Ready for Some Football?

I know I am. I have been invited by John to write some posts this year for the Nebraska Sports Journal. My name is Todd E. Jones, and I run Collegefootballtopten.com. Why would he ask me to post? I don't know. If you find, out let me know. He made some nice comments about wanting a non-biased opinion about Nebraska football. Well, I guess I could throw my opinion your way.

What do you need to know about me? I grew up in rural Arkansas, but I live in Fort Worth, TX now. Now, I think there are a lot of similarities between Arkansas and Nebraska. Folks in both states are hard working, people of character, salt of the earth type of folks. When I was a kid, I use to love watching the Nebraska vs. Oklahoma games. They were classics. I was always impressed by Tom Osbourne. He just seemed like a great coach and great person. Coach Osbourne was like the Tom Landry of college football. I was excited for Nebraska and Coach Osbourne when they finally won the National Title. Coach Osbourne was a good Christian guy and deserved everything he won.

I have been blogging college football for the past two seasons. I started with the Toddler Top Ten. I kept my own top ten for Division I A which they now call Bowl Championship Subdivision. It was fun. The next year I decided to get my own domain and continue. It was rather awkward as I kept some of my info on my own site and domain while keeping my top ten and commentary on my blogspot. Last year I struggled to keep up with a top ten last year because there were so many upsets. I changed much of focus to a commentary. Then, I decided to change how I did my blog during the offseason. I installed Wordpress on my domain and put everything on my domain. After making this move, starting in April I kicked everything up a notch or two. I became more intent on making it a top level blog. I checked out other sites and even contacted some including Brian at In the Bleachers.

I did play football in high school, but I was always intrigued with the strategies and schemes in football. I like to make up plays, etc. I like to evaluate what I see on TV or in person. Last night I watched a high school game here in Fort Worth and, subsequently, wrote a summary of the game at Pegasus News where I will be writing some articles this fall. My best writings were this summer when I broke down the offense, defense and schedules of TCU, SMU and the University of North Texas for my site. Most of those were also published by Pegasus News.

I plan on catching a couple of Nebraska games, checking stats, watching some footage and tell you what I think about the job Bo Pelini is doing. I think the biggest question Nebraska fans have to wonder is, "Was Pelini a better choice than Truner Gill?" I really like Gill, and he is doing a great job at Buffalo. Did you catch the score of their game with UTEP? John clued me in on that. I look forward to visiting with you this fall. And please, check out Collegefootballtopten.com!

First game will be here Saturday night.

Finally the first game is here! Should be a fun game and really it won't be a gimmee. Nebraska's offense will go against a defense that beat Iowa last year and has eleven starters back. Nebraska's offense should be improved with a strong defensive line and the return of Joe Ganz. NU has a lot of depth at running back also.

Look to a closer game than most expect! Also the game may be somewhat low scoring. NU 27-Western Michigan 10. What is your prediction for the score????

The Big 12 has some interesting non-conference games coming up. NU plays it whole non-conference schedule at home which is huge. Its big game is Virginia Tech at home. Missouri also plays their non-conference schedule at home.

Here's the non-conference schedules for the other Big 12 schools.

Baylor
@ Wake Forest
Northwestern State
Washington State
at Connecticut

Iowa State
South Dakota St. (Don't say anything. We play them next year)
Kent State
at Iowa
At UNLV

Colorado
Colorado St.
Eastern Washington
West Virginia
@Florida State

Missouri
Illinois
SE Missouri St
Nevada
Buffalo

Oklahoma
Chattanooga
Cincinnati
@ Washington
TCU

Oklahoma St.
@Washington State
Houston
Missouri State
Troy

Texas
Florida Atlantic
@UTEP
Arkansas
Rice

Kansas
Florida International
Louisiana Tech
@South Florida
Sam Houston St.

K-State
North Texas
Montana St
@ Louisville
Louisiana/Lafayette

Texas A & M
Arkansas State
@ New Mexico
Miami (Fla)
Army

Texas Tech
Eastern Washington
@ Nevada
Southern Methodist
Massachusetts

I give the easiest schedule to Texas Tech. It can't get much easier than that. Playing at Nevada will be their toughest non-conference opponent. Oklahoma St. has a pretty easy schedule with Washington State, away, being their toughest game. The third easiest schedule could be Oklahoma playing Washington, away. Iowa St. has a pud home schedule during non-conference but has to go to Iowa to play. Usually the underdog wins that game so Iowa State could be undefeated after non-schedule games. Texas has Arkansas at home but should win. NU has a test with Virginia Tech at home. Western Michigan won't be easy either. Baylor has one tough non-conference game @Wake Forest.

