There's No Place Like Nebraska

Earlier this week, I got a text from my best friend saying, “You fired your athletic director!” The next day, I received another message from the same friend saying, “You hired Osborne, live in the now.” Let me clarify—whenever my friend sends me updates, there’s always a motive. It’s never a quick message to remind me that my team is great. Instead, it’s usually just another modern way for a friend to kick me while I’m down. My friend is a jerk.

While usually my friends insults are spot on, I think that this time his negative messages are unfounded. While progress is important, tradition and continuity are vital in a place like Nebraska. The Coach Callahan era has brought the West Coast offense, top 25 recruiting classes, and multiple passing records. It’s the aspects that have disappeared in the last 4 years that might prove to be too important to ignore. You won’t be able to find any tangible statistic of what’s been lost. It’s a feeling—a feeling of hope, a feeling of connection that’s missing. There used to be a bond between the football team and the state of Nebraska. With the pro-style offense, Coach Callahan has brought a pro-style detachment from the fans. It’s the detachment (not the 3-8 record against ranked opponents) that is the major reason for unrest in the Cornhusker state.

When Steve Pederson was fired earlier in the week, it was clear that the university’s administration had heard the ground swell of discontent. With the announcement of Tom Osborne as interim AD, it’s clear that Chancellor Harvey Perlman knew the origin of the dissatisfaction. If the Solich era was “gravitating to mediocrity,” he might have set the bar a little too high for the Callahan regime. Just as the move to remove Frank Solich after the program fell from the nation’s elite was correct, the move to remove Bill Callahan for alienating Nebraska’s base and dismantling much of the program’s foundation is equally appropriate. It’s precisely the tradition that makes Lincoln a special place on Saturday’s in the fall.

There are intangible things about the Nebraska football team that brings generations together. I had about 10 family members visit to watch the USC-Nebraska game about a month ago. Without saying a thing, each and every person showed up wearing red. In a family that on the whole could care less about sports, we had a mini-reunion for the sole purpose to watch to see if this was the year that the Cornhuskers retook their place among the nation’s elite. After watching the pregame, seeing the family atmosphere, and feeling how much more this team was than simply a football team filled with student-athletes, the only person at my house that was not a family member was ready to wear the Corn-Head for the rest of the night. He was saying things like, “I think we have a chance if the crowd can stay in the game” and “Do we get the ball to start the second half?”

Half an hour with the family, and he was one of us. I doubt his belief in the Power of Red was because of Coach Callahan’s use of the slot receiver in the red zone. It might have been my Grandmother starting to weep because her family had come together while she was watching “God’s Country” in high-definition greatness. It might have been because he saw that it’s not a football team, but a way of life. It’s a greater family—and we’re always willing to accept new brothers and sisters.

Tom Osborne returning to the university is brings excitement that only members of this family can truly understand. Husker Nation isn’t excited about him bringing back the triple-option offense, nor is he expected to win 3 national championships within the next 4 years. It’s the return to excellence that makes us eager to turn the page. Rebuilding the foundation and returning a sense of normalcy to Memorial Stadium that had been a part of the fabric of Nebraskans lives for 40 years. The hope of the return of the renowned walk-on program that helped nurture the dreams of young boys all over the state. The return of legendary players of the past that have succeeded at all levels of football, yet still want to return to Lincoln to show their support. The hope of a coaching staff that would take players of all talent levels—players that were right for Nebraska football—and watching the players develop into better players and better men after their 4 years in the program.

Clearly the next coach will be someone with previous ties to the program. The short list of possible candidates is:

· Turner Gill: Current Head Coach at Buffalo and quarterback of the celebrated 1983 team.

· Bo Pelini: Current Defensive Coordinator at LSU who presided over the same position at Nebraska. Served as interim Head Coach in the Alamo Bowl after Frank Solich was fired at the end of the 2003 season.

· Paul Johnson: Current Head Coach at Navy while running an Option offense. Won two I-AA National Championships at Georgia Southern.

Regardless of whom the next Head Football Coach is at Nebraska, with the replacement of Pederson as Athletic Director, the football program has looks to be on the right track. The next step will be the installation of a coach that understands the Husker customs. Once the institution is reestablished in Lincoln, the mass voices will be satisfied. The people understand that success will not happen over night; once the team becomes a reflection of its people once again, fans of all generations will be accepting of the results.

If it’s possible to look forward to revisit the past, this is it.

