Thursday Night Beer: Is Figure Skating a Sport?

The big news of the day locally is that Omaha will be the host of the 2013 US Figure Skating Championships. From an economic perspective, it's a "big, big" deal, attracting national prime-time coverage on NBC as well as bringing people to town to watch and participate. But from a sporting perspective, I guess it depends on whether you consider figure skating a sport.

And frankly, from my perspective, it's not a sport.  It's not that the competitors aren't in great physical condition; that's not the question. It's not that it requires talent; it clearly does. But it's more art than sport. The judging is subjective in nature, and frankly, that takes it out of the realm of sport. Doesn't make it less of a competition, mind you.  Just not a sport.  If figure skating championships were won on the basis of speed of twirls or height of jumps, or something that could be scored, we'd have an argument. When the result comes from opinions on "interpretation" and "choreography"...well, that's not a sport.  That's entertainment.

There is an effect on sports with this event.  UNO hockey will get a two week road-trip in late January 2013, and Creighton basketball probably will be forced to play road games for a week and a half, in all likelihood. I don't think the figure skating folks will want the ice being covered and uncovered for basketball, and the ice will need to be modified for figure skating.  (Raise the temperature and scrape off the markings, for example.) Good deal for Omaha, but not necessarily for the two main tenants.

Watching a little bit of the NFL Draft tonight, I was shocked to see both Blaine Gabberts and Jake Locker go in the top ten. Gabbert a little less than Locker. NFL executives stake their career on making these picks, so they had to see something that wasn't apparent when these quarterbacks played the Huskers. Frankly, it makes me wonder if an NFL team might make overtures to Pelini at some point down the line. Say what you will about the offensive collapses the last two seasons due to quarterback injuries, but the man knows defense. And if a football coach is worth $2.775 million a season, it's Bo Pelini in my book.

Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald threw his support to a switch in the NCAA hockey tournament, making the first round a best-of-three series on the home ice of the higher seed. (H/T: Goon) Looking at the attendance of the regionals, it's obvious the current format isn't working with neutral ice. Take a page from baseball and play it on home ice where the fans can watch. And a best-of-three series lessens the impact of a bogus call in overtime.  (Yes, Weasel fan: no matter what you say, those replays were inconclusive.)

Good news for Mike Denney and the UNO wrestling program to have a new home in St. Louis at Maryville University. What happened to UNO's wrestling program wasn't fair, but life isn't always fair. I understand the disappointment that UNO's wrestling supporters have felt, and hopefully this move will allow the bitter ones to finally move on. It may be cathartic to draw Hitler mustaches on pictures of Trev Alberts, but in the end, it just shows that your illogical and incoherent arguments against the changes at UNO are the result of anger.

After One Week, the BFE Trailer Park Still Looks Like Sarpy County's Boondoggle

One week is hardly enough time to render a final verdict on the potential success of the two new baseball stadiums in the region, but the first results are surprisingly strong. I must admit, that some of my expectations were wrong for the first week. I expected to hear complaints about traffic, and frankly, those concerns turned out to be unwarranted at this point.

But that could be in part because the "new ballpark smell" wasn't terribly successful in the first week of the Trailer Park for the Richfield Golden Royal Spike Chasers. Of course, the weather wasn't terribly attractive for baseball in the Omaha last week...temperatures in the 40s and 50s.  The former Omaha Royals averaged about 4000 fans...which was actually pretty good considering the weather. But it raises the prospect that attendance this season at the Trailer Park might actually end up being less than attendance at Rosenblatt. With fewer seats, the days of occasionally drawing 10,000 or more are over, so the GRSC will depend on drawing more people for games on days like last week. And with a stadium that only seats 6500 people, that'll be a tall task. For example, the big Independence Day fireworks show will be at TD Ameritrade Park this year, so that's a 22,000 person crowd that'll need to be made up elsewhere.

The weather apparently wasn't quite as big of a factor for Omaha's new ballpark downtown. Three games, each of which has drawn more fans than the Trailer Park can hold, have drawn over 39,000 fans (nearly tripling the average attendance per game out at BFE).  Last week, when I read that Creighton hoped to average 6000 fans for non-Nebraska games, I thought they were crazy. Now, after averaging over 8500 fans in the first two games not featuring the Big Red, it turns out I underestimated the drawing power of the new ballpark.

Though truth be told, it's not about attendance as much as it is about the money. Higher ticket prices, plus charging for parking and riding the merry-go-round ($5 a person? This parent yells OUCH!) means that the GRSC will probably still earn more revenue at BFE.

It's way too early to draw any conclusions. When summer time comes around, the GRSC may start packing in the crowds every night on the berms, and prove my hypothesis wrong. (Truth be told, I originally thought this would happen in year three out at BFE, once the new ballpark smell wore off.) And uncertainty about the Red Sky Music Festival (when the heck is the lineup going to be announced) and the Omaha Nighthawks (will the UFL survive?) leaves questions about the new downtown ballpark. But after one week, I think the downtown stadium is looking even more of a solid investment, while the Trailer Park is looking even more like an unnecessary boondoggle.

So Did Taylor Martinez Continue to Regress?

Listening and reading comments from Husker fans in recent days, I detect a sense of fatalism with respect to the opinion of Taylor Martinez's future as a quarterback at Nebraska. Not all fans, mind you...but certainly a sizable group. It's not that they are making things up; Martinez didn't have a great performance in the spring game. But while I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt due to the circumstances, others aren't.

That's not to say that those observations are invalid. Did Martinez throw behind his receivers? Yep. Did Martinez not see a blitz coming?  Absolutely. But let's remember something else: Martinez is not an experienced quarterback in the traditional sense. He made the switch in high school, and what we saw on Saturday was Taylor Martinez being asked to do all the things he isn't so good at. His talent is taking off and running --- and he was asked not to do that. One time he did scramble for a nice gain, but most of the day, he threw the ball or handed off.  And the Martinez critics are right in one respect: if that's what Nebraska wants to do on offense, Taylor Martinez isn't the quarterback we want on the field. Of course, if what we saw on Saturday was Nebraska's offense, that's not something I think is going to be all that successful.

Frankly, I have to wonder if these are the same fans that tried to pump Martinez for Heisman consideration in September and October last season? Do some fans have a manic-depressive streak running through them? ("Martinez is great! Sucks! Great! Sucks! Tastes Great! Less Filling!)

One of the more absurd ideas I've heard promoted is that Pelini has a "blind spot" for Martinez's shortcomings. Really? Have we already forgotten Pelini's outburst in College Station last November? That frankly doesn't make any sense. Pelini wants to win too much for that.

What I do know is that Pelini does things his way, and no matter what we as fans think, he's going to do things his way. And he should; he's had the benefit of watching the other 14 practices this spring, and he knows more about the medical status of Martinez's ankle.

I also know this: Bo Pelini isn't going to tell us what he's going to do unless he wants to and until he's ready to. He didn't tell us about the changes on his coaching staff until he was done with everything. And if he's thinking about making a change at quarterback, he'll handle it his way.

I feel pretty confident that if Brion Carnes outplays Taylor Martinez this summer and fall, Carnes will be the starter when Chattanooga comes to Lincoln on Labor Day weekend. But just because Carnes appeared to outplay Martinez in an exhibition where they weren't running most of the offense doesn't mean that Carnes is the better quarterback at this point.

One thing I know about Pelini is that he wants competition, and nobody has a starting job sewn up at this point. Carnes could be the starter next September. Cody Green could turn things around and become the starter. Heck, Ron Kellogg III could be the starter.  And maybe, just maybe, Bubba Starling will turn down many gubily millions of baseball dollars and win the starting quarterback job in the fall.  Some of those ideas are unlikely, mind you. But nothing is assured either.

The Kids Are Alright

When last we checked in with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, they had just imploded against Washington in the Holiday Bowl. Imploded might not be the best term for it; it was a simply pathetic performance.  Couldn't run, couldn't pass, and sometimes couldn't even tackle. Afterwards, fans wanted the scalp of offensive coordinator and became increasingly unsettled as Bo Pelini decided to handle the restructuring of his coaching staff on his own terms. It was a long ugly offseason of discontent and judging by the relatively smaller crowd for this year's Spring Game, Husker fans still haven't gotten over the funk from last season.

Yesterday, as the skies opened up, it seemed to be a parallel to the mood of Husker fans.  The rain came down in buckets in eastern Nebraska, and as you headed west, it turned to snow.  And in the panhandle, it was a blizzard.  Though the rain ended last night, the day began with clouds and cold, which didn't sound promising for a family outing to the spring game. Sure I could handle the cold, but how do I bundle up the kids for this? But a funny thing happened as I drove southwest towards Lincoln. The clouds began to break up and were gone by the time I got to Lincoln. It turned out to be a fabulous day for the spring game. Sunny and almost warm.

There were a lot of things to like about today's game.  Eric Martin looks like he's found a home at defensive end. He didn't see a lot of action today, but when he was in the game, he was oh-so-disruptive. The Pelini brothers have a new wrinkle to exploit this fall; Big Ten offensive coordinators: you've been warned.

It's unfair to compare Brion Carnes to his second cousin, especially in a scrimmage when he's on the field with a mishmash of backups on both sides of the ball. But he looked really, really, REALLY good throwing the ball as well as running the ball. Rex Burkhead looked powerful running the ball, as did Austin Jones as well. I read that as a sign that the offensive line was doing it's job.  Kenny Bell had a couple of nice catches, and showed some nifty moves, especially on a third quarter screen pass from Taylor Martinez to gain 14 yards.

