I took two years of French in high school.  And even though I graduated a couple of years ago, I’m proud to say I can still count to ten, although one of the numbers is missing.

Today, we have come to say goodbye.

One year ago this week, a short, one line message appeared at the top of SalukiTalk.

“In the coming weeks ST will soon be providing more coverage of Saluki Athletics.  Go Dawgs.”

And with those words, Extra! was born.  Our goal was to take you behind the scenes, to provide Saluki coverage you could not get elsewhere.  It meant getting close to coaches and earning their respect.  It meant occasionally bumping heads.  In a season filled with highs and lows, it didn’t take Extra! long to get noticed. 

It started with a stupid prediction.

*****

www.st-extra.com/extra/?p=104

(Note to self:  no more predictions)

As the Saluki basketball team went south faster than you can say “Dominican,” Extra decided to look for a guard who could really shoot the basketball.  We found him.

www.st-extra.com/extra/?p=252

There was breakfast with Athletic Director Mario Moccia.  We were in the office of Chancellor Rita Cheng.  We never did find the 125 Girl, but we did find someone who sounded just as good.

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Battle lines were drawn in the sand, and if there was a Saluki in need, Extra! was there.

www.st-extra.com/extra/?p=1158

Extra! took you inside Dale Lennon’s office on football signing day, and provided live blogs from St. Louis at the Valley tournament.  And when Chris Lowery was fired, you learned about it on Extra!, hours before any other media reported the news.

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You were behind the scenes for Lowery’s final days, and again for Moccia’s search that ended with Barry Hinson.  When winter turned to spring, we were there with Lennon at 5am sharp.  When it came time to caravan, you took over, at every stop, and provided great coverage.  And when the Saluki baseball team made its run at the Valley tournament, Extra! found some special fans.

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Extra! became such a hit, even Saluki players wanted involved.

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There were difficult stories to be sure, from Southern’s APR mess to Diamond Taylor stubbing his big toe, baby toe, and every other toe in between.  But we were looking for the good stories, and found one a long way from home.

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Summer was a time to rest, unless you were Hinson, and never took a day off.  Extra! followed him through his first 100 days.

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Moccia dropped by for a live chat, and you turned out in big numbers.  Extra! provided 17 football stories in 17 days leading up to opening night, and when recruits visited Carbondale, we told the stories through their eyes.

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In 365 days, Extra! provided 220 stories.

*****

One year ago, Southern took a risk and invited SalukiTalk to be a credentialed media covering the Salukis.  It’s safe to say both sides looked at each other and wondered how this new relationship, formed through a computer, with guys named the Belleville Bobber, Hockeygoon, and Mr. Woodcock, would work.  And it worked fine.  Extra! would like to thank Moccia for allowing us access to tell wonderful Saluki stories, and to Media Services Director Tom Weber for helping make those stories come to life.  One year later, both sides were still wondering where this relationship was heading.  In that world, it’s best that Extra! say goodbye.

I can’t tell you how many times people have thanked us, and ask me why we do this.  It’s well known that none of us live near Carbondale, none of us get paid, and we all have busy lives in the real world.  I have a simple answer to that question.  It’s because in my adult life, other than children being born and loved ones passing away (and Steve Bartman) I can only recall crying three times.

1983

2002

2007

To all of you who have read the stories, and either left comments publicly or privately, I can’t thank you enough. Please drop by our football tailgate and say hello, or look for the nervous guy walking around the Arena.

Extra! may be gone, but the Salukis are forever.

Au revoir, and GO DAWGS!

Sean O’Brien picked up the phone this afternoon and dialed Barry Hinson.  And the Saluki coach heard the words he hoped for.

“Coach Hinson, I want to be a Saluki!”

Extra! talked with O’Brien after the phone call.

“I just loved everything about my weekend there.  It was perfect.  The team, the facilities, the environment.  I can see myself there.  To get a chance to play in the Missouri Valley Conference, that was huge.  And coach Hinson, he was just incredible.  I really believe he’s going to get this turned around.  I was just impressed with everything.”

O’Brien visited Santa Clara last week, and his choice came down to Carbondale and California.  I asked him what went thru his mind when he made his final decision.

“Two things.  All those wonderful people I met in Carbondale.  Everybody from the coaches to the players to the administration to the fans.  And then I couldn’t stop thinking about how much basketball means down there, the tradition and the banners and the level of excitement. That’s just what I want.”

Congrats to O’Brien, coach Hinson and the Southern staff.

