The football team plays at Ryan Field (formerly known as Dyche Stadium); the basketball, wrestling, and volleyball teams play at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Northwestern's athletic teams are nicknamed the <answer>Wildcats</answer>. Before 1924, they were known as "The Purple" and unofficially as "The Fighting Methodists." The name <answer>Wildcats</answer> was bestowed upon the university in 1924 by Wallace Abbey, a writer for the Chicago Daily Tribune who wrote that even in a loss to the University of Chicago, "Football players had not come down from Evanston; wildcats would be a name better suited to [Coach Glenn] Thistletwaite's boys." The name was so popular that university board members made "wildcats" the official nickname just months later. In 1972, the student body voted to change the official nickname from "<answer>Wildcats</answer>" to "Purple Haze" but the new name never stuck.
What is the nickname given to Northwestern's athletic teams?
Wildcats