The New USFL Thinks About Omaha

A reincarnation of the USFL is currently underway, and Omaha is apparently one of the targets. That sounds all well and good until you hear about the details. CEO Jaime Cuadra announced yesterday that the spring league is looking for eight cities for a 14 game league season starting in 2013.  Cities beside Omaha include Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City; San Antonio or Austin, Texas; Columbus or Akron, Ohio; Oklahoma City; Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Memphis, Tenn.

“These are cities with underutilized facilities at that time of year,” Cuadra said.

And frankly, that's about as far as it will go in Omaha. The concept may be fine, just not in Omaha. And frankly, when they say that Omaha has "underutilized facilities at that time of year", the USFL hasn't done any research on Omaha. There simply isn't an "underutilized facility" available for football in the spring time.

The obvious target would be TD Ameritrade Park...but it's not available for spring football. Omaha built that stadium for the College World Series, and there is no way the NCAA would allow football to be played in the spring.  The field must be in pristine shape for baseball, and with Creighton also playing baseball there from March through May, it's not available for football.

Where else could a USFL team play?  Al Caniglia Field is available for now, but it's a campus venue.  No alcohol sales would be permitted, and crowds would be limited to 10,000 or so.  I don't see that as viable.  After that, it's high school fields....with even smaller capacities and the same no-alcohol restrictions.

Lincoln actually makes more sense with Memorial Stadium; yeah, it's much bigger than the USFL needs, but it's the only facility that isn't too small.

Bottom line is that if the USFL wants to play spring football, Omaha won't be a market.

Speaking of minor league football, we were supposed to hear about the Nighthawks and the UFL last week. Don't count out the UFL just yet, but the silence seems to be portending the inevitable.

Political Talk: Nebraska Needed Osborne as a Governor More than as AD

Six years ago, Dave Heineman defeated Tom Osborne in the Nebraska's Republican primary for governor. That election effectively brought Osborne's political career to an end.  Osborne finished out his term in Congress, and returned to Nebraska.  He was teaching a few classes at Nebraska when the bottom finally fell out on Steve Pederson. Osborne took over as the interim athletic director, and continues in that role today.  It's been a fairly successful run for Osborne in his third career.  He replaced the Bill Callahan clusterfool and hired Bo Pelini.  I don't know of any Husker fan  who would rather have Callahan instead of Pelini - even those fans who find Pelini's nine or ten win seasons to be mediocre.  He's implemented a major expansion plan of facilities to bring Memorial Stadium to a capacity over 90,000. And most importantly, he successfully extracted Nebraska out of the quagmire that is the Big XII and into the Big Ten.

After the primary election, I heard several people mention that they had voted for Heineman so that Osborne would be available to take over as athletic director. And while I agree that Osborne has done a good job as athletic director, I still would have rather had him as Governor.

Dave Heineman enjoys high popularity and approval ratings in the Big Red state. If you've ever listened to Heineman talk (especially on those fawning interviews that Jim Rose gives on KFAB radio), he has an "aw shucks" persona. He's probably a great guy to sit to at a Husker football or volleyball game.  But a governor?

Voters don't seem to want to hold Heineman accountable for his blunders.  Most famously is how his administration screwed up Nebraska's child welfare system, but that's just one example.  It started with his chief deputy and successor as state treasurer, Lorelee Byrd, who had to resign after pleading guilty to official misconduct in 2003.  The latest is David Phipps, the Heineman appointed Douglas County election commissioner who seems intent on making a mockery of the upcoming election.  His plan to close election sites raised controversy when he sent out voter information cards with incorrect information.  He claimed the plan was to save money, but others think it was a veiled attempt to make it more difficult for some people to vote.  (Coincidentally, Heineman also pushed for a voter ID bill at the same time which would have increased the costs of elections.)  Phipps solution for making it more difficult to vote?  Vote by mail!  Phipps encouraged people to request ballots by mail, instructing voters to put 90 cents postage on the envelope to return the ballot.

Turns out that the postal service charges $1.10 in postage to mail the primary election ballot.  Yet another blunder by Governor Dave's guy, but don't worry, his job is safe.

This year, the state legislature pretty much overrode Heineman at will.  His opposition to prenatal care cast doubts on Heineman's claims of being "pro-life", and despite his claims of not getting involved in "local issues", his veto of a bill that allowed local voters the opportunity to vote on sales tax was overrode.  Basically, Heineman is politically impotent at this point.

In disclosure, I'm a registered Democrat who seriously considered switching parties in 2006 to vote for Osborne in the primary. (Cue the clueless calls of "communist!")  I didn't do that because I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do, even though the Democrats haven't been able to find a viable candidate to run for governor since Y2k. But after watching Heineman stumble and bumble, I'm not sure I made the right choice.

If Osborne had been elected governor, who would have taken over as Nebraska athletic director?  Good question, and there's no way to know the answer. But in the grand scheme of things, I feel that Nebraska would be better off with Osborne as governor instead of athletic director.

The Ridiculously Premature Spring BlogPoll Ballot

I'm not a big fan of preseason polls, so my first reaction when I was asked to submit a post-spring BlogPoll ballot was to ignore it.  But in this slow time of year, I decided that maybe I'd go ahead and throw my ballot out there.  I admit that it's a pretty uneducated ballot, but I went ahead with it anyway.

Husker Mike's Blasphemy Ballot - Week 18

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Oregon Ducks	--
3	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
4	Oklahoma Sooners	--
5	USC Trojans	--
6	Georgia Bulldogs	--
7	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
8	Wisconsin Badgers	--
9	Michigan Wolverines	--
10	Kansas St. Wildcats	--
11	Virginia Tech Hokies	--
12	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
13	Florida Gators	--
14	Florida St. Seminoles	--
15	Stanford Cardinal	--
16	TCU Horned Frogs	--
17	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
18	Clemson Tigers	--
19	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	--
20	Washington Huskies	--
21	Louisville Cardinals	--
22	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
23	Boise St. Broncos	--
24	Texas Longhorns	--
25	Arkansas Razorbacks	--

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

I wonder if I'm dropping Oklahoma State too much based on the loss of Justin Blackmon and Brandon Weeden...but I just don't know what they've got to replace them.  A lot of people love Michigan State, but I still have too many questions about the Spartans on offense.  You don't replace your quarterback, all of your receivers, and your starting running back from the previous season and  get better...no matter how stout you are on defense.  And with five all-conference selections, they should be good on defense...though they did 69 points in their final two games.

Nebraska? I think they should be better than last year, but I felt the same thing last year.  So I can't rank them higher, and frankly, I'll probably get a homer citation anyway for it.

UNO Hockey Announcer Terry Leahy Out at KKAR/1620

Word out of Omaha's NRG Media is that Terry Leahy was let go from his job at KKAR-1290 AM and KOZN-1620 AM ("The Zone") this week. Leahy has been the color commentator for UNO hockey since day 1, following the broadcasts from KFAB-1110 AM the first five years to KKAR.  After the broadcasts left KKAR, Leahy continued to work on both 1290 and 1620 while announcing the games on UNO's campus station KVNO-90.7 FM for two years, then 96.1 The Brew-FM last season.

Now he's out of his full time job, meaning that it's the first time in thirty years that Leahy hasn't been on the air in Omaha.  His career started with WOW 590-AM, and then spent over 15 years at KFAB-1110 AM covering both the news as well as Nebraska football, then UNO hockey.  He followed UNO hockey to KKAR, where he had worked for over 10 years. He's an Omaha institution in radio, and seems to be well respected.

Here's a quick hope that Leahy finds a home, perhaps back at KFAB.  Sad timing on this; KFAB just hired a new news anchor a few weeks ago, and would have been a good fit to return back, especially considering that Clear Channel owns both KFAB and 96.1 The Brew.  Hopefully when he finds that next job it'll also allow him to continue with the UNO hockey broadcasts.  Leahy has become the defacto voice of UNO hockey, and it would be most disappointing if he wasn't able to continue with the broadcasts.

