Tuesday Sips, Featuring The Pretty Newness, Breaking Bad, And Donkey

Hey, do you guys notice anything different around here? What? You do?

Let's take a moment of silence to remember our good friend, the old format:

R.I.P., girl. You'll be missed. Especially you, bottle of booze pouring liquid into a shotglass that apparently fills up uniformly with no regard for the force of the liquid coming in. (And yes, that's what my screen looked like. So many more functions than you guys.)

But let's link!

But wait, there's more: One of the pitches behind this amazing new site layout was the fact that the content wouldn't change on SBNation. That's not... entirely true. It's getting better. Spencer Hall is the new editorial director of SBN, and there's going to be longform stuff like this. SBNation - doing good stuff, you guys! Also, in case you didn't realize it beforehand, THERE'S BLOGS FOR YOUR OTHER FAVORITE TEAMS: NBA, NHL, soccer, whatever, and it's now easier to navigate to.

Breaking Hank: The "dinner with the ______" video series continued with the offensive line, and it's great:

I love the completely unnecessary usage of "Gangnam Style", although i do look forward to seeing NU football players dancing it several months from now when the horse is in horsey heaven, receiving another vicious beatdown in the ether. However, I do profess that I can't recognize the Evanston restaurant in question, which kind of disappoints me, because I just graduated in June.

Most importantly, Mike Hankwitz really, really looks like Walter White from Breaking Bad:

I don't watch the show - I KNOW, I NEED TO START WATCHING IT, GET OFF MY BACK - but that's still ridiculous.

Bye Baby: Teddy Greenstein wrote about how every team gets a bye before playing Northwestern, and how it doesn't matter. It seems like most coaches use the week to recruit and rest players rather than working non-stop to prepare them, which, quite frankly, makes sense. Also, the tidbit that Pat Ward only got one A-minus thus far in his college career, which, WHAT? HOW DOES ANYBODY DO THAT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE.

Jersey sales, power, respect: Northwestern's Under Armour sales are up, although this quote is awkward:

"We are OK with being your second-favorite team," Mr. Polisky told me earlier this year. "If you wear purple for six games and then cheer for your school when they're in town, that's fine."

"If we're your 11th favorite Big Ten team, but you come to Ryan Field to boo the everloving heck out of Purdue once every six seasons, we're really fine with that." (Obviously, I like the idea, Polisky is getting at and love what the athletic department has been doing... but it didn't come off right.)

FIRE COACH FITZ: Adam Jacobi of former BHGP fame makes the argument that what ails the majority of the Big Ten is coaching consistency, something Northwestern and Purdue have.

We're number 25! Northwestern sneaks into the ESPN power ranking in the final spot. Blogpoll out tomorrow.

Tweet of the day: Something happened to Dave Revsine:

Donkey

— Dave Revsine (@BTNDaveRevsine) September 25, 2012