Football in Exile, Part 2

Consistent with this week's Hans's thoughts, I too was in San Francisco on Saturday. Like Hans, in these situations, I "seek common ground; we seek out ones of our own kind."


To that end, I learned that we can add one more to Hans's list of SF "official bars": The Republic on Scott St. at the corner of Lombard. Owned by a Northwestern alum, the Republic hosts a weekly gathering of Cats fans, including this weekend for our annual "upset" of the Hawkeyes.

Thus, when I arrived at 9 a.m. for the game, I was not surprised to find a group of purple-clad fans already sipping on bloody mary's. (By the way, thank goodness I no longer live on the west coast. How do you folks handle such early games?). However, I was surprised by the sheer quantity of the purple-wearers.


As it turns out, this Saturday, The Republic was not just Ryan Field West. Rather, Saturday also marked the annual match-up of the purple-clad Williams College Ephs and the also-purple-clad Amherst College Lord Jeffs. (Another aside: if Wildcats is one of the most generic mascots, than Ephs and Lord Jeffs may be two of the most bizarre.)

Frankly, I didn't know they even televised the Amherst-Williams game. In fact, I didn't even know they had football teams. But, there they were, courtesy of the Republic and the New England Sports Network.


Thus, on Saturday, I spent the morning at the most obscure gathering of sports fans in America. Northwestern, Williams and Amherst. I love college football.


The Ephs rallied from a 10-10 halftime tie to carry the day in the 125th annual edition of Battle for Northwest Massachusetts by a final score of 31-16.


By the way, I don't know if housing both sides of a rivalry in the same bar is such a good idea. After NU beat Iowa, I headed to the Buena Vista, home of the first Irish Coffee in the US, for an Irish Coffee, obviously. There too was a large contingent of Iowa fans, clad in yellow and Ricky Stanzi jerseys. That I was accompanied by my mom may be the only reason my purple shirt made it out of there still on my back.


This week, it's on to Wrigley Field for the NU-Illinois game, which will host ESPN's Gameday crew. Did I mention I love college football?


Go Cats,


NoahG