Toilet Bowl ends in a tie

By Casey Toner

The Army tied the Air Force in the 2004 “Toilet Bowl,” which was played on the east end of Huskie Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Since 1969, the Toilet Bowl, played prior to the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday, is the annual football game between members from the NIU Veterans Club. The Air Force and Army typically compete against the Marines and Navy.

Both teams receive a white toilet bowl signed with black and red permanent markers with scores from previous years.

Previous scores filled the toilet-seat trophy to the point where senior music education major and Army veteran Jennifer Webster said she is considering purchasing a new one.

This year’s game was different than in past years. Veterans of the Air Force played the Army because only one Navy veteran showed up for the event.

One Army veteran, sophomore business administration major Bill Frederickson, said he preferred playing football in the chilling snow to playing football in what he said he considered “the sands of hell” – the 135-degree temperatures of Iraq. Frederickson served six months in Iraq before being relieved in early August.

Playing on snowy, frozen ground roughly 42 yards in length and 30 yards in width, the two teams battled without turning over the ball once.

The Air Force took an injury break when Tony Marrero, a communication health-health administration major, went down with a bleeding nose. He was running down field when he took the ball in the face, said Darin Lilly, an Air Force teammate and senior business management major.

The teams tied, ending the game at 35-35.