Barry Hinson is an equal opportunity diner.  If he was planning on Mary Lou’s on Saturday, well, it only made sense to hit up Harbaugh’s on Friday.  He would have a table waiting when Dedrick Lee’s family arrived from Arkansas.

Hinson had an in home visit with the Lee family two weeks ago, and convinced them to make the trip east.  The family headed out late Thursday night, and pulled into Carbondale around 3am.  There would only be a couple of hours sleep.  Breakfast with Barry was waiting.

The Lee’s were glad to see Hinson again.  He had made a strong impression at their home.

Extra! spoke with Lee’s father Frederick after the visit.

After breakfast, the family headed to Lingle Hall.  They got the tour, and visited with an academic advisor.  And when they walked onto the floor of the Arena, it all came flashing back to Frederick.

“This Arena, this floor, this team, man, this is how I taught Dedrick to play basketball.”

Years ago, when his son first began playing basketball, the father sent away for a video teaching tape.  It was Chris Lowery and the Salukis, on how to play defense.  Frederick played the tape to Dedrick.  Over and over and over again.  When the Salukis were making their runs in the NCAA tournament, the father and son were cheering them on.

And now, here they were.

“Wow,” said the father as he looked around with his son.  “This is it.  This is where they did it back in the day.  I love this place.  Amazing.  This is really nice.  This is big time.”

There was a day when it was really big time.

*****

Dedrick Lee averaged 27 points as a sophomore in Clarksville.  He was ranked a top 100 player in the country by multiple recruiting services.  He was Mike Anderson’s first commitment at Arkansas.  But a year later, it didn’t feel right to the Lee family, and they began the recruitment process over.

Lee is a 6-1 combo guard, and a big time scorer.  He already holds the Clarksville career scoring record before stepping on the floor his senior year.  Lee has already visited Oral Roberts, is set to visit Missouri State in two weeks, and is setting up a visit to Creighton.  He’s especially interested in the academic majors the schools have to offer, and he’s interested in the chemistry among the current players.

He hopes to make his decision after the Creighton visit, and before the basketball season begins.

*****

The tour wound its way from the Arena floor to the weight room to the locker room, where Dedrick Lee met the Saluki players.  This was an important part of the trip for Lee.  If he wasn’t comfortable with the team, Southern would be eliminated.  I asked the father how that went.

“He loved the players.  They really seemed to hit it off well.  He was really happy about that.”

The family headed back to the hotel for a little rest.  There was dinner to get ready for.  Barry Hinson was serving barbecue at a team function.

“That’s strange,” I told Frederick Lee.  “I don’t think Barry Hinson has ever had barbecue before.  Did he like it?”

“Oh, he loved it,” Lee said.  “Just like he loved those pancakes and all that bacon at breakfast.”

*****

Hinson spoke to the crowd at the Saluki dinner.  Kendall Brown-Surles spoke on behalf of the team.  Fellow recruit Sean O’Brien and his family arrived.  The Lee family had a chance to mingle with the crowd.  They met Mario Moccia and Dr. Harold Bardo.

“Impressive,” Frederick Lee said.

It was back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.  Saturday was going to be very busy, starting with breakfast at a brand new joint Hinson heard of.

Mary Lou’s at 9am sharp.

*****

The Lee’s got to spend time with the O’Brien’s at breakfast.  As the O’Briens went to take their Arena tour, the Lee’s hopped on the Saluki Express and rode around campus.

“That was a big deal for us,” Frederick Lee said.  “And we really liked the campus.  It’s beautiful.”

Dedrick and Sean O’Brien headed with Saluki players to the football game.  Like the O’Briens did, the Lee’s got in their car and starting driving around Carbondale.  They had dinner and did some shopping.

I asked Lee what the parents thought about Carbondale.

“It felt real nice.  Not too big.  Not too small.  The kind of place you feel safe having your son go to school.”

*****

Sunday morning dawned, and the Lee’s headed out early for the drive home.  I asked Frederick Lee what his son thought about the visit.

“He loved it.  Everything about the visit went well.  And Dedrick really liked the players.  We’ll take the other two visits, and then decide.”

We went to say goodbye, and Frederick Lee told me he had a secret.

“Dedrick has twin brothers, Frederick and Kendrick, a year younger than him.  Coach Hinson said he’ll recruit them too.  We’d love to have them all at the same place.”

At 730pm Friday night, Saluki assistant basketball coach Tom Hankins pulled up to the front door of the Holiday Inn.  Waiting for him was Saluki recruit Sean O’Brien and his family.  They had made the six hour drive down from Mundelein earlier that day.  Hankins and the O’Brien’s headed west to Murphysboro, where Barry Hinson was waiting at 17th Street Barbecue.