If you don't understand why, here's a classic clip of a great moment in UNO hockey history... "Six Seconds with Alex Nikiforuk"

NCHC Tournament to the Target Center - Why The Hate?

Reports are that the "National Collegiate Hockey Conference" will play their postseason tournament at the Target Center when play starts in 2013-14.  The NCHC will bring together UNO with North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College, Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Western Michigan, and Miami into a single conference, comprised of the biggest non-Big Ten hockey schools away from the east coast.

Looking at the geography (Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado), Minneapolis seems to make the most sense as a tournament site.  It's a fairly easy drive from Omaha, Grand Forks, Duluth, and St. Cloud.  And it's probably in the center between the four schools in Colorado, Michigan, and Ohio. But many hockey fans are complaining...and I'm not sure why, exactly.

The Target Center is an NBA arena; it's ice capable, but the Minnesota Wild plays in St. Paul at the Xcel Center.  That would be the perfect spot, but it appears that the Big Ten is lining up the Xcel Center as a host site...so it's not available.  I understand there have been ice issues in the past at the Target Center, and as an NBA facility, the sightlines might be suboptimal.

But if it's not at the Target Center, where SHOULD the NCHC play?  Do they pick a home rink for somebody?  Grand Forks would make the most sense, but I don't think anybody wants to play at the home of the Sioux. (I'm going to call them the Sioux until a new nickname emerges..)  Where else would they play?  Milwaukee?  Chicago?  You are moving farther away from more fans than you are approaching.

Des Moines?  Kansas City?  Would ANYBODY there care about college hockey?

Minneapolis makes the most sense; the market understands hockey.  It's centrally located for the NCHC.  The Target Center might not be the finest facility, but a Google search on the Target Center doesn't turn up much that's wrong with it.  Granted, I don't follow the NBA, but it seems to work for the Timberwolves.

So why not the Target Center?  And if not, where should it be?  Mariucci on the UMTC campus???

Sunday Night Dessert: UNO Assistant Coaching Search Approaches 3 Weeks

Dean Blais said that he "wasn't going to rush anything" with the search to replace Mike Hastings, and he's held true to that statement.  Three weeks after Mike Hastings left UNO for Minnesota State-Mankato, the open spot still remains.  Whether anybody really knows who Blais is looking at is up for debate, but two names in the rumor mill make the most sense at this point from my perspective.

The first is Fred Harbinson, head coach of the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League. Where the heck is Penticton?  About two-thirds of the way between Calgary and Vancouver.  Why Harbinson?  Well, his squad won 42 straight games in the regular season to set a BCHL record.  They breezed through the playoffs and now are playing for the RBC Cup - essentially the Canadian junior national championship. Prior to Penticton, Harbinson spent five seasons at St. Cloud State.  He's got a strong record of identifying and recruiting players...and the fact that the search is continuing while the Vees season continues leads me to think he's somebody that Blais is at least waiting to talk to.

The other name that's popped up in the last week is Cary Eades, who was dismissed as North Dakota's associate head coach last week.  Blais and Eades were assistants at North Dakota from 1984 to 1989, so they've coached together. Eades dismissal shocked Sioux fans, as fans expected him to leave to be a head coach...not fired. Would he be interested in the UNO job?  Depends on what kind of relationship he had with Blais, but he's obviously looking for a new job now.

If UNO is waiting to talk to Harbinson, this search will last for at least another week.

In other takes:

* Martie Cordaro, general manager of the former Omaha Royals, might be the only person in the area complaining about the weather.  The winter was exceptionally mild, and it's continued into March and April.  I've had tropical plants on the deck since mid-March, and only had to bring them in once due to the cold.  Yeah, it hasn't been warm EVERY day, and the weather hasn't been fantastic every day (ask Husker fans who missed out on the Spring Game)...but it's Nebraska.  You have to expect some cool weather this time of year, and for the most part, those days have been in short-supply.

* The idea that Ron Brown should be fired for expressing his religious views is just as offensive as Brown suggesting that homosexuals can be fired from their job.  In their outrage over Brown's intolerance, they've proven themselves just as intolerant.

* Nebraska baseball lost two out of three games to Indiana this weekend. Remember when people thought that Nebraska was just going to walk in and dominate the Big Ten in baseball?  Looks pretty stupid now.

* A lot of people still want the Big Ten to play football games at night in November.  Makes sense for television, but it seems like nearly everybody making that call are people that, well, watch the games on TV.   In their temperature-controlled house.  For free.  Frankly, their opinions are worth exactly what they pay to watch the games.

Alfonzo Dennard's Legal Problems Cost Him Dearly in the NFL Draft

I wasn't pollyanna enough to think that the NFL would look past Alfonzo Dennard's arrest last weekend and still take him in the second round. He's got major legal questions, and looking at some jail time.  At a bare minimum, his availability to play football is in question.

Even bigger are the resulting questions about Dennard's character.  Some will look at his slugfest with South Carolina's Alshon Jeffrey in the Capital One Bowl and put two and two together and see a problem with Dennard's temper.  I'd look at it the same way.

But for whatever reason, I was shocked to check in on the NFL draft Saturday afternoon to see Dennard still undrafted late in the fifth round.  I don't blame the NFL teams for that; I underestimated how the NFL would view the situation.  And as the sixth round came and went, I found it even more surprising.

And let's make it clear:  Dennard did this all to himself.  It's not the NFL's fault at all; they are running a business and teams that waste draft picks on players who can't contribute (or are a liability on and off the field) don't go very far.

Dennard went midway through the seventh round to the New England Patriots; no doubt, Nebraska's connections to Bill Belichick probably opened a door for Dennard.  The real question in my mind is how Dennard responds to the message the NFL sent him this weekend.  Does he realize how badly he screwed up the week before?  Or does he take the "privileged athlete" approach, and view this as a minor setback and proof that he can still do what he wants and still make the NFL?

Gil Brandt said after Dennard's arrest that this would cost him $300,000...my guess is this is going to cost him a whole lot more.  I figured he'd be a fourth or fifth round pick, not a seventh round pick.  If he keeps his head straight and stays out of trouble, he's a huge bargain pick for the Patriots.

I also hope that everybody on the Nebraska football team was tracking the draft and the lack of interest in Dennard.  That's a message that each player needs to keep in mind during their hours away from the program. Warren Buffett has said that it takes twenty years to build a reputation, but only five minutes to destroy it.

Alfonzo Dennard is the latest example of that.

Intolerance on Both Sides of the Ron Brown Debate

As Lincoln debates a ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or identity, the focus returns to Nebraska assistant coach Ron Brown. Brown was outspoken in his opposition to a similar ordinance when it was enacted in Omaha last month, so there's no surprise the issue has rekindled in the city where Brown lives and coaches. As the debate has evolved, it grew from intolerance from Ron Brown to intolerance from the other side against Brown's religion.

Last month, a member of the Lincoln School Board called for Ron Brown to be fired for airing his viewpoints publicly. And by doing so, school board member Barbara Baier was guilty of the same intolerant viewpoint that Brown expressed.  Brown was intolerant of Baier's sexuality; Baier was intolerant of Brown's religion.