Star Power in the West

Who said there weren’t any stars in the National League Championship Series? It seems like there’s a lot of complaining about the teams that were matched-up in the NLCS this year. No star power, they say. Why is that? Are the two 25-man rosters solely made up of journeymen and average players? Of course not.

Star power has more to do with media driven hype than actual talent on the field. Brandon Webb won the Cy Young award last year, and is one of only 2 pitchers who have a legitimate chance to win it this year. Matt Holliday led the league in batting average and RBI’s, while hitting almost 40 home runs. Troy Tulowitzki is (as Todd Helton said), “a gold glove waiting to happen.” Not to mention that he should be the favorite to win this year’s Rookie of the Year. Talent is certainly not the problem with these two teams. The Rockies’ pitching staff as a whole has the best ERA in all of baseball since the All-Star break—yet few if any national media members can name even ONE Colorado pitcher.

It’s certainly not impossible to have a star in Denver or Phoenix. Joe Sakic has produced a pretty respectable career. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling did pretty well in 2001 in the Valley of the Sun. A few people have heard of John Elway. Its not that the markets are too small to produce household names. It’s that the media picks-and-chooses who they want to promote each year. Each of these teams is loaded with young talent. Both have had prospects for the last few years that all baseball people have put towards the top of their rankings. Maybe it’s because Peter Gammons doesn’t have season tickets to the Rockies.

Instead, the problem is that it’s not the New York Diamondbacks against the Boston Rockies. The national media is so busy shoving the Yankees and the Red Sox down the public’s throat for 6 months, then blasts the public (and sport in general) when the ratings are horrific in the playoffs. Perhaps the media should look in the mirror and cover relevant stories instead of giving us a daily update of how many games the Yankees are behind in the loss column. Here’s a newsflash: The Yankees were a fundamentally flawed team since spring training—an old team with no pitching. When New York had the best record in the American League in the second half, they were beating up on the Royals, Devil Rays, and Orioles most of the time! The NL West had 4 teams that had a legitimate shot at winning the division at any point this season. In fact, the top 2 teams made the playoffs and the 3rd place team lost in a 1 game playoff. The 4th place Dodgers were even leading the division and wild card races as late as August. Yet still, only the AL East seemed to matter.

So what happens when the Rockies, who have won 21 of their last 22 games, roll into the World Series? If it’s against the Red Sox, they’ll be overmatched and given no chance at all to win. If it’s the Indians, well…. Would baseball even bother playing that series? Neither Colorado, nor Cleveland is a big market. What would be the point going through with a World Series that no one would care about? If a team from the East Coast was putting together this streak, it would be viewed at one of the best streaks of all time. Legendary even. Each SportsCenter broadcast would be led off with Rockies highlights. Then there would be the obligatory graphic comparing them to the 1935 Cubs as putting together one of the best streaks to finish a year of all time. Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian would sit on the Budweiser Hot Seat each night and predict how much longer the Rockies could keep this up. Even if the coverage has been something less than heroic, the streak is still legendary.

What can I say, I like the idea of the 2 teams that are playing the best baseball battling each other for the Championship. Like last year, it’s nice to see that the logo on the hat does not determine the participants in the World Series. Is it bad to already be rooting for a Brewers vs. Blue Jays series next year? We better start promoting Prince Fielder and Roy Holliday if we want to avoid this problem next October!

Strength of Schedule?

“The brightest crowns that are worn in heaven have been
tried, and smelted, and polished, and glorified through the furnace of
tribulation.”
--Edward Chapin

Are the Ohio State Buckeyes really the #1 team in the country? I think the message being sent here is that quality of schedule is for fools. With a 7-0 record that includes huge wins over Youngstown State, Akron, Kent State and Northwestern, the Buckeyes have managed to survive the early part of this unpredictable season without a blemish. The question is: Do they deserve to be?

What kind of message is being sent to the rest of the country when Big 10 teams line up more cupcakes than the bald dude from Ace of Cakes? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the players from Buffalo, Florida International, UNLV, and –ahem, Appalachian State earn scholarships just like the big boys. That’s not the point. The point is that we learn very little from a 38-6 victory by Ohio State over Youngstown State. The only thing that of substance that can be understood learned from games like this are negatives.

· A team struggles against a 1-AA team and they have weaknesses.

· A team loses to a lower echelon team and boosters will declare it a rebuilding year.

