Darren Rovell's NU fandom

[Katatonic]

How insane is your collection of Northwestern memorabilia?

I've slowed down. I have three kids under 6, so I lost my man cave. I have about 40 mini-helmets, each individually signed. I have Steve Tasker, Otto Graham, Jon Schweighardt. And I mention Schweighardt because it's funny. Any wide receiver who did anything … but I do not have anything from Austin Carr, and that is driving me nuts. I know I can (get something), but it's embarrassing because asking for autographs is not what we do as journalists. But when it's Northwestern, I become a baby.

I have Darnell Autry's backup Rose Bowl jersey, which has awesome patches on it. That's probably my coolest item. I also have his final class schedule from the quarter after he turned pro. That was a stroke of luck. We were registering at the same time and he had taken off. I have Fitz's headset from when he became Northwestern's all-time winningest coach. And during one game he slammed down his headset and it broke. And now that one is in a nice Lucite case. It's displayed like a Babe Ruth baseball.

Only one player voluntary gave me something. (Kicker) Jeff Budzien sent me a pair of cleats. I think he saw a picture of my collection on Instagram.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-darren-rovell-qa-spt-0828-20170827-column.html

Think it's safe to say that (out of the media members) Rovell outdoes even Wilbon.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Darnell Aurty's trash? That's not healthy.

 

[DaCat]

Darnell Aurty's trash? That's not healthy.

At least no jockstraps. I hope.

 

[Jonny2TheP]

How insane is your collection of Northwestern memorabilia?

I've slowed down. I have three kids under 6, so I lost my man cave. I have about 40 mini-helmets, each individually signed. I have Steve Tasker, Otto Graham, Jon Schweighardt. And I mention Schweighardt because it's funny. Any wide receiver who did anything … but I do not have anything from Austin Carr, and that is driving me nuts. I know I can (get something), but it's embarrassing because asking for autographs is not what we do as journalists. But when it's Northwestern, I become a baby.

I have Darnell Autry's backup Rose Bowl jersey, which has awesome patches on it. That's probably my coolest item. I also have his final class schedule from the quarter after he turned pro. That was a stroke of luck. We were registering at the same time and he had taken off. I have Fitz's headset from when he became Northwestern's all-time winningest coach. And during one game he slammed down his headset and it broke. And now that one is in a nice Lucite case. It's displayed like a Babe Ruth baseball.

Only one player voluntary gave me something. (Kicker) Jeff Budzien sent me a pair of cleats. I think he saw a picture of my collection on Instagram.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-darren-rovell-qa-spt-0828-20170827-column.html

Think it's safe to say that (out of the media members) Rovell outdoes even Wilbon.

I know we're supposed to say "wow, now that's a die hard fan", but I'm going to go with "wow, that's a bit much" instead.

 

[mickbula]

It is a little crazy, but I like it a lot. Does anyone have a signed Darnell Autry signed Bears jersey? I saw one at a Hoffman Estates, Illinois bar a couple months ago. The owner swears that it is authentic, but I could have sworn that the autograph wasn't actually DAutry's. I offered the guy $200 for it- but the bar owner said "it wasn't for sale." Has anyone seen NU players' signed jerseys on ebay? Do they exist? Is it against NCAA policy to sign them (OSU troubles with Tressel players?)Where are they sold? I'd love to put one up somewhere in my home, but I am not sure my wife would let me.

 

[Deeringfish]

I screwed up. I was cleaning out my parent's house and of course it is overwhelming. I threw away some game day programs from the 30's and 40"s. They were in great shape too.
I still have two wool letter blankets from 1939 and a 1939 letter sweater.

 

[ParisCat]

My weirdest piece of NU memorabilia is a 6-foot-tall particle-board cartoon caricature of former OL Dylan Thiry. You can come visit it in the East Lot on Saturday. And if you know where Dylan is, please invite him over to sign it.

 

[hdhntr1]

It is a little crazy, but I like it a lot. Does anyone have a signed Darnell Autry signed Bears jersey? I saw one at a Hoffman Estates, Illinois bar a couple months ago. The owner swears that it is authentic, but I could have sworn that the autograph wasn't actually DAutry's. I offered the guy $200 for it- but the bar owner said "it wasn't for sale." Has anyone seen NU players' signed jerseys on ebay? Do they exist? Is it against NCAA policy to sign them (OSU troubles with Tressel players?)Where are they sold? I'd love to put one up somewhere in my home, but I am not sure my wife would let me.

Problem wa when they were still playing for OSU. Once they have NCAA service behind them, not sure there is any restriction

 

[SmellyCat]

My best piece of memorabilia is I got the flag off one of the goalposts that we tore down in the 1990s. Wish I could remember which game it was from, but it was completely intact. When the posts were coming down about five or six of us jumped to snag it, and somehow I got it. I'm neither tall nor athletic, so it's probably my greatest personal athletic feat in my entire life. I can't believe I ever outjumped anybody.

 

[StreamsOfWhiskey]

My oddest piece of memorabilia is (was) one of the large turf "40" numerals from the hash marks of the old Dyche Stadium artificial turf field that was ripped out after the 1996 season when we went to grass. It was Thanksgiving weekend in 1996 and work had already begun to rip out the turf and lower the field. Much of the green turf was gone, but most of the white yard line markers and numbers were still in place. My friend and I snuck into the stadium, got down on our hands and knees, and tore out two sets of numbers, a 40 and a 20, and the corresponding turf triangles that pointed toward the relevant end zones. Each number was several feet long when unrolled. I kept my 40 in a Rubbermaid bin for years until it got lost in one of my moves...

 

[jcrane52]

I have a game ball from the 1995 NU-ND game along with a game day program signed by Coach Barnett. Also a game day program from the 1959 NU-ND game signed by Coach Parseghian (which I found on EBay after the 1995 victory and sent to Ara which he graciously signed). I was present at both of these games.

 

[JournCat]

I find Rovell's Twitter to be incredibly aggravating (not a minority opinion), but I admire his level of fandom, and he was very nice when we were on the same Sailgate boat. Hope he bequeaths his collection to NU.