We wanted to thank you for reading our blog so far.  A blog is worthless without readers, so thank you.

We’re moving on up…to the East side. Guess you could say we sold out. Soon you’ll see us on ChicagoNow. Web address should be the same (crossing fingers…technology).

Keep checking us out. Stuff is only going to get better.

We have a big, big announcement coming up. Can’t tell you yet, maybe by the end of the week. Stay tuned.

Jim O’Donnell was fired by the Sun-Times, Feder reports.

Remember the Alamo!

“You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”– Northwestern alum. Charlton Heston

No, this isn’t Planet of the Apes, but it has turned into “Children of the Corn IV: This time it’s personal again.”

We learned one thing this week…Nebraska really hates Texas.  I mean, everyone hates Texas, but Nebraska hates Texas on an epic scale that might surpass any hatred we’ve seen in college sports.

Let’s be real…Nebraska hated Texas so much for even considering leaving the Big XII, the Cornhuskers went ahead and actually left!

This is all very weird because the primary reason I hate Nebraska centers around Texas.

“You will remember this battle! Each minute! Each second! Until the day that you die! But that is for tomorrow, gentlemen. For today, Remember The Alamo!”–Pat Fitzgerald, aka Sam Houston

Fitz needs to show his troops the game tape of the 2000 Alamo Bowl before they play Nebraska for the first time. Never has there been a more embarrassing slaughter in bowl game history. Final score: 66-17, with the Children of the Corn coming out on top.

Mind you, this was the most exciting NU team in program history. They beat Michigan 54-51 in the greatest college football game ever played (Yeah, I said it. Challenge me, I dare you), and they also knocked off Minnesota on a Hail-Mary pass that year as well. Did I mention that 2000 was the last time Northwestern won a Big “Ten” title? To have the season end on such a sour note is something every NU fan tries to forget.

Of course you can’t hate a team for kicking your ass. But you can hate them for the way they did it. Already up 52-17, they had the kernels to bust out a WIDE RECEIVER pass for a touchdown. I’m sorry, you do not run trick plays up by 35 points. A 35-point lead is insurmountable unless you’re Michigan State in 2006, but I digress.

Obviously, the 2000 Alamo Bowl has absolutely nothing to do with the people involved with the programs right now. But it’s not about hating the people, that’s just mean. College sports is about school pride and hating the opposing institution, especially if it’s Iowa. (Well, college sports is mainly about money, but that’s self-evident, not fun, and quite frankly depressing.)

And one very good reason to hate the institution of Nebraska is that their abbreviation for their teams is…NU.

I’m sorry, but that’s BS.

They are the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They should be UNL. But nooooo, they not only call themselves NU, but ESPN does as well! Meanwhile, we’re relegated to NWU or NW. Neither of those make sense because “Northwestern” is all one word. You fucking Syracuse alums at ESPN can’t do anything right except run your mouths! Figure it out.

I swear to Allah if the Big Ten Network calls Nebraska NU and Northwestern something else…

I really can’t do anything about it, but umm, I’ll be pissed!

Another reason to hate Nebraska is that they are in the middle of nowhere.  (Note, this is also a valid reason to hate Penn State.) A road trip to Nebraska from Evanston takes eight hours and 40 minutes according to Mapquest, and that’s without taking the necessary detour around Iowa to avoid being overcome by the smell of pig farms.

Furthermore, when they come to our place, unless Jim Phillips pulls a Houdini to make more NU fans magically appear out of the hat known as the Wrigley Field game, Ryan Field will be a sea of red. We already have to deal with Wisconsin and those damn dirty apes from Ohio State…now Nebraska?

Nebraska, this just got real. Welcome to the Big “Ten.” But let me be very clear.

We’ll give you our abbreviation when you take it from our cold, dead hands.

Not gonna do it.

As reported by ESPN.com SEC blogger Chris Low, Vandy coach Bobby Johnson wanted to play NU this year on Sunday. Well, Irish Catholic Pat Fitzgerald was going to have none of that. He didn’t want to play on the day of rest because he didn’t want a shorter week of prep. Don’t blame him.

And that would have seriously pissed me off too, since I have a little SFTF meet up planned for that game. More info to come as we inch closer to the season.

In other news, Northwestern is getting no respect on the blogs, especially the Rivals site. TheWolverine.com doesn’t even know the starting QB of our team.

Dan “Person?????” Really?

Dan Person.

"I will not tolerate your non-Northwestern football T-shirts!"

What’s that?

You want to wear the T-shirt of another school’s football team on the campus of Northwestern University?

You better think again.

Because, according to a Twitter feed familiar with an incident today in Evanston, if you’re reppin’ the wrong team, you’re gonna get Super Soakered.  I’m just sayin’.

Apparently, a pair of NU footballers who we’ll call “Willie” and “The Wildcat” decided that it was time to show some school spirit on a steamy Chicagoland day with an aqua arsenal.

So they “just sprayed this girl w/ waterguns for rockin a Miami fball t-shirt…..she was not happy bout it at all….#herfault.”

I’m not sure if this duo of vigilantes is walking/driving looking for targets or if they prefer an ambush approach.  Perhaps they’ll soon put together a posse.

But as long as you’ve got the right colors, you should be okay (kind of like South Central, but a little less, you know, deadly).

Not a day NU will want to remember

The Northwestern baseball team appeared on Sports Center and on the front page of espn.com Monday.

You probably already heard…it was for all the wrong reasons.

They blew a 14-0 lead and lost to the Michigan Wolverines by a final score of 15-14.

