[NU Sports] Turkey and Big Ten football ...

Tue Dec 11 09:26:13 CST 2007

Yes, usually the IHSA schedules their games immediately after Thanksgiving,
but for whatever reason in 2001 there were games the preceding Saturday
which forced Illinois to move the game to Thanksgiving day.  And regarding
Minnesota, since the Metrodome opened the rule has been that if the Twins
make the playoffs, those games take precedence and can force the Gophers
football games to be moved (although the Vikings have first priority at the
stadium).

Anyways regarding that 2001 game, I was surprised that NU was in the game at
the end - and there was the one long pass to Kunle Patrick on what I think
was 3rd and 10 at the very end of the game where Kunle was in single
coverage and had a step or two on the defender, but did a studder step as he
was looking back into the sun for the ball and the pass ended up being a
little beyond his reach.  Anyways it was an unusual end to an unusual season
that started with the unfortunate passing of Rashidi Wheeler and 9/11 and
was followed by multiple close losses (PSU, Purdue, BGSU, and Illinois) as
well as some blowouts with a lot of injuries sprinkled in (most notably to
Damien Anderson).

And regarding NU basketball, it's hard to tell given the level of
competition they've faced over the past few games, but the fact is that they
could be looking at a much better record if Coble was available, although
he's definitely making a good move by being there for his mom.

Jonathan

On Dec 11, 2007 8:48 AM, mlinhardt at netzero.net <mlinhardt at netzero.net>
wrote:

> You mean the "following" weekend for the IHSA games.
>
> IHSA is always the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.  When we are in
> town we love to sit in front of the TV and watch the 8 divisions on public
> television.  The difference between 1-A and 8-A can be as large as
> difference between pee-wee and D-III college.  The 8-A LBs are heavier than
> most of the 1-A OLs.
>
> We were in cham-bana for the game.  We still don't know why Kustok threw
> 3(or maybe it was 4) long passes instead of taking intermediate sideline
> routes to move down the field.
>
> Illinois and Minnesota have both screwed us moving games.  NEVER AGAIN!
>
> On a separate note is our basketball team turning the corner?  Not on a
> season basis, but compared to how we started the year.
>
> -- "Jonathan Hodges" <jonathanwhodges at gmail.com> wrote:
> PS: that 2001 NU vs. Illinois game was ON Thanksgiving - and I was
> surprised how many people were in attendance given that the game was on
> turkey day (I was there with a group from NUMB) for Illinois' Big Ten title
> clincher(although NU made it a pretty close game 28-34).  That game was
> moved with special permission because, for some reason, the state scheduled
> its high school championship games in Champaign the previous weekend.
>
> On Dec 10, 2007 10:36 PM, SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Saw on ESPN that the Big Ten approved an additional
> > bye week to the football schedule, allowing games to
> > be played after Thanksgiving next year.
> >
> > It's probably a good move - you could see the need for
> > it with the week after Thanksgiving and the title game
> > week making a season that ended before then long
> > forgotten. It helped this year, but this was an
> > extraordinary year in many respects. Without a title
> > game, the league needed to do something like this.
> >
> > This will likely hurt the ACC and Big East, who used
> > to use our absence to get on ESPN (NU alum had that
> > great line in his SI column the week after
> > Thanksgiving this year about dreaming of a Saturday
> > morning and finding nothing but ACC football on TV ...
> > then waking up to find it a reality :) ). Maybe the
> > Big Ten will move times (and days?) around a bit for
> > BTN or other TV options. Maybe a Thanksgiving night
> > game? Friday game?
> >
> > I know some fans won't like it, but I can remember two
> > post-Turkey day games. The NU-Illinois 2001 game was
> > probably the "case against" the move, with the game in
> > Champaign on a Friday, with the Illini playing for a
> > Big Ten title, and half the seats empty. It was fun to
> > have family in town for turkey, wake up the next
> > morning and pack the tailgate gear for a short (yet
> > dull:) ) drive down to Champaign for the game - but
> > the atmosphere left a lot to be desired.
> >
> > The "case for" was in 1997 (or 98?) when we went out
> > to Happy Valley to visit my brother for Thanksgiving
> > and saw the PSU-MSU game. Turkey Day itself was
> > bizarre as State College was a ghost town with dorms
> > closed and no one in town. But things picked up by
> > Saturday and as usual, State College was buzzing for
> > game day and it was a perfect place for some holiday
> > weekend fun, festivities and football (but then again,
> > any gameday weekend at PSU seems like a little holiday
> > event).
> >
> > We'll see how it works. We pretty much had to do it
> > and I'm sure the coaches and teams will appreciate the
> > bye week again during the season to rest up. Plus,
> > another weekend of Big Ten football can't be a bad
> > thing, right?
> >
> > GO CATS!!!
> > -SjT
> >
> > * * * * * * * * *
> > STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> > sjtruog at yahoo.com
> > GO CATS!!!
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
> --
> Jonathan W. Hodges
> 1237 Emerson St Apt 2
> Evanston, IL  60201-3577
> (847) 736-2449
> jonathanwhodges at gmail.com
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-- 
Jonathan W. Hodges
1237 Emerson St Apt 2
Evanston, IL  60201-3577
(847) 736-2449
jonathanwhodges at gmail.com