Initially walking into the reunion party on Friday night was a bit shocking as many people looked a bit older than how I pictured them in my mind from freshman year! (My Rob has a theory that your friends don't age, though others do...). Evanston also blossomed from a 'dry town' where the prevailing nightlife was going to a fraternity party or heading south to Chicago, to a true college town with restaurants, shops and of course bars.
The next day, walking around the beautiful campus, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, we also noted what's changed and what's endured.
Though the biggest change was the sense of school spirit, which I think is a direct link to having a great football team.
When I was in school, Northwestern's football team was legendary for its string of losses, and the prevailing sentiment was intellectual apathy. "Lake the posts" referred to the rare victory tradition of students ripping the goal posts down for a Lake Michigan bath.
Though we weren't the ultimate underdogs, we seemed to expect to lose...
Now, in dramatic contrast, last Saturday students and alums were decked in purple, the water fountain had purple water, ESPN was on campus, and the nationally ranked football team led by the beloved coach Pat Fitzgerald was going to play in a primetime ABC broadcast of the Northwestern Wildcats vs. Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ohio State, #3 in the nation, consistently a "great football team" (and rival if you grew up in Michigan), was predicted to win. And yet, during the game, it seemed as if, as if...a miracle might happen.
In the end we lost, yet played like we expected to win. My friend Dennis commented that if we won, Northwestern might have moved up to a top 10 national ranking. "But that can't really happen," he said, "We're not supposed to have a good football team."
Interesting to think about the limitations of the fixed ideas we carry with us.