Extra! has pieced together the events of that night through various sources.

*****

O’Brien grew up playing point guard.  And then he kept growing.  He added two more inches last year, and now stands 6-6.  He moved to the post for his high school team, but has never lost his point guard mentality or ball handling skills.  Not only can O’Brien play all five spots on the floor, but he stuffs the stat sheet across the board.  Last year he averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 blocks per game.

He received scholarship offers from Bradley, Santa Clara, Belmont, Western Michigan, Eastern Kentucky, SIUE, Kennesaw State, Florida Gulf Coast, and Nebraska-Omaha.  He has taken visits to Bradley and Santa Clara.  Bradley has since received a commitment from another player at O’Brien’s position.  And the Santa Clara visit was interesting.  There is a slight difference between the Silicon Valley, 2,000 miles away, and Carbondale, a day trip down 57.  And that difference is very simple.

One of them is God’s Country.

*****

After plenty of BBQ and Hinson jokes, Hankins took the O’Brien’s back to their hotel.  But Sean wanted to hang with the players.  Chase Heins took him under his wing for the night.  But there would be a busy day on tap Saturday.  It began at 9am sharp, when new Saluki team manager Matt Shaw arranged for a couple of choice tables at Mary Lou’s.

Football Saturday and parents weekend, hence Mary Lou’s was packed.  This was definitely not the Silicon Valley.  Biscuits and Gravy were coming fast and furious.  Belly’s were full.  Even Hinson’s.

Next stop:  The Arena.

*****

Southern’s coaches walked the family onto the floor and watched.

“Oh my gosh,” they heard.

“Look at this.  It’s gorgeous.”

“Check out all those banners.”

Next up was the locker room.  Again, the coaches watched and waited.

“It’s the best locker room we’ve seen in our visits.”

Then it was onto the weight room, and then finally, a walk around the concourse to look at the pictures on the wall.  We call those “Bobber’s pictures.”

The coaches listened.

“This is very impressive.”

And, “this is really cool.”

You bet it is.

*****

It was time to sit down with Saluki Director of Athletics Mario Moccia.  The family had read about Southern’s APR situation, and followed SalukiTalk closely.  There were some difficult questions asked.  Moccia made it clear that the APR was a Southern priority, and pointed to all the efforts Southern was doing to fix past problems.  Those efforts lay at the feet of Hinson, who said he would take whatever publicity hits were necessary to save the program.

The O’Brien’s left the Arena impressed.  And then they went to see the campus.

It’s a funny thing about impressions sometimes.  Southern has taken some knocks recently with enrollment numbers, and the battle over perception never ends.  Like the Arena tour, this was the easy part for the coaches.  All they had to do was walk and listen.  It’s the same thing every time.

“Wow, this is beautiful.”

“Is that a lake in the middle of campus?”

“Hey, check this out.  You walk through the woods to get to class.”

The coaches smiled.  The O’Briens were impressed.  Very impressed.

They went to see the freshmen dorms, then watched the players have a short practice.  Sean joined them for a pick up game that the coaches weren’t allowed to watch.

And then it was back into Hinson’s office for one final visit.  Hinson closed the door.  He wanted everything on the table, he wanted to take all questions, he didn’t want the O’Brien’s to leave without understanding exactly what was awaiting them in Carbondale.

At the end of the day, Southern Illinois is offering players and families one thing that nobody else is.

Barry Hinson.  Well, Hinson and Mary Lou’s.

*****

“He’s a match up nightmare,” a rival coach told me when I called about O’Brien.

“It doesn’t take you long to realize he’s just a basketball player who loves to play.  You can tell he’s been well coached.  You don’t see many big men handle the ball like he does.  He can play everywhere on the court, but he’ll need to find his niche in college.  He needs to put on some weight, and he needs to shoot it a little better.  But if that kid grows a couple of more inches, and hits the weights, and gets that shot down, he’ll be a really good player no matter where he plays.”

O’Brien currently weight around 190.  He won’t be banging inside in the Valley at that weight.  That outside shot?  He’s a gym rat who is shooting the ball nearly every day.

“I’d say this,” the coach said.  “You win basketball games with kids like O’Brien.  He’s a project right now.  But give me five players on the floor who know how to play, and can do all those things that he can, and I’ll win basketball games.”

*****

Sean O’Brien went to the Saluki football game Saturday night.  His family decided to take a tour of Carbondale.  They popped into a Mexican restaurant for dinner, and sitting at the table across from them was Matt Shaw again.  A former great Saluki, coming home to get his degree and help Southern’s APR, listened as the parents spoke.

