Yes, We're Totally Pulling For Northwestern, And You Should Be, Too

by Ricky O'Donnell on January 19, 2010 at 2:38AM

I usually let Stompy handle college sports around here, because college sports are kind of stupid. I mean, I'm sure they're cool if you went to a college with sports teams, but I didn't. I went to art school, and art school kids think sports epitomize everything that's wrong with the world. I'd tell them differently but they'd probably start crying, and I'd hate clean up all that eyeliner. So forgive me if this is the first post I've written on Northwestern in nearly three years. I'll make it up to everyone by writing at least one more Northwestern hoops post this year. At least.

This is Northwestern's best player. Seriously.

It's funny, I considered doing a weekly feature on Northwestern's pursuit of their first Big Dance when college basketball season started, but ultimately decided against it because I didn't think anyone would care.

Whoops?

Northwestern hoops is all over the place right now. David Haugh has a big column on the Wildcats in today's Trib. Deadspin's running a weekly thing called "So You Think NU Can Dance". Northwestern even got a back page column devoted to them in the latest Sports Illustrated.

It makes sense if you think about it -- Northwestern is one of the best journalism schools in the country, so of course they're going to get mad press whenever they're decent at anything. They probably educated half of the media.

I know too much media attention turns the world against something like nothing else. You really can't argue with that. And yeah, if Northwestern actually does make the tournament - now possible (likely?) after beating No. 6 Purdue this weekend - we're going to get smothered in stories about the program. It'll probably be a big turnoff for any non-NU alum. And I really don't think that's fair.

You should root for this team because they're cool and homegrown and because this never happens to them. They're in rarefied air right now. Take a peak at how Lake The Posts described the atmosphere at the Purdue game:

I was actually happy to see the throngs rush the court as it technically was a win over a top ten team (stress technically). You can debate the merits of a court rush over a team that had dropped its third straight game - that week - however I was thinking bigger picture. Unlike football where I spend much of my time defending misconceptions and ridiculous holdover sterotypes of our program from nearly 20 years ago, hoops history is indefensible. We've sucked. Period. We all know there has never been so much as a sniff of an NCAA Tournament appearance. And students have more or less shown their want to not test the ultimate in cheering challenges by modestly attending. When you consider the track record, the student turnout is actually quite phenomenal.

The two biggest stories in Chicago sports are the Blackhawks and Northwestern basketball. Cool, right?

6 Comments | Leave a comment

Eli K. | January 19, 2010 11:25 AM | Reply

Let me tell you, Evanston is abuzz for the Wildcats. I've seen at least two people wearing NU basketball clothing, which is two more than the past 21 years combined.

BobbyStompy | January 19, 2010 12:38 PM | Reply

I'm generally a Northwestern supporter (especially in football), but Shanoff graduated from there, and he has been beating this NU bball team to death from the very start of the season. I think he even called it the biggest NCAA story, pre-season.

I am off this.

Ricky | January 19, 2010 3:19 PM | Reply

Does that mean I have to change the headline from "We're" to "I'm"? Maybe I shouldn't have assumed you were on-board.

BobbyStompy | January 19, 2010 4:15 PM | Reply

I'd rather just sacrifice my stance to keep the headline and perpetuate our use of the royal we.

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Yes, We're Totally Pulling For Northwestern, And You Should Be, Too

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