Guess Who

One week from tonight, the college football season begins anew. The investment partners STP (Petey and I) will once again be looking to improve their financial standing as the games go on and on, over 4 1/2 months of games, taking us through the wonderful madness of bowl season.

By the way, I counted 31 college bowl games last year, and STP had a financial interest in 30 of them. We somehow just overlooked that last one. For our efforts we earned a very, very modest profit, but a profit nonetheless.

One of the fun ancillary things of this endeavor is getting acquainted with the sometimes obscure nicknames and tradtions of these institutions of higher learning. So, today I offer three questions arranged in decreasing order of difficulty, about teams who will kickoff their seasons next week. See if you know what schools' teams are the :

1. Miners
2. Commodores
3. Cardinal
   Answers, and a little trivia background on each, tomorrow.

My Kind of Town

Last week, I had an evening that was absolutely, positively fannnnn-tastic! The night started with a cocktail reception at the University Club of Chicago featuring a meet & greet with Northwestern University football coach Pat Fitzgerald and new NU Athletic Director Jim Phillips. We spent two hours chatting with Fitz and Jim and a group of Northwestern football fans, sampling delicious hors d'oeuvres and pretty much reveling in the success of the Northwestern athletic programs. More on all that later, 'cause we had a second destination this evening.

When the NU party wound down, we headed over to Navy Pier and another dinner and cocktails party hosted by Learfield Sports. This event was held on an incredible Lake Michigan cruise boat, the Anita Dee II, moored on the south side of the pier. Cocktails, a grand buffet, great networking and "cigar cruise" to marvel at Chicago's magical night-time skyline. This boat is so cool, it has a HELICOPTER on the top--look closely at the back end of the top deck!

By the time my "date" and I found our way back home, we had sampled some of Chicago's very finest venues, albeit at opposite ends of the spectrum. The University Club, with its carved and paneled walls, thick carpeting and noble overtones is at the one end. Navy Pier, bright and bustling and laughing, is at the other end.

If you've never (or not recently) been out to Navy Pier or taken a ride on one of these lake cruisers, you simply gotta do it. We have a fabulous lakefront, a short season to enjoy it and it's an experience you'll want to tell everyone about.

Tomorrow, a peek at some of the overlooked stories of Northwestern's legacy of athletic success.