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Who can listen to that garbage?
Now that the basketball season is over, I need to get something off my chest…
Kent Pavelka needs to go.
Having had to listen to him on the internet was absolutely painful this season. He’s WAY past his prime. (He really wasn’t all that good to begin with) THAT’S RIGHT...I SAID IT!
The Husker Sports Network’s hand was forced to let go Randy and bring in Kent, another Steve Pederson flub. And it was absolutely the worst decision.
Kent whines, Kent complains, Kent is a homer. Hey Kent, here’s an idea...listen to Greg Sharpe. You’ll pick up more in one game from Sharpe than you’ll ever learn in a lifetime of broadcasting.
:rantover
P.S. I realize this might have been more effective DURING basketball season...but, oh well.
Americas Past time
Today is opening day for major league baseball (we’re not counting abomination of a PR stunt that MLB did)
The Red Sox are the new evil empire.
The Royals have Alex Gordon for his 2nd full season (and he hit a home run today in a come from behind win over the Detroit Tigers) but they’ll still be bad.
My Minnesota Twins traded the best pitcher in the game (Johan Santana) and got a bunch of no names (but once again, the Twins will come out on top) The Twins are in a tough division, so they weren’t going to do that well anyway. I predict 3rd.
The national league...well...the cubs still haven’t won. 100th anniversary of their last world series win.
But the real story around here is the Nebraska Cornhusker baseball team.
7-1-1 in the Big 12 and 21-4-1 overall.
A series win over Texas this past weekend was the first real test for the huskers and they passed with flying colors. A drubbing of Texas in the 1st game and a solid solid 2-0 victory in game 2 over shadowed Texas’ win in game 3.
The big red are playing very well right now and it seems that we might have underestimated them. It wasn’t hard to underestimate them though, with all their off the field problems and their seeming ability to fold down the stretch in seasons past.
The huskers face Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Kansas in their next 3 series. All 3 are very winnable.
NU Newz
-The Husker women qualified for the NCAA tournament as a #8 seed. They’ll play #9 seed Xavier on Easter Sunday. If they do win they’ll most likely play Maryland, one of the 4 #1 seeds. I’m thinking NU exercises their tourney daemons from last year (losing the 8/9 matchup) and gets the W. It’ll end there though...unless Maryland is upset by the #16 seed Coppin State on their home floor. (Drop a little trivia for ya here, while no mens #16 seed has won a game in the big dance...one #16 team has won a womens tournament game. Answer inside.)
-The Husker men picked up a #3 seed in the NIT tournament and will play Charlotte on Wednesday. I can really see the Huskers going all the way to New York, and if they get some breaks there way, maybe win it all.
-The football team is getting in a bit of trouble off the field in Bo Pelini’s first year. Andy Christiansen the big one. This needs to be put to an end quickly. Spring practice is about to begin. Wake me up when the real season starts
-The baseball team, mired in several off the field incidents, has played VERY well so far this year. The team traveled to Stanford to start out the year and came back 1-2. And now they have reeled off 14 straight. It hasn’t exactly been against the best competition. But the huskers have picked up a 3 game sweep against Kansas State to open up big 12 play and got one today against Arkansas. Against the modern day father of Nebraska baseball, Dave Van Horn who made his first return to Nebraska since leaving the program he built.
Where do we put these damn kids?
Looks like Tom Osborne has made his first tough decision of his Athletic Department tenure. (no, firing Bill Callahan and hiring Bo Pelini were not tough nor unexpected)
T.O. has decided to change the placement of the students in South Stadium. He’s sliding the students up and giving everybody up top the bottom seats. It was detailed in the DN (Daily Nebraskan) Tuesday.
Osborne stated the reason the change was made was because “students have a tendency to stand on their seats throughout the game, and it wasn’t fair for the season ticket holders who sat behind them.” “We’re doing what we can to be fair,” Osborne said. “But I just have to tell you, people who buy a ticket are entitled to see a game, so it wasn’t happening. That’s why this move has been made.”
Is it just me, or is it a really bad idea to move the students AWAY from the field? Nebraska already has one of the poorest student football seating in the Big 12. I know for a fact that Missouri, Kansas St., Iowa State, and Kansas have much better seating for students than Nebraska does. It was my understanding that Nebraska students once sat at the 50 yard line in East Stadium, now while I’m not condoning that they go back to that because I understand there is money to be made and those seats are money seats, but to move the students farther back into an even worse position? Are we on a slippery slope here were the students might eventually get shut out?
I also find the complaint of the people behind the students that they were standing up the whole game very laughable as well. I have been to many a football game and every other play there are people standing before a play or during a play which causes a ripple effect behind them. Hell, I’d say half of a good game at Memorial is spent standing up and sitting down. If you’re not willing to stand up at a football game, then don’t go. Watch it at home.
