Michael Wilbon is an NU alumnus, a sports columnist for the Washington Post, host of the ESPN TV show “Pardon the Interruption” and an avid fan of Wildcat athletics. The Daily had a chance to sit down with him last Friday before he spoke to students at the Owen L. Coon Forum. Excerpts:
Video by Brian Rosenthal
Daily: How is it being back on campus?
Wilbon: I come back a lot. There’s not been a year since I graduated that I haven’t come back multiple times. This isn’t anything new for me. I come back in the summer when nobody’s here to sit on the lake and have lunch. I bet you on the average I come back five times a year.
Daily: How have you seen the campus change?
Wilbon: There are dorms and things I don’t know the name of. People say they live in places I’ve never heard of. I say “Where do you live?” and they tell me something like the Mid South Quad and I’m like, “What happened to Rogers and Hobart and all that stuff?” It’s changed like every campus in America but it hasn’t changed as dramatically. Kids have a gym to go to to work out. It’s like, come on, that’s like cheating.
The football team’s good. That’s the single biggest change. And what’s sad to me is there’s not enough spirit surrounding the football team. The football team works really hard and Fitzgerald is a hell of a coach, and people here are so blase about it. If we had had this football team when I was here, we would have packed the stadium.
Daily: Were you surprised that none of our players was taken last weekend (at the NFL Draft)?
Wilbon: Yeah, I was. I thought a couple might be. In a way, that’s good. he Draft is overrated. I bet you money out of my own pocket that four of those guys make pro football teams next year and play.
Daily: What was the best experience you had at Northwestern?
Wilbon: I don’t know. It’s too long, I’m too old to remember single experiences. It was four years of great experiences, whether it was just waking up in the morning and seeing my own byline in The Daily or a 90-degree day walking out to the lake and sitting out there with friends, probably taking a final I was terrified to take and passing it. All the same joys and highs and lows everyone else has.
Daily: How cool is it to speak at your university?
Wilbon: It’s great. It’s absolutely great. I didn’t ever presume that that was going to happen. I remember sitting in those seats watching people come in as guest speakers. Sometimes you envision whether or not you could do that. This is not just where I went to school, this is home. And I also grew up in Chicago, so it’s easier to incorporate it as home. It’s not just my alma mater, it’s a place where I think I belong.
Daily: If you could change one thing about the sports you cover, what would it be?
Wilbon: Nothing. Why would I change it? It’s everything, it’s a microcosm of life. There are good guys, and there are bad guys, and there are smart people, and there are not so smart people and there are inspirational people who change the world like Dikembe Mutumbo … who built a hospital in the Congo with his money, and David Robinson, who built a school in San Antonio, and people who overcome illness and disease and have second lives and second acts and people who contribute in ways and inspire in ways that we can’t imagine. I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
Related: NU alum and sports journalist Michael Wilbon talks sports, Fitz and journalism’s future–Video: The Daily sits down with Michael Wilbon
