Softball: New Rankings Released

After defeating Texas A&M and Arizona in a 4-0 opening weekend of the season, Northwestern jumped from its No. 7 ranking all the way to No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches' Poll and No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Softball Rankings. The Wildcats received the school's only first place votes in any poll in program history after the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Az. 

The Cats cooled down this weekend with a 3-2 performance at the Palm Springs Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., after suffering an upset loss to San Diego State and 6-2 loss to No. 11 UCLA. As a result, NU has shifted places in the national polls. 

In the ESPN/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25, NU is ranked fifth, behind Alabama, Arizona State, Texas A&M and UCLA. 

In the USA Today/NFCA Coaches' Poll Top 25, the Cats are ranked sixth, behind Alabama, Texas A&M, Arizona State, Tennessee and Florida. 

The only team in either poll that ranks ahead of the Cats (7-2) that the team has already faced and defeated is Texas A&M(16-2), who received one first place vote in each poll. 

In order to boost their ranking back amongst the top three teams in the country, NU hopes to defeat Kansas, Bradley, Western Illinois and Southern Illinois at the Coach B Classic this weekend. 

Softball: Cats finish 3-2 at Palm Springs Classic

No. 2 Northwestern put its 7-1 record on the line in its final contest at the Palm Springs Classic in sunny Cathedral City, Calif., against No. 11 UCLA. The Bruins (13-1) behind ace Anjelica Selden fell behind early 2-0, but scrapped their way back to a 6-2 victory over the Wildcats.

UCLA went 5-0 in the tournament while NU finished 3-2, suffering its first two losses of the season; the first came against unranked San Diego State on Friday evening.

In the fourth inning, NU scored its runs on RBI singles by Nicole Pauly and Erin Dyer. Suffering from the 2-0 deficit, UCLA responded in the bottom half of the fourth with five runs on two home runs.

The Bruins scored again in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-2 that the Cats could not come back from. On Saturday the Cats fought from behind against No. 6 LSU and No. 25 Texas, but were unable to do so against the All-American Selden (7-1). 

While Lauren Delaney threw a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts on Friday to top the Oregon Ducks, Delaney struggled against other Pac-10 foe UCLA. Delaney allowed six runs, three of which were earned, on five hits, but only registered five strikeouts. Delaney (6-2) may have been tired by the end of the tournament, pitching in all five of the team’s games this weekend in just three days.

Following an opening weekend performance where she was named Big Ten Player of the Week and Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, junior Tammy Williams went 8-12 at the plate. She is batting .655 on the season, and slugging .862.

Nicole Pauly is tied for the team lead with 10 runs scored and is leading the team with 12 RBI, while batting .323. Pauly has also stolen two bases thus far.

The Cats will face Kansas, Bradley, Western Illinois and Southern Illinois in the Coach B Classic in Carbondale, Ill., home of the Salukis next weekend. NU will play two games on both Saturday and Sunday. Following the four games in Illinois, the Cats will not return to The Prairie State again until late in March when conference play begins on the 28^th against Wisconsin. NU will spend the two weekends following the trip to Southern Illinois in Long Beach, Calif., for the Long Beach Invitational and in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational. 

Women's Fencing: Midwest Conference Championships (Individual)

Saturday at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., Northwestern competed in the individual aspect of the competition. Seven Wildcats placed in the top eight, reaching the semifinals of their respective weapons.

Junior Sam Nemecek led the way with a second-place finish in foil. It was Nemecek’s third straight top-two finish in her NU career at Conference Championships. Nemecek went 6-0 in pool play, won her first four matches in direct-elimination bracket fencing and went head-to-head with Ohio State’s Oksana Dmytruk in the finals. Nemecek lost 15-5.

In foil, senior Natalie Wang finished sixth and sophomore Meredith Baskies placed eighth.

In sabre, freshman Jill Mahen returned from her shoulder injury suffered in a car accident to finish eighth.

Sophomore Joanna Niklinska led NU’s epee squad with a third place finish, ahead of teammates Kayley French, who finished fifth, and Sara Henning, who finished seventh. Niklinska lost to Ohio State’s Kaela Brendler 15-9 in the semifinals.

On Sunday the Cats will take place in team competition.

Softball: Pair of Three-Run Home Runs Guide Cats to 2-0 Saturday

Saturday at the Palm Springs Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., No. 2 Northwestern fell behind early in both of the night’s games. The Wildcats rebounded, though, clawing their way back with rallies highlighted by a three-run home run in both games.

Against No. 6 LSU, the Cats gained a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first inning. The teams traded runs through the next four innings; NU scored its runs on a Michelle Batts solo homerun and a Jessica Rigas sacrifice fly, but the Tigers had a 4-3 advantage going into the sixth inning.

With two outs in the bottom half of the frame, leadoff hitter Darcy Sengewald drew a two-out walk and Tammy Williams was hit by a pitch. With two runners on base, Nicole Pauly cracked a three-run home run to deep left field.

Pauly finished the game with two hits, three RBIs and two runs scored. It was Pauly’s 18^th career home run.

Lauren Delaney went the distance, closing out the game with a strikeout, to record her fifth win of the season. Delaney allowed three earned runs on seven hits while striking out 12 Tigers.

NU moved to 6-1 on the season with the win and LSU fell to 9-2.

Later Saturday night the Cats started the second half of its double header against No. 25 Texas at 9:50pm. NU fell behind 4-0 in the middle of the fourth inning when starter Jessica Smith allowed a home run, a walk, two singles and a suicide squeeze bunt. Coach Kate Drohan opted to remove the freshman from the circle for Lauren Delaney.

Delaney halted the Longhorns potent offense for the remainder of the game while the Cats offense went to work. In the bottom half of the fourth, Batts singled to center, Erin Dyer drew a walk and Kelly Dyer smashed a three run home run to right field.

After NU was held scoreless in the fifth, Batts blasted a homerun to tie the game at 4-4. The home run was Batts third of the season.

With a tie game, Texas threatened in the top half of the final frame, but Delaney stranded a runner on third base.

Sengewald reached base in the seventh on a fielders choice, following a leadoff walk by freshman pinch hitter Kelly Quinn. Again, Williams was hit by a pitch, and a wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third with one out. Instead of opting to pitch around Pauly, creating a force at any base, the Longhorns opted to pitch to the sophomore. Pauly responded by hitting a deep fly ball to right field that scored Sengewald, and on the sac-fly the Cats won 5-4.

In just over three innings of relief work, Delaney registered her sixth win of the season. Delaney allowed only one hit and struck out seven.

With the win, NU improved its record to an impressive 7-1 while Texas dropped to 7-4-1. It was Texas’ Meagan Denny who recorded her first loss of the season; her record is now 6-1.

The Cats final game of the Palm Springs Classis is Sunday afternoon against No. 11 UCLA. 

Men's Basketball: Cats come up short against Hoosiers

Freshman guard Michael Thompson had two chances to give Northwestern its first conference victory of the season. Thompson drove the lane with 20 seconds left, with the Wildcats down just one point, and got to the basket. He put up a shot over Indiana forward D.J. White, but it fell short.

Thompson missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer which would have sent the game to overtime as the No. 15 Hoosiers avoided the upset at Welsh-Ryan Arena 85-82.

The Cats (7-18, 0-14 Big Ten) led for much of the game, but trailed coming down the stretch. They erased a 6-point deficit and for the second straight game and see-sawed in and out of the lead against the Hoosiers (23-4, 13-2) as the game came down the stretch.

NU had a chance to win the game for the second straight outing. The team missed two 3-pointers which would have given it the first conference win of the season Tuesday against Iowa.

Sophomore forward Kevin Coble scored a career high 37 points and grabbed five rebounds. Thompson scored 15 points and junior guard Craig Moore added 12.

The Hoosiers were playing a day after the school announced the resignation of former coach Kelvin Sampson. The team was coached by former assistant Dan Dakich.

Dakich said the team seemed a little distracted from the emotional roller coaster the team has been on throughout the week, but pulled through it in the end. Guard Armon Bassett had 24 points and Jordan Crawford scored 21 points off the bench for Indiana.

The Hoosiers shot 56 percent from the floor and hit 30 of 37 free throws, overcoming the 17 turnovers the Cats forced.

NU, still in search of its first conference win, will play at Michigan on Tuesday night.

Softball: NU suffers first loss of the season

Off to a great 5-0 start following a Lauren Delaney no-hit performance in a 7-0 defeat of Oregon, Northwestern faced San Diego State in the second game of the twi-night doubleheader. San Diego State scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to hand NU its first loss of the season, 3-2.

The Aztecs defeated No. 9 Arizona earlier in the day to push their record to 11-1, while the Wildcats' defeat of Oregon and loss to San Diego State puts their record at 5-1.

San Diego State scored the game's first two runs in the bottom of the first by capitalizing on a leadoff walk, two singles and a balk from pitcher Jessica Smith.

Down 2-0, NU scored both of its runs in the fourth inning on a series of plays, highlighted by Erin and Kelly Dyer. Erin hit a two-out solo home run, her second of the year to bring the Cats within a run. Kelly then singled to left center, moved to second on a single by Robin Thompson and scored on an erratic throw.