They are both wrong.  Not in their core beliefs; that's a personal matter for them to deal with.  What's wrong is trying to force their viewpoint onto others.  Brown has a moral objection to homosexuality; he views it as wrong, and he shares that viewpoint with others. There is nothing wrong with openly saying that you view homosexuality as being morally wrong.  Where Brown went wrong was in taking the viewpoint that gay people can be discriminated against for being gay. Brown's position equates to punishing people for their moral views. To quote Jesus Christ, from the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 7:

"Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

 Baier is just as guilty of intolerance by demanding that Brown be fired for having these views. It's one thing to disagree, but another thing to demand that Brown be fired for expressing his religion.  Just because someone has views contrary to yours is no reason to call for him to be silenced.  Some people view eating meat as immoral; that's their position, and they are welcome to make that choice as long as that choice isn't forced on me.  Some people violate their marriage vows by carrying on affairs; again, that's their choice and as long as they do not ask me to condone their actions, that's their business.  Should someone lose a job or not be able to rent or buy a house because they have different moral values?  Absolutely not.  In the end, it comes down to your morality, and while people have the right to share their moral values, people do not have the right to force their moral values onto others.  That goes both ways:  Brown can criticize homosexuality, and Baier can criticize Brown for his views.  But both went over the line:  Brown for saying that homosexuals can be discriminated against, and Baier for saying Brown should be fired for saying homosexuality is wrong.

The ACLU has a long running history of trying to silence Ron Brown for his religious views; in their world, trampling on Brown's rights is somehow excused by claims that Brown is "forcing" his beliefs on others. It's a bizarre viewpoint in my opinion, as the point of education is to expose people to new ideas.  If groups like the ACLU were truly interested in protecting civil rights, they would be lobbying schools to bring in non-Christians to balance Brown's message.

In the end, someone should not lose their job because they are a homosexual...or whether they view homosexuality is wrong.  Tolerance is something that's in far too short of supply in society today.

Channel 3's Travis Morgan Returns to Sioux City

I thought something was up when Travis Justice reappeared on KMTV-Channel 3's "Sports Soundoff" call-in show last Sunday night. I wasn't a big fan of Justice, but he was far better than his successor, Travis Morgan. Morgan came to Omaha from Sioux City, and if you've ever had the misfortune of watching a Sioux City newscast, you know what I mean.  It's a small market without much to cover sports-wise, so they fill the time with what they've got...and in the summer time, that's high school baseball and softball...covered much like the Omaha stations cover college sports.  And that's something that Morgan never seemed to adjust to in Omaha.

Tonight, the news guy had slid over to cover sports, which made me wonder just what was up, so I quickly hit the Google, and learned that Morgan has returned to Sioux City.  Unclear whether his contract was up at channel 3, or maybe there were family issues leading him to move closer to home, but typically, news people don't move from a market like Omaha to Sioux City.  It's like someone becoming an NFL free agent and signing with the Omaha Nighthawks.

It'll be interesting to see who channel 3 will hire next.  It's easy to think that they couldn't do worse than Morgan...but I had hoped that the station would upgrade their talent level after Travis Justice.  (Hopefully they are done hiring guys named Travis.  Justice has already indicated via Facebook that last week was a one-week gig.)  At the very least, they should try to find someone who can make their half hour "Sports Soundoff" worth watching.

Thursday Night Beer: Biggs Signing is Big

Getting former Omaha central basketball star Deverell Biggs to sign a letter of intent is a big sign forward for Nebraska basketball. I'm not ready to give Tim Miles all the credit for getting Biggs to sign; after all, Doc Sadler had offered the junior college all-American a scholarship as well. But Miles got the signature, and frankly, that's the first sign of reversing the talent gap that's been plaguing Nebraska basketball in recent years. You can't build a Big XII or Big Ten contender with a roster made up of nothing but Nebraska natives, but when a Nebraska native like Biggs comes around, you've got to close the deal and get them to Lincoln.  I think Biggs wanted to play for Dear 'Ol Nebraska U all along, so I kind of think he would have signed with Sadler...

Will Biggs redshirt this season?  He still has a redshirt season available to him, and frankly, I don't see any reason not to use it.  If you thought Nebraska basketball was bad last year, they might just be worse this year without Bo Spencer or Brian Jorge Diaz.  So why not take your medicine, especially if it means that Nebraska will be more attractive to Biggs' former Central teammate Akoy Agau.  Let's face it; Husker basketball is going to be like the Kansas City Royals or Chicago Cubs this season; you can't expect miracles.  Unless you like being ridiculed for insane ideas.

Dean Blais told the Omaha World-Herald that he plans to take his time replacing Mike Hastings...but is focusing on coaches with college or NHL experience.  Still makes me think that Fred Harbinson is one of the lead candidates, but with college hockey season over, the only reason to wait is either for a guy like Harbinson to finish his season.  Unless he's got a bead on an NHL guy...

Well, the Lingerie Football League is apparently coming to Ralston. For some reason, I don't think you'll get an honest opinion on this from any guy who has a wife or steady girlfriend...and wants to keep said wife or steady girlfriend.  So I'll plead the fifth amendment on this one as well...

I have to admit I love the expanded NHL coverage this season on the NBC Sports Network and CNBC.  Some great action, especially in overtime. Tell me how Chicago keeps finding ways to tie the game up in the closing seconds?  One thing I don't like is the chipiness out there.  Sure, it's lead to good ratings (up 50% on NBC), but let's be honest... at times, it's starting to look like an NBA game out there on the ice.  (Did you really expect me to say "WWE"???)

Mike Hastings Heads to Mankato and the Purple Cows

Yesterday, Minnesota State hired former Omaha Lancer head coach and current UNO assistant coach Mike Hastings as the head coach of the Purple Cows.  I'm sure that most Lancer fans are excited for Hastings, while some UNO hockey fans are concerned.  Myself, I have mixed opinions on the move.  You hate to see coaches leave, but I've also never held Hastings in as high esteem as some fans in Omaha do.  Nothing wrong per se' with Hastings; it's more that Hastings resume outside of junior hockey is lighter than many of Hastings proponents want to admit.

It goes back three years when UNO was looking for a head coach to replace Mike Kemp.  At that time, many people were ready to hand the job to Hastings - even though Hastings only had one season of college coaching experience.  It's not that Hastings was unqualified as much as there were so many other more qualified coaches out there at the time.  And UNO went out and hired a qualified coach:  Dean Blais.  At that time, Blais turned around and hired Hastings as his top assistant and head-coach-in-waiting.  I didn't have a problem with hiring Hastings as an assistant; I did have a problem with immediately designating Hastings as the successor.

Now, after three years, Hastings is gone, much like Will Muschamp didn't want to hang to hang around waiting for Mack Brown to retire at Texas.  What does this mean?  Well, I'll put the most positive spin on this: obviously, the retirement of Blais isn't imminent.  When Blais was hired, Blais gave the impression that he would coach at UNO for 4-5 years.  Well, this is year four...and Blais hasn't given any indication that he's planning to step aside.  And this might be the biggest proof that Blais plans to stick around a while longer...and that's a very good thing.  Blais has a young roster stocked with his type of players; we'll find out whether Blais still has that magic touch.

Hastings move to Mankato doesn't preclude him from still being Blais' eventual successor.  Coaches leave one job for another all the time.  And with a few years of head coaching experience on his resume, Hastings could be even more attractive when it does come time to succeed Blais.  That is, if he's a success up there.  If Hastings isn't a success in Mankato, UNO will definitely be looking elsewhere when it comes time to name a new head hockey coach.

So who will UNO hire next?  One name on the rumor mill is Penticton Vees head coach Fred Harbinson.  The Vees went 54-6 this season in the Canadian Junior "A" British Columbia Hockey League.  Prior to Penticton, Harbinson spent five years as an assistant with St. Cloud State. In his time in Penticton, over fifty of his players have received division 1 scholarships.  He's a believer in the speed game, which would be a good match with Blais.  His record of identifying and developing talent speaks for itself.  Is he interested in UNO?  No way to know if this is just idle, wishful talk from UNO fans or what, but if you were just throwing out names, I doubt Penticton, BC would just randomly come up.  If Harbinson is, in fact, a bona fide candidate, nothing is likely to happen until the end of the month.  Penticton is playing for the Doyle Cup, and the Vees season won't end until April 25th at the earliest.

