N-H-S! Go West! *

Happy 50th Birthday Niles West!

Peggy (name changed to protect the innocent - she is a teacher in the district now and we don't want her young 'uns knowing what she may or may not get up to in her spare time...) and I went to the homecoming game last night. This being Skokie and not Texas, and not an episode of Friday Night Lights (even though it was, in fact, Friday) it was a good crowd but not overwhelming. It was cold and the team, to be honest, was getting trounced. We had dinner first and arrived in the middle of the second quarter. We left at the top of the 4th quarter as the Wolves were losing 57 to 7 (I wish I was exaggerating that score, but that is what it really was). It was only the second game I've attended and I like football. Still, it was kind of fun. We hung around, said hi to people we knew, and stopped in the Alumni Tent (after the first time, it kind of loses its thrill).

We did the usual reminiscing, and complaining about the name change in 2001 from Indians to Wolves. As class of '97, we graduated as Indians. There was a whole tizz and to do about the name and the mascot (even though we did not have any kind of Chief Illiniwek or anything like that. We had a goofily made up guy called "Big Red") and I remember there was a vote on what the new name should be. Wolves won, although I prefered the Fireants or, the one I made up, the Oakton Raiders.

Yeah. Now we're old. Oy.

* Words from an actual cheer I heard my freshman year. No joke. I am not sure how the letters "N-H-S" connect at all, maybe "Niles High School"? What about the "West" part? But I was also told by a cheerleader classmate that they were not allowed to say "Indians" during cheers, not because they wanted to be PC but because they were kind of incoherent with the shouting and it sounded like they were saying "Idiots." These are also the people who think "R-O-W-D-I-E" is the way to spell "Rowdy" and so I rest my case.