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<a href='http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/footballinamerica/news/story?id=1920014' target='_blank'>http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/footballinam...tory?id=1920014</a>

Err...sorry...meant to say about NIU, not NUI. Not intentional! :-)
Must have been written by somebody from U of I. We do not have an inferiority complex, and most of us don't wish we went to U of I. We have several decades of ineptitude to go before we get close to the Cubbies' achievements. It actually makes Novak's and the football team's accomplishments more impressive, pointing out the facilities they have to work with.

But, whatever. Maybe Lee Corso wrote the article. Or Craig James.
Quote: "A female fan wore nothing but blue jeans and a velvet red bra."

Photos please?
I think that article is very misfortunate for NIU and the MAC. They are just pissing on NIU's MAJOR strides. So what if 3 or 4 sorority girls who weren't interested in FB in the first place left a close game early? That wasn't indicative of the rest of the fan base. Most of them didn't leave until Toledo got the ball back with around 5 mins left up by 14...pretty good for sub 30 degree temps and 20 degree windchills. I've seen mass exodus on TV much worse than that earlier in the game from major programs.

Maybe this article hits home too much for me. Granted, Ball State has had major football struggles the past 8-9 years, but some of the crap in that article is just not true. I could see an ESPN writer in love with the BCS schools writing the same thing about BSU. Trust me, Ball State went on a standards-raising initiative around 8-9 years ago, and kids that can't get into BSU now go to Indiana and Purdue. I wouldn't be surprised if the same applies to NIU and other MAC schools.

I will admit that it seems that a fraction of the community and student base has a doomsday attitude, but that has drastically changed for NIU with its recent success. BSU lost a lot of local/ student doubters with our Maui run a few years ago...we have a lot more work to do with two bad years of basketball and 8-9 bad years of football, but I am optimistic. The state media (and I'm sure NIU deals with the same crap) goes a long way to create that inferiority complex as well by constantly hyping overrated BCS programs in the state.
Lets not forget the game was 800 short of a sellout. A 6:30 Tuesday night game. I'd say that shows pretty good support.
[Image: huskies_i.jpg]

:rofl:
That article is appalling. Why ESPN would write something so negative about NIU is unimaginable. I would be terribly offended, both from an athletic and academic perspective, if I were an NIU alumnus or student. Even from a Toledo fan, I think the article is in bad taste.
Yea, obviously there were 27,000+ people that were not expecting NIU to lose. I thought the crowd was pretty loud, and we pretty much packed the stadium. Nothing disappointing about that.

It does look like a BCS-lover wrote the article.
The crowd was great. In the same situation NorthWestern would of had half the crowd NIU did and 75% of that crowd would of been the opponents fans. NIU has come a long way to get around 28K in freezing temps on a weeknight.
Quote:Ask the Northern Illinois diehards and they tell you that's the way it's supposed to be. They compare cheering for the Huskies to cheering for the Chicago Cubs -- wait around long enough and things will fall apart.
What's this? A cameo by MAKO? Won't give his insults and analysis after the shaming of the Herd in Akron, but pipes in just long enough to insult the Huskies?
The article was lazy and sucked compared to the lively scene I saw on TV the other night. However, I'll give the writer this much: there are a lot of Cub fans in NIU's fan base, and I'd imagine it's pretty easy for those folks to draw parallels between their beloved Huskies and the North Siders in terms of having your heart ripped out and stomped on at the last possible moment.

(Not that I've ever experienced that feeling in my three decades plus on earth as a Cub fan. No, never. Not me. Uh-uh. I'm completely well-adjusted when it comes to baseball... when the Cubs bullpen doesn't make my HEAD EXPLODE.... there, that's better...)
Papa Lou BSU Wrote:The article was lazy and sucked compared to the lively scene I saw on TV the other night. However, I'll give the writer this much: there are a lot of Cub fans in NIU's fan base, and I'd imagine it's pretty easy for those folks to draw parallels between their beloved Huskies and the North Siders in terms of having your heart ripped out and stomped on at the last possible moment.

