Purple Mafia Volume I - Darren Rovell

Today starts the first in what will be a hopefully weekly series profiling the Purple Mafia and their affection for NU football. As we all know, the Northwestern alumni network is one of the most powerful tools you can receive in conjunction with your diploma. In particular, I thought it would be fun to peel back the onion on some interesting alums and give them a forum to reveal their Purple Pride.

We start by getting to know Darren Rovell. Darren is the preeminent sports business reporter in the country and in addition to being a reporter for CNBC, he also has a sports business blog called SportsBiz with Darren Rovell. When you check out the link, you'll likely say "I know that guy" as he is also a former sports business reporter for ESPN. Darren also recently published a book on the history of Gatorade. Darren's reporting and analysis is "must read" stuff for any sports business executive. He has more awards than Pat Fitzgerald, Darnell Autry and Gary Barnett combined and he has done it all before the age of 30, so without further ado, let's meet entrant #1 in to the Purple Mafia Hall of Fame...


Purple Mafia Member - Darren Rovell

Graduation Year: 2000

Biggest Moment When You Were at NU: Being down 16-0 to Michigan my freshman year (1996) and winning 17-16 on a Brian Gowins field goal was great (ed note: LTP Alltime Best Top 5 Game). Unfortunately, I was doing stats for WNUR and got so excited with Gowins hit the kick, I banged my head and drew blood. The best part? When I got back to my dorm there was an e-mail from my best high school friend who went to Michigan. That said, "Sorry we had to kick your butt today." He had sent it at the end of the third quarter.

Alltime Favorite NU Player: Darnell Autry

Anecdote about the lengths you've gone to catch an NU game: It was my girlfriend's brother's engagement party and I had missed one Northwestern game in 10 years. And unfortunately there was no way I was catching this one. It was the first week of November 2005. What some fans will remember as yet another ridiculous Cardiac Cats game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. The whole party, I had my phone under my table and I was reloading the score. When we scored late in the fourth quarter and had a chance for an onside kick, I couldn't deal with it anymore. So I left the party, ran two blocks and saw us recover and onside kick and win the game 28-27. When I came back to the party about 15 minutes later and my girlfriend said, "Did you win?" I knew this was the girl I was going to marry.

Assessment of the Program As of Today: I've accepted the reality. Winning six is good. Anything else is gravy.

How NU Football Plays A Role in Your Work Week: I read the media guide cover to cover before the season starts. During the season, I print out the game notes -- people at CNBC hate me for this -- and read them every week. I go on Rivals and I obviously now love Lake The Posts (ed note: I have not paid him for this quote....yet!).


Daily routine of CFB blogs includes... Pretty much Lake The Posts and The Quad (New York Times). Otherwise, I'm hanging out on Rivals.

Throw journalistic objectivity out the window, how do you wish you could use your current job to help the Cats: I kind of did this. We raised thousands of dollars this past offseason for the Northwestern Gridiron Network by offering a CNBC tour this year (ed note: this is exhibit A of how non-Chicago are alums can use their posts of influence to have positive impact on the program).

Three Reasons You're Excited about 2008 (NU): C.J. Bacher should have his act down by now. Tyrell Sutton is done getting hurt. And -- I never thought I'd say this -- Syracuse is on the schedule!

The one thing you wish you could change about NU FB: My wedding is on the date of the Ohio State game. I will definitely be making sure this is a day game otherwise disaster will ensue (Ed note: As a married man of 6 years, I've received assurances from DR that even if it is top #20 NU vs #1 Ohio State, he ain't going or watching).