Monday Night Beer: Sarpy County Starts Feeling the Pain

The folks in Sarpy County are now beginning to realize the boondoggle that their county officials have committed to. Kermit Brashear, the county's chief negotiator, has run up a tab of $678,000 so far...and the meter is still running, much to dismay of some in Sarpy County.

And they haven't even broke ground yet.

If they are already worried about how the costs have escalated on the negotiating phase, just wait until construction actually begins. Remember, the budget calls for building a new stadium for half the going rate. Maybe they'll keep Econobox Park in BFE under the budget...but the trend can't be good for Sarpy County.

The man who was unaware of what Steve Pederson was doing to the Nebraska athletic department is now defending the BCS. If that isn't proof enough of the need for a playoff system, I don't know what is.

I see Tom Osborne is writing yet another book. Frankly, while I'll probably get around to reading it, I'm not sure what else Osborne has to offer that he hasn't already said in his other books. Perhaps he'll give us his reasons why he thinks his run for governor failed, or perhaps he'll have some new insights as to the direction of college athletics. But more likely is that it's going to be much of what was already in his previous books.

I still need to finish up another Sun Belt conference preview for Louisiana-Lafayette for CornNation. It's actually more difficult to write previews for Sun Belt opponents than the others, as there is so little reference material other than the athletic department web sites to work from. I'll get that done later this week, and start turning my attention towards the Big XII schedule, where I already have a baseline to start from.

Props to KMTV-channel 3's Travis Justice for another half-hour of UNO coverage last night. Not only did he shock me with more coverage, but it was all broadcast in widescreen 16:9 coverage on my LCD TV. (One could write a joke about seeing Trav in HD, but I won't go there.) Good interview with UNO head coach Dean Blais and assistant coach Mike Hastings. I'm still concerned that Hastings is back at UNO more because he was with the Lancers than because of his 14 year record in the USHL. But when I listen to Blais, I'm reminded of what a home run hire he is. If Blais does for UNO what he did for every other place he's coached, I'll be more than happy to change my mind about Hastings.

Now, hopefully Trav and KMTV-channel 3 will consider televising a couple of road hockey games this season. That might sound like a stretch...but the days of saying that UNO can't do much of anything ended when Trev Alberts was hired.