Sports editor Frank Gogola previews the MAC football landscape and gives his predictions for where each team will finish. Today he previews the MAC East Division. Check out Wednesday’s Northern Star for his MAC West Division preview.1. Bowling Green...

With football’s regular season right around the corner, I’m ranking the Huskies’ best home games to attend this season.The Huskies play host five times in 2014, welcoming MAC West division foes Central Michigan Chippewas and Toledo Rockets, MAC...

The arrival of the College Football Playoff marks the end of an era dominated by the top five conferences, particularly the SEC — or does it?Only the top four teams in the country are eligible for a shot at the national championship, which isn’t a...

With NFL training camps ready to get underway, four NIU alumni are hoping to make it through to the final 53-man roster in the NFL.Jordan Lynch, Jimmie Ward, Ken Bishop and Joe Windsor head into some tough position battles this week.Lynch faces the toughest...

The Midsummer Classic is the biggest all-star game in the world, but it’s so hard to take seriously.For all the good things that come out of Major League Baseball’s All-Star game, the final result of the game ruins the whole affair. Only in baseball...

The Chicago Bulls lined up a nearly wide-open jumper for free agent Carmelo Anthony, but their shot resulted into nothing but an air ball.Anthony opted for the monster contract – sorry, Phil Jackson’s vision – over the chance to win a ring. This...

On the Fourth of July the Chicago Cubs and the Oakland Athletics pulled off the year’s biggest trade, shaming firework displays and front office blustering across the country.The Cubs sent pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Athletics in...

Changes are coming to the Chicago Bulls — big changes that’ll at least spell an end to those feared scoring droughts.The Bulls traded away the No. 16 and No. 19 picks and a future second-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for the No. 11 pick, John R....

As the United States gears up for its round of 16 matchup with Belgium, someone can safely say, “Soccer has never been this popular.”We’re looking at the perfect storm of soccer enthusiasm in this country. Not the George Clooney kind, but the kind...

When NBA commissioner Adam Silver gets ready to announce the Chicago Bulls’ picks in the 2014 NBA Draft Thursday at the Barclays Center, he should be announcing a trade for both first-round picks.It’s been long acknowledged the Bulls need a scorer...

There are two approaches to recovering from disastrous baseball seasons: rebuilding and reloading. Both are on display in Chicago.The question most people should be asking is which scheme is better: rebuilding or reloading? While there isn’t a right...

I’m going to get right to it and lay my cards on the table: I hate saying goodbye, and it’s not something I’m particularly good at.I’ve called the Northern Star my home for four years. It’s where I wrote more than 400 articles and columns, each...