The toughest non-conference schedule in 2008 is with Colorado. They play West Virginia at home and play Florida St. away.

The Big 12 should have a 80% winning percentage after the non-conference season. Look for some lower Big 12 teams to be undefeated after the first four games.

Hey and I am not sold on Missouri YET! This writer thinks they will struggle against Illinois early. They will probably pull the game out but don't be surprised if...........they just win by a field goal.

This writer thinks Texas may be the most underrated Big 12 team and they will give Oklahoma and Texas Tech all they want in the South Division.

13 days to game time!

Nebraska plays Western Michigan in 13 days. This will be the first game on our journey to win the Big 12 North. Watch for Western Michigan to have eight men up front on defense to stop Nebraska's running offense. Nebraska will need to have a strong passing game, which they will, to win.

No real surprises so far for the team. The defensive line has had some guys out but they should be in good shape for the game.

This writer had thought that Niles Paul would return punts but he is not listed among the top four or five who are in the running. It looks like right now it could be Nate Swift. He has some experience.

The following is some of the former Nebraska players who are looking to playing in the NFL this season. The team is listed first, then the player, and then the ranking by position for their team. An example is Maurice Purify who is listed as the 9th receiver for Cincinnati. This would mean that he is on the 4th or 5th team assuming they are playing only two receivers.

GREEN BAY
Brandon Jackson-RB-Second

HOUSTON
Ahman Green-RB-First
Kris Brown-Placekicker-First

PHILADELPHIA
Correll Buckhalter-RB-Second

ST. LOUIS
Josh Brown-Placekicker-First
Richie Incognito-Offensive Guard-First
Adam Carriker-DT-First

CINCINNATI
Kyle Larson-Punter-First
Maurice Purify-WR-Ninth

BALTIMORE
Cory Ross-RB-Fourth
Fabian Washington-CB-Third (Suspended)

ARIZONA
Ralph Brown-CB-Fourth

BUFFALO
Chris Kelsay-DE-First

CAROLINA
Courtney Grixby-CB-Tenth

CHICAGO
Zach Bowman-CB-Sixth
Mike Brown-FS-First

DETROIT
Daniel Bullocks-SS-Second

KANSAS CITY
Demorrio Williams-OLB-Third
Steve Octavian-OLB-Seventh
Trevor Johnson-DE-Third

NEW ORLEANS
Josh Bullocks-FS-Second

PHILADELPHIA
Stewart Bradley-MLB-First
Correll Buckhalter-RB-Second

NEW ENGLAND
Bo Ruud-OLB-Fifth
LeKevin Smith-NT-Second

SAN FRANSISCO
Jay Moore-DE-Fourth

SAN DIEGO
Ryan Bingham-NT-Second
Carlos Polk-OLB-Fourth

TAMPA BAY
Barrett Ruud-MLB-First

If you have some other players you know about that I missed, please leave a comment and let us know the information you have.

Nebraska begins journey to win Big 12 North!

Oh yeah you think this writer is a blind NU fan that is too optimistic. NU won the North Division two years ago. What is the difference in talent and coaching from two years ago? The offense is better.

Joe Ganz is overall equal to Zac Taylor. Taylor threw a better ball but Ganz is mobile and with this offense, the Nebraska offense, it is big plus. Besides he can throw the ball too. He threw seven TD's in one game last year.

The running back position is better with Lucky, Helu, and Castille. Brandon Jackson is gone but overall we are stronger and more experienced.

The TE position is better with Dreu Young and Mike McNiel. Mike McNiel will have a great season.

The receiver positions have a lot of talent. We need a couple of younger guys to move up and show they have the home run threat. Purify is gone and hasn't been replaced yet. Look for Menelik Holt and Curenski Gilleyhen to step up this year. Hopefully Niles Paul will make some big plays too.

A strength of the offense is the offensive line. The overall line and the depth is better than two years ago.

On defense, Suh is an All-Big 12 player who is highly underrated. This writer thinks he is as strong a player as there is in the Big 12. Steinkuhler, Steinkuhler, and Terrance Moore will be good due to excellent coaching.

