Remodeling sucks

I have been absent in my posting since I'm working on putting a new kitchen in my house. Boy does that job suck. I've spent the last 2 days redoing the hardwood floor.

Hopefully I & my dad can get the wiring and plumbing done before the cabinets arrive Monday.

Kay....ESS....YOUUUUU

"Two objects are released from rest high off the ground. They collide. What is the result?"

27-25

Saturday's contest with KSU brought together two programs on the slide. It appears that KSU has slid more than Nebraska, even without all the damage a coaching change does. KSU did not seem to have the talent or intensity that they've shown for the past 10 years. It was a sad game in Lincoln.

The most dynamic unit on the field was the great plains wind that whipped through here Saturday. It felt like Memorial Stadium was trucking down the interstate. What was cool, from a football perspective, was how it 'tilted' the field. All the action took place in the opposite endzone, the endzone downwind. Really fascinating.

I was wrong about this being my dad's first Husker game. He attended the 1955 Iowa State game (a win, 21 - 0). He said he sat in steel bleachers in the south endzone. The place has changed a little in the past 50 years.

Now the Huskers are bowl elligible. I am glad for that. We can use the extra practice time.

KSU put up two safties on us. The last time UNL gave up two safeties was during the 'debaucle in the desert', 19 - 0 versus ASU in 1996. I hope someone notices.

During the game Callahan burned his highly recruited quarterback's redshirt (Harrison Beck). Two games left in a dead season and he burns a 5 star recruit's red shirt so he can throw an interception, hand off 4 times and complete two passes. I question the sanity of that course of action. But I don't make the big bucks. I'll bet Mizzou has some insight into this since they did the same thing to one Brad Smith.

Well, no more home games for the year. Nebraska has a loss looming in Boulder. CU looked vulnerable with the loss to ISU, but that was AT ISU with the same howling winds we had in Lincoln. I doubt the Golden Rapists will be caught sleeping at home.

Nebraska to Houston and the EV1.net bowl!!!

Holding it in...

If there is one character flaw that I have that I wish I could get rid of its my inability to 'let things go'. I'll have to work on it, but in the mean time...

About 6 years ago I came across a 'University of Dallas Alumni' discussion group on Yahoo. One of the threads that came up (being that it was 1999) was 'who was the greatest person of the last millenium?'. The regular cast of predictable names came up, Washington, Lincoln, Reagan (it was a UD board after all) etc. One person had the audacity to say Einstein or Newton (and no, it wasn't me). One of the big brains from UD posted a response that, quite frankly, stunned and pissed me off. Their response was (paraphasing here), "No scientist should be considered great because they only find what's already there".

Clearly this person rode the short bus to class.
I closed the browser and never returned.

Do you think that's true? No scientist can be considered great since 'they only find what's already there'? My opinion is that this person has no clue what a scientist does. They image some dude in a white lab coat saying "OH, THERE'S COLD FUSION! I left it under the couch. Let the Nobel committee know that I discovered cold fusion."

If I had to explain the modern scientific process to this person I would use the following analogy. You want to play at being a scientist? Here's the recipe.

1) Go to your local toy store. Buy eight or nine unique 2000-2500 piece jigsaw puzzles. (You know, the really hard ones.)
2) When you get home dump ALL the pieces from all the puzzles into a large bag.
3) Shake to stir.
4) Throw 3/4 of the pieces out.
5) Hand the remaining 1/4 of the pieces to someone who never saw the box lids and ask them to describe all the pictures on the puzzles boxes.
6) Tell them if they don't describe at least one of the pictures by next year they are fired.

This seemingly impossible task is what scientists face on a daily basis.

I would maintain that it takes a very special kind of a person, with either tremendous luck, extraordinary vision or unquestionable dedication to even approach this task. In other words it takes someone with a quality of greatness to succeed in science.

I truly admire and envy good scientists. I wish I were one.

I don't post this to brag up scientists, or put down other professions, but to merely answer that unknown UD graduate's assertion that scientists are nothing more than on a cosmic scavenger hunt.