(Not that I've ever experienced that feeling in my three decades plus on earth as a Cub fan. No, never. Not me. Uh-uh. I'm completely well-adjusted when it comes to baseball... when the Cubs bullpen doesn't make my HEAD EXPLODE.... there, that's better...)
There's also a good share of Sox fans in the Huskie base.

A favorite exchange at the SIU game:
NIU student: f*** SIU!
SIU student: Can't we agree on the Cubs?
NIU student: I'm a Sox fan, f*** the Cubs!

Sometimes undergrad fondness for f and its variants at the stadium has its amusing side.

In a way I actually think being a Sox fan is a little more comparable recent years of being a Huskie fan. There's the pain of being almost there, not quite having the resources to get over the hump and living in the shadow of a larger, more obnoxious fan base.

Its funny- SI did an article with similar content but spun in a different way. NIU as the place were athletes work harder than other places because we don't have the tools other places have, a place where an athletes character takes them far.

And as for academics- sure NIU lives in the shadow of UIUC. So what? Sure a lot of people had UIUC as their first choice- so what? They're here, they're studying accounting, they're studing to be teachers, they're in our nursing school, our engineering school, our law school. I think our students are often a lot like our athletes. They weren't the ones at the top of the heap, but they have some ability, and they're here making something of themselves. A person who went to some big flagship land grant school won't get that- he won't see why a place like NIU even exists.

And as for his little anecdote at the end of the article of the kid heading out to the bar after the game- what would he prefer, a riot? It's football, not life and death. Acting like the world ends because your team loses a game is just idiotic. But apparently people with healthy attitudes about sports need to be criticized.


03-pissed 03-banghead


I have to say though- I do like those "no fly zone" signs. Given our style of play I hope those are a regular feature (not sure that they are or not). We should be proud of being a running team.
Quote:And as for academics- sure NIU lives in the shadow of UIUC. So what? Sure a lot of people had UIUC as their first choice- so what? They're here, they're studying accounting, they're studing to be teachers, they're in our nursing school, our engineering school, our law school. I think our students are often a lot like our athletes. They weren't the ones at the top of the heap, but they have some ability, and they're here making something of themselves

I don't think this is completely the case. At any state school there is going to be some good students ending up there. Kids sometimes choose a school based on whether a girlfriend or boyfriend is going, or if they have a lot of friends going there. Especially at state schools where your dealing with all-American teenager types they tend to make choices more on social factors than academic reputation.

If a NIU grad and a Illinois grad are applying for the same job with the same credentials, they would be treated the same. Now if was between someone who went to NIU 2 years and a Illinois grad that would be a different story. The real difference is at the directional colleges, aren't graduating as many students as the flagships, and fewer are working hard in student organizations and professional internships, so a grad from NIU with superior credentials is more rare.

The graduation rate from Illinios is 80%, while its 50% from NIU.

And then you have a state like West Virginia, where the flagship is only graduating 55% of its students, with Marshall only 36%. How many investment bankers are coming out of this state?
Ok but my central point remains the same-

They're here is what counts- they're here and doing something. They aren't picking their noses and drooling for the most part. 50% graduate. That's pretty much a function of a school's place in the system at a guess.

People with college degrees earn much more than people with only high school diplomas, and people with at least some college do better than people without any in terms of income. (forgive any imprecision on my part, I'm working from hazy memories of a sociology class) So by at least that measure (if I'm remembering accurately) even if a person never graduates they're still better off than if they had never been here.

The point wasn't that we are just as good- although good students at NIU or Ball State or Kent State are would be good students most any place, IMO- the point was that the students are here doing something that will lead them to better status in society than they would be without. They will be teachers, they will be darn good accountants, they will be nurses and engineers and so on.

That's what I was trying convey kinda poorly. It seemed to me the mook who wrote the article was slamming NIU students just because they, in his estimation "couldn't get into U of I". My point was that at least they're somewhere bettering their life chances.

There's a world beyond the big schools, a concept that says that college should be accessible to the mass of people even if the big flagship school isn't. He doesn't seem to get that and I was venting about it.
MAKO Wrote:
Quote:Ask the Northern Illinois diehards and they tell you that's the way it's supposed to be. They compare cheering for the Huskies to cheering for the Chicago Cubs -- wait around long enough and things will fall apart.
NIU fans aren't used to winning games. The fact is that this will be our 5th straight winning season - the first time that has ever happened at NIU, at least since we went Div 1.

