There are plenty of people who don't like Northern Illinois' inclusion in the BCS. ESPN spent a couple hours Sunday night telling us what a horror it was that NIU was playing in the Orange Bowl. Kirk Herbstreit went all Billy Packer on us and acted personally offended that a team outside the major conferences would dare get a spot over a school like Oklahoma, which will probably have a good chance to go to a BCS game next year, or the year after that.
And it's fine if you agree with all that. There's nothing criminal about thinking Oklahoma is better than NIU, that a team which lost to Iowa is undeserving or that the Huskies will get stomped by Florida State and ruin a bowl game (though, NIU certainly could change that perception by playing well).
But, at least respect what a great moment this is for Northern Illinois' players. The celebration video above should make you feel good about college sports -- and there's plenty to not feel so good about.
We see the Huskies players go crazy when they see they're officially 15th in the BCS standings, and therefore got a bid into a BCS bowl. That's fun. Those players played by the rules set forth by the BCS, went 12-1 and earned their spot in the Orange Bowl. Congratulations to them. It will not ruin the sport to have a Cinderella take a spot from one of the big boys. The NCAA men's basketball tournament wouldn't be as good if the Northern Illinois-type teams in that sport were always relegated to the NIT.
As for ESPN's coverage of NIU? Well, it's not going over too well in DeKalb (courtesy of @NWH_JeffArnold on Twitter):
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