And then there was Jamal Turner. Sometimes spring game stars are just that...backups who only get playing time in the springtime.  (Can you say Robin Miller?) I don't think Jamal Turner is going to be just a spring game star. He was electric every time he touched the ball, and I was wowed even before I realized he had amassed 228 all-purpose yards this afternoon. The comparisons to Bobby Newcombe might be valid: a former quarterback who is absolutely electric in the open field. But only if people don't whine that he should have stayed at quarterback. I saw enough of Newcombe at quarterback to realize that he was far more productive at receiver. I haven't seen Turner throw the ball, but he'd have to be Peyton Manning-like to convince me that he belongs at quarterback.

Not all was great today. Cody Green continues to regress at quarterback. One fumble, and really should have thrown at least two interceptions. If it wasn't for the shoulder injury to Kody Spano, he'd be a candidate to switch positions.  (Pelini indicated today that Spano's shoulder injury is serious, and by mentioning that he'll be part of the program "one way or the other", seems to give credence to the internet speculation that his playing career could be over.) If Bubba Starling attends classes in Lincoln this fall, look for Green elsewhere on the field.

Taylor Martinez seemed to play better than his statistics indicated. He hardly ran the ball much, and he showed a little more poise passing...but he's still very much a work-in-progress as a quarterback. Ron Kellogg III looked "serviceable", whatever that means. Right now, I think I'd be more comfortable with Kellogg taking snaps than Green, to tell you the truth. If Carnes continues to develop, he might just be in a position to challenge Martinez.

Penalty problems haven't been cleared up - in fact, we saw multiple sideline warnings and penalties on the opposite side of the field from where Bo Pelini was standing. And hopefully that's the last time we see Jamal Turner pull a stunt enroute to the end zone. I was watching that play from under the stands, so I didn't get a chance to see if Bo Pelini had a chance to express his displeasure with that unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. I guess the referees from the B1G decided not to implement the new rule that showboating on your way into the end zone negates the touchdown. I'm in favor of the rule, and frankly, I think that's a penalty that only gets called once, because once players realize that showboating takes points off the board, they won't do it again. And the game will be better for it, even though somebody will be the unfortunate first victim.

So what's the takeaway from today? I think the defense will be fine in 2011. If one of the incoming I-backs is the real deal (Aaron Green, Ameer Abdullah, or Braylon Heard), the offense will be fine. I wouldn't read too much into Martinez's performance. He wasn't trying to run the ball, and he wasn't getting as much help from his receivers. I'm more concerned by the penalties than anything else I saw today.

One of the biggest cheers of the day came when HuskerVision pointed out that the "B1G" is just 75 days away. I'm still not sure fans have really come to complete grips about this. Sure, we're happy to yell "Forget You" to Texas and Dan Beebe, but I don't know that we really understand what we're getting ourselves into. I know I'm optimistic that the Huskers can do quite well, but that's just speculation at this point. In the meantime, there's a crash-course to learn about 11 new opponents first.

Thursday Night Beer: Will the Weather Hold for the Spring Game?

Earlier this week, the forecast for Saturday's Nebraska Spring Game was looking rather dicey... upper 40's and windy.  But now, it looks like the monsoon that's hitting Nebraska tonight looks like it'll be out of town Saturday morning.  Forecast is now for low 60's. Probably still windy, but 15 degrees warmer is a good thing.

And since it's Nebraska, that means that the weather is going to change and change again. And the forecast is calling for rain for the opening of Omaha's new baseball stadium on Tuesday night. TD Ameritrade Park is scheduled to debut to a sold-out crowd with Nebraska playing Creighton that night.

Back to the Spring Game, I found some of the lineup decisions to be interesting.  The Whites will have Cody Green and Brion Carnes at quarterback, while the Reds will have Taylor Martinez and Ron Kellogg. Martinez is supposed to be limited, so I wonder if we won't see Carnes or Green switch sides at halftime.

I'm guilty of wanting to see more of Carnes, as he's on my list of players I want to see in action. Other names I'm planning to keep an eye on are wide receivers Jamal Turner and Kenny Bell, and linebacker turned defensive end Eric Martin. And of course, there'll be one or two players that make you go "hmmm!"

I don't expect to see much of a running game on Saturday. Rex Burkhead is the only I-back with productive experience on either squad.  With three freshmen I-backs arriving this summer, this might be the last call for Collins Okafor to make a move. And frankly, if Taylor Martinez's ankle isn't 100%, I really don't want to see much of him running the ball.

I know the UNO football and wrestling supporters are still hurting over the loss of their programs. But hopefully they'll open their eyes to see the reality of the situation. Like today's news out of Lincoln, where UNL shut down the Industrial Engineering program, a victim of budget cuts. Whether you like it or not, colleges only have so much money to fund programs, and right now, colleges are having to make tough decisions. Just like other government programs, just like businesses, and just like nearly everybody else is having to make. So while it may be cathartic to draw Hitler mustaches on pictures of Trev Alberts, it's delusional to continue to hang onto conspiracy theories.

Yep, apparently that's former Omaha sportscaster Travis Justice with the error-ridden blog siding with the conspiracy theorists. Go figure.

Nebraska's Spring Game is a Week Away: Does Anybody Care?

I have to admit that I'm somewhat surprised by the relative lack of interest in this weekend's Husker spring game. I say "relative" because ticket sales actually aren't that bad.  It appears that the two end zones are two-thirds sold out at this point, so I'd guestimate ticket sales at roughly 65,000. A pretty good total, mind you...but considering the interest in recent years, it's a little lower than we've seen.  Heck, three years ago, it was sold out at this point.

My guess is that we're seeing a little bit of the hangover from the depressing end to the 2010 season. In early October, Nebraska fans were thinking that the Huskers could enter the national championship discussion. Even in early November, Husker fans still held out some hope. But after the A&M meltdown, that hope disappeared. A BCS bowl berth looked reasonable until the offense went AWOL at halftime against Oklahoma.

Then there was that Holiday Bowl performance that looked like something out of one of the National Lampoon "Vacation" movies with Clark W. Griswold. The offense reduced to the football equivalent of the WagonQueen Family Truckster, a mere parody of it's earlier season production. So exit Shawn Watson and the remnants of the West Coast Offense.  Exit Ted Gilmore and receivers who, frankly, couldn't catch a cold.  That should rekindle interest, right?

Perhaps. But I get the feeling that people now realize that the spring game isn't so much a preview of the upcoming season, but rather a celebration of Husker football. We're not going to see much of the new playbook, if anything. In fact, what we will see will look somewhat familiar to what we saw last season in terms of X's and O's. I don't think the new playbook is going to be different in the what the players do, but rather the players will have a better idea of why they do it, and hopefully be better schooled in how they do it.

In the end, it's still a scrimmage. Bill Callahan pretty much destroyed my interest in the spring game with his sacrifices of the scout teams. Bo Pelini tries to make things more competitive, but he also doesn't want to show anything either. (Hence, why we won't see the game televised, though I think that's also because they want fans to buy a ticket instead of stay home and watch on television.)

What does interest me about the spring game? Simple: kids. They don't care that it's a scrimmage. They get to tailgate, clap along with the band, run on the field at halftime, and get a taste of football.  All for only $10 (unlike a regular season game), which makes it a great deal for families. So we've got our tickets, and hopefully the weather holds. (Initial weather forecasts don't look so hot; temperatures in the upper 40's.)

If anything, it's just a reminder that we're nearly halfway through the offseason; just four and a half months until the season begins. (OK, since the first game is against Chattanooga, we'll just say it's five months from today until the first "real" game against Fresno State...)

A "Disaster" at BFE and the Trailer Park

I couldn't help but be amused by a couple of stories about Omaha's former AAA baseball team yesterday. WOWT-Channel 6 had a story about disaster preparation drills being held at the Trailer Park in Sarpy County. Nothing wrong with the officials being prepared for something unfortunate; in fact, it's a good thing and hopefully completely unnecessary in the future. But the story about a disaster at the new ballpark just seemed to be begging for a snarky comment; after all, I'm still on the record that the new AAA ballpark wasn't - and still isn't - a good investment for Sarpy County, not to mention the metro area.

I still haven't heard how Sarpy County plans to pay for the bonds for the new stadium. As best as I can determine, Sarpy County plans to siphon hotel taxes from use elsewhere to the stadium, and that's an amount that's increased in recent years to $940 thousand last year. That likely will pay for half of the stadium bills...except keep in mind that this is money that's been used elsewhere in the budget. So diverting it to the ballpark creates a hole elsewhere; it's a shell game. Even so, I'm not sure that the hotel tax revenue will be enough to pay the mortgage payments. There's talk about the city of Papillion kicking in sales tax revenue eventually...but annexation is likely a long ways off.