After the Aztecs' first batter of the sixth inning doubled, Lauren Delaney came into the game in the sixth inning and worked out of the jam.

In the seventh, however, an Aztec reached base on a one-out walk, and moved to third on a throw that dribbled away from first base. A two out bloop single scored the runner from third.

Tammy Williams recorded two hits for the sixth consecutive game to start the season.

On Saturday the Cats will face a pair of ranked teams, No. 6 LSU and No. 25 Texas, seeking to get back on track.

Softball: Delaney Throws No-No in Opener

On Friday evening No. 2 Northwestern defeated the Oregon Ducks 7-0 behind a stellar performance by sophomore pitcher Lauren Delaney in the Wildcats' first game of the Palm Springs Classic.

Delaney (4-0) went the distance and recorded a career-high 17 strikeouts and did not allow a hit on the day. It was Delaney's second career no-hitter. Her first came April 28 against Illinois in conference play, and it is the 38th no-hitter in NU history.

Last year NU ace Eileen Canney threw a no-hitter in the same tournament against the California Golden Bears.

With the win the Cats moved to 5-0 on the season, and have now defeated every team in the Pac-10 during Coach Kate Drohan's career at NU.

Heading in to the seventh inning Delaney had struck out eight consecutive batters, but a bunt attempt halted the streak. Delaney struck out the following two, capping off the 17 strikeout performance.

Kelly Dyer and Tammy Williams each recorded two hits on the day, while freshman Michelle Batts walked three times.

Oregon moved to 6-7 with the loss.

Men's Tennis: More Info with Alexander Thams

Here's a closer look at graduate student Alexander Thams. The 22-year-old answers some questions comparing Sweden and America:

Regarding food...
"Back home at Sweden I always go to the grocery store every day. Here I have to go once a week and buy everything for the whole week. That's the big difference. I eat better at home. I eat much better. I (also) eat healthier at home. I think there are more healthy choices in Sweden than there are here."

Regarding tennis players...
"Stefan Edberg. He was very athletic. Probably (had) the best volleys in tennis history. And he was a great gentleman. He was named Gentleman of the year, like a hundred times, I don't know. (laughs) A lot of times.

"I'd have to say either (John) McEnroe and Pete Sampras. They were like the opposite. McEnroe was this fired up guy. I really like being fired up and he was quite a character. It was good for tennis. ... Sampras was just one of the greatest players in tennis history. I don't know what to say about him."

Regarding activities...
"I watched a lot of movies in Sweden. ... I can't really do that here. I mean, I can do it, but it's harder. I played a lot of backgammon as well. It's kinda like tennis. It's competitive, it's tactics. (In America), we just hang out. I can't say we do anything special. I mean I did a lot of that back home as well, that's just normal behavior."

Men's Tennis: Michigan Recap

Northwestern lost big in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Friday night in its Big Ten Conference opener against No. 19 Michigan. The Wildcats lost 6-1 to the Wolverines. NU played competitively at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Freshman Pete Rispoli and graduate student Alexander Thams won their doubles match 8-7 (5), but an 8-2 loss at No. 3 and an 8-5 loss at No. 1 resulted in a point for the Wolverines. The Cats struggled at the start of singles play, losing all six of their first sets. After the slow start, NU picked up its play but still couldn't convert. Junior Marc Dwyer was the only player to win his second set. Dwyer ended up as the only Wildcat with a victory, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1.

Softball: Palm Springs Classic Preview

After the most successful opening weekend in school history, No. 2 Northwestern (4-0) returns to action this weekend in Cathedral City, Calif., at the Palm Springs Classic. The tournament features 13 ranked teams among the 23-team field. The Wildcats will take on three ranked opponents in their five-game weekend schedule.

NU will play two games Friday, the first against Oregon and the second against San Diego State.

The Cats will then face two ranked teams on Saturday, night contests against No. 6 LSU and No. 25 Texas.

NU will wrap up the weekend with a Sunday afternoon game against No. 11 UCLA.

The Pac-10 has been widely considered as the powerhouse of collegiate softball, especially with Arizona winning back-to-back National Championships. NU, of course, knocked off Arizona for the first time in school history last weekend with an 8-5 victory.

Despite the conference's prestige, NU has competed well against each of the eight teams it has faced during coach Drohan’s tenure.

The Cats record against Pac-10 opponents in Drohan’s 7-year career:

5-1 vs. Stanford

6-2 vs. California

4-1 vs. Arizona State

4-2 vs. Oregon State

2-2 vs. UCLA

2-3 vs. Washington

0-1 vs. Oregon

NU has compiled a respectable 24-19 record against traditional powerhouses in the country, and it would mean a good bit to pick up a win this weekend against Oregon, whom the Cats have faced only once, and lost to.

After NU’s great opening weekend, the team jumped from sixth to second in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches’ Poll, released on Feb. 19. The only team in front of the Cats is Alabama, who recorded 688 points and 22 of the 28 first place votes. NU tallied 641 points, 47 behind the Crimson Tide, and recorded one first place vote, the first in school history in any poll. Ironically Texas A&M (9-2), who lost to NU 8-7, received four first place votes.

In the ESPN.com/USA Today Poll, NU placed third behind Alabama and Arizona State. The Cats totaled four of the 20 first place votes. Ironically No. 10 Arizona still received one first place vote after starting 0-3.

Women's Fencing: Midwest Fencing Conference Championships

Most men’s college basketball fans think there are a few power conferences. The ACC, for example, features two teams (Duke and UNC) ranked in the top 5 in the nation. The Big East has four teams in the AP Top 25.

Northwestern has struggled in the top heavy Big Ten, where three teams are in the Top 25.

But think about how powerful the Midwest Fencing Conference is, the conference the Wildcats compete in. Three of the nation’s top four teams hail from the elite conference.

And while college basketball rankings are nationally distributed through newspapers and on Web sites because of the sport’s wide ranging national coverage, fencing rankings get distributed via e-mail to head coaches of each team.

On Wednesday the newest fencing rankings were released. Here’s how the coaches voted:

2^nd USFCA COLLEGE FENCING COACHES' POLL

Women (previous ranking in parenthesis)

1. Ohio State (2)

2. Notre Dame (1)

3. Columbia-Barnard (3)

4. Northwestern (6)

5. Pennsylvania (7)

6. Harvard (5)

7. St. John's (8)

8. Temple (9)

9. Penn State (4)

10. Princeton (10)

Others receiving votes: North Carolina, Stanford, Brown, Yale, Cornell, Wayne State (MI), NYU, Brandeis, UC-San Diego, Duke, Air Force, MIT

It’s noteworthy that Wayne State( MI), who also received votes in the poll, is a member of the Midwest Fencing Conference. Essentially the conference has four teams in the top 20.

Another interesting comparison that can be drawn between the two sports and their ranking systems is how often the polls are released. Every Monday college basketball fans await the release of the new rankings to see who’s jumped and who’s dropped in the rankings.

Fencing polls are released once monthly in January, February and March. The third and final 2008 poll will be released on March 3 after conference championships and NCAA Regionals.

Speaking of NCAA Regionals and the power in he Midwest Conference… NU gets the short end of the stick in terms of representation at Nationals. Each team’s four best fencers in each weapon get to compete at NCAA Regionals, and from there, the two best get to travel to NCAA Championships. Every conference and every geographical location gets equal representation, no matter where the talent pool lies.

With so much talent on NU’s epee squad, for example, where the team’s starting four are so close in talent level, it almost seems unfair to exclude two of those members at NCAAs. Even the less talented Cats who don’t compete at the Division I level could go to NCAA Championships if they went to a lesser school in a lesser conference.

In one instance, the conference is so talented so you know who the best fencers are. On the other hand, the nation’s best fencers should get to compete at NCAAs and get rewarded with that opportunity of a lifetime.

All of that, though, won’t be on the Cats’ minds this weekend as they travel to South Bend, Ind., for the Conference Championships.

Last season, NU’s foil team did not give up a point until the finals, and then beat Ohio State 5-4 in the championship round

Foilist Sam Nemecek has had the Cats best individual performance the last two seasons. She hopes to continue that success and finish in the top two again this season.

In epee, Christa French advanced to the semifinals a season ago, while twin sister Kayley advanced to the quarterfinals.

NU’s Sophie Eustis, now graduated, advanced to the quarterfinals in sabre. The Cats have struggled in sabre all year long, and with the departure of Eustis, may continue to struggle this weekend.

Men's Basketball: Cats Feel First Win is Near

Northwestern walked off the floor at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday night the closest it has been this season to a conference win. The Wildcats had two Craig Moore 3-pointers hit off the front rim which potentially could have won the game. Instead Iowa walked off with the 53-51 win.

The loss was the team's first by less than 10 points and was nearly the breakthrough win the team has been looking for since the beginning of the conference season in January.

"We haven't won in a while, so we almost have to remember how to win and control a game," Moore said. "(Tuesday) we were struggling a little bit in the first half, but we were playing great defense, getting rebounds and not letting them get second chances. We knew in the second half we were going to shoot better and we did that. But we didn't fight hard enough on defense."