“When we will know where the right place is for our son,” the O’Briens asked?  It’s the question that keeps all parents up at night.

*****

The O’Brien’s woke up early Sunday morning for the drive home.  They stopped by the bookstore to buy some Saluki gear.  They headed east to Marion, then turned north on 57 for the drive, and the discussion.

Parents of teenagers know this part well.  You don’t rush them.  You wait for them to speak.  And when they do, those rare words mean something.  Matt Shaw was right.  When Sean O’Brien knows, he will tell his parents first.  And when he does, they will pick up the phone and call Barry Hinson.

It’s certainly possible O’Brien decides on Santa Clara.  And it’s also possible that he decides on a campus in the woods.  On an Arena where championship banners hang from the ceiling.  On a fan base that lives and dies Saluki basketball.  On Barry Hinson.

And of course, on biscuits and gravy.

It was hard to tell what type of football team Southern had through the first month of the season.  After allowing seven touchdowns through the air on opening night, secondary alarms were sounded.  There was overall improvement at Miami-Ohio, and hope renewed as the Salukis hit the soft spot of their schedule.  But a win against a poor SEMO team didn’t prove much, and a road win against another poor Missouri State squad was a struggle to say the least.

Indeed, in those four games, many things changed with Southern.  Some positions have improved, some have gotten worse.  But five weeks into the season, we now clearly have an identity.  We can’t score the football, in any way shape or form.

Hell, we can barely move the chains.

The Salukis have scored two touchdowns in the past two weeks.  One was an interception returned for a touchdown by a secondary getting better each week.  The other was by a backup runningback catching a pass in the flat.

Southern went 1-13 in third down conversions against Missouri State.  Incredibly, they still won the game.  Even more incredibly, they went 1-13 again last night.   Only this time, they weren’t so lucky.  Nobody goes 2-26 on third downs and wins football games.  In fact, nobody goes 2-26 period.

Now you know our identity.

Southern can’t run the ball or throw the ball right now at a level needed to win football games.  Of course, the history of college football is littered with teams that still won built around defense and kicking.

Oh wait.

The Salukis have three field goal kickers on scholarship, and they avoided going 0-for-September last night when Austin Johnson managed to sail one through the uprights.  For those keeping score at home, that’s 1-7 this year.  I’m sure there must be a football team kicking the ball worse somewhere, but I suspect they aren’t winning football games either.

As last year slipped away, and Southern struggled to score points, Steven Strother retuning kickoffs was one of our best offensive plays.  Alas, with the rule changes, Strother must now take knees in the endzone.  We’re forced to score points the old fashioned way.  And if you were in the stands last night, you realized we could have played until Tuesday and we weren’t going to score.

Like the kicking game, Southern knew they had offensive line issues in the off season.  Saluki coach Dale Lennon talked about “having the pieces” and needing to “put the pieces in the right places.”  And there’s no doubt that Southern has tried everything up front, as nearly every lineman has played different spots along the front wall.  But five games in, the running game is not scaring opponents.  Leading rusher Mika’il McCall is averaging 65 yards a game.  And quarterback Kory Faulkner, who hasn’t proved to be a difference maker at the most important position on the field, is under an all out assault every time he drops back to pass. 

Ah, the passing game.  Deep threat David Lewis caught one ball last night for seven yards.  He’s averaging  just over 40 yards per game.  You do not need to be expert in calculus like the Bobber to understand that these type of offensive numbers five games into a season do not translate into points, and thus, do not translate into victories.

Most of us hoped and expected to be 4-1 right now heading into the brutal October stretch of the schedule.  Raod games at Illinois State, North Dakota State and Youngstown State.  A home game against Northern Iowa.  Instead, we’re 2-3, staring 2-7 squarely in the eye, and almost certain to be watching the playoffs take place without us for the third year in a row.

Those first two years, Southern had injury excuses.  Not this year.  This year, they haven’t been good enough.  

But as disappointing as last night was, there needs to be a shout out given to Bubba Schweigert and everyone associated with Southern’s defense.  For a unit that was shellacked in record setting ways on opening night, they have circled the wagons and gotten better each week.  We’ve got a defense that can keep us in most games now.  Hats off to everyone on that side of the ball.

But unless the offense and kicking game join the party, wins will be hard to come by.

Southern’s basketball coaches will roll out the red carpet this weekend for two class of 2013 recruits.  Visiting are Dedrick Lee, a point guard from Clarksville, Arkansas, and Sean O’Brien, a small forward from Mundelein.  The players are expected to join Barry Hinson for some BBQ tonight at 17th Street in Murphysboro, before spending the day on campus tomorrow, concluding with the Saluki football game against Indiana State Saturday night.