The other story that caught my eye was the "Futures" game in Kansas City yesterday. They estimate about 10,000 fans stayed after the Royals/Angels game to watch Kansas City's AA and AAA teams play. The interesting fact is that this will be the largest crowd to watch the AAA team in their home uniforms. The Trailer Park only holds 6500 fans, with a couple of thousand more able to sit on the grass.  While the "new ballpark smell" will draw people to the stadium out of curiosity, I really wonder if that will be enough to offset the loss of big crowds from the Fourth of July fireworks. The "new ballpark" may have "fan friendly amenities" (even an occasional baseball game, as I understand it), but it's still a ballpark in Nebraska that's subject to the variety of weather we get here.  Just look at today: by noon, it was pushing 80 degress.  A front came through this afternoon, and this evening, the wind is howling and it feels about 50 degrees cooler...and when you get evenings like this, it doesn't matter what the ballpark is like.

We'll see down the line how the Trailer Park turns out, but right now, I'm seeing much more activity and anticipation for TD Ameritrade Park in downtown. Tomorrow morning, tickets for the ballpark opening game between Nebraska and Creighton go on sale, and all around downtown, you see signs of what the area will look like come College World Series time in June. New stuff is popping up all the time. Meanwhile out in BFE, nothing. And probably nothing for another five to seven years.  Ouch.  (That has to be considered a disaster if you were someone who pumped the BFE plan.)

But wait... Ameritrade is going to be empty 50 weeks a year, right?  Hardly.  There are some Creighton games, and while they probably won't draw many people except when Nebraska comes to town, it's something. The Nighthawks will play there this fall, unless the league collapses.  (And with the latest coaching hires, a collapse doesn't appear likely.)  And this week, we should hear the lineup for the Red Sky Music Festival in July.

U2, perhaps?  Beats the hell out of Glee and Sarah Palin nights...

Thursday Night Beer: Martinez Speaks, Fiesta Fiasco, and Durango's Facelift

A few random thoughts from this week:

Taylor Martinez finally broke his public silence this week. Whether or not you believe why he spoke, or why he didn't speak last season is irrelevant. It is a sign of maturity, of a quarterback growing into his role. I have no reason to doubt that Martinez can be a leader. Read that Fox Sports profile of Martinez from last October again. This is a kid that helped his father rebuild his life, both professionally and personally. So when Tim Beck talked about wanting a leader to be his quarterback, I didn't see that as statement that Martinez was out, but rather a challenge to Martinez to be that leader.

The rumor mill underneath seems to indicate that Martinez is growing into that role and taking command of the team. That's a good thing. I don't know for sure what happened in November with Martinez, but my guess is that the injuries sapped his confidence, and the quarterback we saw in the Big XII Championship game and Holiday Bowl was a ghost of what we saw earlier in the season. I think he's got the stuff to be a pretty darn good quarterback when healthy and confident. I personally think that if Beck can simplify the offense so he makes the reads like Zac Lee did last season combined with his incredible burst, look out.

Oh, and if you want something to back it up, check out this Cal Bears' blog that tabs Martinez as the fifth best quarterback in college football next season.  Better than Terrelle Pryor of Ohio State, if you notice.

If you've read "Death to the BCS", you really have to wonder how the bowl system can possibly survive after the Fiesta Bowl was exposed like it was this week. I think the key players in college football have to ask themselves: is this really what's best for college football?  Granted, the NCAA probably has their own skeletons in their own closet (namely, how does Indianapolis get guaranteed mens and women's Final Fours every five years?), but in the end, the money goes back to the schools. Where do the profits from bowl games go?

Courtesty UNO Athletics

Tonight, UNO revealed new logos for their athletic programs. Call  me unimpressed.  It's my understanding that the "O" that was used in recent years had copyright issues with the University of Miami, so it's been retired. Fine, I guess.  The new O seems weak to me, though it seems to work when accompanied by something else. Sadly, UNO is dumping the old Durango for a new steer head, which as far as I'm concerned, is minor league thinking. CNBC's Darren Rovell has suggested that minor league teams change their names every few seasons. Change the name and logo, and some people will buy new stuff rather than wear the old stuff that hasn't worn out. (For example, look at what happened to Omaha's former AAA baseball team name when they moved out of town and assumed the identity of Sarpy County.)

Problem with that thinking is that college sports are all about tradition. And frankly, UNO has enough changes going through the program right now that they don't need any more disruption. The football and wrestling programs were discontinued.  Programs moving to D-1 and a new conference. A lot of turmoil in recent weeks. So why not hold onto something from the past to help link the old with the new.  Wrap the new "O" with the older Durango to act as a transition.

Some of this change was necessary.  UNO had to go D-1.  UNO apparently had to replace the Hurricane O.  Fine.  But at some point, change just to change doesn't make sense. And this meaner steer simply doesn't look as good as the old Durango.

Look at how Nebraska's logos have evolved over the years.  The script Huskers from the 80's got merged with the "Iron" N in the early 90's, and remained for about 10 to 15 years.  Then the script Huskers disappeared and the block N got stronger.  It was a gradual evolution, and you never knew that things were changing. It was evolutionary change and didn't make anything you owned obsolete.

But you know what... in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter all that much. I'll still wear my jerseys with the older Durango on it and cheer on UNO hockey, whether I like the new logo or not. Eventually, they'll look dated, but for now, it still works.

I Believe in Trev Alberts

Friday, March 25, 2011, likely will go down as one of the more difficult days in Trev Alberts life. Between having to face the heat from UNO wrestling and football interests and then the unfortunate ending of UNO's hockey game in the NCAA tournament, it was a day full of sadness and anger. But looking back at it all today, I can only come to one conclusion:

I believe in Trev Alberts.

I'm not saying that Trev has handled everything perfectly. But from my perspective, Trev Alberts is taking way too much criticism and frankly, isn't getting nearly enough credit for what he has done. No doubt in my mind that fans of the wrestling and football programs at UNO should be disappointed. Anger can be a natural result of that, especially when people don't find an appropriate path to channel that emotion that results from the disappointment. For those backers, I hope that their anger was cathartic, because I've listend to the criticism, and don't find much substance to back much of it up.

Did Alberts kill these programs on an order from Tom Osborne? Frankly, that hypothesis is so ridiculous, it shouldn't need a response.  Sure, some players reject walking on at UNL in favor of accepting a scholarship offer at UNO, but killing the UNO program isn't going to change that all that much. If someone wants to walk-on for the Huskers, nothing stops them. Those players that were good enough to earn D-2 scholarships will still be good enough to earn D-2 scholarships.  They'll just head to UNK or Northwest Missouri State instead.

The consensus of what I've read and listened to in recent weeks confirms my original thoughts. Trev Alberts didn't start this process; Alberts was brought in down the line to look at UNO's athletic programs, and Alberts was only part of the group. The marching orders that Trev had were to make the athletic department sustainable without future increases in university support. That was the death sentence for UNO football right there because all the evidence pointed to football being an increasing drain on athletic department resources, and thus the entire UNO campus.

Should football boosters have had a chance to rectify the situation? An argument could have been made there, but the warning signs were out there for years.  Remember the Nancy Belck/Jim Buck saga five years ago? Quibble with the numbers all you want, but football was a huge drain on the athletic department, and division 1-AA would have only increased that.  Money games included.

Wrestlers have every right to be disappointed, but the fact is that wrestling isn't part of the Summit League. The need to mesh UNO's athletic department with the offerings of the Summit League put wrestling at serious risk, and frankly financially unmanageable.  One unanswered question is to determine the issue of Title IX and gender equity.  Could UNO add men's golf and soccer, yet still keep wrestling? What's the penalty for non-compliance?  Frankly, the decision to add men's golf and soccer was pretty much a given; I don't see how UNO could join a new league and only compete in one or two sports.

A few individuals have tried to point towards the hockey program as the problem, though I frankly don't understand why. At it's financial worst, hockey was a slight drain on the program. I think that's all changed with Dean Blais.  Attendance is up, and success on the ice is up.  That's something that I think builds on itself over time.  I expect hockey to be a net positive in revenue, and potentially a cash cow in future years.  These changes may turn off a few donors, especially the ones who primarily supported football and wrestling. That's to be expected. I don't blame them for being disappointed, and it's their right to choose how to donate. That being said, I think a bigger pool of donors was not only in support of this change, but was also part of the group that really led this effort.

One theme that I've heard is that athletics shouldn't be about making money. I'll agree with that to a point. Only a few BCS schools make money on football, and that's also very much true. Athletics are something that can unite a campus and make it better.  That's an intangible that's difficult to measure.  UNO isn't expecting to make money on sports, however, as an entire athletic department.  UNO wants hockey and eventually men's basketball to be revenue positive, but UNO isn't planning on the athletic department generating money for the school. That's something very few schools can accomplish:  UNL is one of the exceptions that does it.

While the idea that these decisions shouldn't be driven by finances is noble, it's not reality. Not in this day and age where government budgets are being scrutinized on a constant basis. The University of Nebraska system avoided a cut this year in funding from the state, but that doesn't even begin to address rising costs elsewhere in the system. Chancellor John Christensen isn't willing to keep adding funding to athletics in light of the needs elsewhere in the campus.

The football players who pointed out that UNO receives less support from state government on a per-student basis than Nebraska-Kearney deserve credit for identifying this issue. That's a campus-wide problem that should be addressed...but that doesn't mean that the football program should be retained either. A fairer distribution of funds between campuses might mean more funds could be available to athletics, but the vast majority of it should go towards academic programs.

Two years ago, many people had questions about Trev Alberts when he was hired. Two months later, he erased a lot of those by hiring two-time national champion coach Dean Blais to lead UNO hockey. Yesterday, UNO lost to Michigan in overtime, and Blais expressed the disappointment like this:

“But just the circumstance in overtime — the potential national championship, gone.”

