It's NIU Homecoming-- Part 2: Alumni Tents and the Game

OCTOBER 11TH, 2014:  Checked into the Baymont Hotel on Lincoln Highway, parked and walked over to the Alumni tent area by the Barsema Center.  Most schools have tents and free food and goodies, so definitely on our list of places to visit.

There was a deejay and we saw NIU President Baker walking around on several occasions.  Unlike past presidents, Baker is of the people and we see him often at functions.

First stop was the Alumni Association tent and Italian beef sandwiches and deep-fried Cajun potato salad.  We had the potato salad because Fatty's Pub and Grill on Lincoln Highway was providing the food.  Mighty good regional food even if we're not in Louisiana.  I know of no other place that has it.

Then, we went to the School of Education tent and saw the dean of it and also our contact with the NIU Foundation for our scholarship in education, Terri.

The Huskie Marching band came by to play a couple of songs and we had speeches by the president and others.

We caught a golf cart over to the stadium and went to the Dog yard area, but it was closing down because the game was beginning.  We had decided not to buy tickets to the game as we would have to leave by half time if we wanted to get into Lord Stanley's and find a seat to see the DeKalb Footstompers.

We watched the first quarter from a rise near the apartments south of the stadium and were right near the ROTC howitzer that they fire whenever the Huskies score a touchdown.  We scored six in just a little over a minute.  Things were looking good, but Central Michigan came right back to score and then scored two more times.  A pretty bad start as NIU was trying to stretch our winning home streak to 29 games, the longest in the country.

We then walked over to Fatty's to watch the second quarter, but the lione waiting to get in was clear out to the parking lot so got the car (Baymont is next door) and drove downtown to watch it there.

A Sad Day As It Turned Out for Huskie Nation.  --RoadDog