Welcome to Sippin' on Purple!
Ayo!
This, people, is Sippin' On Purple. Yes, Northwestern has fans. I'm one. You might be one. Thanks to our school's comically bad decision in the 1890's or so to join an athletic conference in which every other school was like, big, and uhh, named after a state, and, like, had good sports teams and stuff, people assume there aren't many of us. (Also adding to this assumption: the fact that for 100 years our teams were a gigantic freaking whirlpool of suckitude and the fact that even though we have the smallest football and basketball stadiums in our conference, they're still comically large in proportion to the amount of people that show up. But all this is besides the point.)
But this blog is here to help flip that assumption around. We do, in fact, exist.
You see, I'd seen some of the other Big Ten blogs on this network. (They're pretty good, you should check them out. I have a feeling we'll become good friends with the Black Heart Gold Pants crew from Iowa, who are hilarious and hate Northwestern's guts.) And I started wondering, "hey, how many Big Ten blogs do they have overall?"
Turns out, they had ten blogs for Big Ten teams. Ten. As you mighta heard, there's 11 schools in the Big Ten. And, uh, guess which one didn't have a blog! (I'll give you a hint: the one with the hundred years of sucky teams and the half-empty stadium.) (Or, as the subhead of the site says, half-full. It took me a half-hour to come up with that sub-header, appreciate it, punks.)
The fact that the nerdiest school in the conference ended up being the last one without a blog is on some hardcore oxymoron stuff. Think about it. But alas.
After an uncomfortably long period of uncontrollable weeping, I got over it, manned up, pushed my glasses as far up on my nose as possible, and started my own blog. You mighta read it. It was called "The Purple Drank", and this site is going to be a lot like that one, except it's going to be way, way, way, better. (Seriously. This platform allows me to do so many cool things, it's ridiculous. The layout is sick, and I have a funny feeling I can bet better access to things reporting from this baby than from my little blogspot account named after a drug popular amongst southern rappers.)
Now, there's one less place in the world where the Big Ten makes sense and has only ten teams. SBNation, thanks for letting me complete the set.
Anyway, you might have noticed I changed the name. You see, sometimes in life, you decide it's not the best idea to have the first thing that comes up when someone googles your name be a home-brewed hallucinogenic drug.(Instead, now, when you google my name, you're gonna get this site whose logo features a shotglass. I'm movin up in the world, people.) However, I picked a relatively similar name with a similar meaning: the title comes from a really, really, really not safe for work Gucci Mane song in which Gucci says he's "sippin on purple stuff" - referring to the aforementioned home-brewed hallucinogenic drug - but I feel that, unlike the old site's name, this one has connotations that can be understood without having to contemplate buying cough syrup in bulk. Read on:
As mentioned earlier, Northwestern has had a history of outrageously bad sports teams. We know that. It's not going anywhere, and it never will, and when fans of some other team bring it up, guess what, they're right. They'll have that, and they always will.
But today, we can stand here, look each other in the eyes (pause), and say "Hey, you know what? Northwestern sports aren't that bad right now." And the scary thing is, it's true.
Loss to Syracuse aside, we're in the good era of Northwestern sports. Pat Fitzgerald is pretty much the most excitable human being on the face of the planet earth. The basketball team won the first seven games I attended as a Northwestern student. (SEVEN!) And like a fine beverage, we have to sit back, relax, and enjoy it.
This could last forever, this could end next week. We could go to the NCAA tournament this year and every year until the end of time, and, on the other hand, the Cloverfield monster could take the field during halftime of the Miami (OH) game and just start laying waste to all human civilization, starting with Ryan Field. You never know.
So, folks, if we're gonna drink purple-tinted Kool-Aid, we're gonna sip it. Hence the site name. Even if it's presented to us in the shot glasses pictured in my shiny new logo in the top left, yes, folks, we're gonna sip. We're going to enjoy it. Today, right now, in 2009, Northwestern sports are tolerable. And that's why we're here.
So come on, folks, sip with me. Yes, this SBNation thing is sick - the new home page is ridiculous, and man, they made me a logo! - but the really cool part about it is how y'all can chip in. You guys can post Fanposts - which are like regular posts, just you wrote them - and Fanshots - which are basically links - and I can promote them to the front page.
Also, comments appear immediately after you write them without having to reload, which should make game threads really cool. So people, please, sign up for a commenting account, and just sip with me, from here on out.
Or at least until our football team starts regularly going 3-9 again. Whichever comes first.
(OH, and, by the way, to whoever out there took the username "Rodger".... I'm coming for you. Punk. You think I wanted to put my full government name next to every post I write?)
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Welcome!
It’s nice to see the Big Ten fully represented.
The fact that the nerdiest school in the conference ended up being the last one without a blog is on some hardcore oxymoron stuff.