Yes, I'm a hockey fan, but I'm also an alumnus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. I believe in what Trev Alberts is doing. He's led the charge to take hockey to the next level; a level where talk about playing for a national championship can't be dismissed as crazy talk. I believe that he's leading the charge to take what he can to that next level. Sadly, that doesn't include football and wrestling. But if the choice is between sparing football and wrestling for a few more years versus elevating the rest of the sports like he did UNO hockey, the choice is clear in my mind.

I believe in Trev Alberts.

Officials Award Michigan Victory in Overtime Over Mavs

In quite possibly one of the more bizarre uses of instant replay I've seen, Michigan defeated UNO 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA hockey tournament in overtime. One of the cardinal rules of instant replay over the years, no matter what the sport, is that the replay call be indisputable. Instant replay is designed to correct instances where an official has clearly made an error, whether it's baseball, football, or hockey.  That wasn't the case tonight. Tonight's game-ending decision wasn't indisputable by any means.

In overtime, Michigan's Kevin Lynch shot the puck at John Faulkner, who deflected the puck at Alex Hudson, who in turn deflected it back at Faulkner. The puck disappeared under Faulkner's leg, and reemerged a few seconds later. Replay after replay showed the puck going under Faulkner and disappearing until ESPN used a low camera from the other end of the ice that showed the puck under the leg.

Was the puck over the goal line?  Probably.  But "probably" isn't reason to overturn the officials call. The official never called the goal, and play continued to the other end of the ice. Probably has never been an acceptable level of evidence to overturn a call.

Certainly not a game in overtime.

Certainly not in a playoff game, especially one in the national tournament that means the end of the season for the loser.

But that's just what referees Harry Dumas (no I didn't make that up; that's his name) and Chip McDonald did tonight in St. Louis.  They spent nearly ten minutes looking at replay after replay and awared Michigan the victory.

Unfrickin believable.

Tragic way to end a pretty darn good hockey game.  I missed the first half of the game due to work, but there was good action at both ends.  UNO nearly won it earlier in overtime when Michigan's Jon Merrill deflected away a shot by Brock Montpetit at an open net about a minute and a half earlier. UNO certainly played like they belonged in the Big Skate, but in the end, the officials decided to call the game in favor of Michigan.

It would be easy to dismiss this as sour grapes from the fan on the losing end. Except everywhere you look (except the great state of Michigan, of course), hockey people everywhere realize that UNO got hozed.

It is what it is. A bitter defeat for a UNO squad that took their game to another level this season. And what a season it was.  Being ranked in the top five in the nation in November.  Sweeping Minnesota on the road, and splitting with North Dakota in some of the more epic games we'll remember.  Drawing over 15,000 fans to a game against Wisconsin. Lots of things that once the bitter pill of tonight's decision fades, we'll remember and look forward to next season. A squad with an impressive level of young talent.

The future is very bright for UNO hockey right now, no matter how the season ended.

Sunday Night Beer: UNO vs Michigan in the NCAA Tournament

This morning, the speculated UNO/Michigan matchup in St. Louis was confirmed by the NCAA on the selection show. UNO is a #3 seed and gets a rematch with Michigan. In their series in October, UNO won Friday night 4-2 and Michigan won 6-1 on Saturday night. From here on, it's a single elimination series, and as you saw in the basketball tournament this weekend, anything can happen. If UNO wins on Friday, they'll likely face off against defending national champion Boston College on Saturday night. (Unless Colorado College pulls off the sweep and ensures at least one WCHA team makes the Frozen Four!)

Right now, the only way you can watch the game is to either have ESPN3.com access on your computer or buy a $39 ticket and drive to St. Louis. ESPNU will televise the game via tape delay, but will make the game available to local television stations to carry (in HD, no less!) So it comes down to our local television stations to do the right thing and carry this game.  Here's the contact information: KXVO-Channel 15 (also KPTM-42), KETV-Channel 7, and WOWT-Channel 6. (I'm skipping KMTV-Channel 3 because they're carrying the NCAA basketball tournament at 6 pm; it's unrealistic to expect them to preempt that...)

Does UNO have a chance? In a one game series, of course. UNO has shown the ability to play up to any team. They split the season series with WCHA Champion North Dakota (a #1 seed in the tournament), as well as with Denver, who's in the same region as the Sioux.  Those two teams put on quite a show last night in St. Paul, going to double overtime before Hobey Baker candidate Matt Frattin ended the game.

Friday should be a busy day for UNO athletic director Trev Alberts, who'll start the day in Lincoln at the Board of Regents meeting where UNO's plan to move to Division I, join the Summit League, and drop football and wrestling is likely to be approved. It should be an emotional meeting, as backers of those two programs will put together their best arguments to save those problems. Problem is that while there are solid emotional reasons to retain those programs, when UNO's athletic department is trying to wean itself off of increasing subsidies, the argument doesn't hold much water. Except for programs like the Huskers in Lincoln, athletic departments almost always require some sort of subsidy.  That's expected.  What's causing the changes is that the University leadership needs to cap or reduce that subsidy, especially in light of recent trends to reduce or trim government funding of the University.  Can these decisions be reversed?  Perhaps, but it's going to take more than an emotional plea to the Board of Regents. It's going to need a solid plan to fund these sports going forward, and that's something that hasn't even been proposed in all of the protests in the last week.  Hopefully all will be done in order for Trev to fly to St. Louis and see the game, as frankly, I believe Trev gets the credit in my book for hiring Dean Blais to coach the Mavs on the ice. Without Blais, I seriously doubt UNO is in the tournament this season.

Speaking of the basketball tournament, I don't know about your brackets, but I know I missed a bunch of games. But that's the great thing about the tournament. You don't have to get all the games right; you just have to get more right (or should I say, get fewer wrong) than the next guy.

"Meet Me In Saint Louie"??? Mavs Appear Headed to NCAA Tournament

With Michigan's victory over Notre Dame this afternoon, UNO seems to have clinched a berth in the NCAA tournament.  And right now, USCHO's Jason Moy has UNO the #3 seed in the West Regional facing that old arch nemisis, the Michigan Wolverines next Friday night in St. Louis.  Game times would be either 4:30 pm or 8 pm.

Nothing is, of course, official until tomorrow morning's bracket announcement at 10:30 am on ESPN2. But if so, this might bring out the Mother of All Weasel Stomping Day's next week.

Making Sense of the Innuendo and Misinforation about UNO and Wrestling

Every time I turn around, I get a slightly different variant of what happened with UNO and the termination of football and wrestling. It makes the bad part of the story confusing and misleading, and covers up the good side of the story.

Nobody is happy that two programs had to be cut at UNO. I don't believe for one second that anybody wants these programs to end. That being said, the budget pressures on UNO are real and are driving these decisions in the end.

I honestly believe that Trev Alberts, John Christensen, and the Omaha business leaders who drove this decision did so out of what was best for the University as a whole. I don't believe there were "outside pressures" from Lincoln to keep UNO down. The only "outside pressure" I think exists is that certain regents resent having to spend University funds on athletics instead of on academic programs. That's not new; that came up during the Nancy Belck uproar.

I find the idea of the State Senator Tyson Larson introducing a resolution to condemn UNO's decision to discontinue wrestling to be humorous at best. If Larson really feels that UNO should keep wrestling, his resolution should be part of the state budget and contain real funding to ensure the program's survival, if he's really serious about this being a state issue.

Did UNO need to kill wrestling? No.  But keeping wrestling presents a bunch of problems for UNO athletics. I've gotten conflicting reports as to whether UNO needed to add golf and men's soccer. It seems that while UNO didn't HAVE to add golf and men's soccer, the Summit League really wanted UNO to do so. Without those two sports, UNO only would compete in three conference men's sports, and that's an uncomfortable arrangement. The best analogy I can come up with is to think of your family life, when your wife wants/needs one thing and your parents or your job requires something else...putting you in an uncomfortable position where you have to make a call and somebody ends up very unhappy. Who are you going to satisfy, and what are the ramifications?

Likewise, UNO administration and the wrestling program have an uncomfortable arrangement as well.  UNO wrestling has done wonders for the school, but Mike Denney has long been against the move to division 1. Seemingly almost to the point of disruptive, if you believe some of the stories.  Trev Alberts even disclosed one in an interview on KFAB last night. UNO has been dominant in D-2 wrestling, but the switch will be disruptive at best to his team. They won't be able to compete for national titles during the transition, for example.

The ideal solution would be to keep wrestling and add the other programs, but that presents Title IX nine issues that require additional women's sports ... and additional funding. And that's something that UNO can't do, because if they could do that, they would have done it by now.

UNO Should Reconsider Decision on Wrestling

After a day of listening and reading various opinions about UNO's new direction for their athletic program, I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with one part of the decision. It's not the decision to go division 1, and it's not the decision to drop football. I think those decisions have been vetted and thoroughly reviewed and make good sense from an objective perspective. In the case of football, it's a painful decision, but it just doesn't seem possible to make football feasible going forward.

The decision to drop the wrestling program doesn't seem to be based on the same criteria. Trev Alberts even admitted as such, admitting that it wasn't based on financial reasons, but on "alignment." The problem with that explanation is that the whole impetus for looking at the viability for reexamining UNO's athletic department was financial.  What does "alignment" mean anyway?

