Some moments bound to stay with you for the longest time

Scott Skiles will be home for Christmas … and lots of days beyond that.

Illinois' football team will be heading to Pasadena, Calif., for Christmas night … and several nights beyond that.

From rudely timed firings to Rose Bowl tidings of great joy, a lot of unexpected things occurred in our little sports world over the past 52 weeks.

Here are a few that have stuck with me and figure to do so for a while:

Juice takes a knee: Everyone who watched Illinois' upset of Ohio State on TV saw Juice Williams passing and running the Buckeyes dizzy.

But after the cameras clicked off, Williams was overcome by the moment.

While his teammates celebrated elsewhere, Williams took a knee at the 16-yard line and tried unsuccessfully to grasp the fact he had engineered Illinois' first upset of a top-ranked team in 51 years.

"I was crying," he said. "I was emotional. I think it was just a combination of everything: My performance. The team we beat. The situation, knowing all the odds were against us and being able to overcome that.

"I was sobbing. Boo-hooing. All that. It was a great feeling."

The Randle Chronicles: When the 2006-07 college basketball season dawned, Illinois' Brian Randle owned a spot on the Wooden Award list for the sport's top 50 projected returnees.

It didn't come close to being an accurate prediction.

After a dreadful season filled with injuries and ineffectiveness far greater than anyone dreamed, Randle buried his head in a white cotton towel and bawled in the locker room after missing a late free throw and last-second shot in Illinois' first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Virginia Tech.

I felt terrible for the young man.

That's why I enjoyed seeing Randle revel in Saturday's hard-earned victory over Missouri. Nobody celebrated it more earnestly.

To see him jog over to Illini fans and slap dozens of hands while wearing the world's biggest smile … it just seemed like a more worthy moment on which to end his 2007.

The most wonderful time … : The annual Braggin' Rights game between Illinois and Missouri is one of my favorite nights of the year, both professionally and personally.

Not only do you get to see two fired-up teams go at it for 40 minutes, you get to hear two fired-up (and somewhat inebriated) fandoms go nuts as well.

Then, after the final buzzer has sounded and the final deadline has passed, I get to go out and catch up with my best buddy from high school. Actually, from the time we were little kids in Sunday school.

Braggin' Rights night usually is the only one each year we can catch up with each other … but we always pick up where we left off and start laughing anew.

Only this year hasn't been so lucky or laugh-filled for my buddy. One in which losing his job two weeks ago doesn't stack up as his No. 1 concern.

His pop, a good man, has been in and out of the hospital much of the year. Heart aneurysm. Pneumonia. Bone cancer.

Four times in recent months, my friend has received the call saying, "You've got to come now to see him before he goes."

Four times, his dad has pulled through. Left unsaid are the increasingly longer odds each time the phone rings.

All he knew is they'd get to spend today together. He sounded grateful for that much.

Made me realize … never mind. I'm just going to be extra glad to see the people who show up at my front door today.

Whether you're hosting or on the road today, here's to the good friends and family you'll see on the other side of the doorway. Enjoy them.

lwillhite@dailyherald.com