Northwestern's day at the Outback

One of the best things about qualifying for a postseason bowl -- aside from playing in the game itself -- is the ancillary benefits.

Since Northwestern has been done with fall exams for a week, but the players don't finish pre-Christmas practices until Monday (at which time they can go home), there's an entertainment void that must be filled.

So the Wildcats attended the Blackhawks game on Wednesday night, went to the Bulls game on Thursday night and spent Friday afternoon pounding steak and chicken and garlic mashed potatoes at the Outback Steakhouse in Skokie.

Now, if you have 100-odd student-athletes together in a restaurant, you'd think there'd be a constant ruckus. That wasn't the case with the 'Cats. They're well-behaved as a general rule...and there wasn't much room to talk with all the food they shoveled into their mouths.

Two reps from the Outback Bowl committee flew in from Tampa to enjoy the outing. They're good guys...and Tampa Bay Rays fans who were excited to learn Milton Bradley wasn't headed their way.

Oh, another good thing about making a bowl? The swag you get from the committee. The Wildcats received their Outback Bowl watches and gift cards today. Down the road, they'll receive a ring for their achievement as well as a $125 Best Buy gift card.

I believe, in total, each player can receive a maximum of $475-500 worth of stuff. Apparently that's the NCAA allowance, which strikes me as a little odd. Should there be reward-based incentives like this? Or do the teams that stay home, like Illinois, also get $475-500 worth of swag?

Another conundrum: I sat at a table with NU football information king Mike Wolf and NU photographer Stephen J. Carrara. Stephen took a bunch of photos of the Outback soiree -- but only certain shots pass muster according to the NCAA rules.

When Stephen showed us shots of DE Corey Wootton, QB Mike Kafka and WR Zeke Markshausen surrrounded by TV cameras and microphones (and an Outback Bowl banner in the background), those were apparently OK to publish because the guys were hyping the bowl.

But Stephen couldn't publish any images of NU's athletes eating the Outback fare because, well, that would be a tacit endorsement of the product. I wish I was that good at splitting hairs.

If you want to see the Outback gallery, go here: http://nusports.cstv.com/view.gal?id=60294

I'm bummed the shot of the devoured chicken-wing bones (and the untouched celery) didn't make the cut.

LW