As best as I can determine, "alignment" means that UNO wants their athletic department to closely match the offerings of other Summit League programs.  Fair enough. But "alignment" isn't a sufficient reason by itself to eliminate a program; there has to be something more, especially when you are dealing with a program that has won three straight national championships. It's been suggested that UNO shouldn't move to Division 1 because it would harm the wrestling program; that's a bogus reason to hold the rest of the athletic department back. Likewise, eliminating the wrestling program because the Summit League doesn't sponsor wrestling is no reason to eliminate it. South Dakota State and North Dakota State have found ways to be Summit League members and still have a wrestling program.  UNO certainly should examine that option first.  UNO isn't dropping hockey because the Summit League doesn't sponsor it for obvious reasons: hockey looks to be the bellweather program for the entire athletic program.  Well, wrestling is the athletic program that brings the greatest level of accomplishment to UNO; it deserves special consideration.

Maybe, in the end, it is still a financial issue at it's core.  I'm not sure I totally buy that, because by all reports, wrestling coach Mike Denney works hard at fundraising to ensure the wrestling program remains viable.   If that's actually the case, then it's unfortunate that the program has to be terminated, but terminated it should be.

If not and it can be shown that UNO's wrestling program is financially viable in division 1, then the UNO wrestling program should get a stay of execution.

UPDATE: March 14, 2011
UNO athletic director Trev Alberts was on KOZN-AM (1620) and KFAB (1110) this morning, and clarified the problems with wrestling. In the end, it too is a financial situation. Adding golf and men's soccer is a requirement for joining the Horizon. Keeping wrestling puts UNO in a gender equity problem that requires additional women's sports. Plus, while Mike Denney has done a wonderful job making wrestling work in division 2, it'll take additional resources (between $250k and $750k) to make wrestling viable in D-1. In the end, for as wonderful as the wrestling program has been, it just isn't viable going forward.

It's a shame that it had to come to this, but I do understand why.

UNO Dropping Football/Wrestling; Going Division 1 in all other sports

MavPuck.com broke the initial word on this, and the Omaha World-Herald now has the story.  Athletic Director Trev Alberts and Chancellor John Christensen will hold a press conference Sunday afternoon to announce that UNO is planning to join the Summit League and become a full-fledged division 1 institution.

A Division 1 institution that doesn't play football or have a wrestling team.

Why? It's money. Except for the elite teams in college football, athletics is generally a money loser - including football except for BCS level programs. The roster sizes for football make it nearly impossible to make money when you have to pay for dozens of scholarships.  Even if you play a "money game" or two against a BCS opponent, it doesn't pay for itself.

Basketball might, especially if UNO basketball could win the conference tournament and get a berth in March Madness.  The rest of the programs follow along, but wrestling gets dropped because the Summit League doesn't sponsor wrestling.  So wrestling is out, even though they just won their third straight Division 2 National Championship on Sunday.

Talk about bad timing; the wrestling program gets a death sentence just hours after reaching an incredible milestone.

I'm still digesting this one myself.  On one hand, it's obvious that in this budgetary environment, government is having to become leaner and meaner, and that means that any government funding for education is going to come under increasing scrutiny. It's been clear for some time that the division 2 model is broken as schools either downsize their programs or upsize them to division 1.  UNO is taking the non-standard move to drop football, but deep down, I think it makes financial sense, even though football is such an important part of college athletics. The Legislature and Governor Dave Heineman just passed a new state budget that passed a lot of the state's budget concerns down to cities by eliminating property tax relief. This year, it's being kept flat. Who knows what happens next?  And with expenses continuing to increase, it's likely the University needs to cut something...and as much as I love college athletics, it's not the core mission of the University. So this is a plan that tries to retain as much of the mission of athletics while dealing with the budgetary reality of today.  Painful, yes...but what's the alternative?

Would a "money game" played against Nebraska make a difference? I kind of doubt it.  Say Nebraska pays UNO $500,000 to play in Lincoln.  That might cut the financial loss on football to something manageable, but would it be something that Nebraska would do? I think Nebraska has been looking to eliminate the 1-AA opponents as much as possible in the future, and even so, do they really want to play an extremely motivated group of local players who would like nothing better than knock off big brother?  (Anybody remember last season's South Dakota State game?)

One ironic aspect of this development is that some people thought that when Alberts was hired, he might try to kill hockey in favor of football because of his background. Now it turns out football is on it's way out.

Looking back five years at the days of Nancy Belck, division 1 was considered at that time, but rejected as unfeasible. I do have to wonder how football boosters like David Sokol (a former UNO player) will react to this move.

Say what you will about Trev Alberts. Alberts makes bold moves, such as his hiring of Dean Blais. This one is an even bigger decision, as it's a radical recreation of the UNO athletic department. But unlike the hiring of Blais, this one likely will be controversial.

Bemidji Traps UNO Right Out of the WCHA Playoffs

In what has to be the most frustrating series in the history of UNO hockey, the Bemidji State Beavers swept the Mavs at home this weekend despite UNO outshooting Bemidji 91-37 on the weekend. The difference is that when the Beavers did manage to get a shot off, they made it count.  UNO's shots frequently ended up in Bemidji goalie Dan Bakala's chest, and he wasn't giving up many rebound opportunities this weekend. Even on those few occasions when UNO had someone in front for the rebound.

UNO's style just seems unable to counter the Bemidji trapping style. Both nights, UNO controlled the puck 80% of the time, and if you didn't know the history of the previous four games this season between these teams, you had to figure that UNO would eventually erupt and blow the Beavers out.

But UNO hasn't found the way to do that, going 0-5-1 on the season against Bemidji. Terry Leahy on the radio broadcast called it a rope-a-dope style. Chad Purcell of the Omaha World-Herald called goalie Dan Bakala UNO's kryptonite. Whatever it is, Bemidji gets in UNO's mind and causes it to short circuit.

Friday night's game was lost in the final two minutes when UNO turned the puck over in their zone and Jamie McQueen fired a shot that deflected off a UNO skate into the net. Go figure.  Actually, turnovers were UNO's downfall all weekend. UNO seemed to dominate 80% of the play this weekend, but every so often, the Beavers would steal the puck and the race was on.  Breakaway after breakaway going the other way led to most of Bemidji's goals.  If it were football, each game would have been like outgaining your opponent 550 yards to 125, only to lose the game because you threw 4 interceptions - three of which were returned for touchdowns. Senior Matt Read of the Beavers scored breakaway goals in the third period both nights to boost the lead to two goals. Tonight's came with 11 minutes to play, and it completely deflated the Mavs, who struggled to maintain control of the puck from that point forward.

Leaving the Qwest Center, it seemed the general perception was that UNO's season was over. Maybe - maybe not.  Tonight's loss didn't hurt the Mavs that much in the Pairwise; they're still tied for 12th place at this point, which has them in the field...albeit it on the bubble with no way to improve their resume. It's a strange resemblance to five years ago, when UNO got bounced in the conference playoffs, but still managed to make the Big Skate after a week off.

Cam Newton, Terrelle Pryor, or Logan Ehlers: Guess Who Gets The Biggest Punishment?

In the warped world that is the NCAA, it seems to be Nebraska pitcher Logan Ehlers who is the biggest offender of the three, if you compare punishments. Cam Newton, as we all know, was exonerated by the NCAA because apparently his father asked schools for cash without Cam's knowledge. Or so he claimed. Terrelle Pryor and several teammates sold memorabilia to the owner of a tattoo parlor, and was suspended five games NEXT SEASON, deferring the suspension so Pryor and company could play in the Sugar Bowl.  Ehlers was suspended 35 games by the NCAA because his adviser contacted the Toronto Blue Jays while Ehlers debated whether to turn pro or enroll at Nebraska.  Pryor's suspension is 42% of his season; Ehler's suspension is 60%.

So let's compare these situations again.  Newton's father asked for $180,000 under the table.  Pryor pocketed $2500 for selling his ring.  Ehlers pocketed nothing; in fact, he turned down money to choose to play college baseball.  But Ehlers is the one with the biggest punishment?

The NCAA's position is that they don't want agents involved with players while they are amateur athletes. Understandable. And when an adviser starts getting involved in the process, they start becoming agent-like. Fair enough. But in this situation, there's no evidence that the adviser influenced the negotiations, and in the end, Ehlers didn't sign. Seems like a technicality compared to the other situations, so why does Ehlers get the biggest punishment?

Good question. It seems that now, the NCAA is afraid to take on the biggest cash cow of college athletics: football.  In the case of Newton and Pryor, both players were on the track for big paydays in BCS bowls last fall. In both cases, the NCAA found a way to keep those players in the big money games. Ehlers plays college baseball - a non-revenue sport.  Suspending Newton and Pryor affects the value of it's biggest sport; it costs the game in the end. Ehlers suspension doesn't have anywhere near the cost. So it's easy to take the "high moral ground" and throw the book at Ehlers.

Want more proof of the NCAA's silliness? Yesterday, the NCAA suspended Baylor basketball player Perry Jones hours before the Big XII tournament because his mother accepted a $1000 loan from an AAU coach years ago. The money was paid back long before Jones signed with Baylor, but hey, Jones is ineligible.  Baylor loses to Oklahoma in the first round of the Big XII tournament, thus ending any bubble hopes, and relegating the Bears likely to the NIT.  Of course, Baylor's not likely to be a draw in the Big Dance, so there's no cost to taking the high moral ground.

