fort De Chartres about 50 miles southeast. A preserved French Fort from the 1700s when the French ruled the Illinois Country.
4. Lecledes Landing. The old original trading area dating back to the 1700s. Cool area . original cobblestone streets and cool buildings that have now been turned into bars.

But Cohokia Mounds is well worth the stop and a cool place.

Aw, shucks.

I will be there for Arch Madness. Bought my passes through Loyola, and I'm working on a few other St. Louis alums as well. I know that Alumni Relations is starting to make calls to try and move some more passes. Hopefully some of our St. Louis area folks show up.

Would be great to pick up a win or two down there!

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MBB Scholarship Chart

You'd better pack extra golf claps...

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Cigarboy sucks!

I'm working on my mechanics.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

The Cahokia Mound Builders were a preliterate culture, but their average verbal SAT score was still higher than Wichita State's...

On edit: I think this effort is worth a golf clap!

Walter---WALTER !! Woof your boss and bark him that it is not good to smack the biggie until we win a few more--Not good form !!

But he surely must be fun to pal around with , right , Walter ???