End zone woes have turned historic Wrigley game into football mockery

The schools had long ago signed off on the unusual field layout, in which the back of the east end zone would abut the heavily padded rightfield wall by as little as one foot. Players joked about it. Illinois coach Ron Zook suggested it would prepare his receivers for arena football. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said he'd developed different game plans for each end zone. The schools proudly held a media event at the stadium Monday to show off their work.

From that session, however, photographs emerged of the so-called "end zone of doom," and fans around the country started asking, "Are they really going to do that?"

Apparently not.

Stewart Mandel