Speaking of Pryor and Ohio State, this whole Jim Tressel situation just keeps looking worse and worse for Tressel and Ohio State. Tressel's excuse that he didn't know who to contact is absolutely ridiculous; he's the head football coach in one of the largest athletic departments in college sports. Each school has several staff members who's sole job is to handle any NCAA compliance issues. He knows this; this was no mistake.

Even more damning is that this situation wasn't uncovered in December when the Pryor situation was being investigated originally. A simple discovery process looking for the name of the tattoo parlor operator, or even the word "tattoo" for that matter, would have uncovered all of the e-mails that Yahoo! Sports exposed this week. So not only did Tressel screw up last spring and summer and fail to deal with the situation, then cover it up last December, but others in the athletic department enabled that coverup.

Can you say "Lack of Institutional Control"?  Yes you can.  It's not like Tressel and Ohio State have a pristine record to fall back on; a 2009 report found the Buckeyes to be one of the biggest violators of NCAA rules dating back to 2000.  Tressel was hired by Ohio State in 2001.

I don't know how long it's going to take for the NCAA and the Big Ten to intervene in this manner. It's obvious that Ohio State was afraid to, especially when Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee joked that he was worried that Tressel "would dismiss me."  Gee hoped that we thought that was a joke, but deep down, there's probably an element of truth there.  Is Jim Delaney too scared?  I don't think so, and frankly, I don't think Delaney wants this scandal to taint the new B1G this fall.  Certainly the SEC acted quickly to suspend Tennessee's Bruce Pearl last fall... and this is bigger, much bigger, than what Pearl did.

Bottom line:  I get the feeling that the only way the sweater vest is in Lincoln next October is if he buys a ticket, because I don't think Jim Tressel will be coaching Ohio State at that time.

Monday Night Beer: Thanksgiving Friday Is A "Tradition" I Could Live Without

Earlier this afternoon, my Twitter feed blew up with the news that the "tradition continues" with the Nebraska/Iowa matchup being moved up to the day after Thanksgiving. Frankly, I'm not sure what "tradition" they are referring to, except for the "tradition" that ABC tried to create with the formation of the Big XII conference. Nebraska and Iowa isn't a tradition, and frankly, Nebraska playing on the day after Thanksgiving in the Big XII was about as authentic as the original Astroturf.

The tradition wasn't playing on Thanksgiving Friday...the tradition was Nebraska playing Oklahoma, and frankly, it wasn't until the 1980's that these games started to be occasionally played Thanksgiving weekend, let alone on a Friday. That "Game of the Century" was actually played on Thanksgiving Day 1971. The first Nebraska/Oklahoma game I got to attend was that Billy Sims-a-fumbling, Tom Ruud-destroying-Kelly Phelps classic played on Veterans Day 1978. Sure, Nebraska occasionally played the Sooners on the Friday after Thanksgiving, but it was hardly a tradition. The matchup was the tradition.

ABC tried to make it a tradition by forcing the Colorado "rivalry" down our throats by moving it to the Friday after Thanksgiving. Why?  Because it filled a hole in the television schedule, not because it was a tradition. They tried to bundle it together in a doubleheader with Texas and Texas A&M, who resented having to move their game from their traditional Thanksgiving night slot.

Bottom line is that unless Oklahoma gets an invitation to join the Big Ten, that tradition isn't coming back. Moving to the Big Ten means accepting a whole bunch of new traditions, and frankly, I don't want to hear Iowa fan complaining about Nebraska "forcing" this tradition on Iowa. I've only heard one good reason to play the Nebraska/Iowa game on Friday, and that's because Saturday that weekend also features Michigan/Ohio State and Penn State/Wisconsin.  I don't buy the other arguments for moving the game; between people who have to work that day and the number of people who get sidetracked by demands to go shopping, Saturday is a much better day to play the game.

Speaking of which, please, I'm putting my foot down:  Nebraska vs. Iowa is NOT Farmageddon. Iowa State and Kansas State already have dibs on that name. If you really think this matchup needs a name, at least come up with something original.

KOZN's Kevin Kugler and Mike'l Severe had a field day with Missouri asking for bids for Big XII North Championship rings. Not "co-champions", but "champions".  Kind of funny considering that back in 2006, Missouri fan mocked the idea of having a division trophy. Now, they get rings for getting close to a division championship. The whole idea of "division champion" got seriously warped when Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M all were awarded "division champion" trophies. When five of twelve teams get the trophy, it's pretty much meaningless.

(Oh, and before someone brings it up, the uproar after last November's Colorado game wasn't over the trophy, but rather the unsubstantiated claims of "threats" by Dan Beebe...)

Wisconsin hockey blogger Chuck Schwartz announced his WCHA coach of the year, and sure enough, he didn't name Mike Eaves after all, but rather Denver's George Gwozdecky. So much for that "lock", eh? While I think UNO's Dean Blais deserved it over Gwozdecky, I can't really argue against the pick either. The tipping point was likely not wanting to recognize the UNO blogger that called him out a month earlier.

Speaking of UNO hockey, I get a very real sense that this weekend's series could very much be a sudden-death scenario for UNO's season.  Beat Bemidji State at home this weekend, and they advance not only to the WCHA Final Five in Minneapolis but the NCAA Tournament the week after.  Lose, and UNO fans have to sweat out a week on the bubble.

I noticed that the WCHA put an ad in today's World-Herald to encourage UNO fans to buy tickets to the WCHA championships next weekend. That's all well and good, but if you are going to buy an ad for the Omaha newspaper, how about putting a UNO sweater in the mix. I see Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, Wisconsin, Denver, North Dakota, and I believe St. Cloud State jerseys...but no UNO bull-head?  C'mon guys. Maybe that's how you advertise in the Star-Tribune, but that's not going to be terribly effective in the Omaha market.

Mavs Split with Duluth; Finish Third in WCHA

After dropping a 4-1 game Friday night to Minnesota Duluth, the Mavs came back strong tonight to win 5-2. The split means that the Mavs finished third in the WCHA regular season, and came tantalizingly close to finishing second as Denver hung on to beat St. Cloud State 3-2 tonight. That second place finish would have been huge for UNO, as it would have meant playing Minnesota State-Mankato in the first round instead of Bemidji State.  UNO swept Mankato back in November, while losing three of four games against the pesky Beavers earlier this season. The Mavs speed based attack has made UNO surprisingly effective against the upper echelon of college hockey, as indicated by the success the Mavs had against Minnesota, North Dakota, and Michigan... but it has an Achilles heel when faced with a trapping attack that frustrates and negates that speed.

The second place finish also would have allowed UNO to bypass the WCHA Quarterfinals, should they win the first round series in Omaha next weekend.  That could have been huge for UNO, but it's passed by now. The focus now has to be on getting two victories against Bemidji State next weekend.  UNO jumped up to a tie for 6th place in the Pairwise ratings, but that's in large measure to Bemidji falling out of consideration this weekend. If Bemidji State wins next weekend's series, not only does that end the quest for a WCHA title, but it could end the Mavs season as well. With victories next week, Bemidji could reemerge as a team under consideration, and UNO's ranking would take a severe drop while everybody else in consideration for the NCAA tournament would tend to go up.

It's playoff hockey time in Omaha. Win and advance is all there is at this point.

Thursday Night Beer: Husker Hoops Still on the Bubble

Thanks to a home victory over Missouri this week, Nebraska basketball is on the verge of being "bubblicious", at least according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, who has them currently in their "last four out".  So what's it going to take?  Probably three more wins at bare minimum.  Must win at Colorado, then pick up at least one and probably two more in Kansas City at the Big XII tournament.  That's a tall order, since the Huskers haven't played very well outside of Lincoln. Certainly can't afford another hairball like the one the Huskers coughed up in Ames last Saturday afternoon.

Our other NCAA tournament-bound team, the UNO hockey team, really could use a good performance this weekend against #11 Minnesota-Duluth on the road. It's all about the seeding, and second place is still possible as the Mavs sit one point behind second place Denver. Second place is important because the top two seeds don't have to play the Thursday night games at the WCHA Final Five.  Speaking of which, the WCHA uses a "Gopher Rule" when scheduling games:  if Minnesota is scheduled to play that night, they always play in the second game that night so that Gopher fans can make it after work. Not that anybody should be surprised by this. (H/T:  Goon from NoDak)

Turns out Wisconsin blogger Chuck Schwartz seethed a wee-bit at being called out for his ridiculous declaration that Badger head coach Mike Eaves had sewn up a coach of the year award. Especially from a football blogger who crashed the inner sanctum of hockey.  But with the Badgers in a free-fall that began with being swept in Omaha, he finally acknowledged that Eaves won't win the award... though he still should. Oh, he let me know why loud and clear: Wisconsin lost so much from last season's team, it was remarkable that they were ever in contention. True to a point, but programs like Wisconsin usually have a solid stream of talent waiting in the wings - which they do. So while Schwartz and some of his Badger pals were running around patting themselves on the back, most people outside Badgerland took this season for what it is: reloading.  And his whole excuse that "nobody saw the Badgers collapse" pretty much validates my main point: you can't declare the race over at the halfway point of the season.

I see Creighton is starting to promote season tickets for their first season of baseball at TD Ameritrade Park.  First game will be on April 19th...and the opponent is going to be Nebraska. MECA had better be prepared for a huge crowd for opening night downtown; no soft opening for this place.