NU has rarely played with a lead late in the game, but the team has played in competitive games throughout the conference season.

The Cats held a 14-point lead against Iowa on Tuesday, but also had a two-point lead against No. 14 Purdue on Saturday after coming from behind early in the second half. NU also trailed by single digits in recent games against Ohio State, No. 19 Michigan State and No. 15 Indiana.

The Cats trailed by just six points with less than eight minutes to play at Bloomington, Ind. on Feb. 3. The Hoosiers travel to Evanston in the Cats' next game Saturday.

The close calls have been disheartening and frustrating for this team, but it should help them gain experience for the next time they play with a lead.

"We had a lead and we haven’t had that big of a lead all Big Ten season," senior guard Jason Okrzesik said. "Coach (Bill Carmody) was saying at the end, ‘We don’t know how to play with a lead,’ and you can tell it out there. I think it’s something we need to work on in practice."

Okrzesik said experience is the only way to learn how to manage a lead. With 13 conference losses, playing with a lead is a premium NU has not been able to afford.

The two most recent games, where the Cats have held a lead in the second half, are signs the team is on the verge of piecing together its first conference win.

"We’re right there and we know it. We’ve just got to keep going and keep plugging away," Moore said. "We come back to practice Thursday, we just have to have the same enthusiasm we had the last two days and know we’re right there."

Men's Tennis: Dartmouth Recap

Northwestern faced off against Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats earned a close 4-3 victory. NU is now 6-4 going into Sunday's match against Arizona State University. The Cats earned the doubles point by winning two of the three matches. NU split the singles matches with Dartmouth. The Big Green struck first, defeating NU senior Juan Gomez at No. 5. Freshman Peter Rispoli was the first Cat to win a match. Tied at 3-3, freshman David Seyferth, the other freshman to play singles, won the last match which earned the victory. Seyferth won, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 at No. 6.

NU vs. Purdue: Welcome to the Live Blogosphere

Welcome back to Welsh-Ryan Arena, where NU is set to take on upstart Purdue on Greek Day. The student section was supposed to be filled with fraternity and sorority members, but just a few minutes before tip-off, the Wildside remains largely empty. Perhaps the Greek spirit was not enough to sway people to attend what looks to be, at least on paper, a blowout in the making. The Boilermakers, led by two freshmen and two sophomores, sit at the top of the Big Ten at 11-1, having one 10 consecutive games. Conversely, the Cats are winless in the Big Ten, and haven't even come close, losing every conference game by at least 10 points.

One fan is holding up a sign that reads, "Pur-due 4 an upset." We'll see if that holds true.

Here are the starting lineups:
Purdue: G- Chris Kramer, G- Keaton Grant, G- E'Twaun Moore, F- Robbie Hummel, F- Nemanja Calasan
NU: G- Craig Moore, G- Michael Thompson, G- Sterling Williams, F- Ivan Peljusic, F- Kevin Coble

Juice Thompson was mistakenly announced as being 6-foot-10. Oooooops.

Purdue fans clearly outnumber NU fans in the stands thus far. We'll see how much that effects the game.

19:20: Ivan Peljusic with an impressive offensive move for the game's first points. Who knew? He's also grabbed a couple of rebounds so far, doing much more to justify the start than in the last game.

16:17: Thompson shakes a hard foul a minute earlier to bury a 3, giving NU an early 7-4 advantage.

14:55: E'Twaun Moore does not only have the greatest name ever. He also has four straight points to pull Purdue within one.

14:21: The NU lead was short lived. At the first timeout, Purdue is back in the lead, 11-9, after a Robbie Hummel 3. The Boilermakers will also have a pair of free throws coming when play resumes.

13:15: Capocci, Baran and Nash are all in after the timeout, and NU gets a turnover and turns it into a Moore 3-pointer to go back ahead, 12-11.

11:55: Timeout on the floor with NU leading 14-11, helped by a Purdue missed dunk. The student section is still not completely full, but the Cats don't seem bothered by it and are playing some inspired basketball right now.

10:52: NU opens up a 6-point lead on a Juice 3, and Purdue looks a little flustered.

7:12: Timeout on the floor, with NU still leading 24-20, even after a 4-0 Purdue run. The combo of Baran and Peljusic is giving the Cats far more than they've gotten from that position most of the season. But Purdue is not backing down, so NU is going to have to keep up this level of play the whole game if it wants to pull the upset.

3:40: Timeout, with NU's lead shaved to 29-27. The Cats have started missing some open shots, while the Boilermakers have been knocking down some highly contested attempts. We'll see if the Cats can hold onto their lead for the rest of the half.

3:11: NU has led for most of the half, but not anymore. E'Twaun just knocked down a 3 to put Purdue ahead 30-29.

1:47: Jason Okrzesik just tried to tip in a miss, forgetting that he's generously listed as 6-foot-1. This did not turn out well for him.

0:065: NU trails 35-31, with one last chance to close the gap before halftime. We'll see what sort of magic Carmody draws up in the huddle.

0:00: The play consisted of Juice driving all the way down the court to the basket for the layup and it would have worked had he not been soundly rejected at the last second. Purdue closes the half on a 19-7 run to take the lead. Oh well......

At halftime, E'Twaun leads all players with 16 points, while Thompson and Baran lead NU with eight apiece. Thanks mostly to Nikola, the Cats lead Purdue 10-0 in bench scoring. But the Boilers are shooting 63.6 percent, while the Cats are at 42.9 percent. That's the difference so far. NU is going to have to avoid the big runs it has consistently surrendered to its opponents in the second half this season if it wants to have a shot.

18:32: NU was only 2 of 6 from the free throw line in the first half and Sterling Williams just missed one of two in the team's first trip of the second half. NU doesn't get to the line much, but when it does, it needs to capitalize. The Cats need every point they can get with Purdue shooting the way it is.

15:45: Timeout on the floor, as Purdue has started to pull away a little, leading 45-38. E'Twaun continues to torment the Cats, with 21 points. This second half is starting to look painfully familiar for NU, which has got to figure out a way to keep this game close.

14:50: Baran just tried to flop and draw an offensive foul, but the refs weren't buying his theatrics and Grant hit a 3 for Purdue on the same possession to make it a 10-point game.

11:57: Matt Painter calls a timeout for Purdue after Coble buries a beautiful baseline runner to make it a 48-43 contest, with Purdue in front. NU is playing their little hearts out and staying within striking distance, but the Boilers are a tough team. The Cats still have a shot at an upset, but it is going to be far from easy.

11:51: Another timeout, and it's LadyCat time!

11:08: NU is back within one after Nash puts in a fastbreak layup. The small lineup of Nash, Juice, JO, Baran and Coble seems to be working.

9:48: Coble buries a 3 to put NU up 50-48 and the now-mostly-full stands go crazy.

9:10: Well, that was short-lived. Purdue is right back ahead by three after a Grant trey.

8:29: Coble clanks a pair of free throws, the second time he's done that today, and Grant responds by burying another triple to make it a 56-50 game. NU calls timeout, looking a little shell-shocked.

7:46: Nash just picked up a technical foul after shoving a Purdue player after the play. That gives Purdue two free throws and the ball and puts Nash at four fouls. 58-50 Purdue, and a timeout on the floor.

6:56: Remember those big second-half runs we were talking about? Well, here we are. Purdue is son a 12-0 spurt since NU briefly took the lead and is now ahead 60-50. Moore just tried a patented Tim Doyle no-look, backwards, over-the-head pass, perhaps trying to impress his mentor, who is calling the game for the Big Ten Network. Unfortunately for him, it didn't lead to any points, as Baran missed a 3-pointer.

3:47: E'Twaun strikes again, knocking down a 3 to make it 67-52 and stick the official dagger in the Cats' hearts. It was another valiant effort by NU, but the team simply couldn't hit enough big shots or make enough big stops when it counted, and the opponent made a big run. Again. Well, there's always next year.

0:47: All the scrubs are coming in, so it's a done deal. Purdue has even put in a player with no name on the back of his jersey. This is never a good sign for the opposing team.

Final score: Purdue 71, NU 56

That's it. Until next time, be well and stay out of trouble.

Men's Tennis: Full Todd Martin Q&A

Todd Martin Q&A

Martin is Northwestern’s most accomplished men’s tennis player ever. He played at Northwestern for two years before he decided to pursue his professional career in 1990. He has competed in two Grand Slam finals – the 1994 Australian Open and the 1999 U.S. Open – but lost both. Martin’s greatest victories came from his 1994 Queen’s Club championship where he beat Pete Sampras in the final match and the 1995 Davis Cup championship where he was a member of the US team that defeated Russia.

What was one of your most memorable moments playing at Northwestern?
“It’s hard to overlook our 1990 season where we won the Big Ten. It was the first time we won the Big Ten in a long time. Maybe it was the first time a men’s athletic team had won a Big Ten championship of any sort for a while. It was such a joy to celebrate the culmination of a successful season together. Especially for a couple of the guys who had put their four years in and were creeping up on the end of it, to have that sort of is, frankly it was their last experience in competitive tennis. It was tremendous.”

