We have a great range of contributors here. Lets hear what your favorite Huskie sports memories are....

FB:
(Lots of good one's to pick from!)
The '83 Cal Bowl season...especially the fantastic, come-from-behind victory over BGSU!
BB: The '79, 57-55 OT loss to DePaul......

Football:

2003 - Defeating a ranked Alabama team on the road proving that the opening night win over Maryland was not a fluke.

2010 - Redeeming the season with the H Bowl victory over Fresno, and coach Tuke becoming an NIU legend.

Basketball:

1982 - Quaterfinal MAC tourney win over Ohio in DeKalb. We came back from huge deficit to force OT and win. Proceeded to win MAC tourney and advance to first ever NCAA tournament.

1991 - Donald Whiteside off balance, desperation 3 to put MidCon tourney semi final game into OT and eventual Huskie win. Lost in finals next night to UWGB, but win over UNI helped us to get an at-large NCAA bid.

1971 ... Huskies defeat Indiana (a top ten team) in the Field House.

(06-03-2011 07:37 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  1971 ... Huskies defeat Indiana (a top ten team) in the Field House.

That same IU team was the first Bobby Knight coached team to appear in the Final Four.

(06-03-2011 07:37 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  1971 ... Huskies defeat Indiana (a top ten team) in the Field House.

+1........What a great night that was. Knight just refused to call a timeout as the score kept mounting. My #1 all-time NIU memory and nothing else is even close. Alabama, Maryland, and Fresno State (73-18) would be the next 3.

2003 Maryland game...my second NIU game ever and first as a student. That's pretty sad.

#1
9/22/2001 vs Sam Houston St - The first game after 9/11. Everyone chanting USA after the National Anthem, and for at least a few hours we got to take our minds off of the terrible events and celebrate.

#2
2002 BGSU - My first time seeing a ranked opponent, first thundersticks game (I still have them) & we defeated Urban Meyer.
http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/m-footb...02aaa.html

#3
2003 Iowa St - I was the fan of the game

NIU 73 Fresno State 18

Nuff said....

Hoops: Winning 1982 MAC tournament to make Big Dance for the first time. Ball State was the heavy favorite, but we smoked them anyway. Nearly got into a fight with some BSU fans in an Ann Arbor tavern.

Football: Silicon Valley Classic, 2004. Nearly got pneumonia that night in the pouring rain, but winning made it worth becoming ill and spending all that money to get to San Jose and back.

Women's hoops: Beating Wisconsin on a last-second shot in the first game at the Convo, 2002.

MBB: 1971-72 beating Indiana and Bob Knight; 82: beating Ball st in OT to win the MAC tourney; Beating Dick Bennett & Wis the year they went to the final four; Terry Green tip stuff; and the first Keith Grey's stairway to heaven dunk against WMU; Kenny Battle passing up a dunk so Brad Waller got one last basket in Chick evans during his career

FB: Tuck foledo Game; Beating BG after being down big at half; 2003 up to the BG game; and 2 tough losses in the MAC title games

Softball: 1988 college world series--final 8

WBB: NCAA home game wins vs LaTech & Texas Tech; record crowd (men or women) in Chick Evans vs DePaul; national final eight in 1972 (AAIW)

1. As a student watching the Fast Break Fest at the field house. N.C. State had the phenominal Andrea Stinson who was by far the best athelete we had the pleasure of seeing play in the field house from '86-'90. Anyway, someone in our group had found a N.C. State media guide or a program or something with their pictures in it and they had a center named Smith who was beautiful. Tall, light brown hair, striking. We were in our usual seats in the verbal abuse section and the three of us were in awe of this player name Smith. So after a made basket, one of my buddies yells "Hey Smith!" What happend next was something you never would think would happen. She has the ball going to pass to inboud the ball after the basket. She stops, looks at him as if to say "What to you want?" Not in a smart ass way, just like seeing a friend at the grocery store and you say "Bob" and he turns and says "Oh Hi, how is going?". He didn't quite know what to do at that moment because he didn't have a point to his initial comment. So he just smiles and says "Shoot the ball." We were in tears laughing so hard. We were't doing it to be mean or anything it was just a great moment. She seemed to be a good sport about it too.

2. Playing Noonball at the field house against Women's and Men's team players. All the players were really nice and fun to hang around with.

3. Any night game in late August or early September at Huskie Stadium. Sitting at the top of the west stands and watching the beautiful sunsets. Just a nice environment to watch a game.

4. Standing on the floor of Huskie Stadium watching the men's team play soccer.

5. Watching a girls softball game in late April from behind the fence in left field. Drank way too much beer in the hot sun and about wanted to die.

