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.   

A couple months ago I wrote about the top 5 sports days in a given year.  I even listed a few more that just missed my top 5.  However, after this weekend, I'd like to apologize for a big omission.  Some comments were posted regarding my omission of the NFL draft and, now, I agree, the NFL Draft weekend should seriously be considered as one of the most exciting sports weekends of the year.  I should have made a log of my time watching the draft, but since I didn't, I'll try and just write all my random thoughts throughout the draft.

I'll begin with Friday night, I was at a friend's house when my cell phone rang.  "The Texans signed Mario Williams!" yelled my friend Charlie.  I knew Williams was a possibility, but I figured it'd be impossible to pass up Reggie Bush.  I firmly believe Bush was not only the best player in the draft but will be the best player in the NFL.  What is great, however, about the draft is guys like Mario Williams--who only die hard college fans have heard of pre-draft, dominate the headlines.

I yelled at my TV as each team in the top 10 passed over Matt Leinart.  I really didn't understand it.  So one guy said he doesn't have an 'NFL arm.'  I'd take Leinart over Cutler any day, and I'm glad the Cardinals did.  Yes, Leinart had a great supporting cast, but he also played in more pressure-packed games and situations than any player in the draft.

Then as the 1st round came to an end, the fun for us Chicago Bears fans began.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Bears, let me give you some 1st round picks of theirs: Cade McNown, Curtis Enis, David Terrell, Anthony Thomas (1 year wonder), Michael Haynes, Mark Columbo.  I think they speak for themselves to show why I was a little nervous with the 26th pick looming.  I was hoping for tight end Mercedes Lewis, because the Bears have a terrible offense and with a short=passing offense style, they could use a solid tight end.  But, I guess to avoid making another first round bust, the Bears traded their pick.  Ok, they make good picks in the later rounds, so they'll just get some steals, right? Like Nate Vasher in the 4th round or Alex Brown in the 4th round.  Well, my friend and I were speechless as we saw "Danieale Manning/ Abeliene Christian" flash across the ESPN bottomline.  Who the hell is Danieale MAnning was my first reaction.  Clearly ESPN didn't know either becuase they didn't even say anything about him.  Ok, fine, so I guess we want a returner.  So with the 57th pick I'm all excited again because LEonard Pope, tight end out of Georgia, is miraculously still available.  Cmon, the Bears can't screw this up.  It's clear they need a tight end.  He's still available, they're sure to take him.  But, once again, only the Bears.  Only the Bears would take Devin Hester, who don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan, but they could have taken him instead of Manning then taken Pope with the 57th.  And the mind games Jerry Angelo plays with his fans continues.  The 3rd round continues and we watch as teams are still passing over Leonard Pope and my friends and I get excited that he'll be available.  Cardinals on the clock with the 72nd pick, we're next.  Well, the Cardinals don't want another offensive player, right? Well, wrong again. 

So it took until day 2 for the Bears to finally take an offensive player--a fullback from Oklahoma.  Looks like we really do want to make our Defense our Offense.  The Bears will be the only team in the league that will punt on 3rd down if they feel they could pin the other team far back enough. 

Day 2 is fun for me becuase I'm a die-hard Northwestern fan so I'm waiting for their seniors to get drafted.  Luckily, 3 (Barry Cofield, Zach Strief, and Tim McGarigle) were drafted on day 2.  However, my favorite college player of all time, Brett Basanez, who I think was one of the top 15 quarterbacks in this draft class, wasn't drafted.  Who knows, maybe he'll be the next Jake Delhomme.

Well, I'll just have to wait until next draft to see how the Bears make all their fans crazy next year.

Until then, i'll be hoping for many 3-0 victories.

Watching my favorite team, the Northwestern Wildcats, blow a 22-0 lead and lose the Sun Bowl to UCLA today 52-38 has made my day miserable.  I have to ask myself in these situations: isn't it just a game? A game that I'm not even playing in? Why do I care so much?

Maybe it's the fact that I've lived and died with the roller-coaster-type football team since I was 5 and thought that this could be their first bowl win since 1949.

Or maybe it was being with all my family friends, all donning our purple and yelling at every play.

Or maybe I just like sports too much.

Whatever the reason may be, when we gave up two onside kick returns for touchdowns in a row I felt sick to my stomach and my Mom, who doesn't even like football, didn't understand why I let that loss get to me so much.  Us hardcore, die-hard sports fans get asked that question a lot: Don't you realize there are things in life more important than sports?  Of course I do, of course I know that i'd rather be living a healthy life with a losing team than being sick with a winning team.  But just because sports 'aren't everything' in life, doesn't mean they still can't affect our moods.  I'll get over this loss, just like all Chicagoans get over the heartbreak our sports teams bring to us, but what is great about living and dying with a sports team is what happened with my White Sox.  One day, your team will surprise you and rise up to win a championship.  For the month of October the White Sox made me smile everyday, instead of breaking my heart like in years' past.  That's why we live and die with our teams for that one special year.

Maybe next year will be Northwestern's year.  Until then, I'll be watching highlights over and over again to try and figure out what went wrong.