From MTV to NIU, Cribs is in the house … well, residence hall.

Throughout the semester, Sweeps will delve into the dopest domiciles NIU students inhabit.

This week, we visit the the oh-so-eclectic pad of two NIU students.

What do the Chicago Bears, Christmas lights and the Grateful Dead have in common? Well, probably nothing, but you can find all three in the happenin’ pad of NIU students Eric Swanson and John Turner.

The pair are just a couple of average guys – big on ’80s rock, Chicago sports and playing cards. Since both seniors ended up on a floor swamped with underclassmen, how do they manage to have fun and still stay focused?

“We’re big on procrastination,” said Turner, a senior French language and literature major. “But we get the job done.”

Swanson said age doesn’t prevent them from bonding with their floormates.

“We are two of the oldest people on the whole floor,” said Swanson, a senior applied probability and statistics major. “We usually hold card games every Thursday, though.”

The duo is also known for holding “Family Guy” marathons.

“What usually happens is we will put one of the DVDs in just to watch one episode, and we’ll end up watching them all,” Turner said.

Swanson and Turner clearly believe Christmas lights aren’t just for Christmas anymore. The guys used different strands of lights to decorate some of the unattractive features in their room, such as the ceiling pipes and a homemade shelf.

“We’ve had them up since the first week [of school],” Turner said. “At first, they were only around the [ceiling], but we have added a lot more. They can be really bright sometimes.”

The guys not only changed the lighting, but they also added a fridge. They keep the standard residence hall minifridge stocked with the bare necessities, such as sandwiches and leftover takeout. Their second fridge serves a different purpose. Brought to NIU by Swanson from his previous residence hall room, the fridge keeps the guys’ “weekend fun” extra cold, ready and waiting for when they have to wind down from a long week of studying.

The supplementary fridge rests upon two of Swanson’s travel trunks. Covering the rather unattractive trunks is a funky tie-dyed cloth.

“I got it at a Grateful Dead concert,” Swanson said. “It keeps the trunks hidden.”

Tucked away in the corner is Turner’s very classy Ibanez guitar.

“It’s the most expensive thing in the whole room,” Turner said, “with the exception of maybe the pedal that goes with it.”

While Turner doesn’t center his day on his guitar, he likes to fiddle around with it.

“I mess around with it,” Turner said. “I am trying to start up a band; we are big into ’80s rock.”

Scattered all around the room are traces of Swanson’s deep-seated love of Chicago sports, especially Mike Ditka and the Chicago Bears. He even has a classic $5 photo of Da Coach flipping off the camera framed above the television.

“He keeps us in line around here,” Swanson said.