Those who know college sports know that Northwestern University is not known for their supremacy in athletics.  They're more known for debate and their academics and their periodic upsets in football.  But during spring season, Northwestern stands out, especially among big ten teams.  Softball is the #4 seed in the upcoming tournament, Girls' Lacrosse are the defending champs and also the #4 seed.  Women's tennis has advanced to the quarterfinals.  Baseball is leading the big ten and boys' golf just won the big ten championship.

But unless you were a Northwestern fan or a die-hard college sports fan, the first thing you'd synonymize with Northwestern athletics these days are the hazing scandals involving men's swimming and girls' soccer.  Now, I'm in no means condoning anything my future classmates partook in, however, it's sad that the first time Northwestern gets serious press for sports it's for something like that.  Especially during a time of great success for Northwestern spring athletics, all the media wants to talk about is hazing.  Hazing is a reality that the media and society have to accept.  No, it's not pretty, but every sport at every college does some sort of hazing.  And nothing was violent in Northwestern's hazings.  Once again, I'm not condoning the actions, but we in the media need to pick and choose wisely what to discuss.  Yes, people want to hear about the hazing, it's a big controversy.  But wouldn't it be nice to discuss how a school not known for its athletics is performing at such a high level this season?  If the hazing scandal opened people's eyes to how Northwestern is faring this season in athletics, great, but I don't think it will.  We need to prioritize better on what is important and decipher importance with what people want to see.   

I'm going to just use Tuesday night and Wednesday night as references for this blog, because that's really all I need.

 I've been a die-hard college basketball fan my whole life, going to DePaul games since I was 5 and filling out brackets since I learned how to spell.  Besides the fact that there's nothing like March Madness, what I love about college basketball is the passion of the kids and the paegentry involved.

Take Tuesday night, Duke vs. North Carolina.  Is there a bigger rivarly in sports? Maybe a few, but this game every year is so fun to watch, no matter how good or bad one of the teams is.  Even though Duke is ranked much higher than UNC it was a phenominal game with a great finish.  Do you get the thrill of watching JJ Redick drain threes from California by watching the NBA? Or the excitment of this heated rivalry.  Obviously with an 82 game schedule you're not going to get the big rivalry games in the NBA but thats why college basketball is better and more fun to watch.

Now last night, I got to watch my future school Northwestern upset the 1st place team in the big ten, Iowa.  Talk about fun to watch--a Princeton offense and pressing defense that culminates in a huge upset and fans running on the court?  Not to mention South Carolina's spirited upset over Florida last night.  The upsets are what make college basketball special and miles ahead of the NBA.  You don't have to hear players complain about salaries, or watch one player from each team take every play one-on-one and shoot 30% from the field, or watch teams fail to play defense in college basketball.  I'm happy the Detroit Pistons are doing so well because they play team basketball and great defense, but that's only one team.  What makes college basketball great is this Saturday I'm going to the DePaul vs. Villanova game.  DePaul is obviously a huge underdog but with enough student support and if they play their A game they can get the upset and maybe I'll get to rush the court.  You don't get that joy from watching the NBA I don't think, you don't get to see North Dakota St.'s kids jump up in excitement after beating Wisconsin or teams like Creighton and Southern Illinois upsetting teams in the tourney. 

The gameplay is better, the atmosphere is amazing, and college basketball will continue to reign over the NBA.

My final list for sporting 'events' or 'days.'  Enjoy.

5.) NHL Skills Competition- Now, we haven't seen this in 2 years and we won't see it this year because of the Olympics, but anyone who's seen it during the NHL all-star game can agree it is quite a spectacle.  It's not like the home run derby or slam dunk contest in terms of hype, which is why it finds itself in the underrated category.  Whats unique about the NHL skills competition is that there are things you really need to be talented to do at any level.  You can always lower a hoop and do dunks or hit homers over close fences, but can you really take out those targets in the goals or skate faster than the other NHL players?  This doesn't mean i like it more than the slam dunk contest or home run derby, it's just underrated.

4.) Arena Football Championship- If I did a list of most underrated sports, Arena Football would be near the top.  It's fast-paced, and high scoring, and gets little hype.  It's starting to gain more popularity with its owners (Elway, Bon Jovi) and having games on NBC, but it's still overlooked and therefore underrated. The championship is guaranteed to be high-scoring and reflect the rest of the season.  A game is never over until the clock hits zero in this sport becuase teams can score so quickly on the small field.  Not to mention the boards along the sides to add exciting hits and the crowd noise throughout the game.  Oh yea, and if a ball goes into the stands, you can keep it!