I don’t know (despite desperately trying to find out) if that’s the biggest comeback in Big Ten history. But I know it beats the biggest comeback in MLB history by two runs.

In the Big Ten, no one really pays attention to baseball. College baseball is a warm weather sport, dominated by teams from the ACC, SEC, and PAC 10. There are a few programs in the Big Ten: Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota, who occasionally make waves in the college baseball world, but for the most part baseball is the forgotten sport.

At Northwestern, baseball is almost entirely ignored. I happen to love the sport, so I’ve been to plenty of Northwestern baseball games. The attendance is made up primarily of parents and friends of the players. I’ve also covered the team  for the past three years for NNN and WNUR Sports, so, and I swear I am not bragging here, I probably know more about the team than anyone else on campus.

That’s why what happened on Sunday is so devastating.

Northwestern baseball struggled last year to do anything positive. They beat Notre Dame at US Cellular Field in the only game anyone cared about, but the rest of their season was a disaster. They finished the year with a record of 14-35, 5-17 in the Big Ten.

No one hit above .300.

Already losing reliable starters Tommy Finn and Tony Vercelli to graduation, NU was hit with a bunch of their veterans leaving the team in the off-season.

Junior Jake Goebbert was drafted by the Astros and signed. Then leading hitter Kenny Avila left the team for undisclosed reasons, as did pitchers Cole Livermore, Matt Diedrich, and Jonathan Purcell.

The only seniors entering this season were pitchers David Jensen, Joe Muraski, and catcher Chad Noble. Noble has played really well, but Jensen and Muraski have struggled.

In their first game of the year, they lost to George Mason by a score of 25-2.

Yet they entered last weekend’s series against the Wolverines tied for first place in the Big Ten. Whatever one has to say about Big Ten baseball, that’s very impressive considering what this team has had to deal with and where they came from at the start of the year.

The star of the team has indisputably been sophomore Paul Snieder. Not only is he tied for the team-lead in batting average at .374, he also happens to be a dominating closer. He’s nailed down 11 saves while sporting a sparkling ERA of 1.73.  The dominating pitching has seemingly come from nowhere…he only made 6 appearances last year and got roughed up in each of them. The power (6 homers) has always been there, but Snieder hit .244 last season.  His titanic improvement has been the number-one reason NU is a solid team in 2010.

Of course, you can’t overlook the strong starting pitching from former Big Ten Freshman Pitcher of the Year Eric Jokisch and sophomore Francis Brooke. Jokisch really struggled early in the year, but just like the rest of the team, has picked his game up in Big Ten play.

Without going into too many details, the offense has been sensational as there is not an easy out 1-9 in that order. From Arby Fields to Geoff Rowan, this team can HIT.

It had all the makings of a feel-good story. The team that lost a ton of upperclassmen unexpectedly and started the year so poorly…making a run for the Big Ten title.

Then Sunday happened, and the country, for one day at least, paid attention to Northwestern baseball. What they saw was a bad loss, but unfortunately that will be their only memory of this team.

Unless…this team has the will, the determination, the ability to (in the words of Paul Stevens) “sit there and find a way” to overcome this embarrassing defeat.

They still control their own destiny when it comes to making the Big Ten Tournament. The Big Ten is probably going to be a one-bid league this year, so Northwestern must win the tournament to go to a Regional. They’ve been to the NCAA Tournament once in their history and never in the time (23 years worth) of Paul Stevens. The last time they even made the Big Ten Tournament under Stevens was in 2006.

Making a regional is still within their grasp. The Big Ten is bad this year, and this NU team has an offense that can explode at any time.

The question is: do they have the ability to put this collapse behind them? If they do, there’s still hope to make this season one to remember…for all the right reasons.

First off the board, Corey Wootton, went to the Chicago Bears (full disclosure, I’m on the Bears’ season ticket waiting list, so I’m liking this pick). This is a great place for him to play. First of all, he’ll be close to home, or at least what his home was the last five years. That will make the adjustment much easier, and having Nick Roach around will certainly help him grow into the NFL. As a Bears fan, the defensive line needed some upgrading and I was saying for many picks before they should take Corey. It’s a huge “value” pick. Sadly, Corey could start. Mark Anderson, Jarron Gilbert, Izzy Idonije, and Henry Melton haven’t impressed anyone, but then again, I don’t trust Lovie Smith making a sound decision. Great to learn from Peppers as well.

Oh yea, and we just heard Corey just got engaged. So double congratulations!

(A couple links to Wootton blog posts – ESPNChicago.com / CSNChicago.com)

A little later, the Eagles took Mike Kafka. Let’s just say this. Kafka could not go to a better place. The West Coast offense they run under Andy Reid will be a great offense for Kafka if he ever gets the chance. Mike Vick’s Dog Pound will be gone in a year and Kevin Kolb will have all the pressure on him, so it gives Kafka a year or two to learn and then possibly step in. It’s great for him.

I was a little surprised to see Sherrick McManis get picked in the early 5th round by the Texans. I always thought he was one of the better corners in the draft, after the top guys of course. However, his workouts weren’t spectacular, but maybe teams are going away from measurables and looking more at tape. Great fit for McManis.

NOW, what this all means for NU football is huge. The fact that Northwestern is starting to really churn out NFL talent (especially top 5 round talent) is going to draw recruits to the program. Fitzgerald can point to a handful of guys that are making bank in the NFL. Nick Roach, for one, just signed a $1.3 million tender.  I know that used to be an issue, since so many players think they are NFL talent, when many times they aren’t, but they want to play on a team that has a history of NFL talent.

Just something to think about. Now keep your fingers crossed for Brew Crew to get picked up as a priority free agent.