[NU Sports] Big Ten - Preseason Awards

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> ** We have been everywhere, except
> for Penn State, but all the games were vs. Northwestern.

Hope you get to State College - it truly is a great experience.

And it's not like all the non-NU games were good ones ... I was at that wonderful 3-3 game that will likely be the last tie game in college football that Illinois and Wisconsin played the day we clinched the Rose Bowl. Truly a terrible game all around. But a couple of the MSU-PSU games were a lot of fun.

> WORST FANS: Indiana – Granted they haven’t had all the
> 
> ** No way!  Michigan fans are the worst.  They
> are professional fans who know nothing about their opponents

:) - well, I guess it all depends on personal encounters. Most of my run-ins with Michigan fans have been pleasant - a bit condescending perhaps when they thought there would be no way we could beat them, or beat them again, or do it again again:) etc. but civil. Ohio State fans, OTOH, were a bit more hit-and-miss.

As for Indiana, besides having a friend's car window broken there, is just bad overall because they have no following, no home presence, no tradition. Like I said, they haven't exactly had much to cheer for and are usually distracted by basketball, but still, they don't have any of the factors NU does and we seem to travel more and get a better home crowd.

> major.  The best fans are ohio staters.  Everytime
> we encounter sober ones we have good conversations as they

:) - maybe I just haven't encountered one of those yet.

Favorite OSU fan - when tailgating there with NUMB members, a group of Buckeye sorority sisters came up and asked if our band did anything cool, like "dot the I in Northwestern" ... after a few seconds of silence and some puzzled stares, she continued "well, you KNOW what I mean!"

> ** I actually like the Boiler best.  Everything else
> is a freaky cartoon character now that Chief Illiniwek is
> gone.

Oops, is Illiniwek officially gone? I thought he still did a dance at certain halftimes. Oh well, most of them still freak me out. Bring back the old Willie!

> WORST TRADITIONS: Purdue – The train whistle, “Boiler
> Up!” and world’s largest drum make Ross Ade Stadium the
> 
> ** Again I have to go with Purdue.  The drum combined
> with the train is pretty unique.  What the hell can you

:) - OK, I give them credit for trying (since most of their bells and whistles (no pun intended) are from the last decade (drum aside). But it's still annoying - it's like they try too hard. Then again, that nittany growl used to be annoying before PSU found a million things to do with the color white instead.

But I agree, it's tough for Purdue. They had a great run under Tiller and still can't get much notice or fill that cavernous stadium routinely.

I'm psyched for the season!
GO CATS!!!
-SjT