ItsAUThing.com — Formerly allCanesBlog.com — It's All About 'The U'!

allCanesBlog.com wants to officially welcome Brian “The Beast” London on board. Beast has been a friend of allCanes for years and we’re thrilled to have him as part of the team.

Covering UM from the west coast has its challenges and with a local pro like Beast involved, allCanesBlog now has the ability to cover practice, getting more in depth with players/coaches interviews and unlike other sites, all our content will remain FREE. We don’t believe in charging for ‘premium’ content. We’re simply here to spread the Canes gospel and to keep the fans educated.

The Beast wrote up a little blurb for our readers and I’m posting it below. Check it out as there’s always more to the story than meets the eye. On air, he’s The Beast and he’s covering UM but behind the persona is a long-time UM fan, an alum and an all around good guy who has bled orange and green since he was knee high.

Welcome aboard, Beast. Let’s do this. – Canes305

“Hey Canes’ fans, it’s been toooooo freaking long. I feel like I’ve been on a remote island in the Pacific for the past seven months and the one thing I can definitely say is that I miss all of you.

This past season was an odd one for me. For the first time in almost two decades, I watched the Canes as a fan from the stands. On one hand, I got to tailgate and scream my head off when the ref made a bad call. On the other, I had a deep sense of emptiness as I wasn’t able to do what I love to do the most; bringing you the best Hurricanes’ coverage anywhere.

My hiatus is over. The Beast is back!

Most of you know that up until August I had been an integral member of the Hurricanes’ broadcast team, something I’d done for the past decade. Without getting into the nitty gritty, someone decided they were better off with out me patrolling the sidelines as part of the Canes’ broadcast team – my dream job. They made this decision for their own personal gain and cost me and my family a lot in the process. That said, it’s time to look forward, not back.

I’ve had a few opportunities to get back into it over the past few months but nothing felt right… until now.

I recently reconnected with Harry Rothwell at allCanes and we got to talking about the blog, as well as some other ideas for how to take things to the next level. As I told Harry from day one, in my mind there is no better brand or business more synonymous with ‘The U’ than allCanes. It’s a reputable brand and one I’ve been patronizing since I was a wee little Cane back in the day.

I can remember back in the late 80s/early 90s calling up All Sports (the previous incarnation of allCanes) and attempting to order a green jersey. This was before the “alternate” green jersey was brought back in the late 90s. I can still remember arguing with Harry over the phone (waaay before the Internet) about a green jersey. He said, “Kid, I got two jerseys, an orange one and a white one. They don’t make green.”

Reluctantly I ordered an orange jersey. Surprisingly it hasn’t fit in a while, but I still keep it around for my son to put on some day. The bottom line is I’m thrilled to have this relationship with allCanes, even when Harry told me I wouldn’t quite make it as a model for the new line of Coaches Gear.

We’ll have plenty of time on this space to prognosticate, analyze, breakdown and debate all things Canes’ football over the course of the upcoming months. For now, I wanted to use my introductory blog to let you know where I was coming from.

I popped out of my mom back in May 1976 at Beth Israel Hospital of Boston, MA. My mom Diann was born at Doctor’s Hospital in the Gables. My dad Gerry grew up just outside of Boston. Mom always says she got on the wrong plane in the late 60s when she decided to go to school at Northeastern, but that’s what she did. She met my dad … yadda yadda yadda … I’m on this planet.

From the time that on, all I wanted to do in my life was to attend the University of Miami. Even before I knew what college was (or keg stands for that matter), I knew I would be headed to UM. My grandparents lived a few blocks from campus and my uncle earned two degrees from The U. Being a Cane was in my blood.

I grew up in Boston, one of the only kids that even understood there was such a sport as college football. Aside from that certain game where that certain guy threw that certain pass, no one in that region ever talked about college football. The Beanpot? Yes. The Orange Bowl? No.

Despite my friends’ lack of understanding, from the time I could dress myself, I wore Canes gear almost daily. Even if I couldn’t explain it, I knew that putting a ‘U’ hat on my head felt right. I was a part of something bigger than me, like a member of a special fraternity.

As I got older, my dream of moving down south and going to school at UM turned into an obsession. I would have my grandmother drive me over to campus when ever I was down to visit. I would hit All Sports, dine at LB’s Eatery, hit the bookstore and stop by the admissions office. I remember being a freshman in high school telling the folks at admissions that I would see them in a few years. Saying I was focused on being a Cane; a gross understatement.

Just before my junior year of high school, my grandmother Syl passed away after a long battle with Leukemia. Our entire family was at her bedside until the end, which was one of the saddest days of my life. Just before she passed, in bed and attached to a morphine drip, my mom – in tears- told her that I’d been accepted at UM.

Even in her dire condition, hours from death, my grandmother looked at me, grabbed my hand and gave me the biggest smile.

Though she never saw me walk across campus as a student, knowing that I had been accepted to The U gave her probably the last happy thought of her life. This never left my heart or mind since that day. Every time I walked onto the sideline of a Canes game, mic in hand, I always envisioned her watching the game from somewhere, telling all of her friends that her grandson had the best job in the world. This from the same woman that knew just as much about Bernie and Vinny as she did about chicken soup and stealing Sweet & Low packets from Wolfie’s.

I lived in Eaton for three years, Mahoney for one (female made me move…don’t ask.) I majored in Broadcasting and Political Science.

Along the way I was a proud member of The Band of The Hour’s percussion section for three years, became a brother of Tau Beta Sigma, the National Honorary Marching Band Sorority (yes I’m a brother of a sorority) and did a ton of student radio on 90.5 WVUM.

I graduated in 1998 and at the time I was interning at WQAM. In November of 1998, a great guy by the name of Duff Lindsay (the QAM PD at the time) called me frantically and told me that I was hired if I could run the radio board from midnight to 6am that night. I said yes and the rest is history.

QAM got the Canes’ rights in 1999 and in one capacity or another I’ve been involved with the broadcasts ever since – not to mention the time I put in doing student radio before that. Unfortunately I had the “honor” of broadcasting Miami/Florida State in 1997 from a telephone in the the end zone of Doak as the Canes lost 47-0. A definite low point.

For those who didn’t know, I’m a diehard like you. I bleed Orange and Green. It’s not just my team – it’s my alma mater. It was never just a job. The U, is the place that I love most on this planet. You can have Disney World and the Grand Canyon. I’ll take the Greentree Practice field and the Ashe Building. You can have Europe and the Med. I’ll take the towers and the BUC. You can have the west coast and Hawaii, I’ll take the UC and A-Rod Park.

It’s from that perspective that I embark on this new endeavor. A Cane, bringing you the Canes. Other sites will bash. Other places will encourage nonsense and negativity. Other outlets will treat you – the fan – like village idiots. That’s not what will happen here. This, will be honest, fresh, and trustworthy. We’ll be as much about the people, as we are about the players. The bottom line is, this will be about The U. Syl would be so proud.

Thanks again to allCanes for the opportunity and after a way-too-long hiatus, The Beast is back!”

Brian “The Beast” London is one of the foremost insiders on all things Miami Hurricanes. He was on the Canes broadcast crew for more than a decade and he hosts a daily online radio show on SoFloRadio.com.

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