More Weekend Wrap

Not wanting to be completely negative on Steve Pederson's interview with Tom Shatel this weekend, there was one answer that I thought was very good:

"We have the best academic program in the country. What we don’t have is the facility to match that. That’s our next priority. It would be an academic center, an expansion of what we’re doing in the Hewitt Center. (It was built) in 1983. It’s time to expand that and catch up to the way students study now."

Definitely a refreshing answer in this age of escalating athletic facilities. I was half expecting him to mention the proposed Lincoln Haymarket Arena as a potential home for Husker basketball. While the Devaney Center is still in fine shape, it doesn't have the suites or the amenities of Omaha's Qwest Center. If Doc Sadler continues to rebuild Husker hoops, the Devaney Center will begin selling out, making a new larger arena very viable for Husker athletics.

Last Wednesday, someone emailed me for my reaction to Gabbert, and I had to scramble to figure out what they were talking about. Was it one of the Huskers that played poorly in a 9-2 loss to Creighton the night before? Nope. Finally I realized that it was the latest recruitnik obsession, quarterback Blaine Gabbert. So what's my take on Gabbert? Well, he sounds fine, but let's hold off on evaluating him, at least until after the 2009 spring game. Why so long? Let's remember the recent history of hot-shot quarterback recruits. Curt Dukes (redshirted as a freshman, then transferred to Duke, where he quit football after his junior year), Joe Dailey (now playing wide receiver for North Carolina), Jordan Adams (only played QB in one game in junior college, then had his spleen removed, essentially ending his career), Harrison Beck (last seen completing 7 of 26 passes in the spring game at North Carolina State), and Josh Freeman. Then remember the sagas of Zac Taylor (originally committed to Oklahoma State, enrolled at Wake Forest, and then transferred to Butler Community before arriving in Lincoln) and Sam Keller (3 years at Arizona State). What's the moral of the story? Simple...don't rush to any sort of judgement. There's a good chance that he too won't be wearing Husker red in 5-6 years...

Speaking of Joe Dailey, SI.com profiled him as he prepares under his fifth offensive coordinator in college (Barney Cotton, Jay Norvell, Gary Tranquill, Frank Cignetti, and John Shoop). Many fans will point to his struggles as a quarterback, but imagine how you would do in your job if you got a new boss every year who had a different way for you to do your job. In any event, Dailey is taking the lemons of his career and trying to make lemonade in his senior season. He was the leading receiver in the spring game, and is once again a leader of his team (remember, he was named a captain at Nebraska). He's preparing for life after playing football...this time as a coach.

A big bronx cheer to NBC for cutting away from Saturday's Ottawa-Buffalo game at the end of regulation to start the hour and a half Preakness prerace preview. Yeah, the game resumed on Versus, albeit not in HD. But come on...cutting away from a live sporting event to preview a horse race? Gimme a break.

Anybody else getting depressed everytime they pass by the gas station and see the price up another dime? We're now getting dangerously close to prices doubling since the end of January. Of course, now that GasBuddy.com has fubared OmahaGasPrices.com beyond usefulness, there aren't any useful tools left for consumers. Sigh...it was nice while it lasted.