"Honey, have you seen my grand unified theory? I had it a minute ago."

Now I can let that go...

Seeing Red....

Wow, the Husker fanbase is coming apart. Everywhere I turn Husker fans are tearing each other up trying to figure out a) what happened and b) (more importantly) what should be done.

There are very loud supports of Pedersen and Callahan doing their best to prove that the option was dead and Callahan is a good coach with the wrong talent. There's an equally loud group that thinks Callahan is a joke and needs to be chucked aside before its really too late.

Where do I sit? At the start of the week I was a 'let us give Coach C a chance and see what comes' kind of a guy. Mostly it was because I wanted to be a 'good fan'.

Now I've been talked with ex-players and friends of current players and I say get the bum out now. I have heard some pretty awful stories about how current players that Solich recruited are being treated and it chaps my hide. This is college ball! That kind of crappy, underhanded stuff shows what a creep Callahan is. I have also heard that the team isn't having full contact drills in practice. How can that be? How can players be ready for a full speed, full strength game when they are being hamstrung in practice.

I read a really interesting blog entry by Scott Frost. He's very unhappy with the turn the Huskers have taken, but more on the loss of class and integrity than anything else (if I read it right). It made me sad. Husker football used to be a reflection of the people of Nebraska. Hard working, honest people who gave all they had for what they loved. Now we're just like everyone else. The Huskers are an entry in Stevie P's big balance book. A line item in the pages of a business model.

This current situation at Nebraska is like learning that Santa Claus was real, but he was acquired and downsized by Toys 'R' Us.

Its like finding out your grandfather is terminally ill, but instead of allowing him to linger on your slimy, used car saleman uncle comes in, pulls the plug and marries grandma off to the neighbor so he can inherit grampa's Mustang.

There are some very hurt and angry people in Nebraska. To everyone else its a ballgame. To the folks around here it was our way of life--and its simply gone to hell.

Saturday should prove interesting. I'm taking my dad to his first Nebraska game. He picked a fine time to stop in for a game.

Now what?

So Nebraska has successfully fielded its worst team in my lifetime. I've been talking with my friends about what's up and we're all asking the same question--"What do we do now?".

When UNL ousted Frank Solich I was very concerned. I thought the AD had played his hand early. Frank had assembled a very good team of assistants, he had handed off the reins of the offense and had the team moving towards improvement. I thought he deserved more time. I knew that once we fired Frank our backs would be against the wall. That situation has certainly come to pass. Now we are stuck. The program is in the tank and there's no clear plan for improvement.

The same people who were in a toot to get rid of Frank our now screaming for patience and those that wanted Frank to stay are crying for Pederson & Callahan's job. Meanwhile a good group of kids will probably be home for the holidays for the second year in a row.

I feel bad for the students. Most came here with visions of bowls and conference championship games. What we've delivered is history making losses and barely enough TV coverage to know we're in the Big XII.

We hired Callahan to buck up recruiting. So far that's all he's delivered. I can't see him continuing to pull in kids when his team isn't even competative. At least CU gets their players on TV and pretty good lawyers when needed.

This Saturday will mark the last home game for Nebraska this season. Its a game that Nebraska has to win to be bowl eligible. There's no way that UNL can beat rapist U. in Boulder. CU has only lost games to the #2 and #4 teams in the land. We couldn't even stop the 110th worst rushing attack in the nation.

Next year the stadium here in Lincoln will open with 3000 more seats. Those new seats, our lackluster team and ticket interest at an all time low it may spell the end of our 276 consectutive sell out record. Of all the streaks that Nebraska has tossed to the curb, that one will be the hardest to deal with. That day will be a dark day indeed.

When Pederson fired Frank he said "We will not surrender the conference to Oklahoma and Texas." You're damn right Steve, we've surrendered the Big XII north to Colorado, Mizzou and Kansas. Nebraska isn't even worthy of washing UT's jocks. Nice job.

So now what? I wish I knew...scratch that, I wish Bill Callahan and Steve Pederson knew.