Linebackers are led by Phillip Dillard. The coaches are high on Cody Glenn but he has to show the team he is a leader. This writer thinks he will and he will have some takeaways this year. Matt Holt is showing some good things early and he is a true freshman. Wortman could be really good as he showed in the Red-White game. NU will play more nickel defense this year due to the offenses they will face so two linebackers will be used a lot during the games. So you take our weakness away to some extent. Two years ago, we had Stewart Bradley, Bo Ruud, and Steve Octavian. This writer would have to say that today we don't have these kind of players at linebackers but the coaches will make Dillard, Wortman, Glenn, and the rest very good.

Cornerbacks are pretty good again with Murillo, West, Blue, and Prince A. We also have Asante who will play safety, some CB, and probably act as a linebacker at times. That is this writer's guess after watching what Bo Pelini did with Demorrio Williams a few years ago. Asante may be that guy this year. Don't forget Ricky Thenarse, the hitter. He will make plays and cause takeaways.

Remember two years ago, we had we had Fluellen, Spain, and Brothers fighting for starting positions in the secondary. We are much stronger this year.

At defensive end, we don't have Jay Moore and Adam Carriker. We do have Zach Potter and Barry Turner. Moore and Carriker were hard to beat but Potter and Turner are close. They will need to show they are as good as those guys. It can happen.

Special teams are better than two years ago. Henery and Kunalic are better at kicking. Titchener is still our punter and has only improved from two years ago.

Overall, we have a better team than two years ago. Last year we were 5-7. Takeaways, schemes, coaching, and a renewed team spirit will win us three more games. We only had 11 tuenovers last year. We will have 1 turnovers after the non-conference schedule this year. The home games with Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado will help us win one more game. That gets us to 9-3 during the season. With better talent, we are looking at picking up another win which will get us to 10-2 with losses away to Oklahoma and Texas Tech.

The intangibles such as a renewed fan support and enthusiasm will offset the improved overall Big 12 competition.

If you don't believe me just watch!!!!

Pictured above is Lance Thorell. He is a walk-on from Loomis who will hopefully get some playing time this year and have the chance to excel on special teams!!!

Favre is traded to the NY Jets!

Fox News has reported that Brett Favre has been traded to the NY Jets. He will battle Chad Pennington for the quarterback job.

The Harlan Count Lake is now below normal elevation at 1945.61. Normal elevation is 1946. Yesterday there was 517 cfs leaving the lake and only 50 cfs of water flowing into the lake.

The PGA golf tournament, one of the four majors, starts today at Oakland Hills in Michigan. With Tiger gone so is the pre-tournament hype. Look for VJ Singh to win it all.

Nebraska gets its 10th commit!

DeAndre Byrd, who had 21 offers from schools like Arkansas and Wisconsin, committed to Nebraska tonight according to Rivals.com. Byrd is a cornerback from Tallahasee, Florida. He is 5' 10" and 170 lbs. The reason he committed to NU without a visit? The coaching staff and Bo Pelini.

Sport Shorts

The Nebraska basketball team may get a big man this season yet. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Teeng Akol is visiting NU this week. He is also interested in Oklahoma State. Akol was born in Sudan and raised until he was 14 in Egypt. ESPN rated him the No. 42 center in the 2008 class. Akol had signed with South Florida but was not cleared with th NCAA. So there are a lot of ifs but there is a chance he will be playing for the Cornhuskers yet this year. Paul Velander would lose his scholarship if Akol comes to NU.

Who will be this year's Demorrio Williams? My guess is Larry Asante. He is 6' 1" and 210 lbs. He can play a lot of positions on defense and he would make a nice blitzer when he lines up at an end position. When Asante plays other positions, Major Culbert can play strong safety.

Linebacker Nick Covey is now a defensive end. It will be interesting to see if he can het some good quality time.

Football 202-Part 4

This is Part 4 of the Football 202 series that this writer attended on July 25th. Today on KOZN (with Matt S and Mike L Severe), they talked about what a Football 303 might be like. Really, the material we discussed in Football 202 is about as far as you can go even with an avid fan. As Tom Shatel said in his column, "Finally my head has stop spinning!"

One thing this writer would like to know about is the preparation the coaches do the week before a game. How much film do they watch? Where do they get the film? What basic tendencies do they look for? Can they talk to other coaches that maybe this team has faced?

It would be interesting to know more about what the team does the night before a game. They used to attend a movie and stay at a motel as a team. Will that change? What is game day like? What do the coaches like to see as the temperament of the team? What about the pre-game speech... or is there one? How does does Coach Pelini come up with a way to motivate his team week in and week out?

Now on with the substance of Football 202. Coach Pelini is passionate about his job, his fellow coaches, and his players.