How did you experience at Northwestern help your professional career?
“It provided a period of time for me of growth. Physical growth, emotional growth, intellectual growth and an opportunity to adjust to independence. And all that gets up to the point, it all speaks to what happened other than on the tennis court. On the tennis court, I got stronger, I got better, I got better competition, I had better practice, all of those things. But it would be like sending a, me turning pro at 18 when I finished high school would have been like putting an eight year old in high school.”

So you were only at Northwestern for two years, what was your decision to leave for the pros?
“One of the main reasons I chose Northwestern was I felt like it would be the best balance for me between academics and athletics both in the load of those, but also in the quality of those as well. The load as it turned out, was pretty heavy for me academically and despite splitting my focus between academics and athletics, my athletics grew and grew and my academics didn’t grow and grow. I really felt like it was a two-pronged decision, it was, one, as a competitor I was very confident that I was on the track to being prepared to compete on the world level. And the other prong, was that, regardless, splitting my focus isn’t really accomplishing everything that I wanted to. At the time, I really took the leap of faith that said, I’d give tennis a hundred percent and after two or three years or four years or five years and it doesn’t work, well then I’ll come back and give school a hundred percent and I think it would be, I almost felt like it would be the fair thing to do for either endeavor.”

For your professional career, what was one of your more memorable moments?
“One of the most memorable moments, and it’s easier to focus on that in this setting, was we won the Davis Cup in 1995. It’s a much different team atmosphere in that it’s four or five competitors that are usually at each other’s throats, taking a week off here and there to join together. It was an exciting challenge because you had to figure out how to work with people that you usually wanted to beat and so that was, it’s not the exhilarating ‘We did it, we did it, we did it,’ like college tennis because you guys work for a year or four years towards a goal, but with Davis Cup it was, I think at the end of the year we looked around and realized what we were able to accomplish by stepping away from our individual absorption of selves and did a job together.”

What did you enjoy the most about going to a Grand Slam?
“I would like to say that I was a pure enough competitor that whether I went out on the hard courts down the street where I grew up or Arthur Ashe Stadium at U.S. Open it was the same. So I’d like to think that, I’d like to con people into thinking, every time I walk onto the court it’s the same. But it does get, incrementally more exciting, and I’m not sure if it does for the guys who win those events all the time, it probably does a little bit, but for me it was always still, there was nothing better, I was disappointed when the match was over, whether I won, whether I lost, I wanted to keep playing. In athletics you talk about battles and wars, you lost the battle you won the war, and I loved winning the war, but I still wanted to fight the battles. It was never, a ‘Ah, a relief, it’s done.’ It was always, ‘Let’s play best to seven, I’m up three-one, but let’s play best to seven,’ because I like the way it feels. It was a dream, it was truly a dream come true. I think I had a pretty good appreciation of that when it was happening and now I have a tremendous appreciation of it.”

You were awarded the ATP Sportsmanship Award in 1993 and 1994, what did that mean to you?
“It was important to me. I was brought up to be respectful of the game, respectful of my family, respectful of my peers. And the fact that others thought that I did that well while still competing with my whole heart, that was important to me.”

Growing up as a young tennis player, who did you look up to as someone you wanted to be like?
“I didn’t look at anyone player and say, ‘I want to play like him.’ I would say Stefan Edberg was probably the closest that I had to a role model just from a competitive standpoint. I felt like he always competed hard, but he always competed fairly with a great amount of respect for the privilege that he had to be playing. Game wise, I liked a little bit of Lendl, I liked a little bit of McEnroe, I liked a little bit of Connors and I liked a little bit of Borg. They were all at the peak when I was growing up. In some ways that’s why I had a little bit of, I was a fairly versatile player, and I think that’s one of the reasons why. I didn’t buy into this, ‘I am going to do this and only this.’ I liked, at eight to 12 years old, saying, going out and saying, ‘Oh that’s just how I saw McEnroe do it,’ or I was dreaming, but, or ‘I saw Lendl hit that shot in the quarter finals of the U.S. Open last week.’ I liked that.”

Women's Basketball: Some Live Blogging

NU is currently hosting Michigan at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

First Half:

13:58, NU is leading 8-4. Amy Jaeschke has scored all 8 points for the Wildcats.

9:22, NU's lead is at 13-7 after a big three from sophomore guard Jenny Eckhart. NU is playing with intensity, but they have made a couple poor decisions in their shooting attempts. Michigan, on the other hand, is playing extremely sloppily. The Wolverines have been called for traveling several times and are consistently throwing up bricks with mere seconds left on the shot clock.

7:32, NU leading 15-9. Willie the Wildcat is currently giving a Valentine's gift to his sweetheart in the stands. Speaking of which, Welsh-Ryan Arena is incredibly empty. I guess people have better things to do than see the Cats try to stop their losing streak at 13 straight.

3:51, NU leading 19-15. The game hasn't been pretty thus far, but NU is making its shots when it needs to. Amy Jaeschke and Carly Benson of the Wolverines are carrying their respective teams.

Halftime, NU is leading 21-18. The Cats haven't lead after the first half since Dec. 27 against Illinois. Amy Jaesckhe has been absolutely sick for the Wildcats, going a perfect 6-6 from the floor for 12 points. The rest of the team is only 4 of 15. That will have to change if NU wants to pull out the upset.

Second half:

15:38, Michigan leading 22-21. Michigan shot only 28.6% from the floor in the first half, and they aren't doing much better. But NU has been held scoreless by Michigan, which is putting pressure on the Cats and forcing them into poor shot selection as the shot clock is winding down. Turning the ball over 15 times isn't helping the Cats' cause either.

11:56, NU leading 26-25. Freshman guard Meshia Reed hit a big three to put the Cats up 26-22, but the Wolverines answered with a big three of their own from guard Jessica Minnfield to cut the lead to one. This one looks like it might go down to the wire.

8:52, Michigan leading 33-26. Right when I said it was going to go down to the wire, Minnfield rattles off 8 straight points with two threes and a transition layup. So much for that.

7:10, Michigan leading 36-26. NU hasn't scored in more than 6 minutes.

3:51, Michigan leading 42-33. NU has picked it up slightly on offense, with big shots from Reed and Eckhart. But rebounding is proving to be the bane of NU's existance. Michigan isn't shooting well, but the Wolverines are gathering offensive rebounds easily and putting them back up without the slightest hint of intensity on NU's part.

59.2 seconds remaining, Michigan leading 42-38. Amy Jaeschke, not the best long range shooter, just hit a three from well beyond the arc to put the Cats within four. This game might have just gotten interesting.

Final Score: Michigan 47, NU 40. The Cats attempted a valiant comeback, making baskets and then sending the Wolverines to the line, but a victory was just out of their grasp. Have a good one everybody.

NU vs. Ohio State: Live Blogification

Here we are at Welsh-Ryan Arena, awaiting the tip-off of NU's contest with Ohio State. The visiting Buckeyes come in with a 16-8 mark, including 7-4 in the Big Ten, putting htem in fifth place. NU sits in the Big Ten basement at 0-10 and 7-14 overall. Can the Wildcats pull of a stunning upset. Perhaps. And they might even get a pony while they're at it.

Now on to the starting lineups:
Ohio State: G- Jamar Butler, G- Evan Turner, G- David Lighty, F- Othello Hunter, C- Kosta Koufos
NU: G - Craig Moore, G- Michael Thompson, G- Sterling Williams, F- Ivan Peljusic, F- Kevin Coble

Peljusic gets his first career start, as Carmody looks to mix things up and get his team on track.

The student section, as well as the stands in general, are no more than 1/3 full, so the atmosphere leaves something to be desired. And off we go!!!!

17:44- Othella Huner throws down a big dunk for Ohio State, and on the ensuing possession, Juice Thompson shows his freshman-ness by picking up a 10-second violation. It's a 5-5 game.

16:15: Coming down for a rebound, Sterling Williams just elbowed Othello Hunter in the crotch. For any potential Othello Hunter Jrs out there, I hope he's wearing a cup.

15:22: We're at the first TV timeout, with NU trailing 11-8. The offense looks pretty good so far, as it has recently. But the defense also looks poor, as it has recently. The team's saving grace could be turnovers, as the Cats have done a good job stepping into passing lanes thus far.

14:52: The Cats pick up their second 10-second violation. On the agenda for the next practice: how to effectively break the full-court press.

11:36: NU has pulled to within 16-14 after Kevin Coble got on the board with his first basket, then followed it up with a steal and an assist to Thompson.

10:12: Timeout on the floor. The men's soccer team is being honored. The announcer mentions that the team finished the season No. 9 in the RPI, which only serves to further contrast it from the basketball squad, which currently sits at No. 214 in the RPI, behind such power programs as Morehead State.

10:12: Jeremy Nash gets a breakaway off an OSU turnover.....and he DUNKS it! One of the rare times you see the Cats above the rim. Moore follows that up with a 3 to give NU a 19-18 lead.