I don't really see the point of the article, unless the article was to denigrate a university, its fans and its students. I expect much better from ESPN - perhaps I shouldn't, considering in the recent past they've joined the ignorant reality TV realm and hired Jim Rome again.
MacLord Wrote:What's this? A cameo by MAKO? Won't give his insults and analysis after the shaming of the Herd in Akron, but pipes in just long enough to insult the Huskies?
Uh, yeah. He's too chickenshit to tell the Herd story like it is, but doesn't mind call NIU chokers.

I knew his colors, but he just broadcast them for the entire board. Hey, Mako, when are you gonna call out Marshall, too?
DogTracks Wrote:Its funny- SI did an article with similar content but spun in a different way. NIU as the place were athletes work harder than other places because we don't have the tools other places have, a place where an athletes character takes them far.
I just don't see the reason behind the article. Here we are with a full house on a Tuesday night, a week after the conference's most storied program had a half-full house on the same night. That's a very GOOD thing. So why write something trying to bring down the school and its fanbase?

It really goes to show what ESPN is becoming compared to a more classy group a SI, who chose to focus on the real story - doing a lot with little and with class.
One thing hits close to home, though. Why can't the fan bases of Miami, Marshall, NIU, etc... just enjoy their successes and be happy for who they are (and root for their own school to the exclusion of all others), instead of looking over their shoulder. MAC fans can deny it all they want, but Marshall clearly has a "little brother" complex where WVU is concerned, NIU has the same thing of UI, Ball State has the same think with IU, the Ohio schools have the same thing with OSU, the Michigan schools have the same thing with U of M and MSU, etc...

Your schools athletic experience is only as good as the students and alumni at the university make it. If the Miami alums in Dayton, Cincy, Columbus, Springfield, Indiana, and Kentucky would follow the program and give it their enthusiastic support (that they might give to the Bengals, etc...), the gameday experience would be AWESOME every time. Even for Marshall, which has probably the most loyal fan base in the MAC, can't sell out their stadium. Why? They've been one of the winningest college football programs in the country the last 10 years -- far better than WVU. Yet, WVU sells out and Marshall doesn't. Again, why? Surely there are enough Marshall grads, fans, students, etc... who like sports in the general area to fill the stadium. Surely there are enough Toledo fans in Toledo to pack the Glass Bowl. I mean, unlike Miami, that has a bit of a disconnect with the "locals," Toledo has community backing in a pretty big city.

I wish I could change people's attitudes. I really do. I just don't get it. 04-drinky
HuskieDan Wrote:
MAKO Wrote:
Quote:Ask the Northern Illinois diehards and they tell you that's the way it's supposed to be. They compare cheering for the Huskies to cheering for the Chicago Cubs -- wait around long enough and things will fall apart.
NIU fans aren't used to winning games. The fact is that this will be our 5th straight winning season - the first time that has ever happened at NIU, at least since we went Div 1.

I don't really see the point of the article, unless the article was to denigrate a university, its fans and its students. I expect much better from ESPN - perhaps I shouldn't, considering in the recent past they've joined the ignorant reality TV realm and hired Jim Rome again.
I do think that it is just a way to denigrate not only NIU but "mid major" schools in general. This is about saying we(all of us) don't have the academics or athletics to be worthy of being in 1A.

There are a couple more things:

"He coaches at a school where football and athletics are not a top priority."

I thought the top priority of a school is ACADEMICS and NOT ATHLETICS? After all those years of classes, it is VERY disappointing to find out that I have been completely wrong. :( Apparently, we are supposed to cut instructors and research so we can pay a coach millions of dollars and add 100's of millions of dollars on facilities for football.

Also, did he do ANY research about our athletics program? We have a school President who is working hard with the MAC to make the conference(and NIU) better, we have a new AD who from everything I have seen is top notch(assistant from the presses beloved Irish). Increased salary for our coaches, nice new Convo Center(even if the team that plays there is not so good) and hopefully and endzone facility very soon(eliminating that broom closet office Novak works out of).
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