Northwestern And Illinois Don’t Need Two Stinkin’ End Zones

The most interesting sports story of the day? Northwestern and Illinois will use one end zone when they face each other Saturday.

With the game on a makeshift field at Wrigley Field, officials determined Friday (nothing like waiting until the last minute) that the end zone on one side is too close to the outfield wall. So when the ball changes hands, the teams will switch ends. Not sure how the fans who bought tickets in the outfield bleachers will feel about that.

I guess that means that when one team intercepts a pass, they’ll have to run the ball out past the 50 and then turn around and try to run back. You know, like clearing the possession in a half-court basketball game.

Of course, this is only the second most interesting change in game operations to take place for a football game in Chicago. In 1932, for the first playoff game in league history, cold weather forced the contest indoors, where it was played on a dirt field. Don’t believe it? Then read this. Seriously. An NFL playoff game!