5:55: Juice drains a 3 late in the shot clock to make it 23-22 OSU. NU's offense is anything but pretty right now, as it struggles to break OSU's pressure defense, but they're sticking with the Buckeyes.

3:34: REEEEEJECTION! Nash goes above the rim for the second time, this time on the defensive end. Jon Diebler was going up for a sure layup, and Nash swooped in and got his whole hand on the ball. The emphatic swat brought what little crowd there is to its feet.

0:00: It's the end of the first half, with NU trailing 29-25. OSU went on a little run at the end of the period, but Moore's 3 in the closing seconds sent NU into the locker room on a high note. Moore is tied with Thompson for the team lead with eight points, while Jamar Butler leads OSU with nine.

NU's coming out for the second half with the same lineup as the first half. That leaves Spark Plug Jeremy Nash on the bench for the time being. We'll see if he stays there long.

19:35: Moore hits a 3 to start the half, pulling NU to within one. Moore's reliable shooting has been the key in the offense's improved play of late.

15:52: At the first timeout of the half, it's 35-32. So far NU has managed to hold off the big second half run that has plagued them throughout the Big Ten season. Nash is back in the game and continues to do the little things to help the team. Even if he's not filling up the stat sheet, he always seems to be contributing something.

13:35: Nash responds to my kind words by forcing a turnover and converting the layup on the other end. By the way, he's on his way to leading the team in rebounds for the second straight game, with seven thus far. He had 10 against Michigan State.

7:40: This one could be quietly starting to slip away from the Cats, with OSU leading 46-38. NU's going to need a run soon to have a chance.

5:08: And slipping away this game is. It's 54-38 now. It's now almost 100 percent certain that NU will fall to 0-11 in the Big Ten.

Show's over, folks. NU loses again, 65-47. Same story as usual. Have a good night, and stay in school.

Men's Basketball: Cats Prepare for Homestand

Northwestern has struggled to an 0-10 record in the conference this season. It is the team's first 0-10 record since 2000.

But the Wildcats have a good opportunity to try and grab a few wins. They will be playing two consecutive home games for the first time since Jan. 2--and even then they had to wait 13 days between their first home game against Howard on Dec. 20 and their Big Ten opener against Penn State on Jan. 2.

NU (7-14, 0-10 Big Ten) begins the week at home Wednesday against Ohio State (16-8, 7-4) and concludes the two-game set at home against Big Ten-leading No. 19 Purdue (19-5, 10-1) on Saturday.

"You've got to be able to win your home games, regardless of who the opponent is," junior guard Sterling Williams said. "If we can get a win on Wednesday, it would be a big lift to our team morale and overall confidence. It's a game we think we should win. If we play the way we are capable of, it's something we can do."

When playing at least two consecutive games at home, the Cats have gone winless only once since 2000 (when coach Bill Carmody became head coach). They dropped two consecutive games to Ohio State and Minnesota last season.

The home games will be a nice break for NU. The team has played a road game each week since conference season began. The travel--whether it is as close as Chicago State or as far as East Lansing, Mich.--can wear on players.

Senior guard Jason Okrzesik said the advantage of playing at home can be as simple as allowing a team or a player to keep to his routine. It is also nice not to have to get on a bus or plane to go to a game.

Carmody said this team is not playing particularly well at home recently. While the break from the road gives a much-needed rest, the Cats cannot let their guard down just because they are playing in the friendly confines of Welsh-Ryan Arena.

But the two home games will still be a nice break on some road-weary players.

"It's always good to play when you're at home," Carmody said. "The travel certainly has to wear on you eventually, especially when you get later on in the season in February when you are playing some guys a lot of minutes. ... Sometimes that can show up at the end of the year."

NU gets one more set of consecutive home games this season, closing the schedule with Iowa and Wisconsin in the first week of March.

Women's Fencing: Weekend Wrap-Up

Despite the fact that Northwestern trained all week to compete against the No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Wildcats did not compete to knock off the nation's top-ranked team. Notre Dame called mid-week to respectfully deny the dual against the No. 6 Cats. NU still traveled to South Bend, Ind. to fence seven other opponents from the Midwest Fencing Conference.

The Notre Dame Duals wrapped up the Cats dual meet season, and NU will prepare for conference championships in two weeks. Until then, some of the Cats will compete in the United States' Fencing Association Junior Olympics in Charlotte, N.C.

So how did the Cats fare this weekend?

Before the weekend, Coach Laurie Schiller said, "To be honest we only had one hard team on the schedule (Notre Dame). The rest of the teams are much weaker."

And Schiller was right. NU went 7-0.

The Cats' first match on Saturday featured a 22-5 of Michigan. NU then topped the Wolverine's in state rival Michigan State 27-0, a much different result than the basketball team mustered verse the Spartans.

The Cats topped Cleveland State (26-1), Wayne State (21-6), Detroit (23-4), Florida (16-11), and Oberlin (27-0) to top off the day, finishing undefeated.

NU's performance this weekend capped off the most successful season in NU history in terms of wins. The Cats finished 37-4 on the season, topping last season's total of 36, the old school record for dual meet victories in a season.

Men's Tennis: VCU Recap

Northwestern dropped the first of two games this weekend against Virginia Commonwealth University. The Wildcats fell to 5-3 in the 4-1 loss against the Rams. NU lost a close doubles point where two of the matches were decided by a two game margin. For singles, sophomore captain Alex Sanborn was the only one to earn a point for the Cats. Sanborn won his match 6-2, 6-7 (5), 10-4 at No. 3. Marc Dwyer, Alexander Thams and Pete Rispoli all lost their matches at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4, respectively, which led to NU's loss. The No. 5 and No. 6 matches were not finished when VCU earned its fourth point.

Men's Basketball: NU at Michigan State

Just about tipoff time here at the Breslin Center, and the Izzone is just about deafening. Tonight, 7-13 NU is in East Lansing to take on 19-3 Michigan State. The Cats are still looking for their first Big Ten win ... might not come tonight.

Starting Lineups:

NU - G-20 Craig Moore, G-22 Michael Thompson, F-11 Nikola Baran, F-32 Sterling Williams, F-44 Kevin Coble

MSU - G-11 Drew Neitzel, G-5 Travis Walton, C-34 Drew Naymick, F-14 Goran Suton, F-2 Raymar Morgan.

So this must be what a real college basketball game feels like...

Pregame - Press row is reeeally close to the court. So we might get wiped out at some point. But I'll play through injury. Sparty is intimidating in person.

15:05 - Five minutes, four points, all from the Spartans. The first 4:55 has been a cavalcade of missed shots and turnovers on both sides, with the only points coming when Suton realized he's far broader than anyone on NU and bullying his way to the basket. Moore airballed his first shot and now the Izzone is chanting "Airball" every time he touches the ball. Spartans, like elephants, never forget. He's also drawing ire for his purple shoes, which are a different color scheme than the rest of the team's. Izzo got t'ed up and Moore is shooting the free throws, makes both. 4-2 Spartans.

11:25 - For all the heckling, Moore is holding up pretty well, along with the rest of the Cats. While the Spartans are using brute force for points, NU is getting crafty. It's had two nice backdoor cut layups, one from Moore to Jeff Ryan and one from Ryan to Thompson. And Jeremy Nash is playing really well. He's brought down two tough boards and forced a turnover. The score is tied 8-8, with Naymick going to the line for two shots. Neitzel has yet to attempt a shot.

11:06 - The Spartans have started a full-court press. And NU looks a little uneasy. 12-8 MSU.

7:56 - Moore responds really well to heckling. He found Ryan on another backdoor cut, hit a 3 to put NU ahead 13-12, then drew an offensive foul right before the media timeout. Coble's come alive too. He hit a 3 to give NU its next lead at 16-14, then got an outlet pass after a turnover and DUNKED it to make the score 18-14, where it stands right now. And here I thought nobody on NU could dunk. 18-14 Cats. As Samuel L. Jackson famously quoth in Jurassic Park, "Hold onto your butts."

3:27 - Well, Drew Neitzel finally got to the arena. After not taking a shot for the first 12:37, Neitzel has put in 13 points over the last four minutes, on 5-of-5 shooting. And all of his 3s bring the house down. But NU is still in there. MSU leads 27-26, after a particularly enervating Neitzel 3. The backdoor cuts are working to perfection. How long can this last?

12.3 - MSU leads 33-29 and has the last possession of the half. What happens in it could mean a lot as to how the rest of the game is going to go.

00.0 - The Spartans got what they wanted, the ball in Neitzel's hands with one second left. He missed the 3, but Walton was under the bucket and tipped it in at the buzzer. So the Cats go into the half trailing 35-29.

Moore and Coble have been keeping NU afloat. The two have 21 of the Cats' 29 points. Nash also had an eventful first half, but he missed two scoring opportunities close to the hoop - one on a blocked shot and one on a flat-out miss. NU is shooting 54.2 percent from the field and is only being outrebounded by one. But the Cats have committed 11 turnovers, which is the main thing keeping them back. It's going to be an interesting second half.

