Sunday Night Beer: Dan Beebe Is Mr. Absurd

Does anybody still believe much of anything that Big XII Commissioner Dan Beebe says anymore?  How's that television contract coming along, Dan?  Seriously, Beebe dropped a few whoppers this weekend that continue to stretch the limits of his credibility. First, he claimed that it was too dangerous for anybody from the Big XII office to come to Lincoln for the last conference game for Nebraska and Colorado, with a division title on the line?  Well, maybe for Beebe, but what about Ed Stewart? You really think Mr. "Nebraska is still Nebraska, K-State is still K-State" would be in ANY danger?  Of course, the uproar over a division trophy is really silly.  I thought this thing was a ludicrous figment of Steve Pederson's imagination in 2006.  Let's remember that FIVE teams will be awarded one of these trophies this season:  Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M.

That's not to dismiss the stupid things that some Nebraska fans wrote, telephoned, and e-mailed Beebe over the last week. A few Husker fans have a history of saying and doing stupid things over the years, such as threatening Kevin Cosgrove. Indefensible, but that's life for a lot of people in the public eye. How many college football coaches have bodyguards, such as Missouri's Gary Pinkel?  Think that some crackpot Mizzou fan hasn't written a threatening letter to Pinkel?

Then Saturday night, Beebe went one step further, telling the Lincoln Journal-Star that Texas A&M's Tony Jerod-Eddie wasn't trying to molest Ben Cotton:

“Well, if you think it was that (jabbing at testicles), we’ll just have to disagree. I don’t think it was in that manner. And didn’t the Nebraska player say he was just trying to get to the ball?”  

 Wow.  Simply, wow.

The boys down at Bring on the Cats find Husker fans outrage over this matter hypocritical, since Chad May was allegedly poked in the eye by Christian Peter back in 1994.  Perhaps, but there are two key differences in the two situations.  First of all, this isn't a "he said; she said" situation (see Chase Daniel's since-refuted "spitting" allegation); there's actual video evidence. Secondly (and most importantly), Ben Cotton got flagged with two 15 yard penalties on the play.  Jerod-Eddie's stunt had a direct impact on the game, turning a difficult third and 14 into a ridiculous third and 44.  Nebraska was unlikely to get that first down on third and 14, but that still affected the field position after the punt.

There's only one response:  win the final Big Eight Championship game against Oklahoma on Saturday night.  Of course, it's obvious that just about everybody not wearing Husker Red will be cheering for the Sooners in this one.  That fact we should have known since last June.

It's just my luck this weekend.  Behind a touch of the flu and some travelling, I missed nearly all of the best parts of this weekend's sports action (Boise's second half choke, Nebraska basketball's second half comeback, and that wild fourth quarter in the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State game)  Arrgh.

I'm not sure how many people showed up at Rosenblatt yesterday for the UFL championship game. Frankly, that was a gamble by the UFL that came up craps.  There was no reason to award that game to Omaha, and hope that the Nighthawks would make the game.  A better plan would be to award the game to the first team to earn the championship game berth.  They may have issued 15,310 tickets, but frankly, more people would have enjoyed this game in Orlando or Las Vegas.