The Spring Game That Wasn't

Today's Nebraska spring game was cancelled, and frankly, I have no problem with it whatsoever. It was absolutely the correct decision to make. There was no way that a scrimmage could have been played at Memorial Stadium today.  Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald reported that there was about 100 minutes between visible lightning strikes around Memorial Stadium, starting shortly after the cancellation was official.  Considering the time it would take to get the players warmed up and waiting an appropriate time following the last lightning strike, how much football could have been played?  Maybe one quarter?  Maybe?

We left Lincoln around 1:30 and it absolutely poured almost the entire way home.  Judging from the storm movements on the radar, I assume that the deluge didn't let up at the stadium...even though the lightning may have. If it were a real game, one could make the argument that the game could have been played in a monsoon.  Certainly didn't stop the 2009 Monsoon at Missouri game down in Columbia.  But if you remember that game, the weather was the second biggest factor in that game - other than Ndamukong Suh.  But for a scrimmage, the risk to players playing in a monsoon was too high.  And with the lightning, impossible.

We had our tickets in hand, but we never made it closer to the stadium than the Hy-Vee on North 27th street.  We got a late start going to Lincoln due to another function, we thought we were on target to make it on time for a great family outing to watch some football...but as we approached Lincoln, the rain began to fall and the traffic came to a standstill.  An accident, almost certainly the result of the rain, snarled traffic on the Interstate between Greenwood and Waverly, and we were stuck in traffic for nearly 45 minutes.  At first, I thought we were going to miss most of the first quarter...but after turning the radio over to the pregame show, I realized that conditions were even worse in Lincoln.  No need to hurry.

So we stopped at Hy-Vee to get the kids a break, which is where we learned that the game was not going to be played today. I didn't have a problem with it.  Even if it wasn't dangerous, it would have been miserable to sit through.  I was still holding out hope the game could be rescheduled to tomorrow; the weather is supposed to be fine, if not a little windy.  But the players had issues with playing tomorrow and that made a postponement unpractical from their perspective.  Next weekend?  The problem with that is that the NCAA only allows teams 15 spring practices, and the Huskers have already used all of them.  So if they tried to play next weekend, they'd play it without any practice for a week.  Not a good idea either.

Could they have moved the game to the Hawks Practice Facility, set up the BTN cameras, and play the game indoors on TV?  That really was the only way it could have happened, but what was the point of that?  The spring game is for the fans.  It's for fans to get together, and families to share the day.

Should fans get a refund?  In an ideal world, yes...but the logistics of refunding the tickets make that impossible.  Even though the game wasn't played, almost all of the expenses of the game were incurred.  The stadium was staffed, and concessions were prepared.  The fans that did make it to the stadium and waited it out got all the free food they could carry apparently.  (If it wasn't for the threat of even more severe weather, it was tempting to head down to pick up some freebies.  We had a cooler to help us get it home... :-)

So instead, I can exchange it for a baseball game.  It's something to consider for next weekend, if the weather is better.  It's better than nothing, and frankly, it'll be more fun than sitting outside in the rain with two young children.

But what about football fans, who wanted to judge the progress of the team for themselves?  I wanted to see Mohammed Seisay and Taariq Allen, for example.  Is this Tyler Wullenwaber really as fast as they say. Is Sean Fisher back to 100%?  Here's one thought.  The coaching staff films practices and scrimmages; put together a highlight package from the practices.  Use it for the Bo Pelini show and Big Red Wrapup.  Put it on BTN and Huskers.com as well.  Let us see what some of these players have done so far.  It's not the same as a spring game, but it's better than nothing.

Omaha Attorney Looking to Rehash UNO Decision to Drop Football

A local attorney is calling a press conference tomorrow to call for the Nebraska-Omaha athletic department to further explain the rationale behind dropping the Mavericks football program. Why?  That's a good question.  Mike Degan is representing a former football player, and is pursuing more transparency in the reasons why football was dropped.  But for what reason?  Can the football program be salvaged?  Hardly; the players and coaches have been dispersed, and the equipment has been sold off. I suppose it could be restarted, but it would be starting from scratch.  Is it to embarrass UNO? More likely...but I'm skeptical that anything would emerge.  Too many football boosters cling to the belief that this was a decision solely made by Trev Alberts, when in fact, the decision was being driven by a group that included several Omaha area business titans.

ESPN tried this last year, and went nowhere.  I don't see where this could go anywhere either.  UNO football allegedly lost more than $1 million.  Is that number cooked?  Degan's push could give us more details...but I don't see how it will materially change that number.  UNO averaged 3,800 fans for a football game in the final 2010 season.  If you assume that each ticket averaged $10 in revenue, which could be generous when you consider students get in free, that's probably only $270,000 or so in revenue.  That wouldn't even cover the salaries of the coaching staff, let alone the 36 scholarships.

It's sad what happened to the Mavericks football and wrestling programs. But reopening these old wounds at this time is just ripping off the scab.  It's not going to change anything, and there's no evidence that the decision wasn't justified.

Some will argue that college athletics shouldn't be about money. But look around...it's all about money.  Look at the size of contracts for television and coaches. When athletic departments are self-sufficient such as at Nebraska-Lincoln, you can accept that level of spending. When those departments are receiving tax subsidies, especially in an era when the pressure is on government to slash spending, spending on athletics is something that people are going to question.  It's nothing new at UNO; two Nebraska regents tried to eliminate UNO football in 2006.

When you consider the long history of financial issues with UNO athletics, nobody should have been surprised by the decision to drop UNO football. Nothing significant changed in the ensuing years to resolve that deficit, which pretty much means that it's extremely unlikely that we'll learn anything new in the end.

If It's a Question of Tiger vs. Phil, It's Easy to Favor Phil

In recent years, I've grown more and more negative to Tiger Woods.  I appreciated his rise to glory, and certainly appreciate (and envy) what he had accomplished on the golf course. And when I say "envy", I think I speak for anybody who's ever played the game.  We'd all love to hit the ball so far and so accurate as Tiger Woods did in his prime.  What I dislike about Woods is how golf became secondary to his celebrity status. Many people openly talk about how "if Tiger's not winning, I'm not watching." They are more interested i the celebrity, not the golfer.  Perhaps they are only interested in watching in case Woods sets a record; I suppose the non-sports fan could see it that way.  But if you like golf, the personalities shouldn't matter much if there is good golf to be seen.  If anything, any sporting event is MORE interesting when two or more players are battling it out, as opposed to having an insurmountable lead.

Tiger Woods' injuries and problems in his personal life have undoubtedly called into question his ability to shatter Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championships. Can he still do it? Absolutely yes.  But not until he comes to terms with his own failings.  He may never again enjoy the physical superiority of his earlier years.  The wear and tear on his legs may be irreversible.  What can be reversed is his mental outlook and the sense of entitlement that his years of success brought him.  From my perspective, Woods is another child prodigy who knows nothing in life other than success in athletic competition. His father put a golf club in his hands before he could barely walk; it's all he knows, and it's brought him this far in life. It has given him fame and riches, and he hasn't handled it well, destroying his marriage along the way.  And now that the game that he once dominated is now giving him fits at times.  Yes, he won two weeks ago.  He's still a great golfer.  But he's not invincible like he wishes or though he was.

Take his temper tantrums at the Masters this weekend.  If it was one blowup, you could understand it.  But he did it multiple times during the weekend...over and over and over again.  He's done it before..and he'll do it again.

For all his failings, I still like Phil Mickelson far better than Tiger Woods.  Head to head in their prime, Woods would regularly eat Mickelson alive on the course.  But now, both have their physical issues...but Mickelson is dealing with it better.  He still channels his inner "Tin Cup" (Phil being Phil), like the third hole triple bogey (now chronicled with the "Yakety Phil").  But even with two triples on the weekend, he still found himself in contention.  And he even took the time to slip into the background to watch Arnold Palmer, Nicklaus, and Gary Player open the tournament on Thursday.

Think Tiger Woods would ever do something like that?  Me neither...

