Quote of the year

[VectorVictor]

In the Big 10:

*Northwestern is the only private school

*Northwestern may have the highest academic standards, and maybe the highest football graduation rate.

*Northwestern is not a football school yet unlike the University of Chicago, which was in the Big10, did not drop Division 1 football.to focus on academics

*Unlike UNL or OSU, Northwestern is not the only sporting venue in town, let alone many other things to do in Chicago

*Northwestern campus does not have a lot of space to grow

*Northwestern would like to be where Stanford is, tops in academics but also tops in sports, but is making progress on the sports end.

 

A lakefront practice facility is the higher priority, which unlike the stadium will be used every day. Plus the fan base is not there like ND and UNL to fund stadium improvements for reasons above.

So the stadium, which is in a neighborhood like Wrigley, is what it is, and right-sized for now, and please come again in two years.

I have been nothing less that impressed with NU since we joined the B1G.

 

Not to kick a school when they're down, but the Little League teams in Lincoln and Omaha have better baseball and softball facilities than NW does.

 

Seriously--their facilites are so bad for baseball that I wouldn't have been shocked to hear that NW had a juice and snack post-game schedule for the players' mothers. It's *that* bad.

 

I do have to give credit where it's due, though--at least NW doesn't have to tarp off sections of their stadium like Baylor does.

 

And as an aside, no one on this board should use NU to refer to anything but the University of Nebraska. I think our team earned that until next year, at any rate.

 

 

[huskeraddict]

Why do you guys think NW's stadium is any worse than Kansas' or Mizzou's? Mizzou's stadium was fringe in the B12 and a joke in the SEC.

[rdg25]

Not to kick a school when they're down, but the Little League teams in Lincoln and Omaha have better baseball and softball facilities than NW does.

 

Seriously--their facilites are so bad for baseball that I wouldn't have been shocked to hear that NW had a juice and snack post-game schedule for the players' mothers. It's *that* bad.

I haven't seen the baseball facilities north of the stadium, but maybe if Joe Giradi retires from the Yankees, he can come back to his alma mater and help improve the facilities and interest. Hard to promote baseball with the Cubs and Sox in town down the "L" Red line. Were he still alive, George Steinbrenner may have been interested too, since he coached the football Wildcats as an assistant to Lou Saban. Good luck with Michigan this week, should be a good game.

[VectorVictor]

Not to kick a school when they're down, but the Little League teams in Lincoln and Omaha have better baseball and softball facilities than NW does.

 

Seriously--their facilites are so bad for baseball that I wouldn't have been shocked to hear that NW had a juice and snack post-game schedule for the players' mothers. It's *that* bad.

I haven't seen the baseball facilities north of the stadium, but maybe if Joe Giradi retires from the Yankees, he can come back to his alma mater and help improve the facilities and interest. Hard to promote baseball with the Cubs and Sox in town down the "L" Red line. Were he still alive, George Steinbrenner may have been interested too, since he coached the football Wildcats as an assistant to Lou Saban. Good luck with Michigan this week, should be a good game.

 

It's hard to promote baseball period in the B1G, with the additional rules on recruiting Delaney has in place (and that other conferences don't). But still, that doesn't mean you have to resort to something as rinkydink as NW's sandlot field. You can have a classy, yet small/cozy ballpark that's respectable and doesn't break the bank.

 

Perhaps there's something in the recent athletic department renovation money at NW for a new field?

 

And I'm glad to hear that the NW fans were, for the most part, pleasant and respectable. Another nice change of pace from the Lubbock and Waco teams, at any rate.

[rdg25]

With the focus on the Lakefront facility, I am not sure if a baseball renovation is in the works. Instead of the mantra being "If we build it, they will come", it is more like "If they come, we will build it".

 

Having said that, facilities are important, but most true fans are there for the game. I think you saw a good one Saturday, unlike the 66-17 Northwestern/Nebraska Amamo Bowl in 2000. Hopefully they will continue to be good ones in future battles for the "NU trophy".

 

When I saw the Bears playing at Wrigley, the facilities weren't that good for football, neither was the team really, except for Butkus and Sayers. When you see plays like this (at 2:35-2:40), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxR9qYSHt8U Butkus smashing Ron Johnson (Browns/Michigan alum) from 10-20 feet away like I did, you're defintely glad you were there for the game in spite of the facilities.

 

By the way, is there any coincidence that Fitzgerald wore #51 when he played at Northwestern? Hopefully if/when recruiting improves after the Lakefront facility, that type of defense may be more prevalent in future Nebraska-Northwestern contests, and you'll be glad you were there for the game in spite of the stadium.

[robsker]

Dick Butkus was truly amazing. Just flat mean, cruel, violent and nasty. Watching that again was reliving my youth in Chi-town. What a beast. bears fans have had not many winning seasons over time.. but we had Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus and Walter Payton... and it gets no better than those three.

[NUance]

I didn’t think the facilities were bad at all. NW is not tOSU. NW is an academic powerhouse, not a football powerhouse. Ryan Field fits NW just fine. Besides, there isn’t a bad seat in the house, like someone above said—except maybe the seats behind the upperdeck poles. lol I hope one of my kids attends NW someday. Great school and great campus! And the fans I met were a real class act.

 

My only dig at Ryan Field is the video screens. Aside from being tiny and hard to see, they don’t show many replays. It seems like they often wouldn’t show the replay even for big plays and close calls. I was really missing Huskervision during the NW game.