3.) World Cup- In America, at least.  Soccer is obviously the most popular sport in the world but gets little hype in America and for good reason- we rarely have a good team, not to mention soccer is a boring sport.  However, if the USA team is good this year I suggest watching the World Cup and I think it is very underrated in terms of sporting events.  Knowing the game really means something since it's your country is against the world and the amount of amazing players on the field adds to the intensity.   Now I think soccer is very boring, but during the US's amazing 2002 run I woke up at 6am to watch the game against Germany and I was at the edge of my seat.  Will I watch the MLS? Of course not.  But if the USA makes another run this year I'll be watching.

2.) Winter Olympics- Does anyone really know that the Opening Ceremonies are Friday night? These Olympics have gotten little to no coverage and that's sad.  I did an Olympic report for my school paper and realized how little I know about each sport and the athletes involved.  Talk about sports that iinclude unique talents--snowboarding, speed skating, these aren't your 'run around the track' or basketball that you can watch or do any day, this is a once every 4 years that these sports get the spotlight.  The sports are exciting, different, and the US is pretty good, but this event is very underrated.

1.) A common theme in my blogs is my love for college sports, and my #1 underrated sporting event are those small conference tournaments at the end of the year.  You know, when teams like Bucknell or Florida Atlantic are playing for conference championships in conferences you didn';t even know existed.  I think those games are more fun to watch than the Big East or ACC tournaments.  In these conferences, the teams all play for one thing-the one NCAA berth given to their conference.  (I highly recommend reading The Last Amateurs by John Feinstein about the Patriot League and life in small D-1 conferences).  The spirit and passion shown in these games is inspiring and who doesn't love to see that little school you've ner heard of get the oppurtunity to make the big dance--even if it is as a 16 seed, it is still exciting.

Before I give some Chicago sports-angled predictions for the upcoming year, I'd like to tell a quick story about a recent DePaul basketball game I attended.  It was New Year's Eve and the team looked very sluggish against a weak, injured Florida International team.  We won the game and the players who excelled were Sammy Mejia, Draelon Burns, and Cliff Clinkscales.  But what made it an inspiring game for me to watch as a fan was the game by Marlon Brumfield, the 6'8 senior center.  Most DePaul fans know the story of Brum, he worked his butt off after being a backup to Andre Brown and earned a starting job last season but was ####ed up frequently.  He is always considered the hardest working player on the team by coaches.  This season Brum has been ####ed up and his minutes have been limited.  In the game on Friday, Brum had 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.  But he was so fun to watch.  He got his hand on many balls fed to the post on defense and induced turnovers and bad shots.  All of Florida International's points came from their guards it seemed because of Brum's inside defense, not to mention his constant battle under the basket that led to offensive rebounds by him (2) and other Blue Demons.  When Brum exited, my Dad and I stood to congratulate his game, but few others realized his impact.  Brum is one of those players that makes sports so joyful because he's a feel-good story that makes you feel even better when he does well.

Now some predicitons for 2006, once again with a Chicago angle:

Bulls: Will get the 8 seed, get swept in the first round, but make a great run at the end of the season to make the playoffs that makes most fans forget about their early exit.

Illini: They'll get a 2 seed and get upset in the 2nd round.  Sorry orange crush, but Dee can only do so much.

DePaul: They'll have a couple fun upsets in the Big East and just miss making the big dance after an early Big East Tournament exit.  They'll win a game or two in the NIT.

Northwestern: Bold prediction: The Wildcats make the NCAA tournament for the first time in history after winning the big ten tournament with Vedran Vukusic averaging 40 points per game.

Bears: They'll make the NFC Championship, i obvoiusly want them to win the Super Bowl but it seems like it's the Seahawks year, with a healthy Rex next year things may be different.

Cubs: If they trade Prior: They'll finish 3rd in the NL Central and Miguel Tejada will have many arguments in the already tumultuous clubhouse.

If they keep Prior: they'll get the Wild Card and lose first round.

White Sox: Can anyone say back-to-back?

And last but not least, the Blackhawks prediction...Wait, there's a hockey team in Chicago?