UFL Founder: The Nighthawks Will Return to Omaha This Fall

UFL founder Bill Hambrecht told The Las Vegas Review-Journal that the UFL plans to return this fall as a five team league.  Last year's four franchises in Las Vegas, Virginia, Sacramento, and Omaha will be joined by a fifth team...reportedly in San Antonio.  This year's big development is that the UFL is reportedly near a deal with CBS Sports Network to televise games.  Games would be played mid-week beginning in mid-September.

Television money will help the league, both from a visibility perspective and the economics...but is it enough to turn things around? And frankly, did the UFL's problems last season sabotage the Nighthawks franchise? The cancellation of the end of the season rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way, especially their best paying customers.  Some had trouble getting refunds for the tickets, while others were bothered by the clearance pricing on tickets for the final games of the season.

Having the Nighthawks back in town is a good thing, from my perspective.  Pro football is a great thing to have in Omaha, and Omaha loves a good event. But the bloom was definitely off the rose last season in Omaha.  Crowds were way down, and the buzz wasn't there. People got burned, and they'll be wary about how far they'll buy in this fall.

The rumor mill says that the UFL is strongly considering a spring season in 2013.  That might make sense for the UFL, but won't work in Omaha. With Omaha's commitment to baseball and the NCAA for the College World Series, I see no way that the Nighthawks will be allowed to play at TD Ameritrade Park until July.  After the CWS, it's fine...but the field must be in immaculate shape for baseball. If the Nighthawks can't play at the new ballpark, where else could they play?  UNO's Al Caniglia Field probably is available...but crowds would be limited to about 12,000 (including standing room) and beer could not be sold on campus.  After that, it's high school stadiums which are even smaller.

Why worry about 2013?  Having a plan for future years will convince fans that the league has a future and won't fold up shop prematurely again.  From my perspective, the cancellation of the end of last season really damaged the reputation of the league, and merely dismissing former commissioner Michael Huyghue doesn't make it "all better".  The TV deal is a start, but it's just that ... a start.  Midweek games are probably necessary for national television, but a killer for attendance.

With five teams, the league will have to have a staggered schedule .  Play one game nationally on Tuesday or Wednesday nights, and play the other on weekends.  In Omaha, that means avoiding Husker Saturdays.  Play on Sunday afternoon if the game isn't going to be on television anyway.  There are a few fans who'll stay home to watch the NFL on TV, but I have to believe more people will come out on a sunny Sunday afternoon for tailgating and live football than sit inside to watch TV.  Much better than fans racing downtown after work during the week.

Restoring the Omaha franchise will take some work. Former general manager Rick Mueller is now working with the Philadelphia Eagles, and former head coach Joe Moglia is now coaching 1-AA Coastal Carolina.  The whole Moglia experiment was a dismal failure last season, frankly.  Which of these coaches is not like the others?  Schottenheimer, Fassel, Green, Moglia.  It showed in the final results.  The comeback attempt by Eric Crouch also annoyed a lot of people.  Did it lead the Nighthawks to try to run an unorthodox offense? Was it a desperate grab to build attention?  You could make that argument.  More likely, it's just that some people in this area hate Crouch.  Some still cling to the mistaken belief that Bobby Newcombe was a better quarterback, while others point to Crouch's failed NFL career.  He only played one game for the Nighthawks before injuring his knee, but he looked better than Jeremiah Masoli that night.

The UFL is supposed to meet on April 16th to set up the season and make a formal announcement on May 1st. They'll need to have a lot of answers to redeem themselves from the failure of 2011. Obviously, they think they have a chance to save the league...but can they save their most successful franchise off the field?

That's the question that we don't have the answer for.

Sunday Night Dessert: Too Nice Outside to Think of Sports Far Away

I have to admit that I had a lot of disinterest in the sports world this weekend.  My NCAA bracket was pretty much busted, and while I watched the end of Ohio State's late choke job against Kansas, it wasn't all that captivating. Let's face it, the weather was just too spectacular to sit in front of the television. If we're going to have weather that's 30 degrees above normal, it's far better for it to happen from December to March rather than, oh, say August.

Bo Pelini thinks the team is motivated a little more this spring.  Sounds good, but color me a little cynical here. I hope it's honest talk and that this team is motivated to break the pattern of not showing up once or twice each season.  I'm not so cyncial as to think that Nebraska won't break the pattern; it's just that saying you are going to do things different means far less than actually doing it in the season.  I would have hoped that slipping on the banana peel in 2009 and 2010 would have meant not doing it in 2010 or 2011...and it didn't.  All sorts of reasons why, and that's not important. It's simply time to start making it happen.

On thing that floored me this week was when I read that Illinois hired Ohio's John Groce for under $1.4 million.  Why did that floor me?  Nebraska is paying Tim Miles $1.4 million. I understand why Groce said "no" to Nebraska; bigger, better jobs are going to be out there if he waits.  But it sure seems like Groce settled.  When I heard that Illinois was pursuing Groce, I figured his salary would be double what Miles got from Nebraska.  Do I think Nebraska offered Groce more than Illinois did?  I'd sure like to think so, because despite Miles having a longer head coaching background, Groce has the record of success as both an assistant coach in the Big Ten as well as the head coaching background.  I'm not saying that Miles was a bad choice for Nebraska; I just hope that Miles was hired after it was clear that Groce wasn't coming to Lincoln.

This next weekend is the Frozen Four for college hockey...but ESPN is treating the sport like an afterthought.  The regionals were relegated to ESPNU and internet streams (on selected carriers)...and even one of the semifinals on Thursday has been bounced to ESPNU.

And if you want to be jealous of any sportscasters, be jealous of KOZN's Kevin Kugler this week.  Kugler calls the national championship basketball Monday night, then heads to Augusta to call the Masters next weekend.  Yeah, that sounds like a couple of pretty good assignments...and he (probably) gets paid to do it.  (In the media game anymore, you can't always assume that...)

Former Omaha Royals Up For Sale?

One year after leaving Omaha for Sarpy County, the former Omaha Royals are apparently up for sale with a potential buyer in negotiations. The World-Herald report says that it's unclear whether the buyer would partially buy out one of the three owners or the entire franchise.  Ivy Walls, led by Philadelphia businessman Bill Shea, has a managing 50% interest in the team.  The other half is split by Omaha businessmen Warren Buffett and Walter Scott.  The negotiations have gotten serious enough that the potential buyers have met with Sarpy County officials, who are on the hook for paying for the new stadium out in BFE southwest of Papillion.

What does this mean?  Well, even Martie Cordaro isn't talking about it.  But let's make a few observations about the franchise:

• Attendance went up 1% last season.  That's the smallest annual increase since Ivy Walls took over control of the team...and no where near the average 20% increase that new ball parks typically generate.
• Alan Stein, who led the Royals and pushed to build the new stadium, retired last fall.  Martie Cordaro, who's been in charge in Omaha and has built a promotion machine was named to replace him.  Would Cordaro remain with the new ownership, or would he stay with the parent organization if they sell?  Key question to think about.

What direction would the new owners take the franchise?  Same effort to promote the team?  Would they be looking to change the agreement with Sarpy County?  It doesn't sound like the new owners are thinking about moving the team, according to Sarpy County's Mark Wayne.

Is this sale because of the new ballpark?  That could be read two ways:  one, is that now that the heavy lifting of the stadium is done, the franchise is more valuable and the ownership is looking to cash in.  The other is that the meager attendance bump and lack of development around the ballpark is making the investment less valuable to the current owners.  Or is this just the natural state of affairs as business conditions evolve?

I haven't changed my opinion that the new stadium was a mistake for Sarpy County...but there's no denying that the leadership of Stein and Cordaro has revitalized the franchise.  Stein's now retired, and with new ownership a real possibility, what does that mean for Cordaro?  It's something to keep an eye on.

