Northwestern University Athletics
Nate Tackles Dallas: A Nate Williams' Bowl Blog Entry II
12/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 29, 2010
Nate Tackles Dallas: A Nate Williams' Bowl Blog
Entry Two
Hello Wildcat faithful. Welcome to the second edition of my bowl blog. In the previous edition I forgot to mention how astonished I was that the media personnel here at Northwestern asked me of all people to do this blog. I was surprised that they would select a Pittsburgh native to highlight everything surrounding a bowl game in Dallas of all places. For those who are unaware, Pittsburgh and Dallas simply do not mix. To stay true to my roots, I will go on the record to say that Dallas is my least favorite city right behind Cleveland (the mistake on the lake). I still do not like Troy Aikmen, Emmit Smith, or Michael Irvin simply due to the fact that they ruined my first ever Steeler Super Bowl when they beat the Steelers in 1995. My Pittsburgh pride runs deep and is typically unrelenting when it comes to rival teams to my beloved Steelers.
| Nate Tackles Dallas Bowl Blog |
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• Dec. 28, 2010:
Entry One • Dec. 29, 2010:
Entry Two • Dec. 30, 2010:
Entry Three |
However, for the good will of this blog I will from now on refrain from any negativity I feel toward the city, I hope my friends and family back home will forgive me. Anyways back to business. Wednesday marks the middle of our work week as we embark on our New Year's Day bowl against Texas Tech. Today we practiced at TCU's indoor facility due to forecasted morning showers. Of course with our recent luck with weather and travel, there was not a single drop of rain as we arrived at the facilities. The facilities there were very nice, and it was very courteous of them to allow us to use it as they were in southern California preparing for the Rose Bowl. We finished the day with a solid practice and were able to enjoy another catered meal, this time Mexican food was on the menu. The ride home came with a rather unpleasant smell due to the fact that we were not able to shower at TCU. To top off the bus ride back, we had to listen to Mike Bolden on the microphone of the bus, as he made his attempt at stand-up comedy.
Once we got back to the hotel we were able to take a quick shower and head back down to position meetings where the linebackers all had the luxury of taking in a plethora of Coach Bates' bad jokes. Post meetings we packed up the buses and headed out to Main Event. There we were able to enjoy bowling, laser tag and arcade games. Everyone hustled in to get their bowling lanes and sign up for the next game of laser tag. The game was a slaughter. Drake Dunsmore and I headed our teams along with Niko Mafuli (who we tried to use as a walking barricade). This plan did not work out as well as initially thought. Apparently its not the laser tag game like most of us enjoyed as kids, where once you were hit, you had to "reenergize" back at your base. Here, once you were hit and had to get back to the base, you could still kill us and get a ton of points before reenergizing. So needless to say, the plan did not work out. Some highlights of my personal game included going toe-to-toe with Andrew the "Duckmeyer" Struckmeyer as we tied killing each other a whopping 22 times.
After the laser tag game, Drake and I went to the arcade to test our skills at a motorcycle racing game. I should have given Drake a handicap, due to being the owner of my very own motorcycle. Once we got back to the hotel, a number of guys went their own way and a number went down to the players lounge and played pool, Nintendo Wii, and ping pong. The lounge is pretty hooked up, it even has the enormous posters hung up from the facade of Wrigley Field. "Topcat" Dan Persa is apparently going to make an attempt to get his by the end of the trip. With the size of the poster, I cannot imagine what one would do with such a thing, but I hope he is successful in his endeavors.
As game-day is quickly approaching, we cant help but notice the Wildcat fans start to pile into our hotel to come cheer us on. It gives us tons of encouragement to see all the purple attire being sported in and around the hotel. We will be looking forward to seeing more fans make their appearance Thursday and Friday. Until then, we will continue to strive for our bowl victory. Until next time, GO Cats!
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