Sunday Night Dessert: Any Local March Madness Will Come From UNO Hockey

After the big victory over Texas one week ago, Nebraska basketball dribbled the ball out of bounds, so to speak, in losses to Kansas State and Iowa State in the last week. A week ago, one could hope that the Huskers could work their way into NCAA contention; now, they've likely got to win four games in Kansas City to do that. Easy to blow off the Husker basketball program, but I'm sticking with Doc Sadler for now.  Sadler's made his mistakes along the way, to be sure...but he hasn't had a lot of help either. The roster was in shambles when he arrived, and he made a few mistakes (Shang Ping anybody?). But the school failed him as well, especially when you consider the whole Roburt Sallie fiasco.

UNO's loss to Denver last night didn't break the Mavs season. Thanks to Minnesota-Duluth's tie at Colorado College last night, the Mavs remain in third place in the WCHA and jumped to eighth place in the Pairwise. Now they head to Duluth to secure that 3rd place finish, which would a heck of a finish for the Mavs first season in the WCHA.  In any event, it looks like UNO is going to be playing meaningful hockey games throughout the month of March.

Speaking of March, that means that spring football is coming up soon. I'm somewhat surprised by the number of tickets still remaining for the spring game. Did fans take the late season collapse that hard, or was Jim Rose really right in suggesting that fans are upset with Bo Pelini?

Mavs Run Out of Gas Against Denver; Split Series

Driving downtown tonight for the UNO-Denver series finale, I caught the Dean Blais pregame interview where he thought that UNO needed to survive the Pioneers first period surge. After last night's loss, he expected Denver to come out flying right from the start.  Well, UNO withstood that initial surge, but it turns out that Denver had much more in the tank tonight. They dominated the second period, and had the edge in the third period.

I'm not sure how to explain this one, but I think UNO just simply ran out of gas tonight. It happens. The run over the last five weeks, starting with that series split in North Dakota, just isn't one of those strings that just keeps going. And after having to fly up to Alaska last weekend, they didn't have enough left in their tanks for a top ten team like the Pioneers.  Sloppy, lazy passes were picked off, and as the game wore on, it was Denver, not UNO, that had the spring in their step. UNO prides themselves on being the fastest and best conditioned team out on the ice, but that wasn't the case tonight.

John Faulkner was pulled at the end of the first period for Fredrik Bergman; not sure that Faulkner wasn't playing poorly as much as the team needed a bit of a spark. A rumor floating around the arena was that Faulkner got dinged earlier in the week and wasn't feeling well.  In any event, Bergman put on an impressive performance in relief, though he ends up taking the loss on the stat sheet.

Unfortunately, that effort came in front of a huge crowd of 11,504 tonight who packed the Qwest Center and made Civic-like noise late in the third period. If there is one positive note that can be taken away from this evening, the crowd is one thing. (Can we finally declare that UNO's era at the Civic Auditorium is FINALLY over?  UNO drew over 20,000 fans to a weekend series this weekend.)

Tonight's loss dropped the Mavs to 3rd place in the WCHA, and could be tied with Minnesota Duluth, depending on the outcome of their game with Colorado College tonight.  The loss also dropped the Mavs to 10th in the Pairwise rankings, which determine the seedings for the NCAA tournament.

Mavs Catch #6 Denver While Shorthanded

UNO moved into sole possession of second place in the WCHA with a 5-2 victory over #6 Denver tonight in front of a smaller-than-expected crowd at the Qwest Center. The Mavs got off to a strong start with a dominating first period performance capped off by a short-handed goal by Rich Purslow off a great pass by Joey Martin. But UNO couldn't find the back of the net again in the first period despite numerous good scoring opportunities. Denver came back to tie the game early in the second period, only to have Johnnie Searfoss slap one home to regain the lead at 2-1.

In the third period, Denver turned up the heat and tied the game on a defensive miscue as Jason Zucker found Drew Shore wide open in front of the net. Two minutes later, Matt Ambrosz deflected a Andrej Sustr laserbeam slapshot to break the tie once again.  Matt White then raced in shorthanded for an unassisted goal to widen the lead to 4-2.  Denver pulled goalie Adam Murray with over three minutes left in the game, but couldn't get anything past UNO's John Faulkner.  Rich Purslow netted an empty-net goal in the final second to give the Mavs a 5-2 victory.

That victory combined with Colorado College's 5-4 victory over Minnesota-Duluth put the Mavs in second place, just one point behind first place North Dakota, who was idle this evening.  It may be difficult for UNO to pass the Sioux in these final games; North Dakota has two games against 10th place Bemidji State and two more against last place Michigan Tech to close out the season. But second is still a huge accomplishment since the top two teams in the regular season can earn byes in the opening games at the WCHA Final Five, should they win their first round playoff series.

The win didn't do much for UNO's standings in the Pairwise standings that determine the NCAA tournament seedings; they're still ninth.  Tonight's win gave the Mavs back-to-back 20 win seasons for just the second time in school history.  Huge accomplishment.  But UNO needs to finish off the Pioneers tomorrow night to set themselves up for a solid finish, because tomorrow night's winner will be in second place going into the final weekend of the regular season.

Sunday Night Dessert: What Does Big Husker Hoops Win Really Mean?

After tempting us and flirting with fans so many times in recent years with "oh-so-close, but not enough" performances in recent years, it was great to see Nebrasketball pull off the victory over Texas that every Husker fan desires. Sure, nearly every Husker fan would have preferred that the victory had come last October in football, but nobody is going to turn this one down either. It's certainly the biggest victory for a local basketball team since Creighton's double-overtime upset over Florida in the NCAA tournament nine years ago, and the biggest Husker basketball win since the improbable Big Eight championship run in 1994.

I missed much of the first half after a slow start, but picked up the game early in the second half as the Huskers tied the Longhorns, and the team looked like a team that was ready to exorcise the program's demons. The spirit of Bruce Chubick infested the team as the team picked up crucial rebound after rebound. Andre Almeida looked like the force that he was early in the season rather than the out-of-shape blob that he looked like at times earlier in conference play.

Throughout the second half, Nebraska seemed to dominate the Longhorns for the first eighteen minutes, but then yet another collapse at the end seemed to cement the program's reputation as a team that can't finish.  We've seen it time and time again as the Huskers let a big victory slip out of their hands at the very end.  This time, the collapse happened in the 59th minute instead of the 60th. In a matter of 35 seconds, an 11 point lead vaporized. Couldn't hit a free throw.  Failed to rebound.  Turned the ball over and put Longhorns at the free throw line unnecessarily.  Here we go again.  Except that the Huskers recovered in the final minute, made the plays they needed to, and got the win.

Great win, and it puts the Big Red into the mix for an NCAA tournament berth.  They'll need to pull off a few more victories against stout Kansas State and Missouri teams, but just being in contention is a sign of progress.  Some people question why Husker fans didn't sell out the Devaney Center for this game, but that's missing the point. A lot of fans around here are bandwagon, and attendance always lags success. Husker basketball had great attendance in the middle 90's, but it was preceded by pretty good teams in the late 80's and early 90's.  Creighton basketball attendance success came after the Bluejays completed their five year string of NCAA tournament berths. Some fans simply want to see results before they invest their money on tickets.

Speaking of teams on an NCAA tournament run, the Mavs salvaged a split up at Alaska-Anchorage this weekend, keeping the Mavs pretty much in the same position they were in a week ago. Friday night's 3-2 loss spoiled a great opportunity to move within a point of first place as the top three teams in the WCHA were upset on Friday. Up next is #3 Denver in a huge series for both teams.

The World-Herald's story about the UFL and the Omaha Nighthawks have to really raise the alarm level as to the long-term viability of the league. Frankly, I've felt that the league is only viable if the NFL invests in it as a developmental arrangement.  The NFL scuttled the old NFL Europe because they were losing a similar amount of money, but with the advent of the NFL Network and a financial arrangement where the NFL isn't shouldering the entire burden of operating the league, it might be viable. I get the feeling the UFL has only one path to survival, and that is the shutdown of the NFL this summer and fall. The UFL could get an infusion of attention and media dollars, and that could buy the league time.  Prove that it's quality football and a good development source, and the NFL might be willing to subsidize the league enough to make a franchise like Omaha viable in the long run.  Then they'll need to find other Omaha-like cities that love football and are willing to support the league. Right now, they  haven't found any.  And that's a problem.

Folks in Sarpy County should be casting a wary eye to the experience of Council Bluffs and the Mid-American Center, if they are counting on development around the Trailer Park at BFE to subsidize the new stadium. On Friday, a mostly-vacant shopping plaza at the Mid-America Center was auctioned off after the original developer defaulted on the mortgage. The MAC never proved to be enough of a draw to make this shopping center viable, and now the MAC also sits mostly unused with the Lancers moving back to Omaha. The parallels between the MAC and BFE were noted by Grow Omaha's Trenton Magid last week. Granted, the two situations are quite different, as the MAC is also surrounded by casinos and other development towards Lake Manawa, while BFE is surrounded by... cornfields... on three sides.

Tuesday Night Beer: Cosgrove Gets a Job While Husker Fans Wait

Tom Dienhart confirms tonight that Akron hired Kevin Cosgrove to be their new defensive coordinator. While I'm disappointed that Nebraska won't get to face a Cosgrove defense, it's a nice consolation prize to have Frank Solich's Ohio Bobcats get that opportunity.

