Sports Channel

The Battle With The Badgers

Episode Segments

OCT 27 TALKING ILLINI HOUR 1

So what went wrong in Wisconsin? Brian Barnhart, the voice of the Illini, talks about the problems that emerged in Saturday\'s game. Brian also gives his thoughts on the 2008-09 Illini basketball program, after attending Sunday\'s Orange & Blue Scrimmage. He says the players are showing much crisper passing and shooting than the past few seasons, and Illinois should be a tough competitor this year.

OCT 27 TALKING ILLINI HR 2

Dave Kaplan from WGN Radio and Comcast SportsNet. He talks about how he got started in Chicago sports radio, and how he can be a fan and still be an objective sportscaster. Then - Pat Harty from the Iowa City Press-Citizen gives us the inside scoop on what the Fighting Illini can expect from the Iowa Hawkeyes next weekend.

Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Brian Barnhart

Barnhart begins his sixth season as the "Voice of the Illini" after a long stint in professional baseball, including two years as the play-by-play voice of the Anaheim Angels. Barnhart serves as the voice of the Illini Sports Network, providing play-by-play coverage of football and men's basketball and as the host of the statewide "Ron Zook Show" call-in program every Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. A native of nearby Tolono, Barnhart graduated from Unity High School and Liberty University before beginning a 15-year career in professional baseball in 1986. He served as the play-by-play voice of the Lynchburg Mets and Salem Buccaneers before moving up to the Oklahoma City 89ers, the Class AAA affiliate of the Texas Rangers, from 1988-94. Barnhart did high school football and other sport play-by-play for 11 years and was also the voice for Oklahoma Baptist basketball from 1992-94 and Oklahoma City Blazers minor league hockey in 1993. From 1996-98, he handled news, sports and play-by-play at WWLS in Oklahoma City. In 1998, Barnhart was named the play-by-play announcer for the Angels and spent two full seasons with the American League club before returning to the Champaign-Urbana area in 2000. He currently is a news and sports announcer at WDWS-AM 1400 in Champaign.

Pat Harty

Pat Harty has covered the Iowa football team for the Press-Citizen since 1992, first as a beat writer and now as a columnist for the past seven years. He graduated from Drake University and grew up in Des Moines.

David Kaplan

David Kaplan has been with WGN Radio since April of 1995, as a sports reporter, and now, as the host of Sports Central, heard weeknights from 7:00-9:00p.m. During that time, he has earned six Achievement In Radio (A.I.R.) Awards, including three for best sports talk show and two for best sportscast. He was named "Newsfinder of the Year" by the Associated Press for breaking several major stories. During the basketball season, he is a play-by-play and color commentator on Fox Sports covering college basketball. He also does work for Fox Sports Chicago throughout the year. Before coming to WGN Radio, David was midday host on WMVP-AM in Chicago after it adopted an all-sports format in November of 1993. He has completed television work on ESPN 2, SportsChannel, Creative Sports, and Prime Network. He is a former college basketball coach at Northern Illinois University and was a regional scout for both the Indiana Pacers and the Seattle Supersonics of the NBA.

Friday • March 20

CST 9:11 | EST 10:11 | MST 8:11 | PST 7:11 | GMT 6:11

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