A thundering crowd and packed Huskie stadium roars as the NIU football team sprints out of the pearl white Athletic and Academic Performance Center tunnel. Can you envision it?

Wait. The what you ask?

Oh, you probably forgot. You know. The AAPC. That building supposed to be built on the north side of the football stadium.

Oh, Right. You probably don’t remember the privately funded $7 million, I mean $9.5 million, I mean …

Hold on. How much did it cost again?

In case you have forgotten about the AAPC, like the material you studied for last semester’s finals, NIU football coach Joe Novak and the NIU athletics department broke ground Nov. 23 2005 for the AAPC during halftime of NIU vs. Western Michigan.

Yes, the AAPC, or Almost Always Projecting new Costs facility.

It’s now four months and 12 days later, and not a word has reached public ears about what is going on with the AAPC.

For those of you with Internet access, you can get to the web page for the AAPC through the new and improved athletics Web site run through CSTV.

However, like most Huskie followers, namely students, spending the time to look up that much information might require more work than the three mouse clicks it takes to access e-mail. That would just be too much strain for some, wouldn’t it?

So here’s the lowdown:

Rumor has it progress is being made toward actually beginning to build — yes, build — the AAPC.

With the spring football game coming up, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the athletics department waited until then to announce anything else, unless they want to make this reporter look bad.

But here’s the problem:

There’s a picture on the AAPC Web site showing 11 individuals with 9 shovels in the ground where the AAPC is supposed to be built.

Unfortunately, that’s the most work done on the site since.

Does this have anything to do with the fact the projected cost of the facility was originally set at $9.5 million and is now rumored to cost more than $11 million?

Maybe, but that’s just speculation, right?

Seven million dollars had to be raised before the athletics department could make a move. Novak and crew made that happen.

However, more information about the actual cost of the building popped up, and the Northern Star obtained estimates that have the building costing $11.2 million.

Why is this process taking so long?

The Web site said the facility will be ready for the 2007 season, and that’s definitely in reach, if NIU has the money to actually build, furnish and staff the building.

Kudos to everyone for working so hard on this AAPC project. But this reporter is sick of seeing NIU fall short of a MAC title every year while other MAC schools continue to stay a step ahead in the facilities game.

Just tell everyone how much money the athletics department needs and build the thing.