The Lee recruitment is in its infancy.  The 6-1 guard averaged 27 points per game as a sophomore, and made an early commitment to Arkansas.  But Lee had second thoughts about the decision, and decided to re-open his recruitment this summer.  Hinson visited with Lee last week, and convinced the family to make an immediate visit.  Sources close to Lee described Hinson’s visit to Clarksville as “very impressive.”

Southern is deep in the game with O’Brien, is considered a finalist in the process, and a decision could be imminent.  O’Brien is 6-6, still growing, and can play all five positions on the floor.  He averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 blocks per game last year, showing off an all-around game.  O’Brien’s recruitment has involved nearly a dozen schools, and he’s already visited Bradley and Santa Clara.

Welcome men.  You’ll like it here.

Barry Hinson boarded Amtrak this week and headed north.  Destination:  Chitown.  Home of the best high school basketball players in America, and some damn fine BBQ.  Hinson was not coming home until he sampled both.

Southern’s coach attended an open gym at Simeon High School, where the Wolverines, home of Jabari Parker and a cast of thousands, are gunning for their fourth consecutive state championship.  And Hinson saw enough to offer 2013 point guard Jaylon Tate.

Tate is 6-2, 165.  He plays on the AAU circuit with the Meanstreets.   He played his first two years at De La Salle before transferring to Simeon, where he played behind Jaleni Neely last year.  Despite that role, CBS Sports ranks him as the nations 25th best point guard.  Tate’s recruiting so far has revolved around mid-major programs.  But he’ll be heavily recruited this year running the show at Simeon, a team that could beat some Valley schools (Not Us!).

The Saluki coach did more than visit Simeon.  Hinson is not confirming, but a source “very close” to him reports he brought home something called “bacon candy.”  That can only mean one thing:  Barry Hinson discovered the Honky Tonk BBQ at 18th and Racine.

The Journey continues.

Extra! has tracked the Saluki basketball coaching staff back to Memphis tonight.  This time, the object of their affection is 2013 small forward Josh Jones.

Southern is watching Jones at his Memphis Central High School gym.  He’s 6-5, and is moving to the forward spot after being a combo guard throughout high school.  Jones led Central to the Tennessee state championship game last year.

I had followed Diamond Taylor’s recruitment closely.  Chris Lowery and Southern were at the top of their recruiting game in 2008.  Long before the endless lines of JUCO players arrived in Carbondale, Lowery and Southern were recruiting with the big boys.  And Diamond Taylor was a big boy.

*****

Taylor was raised on the northside of Chicago.  When he was in grade school, his father took him to see Gene Pingatore, the legendary basketball coach at Westchester St. Joseph’s.  Pingatore liked what he saw, and Taylor began making the trek to Westchester in the suburbs.

By his junior year at St. Joe’s, Taylor had already received offers from Wisconsin, Marquette, and Notre Dame.  That didn’t detour Lowery and Southern.  When word came down that Southern was in the chase, I headed north to watch Taylor.  He was good.  Really good.

That junior year, his first as a starter on a state powerhouse team, Taylor averaged a team high 19 points per game.  He shot 48% overall, 39% from three-point range and 74% from the free throw line.  He was named the player of the year in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.

“I’ve been coaching for 39 years,” Pingatore said at the time.  “And the fun of coaching is to watch these kids come in and be future superstars.  Taylor is that good.”

Here was ESPN’s review on Taylor coming out of high school:

“Diamond Taylor is as good an offensive guard as you can find in the 2009 class.  He can score off the dribble, off screens, by shooting the three and by getting to the rim.  Taylor has good ball skills and can create his own shot at any time.”

The website “Hoops Report” ranked Taylor as the best player in the 2009 class.  That was a class that included D.J. Richardson, Brandon Paul, and Joseph Bertrand, all who wound up starting at Illinois.

At 16 years old, Diamond Taylor had the world in his hands.

*****

The world crashed two years later at Wisconsin.  Lowery lost the battle to Bo Ryan for Taylor’s services.  But in his first weekend on the Madison campus, Taylor found big trouble.

According to court records, Taylor admitted to police that he and a teammate had been drinking, and then decided to go on a robbery spree at a university dorm.  They went floor to floor, looking for unlocked doors.  If they found them, they went inside and stole money and electronics.

There is a line on the police report where the arresting officer asks Taylor why the players did it.  Here was his response.

“I really don’t know.