Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Before they were stars
ESPN's Jay Bilas dropped in on an Illinois chat room last night and say this for the man: though the occasion may have called for merely a five-question greet-and-go, Bilas really lingered and had a far-ranging discussion with the Illini fans.But rather than bore you with Bilas's assessment of Illinois' chances to get to the Final Four or his take on Bruce Weber's motion offense, let's get right to the important stuff:
Q: Jay, what was it like working with Ken Howard during your cameo on "The White Shadow"?
Bilas: "The White Shadow" was great. I was only 16 when I was on the show, and was a guy named Larsen. I was the best player on an all white team that a guy named Reese transferred to. All of the guys on the show seemed to be my age, but all were about 30, which seemed ancient at the time. I saw Ken Howard about two months ago, and he couldn't have been nicer. A great memory for me.
I knew, of course, that Bilas appeared as "the Good Alien" in the 1990 movie, I Come in Peace (starring Dolph Lundgren). But who knew that Bilas had done a star turn on this TV favorite from the late '70s and early '80s? Having that on your resume just has to be interview ice-breaker gold.
