Jon

Phillips was the AD at NIU when we played them at Soldier Field, so I could definitely see something happening. I can't imagine that happening in the near future. We may very well draw more purple in Evanston than at Soldier Field. We last played in the old Soldier Field in 1997 against Oklahoma. We had 5 sellouts between the 1995 and 1996 seasons, yet only drew just over 35,000 at Soldier Field to open the 1997 season. And playing at Soldier Field wouldn't really be that special. Nowhere close to Wrigley Field. NIU did it to draw more Chicago-area media attention and it worked. The benefits wouldn't come that close to outweighing the costs for Northwestern. Personally, playing at Soldier Field would be much more of a hassle and inconvenience than anything else. The idea for Wrigley started before Phillips came in, though. There isn't any indication that he'd consider Soldier Field.

I mentioned it in the recruiting thread, but I'm glad there's an article about it rather than one report of a quick mention on TV. Phillips is doing a great job so far as AD and I like that he (and apparently Murphy) are willing to think of different ideas. With that said, it'd be risky. I wouldn't have an interest in doing it if we'd be giving up a home game for a neutral date. -Northwestern plays Illinois in the month of October in 2011 and 2012, so unless Illinois also has the weekend after Thanksgiving free in either of those two years, those years would be out. It would have to happen in 2010 or not until 2013 or later. -We only have 6 home games in 2010, 2011, and possibly 2012. Giving up a home game for a neutral game would be really risky financially. -Our future November home dates include Iowa and Illinois in 2010, Michigan in 2011, and Ohio State (11/3 would probably be too early) and Minnesota in 2012. I could possibly see Iowa working logistically, but we'd have bigger crowds against Iowa in Evanston than against Illinois. Illinois doesn't bring as many fans up north. Northwestern and Wisconsin have developed a nice rivalry, which will resume in 2009 when we end our season against them in Evanston. The problem is that partially since Wisconsin is the closest Big Ten school to Northwestern, I can't imagine Phillips would want to sacrifice the crowd we'd get at Ryan Field. Plus, 2009 may be too early for this. As for Notre Dame, they won't schedule us anymore. And I can't say I blame them. In terms of national recruiting reputation, they have nothing to gain by beating us. On the other hand, beating Notre Dame would help our recruiting. Of course, the game would have to be played in November and Novembers are booked up for Big Ten games. That won't happen. It's an interesting idea and would be really cool to go to, but I really don't know about it. The last time we sold a home game was to Ohio State in Cleveland. That was a disaster.

Northwestern already has a really strong class, but locking down Proby and getting Custis would make it a great one for us. According to a post on the Northwestern Rivals board, Crane Kenney said on TV that he had some talks with NU AD Jim Phillips about a possible Northwestern vs. Illinois matchup at Wrigley. Since the two play each other in October in 2011 and 2012, it'd have to be in the next two years or after 2012. It would be really cool, but only if a) we wouldn't be giving up a home game and b) I'd still be able to get tickets. EDIT: Nevermind, Custis just picked us over Stanford today. Hot damn.

He called it on the dude defending in the post who gave a little shove to the back before the ball arrived. The only problem with that was he waited to call it a full second and a half later once Moore came down and stripped the ball. Weak. Chris Kramer is such a tool. The way they react after every foul is so annoying. If you want to play that style of defense, great. Just realize that you could be called for a foul every possession. Usually at least 2 guys. That would have been at least two seconds. The foul was Ryan putting his arm on his back without pushing off or even holding back an advance to the basket. There wasn't a foul. Combine that with the "intentional foul" called on Ryan earlier and I don't know what they were calling him for. 5 or 6 straight trips to the line with just one made FT to end the game and countless blown chances at the basket from start to finish. This is getting really old.

Thanks for the phantom foul call against us on the turnover to send Purdue to the line for the easy win.

Both Dunbar and Roof (DC at Auburn) are out at Minnesota. Not a lot of consistency going on up there.

How dare a Wisconsin player make a mockery of the Seminole chop.

My flight to the Alamo Bowl doesn't leave until 3:45 this afternoon, so I'll be able to listen to the first quarter or two on the radio and hopefully catch the rest of it on TV at O'Hare. Should be a fun time.

Losing booth audio is the greatest technical difficulty possible in a nationally televised sporting event.

$249 for up to 12 tickets? HAH. Considering what the secondary market is going to be for those tickets, it's a ripoff.

For the non-$75, yeah. From what I saw this morning and the limited # of $75 seats available today, I figure that you'd still be able to make a little bit. I doubt there's a risk for taking a loss on those.

I finally pulled up a pair of $225 tickets, but I'm not going to pay that much to go. The $75 ones look to be all gone.

Yeah, keeps sending me back to the VWR.

It was a VWR, but now it's not for some reason.

If you open up a crapload of windows, the issue will probably be not whether you get through, but whether you can get tickets that don't say "limited view" or "obstructed." Here's the seating chart: http://cdn.nhl.com/blackhawks/images/upload/2008/11/Master-WC-Seating-Chart2.jpg

Is it going to be an online waiting room like Cubs tickets? Or is it just first come first serve? I kinda doubt they'll use the VWR, but they might.

Is anyone else trying for tickets today? Even if I could get non-limited view seats in the $75 range, I'm not positive I'd go.

OH HELL YES

I almost wish they hadn't. Defensive stop + good punt return is our best chance for a field goal. Except the defense hasn't been very impressive considering the Packers would open up their passing game and we don't have a good punt return game. The only effective return game comes on kickoffs.

It would be nice if the Bears stopped blitzing and gave themselves a chance to make a stop.

I'm not sure that can get any closer without being touched. How that's a touchback, though, beats me.

http://protected.tickets.com/buy/TicketOnsale?orgid=30867&agency=HOCK_CUBS_STH&poid=13565

50% - the chance of being arrested if you're the governor of Illinois 48% - the chance of being convicted if you murder someone 40% - the chance that you earn an undergraduate degree if you play football at Texas Something seems wrong about that list.

The Cubs said they'd ship the week of 12/17. That's all I've got.