The Irony of Jim Rose's "Essay" on Bo Pelini

As is my tradition around football signing day, I unplug from the internet, sports radio, and the rest of the media for a few days. The hype and misinformation runs rampant in the dead of winter; oh sure, they always say this time is different, but it's always the same every year. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But this year, it was different. The hype and misinformation took a backseat to real news of Marvin Sanders departure and questions about the makeup of the coaching staff. So over the weekend, I attempted to backtrack and figure out what I missed. I had heard that Jim Rose had said some things on KFAB radio Friday morning, but dismissed them. This morning, I heard Rose mention that he had posted them online, so I went back and listened to it.

And frankly, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I don't completely disagree that Bo Pelini needs some help with media relations, but the rest of it was completely absurd coming from the deposed Husker Information Minister. And completely full of misinformation from a man who likely knows better, but says what he wants to say because it fits his agenda.  Bo needs to do a weekly radio show himself like Bill Byrne? That worked out well for his buddy Steve Pederson.  Besides, rotating the show through the assistants is a long standing tradition that dates back to Tom Osborne. (Despite what Rose claimed.)  Frank Solich did it that way, as well as 'ol Billy C.

Bo Pelini giving a "cliche fest"? Please; Rose hosted the Bill Callahan shows on the radio and on television, and you could literally make a drinking game out of them with his cliches, except that many fans were already drinking heavily after watching the latest debacle.  Pelini can be terse and ill-tempered at times in his comments, but he tells it like it is.  The recruiting dinner being unique to Nebraska? Well, that's news in South Bend and Corvallis.

Since his departure as the Husker play-by-play voice, Rose has been increasingly bombastic during the KFAB morning show.  He's tried to deny that second-hand smoke is a health concern as well as global warming.  Perhaps he's playing to the right-wing audience that KFAB now seems to covet. His latest obsession was in cheerleading the failed recall attempt of Omaha mayor Jim Suttle, once suggesting that someone in city government should be "shot".  After that record of success, Rose turned his tables on Pelini, insisting that Pelini had lost the fans.

I've been looking for evidence of this all weekend, and haven't found it. Except perhaps in the flat earth society that KFAB seems to cater to nowadays.

I'm not sure what's the reason behind Rose's sour grapes. It's quite ludicrous for the man who promoted and defended Steve Pederson now takes these positions without acknowledging his complicity with the regime that destroyed so many Husker traditions over four years. Does he really think that Bo Pelini is listening to him? Does he really think that somebody close to Pelini is going to have a "wow, Rose is right" realization and talk to Bo? Really? Maybe it's nothing more than a desperate attempt for attention from a now discredited and disgraced "voice of the Huskers", as he loved to call himself.

No matter what the reason; Rose's comments about Pelini are downright absurd considering the source. But at least I now know the source of the alleged "dissatisfaction with Bo Pelini."