DETROIT – Ah, Detroit in December. Is there any better place to be during the Holiday time?

Who am I kidding?

Any one of the NIU players walking off the field Thursday night probably could have told you just how they felt about Detroit at that exact moment. I’m sure you’d get some wonderful quotes one could put in a tourist brochure.

The city that was supposed to bring NIU glory only brought it heartbreak.

And how fitting it was that Akron was serving it up on a silver platter with a smile. The Huskies may see large kangaroos in their dreams from now on.

On an official list of places no NIU fan ever will want to go, right now the only place more hated than Detroit is Akron.

Maybe NIU should have known bringing the cities of Akron and Detroit together at one time would be bad. Akron hasn’t been pleasant in a few years, and last time I checked, Detroit also is the last thing from pleasant.

Will the Huskies ever catch a break?

NIU got the Toledo monkey off its back and finally made it to the MAC Championship. And waiting there for them was something bigger and heavier than a monkey: a kangaroo. Yeah, I’m sure that’s going to be fun to have on their backs.

Walking off Ford Field after the game, every player looked like the best remedy would be to just get on a bus and leave town.

The smiles from seconds earlier seemed light years passed. No one looked at anything other than the ground. That same ground they expended every ounce of energy to win on.

But I guess that’s what Detroit is most known for – taking away a person’s happiness. And last night, it did an exceptional job of doing it to the entire Huskie nation.

I tell you one thing. I never wanted to leave a city more. Wait check that. Yes, I have – when I was in Akron.