I'll Wait and See about New Husker Basketball Coach Tim Miles

I admit that I had Tim Miles on my second tier of candidates to replace Doc Sadler at Nebraska.  UCLA's Ben Howland was that grand-slam, how the hell did you pull THAT off candidate. It was a crazy idea, but I'll credit Tom Osborne and Marc Boehm for at least opening the conversation.  Likewise with Virginia Commonwealth's Shaka Smart, though we really don't know if Nebraska even made that call.  The other two candidates I had on my top tier were Wichita State's Gregg Marshall and Ohio's John Groce. Osborne made it clear today that no matter what kind of definition of "job offer" you use, Marshall did not receive any sort of offer. Did Lee Barfknecht get his story wrong?  I'm guessing not really.  Marshall agreed to a new contract with the Shockers today, even though Nebraska appeared to be the only other school that was talking to Marshall.  OK, so maybe Osborne (or his representatives) didn't make anything all that close to a job offer.  But I suspect that at some point in their phone conversation, a $2 million salary was brought up...and Marshall declined to pursue the job

John Groce led my "most likely" list when the search began, but Ohio's run to the Sweet 16 may have scuttled that.  I had heard that Groce was not interested in the Nebraska job, but I thought he might be someone who could be "money-whipped" into taking it.  But when Ohio took North Carolina to overtime, I finally accepted that Groce would never have accepted the Nebraska job.  With the core of this season's team returning next season, Groce will be in high demand after next season.

Should Nebraska have hired an up-and-coming assistant coach? Interesting idea, but other than Scott Spinelli, how many of those would have considered Nebraska?  Typically assistant coaches cut their teeth at a smaller school before taking on a power conference job.  (See John Groce, who left Ohio State to be in charge of Ohio.)

So Miles is the guy. I'm starting to warm up to the guy, but I can't say I wasn't disappointed.  I admit I was unrealistic in hoping for Groce to become a Husker.  So it does seem that Nebraska "settled" for Miles.  I get all of the glowing reports from Colorado and Mountain West reporters. But, to paraphrase Dan Hawkins.... "This is the Big Ten!"  Miles worked his way up from NAIA to division II to the Mountain West, but he's never worked at a major college program as an assistant.  How does he know what kind of players Nebraska needs?  How does he convince these types of players to sign with Nebraska.

I've long felt that Doc Sadler's biggest problem was in getting players who could play at the Big XII or Big Ten level. Barry Collier had a similar problem.  So going to yet-another mid-major coach would seem to be repeating the same insanity and hoping for a different result.  Miles addressed that today by suggesting that he needs assistants that are familiar with the Big Ten.  That's a positive sign.

Colorado State assistant coach Ronald "Chin" Coleman would look to be a good candidate to follow Miles to Lincoln.  Prior to joining the Rams, he was an AAU coach in Chicago for 6 years and coached four McDonalds all-Americans.  Those are connections that Nebraska hasn't had before.  Add in another assistant coach with a solid background recruiting at a power conference school, and this would alleviate my concerns. If Miles merely ends up bringing his entire CSU staff to Lincoln, I'll be sounding the alarm.

A lot of people point out that Miles has a losing record in his five years with Colorado State. Bill Doleman of the Mtn was interviewed today on KOZN-1620 AM, and put that into perspective.  The Rams lost twenty games each of the first two seasons.  Was that Miles' fault?  Take this nugget:

Really hasn't had much chance. First CSU team only had 3 schol players when camp started, Had to get APR out of 700s.

Miles had to hold open tryouts to fill out the roster, and were also hit with scholarship reductions due to the academic problems of the team.  Even so, he's gradually pulled the Rams out of the ditch and got them into the NCAA tournament with an RPI around 29 this past season.  I can't hold Miles responsible for the mess he inherited, but I can give the guy credit for rebuilding the team.

Is Tim Miles the right guy for the Nebraska job?  We won't know for a few years.  I do know he wanted the job, and he probably was the best candidate of the guys who were interested.  Should Nebraska have tried harder to convince one of those other guys to consider the job?  Sounds nice in theory, but you can't make people take a job they don't want.  The best you can hope for is that they'll reconsider.  And in this case, none of the "top tier" candidates seemed to be ready to do that.

So the job goes to Tim Miles.  We'll see where it goes from here.  The good thing about making the hire today is that Miles can go to the Final Four to fill out his staff.  When we have that, I'll have a better opinion of Miles and his potential at Nebraska.

Did Creighton Become the "Dirty Birds"? For One Game, Yes

Not sure which was worse in the aftermath of the third round NCAA tournament game between Creighton and North Carolina:  the volume and language of some Tar Heel fans, or the sanctimoniousness of the BratJay fans. Were some North Carolina fans out of line, especially on Twitter to Ethan Wragge?  Absolutely.  But Creighton fans need to own up to the fact that their Jays were thuggish at times against North Carolina.  It's really not even up for discussion; even Greg McDermott had to call Roy Williams to explain that's not the way Creighton normally plays.  And Williams later said that if McDermott hadn't called, Williams would have called anyway.


The clear evidence is on Gregory Echenique's hard shove of Tyler Zeller.  Nearly everybody who watched the replay of it agrees that Echenique should have been called for a flagrant foul.  Oh sure, Tom Shatel wrote that Zeller "took a dive to draw a charge on Echenique" in his post-game comment.  Obviously Shatel never really watched a replay of the incident before submitting his column, a fact he admitted on Monday.  (How in the heck could Zeller have drawn a charge on the play?  North Carolina had the ball and Zeller was heading towards the basket on offense.)  Let's just say this was Shatel's biggest flip-flop since the Solich-should-stay/Solich-should-go columns in 2003.

What about the other two plays?  The Grant Gibbs play on John Henson may not have been illegal, but it wasn't exactly sportsmanlike.  The wink that CBS caught was proof of the intent.  The Wragge foul on Kendall Marshall wasn't dirty in and of itself...but the other two plays set the precedent for the style of play that Creighton was exhibiting.  It clouds everybody's opinions, and when the effect was to send Marshall to the hospital, Wragge pays the price for the sins of Grant and Echenique.

Is Creighton a dirty team?  I can't answer that; other than Sunday's game against North Carolina, I haven't watched more than a few minutes of Creighton basketball since needing a technical foul to defeat the Huskers at home.  They didn't appear dirty that day, and so I have to take McDermott at his word that Creighton doesn't typically play that way.

But on Sunday, there can be no doubt:  Creighton played dirty at times against North Carolina. And just like Nebraska fans with Ndamukong Suh, Bluejay fans need to admit that their team was in the wrong on this one.

Was Hacking John Henson The Plan for Creighton?

Courtesy SBNation

While Creighton fans might not want to admit it, the game turned when Grant Gibbs hacked John Henson on his sore wrist.  After Henson was called for the technical, Gibbs winked towards the Creighton bench, which was a clear admission that Gibbs had succeeded with a deliberate strategy... and if that was the case, North Carolina's response proved that to be a dismal failure.  Before Creighton even knew what hit them, the Heels were up by double digits...and it was game over.

Frankly, I was impressed by how close Creighton kept it the rest of the way.  I expected North Carolina to name their score, and win by 30.  Which raises the question, could Creighton have pulled off the upset if they hadn't tried to take Henson out of the game?

(Footnote from the comments:  as the Tar Heels began their run, Gregory Echenique took out his frustration on North Carolina's Tyler Zeller. Wow.  CBS' Seth Davis wonders how the refs missed this one; ESPN's Doug Gottlieb and Jay Bilas concur.)

Busted Brackets & UNO Hockey Price Hike

I'll admit it... I should have known better, but I figured that this Missouri team would be different.  All the "experts" thought they could go far in the tournament. And heck, if Missouri football could ever shake off the Pinkel Factor to be rated #1 in December, Missouri basketball could make a run.  So I went ahead and ran Missouri all the way to New Orleans.  Not winning there, of course... 