He said "EFFORT is the center of everything I believe. We will outwork our opponents! As to what is expected of the team, it will be clearly defined for the players. There will be no gray areas. Accountability and effort is vital."

Coach Pelini talked about coaching defense. He talked about a term called "Conceptual Perception". The ingredients to this term are:

1. Relentless effort
2. Personnel
3. Formation Identification
4. Defensive concepts and team
5. Defensive Installation
6. Communicate adjustments

A subpart to this is the fundamentals:

1. Alignment
2. Stance
3. Vision
4. Footwork
5. Defeating blocks
6. Tackling

Coach Pelini talked about relentless effort. "Linebackers set the effort box. this kind of culture will lead to an increase in turnovers and a decrease in big plays."

When Coach Pelini says his team will be ready when the games begin, you believe him and this writer believes the players believe in him and his assistants also.

The middle part of the afternoon was spent with Coach Watson showing how the offensive coaches implement a new play. The offense meets as a team and Coach Watson and Coach Cotton will review the play. Then the position players take their respective players to their offices and they go over the play in detail.

Coach Watson showed us the play book. It wasn't as thick as you might expect and it is a little thinner than last year. We were asked to NOT put the play they discussed on the internet, so this writer won't for two reasons: 1) Because they asked us not to. 2) This writer's head was spinning too!

Some other notes from the offensive coaches presentation:
1. It was noted that the offensive is called the "Nebraska Offense" not a west coast offense.
2. Coach Cotton was very happy with the offensive line he has this season and complimented Coach Wagner for his coaching ability.
3. Coach Ron Brown was always coaching and teaching his section of "students" as Coach Watson explained the play.
4. The video equipment and film that the coaches have make it a great teaching tool. It is easier to show problem areas or great technique by the players.

This writer split off with Coach Cotton. He is very passionate and knowledgeable about his job!! It is evident that he knows how to teach the kids.

The final segment of the day before pizza and pop was going onto the field, and then meeting back in the "classroom" to ask four players questions. The four players were Marlon Lucky, Niles Paul, Cody Glenn, and Barry Turner.

These are my observations of the four players:

Marlon Lucky- Modest and confident. This pre-season all Big 12 player will be a key for the season. When asked by a student as to whether he or Niles Paul would have more receiving yards this season, they just looked at each other and laughed.

Nile Paul- Seems like a great kid. He said right now he is in line to return punts. You could tell he would like to do that job.

Cody Glenn- He is happy and having more fun. He said defense is more fun than playing tailback. The players think that Cody Glenn is going to be good.

Barry Turner- He looks lighter but said he had only lost ten pounds. He is well spoken and a leader of the team. He is very complimentary of the new coaching staff and you can feel that he is going to have a great season.

The players respect their new coaches and they are excited to get the season started.

This writer would like to thank is daughters for Football 202. It was a great present!!

After attending Football 202, this writer feels NU will have a great year. In 2006, we won the North Division of the Big 12. We were supposed to repeat that in 2007 but something went wrong. We have more talent than we did in 2006 and 2007. We have a great coaching staff and the players support them, and we have Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado at home. Look to NU to win the Big 12 North Division in 2008!! It makes sense!

Football 202-Part 3

This is the third segment of Football 202 attended by 132 Husker fans. There were fans from twelve states that attended Football 202. One of those fans was the dad of Husker great Terry Connealy, Marty Connealy. He had two of his grandsons with him who look like they could be Huskers soon. They go to school in Mullen.

Also in the football office on Friday was Cody Green, a great quarterback recruit in the 2009 class. He was with his sister and mother. He is a tall athletic looking kid who reminds this writer a little like Josh Freeman. It looked like he was having a good time. He did not attend Football 202.

The Football 202 group had the pleasure of listening to Bo Pelini for a generous amount of time during the day. He told about his story of getting into the coaching ranks.

After playing for Ohio State, he went to Iowa as a GA and worked with the offense. He left after one year because they didn't offer the right setup to go into Sport Administration, which was what he wanted to do. He still wanted to coach also so he did send out numerous resumes to various teams. He was helping coach a high school team when one day the following fall Dwight Clark of the 49ers called him and asked if he was interested in being a scout for them. Clark met with Pelini and asked him to analyze three players and send the results to San Fransisco so they could evaluate his work. They were impressed and Pelini was hired as the head of scouting.

