Weeks after pumping up Northwestern’s football team as honorary captain, ESPN commentator Mike Greenberg (Medill ’89) will return to campus to lead the 2013 Homecoming Parade.
Greenberg, of ESPN’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning,” announced his grand marshal gig during the radio show early Tuesday morning. After ribbing co-host Mike Golic for his celebrity status at Notre Dame — where he was captain of the Fighting Irish — Greenberg revealed his role.
“I feel like my alma mater, with the way we’re playing football, deserves the same kind of treatment,” Greenberg said on air. “I get to ride in the lead car, I get to be like Golic, I get to wave at large groups of people.”
Homecoming Week kicks off Sept. 29 and ends Oct. 5, when NU faces Ohio State. Greenberg’s duties as grand marshal include leading the parade — themed “NU Cats on the Block” — and crowning the king and queen at the pep rally with football coach Pat Fizgerald on Oct. 4.
“If you’re never going to be the Homecoming king, why not at least put a crown on one,” Greenberg joked on the show.
Homecoming co-chair Kate Geraghty said Greenberg appeals to both students and alumni who tune in to ESPN.
“It’s been a pretty long process, with who the students are going to want, who are great alumni,” the Weinberg senior told The Daily. “We just think Mike Greenberg is such a great pick for that. He’s so enthusiastic about the students … he’s constantly mentioning Northwestern on his show.”
NU will get more than a mention Oct. 4, when Greenberg and Golic plan to broadcast “Mike & Mike” from Deering Meadow starting at 5 a.m.
“We will be seeing a lot of purple,” Golic said on air.
Geraghty said the Homecoming board was impressed with Greenberg’s enthusiasm Sept. 7, when he served as NU’s honorary captain in its win over Syracuse. He spoke to the team at Ryan Field the day before, recalling his time as a student.
“Twenty five years ago, I sat there,” Greenberg told the players, gesturing toward the stands. “And if you had told that kid, who was sitting there 25 years ago, that someday he would have the opportunity to be down here, addressing you guys like this, that kid would have said, ‘I am going to have the best life of anybody in the entire world.’ And that is exactly the way I feel right now.”
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @mcorriston