Now, I’m of the younger generation and the blue hairs are going to win out every time because they got what counts most...the green. But am I way off basis here?
What’s in a nickname?
I like to think of myself as someone who is pretty easy going guy. Someone who can run with the punches, someone who takes things as he sees them. I don’t really cause a ripple in the grand scheme things, I just stay in the background.
I do have one pet peeve though, wait no, its not a pet peeve, its down right irritation. School nicknames. Particularly ones that change the mascot to a different gender and change the name for the girls. In other words, its a different “mascot” for a the girls than the guys. Take for instance the argument that I had just this morning. The Perkins County girls are the #1 team in Class C2, undefeated and barring a major upset, they will will the C2 title. Their school nickname is the “Plainsmen.” Someone told me that they are called the Plainswomen. First off they’re wrong, because the school is registered with the NSAA as Plainsmen for both genders. But second, why are the girls not good enough to get the Plainsmen nickname? Why do they have to get a different nickname than the boys?
Other examples throughout the state:
Axtell Wildcats call their girls the Lady Cats.
Beatrice Orangemen call their girls the Lady Orange.
Hastings St. Cecilia Bluehawks call their girls the Hawkettes
Sidney Red Raiders call their girls the Lady Raiders
Sutton Mustangs call their girls the Fillies
Lexington Minutemen call their girls the Minutemaids
And the worst nickname change of all:
The Columbus Lakeview Vikings call their girls...yes this is actually registered with the NSAA… the ViQueens.
And I’m almost positive that Waverly did this at one point while I was in high school.
I have a little bit less irritation, but still a irritation, for those schools that put “lady” in front of the nickname but don’t change the original name. (Lady Irish, Lady Bulldogs, Lady Warriors)
This changing of the nicknames irritates the hell out of me and it really needs to stop. Its very sexist, and, to me at least, it sends the message that the girls aren’t good enough for the nickname of the high school they go to.
Sorry, soapbox rant over.
Will we ever get there?
The most consistent inconsistent team in the nation, the Nebraska Cornhusker mens basketball team, took another turn Wednesday after they upset the #24 ranked Kansas State Wildcats. This team has had its ups, the win over Oregon and now Kansas State, its downs, the Missouri, Iowa state, and Colorado losses. All games should have been Husker wins, they’re better than those teams.
But now I go back to the Kansas State win. The Purple Kitties were ranked. The students rushed the floor. Brian Rosenthal wasn’t happy with it as evidence as his post in his Life in the Red Blog. “For cryin out loud, they stormed the court. It’s only K-State.”
I kinda agree with Brian. It was only KSU. I understand the rushing the court against Oregon. They were rated #16, it went to OT and it was at the Qwest in a wild atmosphere. I kinda understand it when we beat Creighton, but even that’s boarder line.
Pate Forde, columnist for ESPN.com, published a guideline for rushing the court. Nebraska’s defeat of KSU, doesn’t apply. Neither does the Oregon or Creighton for that matter.
So my question is, will Nebraska ever get to the point where they will ever NOT rush the court for a win over a ranked team?
CWS: Going, going, gone?
I know its not a Lincoln issue, but its a Nebraska issue.
This fight over the future home of the College World Series is getting a bit out of hand. If you don’t know, Omaha’s Rosenblatt stadium has been the home of the College World Series for well over 50 years. Omaha is synonymous with the College World Series. It has a huge economic impact on not only the city of Omaha but the state of Nebraska. Omaha has bent over backwards to keep the CWS in town. Improvements upon improvements have been made to Rosenblatt to appease the NCAA. Omaha gets it, they like the CWS, they want to keep it here and will do anything to keep it. Only so many improvements can be made to the old girl on 12th and Burt Murphy. Its an old stadium and it has gotten to the point where if they are going to make more improvements, major reconstruction needs to take place.
So a new stadium was proposed. But where to put it. Downtown Omaha? Great idea but where to put it. If you’re going to build a downtown stadium, it seems right next to the Qwest would make the most sense. How about demolishing the Civic and putting it there? There are several different camps. 1 camp wants to keep it right where its at and renovate. Another camp wants to move it to a brand new stadium. And that camp is split into several factions that suggest different places. No one can seem to agree on anything.
But wait...what about the original tenants and the people who use the stadium the most, the Royals?
Every Royals game is played in a near empty Rosenblatt. Don’t get the Royals wrong though, they love playing in the biggest, nicest ballpark in Triple A. But the Royals envision a smaller intimate ballpark they can call their own or at least share with Creighton.
