
West Lot Pirates
Sports & Recreation Podcasts
A unique take on Northwestern Athletics with thoughts ranging from the visceral to the statistical. Sam, John and Erik will break down NU football, recruiting, basketball and more.
Location:
United States
Genres:
Sports & Recreation Podcasts
Description:
A unique take on Northwestern Athletics with thoughts ranging from the visceral to the statistical. Sam, John and Erik will break down NU football, recruiting, basketball and more.
Language:
English
Episodes
Episode 639: Kevin Fishbain
4/21/2026
We are mere days away from the NFL Draft and there are several Cats who should hear their names called throughout the weekend. To get ready, we welcome in Kevin Fishbain from The Athletic to get us up to speed and talk about his phenomenal podcast Breaking In with Kevin Fishbain.
Duration:01:25:27
Episode 638: Activate the Portal
4/8/2026
With March Madness in our rearview mirror, the offseason of College Basketball is upon us. As the Transfer Portal opened on Tuesday, the Wildcats find themselves in a situation we have not experienced before. Eight players have entered their names into the portal and Chris Collins now finds himself in a situation where he will need to completely rebuild the roster. How is this going to work?
Duration:01:09:39
Episode 637: Gotta Go!
3/31/2026
In our latest episode, we recap Lacrosse's fantastic road trip to North Carolina and their subsequent home win against Johns Hopkins. We also continue to be baffled by the ridiculous travel-related premature ending of the softball game against Oregon.
Duration:00:52:39
Episode 636: Bracketology with Scott Sepich
3/18/2026
With the NCAA Basketball Tournament drawing nigh, we welcome back Scott Sepich, our resident Bracketologist for his 16th season of bracket analysis.
Duration:01:31:52
Episode 635: Nicky Buckets Swan Song
3/6/2026
Nick Martinelli finished up his Northwestern career at Welsh-Ryan with a pair of thrilling games: a last second buzzer beater against Oregon and yet another barn burner against Purdue. Tonight, we look back at the end of the hoops regular season and we check in on the rest of the spring teams.
Duration:00:42:39
Episode 634: Whiparound
2/25/2026
Tonight, we check in on NU Hoops as the Men's team extended their winning streak against Indiana to 6, the Lacrosse team as they took out their frustration after their loss to Colorado, Softball as they continue to develop whilst taking on a meat grinder of a non-conference schedule and Baseball as they have started off to a very respectable 5-2 start.
Duration:00:44:00
Episode 633: Changing Seasons
2/10/2026
As the Spring seasons for Lacrosse, Softball and Baseball (yes, we know it's February) get underway, we look at the opening weekend's games which had some good and some rough outcomes.
Duration:00:41:42
Episode 632: 2026 Football Schedule
1/28/2026
The calendar may read January, but it's time to look ahead to the 2026 college football season, specifically, the release of the Big Ten schedule. Tonight we look at the Cats' schedule while also noting that NEXT week we find out the home venue locations. Might we see another game or two on the lake before the New Ryan Field is ready?
Duration:00:53:11
Episode 631: A New National Champion
1/21/2026
With Indiana's historic win over Miami in the National Championship Game, that brings us to the end of the 2025 College Football Season. In tonight's episode, we discuss the Hoosiers and their season and how that could completely change the way we think about College Football.
Duration:01:19:34
Episode 630: Transfer PortalPalooza
1/8/2026
Transfer portal season is here and boy, it's busy. In addition to continuing building out the offensive coaching staff under Chip Kelly, we have a flurry of faces transferring in and heading out. Tonight, we go through some of the early highlights of transfer season including our new QB, Aidan Chiles.
Duration:01:04:52
Episode 629: Northwestern 34-Central Michigan 7 and Chip Kelly
12/31/2025
Well now! Happy Holidays indeed! The Cats went out to Detroit in the GameAbove Sports Bowl and laid it on Central Michigan with a dominant performance from the Defense. But we weren't done with the holiday surprises. Northwestern did something that we never thought would happen. They took a big swing and brought in Chip Kelly as the new OC!
Duration:01:29:15
Episode 628: GameAbove Sports Bowl Preview vs. Central Michigan
12/23/2025
For our podcast's 15th birthday, we do what we did in our very first episode, preview the Northwestern Bowl Game. On paper, CMU looks like a middle of the road MAC team, but as we all know, the game is not played on paper. We look forward to our Boxing Day matchup with CMU and look back at the first round of CFP games.
Duration:01:13:00
Episode 627: It's Bowling Season!
12/16/2025
As we enter the back half of December, we find ourselves in the midst of Bowl Season. Tonight, we look ahead to the GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit where the Cats will be taking on Central Michigan. We also catch up on the rest of the Big Ten's bowl/playoff matchups and take stock of the Basketball team as we get our final tune-up games before conference play starts in earnest.
Duration:01:41:42
Episode 626: Illinois 20-Northwestern 13
12/2/2025
It would be easy to chalk this game up to just being a rivalry game in the snow, but there was a lot more going on than just that in Northwestern's 7 point loss to Illinois. Now with the regular season finished, we look ahead to our upcoming Bowl Game as we begin to think about a crucial 2026 campaign as we cut the ribbon on the new Ryan Field. Oh yeah, there's some coaching carousel news too...
Duration:01:28:34
Episode 625: Northwestern 38-Minnesota 35 and a Field Hockey National Championship
11/26/2025
What a weekend! Field Hockey finished their journey to repeat as National Champions with 2 incredible wins in both the Final 4 game against North Carolina and the title game against Princeton. Football finally broke the curse of Wrigley Field, getting their first ever win at the Friendly Confines while also clinching a bowl berth for the 2nd time in 3 years under David Braun. Let's not forget the Basketball team either as they went out to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia and played 2 great games against Virginia and South Carolina, splitting the two.
Duration:01:38:32
Episode 624: Michigan 24-Northwestern 22
11/18/2025
The Wrigley Curse continued for the Cats as they lost to Michigan in an absolute gut-punch of a game. Northwestern made a valiant comeback and took the lead only to see Michigan drive down the field with time running out to kick the game winner. Now we look ahead to the final game at Wrigley for the foreseeable future as the Cats look to pick up win #6 and go Bowling.
Duration:01:30:39
Episode 623: USC 38-Northwestern 17
11/11/2025
It was a tale of two halves this past Friday in LA. The first half saw two teams trading punches back and forth. But one freak play turned the game on its head and USC pulled away in the second half. We look back at this game while also celebrating a hot start to the Men's Basketball season and wishing the best of luck to both Women's Soccer and Field Hockey as they enter their respective NCAA Tournaments.
Duration:01:18:46
Episode 622: It's Basketball Season!
11/4/2025
The Northwestern Men's Basketball season tipped off this week with a huge win over Mercyhurst. With so many new faces on the squad, we take a look at the who's who on the team. Also, with Friday's trip to LA looming, what will the football team do to slow down the high octane offense of USC.
Duration:01:27:22
Episode 621: Nebraska 28-Northwestern 21
10/28/2025
It was a game much like most of the other Nebraska/Northwestern tilts in that it went back and forth and came down to the last possession. While it always stings to lose to the Huskers, the Cats still find themselves at 5-3 going into their second bye week.
Duration:01:26:45
Episode 620: Northwestern 19-Purdue 0
10/21/2025
It could have easily been a big letdown spot coming off the huge win at Penn State last week, but the Cats came out on a mission, shutting out Purdue in front of the 1995 Rose Bowl team in the final game at Martin Stadium. Now, sitting at 5-2 on the season, the Cats make their way to Lincoln to try and keep the momentum rolling into November.
Duration:01:34:14