NIU, Mid-American Conference tackle issues of playing in a pandemic
James Krause, Senior Reporter
September 25, 2020
DeKALB — The Huskies football team can make plans to see their Mid-American Conference rivals on the field this fall, as the conference voted unanimously Friday for football to return in November. Head Football Coach Thomas Hammock said there was a feeling among his players today that hasn’t been f...
NIU football to return in November
September 25, 2020
DeKALB — After leading the charge to suspend the upcoming football season on Aug. 8 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NIU will take it back to the turf come November. Presidents from the 12 Mid-American Conference schools voted unanimously Friday to play the 2020 college football season, becoming the las...
Remembering Walt Owens: Coach, teacher, mentor
James Krause, Senior Reporter
September 24, 2020
Walt Owens, or “Coach O”, wore many hats in his 87 years of life before he died Sunday. Owens played Negro League baseball under a pseudonym while also attending Western Michigan University. Owens was a high school teacher to Motown legends in Detroit. He was a baseball coach and faculty memb...
Down the Lines: NFL Week 3 predictions
Wes Sanderson, Columnist
September 24, 2020
After two weeks of football action, some things have become very clear. One, the Cowboys still have no defense, but what do you need a defense for when your offense is second in the league in total yards and sits as the sixth-highest scoring offense in the league? Two, injuries are going to play a ...
NFL Column Week 2: The further down the block you went, the worse it got
James Krause, Columnist
September 24, 2020
Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts walk onto the field of Texas Stadium with a mob of angry Dallas wrestling fans waiting for them. It’s May 6, 1984, and the group known as the Fabulous Freebirds from Atlanta, Georgia, have come to Dallas to face Texas’ favorite sons — the Von Erichs ...
Pritzker extends online sportsbook gambling registration
Wes Sanderson, Reporter
September 22, 2020
DeKALB — Bettors who have failed to register online for various Illinois sportsbooks are not out of luck yet, due to Governor J.B. Pritzker’s extension of his executive order on online registration for sportsbook gambling. Joe Orstrowski, of 670 The Score, reported on Twitter Friday that Pritz...
NIU hall of famer Walt Owens dies at 87
September 21, 2020
DeKALB — NIU hall of famer Walt Owens died Sunday. Coach “O” was 87 years old. Owens was the baseball coach from 1976 to 1982, winning 133 games. He was also an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team from 1973 to 1978. He was an NIU faculty member from 1973 to 2011. He was an em...
3 sports teams under quarantine
James Krause, Senior Reporter
September 18, 2020
DeKALB — The NIU football, men’s basketball and men’s golf teams are under quarantine after each had members of the program test positive for COVID-19, the NIU Athletic Department announced Friday. The positive results came during weekly surveillance testing in cooperation with the DeKalb County H...
Huff’s Hoops: NBA Playoffs second round recap
Jarrett Huff, Sports Editor
September 18, 2020
NBA basketball has clearly been affected by the events of 2020. No physical fans, the Playoffs being held at a bubble site, you name it — it’s been an unprecedented season. Well 2020 worked its strange magic in the second round, as many had their playoff brackets busted. To start, for the first time in NBA history,...
Down the Lines: NFL Week 2, college football predictions
Wes Sanderson, Reporter
September 17, 2020
Week one of both the NFL and most major NCAA conferences are in the books. It was exciting to watch football on national TV again. Football on TV restored a sense of normalcy I was lacking these last few months, along with a little bit of extra spending change from the winnings the weekend before. ...
NFL Recap Week 1: Mix the old with the new
James Krause, Senior Reporter
September 16, 2020
This column will be the first in a weekly series by James Krause following the NFL season.In an ad featured throughout many of the league games this week, the NFL featured snippets of the Hall of Fame speech of former running back LaDainian Tomlinson. The ad is 90 seconds long, and in between the images meant to tu...
Down the Lines: U.S. Open Edition
Wes Sanderson, Reporter
September 15, 2020
The PGA Tour rolls into its second major of the 2020 calendar. Originally scheduled for Father’s Day weekend in June, the US Open at Winged Foot Country Club in New York will host one of golf's greatest tests starting Thursday. The championship West Course received a massive renovation in 2015 by Gil ...
DeKALB — The DeKalb County Health Department announced Friday the number of positive COVID-19 cases increased to 1,613. Among those who’ve...