The city of Omaha is at a real crossroads in my mind. Move the CWS to another location and you’re losing a lot of the “magic” you have. You now become like EVERY other place that wants the CWS and give the NCAA an excuse to move it. Keep it at Rosenblatt, yeah you keep the “magic” but you run the risk of running out of things/room to improve and eventually lose it cause its not up to NCAA standards. You also risk alienating the Royals to the point where they don’t feel wanted any up and move. Does the city of Omaha want a multi-million dollar stadium that is used only 2 1/2 weeks out of the year?
In my opinion, Omaha will lose the CWS eventually. Its inevitable. They’re foolish to think that in 2050 that they’ll be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the CWS in Omaha. Its not going to happen.
So where do you put it?
This is the voice of the huskers…
Greg Sharpe is the new voice of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Great choice, IMO.
Press release from the HSN:
LINCOLN - Greg Sharpe has been named the play-by-play announcer for the University of Nebraska football and baseball broadcasts, IMG College and the Husker Sports Network announced Tuesday.
Sharpe will begin his duties on Thursday, Feb. 7 as the emcee for the University of Nebraska Football Recruiting Dinner in Lincoln and will begin his baseball play-by-play duties with the first game of the season on February 22 at Stanford.
In addition to his duties as the play-by-play voice of Husker football and baseball, Sharpe will continue to serve as the play-by-play announcer for men’s and women’s basketball on Fox Sports Net. He will also host the football and baseball coaches TV shows, appear on Sports Nightly, and host various functions throughout the year.
Sharpe has been active with University of Nebraska athletics since 2003, serving as the play-by-play voice of the Husker Pay-Per-View football games, Husker men’s and women’s basketball games on Fox Sports Net, and Husker baseball on Cox Cable.
He was the play-by-play radio announcer for the final three football games of the 2007 season and has hosted the Bo Pelini Television Show since November, 2007. He was also the play-by-play announcer for the Nebraska Spring Game on the NFL Network in April, 2007.
“It is an incredible honor to be joining the Husker Sports Network,” said Sharpe.
The announcement was a little delayed. HSN said that one would be announced sometime in January (its February now in case you didn’t know).
Then there was this funny little back and forth between the former voice (Jim Rose) and Matt Perrault (co-chief Big Sports 590 blow hard). And then the co-chief Big Sports 590 blow hard response.
A super Super Bowl
How about that game?
I was gonna blog about it last night but the internets went out in North Platte right after the game (probably a disgruntled Pats fan or an over exuberant Giants fan) so I couldn’t.
Who honestly thought that the Giants could win? And if you say you did...what drugs were you taking cause I need some of that.
I kept waiting for the Giants mistake/Patriots capitalize moment in the game and it never really came. And probably everybody thought the game was over when Randy Moss caught the Pats last TD.
But here’s the most amazing thing about the whole game to me...not the fact that the Pats lost, but that ELI freakin’ MANNING can call himself a super bowl winning and MVP QB. Eli has been average at best through his now 4 year career. And of course he’s got the older brother thing going against him too. But Eli came up huge in that final drive including that amazing escape/heave/amazing catch play.
Great game, I haven’t cheered that loud for a non Nebraska/Minnesota Vikings football game in a long time.
Commercials I thought, overall, were pretty subpar. My favorite was Will Ferrell’s Jackie Moon Bud Light commercial.
The Qwest is Red
Nebraska invaded the home of the Creighton Bluejays for a day and what a day it was.
Nebraska gets the win over the #16 ranked Oregon Ducks 88-79 in OT.
I really like this team. I think Doc has this thing going in the right direction.
Two things on my mind
I have always hated when towns or cities claim native sons and they either were born there but immediately moved away or only lived there for a short period of time. It is never more apparent when we talk about Andy Roddick. In an article titled Simply Red: Roddick coming to Omaha.
“As Andy Roddick comes home to Omaha Friday, he sets his sights on stopping Roger Federer — and cheering on the Huskers.”
Comes home? COMES HOME?!?!?! He lived her for no more than two years. How is this coming home? I was born in Sioux City, Iowa and lived there for about the same amount of time as Andy lived in Omaha...does that mean every time I go back to Sioux City, IA I say to myself, “ahhh...I’m home.” Absolutely not. My home is Omaha, Nebraska.
People around here are really desperate for famous people around Nebraska, IMO, that’s pushing it.
Number two…
Does anybody care about this Mitchell Report on steroids in baseball? Honestly?
Bo knows Nebraska
Bo Pelini is the head football coach at Nebraska...again.
In the end, this was my choice from Day 1. I am surprised though because I thought Tom would play it safe and pick Turner Gill. I am glad that Tom did “step outside the box” if it were just a little bit outside.
Discuss.
Down to two?
ESPN.com is reporting that the search is down to two.
Pelini and Gill
Two other coaches have been reportedly contacted for interviews.
Brian Kelly from Cincinnati.
Jim Grobe from Wake Forest.
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