Oddly enough, that seems to be a common trend. Stanford is the only unrepresented Pac-10 school. Vanderbilt is the only missing SEC school. Duke, BC, and UVa are among the ACC schools missing. In any event, welcome.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Sep 22, 2009 8:35 AM CDT reply actions
Nerdy blogs
It’s hard to write all that BSG fan-fic AND write a sports blog at the same time, hence all of these schools lacking in the latter, seeing as its FAR less important to the majority of the student body.
Welcome!
The Rivalry, Esq. is glad to have you (and now a full boat) on board.
The Rivalry, Esq.
The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
Best blog name on the network.
Welcome! As you can tell by my blog’s name, I’m down with blatant alcohol references.
Red Cup Rebellion - Changing the Culture of Ole Miss Athletics
Take a picture, trick.
by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Sep 22, 2009 9:46 AM CDT reply actions
the name is a reference to purple drank.
i don’t know what this alcohol stuff you’re talking about is.
for the record, that’s grape juice in the logo.
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 22, 2009 10:39 AM CDT up reply actions
NOW you jump in?
You robbed me of my gloat.
Welcome! We’ll re-commence the hostility in 2012.
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.
cool!
i am actually a ukcats fan but i want to go to nw….so i root for u guys almost every week
Baseball is a game where a curve is an optical illusion, a screwball can be a pitch or a person, stealing is legal and you can spit anywhere you like except in the umpire's eye or on the ball.
James Patrick Murray
hope that works out
i also hope that if it does, you’re not overly used to watching top-tier basketball from your years as a uk fan. or else, you might not last long.
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 22, 2009 4:21 PM CDT up reply actions
Hello and welcome!
As a Penn State fan, I am here to talk about football games that happened before 1995.
DO YOU HAVE PRIDE, DANNY?
¿Que?
Como estas? Donde esta la biblioteca?
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 22, 2009 3:59 PM CDT up reply actions
Welcome to the show!
Smartest move I ever made
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
Yes!
I’m a casual NW fan with memories of Fitz as a player and Darnell Autry. Great to see a NW blog here.
P.S. Judging by this first post, I think you could give Black Heart Gold Pants a run for its money in the humor department.
Beer is good! And stuff!
No, we will not be your friends.
We hate your yuppie guts.
Oh, and welcome.
Before you respond, let me remind you: Brian Cook called me smug, which makes me the Obama of smugness. I'm basically Smugbama.
thanks.
i wrote the friends comment because i assumed you guys had heard about sarcasm in iowa by this point, but i guess i was overestimating you dudes.
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 22, 2009 9:26 PM CDT up reply actions
WOO BURN
Before you respond, let me remind you: Brian Cook called me smug, which makes me the Obama of smugness. I'm basically Smugbama.
by Patrick Vint on Sep 22, 2009 9:58 PM CDT up reply actions
Welcome
Slightly embarrassing to think about the fast NW’s been a member of the Big Ten for 54 years longer than MSU has been.
Cheer for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Sep 22, 2009 11:32 PM CDT reply actions
Welcome, welcome welcome
Many happy returns and 35-point blowouts to you.
In all seriousness, welcome to the Big Ten blogger family. Like the Manson family, but without the hot chicks.
www.wewillalwayshavetempe.com
i'm a loyola student and i support you
and i use your library.
The Reds need a new manager, one like Putin.
good to hear
the only time i’ve ever been to the library was to rent season four of the wire, so good to see someones going
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 23, 2009 11:29 AM CDT up reply actions
Was considering last week about getting an NU blog up on SB.
Thanks for beating me to it!
by PDXAthleticsfan on Sep 23, 2009 1:07 AM CDT reply actions
Ahem. Just thought I’d share my favorite “Welcome” video.
SB Nation is nuts with this platform. It’s so, so good. Congrats on (what seems to be a quick rise to) getting this gig here.
And now at Beyond the Boxscore and Project Prospect!
why
i mean
did you have to post that video
really
by Rodger Sherman on Sep 23, 2009 11:30 AM CDT up reply actions
Being a Spartan fan that just experienced a loss to Central Michigan at home and losing in Notre Dame because of an atrocious secondary, no pass rush, and an awful pick by a first-year starting QB, I had to make myself feel better some how!
P.S.: I really like this blog already. I’m slow on reading the big ten blogs on SBN, but this is a good one. Kudos.
And now at Beyond the Boxscore and Project Prospect!
Another 'welcome aboard' from a PSU fan..
I can’t help but reminded of all the times I drank grape Dimeatapp as a boy though by your logo…
http://www.happyhourvalley.com/
On behalf of RockMNation I say hello
no I’m not the writer there or even really important at all, I stumbled upon this blog and anyway we send our regards. If you don’t know RMN is the Missouri Tiger blog on SBnation. And I also know we’re not in the big 10, we did play you guys in the Alamo Bowl last year. That’s about it
"The field mouse is fast but the owl sees at night"

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