For the first time since September 15, 2007 Northwestern was hosting a night game at Ryan Field. Thus, even though the Chicago Blackhawks were raising their championship banner at the United Center and the U.S. Men’s National Soccer team was playing Poland in a friendly at Soldier Field, we went to the Northwestern game – my third choice.
However, it became my first choice for three reasons. First, the Ultimate Sports Wife insisted that we attend the Northwestern football game. This was the first Northwestern football game she would attend since …

For the first time in eight years I attended a Northwestern baseball game. The last time I attended (May 17, 2002) my brother was in town and we had nothing to do on a Friday afternoon. This time, my wife had forgotten something on campus. So rather than drive up to Evanston and spend five minutes picking it up, I made the trip “worthwhile” and attended the Northwestern baseball game. In addition, to give Nicole a break from our newborn son, I took him to the game.
Buying Tickets
Tickets for Northwestern …

A few weeks ago, Northwestern men’s basketball was on the “bubble” of making the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. However, after losing to Iowa on the road and to lowly Penn St. TWICE, it was official that Northwestern would only have a shot at making the NIT tournament.
Rather than dwell on the negative, Northwestern had a shot to win its most regular season games (19) in team history with a win over Chicago St. – not to be taken lightly after the Wildcats poor play in late February.

Tonight was also senior …

Last time I saw a Northwestern and Iowa match up was this past football season in Iowa City. I will not indulge with all the details but, of course, Northwestern won to thwart Iowa’s perfect season. At that time, I carpooled to Iowa City with some hard-core, self-identified “corn-fed” fans. My greatest feat that day was not getting a ticket for face value or free beer from tailgates but getting into the car with my Iowa friends for our ride back home to Chicago.
Fast forward to tonight, when Northwestern hosted …

Once again Nicole needed to be on campus tonight.  With the Northwestern women’s basketball team playing at home I decided to make the trip to Evanston.  I dropped Nicole off at the Sociology department and drove up to Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Obtaining Tickets
Tonight may have been the first time I have paid full price (only $7) for a Northwestern women’s basketball game.  In the past, the women’s games have always seemed to have some special that allowed you to buy a discounted ticket.
The Game
The women pulled off something the men could not …

Once again the wife and I drove to campus. My plan was to attend the Northwestern men’s basketball game versus Penn St. while she worked on campus.
The Game
This was a game Northwestern was “supposed” to win. Penn St. was winless in the Big Ten and Northwestern was on the bubble for their first NCAA Tournament berth in school history. But somebody failed to tell both teams as Penn St. managed their first Big Ten win of the season defeating Northwestern 81-70.
As opposed to Sunday when Northwestern made …

On a Sunday afternoon when the wife was teaching her ice skating students in a competition, I drove to Evanston for the Minnesota at Northwestern game – a typical way to spend Valentine’s Day :-).
Even before today, Northwestern most likely needed to win out the regular season in order to have any chance of making the NCAA Tournament. And today was one of those days that made you question whether they could do so.
Minnesota had an 8-point lead at halftime. Northwestern closed that lead to two points 3:54 into the …

Today I attended a sporting event on Super Bowl Sunday (that was not the Super Bowl). Northwestern scheduled their Sunday afternoon game for 1:30 pm CT, which was perfect timing in order to attend the game and still get back to wherever fans were planning to watch the Super Bowl.
The GameNorthwestern got out to an initial 13-2 lead and their lead never dipped below nine points as the Wildcats defeated Indiana convincingly 78-61. This was Northwestern’s first three-game winning streak versus Indiana since the 1930s – there are …

The main reason I bought Northwestern men’s basketball season tickets this year is that the Ultimate Sports Wife is a Ph.D. student at Northwestern University. We met in undergrad at Northwestern so I do have “another” reason to attend. However, with Nicole spending much of her time on campus, I realized that buying season tickets 1) gives her an incentive to go to campus to work, 2) allows me to attend the basketball games and 3) allows us to spend more time together since we are both on campus – …

As Nicole and I have done for Northwestern men’s basketball games this season, we drove to campus today. However, the Northwestern women’s basketball team was home rather than the men’s team. I dropped Nicole off at the Sociology department and drove to Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Obtaining Tickets
I had a free ticket for the game since it was included in my men’s basketball season ticket package. With men’s basketball season tickets, I received one free ticket for a women’s game.
The Game
Northwestern squeaked out a victory over Minnesota 61-60 as Brittany Orban missed the …