So while Missouri didn't play badly Friday, it seems...they just got outplayed by Norfolk State.  So boom goes my bracket.  So did a bunch of other people that had Missouri winning the whole thing.  So I won't throw my bracket in the trash just yet...who knows what is yet to come.

I'm always amused when I hear people talk about parking around Omaha's CenturyLink Center and TD Ameritrade Park.  "There's no parking down there!"  And once again, Omaha hosts a big event downtown with a sellout crowd ... and guess what.  The parking lots around the arena never filled up completely.  It was the same situation last year during the College World Series.  Lots never filled up, much to the chagrin of lot and garage owners that wanted to charge Rosenblatt prices when the supply of parking spaces was so much higher.

Now, will parking be an issue during the last week of June when the College World Series and Olympic Swim Trials are going on simultaneously?  Yeah...but when you've got upwards of 40,000 people attending events across the street from each other, that's to be expected.  That's the perfect once-in-a-lifetime coincedence.

Josh Jones got all ball?  Yeah right.
Photo courtesy RollBamaRoll.com

Well, I was wrong about Creighton... I thought they would get spanked by Alabama, but the Tide blew an 11 point lead as well as completely botched final few seconds.  I've watched replay after replay, and I have no idea how the refs didn't call a foul on that final shot.  But Creighton found a way to win once again...and you have to give the Jays credit for that.

When I got home last night, I found a renewal packet for UNO hockey tickets for next season.  The letter starts by expressing "appreciation" for my support by offering me the opportunity to renew my tickets at "last year's prices".

Except UNO won't renew my tickets.  They've decided to discontinue the "Red Army" ticket package...and so now not only do I need to find new seats, I'll have to pay an extra $26 per seat this season.

I'm not sure why UNO chose to discontinue the Red Army package.  They claim it's to "enhance the environment"...but UNO can't really drop the Hefty bag and cover the seats in the south end of the arena.  Blue Cross/Blue Shield probably won't appreciate their scoreboard ad being hidden.  So really, it comes down to a price increase for fans on the low end.  I guess their greasing the skids for the big price hike if UNO manages to build an undersized campus facility.

That's the part of this that really disappoints me.  I've long felt that UNO could market hockey and make it a big-time event in Omaha.  I get the feeling that UNO is giving up on that plan, and rather than trying to draw more people to UNO hockey, they just want to draw more money out of UNO's existing fans.

I'm not going to make a rash decision on this, but UNO is sure making it tough to be a season ticketholder.

Creighton Fan Distracted By Tar Heels

Everywhere I turn, somebody is asking how "Creighton got screwed/hozed/wronged/etc. by the NCAA tournament committee" about the Jays #8 seed in the NCAA tournament.  "How are they supposed to get to the Sweet 16 if they have to play North Carolina in North Carolina?"

Time for a reality check:  The Jays weren't likely candidates to advance to the Sweet 16.  Not this team.  Not the one that had to keep pulling rabbits out of their hat to escape losses for most of the last month.  They've had "one-and-done" written on them most of the season.

And that's the thing: if the team is thinking about "woe us" and "North Carolina" like the fans are...well, North Carolina is the least of their worries.  They'll be home on Sunday.  Alabama might be the polar opposite of Creighton.  The Tide' best scorer is suspended, while Creighton likes to spin the scoreboard.  But there's the other side of the equation:  Alabama plays defense, while Creighton is the basketball equivalent of Kevin Cosgrove.  Well, maybe not THAT bad... but playing Creighton is a great remedy for whatever offensive woes you might have.

So what happens when a bad offense meets a bad defense?  History suggests the bad offense suddenly regains it's mojo.  (Witness Nebraska's blowout of Illinois three weeks ago...)  So Creighton had better have amnesia of what they said on Sunday night...and not even think about what could theoretically could await them this Sunday.

Let's talk for a second about the NCAA messing up the seeds.  I understand Creighton fan hoped to be seeded higher.  But the reality is that Creighton's play down the stretch earned them an eight seed. They point out Wichita State got a five, and they beat the Shockers by 7 in Wichita.  Then conveniently forget that in February, the Shockers pounded Creighton by 20 in Omaha.  Who deserves the better seed?  Wichita.  Period.  San Diego State?  Yeah, the Jays won that game... in November.  You can talk RPI and AP polls all you want, but whenever you hear the committee talk about criteria they use, those things are guidelines and they also emphasize how the team is playing at the end of the season.  And Creighton - aside from the blowout of Evansville - hasn't played well since January.

If Creighton hasn't figured out a way out of their funk in their two weeks off, and if they are still thinking about North Carolina, the Tide is going to Sabanize the Jays.  My bracket has Alabama winning this one.  If the Jays pull off the victory, I'll eat my words of course.  But for some reason, I don't think I'll be needing any ketchup Friday night.

UNO Hockey Season Ends With Six Game Losing Streak

Deep down, I wasn't surprised that UNO was swept by St. Cloud State in the first round of the playoffs. That being said, I also wouldn't have been surprised if the Mavs had swept the Huskies either. Lack of surprise shouldn't equate to lack of disappointment. It's extremely disappointing to see the Mavs finish the season on such a low note:  long losing streak, sub-.500 record, and with a whimper.

It's too easy to get dismayed to how the season ended, but there is a reason to be optimistic about the future. Let's start with the roster, which only has two seniors that, frankly, didn't play much.  Another senior, goalie John Faulkner, is actually a junior in eligibility after redshirting as a freshman.  He could be back next season, though that raises questions about the roster.  The Mavs have four goalies on this year's roster, with Mike Taffe taking a year off to play in juniors for the Lincoln Stars.  That's five.  Then Anthony Stolarz committed to play for the Mavs next season.

(Correction:  Yeti from the Lincoln Stars Blog updated me that Taffe did not make the Stars roster, and is now playing in Amarillo of the NAHL  So I'm even more skeptical that Taffe will be back in Omaha in the fall.)

Does UNO need SIX goalies next season?  Hardly.  There will be roster attrition over the summer, as there also needs to be room for incoming freshmen as well.  That's the downside of the UNO situation.  The upside is that UNO will have a wealth of experience returning next season.  This season, they just plain ran out of gas.

The final turning point in my mind was the dismissal of Alex Hudson in December.  At the time, Blais talked about shortening his bench because he didn't have depth at center.  Well, this squad ran out of gas.  Call it a character building experiment, call it whatever you want.  We didn't see as much of the racehorse style of hockey after New Years that have been the trademark of a Dean Blais squad.  And the loss of a talented player like Hudson in and of itself is a huge problem; Hudson's currently playing for Manchester in the AHL...one step short of the NHL.  Not seeing a lot of ice time, mind you...but that's where he is.

So a long offseason begins.  There's a lot of unfulfilled promise on the Mavs roster, and it's not a stretch to think that the Mavs will be a contender next season.  It just wasn't in the cards for UNO this year.

How Does the B1G Think About Tournaments?

The Big Ten Baseball Tournament is looking for a new home, and two candidates are in the Omaha area.  Each has it's own attributes that stand in stark contrast to each other, and many people look at various attributes to point out why the Big Ten would prefer one over the other.

The Omaha World-Herald's Lee Barfknecht provided a little insight on Wednesday on what the Big Ten might consider important.  Sayeth Lee:

The downtown Indianapolis area is the best ever for access for everyone to hotels, arenas, restaurants and watering holes. This town gets it.

Note the two sentences and take each individually.  Best access to hotels, arenas, restaurants, and watering holes.  Omaha has two candidates:  the Trailer Park out in BFE, which features an Embassy Suites a couple of miles away, as well as an Arbys a couple of miles to the west.  Oh, and Shadow Lake Town Center about a five minute drive east.

Or TD Ameritrade Park, which has over 1,000 hotel rooms within a five minute walk of the ballpark. Oh, and restaurants, watering holes, and the like.

Now take the second sentence.  Which ballpark "gets it"?

Hint... definitely not thinking Arby's...

