Western ‘Weekend’ returns

The way the last two years have gone, it’s almost surprising the Mid-American Conference didn’t schedule this season’s Central-Western game on a Wednesday night in July.

The last two matchups – Friday night in 2006 and Tuesday night in 2007 – were largely dictated by the MAC’s insistence of sacrificing tradition for a chance that college football fans would notice.

Although CMU’s 34-31 win last year in Kalamazoo was one of the best football games I have ever witnessed, the atmosphere before the game just wasn’t up to the standard of the rivalry.

Tuesday night football. Has a ring to it, doesn’t it?

Not anymore. The MAC heard the fans and saw the attendance numbers last season in Kalamazoo (a mere 16,952) and decided it should probably schedule the game when people could actually attend.

In 2006, the game was moved to Friday night with the hopes that ESPN would pick it up. Instead, Comcast Local came. The weather in that game? Driving rain and 35 degrees – quite possibly the most miserable conditions one could imagine.

It started raining 20 minutes before kickoff and never let up. Half of the fans (including myself) left at halftime before hypothermia set in. CMU celebrated its first trip to the MAC Championship Game with hundreds, instead of thousands, of its closest friends.

So this season, although again the game was moved to noon to accommodate ESPN Regional, it returns to where it should be – a Saturday afternoon.

Western Weekend returns after two years of Western Week.

Central has never sold out Kelly/Shorts Stadium, but expect it to Saturday. That section of seats at the northeast part of the stadium might even be full.

WMU’s miracle win at Buffalo last week made sure the two teams meet with perfect 3-0 MAC records. Make no mistake – this game is huge. Though the game won’t decide who goes to Detroit in December (the teams both have four conference games the rest of the year), it will indicate which team has what it takes in big games.

So remember why all your friends from Kalamazoo are making the trip here.

Make it to the game – it shouldn’t disappoint, even if you have to get up a little early.

sports@cm-life.com