Meanwhile, the World-Herald's Mitch Sherman found confirmation that Corey Raymond, Ross Els, and Rich Fisher are on the Husker staff -- in the UNL staff directory, of all places.  Why no official announcement yet? Good question, but I can think of two reasons:  (1) the future status of Shawn Watson and Ted Gilmore still is unknown and probably still being resolved, and (2) John Garrison is still listed as a part-time intern. That means that some red tape still has to be cleared, so we still await the formal announcement.

UNO hockey jumped up to #13 in the USCHO rankings, ironically one spot behind Wisconsin. Those rankings are nice, but the Pairwise rankings are what's important, and right now, the Mavs are tied for 7th, which is good for a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament.  Right now, that probably sends the Mavs out to Connecticut to play Michigan, but there's a possibility they could get swapped out and sent to St. Louis to improve travel.  Still way too much hockey to play to get too concerned about this. I still think UNO could play their way all the way up to a #1 seed (not the #1 overall, mind you)...but could also play themselves right out of contention as well.  Just keep winning.

The Mavs are on the road this weekend at Alaska-Anchorage, which is a tough bit of travel. But anticipation is already growing on the series after that with #4 ranked Denver.  I'm hearing reports that last weekend's series got the attention of a lot of fans, and that there's a lot of interest.  Is it time for UNO to buy "SellOutDenver.com"?

Ridiculous Badger Fan Opinions Set Ominious Tone For Future Husker & Mav Rivalries

Earlier this week, I checked out Chuck Schwartz's Wisconsin hockey blog "60 Minutes. No Alibis. No Regrets." to preview this weekend's series between the Badgers and UNO.  As I scrolled down, I stumbled across this little gem. Apparently, Badger fans thought that Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves had "sewn up coach of the year" weeks ago. They don't say whether they are talking WCHA or national coach of the year...but either way, it's simply a stunning ignorant statement to make just past the halfway point of the season.

In my opinion it's a no brainer that Eaves has already locked up the coach of the year award by the results this team has shown. If anyone projected the Badgers to be this good, this soon after losing all they lost is lying. Look no further than down 94 West at Minnesota where they can't seem to get it together despite bringing in top 3 recruiting classes year, after year.

Well, since he's primarily comparing the Badgers situation to Minnesota's, well, I suppose he has a point that Eaves might be Big Ten coach of the year. In that case, he's really only competing with Red Berenson..and this season, that's probably a comparison he might actually win.

But in the WCHA? Good golly.  Schwartz asks if "anyone projected the Badgers to be this good"?  How good are the Badgers?  Well, they're fifth in the WCHA (even before UNO swept the Badgers this weekend).  Wee.  Where were they projected? The media predicted them to be, well, fifth.  The coaches, seventh.  In other words, big whoop. They are pretty much what people expected them to be.  Good, but not great.  Does that make Eaves coach of the year?  Hardly.

Who should get it?  Well, there's still nearly two months of hockey to play, so it's premature to even discuss it at this point.  UNO's Dean Blais has to be mentioned here.  UNO was picked eighth (coaches) and ninth (media), so being in a tie for third place (just two points out of first place) is an impressive achievement. Denver's George Gwozdecky also deserves a mention here, not to mention North Dakota's Dave Hakstol.

Nationally?  Even more ludicrous. How about Jeff Blashill at Western Michigan? Picked to finish 10th in the CCHA, the Broncos are in 4th place in their conference and 15th nationally, as Blashill and former Mav Rob Facca have Western rolling in their first season.

I say this not so much to argue about the relative merits of various coaches, but rather about the fan base at Wisconsin. Around here, we're not really familiar with them...but we're going to learn about them pretty quickly as both the Mavs (in hockey) and the Huskers (in all other Big Ten sports) will be facing off against the Badgers on a regular basis. Needless to say, if all Wisconsin fans share this same myopic and delusional vision of their programs like some of these hockey fans, it's pretty obvious that the rivalry is going to be rather spirited, to put it nicely.

In the meantime, I think the only thing Eaves has "locked up" at this point is that Minnesota's Don Lucia won't get more votes than him in any "coach of the year" polling.

Mavs Complete Sweep of #7 Wisconsin

The UNO hockey team continued it's February surge with a 4-3 victory over formerly #7 Wisconsin tonight. The Mavs opened the scoring on a sweet two-on-one break, with Ryan Walters feeding Brock Montpetit for the easy goal midway through the first period. Wisconsin tied the game with under 30 seconds left in the period, then momentarily appeared to take the lead with just seconds left with a high arching shot. That goal was waived off after it was determined that a Badger deflected the puck well over his head with one of the more flagrant high sticks seen in quite a while.

Midway through the second period, Matt Ambrosz tapped in a rebound into a wide open net while being hauled down by Wisconsin's Eric Springer to not only give UNO the lead but also a power play.

Alex Hudson tapped in a rebound later in the second to widen the lead to 3-1, then Ambrosz drilled home the eventual game winner on another 2-on-1 break early in the third period. Two unfortunate penalty calls late in the third period resulted in two Badger power play goals, but the Badgers were unable to tie the game in the closing seconds.

The Mavs now are tied with Minnesota-Duluth for third place, and sit a mere two points out of first place in the conference standings. Not sure how UNO will fare nationally, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Mavs inch closer to the top ten.  But that's not as important as the Pairwise rankings; last week, UNO was on the bubble as the last team in the NCAA tournament.  The sweep of the Badgers caused the Mavs to jump to eighth place; a solid position, but very volatile since games remain against Denver and Minnesota-Duluth, who both are ahead of the Mavs.

Can UNO put together a campaign to promote the series against #4 Denver in two weeks?  Considering what's at stake (playoff seeding, PairWise rankings, and a potential regular season championship), it's certainly worthy of a big crowd and the promotion.

Mavs Beat Wisconsin 4-1 in Front of School Record Crowd

In front of a school-record 15,137 fans, UNO defeated #7 Wisconsin 4-1 tonight on "Sell Out Wisconsin" night. It was a late arriving crowd, but that number likely wasn't inflated by no-shows, as I would guestimate the actual in-person attendance at between 14,500 and 15,000, judging from the few empty seats I saw around the 16,000 seat Qwest Center tonight. UNO got off to a fast paced start, but Wisconsin took control late in the first period, holding the puck in late to allow Jordy Murray to fire a shot past John Faulkner for a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period.

UNO came out smoking to start the second period as Joey Martin and Johnnie Searfoss scored early in the period to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. Early in the third period, Alex Hudson had the play of the night when he picked up a rebound in the neutral zone and then raced in to score unassisted to give the Mavs a 3-0 lead. 

For much of the final 10 minutes, the Badgers tried and tried to get the puck past Faulkner, but the Mavs goaltender was up to the task.  An empty-net goal in the closing minute by Rich Purslow set the final at 4-1.

UNO now has a four point lead over Wisconsin in the league standings. Every game for the Mavs is huge from here on out, as they still have to play #3 Minnesota-Duluth and #4 Denver, who sit 1 and 3 points ahead of the Mavs in the WCHA standings. With this schedule down the stretch, UNO is very much alive with a chance to win the regular season title, though it'll take a nearly perfect finish against top competition to do it. First up is the series finale tomorrow night against Wisconsin.  While Wisconsin has the better record (19-9-3 vs 17-10-2) and the better national rankings, the Mavs have the better league record. That's due in part to UNO's struggles in December and January against teams that pulled off close wins with great goaltending and trapping styles. North Dakota blogger Goon pointed out this morning that Wisconsin only has one win this season against a team with a winning record. At this point in the season, that's something that UNO needs to capitalize on this weekend.

As for the crowd, those 15,000 or so fans made for a great environment. Not sure how many of them will be back, but tonight, I saw the future of what UNO hockey could be. Great performance on the ice, loud crowd. I have a feeling that this next month is going to be a heck of a lot of fun down the stretch.

Mav Hockey to take on Wisconsin

Last weekend, UNO swept St. Cloud State, capped by a frantic third-period comeback to turn a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 victory. Next up for the Mavs this weekend is #7 Wisconsin as UNO begins a killer final month of the season where they play teams in top half of the conference standings.  After this weekend, the Mavs head north to Alaska-Anchorage, return home to face #4 Denver before finishing up the season at #3 Minnesota-Duluth. (Think Nebraska's football schedule next season is tough?)

The Mavs are sitting on the inside of the bubble for the NCAA tournament at this point, but this schedule gives UNO the ability to either rocket up or fall out of contention depending on how they perform.  And right now, I get the feeling UNO is poised to make a great run down the stretch. It might be easy to make too much of the UNO's midseason swoon, as UNO never really collapsed in those games. They just lost some close games against some lesser foes, sometimes with some incredibly unlucky bounces of the puck.  Like the week before against Alabama-Huntsville.  UNO peppered UAH goalie Clarke Saunders with 59 shots, and he stopped 58 of 'em. Go figure.

UNO has played well against the top level competition all season, sweeping Minnesota and splitting with Michigan and North Dakota. The North Dakota games were all classics, showing that UNO can play with anybody in the country at this point.

Friday night, UNO is going to attempt once again to sell out the Qwest Center.  As of last count, just over 3,000 tickets remained, making it likely that UNO will break their attendance record set last season. I have the feeling that it's going to be quite the series this weekend.

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."