· A team pounds a weaker team, its viewed as simply “taking care of business”

After the first couple of weeks of the season, I respect Illinois more than any other team in the Big 10. By competing with a very good Missouri team until the last minutes, they probably had the best out-of-conference showing all year. The other nominees are Ohio State over the University of Washington (one of the worst Pac 10 teams), Penn State/Michigan over Notre Dame (yes, Notre Dame), and… well, that’s it. There are no other nominees, because Western Michigan and Syracuse don’t count.

So what happens when Ohio State runs through the Big 10 undefeated? Their high quality wins will be against Illinois (who lost to Iowa already) and Michigan. The last time Michigan played a team with any speed, they lost by 32 at home! What do these wins prove? Of course they should win these games—they’re Ohio State! Put the Big 10 against either the SEC or the Pac 10, and I seriously doubt they’d win a single game. Teams like LSU, Cal, Oregon, Florida, and USC have schedules that are so much more difficult that Ohio State, I’d respect a one-loss team from one of these conferences before I’d take the Buckeyes seriously.

All the players from Ohio State can do is go out, play the teams on their schedule, and win each game. My only fear is that after seeing such a rollercoaster year like this, athletic directors around the country will be inclined to take the easy victories in hopes of a BCS payday. The losers would not be the schools that chose to play a difficult schedule. The big losers would be the people that watch college football every Saturday, watching for the upset, waiting for greatness. A team can not prove greatness by beating weaker teams. Man up. Play someone decent. I’ll take a one-loss LSU (who beat Virginia Tech, South Carolina, and Florida) or Oklahoma (who took care of Texas and Missouri) over any untested undefeated team. If for no other reason, we know what these teams are capable of this year. By playing a decent schedule, you may lose, but at least we’ll find out how good they are that season. More importantly, they’ll find out how far they’ve come—and in the case of Ohio State, how far they still have to go.

"Oh Shit" players...

Alright, so everyone knows who these players are. Every person that's every passionately followed a team knows this player very well. Its the guy that every single time he's on the rink, you involuntarily say "OH SHIT, he's out there again?" We're 4 games into the hockey season, and I've already realized that the Kings have 3 separate Oh Shit players. Three. You can dodge one or two of these guys, but 3 is too many for any team to consider themselves legitimate contenders. Here are this years earlier winners:

1. Rob Blake. He's actually been on the list for the last 4 or 5 years that he's been a King. I have no idea how many times Blake has pinched into the play for no apparent reason and gives up a 2-on-1 the other way. He joins the play and immediately I'm standing, hands on head, screaming at the TV: "Oh Shit!"

Worse yet, I'm not sure he's aware that its his responsibility to move opponents that are camped out in front of the Kings net. Because of this man alone, I'm convinced that the majority of the sports media has ZERO clue with hockey. In fact, I doubt they have even watched a game in its entirety. If they had, they'd know that Rob Blake is probably responsible for half of the goals the Kings give up in a given year. His plus/minus rating has to be Minus 9823740928734. At least. Maybe more. Perhaps its time to put him with a defensive minded partner.... maybe defensive minded forwards. Anything. This isn't working-- again.

2. Jaroslav Modry. Why did the Kings resign him? I think the day that Dean Lombardi resigned him, about 3000 fans seriously contemplated crossing behind the Orange Curtain and thought about becoming Duck fans. Under my breath, every time he steps on the rink for a regular shift, I mutter "Oh Shit" and prey to get through the shift with minimal damage. Everything for Rob Blake is true for Modry, except that whole All-Star thing. Jaroslav Modry for Mattias Norstrom (our Captain, our heart, our soul).... wonderful personnel move! (Side note: Who took over the Captain's C from the departed Norstrom? That's right, #4 in your program, but #1 in your heart: Rob Blake).

3. Jason Labarbara. Now this is the most problematic. When your goaltender is an Oh Shit player, there will be issues. His name is LaBeachball; that can't be a good thing! (from what I understand, he may not be able to stop a beach ball). I find myself cheering when he gives up 4 goals in the 1st period, because then there's hope that he'll be pulled in between periods. Best move ever, signing him to a one-way contract. It eliminated any possibility of him coming up from the "A" last year. Can we just send him back down and hopefully someone will pick him up off the waiver wire? Please? He makes me yearn for the days of Robb Stauber.

Its going to be a very long season. Can we trade all 3 of these guys for future considerations? Draft picks? Cash? A bag of pucks? I'm open for negotiations.....