You would think following the NIU football team, after all the success its had this season, would be pretty easy.

But I found myself enduring quite an adventure just to be able to see our beloved team play on Saturday.

The game was not covered on any of the local stations, which is sad, considering we’re in DeKalb. We get most Northwestern games and every University of Illinois game, but we never see NIU play. Unless, of course, you are in the residence halls.

Luckily, however, my roommates and I thought we discovered a loophole. ESPN GamePlan offered a service that shows about 12 or 13 extra football games every week for $14.99.

One of the games set up on the GamePlan schedule was NIU vs. Alabama, so we ordered it for the day. The problem occurred around 6:05 when GamePlan decided to stop showing us the rest of the football games.

It turns out we couldn’t get the game because there was a local blackout, the same types of blackouts that keep us from seeing the Bulls play on TNT and the Bears play at home if they don’t sell enough tickets.

Except neither applied. Across the country, the only people who couldn’t see the NIU-Alabama game were those who live in the Chicago area.

We tried finding a TV in the residence halls, but after four years you find you don’t know too many people that still live there.

So, around 6:15, after a minor confrontation with the cable company, I rushed to the Convocation Center to hopefully watch the game on the big screen, if there were still seats available.

The Convo Center had plenty of seats available and things didn’t seem so bad, until I realized I couldn’t see a thing. Yes, I have the vision of an 80-year old man, but even people with 20-20 vision couldn’t tell if Steve Azar’s kicks we’re good or not. They had to watch the referees below the goal posts.

At halftime, I had enough and slumped home. Lost as to how I could keep up with the game, I wandered in and around the dorms hoping to see a big TV in a lobby or someone I knew walking around so I could invite myself in.

Unsuccessful, I was reduced to updating the box score on ESPN.com, following the game on about a 25-minute delay.

And then, it hit me. The Holmes Student Center. I quickly headed to the main lobby of the Student Center when my glorious plans were thwarted by an older, homeless-looking lady who had her heart set on watching “Miss America.” I could just tell she wouldn’t budge.

I began scrambling around the student center looking for a television anywhere. Then, I lucked out. Good ol’ McDonald’s had the TV’s running and a small, but lively contingent of Huskie fans enjoying NIU football.

My journey was complete, the Huskies went on to victory and it was all worthwhile in the end.