MSU 35, NU 29.

14:55 - It's looked like it's been just about to get away from the Cats on several occasions, but they're hanging in there. It's 45-37 Spartans at this point, and Carmody is engaging in theater major fare on the sidelines. Complete with stamping feet and brow wipings culminating in pained grimaces. MSU 45, NU 37, Cats' ball.

11:37 - The Izzone must have made Craig Moore mad. He has just hit two 3s in a row to bring the Cats within one point, at 47-46. Moore is 7 of 9 from the field, including 5 of 7 from behind the arc, and has 21 points. He also has two steals, a block and three assists. That's filling up a box score. I wasn't at the Indiana game, but this might be the best the Cats have played all year. MSU 47-46.

11:20 - Thompson just picked up his fourth foul and Moore has three.

9:35 - A Neitzel 3 moves the lead to 54-48 for the Spartans. It just seems like every time NU gets something going, MSU is there to stop it. NU ball down by six.

7:20 - Drew Neitzel is NU cyanide. He hits another jumper, then faked a jumper and found Morgan under the basket for a dunk. 58-50 MSU. It's NU ball under its hoop, after Morgan committed his third foul on Moore.

4:43 - This one could be slip sliding away. The Spartans have built their lead up to 10 at 62-52. But the NU press forced a turnover on the first possession it was in place. So who knows?

3:08 - Michigan State is taking its time when it gets the ball, which means NU will have to force the issue a little bit on the offensive end to get more possessions. Something it isn't very good at. MSU 64, NU 52.

1:14 - Well, it was fun while it lasted. A Neitzel free throw makes it 69-55 Spartans, and 0-10 for the Cats in conference.

57.7 - Like the Indiana game, the final score is not going to do this one justice. The Spartans have gone on a 16-5 run in the last nine minutes to put this one in the icebox. Poor, poor Cats.

Final - MSU 70, NU 55.

Extended Interview with Deadspin's Will Leitch

Here is an extended version of my interview with Deadspin's Will Leitch that appeared in the Feb. 7 issue of The Weekly. Enjoy....

Instead of chasing a career in mainstream sports journalism, University of Illinois alum Will Leitch started a blog. Good choice. His site, the irreverent Deadspin.com, now pulls in more than 300,000 hits daily, serving a regular dose of "Sports news without favor, access or discretion." Leitch's new book God Save the Fan, is a collection intimate moments in fandom, ranging from a cynical diary of 24 straight hours spent watching ESPN, to a sentimental account of watching the 2006 National League Championship Series with a group of Cardinals' fans in a New York bar.

Q: What did you think of the ending to the Super Bowl?
A: I still feel like Eli Manning should have come out of the game talking like his balls dropped or something. I feel like he's like a man now. It was disappointing to see he's still a little bit of a yokel.

Q: It’s nice of you to talk to us, considering you used to work for the Daily Illini and everything, so I thought we’d get this out of the way and let you take your best shot at Northwestern.
A: Listen, I have a lot of friends who went to Northwestern, and I understand there’s a certain insecurity involved to the point where unlike a normal person you can’t just say you go to the journalism school at Northwestern. You’ve got your fancy name. No, you’re journalism students at Northwestern, just like we’re journalism students at Illinois. And I’m not one of those people who applied to Northwestern’s journalism school and didn’t get in. I only applied to one school…. I like Northwestern, but I wish you guys would get over this idea – look at the bylines in the paper, ‘Tom Johnson is a senior at Medill.’ No, he’s a senior studying journalism at Northwestern. Goddamn it! We did host this thing for college press one year in Champaign, and almost every single group was dicks except for Northwestern, so we did always have a little soft spot for Northwestern. The Ohio State guys, I can’t believe they can even walk upright enough to make a paper.

Q: What prompted you to write the book?
A: I’ve written a couple books before this and was looking for my next project. And Deadspin was just sort of an accident how it happened. Gawker Media knew my work and asked me if I wanted to do a gambling site. I’ve never been much of a sports gambler, and in fact I think it’s really bad for sports, which makes me a terrible person to run a gambling site, but I said I’d do a sports site. At the time I was working at this magazine, covering the financial services industry, and I was pretending every day like I cared about Merryl Lynch, which is a hard thing to do for two and a half years. But (Gawker) liked the site I started and took it over. So once the site started to get a little bit of readership, I thought maybe we could do a book out of this. It was originally going to be just 25 of these long, dense essays about the world of sports. And I wrote about three of those and got bored with myself about halfway through writing them, which is probably not a good sign for the reader. So we broke it up a little bit…. At Deadspin, I feel like I'm more of a facilitator than a columnist. My job is to introduce topics to people rather than take some strong stance on them. So the book is a little bit more fun. I get to be a little more personal.

Q: In the book, is there a chapter you think will stir things up the most?
A: think the whole media section will stir things up…. I find it astounding that people who choose as their profession to put themselves out there, whether by writing or by broadcasting, people in the media have such thin skin, it’s unreal. If you’re really that concerned about getting made fun of once in a while, go become a banker or an accountant or something. I’ll make pretty innocuous jokes and people will flip out about it…. If you put my name into Google, like the second thing that comes up is “Will Leitch sucks.” You have to have a pretty thick skin. I think the media section is actually pretty tame and light and I’m just trying to have fun with it, but people flip out about that. It’s pretty weird. It probably didn’t help that Page 6 of the New York Post said it was like the “sleazy antics of ESPN stars,” which is like two pages of a 310-page book.

Q: After reading certain parts of the book, it’s hard for an aspiring sports journalist not to get pretty discouraged about that career choice. Is that the correct reaction?
A: I think it would be pretty discouraging if that were going to be how things were from now on, but I don’t think they are…. Newspapers are going to want to be hiring people who understand the Web and how it works. One of my best friends works for the Aurora Beacon News, and the fact that he knows how to do a blog (has helped him) shoot up the ranks, because they’re like “Oh, you know how to do Web stuff? Great, can you do all our Web stuff?” Newspapers are getting a little better, but they still don’t get it, and that can only work to everyone’s benefit.

Q: Why has Deadspin been able to cultivate such a big following?
A: I never really thought it was because of any of my brilliance or anything. I think there was a real calling for something like this, and I mostly just feel fortunate I got there first. So it wasn't so much of a thing like, 'Oh, I can't believe it! This guy's a genius! Let's follow him!' It seems so logical now that obviously people would be looking for a place where they could congregate and get the best sports news off the Web all in one place and a fun take on it.

Q: One topic the book and the Web site cover a lot is ESPN and its shortcomings. If you could change one thing about ESPN, what would it be?
A: One thing wouldn't do it, it'd have to be the ethos of the whole place. Here's what's wrong with ESPN: You're a sports fan, and I'm a sports fan - whether we like it or not, we watch ESPN. We're not going anywhere. They've got us. There's no real major competition. Either we watch ESPN or we don't watch any sports at all. They're a corporation and realize to grow, they have to start going after the more casual fan and start dumbing things down a little.

Q: Being featured in the February issue of Penthouse had to be a proud moment for you.
A: Well it was certainly a proud moment for my dad. He finally realized I don't make my living by just sitting around and e-mailing all day (laughs). Actually that kind of is how I make my money. It was kind of an odd thing to have that happen. I was pretty surprised they put my name on the cover. That was not something you would hae expected coming out of that, because, you know, it's Penthouse.

Q: If you could sit down and have a drink with any professional athlete who’s playing today, who would it be?
A: I have to go with (St. Louis Cardinals pitcher-turned-outfielder) Rick Ankiel. He is the one athlete who totally busts through my whole thing of “Who cares what athletes think? They’re paid entertainers! We’re the consumers! We’re the boss.” I try to be this man of the people and promote this empowerment, this “C’mon fans, let’s take back our game,” thing, but then I’m like “Oooh, Rick Ankiel!” He’s probably my soft spot, and I don’t even think he drinks….You have to be careful not to put athletes on too high a pedestal or bury them too much, because on a certain level, they are in fact human beings, even if sometimes we don’t want them to be.

Q: Five years down the road, where do you see the sports journalism and blogging industries?
A: Any time you try to predict things, you’re going to be wrong… But I’ll say that people who work in the sports journalism industry are finally starting to catch on. I think we’ll start seeing more deals like (former Deadspin contributor) MJD’s at Yahoo! or Henry Abbot’s at ESPN. You’re going to see more people recognizing just how talented these people are and picking them up. I think that’s great. It’s always great to see more talent coming up, but it’s a little scary because there’s always that fear that what we’re doing is going to turn into what we criticize. I think you have to be really careful about that, and what you have to do is be irascible enough not to take any of these jobs. My fear is that all the good independent voices will get swallowed up, but in the end I guess that’s ok, because more independent voices will come. As long as you have people with talent and a way to express it, I think things will get better.”

Football - Signing Day

Christmas is over. St. Patrick's Day isn't here yet. What is there to tide you over? National college football signing day!

Coach Pat Fitzgerald announced NU's class of 2012 today at the Nicolet Center. The new class of Cats is 20 strong and brings with it a wealth of grainy high-school football footage.