6. Silicon Valley was special. All the planet's lined up and we were in the right place at the right time to see lot's of neat stuff. The players come down for the team meal, rode the elevator with President Peters, Drank beer with Mrs. Haldi at the pregame party. Got to stand right by the players as they came out of the locker room to play, stood right in front of Bill Baker while he broadcast the game. Talked to him and Sid a couple of times during commercials. Shared a taxi with the Huskie Orthopedist to the airport. Flew home with Dustin Uetstig. (sp). Great time.

Favorite moment seen live: I mentioned it on a previous post, but in 1985 NIU v. Miami (OH) at the Field House. It was Kenny Battle v. Ron Harper. In OT, with NIU up by one and .03 left on the clock, Ron Harper drives down the middle of he lane thats a sure easy layup, Battle comes out of nowhere and swats the ball away. Best moment in that game was a guard for Miami had Jheri-curled his hair to sport a Prince like hair style(Remember this was 1985). He got fouled and right before he took his shot the verbal abuse section got up and sang a chorus of Purple Rain. The guy froze in mid shot with a startled look on his face. He tanked both of them.

Though this is not a proud moment, it was funny. It was either 1984 or 1985, and it was Agricultural Day at the football game. The organizers thought it would be a good idea to pass out corn to a bunch of "fully krausened" student tailgaters. Needless to say corn cob fights started all over the place and as the Northern Star reported the following Monday, "At one point there was so many ears of corn flying in the air that it blotted out the sun."

Might not be the greatest, but #1 Tennessee visiting the Field House to take on Connor, E.C. Hill etc..........in the early 90's was cool......

Also, the annual homecoming tradition of taking down the goal post after a win and throwing it in the lagoon was always fun. The last time I was in attendance for that was against UNLV in 1995.

2003 Maryland game - walking into into a sold-out Huskie Stadium after having been to tons of games where it was less than half full. DeKalb was the center of the college football universe that night, because it was the first game of the entire college football season, and the only one nationally televised that Thursday night. Everybody itching to watch some kind of meaningful football (you know what it's like in mid-August) watched the game. NIU rose to the challenge by winning an incredible game. All the national sports folks were talking about NIU the next day. It just felt like our little corner of heaven was in the spotlight for once.

2005 Toledo game - I was on business in Ames, IA, and it was butt cold out. For whatever reason, I had to listen to most of the game on the radio (you can get 670AM at night just about anywhere) until I could get back to my hotel. I remember I had to leave the hotel because I was just getting too loud watching the game. I go back to the car, listen intently and hear the one thing I'd been dying to hear for years: Bill Baker bellowing "GOOD BYE TOLEDO!!" I got out the car and jumped around in the snow and yelled at the top of my lungs next to a frozen Iowa cornfield. That was a sweet victory.

The 2003 Maryland win against a nationally ranked team with a sold out crowd, I was never so proud to be a Huskie. Then to be in Tuscaloosa the night the Huskies became the 34rd visiting team in the history of Alabama football to win at Bryant Denny stadium.....

Give me a smoke and call me daddy.....

To be ultra-specific: the pregnant pause at the Maryland game as the entire crowd processed what happened on that last play. I've never experienced anything like time stopping for a big crowd like that as everyone put together what just happened and erupted.

The first NIU sporting event I ever watched (at least that I remember) was the 2003 win over Maryland. I was just bored and flipping around on the ol' TV and thought to myself; hell, why not? It's football.

I rooted for the underdog (as I always do, because I am a sucker for pain) and was rewarded. I had no idea at that point that I would end up at NIU; it was a nice introduction. I remember listening to the next couple of games on the radio, so I guess I was hooked pretty quickly.

I've been to more basketball games than football (due to work, not preference, really) so I have a few more from basketball (somehow; mostly because I saw them live, I guess). Najul Erving had a badass dunk that I was next to the hoop for.

Even though his NIU legacy sucks, DiNunno hit a crazy half-court 3 at the end of the CMU game at home his freshman year that either sent the game to OT or a 2nd OT, I forget which. Either way, it was crazy unlikely. I do remember we lost the game, however. Ugh.

Also, I got kicked out of a game at Huskie Stadium for helping my group lift up BleedsHuskieRed at the end of a game where we were killing some crappy opponent. The people next to us lifting up a chick had no troubles....it was annoying. But funny now.

Kenny battle games in chick evans were electric

(06-05-2011 03:05 PM)klake87 Wrote:  Kenny battle games in chick evans were electric

+1

Not a great memory but something that sticks in my head - I remember Marlin Simms tossing up a 3 from about 25 feet, then the next time he got the ball, he traveled. Then he made a 3, then he travelled again, then he made another 3. Talk about feast or famine.

Also, the Ohio game from 2003. The end of the game was phenomenal.