NIU game a healing endeavour

[whitesoxfan101]

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws

 

NIU game a healing endeavour

Ticket proceeds to benefit NIU February 14 Scholarship Fund

By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

 

Remembering their campus tragedy, NIU players are wearing a commemorative patch on their uniforms this season. (Scott Walstrom/NIU Imaging Services)

 

CHICAGO -- One of the most important games in the history of U.S. Cellular Field will take place on Wednesday night, with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.

And this contest has nothing to do with a Mark Buehrle no-hitter, Jim Thome's 500th home run or winning a World Series. Instead, it's a collegiate battle, pitting Northern Illinois University against Notre Dame.

 

All proceeds from the $10 tickets for lower-level reserved seating benefits the NIU February 14 Scholarship Fund, established to honor the memory of the five students slain in the campus tragedy that took place two months ago. It's another exemplary move by the White Sox to help an extended member of the Chicago community, even with NIU located 60 miles away in DeKalb, Ill.

 

"They are right in our own backyard," said White Sox vice president and chief marketing officer Brooks Boyer. "To have a university so close, and when you look at all the kids who are victims, they are all Chicago-area residents.

 

"It hits closer to home when it's that close to home. We have NIU graduates in our office, and we all know people who went to NIU. For us to step up, it works along with the White Sox philosophy and our tradition.

 

"We talk about passion, pride and tradition. Certainly, I would hope when it comes to things like this happening in Chicago, we would be there to do what we can to help."

 

The White Sox assistance began when general manager Ken Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen wore NIU hats during the first day of Spring Training in Tucson, Ariz. The entire team sported those same hats for the Cactus League opener, with three NIU baseball players invited to throw out the first pitch before starting their season in Surprise, Ariz.

 

Items such as the hats and an NIU jersey, signed by the White Sox players, were then auctioned off at whitesox.com. This auction raised exactly $8,000 for the scholarship fund, and White Sox Charities contributed an additional $2,000.

 

That check was presented at the home opener to NIU president John G. Peters, who threw out the first pitch before watching the White Sox rally to defeat Minnesota. All five families of the respective victims were also in attendance at the April 7 contest.

 

"Having all of them out here and for them to enjoy their time here was great," Boyer said. "The spirit for which it was intended was a celebration of life."

 

Wednesday's game was an idea put together by good friends Boyer and Jim Phillips, the NIU athletic director who recently took the same job at Northwestern. The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority also contributed their assistance to the game, which happens to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the same sort of tragic shootings on the Virginia Tech campus.

 

Playing in front of close to 5,000 fans, an expected total when factoring in the 70 degrees and sunshine forecasted for Wednesday, is a rare treat for the NIU players. They played before crowds numbering close to 100 over this past rainy weekend in Akron, Ohio.

 

This particular game, though, takes on a little greater meaning than wins and losses for the 15-16 Huskies, especially for a squad with 26 Illinois natives on their roster.

 

"[NIU baseball coach] Ed Mathey brought the concept to me," said Boyer, adding how parking will be free on Wednesday. "[White Sox chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] blessed it right away, and the state jumped on board. I think it will be a fun night."

 

"You can get away from the feelings associated with what happened through athletics and baseball," Elmwood Park, Ill., native and NIU catcher Matt Behren added. "It's really a good thing the White Sox are doing."

 

I'll be there and I can't wait. The Sox have been great to us all along out here, but it's just a wonderful thing the Sox are doing for the baseball team here and especially the school having this game. Our baseball team is actually pretty good too on a lighter note, so hopefully we'll get a win. The job the Sox have done to try and help NIU since 2/14 has made me as proud as ever to be a Sox fan.

Edited April 15, 2008 by whitesoxfan101

[kjshoe04]

A lot of family will be at this game, my Uncle is a coach for NIU.

[RockRaines]

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws

 

 

 

I'll be there and I can't wait. The Sox have been great to us all along out here, but it's just a wonderful thing the Sox are doing for the baseball team here and especially the school having this game. Our baseball team is actually pretty good too on a lighter note, so hopefully we'll get a win. The job the Sox have done to try and help NIU since 2/14 has made me as proud as ever to be a Sox fan.

Boyer and Reinsdorf do not get enough credit in the media. Instead we have pompous asses like Mariotti taking pot shots at the org every day. Is there really any owner in sports that has given back to a city as much as Jerry has?

Edited April 15, 2008 by RockRaines