It includes five offensive linemen. Five huge offensive linemen. Five huge, intimidating offensive linemen. Five huge, intimidating offensive linemen all from the Chicago suburbs. These guys look like they're as tough the Chicago winter and almost as long - nary a one is shorter than 6 feet 4. They also seem to dole out about as many pancakes as they've taken in over the years: They were punishing people on their highlight reels.

Also, the class includes a lot of players who have a father, cousin, uncle, close friend, that played professional football. NU obviously subscribes to the horse racing theory of strong pedigrees.

Here's a breakdown of all 20 players, because we know you want it:

Nick Adamle, OL, 6-4, 295, Wheaton, Ill. - Nephew of Mike Adamle, former NU star running back (and American Gladiators host). Fitzgerald: "We grew fond of the way he was able to finish blocks and move off the line." Fond, eh?

Brian Arnfelt, DE, 6-5, 250, Lake Elmo, Minn. - Four-year letterman in track and field. Hopefully in the shot put, javelin, shot put, hammer throw, or something involving strength.

Hunter Bates, S, 5-10, 175, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. - Son of Bill Bates, a punishing safety for the Cowboys for 15 years. High-school teammate of Tim Tebow, who is running for Jesus.

Martin Bayless, WR, 6-2, 205, Fresno, Texas - Son of Martin Bayless Sr., who played 13 years as a safety for the Chargers and is a cousin of the Packers' Charles Woodson. Looks like a big, physical, legitimate wideout.

Jared Carpenter, S, 6-0, 200, Bowling Green, Ky. - Also lettered in track and field and basketball, along with averaging 7.2 yards per carry during his senior year (549 yards on 72 rushes).

Alex Daniel, RB, 6-0, 200, Roswell, Ga. - Very upright, physical runner who also looks to have a mean cutback. Fitzgerald: "He can make people miss, and has the speed to take it the distance."

Neil Deiters, OL, 6-8, 310, Elmhurst, Ill. - Down from 343 pounds. Yes, 343. Member of the mathematics honor society in high school. He'll be a great ... addition (had to).

Demetrius Dugar, CB, 5-11, 175, Houston, Texas - He's little, but he's got pop. Looks like a Deante Battle type, but hopefully he can cover a little better.

Jeremy Ebert, WR, 6-0, 175, Hilliard, Ohio - Was a running quarterback in high school and ran a 4.39 40 at an NU camp last year. Could be another Eric Peterman.

Demetrius Fields, WR, 6-0, 200, Dallas, Texas - Brother Dexton Fields is a marquee wideout for Kansas. Took a screen and actually did something with it in the highlight reel. That's a good sign.

Caleb Harper, CB, 5-11, 180, Murfreesboro, Tenn. - Uncle Ed Heath played for the Bengals. Like Dugar, not afraid to hit people.

Evan Luxenburg, DT, 6-3, 275, Beechwood, Ohio - Played mostly linebacker in high school, which is kind of crazy if you think about it. Had 30 tackles for a loss in his senior year.

Jeravin Matthews, WR, 5-11, 170, Canonsburg, Pa. - A burner, letterman in track and field. Holds six school records in track and field. Dang.

Brian Mulroe, OL, 6-4, 265, Glenview, Ill. - Went to Loyola Academy and was a very early commitment for NU. Also was a pitcher in high school. I'm guessing he kind of looked like Sidney Ponson out there.

Brett Nagel, SB, 6-4, 230, Lemont, Ill. - Played safety, quarterback, tight end and linebacker in high school, and now he's a ... superback. Fitzgerald: "We call it a superback because he needs to be able to do super things." ... right.

David Nwabuisi, LB, 6-0, 215, Houston, Texas - Brother Austine Nwabuisi played at Kansas. Also played basketball and ran track and field.

Stone Pinckney, LB, 6-0, 215, Columbia, S.C. - His name is Stone. That's pretty cool. Aside from being the same size as Nwabuisi, he also was a star in basketball and track and field. And he was the class vice president.

Chuck Porcelli, OL, 6-7, 295, Oak Brook, Ill. - Freakin' huge. Gets people on the ground and doesn't let them up. Should open some big holes.

Jeff Radek, OL, 6-6, 300, Naperville, Ill. - His cousin is John Lynch, current Bronco safety and Super Bowl champion with the Buccaneers. Threw the shot and discus in high school.

Quentin Williams, LB, 6-4, 235, Pittsburgh, Pa. - Brother of Nate Williams, a redshirt sophomore linebacker for the Cats. I read on rivals.com that he got a 1590 on the SAT. If so, that's ... um ... really good. Also going to be a pitcher/outfielder for NU's baseball team.

That's enough for now.

Women's Fencing: Sunday's Duals

The Wildcats were back in action Sunday morning to compete in the second day of the NU Duals. At 8 am the Cats took on Cal State Fullerton in the first of the team's six matches, and won handily, a trend that continued for the remainder of the day.

NU defeated North Carolina, UC San Diego, Stanford, Cal Tech, and Farleigh Dickinson to cap off the undefeated day.

Overall, the Cats finished 10-1 in the NU Duals. The squad's only loss came against No. 2 Ohio State.

Nearly all of NU's top fencers who normally compete at the Division I level did not compete Sunday, leaving room for younger team members to gain experience. And, for the most part, they did not disappoint.

One close call, and near disappointment, happened in the Cats' second match of the morning against North Carolina. The sabre squad lost quickly, 9-0, and victory seemed unlikely considering the Tar Heels needed to win just six of the remaining 18 bouts to take the match. NU responded, however, with strong performances by the epée and foil squads to take the victory.

After the long weekend, coach Laurie Schiller cancelled Monday's practice. The team will resume practice Tuesday in preparation for the Notre Dame Duals next weekend.

Women's Fencing: Saturday's Duals

While many other teams at the NU Duals seemed sluggish early on, Northwestern did not seem phased by the 8 am start time Saturday. To kick off the NU Duals, the Wildcats defeated Johns Hopkins 25-2, with foil and sabre dropping one bout each.

NU followed up its impressive performance against JHU with a defeat of Duke. The epée squad remained undefeated after competing against the Blue Devils.

The Cats then squared off with No. 9 Temple. Despite the sabre squad losing 5-4 early on, the epée and foil squads rallied, winning 7-2 and 6-3 respectively. NU defeated the Owls 17-10.

Just a week after losing to Ohio State 18-9, NU dueled with the Buckeyes. The sabre squad was swept within 15 minutes, losing 9-0. Foil (4-5) and epée (5-4) competed well against the second-ranked squad in the country. The loss matched the same score from the Cats loss last weekend, 19-8. 

The Cats fifth and final match of the day featured No. 4 Penn State. Each of NU's squads squeaked out a close victory: Epée, 6-3, Foil, 6-3, and sabre, 5-4. The Cats knocked off the Nittany Lions 17-10.

On the day, Northwestern finished 4-1, an impressive performance.

On Sunday the Cats have six matches, and coach Laurie Schiller expects to win most, if not all of the duals. Schiller might rotate some of the top fencers out to help younger fencers gain valuable experience.

NU-Indiana

11:59, first half: NU heads into the under-12 timeout down only five at 19-14. Offensively, the Cats' Princeton offense is working almost to perfection; the team is fooling the Hoosiers with off-the-ball movement, especially backdoor cuts, which have led to a couple easy laypus. On defense, though, it's double jeopardy for NU. If they play zone, Gordon gets wide-open looks from deep, but if they play man, White will kill them inside. Oh, and NU doesn't have a single rebound yet.

11:28, first half: Jeff Ryan hits the deck after being fouled hard on his way to the hoop, but he walks off ok (holding his right wrist...)

9:57, first half: Indiana calls timeout up 25-22. NU has decided to shoot unconsciously well from the field (8-11, 4-4 from three).

9:14, first half: NU gets its first rebound of the game!!!!! (defensive board by Michael Thompson).

2:38, first half: IU, 35-30. With White out of the game, the Hoosiers have lost their edge inside, and the Cats have kept the game close with a mix of threes and backdoor cuts for layups. An interesting note: Both head coaches, NU's Bill Carmody and IU's Kelvin Sampson, are wearing sneakers with their suits as part of Coaches vs. Cancer weekend. I never thought Carmody could look more like a clown, but he can. Oh he can.

1:12, first half: IU, 38-32. Gordon is killing NU right now. He's got five threes in the half, continually finding the soft spots in the Cats' zone.

Halftime: IU 40-37. That's got to be the best half of basketball the team has played all season. They shot 14-21 from the field, including 7-8 on 3-pointers. Of course, they only have six rebounds, but that's due more to the dramatic size disadvantage than a lack of hustle on the part of the Cats. Who'd have thought the Hoosier faithful at Assembly Hall would boo IU on their way to the locker room? Whatever happens in the second half, this is a big step forward for NU.
15:58, second half: IU, 46-42. This is incredible. NU just won't go away. Moore's cutting for layups, the defense is shutting down Gordon, and Baran is causing the mighty White to get frustrated inside. Moore actually had an open three for the lead, but it bricked out.

