Around the Big Ten: Illinois' Ron Zook 'worse' than the Cubs

CHICAGO -- Illinois Coach Ron Zook speaks with a quiet, raspy voice, which makes him the perfect candidate to sing a horrible rendition of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" at Wrigley Field.

Zook barely could talk Monday after taking in more water than usual from water skiing. After a day of interviews, it became worse. By evening, he was singing during the seventh-inning stretch of the Chicago Cubs-Milwaukee Brewers game.

"I was just as bad as the Cubs. I might have been worse, and they got beat 18-1," Zook said. "So what does that tell you. I don't sing for a living, I know that."

Zook took in some jeers from fans as he left the ballpark.

"It's almost funny because you walk out of the stadium and somebody said, 'Don't quit your day job.' Until you do it, everything thinks it's easy.

"It's the scariest thing I've ever done."

Zook said he's golfed once or twice in his life but would rather play a round in front of thousands of fans than sing at Wrigley Field again.

"Everybody is standing there looking up at you," Zook said. " You're doing something that you are not in the least bit … I would rather have people watch me tee off than do that because I've got a chance to hit the ball straight. I may not. But when you're doing something like that, you have absolutely no chance of doing it well."