Huskers and Jays Headed for One-n-Dones.

Tonight in all likelihood will be the final game in the Doc Sadler era at Nebraska.  Tom Shatel pretty much summed it up in today's Omaha World-Herald:

If Doc could ever get the players, Nebraska might have something here. Good coach, good guy, winner.

The thing is, I wasn't alone. It's not going to work out for Doc. And there are Husker fans who are sad about it. Mostly because they like Doc. When Tom Osborne speaks of Doc, the first thing he says is, "Doc is a really good guy."

But the other thing is, good guys don't last long in major college hoops. Not unless they can recruit good players.

And that's what will get Doc in the end. He never had a plan to get players. If he did, it was flawed. 

Aleks Maric was a nice player for Doc...but he was a Barry Collier (or more accurately, Scott Spinelli) guy. And really, guys like Maric as well as assistants like Spinelli were what Doc needed to have in Lincoln. You can forgive a few bumps early on due to the timing of his arrival.  But we're past that point now.  Doc owns the problem now. I've had the argument with others as to whether the players have given up on Doc. I don't think so...but he doesn't have the players to compete at this level.  Three years ago, you could blame others.  Not anymore.

So in all likelihood, tonight is Doc's last game at Nebraska barring another "what the hell was that" Illinois type of game.  They just don't have the players and play too inconsistently to expect a victory tonight in Indianapolis.  One and done.

That'll draw a guffaw from the folks on the Hilltop, but the ugly truth is staring them in the face:  Creighton is also looking at a one-and-done as well.  Oh, sure, some people (Dirk Chatelain, bwahahahaha) talk Sweet 16.  It's possible.  After all, we don't have any idea how the brackets will set up at this point.

But let's recognize that Creighton hasn't exactly been playing their best basketball the last month of the season.  They followed a three game losing streak with victories against a woeful Southern Illinois team then three nailbiters that went to the final seconds of the game.  Could have easily been losses; some might argue, should have been losses. And only one of those games was against a tournament caliber team. Oh, they got their mojo back against Evansville in St. Louis with a blowout...but that's a team they needed overtime to beat at home by a point one week earlier.  Then had to pull one out in overtime against Illinois State.

The Jays RPI and Sagarin ratings don't match their performance as of late.  Teams that do well in the tournament usually are playing well down the stretch, and the Jays aren't doing that.  A two week break might do them a world of good...but Creighton is staring a "one and done" in the face.  Again, that's a statement made in the absence of seedings and an opponent.  They could be a 7 seed and have to play a motivated #10 seed who will have seen the tape and know that the Jays can be beaten. Or the committee could pull a 4 seed out and set up a mismatch with a #13 seed.  You never know what they'll be matched up against.  It just smells like a one-and-done as well.

But right now, Creighton fans probably will be back in town in plenty of time to watch Kansas and Missouri in the third round of the NCAA tournament in Omaha.  That is, if they haven't already scalped their tickets.

Mavs Fail To Defend Home Ice Against Denver

After being swept by Denver this weekend, UNO has now lost five straight hockey games at home.  Two weeks ago, they looked to be ready to make a push for not only home ice, but perhaps even a top two seed if they could pull off a couple of sweeps.  Instead, it was the Mavs getting swept...and now they head on the road next weekend to St. Cloud State. Truth be told, I have to think that's almost a better option for UNO now; the Mavs have been a .500 team on the road this season.

Due to sick kids, I didn't get to attend last night's game.  But UNO seemed to be heading towards a 2-1 victory until Andrew Schmit was called for a hooking penalty that had UNO fans and coaches in an uproar.  Dean Blais censored himself in his post-game comments by saying that "you can't criticize officials in the WCHA."  That penalty led to the game-tying goal by Luke Salazar with :38 left in regulation.  The deflated Mavs still had a chance to claim home ice with a tie...but Daniel Doremus' goal 1:57 into overtime sent the Mavs heading for a bus trip next weekend.

Friday night's game might have been the worst UNO hockey game I've ever seen.  Certainly, UNO has been overmatched and outscored by more, but I don't think UNO has ever played worse.  Sloppy, lackadaisical passes, and seemingly unable to even clear the zone at times. UNO had three power plays in the second period and they barely could get the puck into the offensive zone each and every time.  Credit UNO fans for sticking around for the entire game and not booing, even though the performance was absolutely boo-worthy.

One player who didn't seem to take Friday night off was sophomore Matt White, who's emerged in recent weeks as a offensive force. But it's going to take much more than White to have UNO's season extend past next weekend. They'll have to win two out of three to make it to the Final Five in St. Paul.  And UNO's sub-.500 record means that the only way UNO makes it back to the NCAA tournament is with the auto-bid that comes with winning the Broadmoor Trophy in two weeks.

I keep tempering my disappointment in the end of this season by looking ahead to the future.  Dean Blais took over so late in the summer of 2009 that he's really only had two recruiting classes to bring in players suited to his style. There are only two true seniors on this roster, though goalie John Faulkner is graduating this spring and seems unlikely to return with four other goalies expected on the roster next season.  Those ten freshmen on this years roster should seem some benefit from a full offseason of conditioning to be ready to play the racehorse style of hockey Dean Blais prefers.  We haven't seen as much of that this season...but I get the ffeeling that's been out of necessity due to the circumstances of this year.

Which makes me ask the what-if question that's made wonder most of this season...just what would this season been like if the Alex Hudson from last season had been part of the team?

Feeling Snarky About Journalism in the Twitter Era

Earlier this afternoon, the word broke on Twitter that Nebraska was looking to hire Tennessee secondary coach Terry Joseph to replace Corey Raymond. First it was Pete Roussel of coachingsearch.com on Twitter, followed by reporters from the World-Herald and Lincoln Journal-Star, as well as the hosts on KOZN-1620 the Zone.  The story seemed to be falling into place pretty quickly.  Then just as I was leaving work, came a contrary word from Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald:

From the Nebraska end of DB coach search, I've learned there are "half a dozen" candidates, including Terry Joseph.

And here we go again.  Shades of "Joe Paterno is dead (on Saturday night)".  "Lady Gaga is performing at the Capital One Bowl."  A story goes out on Twitter where it starts repeating as outlet after outlet merely passes on the report (sometimes without attribution to the original source), and sometimes omitting key details. And then after everybody is dead convinced the original story is fact...we then find out that the report was wrong and too many media outlets are left holding the bag.  In the rush to be first, they forgot that it's more important to be right than first.

McKewon's report seemed to squash all the furor over the hiring of Joseph.  Joseph is just a candidate?  Well, once again...people jumped the gun.  Or so I thought...and tweeted at that moment:

At least someone locally still investigates MT @swmckewonOWH I've learned there are "half a dozen" candidates, including Terry Joseph.

A little snarky?  Maybe a whole lot of snarky. Well, Kevin Kugler of 1620-AM radio saw that and felt offended, responding:

@Husker_Mike We confirmed, while actually doing a show, that Terry Joseph had received an offer. Does that count?

And you know what... it looks like my snarkiness was wrongly placed. Everything still points to Joseph being offered.  He hasn't accepted yet.  I wasn't listening to 1620, so I didn't hear Kugler or co-host Mike'l Severe say they had confirmed the offer.  And that's all it is at this point.  Nobody says that he's hired...just that an offer has been made.  And nobody has rebutted that story at this point either.

My bad.  My only defense is that the quick response and nature of Twitter leads to quick exchanges.  We shouldn't expect total accuracy in coverage of breaking news.  (Anybody remember the Darren Rovell/Richard Sandomir Twitter war last month?)  That applies outside of Twitter.  (Witness storm coverage on our local television stations, for example.)

So yeah... local media guys... looks like you are handling this one right.  This time, I was the guy who ran off half-cocked and was dead wrong.  I was the guy guilty of that which I criticize others for.

Tonight, hypocrite, thy name is Mike.