11:52, second half: IU, 52-48. THEY WON'T GO AWAY. White is killing them inside, and IU has stepped up its defense, and still the Cats are hanging around.

9:02, second half: IU, 56-50. You can a sense a momentum shift in the offing. At 52-50, Coble missed a three that would've given NU the lead. Since then, the Hoosiers have scored twice quickly and the crowd is getting into it.

7:47, second half: IU, 58-52. Coble's lack of execution is the main reason the Cats aren't winning right now. He's shooting only 2-7 and 0-2 from three in the second half, along with 1-3 from the line. After committing an offensive foul on the last possession, you could see him hanging his head in frustration. That doesn't bode well.

4:39, second half: IU, 65-52. Well, the Hoosiers finally asserted themselves and blew this game open. A Gordon three sent the crowd into hysterics and pushed the lead up to 13.

Endgame: IU, 75-63. That's all there is. I can only hope those who only see the final score don't mistake this for another NU debacle. They hung with the No. 11 team in the country for 32 minutes. They play like this against Iowa or Michigan, they'll will. Guaranteed.

-Jake Simpson

NU-Indiana: Gordon on fire early

The superfreshman has outscored the Cats by himself so far, 9-5, as IU takes an 11-5 lead into the under-16 timeout (for those of you who don't know, there are mandatory TV timeouts at the first stoppage of play under 16, 12, 8, and 4 minutes in each half). NU may have to abandon its zone defense if Gordon keeps draining threes; he's 3-3 from deep thus far. On offense, the Cats have been stagnant, just picking up a shot-clock violation.

Live Blogging NU-Indiana: Before the Storm

Hey, this is Jake Simpson, assistant sports editor, kicking off live updates from Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. Today, Northwestern takes on No. 11 Indiana looking to score the upset. The Wildcats will have to deal with IU's dynamic duo of superfreshman Eric Gordon and dominant big man D.J. White. Gordon leads the team and is second among freshman nationwide in scoring with 21.4 ppg. White is averaging a double-double per game (17.1 ppg and 10.6 ppg) and is considered one of the best big men in the conference.

Honestly, folks, it will take a Herculean effort from NU to knock off the Hoosiers today. We will see.

Women's Tennis: NU knocks off top-ranked Georgia Tech

Everyone knew today's match was big - after all, it was the first match of the season between two top-10 teams. Not to mention, the teams have seven top-25 ranked players and five top-10 singles players between them.
Plus, No. 7 NU has won a record of nine straight Big Ten championships.
Oh, and Georgia Tech is the defending national champions and the No. 1 team in the nation.

Today's match was big - and the Cats came out to win.

NU didn't just beat Georgia Tech, but did so in a dominating fashion, winning 6-1.

In doubles play, all three pairs started off slowly, losing 1-4. At the No. 3 spot, junior Nazlie Ghazal and freshman standout Maria Mosolova rallied back, winning 8-6. Junior Georgia Rose and sophomore Suzie Matzenaeur were unable to come back, losing 3-8. With the doubles point on the line, sophomores Lauren Lui and Samantha Murray, who are ranked No. 7 nationally as a pair, came back to win 8-5, clinching the doubles point and putting NU up 1-0.

In singles play, No. 2 ranked Mosolova fell to No. 7 ranked Kristi Miller at the No.1 singles spot. No. 9 Georgia Rose was able to come back after being shut out in the first set, winning the last two 6-2, 6-1. At the No. 4 spot, Lauren Lui upset Maya Johansson, who is ranked sixth in the nation in singles play. Suzie Matzenauer clinched the Cats' win after dominating at the No.6 spot, winning 6-3, 6-3.

Up next for the Cats is the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

-- Jessie Cai

Women's Basketball: NU vs. Purdue preview

NU is scheduled to go up against the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday at 1 p.m at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Purdue is currently in first place in the Big Ten, so excluding a monumental upset, NU will most likely see its winless streak increase to 11 straight games.

That's not to say NU's season has not had its bright spots. After missing a month due to a wrist injury, freshman center Amy Jaeschke has emerged as a dominating figure for the Wildcats. Fellow freshman Meshia Reed has earned a spot in the starting lineup, and sophomore guard Jenny Eckhart has awoken from her early doldrums to become one of NU's most reliable playmakers.

Going into the last month of the season, there is only so much the Cats can do to salvage their weak performances thus far. But getting at least one win against a Big Ten opponent seems like a reasonable goal.

Men's Tennis: Bradley Recap

After a tough 7-0 loss on Thursday, Northwestern came back and beat Bradley by the same score Saturday morning at the Combe Tennis Center. The Wildcats claimed the doubles point quickly with a pair of 8-2 victories at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. Junior Marc Dwyer and sophomore captain Alex Sanborn played at No. 1 and senior Juan Gomez and freshman David Seyferth played at No. 3. NU was just as commanding in the singles round. Graduate student Alexander Thams earned the first singles point by winning his match 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. Sanborn followed with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 3. And Seyferth clinched the Cats’ victory with a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 6.

Wrestling: NU drops close dual to No. 8 Penn State

No. 10 Northwestern fell to No. 8 Penn State 18-15 Friday night in Evanston. The loss dropped NU to 0-2 in the Big Ten.

Still, the dual had its bright spots for NU, including No. 3 197-pounder Mike Tamillow's 6-1 victory over No. 2 Phil Davis of Penn State. The win avenged a loss to Davis a year ago and makes Tamillow the Big Ten favorite at 197 pounds.

Sophomore 125-pounder Brandon Precin, ranked fifth in the country, also notched a big victory on the night. In the fifth period of overtime, Precin scored a takedown to knock off No. 10 Mark McKnight 4-3.

Redshirt freshman Keith Sulzer capped off the best week of his collegiate career with a 5-3 win over No. 10 Jake Strayer. Sulzer defeated Iowa's Dan LeClere, ranked ninth, 9-3 on Sunday.

- Wade Askew

Men's Tennis: January Review

So we’re about halfway through the non-conference schedule before the Wildcats kick off Big Ten play with Michigan on February 22^nd. So why not take a closer look to see how the Northwestern players have been performing individually.

Marc Dwyer:

- Junior Dwyer is playing well at both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in singles. He has a record of 4-2 in singles going 2-1 at both spots.

- Notable Win: Dwyer broke Butler’s Ben Raynauld at No. 1 to win both sets and clinched NU’s dominant victory over the Bulldogs 7-0

- Notable Loss: Dwyer lost to Notre Dame’s Brett Helgeson, who’s ranked 11^th in the nation, in the No. 1 spot 6-3, 6-2.

Alexander Thams:

- Graduate student Thams started the season struggling a bit at No. 1 singles, but has been playing more and more steadily at the No. 2 spot. Thams’ singles record is 2-3.

- Notable Win: Thams defeated University of Chicago’s Lado Bakhutashvili 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2 for his first victory of the dual season.

- Notable Loss: Thams fell short in a tight match against Notre Dame’s Sheeva Parbhu 6-4, 7-6 (8) at No. 2.

Alex Sanborn:

- Sophomore captain Sanborn has the best record of all the Wildcats at 5-1. He has played consistently at both the No. 3 and No. 4 singles spot.

- Notable Win: Sanborn blanked University of Chicago’s Tim Walsh in both sets to win 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4.

- Notable Loss: Sanborn’s only loss was a tight one that came against his Houston rival, Notre Dame’s Andrew Roth. Sanborn was defeated 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 at No. 3.

Pete Rispoli:

- Freshman Rispoli has shared time at both the No. 3 and No. 4 spot. Rispoli had some trouble at No. 3, but has shown more consistency at No. 4. Rispoli’s overall dual singles record is 2-3.

- Notable Win: Rispoli came back from his first set loss to win his match against Butler’s Bryce Warren. Rispoli won the match 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (5).

- Notable Loss: Rispoli played in a close match against Louisville’s David Simon. Rispoli was edged out 7-6, 7-6 at No. 3.

Juan Gomez:

- Senior Gomez has been very solid at No. 5 singles the entire season with a 4-2 record.

- Notable Win: Gomez earned a point for the Cats in the shortened 4-0 victory over University of Illinois at Chicago. Gomez beat UIC’s Tim O’Brien 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5.

- Notable Loss: Gomez lost in a close match against Notre Dame’s David Anderson that clinched the Fighting Irish’s victory. Gomez was defeated 7-5, 6-4 at No. 5.

David Seyferth:

- Freshman Seyferth has turned in solid play so far in dual play with a 2-2 record at No. 6.

- Notable Win: The freshman earned his first victory in a three-set match against Ball State’s Jimmy Brannon. Seyferth bested Brannon 7-6 (0), 1-6, 1-0 (2).

- Notable Loss: Seyferth lost in a close match against Louisville’s Robert Rotaru 7-5, 7-5 at No. 6. It was Seyferth’s first loss of the season.

Other Players:

- Junior Philip Kafka won the only match he played in against University of Chicago’s Joseph Tchan. Kafka bested Tchan 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6.

- Freshman Andrew McCarthy has not participated in dual play and is sitting out due to injury.