Pelini said he quickly "became bored" working in this area. He spent evenings with Ray Rhodes and other defensive coaches looking at film. They were impressed with his ideas and he was hired in mid-season as an assistant to the assistant secondary coach. At the end of the season Ray Rhodes went to the Philadelphia Eagles and Mike Shanahan went to the Denver Broncos. They both offered him jobs. But Mike Shanahan did give him some advice. He suggested that Coach Pelini stay with the 49ers who had a great system, George Seifert as head coach, and a defensive coordinator named Pete Carroll. Coach Pelini said "the best career decision he ever made was not taking the Bronco or Philly job as an assistant coach." He said "you are a product of what you are exposed to." The five years with the 49ers formed him into a great defensive coach. The rest is history.

Coach Pelini believes that coaching is all about relationships and teaching. In regards to teaching he learned in San Fransisco the following concepts:

1. Teach a player what to do
2. Teach a player how to do it
3. Most importantly, you need to teach WHY you are doing that way.

Whatever job that you have, you have to know the WHY. That way when there are changes in formations or adversity, you know how to react in a positive manner.

Coach Pelini believes that the best player is even in his emotions. "Players have to in control. Emotion happens when you have built a team, when you are playing for "N", not themselves."

Coach Pelini said "the players aren't quite ready yet, but they WILL be ready for the first game." This writer believes him.

In the afternoon, we had the pleasure to listen to Eric Crouch. Crouch was introduced as not only a great player and Heisman winner, but also a great person by Jeff Jamrog.

Crouch discussed his pro career. He said "he wanted to play quarterback" but the Rams drafted him as a receiver. Crouch was burned out from football when he left the Rams. He was injured most of his pro career and had nine surgeries before it was over. He said he doesn't know if his pro career is over now, but he does enjoy his recreational equipment sales business in Omaha.

Crouch raved about his high school football coach Fred Petito of Millard North.

Crouch said you always needed to "know what you were doing during the game" at NU. He said he would stay after practice and throw balls for an hour or two after practice. He worked hard.

His greatest college game, he said, was beating Notre Dame in overtime at Notre Dame with the stadium mostly red. He also mentioned the TD pass he caught from Mike Stuntz and the long Missouri run for a TD.

Crouch was very humorous and talked about the time when he was in New Orleans for the Walter Camp award. He said officials called him to go eat. He met Rex Grossman in the elevator and asked him if he was going out to eat because he assumed all the candidates were invited. Grossman was in shorts and had a pizza so he figured out real quick that he was going to eat with them by himself. They told him that night at supper that he was going to win the award.

Crouch also talked about running to a defensive team's strength sometimes when the defense would shift. He said "I thought, what the heck and they would go out and make ten to fifteen yards."

Part 4 will be the final segment. It will include more on Coach Pelini, the offensive coaches installing plays, and meeting with four of the players! Stay tuned.
Crouch had a great message and was interesting to listen to.

An interesting web site is www.tv4u.com. Check out Classic Sports/Classic Football and look for the 1976 Bluebonnet Bowl with Nebraska vs. Texas Tech. Ron Franklin is a sideline announcer and the game is shown in its entirety.

TV4u.com

Football 202-Part 2

This is Part 2 to this writer's day at Football 202. 132 Husker football fans attended "class" to learn more of the "inside" workings of the football team. Please refer to my July 26th blog for this writer's first set of notes.

It was mentioned in my Part 1 blog that next year's attendance may double when it gets around what a neat time we had with Football 202. The great thing of having 132 was that we all fit in the players meeting room in the football office.

After James Dobson spoke to us we took a break. At that time my daughter Kim introduced me to Chris Kiffin. He is a son to Monte Kiffin of the Tampa Bay Bucs and a brother to Lane Kiffin, the Oakland Raider head coach. Chris is 26 and is an intern for the football team. He will work with the tight ends this season. He played football for Colorado State as a defensive lineman. Coach Watson said that when he was with Colorado they had to use a smash block on Chris when they played Colorado State. A smash block consists of two lineman blocking one defender using a certain technique. Needless to say, Chris Kiffin was an excellent college football player and is a very good kid.

Also working as an intern is Austen Everson who was a standout QB for Coach Frank Solich at Ohio University in 2005 and 2006. It is my understanding he will be working in the video area.

After break we had the pleasure to hear Trev Alberts speak. His story is interesting and he has a passion for Husker football that may only be matched by Jason Peter.

Trev said that a Husker player has the "burden and responsibility to represent the state well" and to win football games. To be a Cornhusker means you do everything possible to put a winner on the field and anything less than that is not acceptable. He mentioned that, as a player, you have to understand what Nebraska football means to the fans.

Trev Alberts was from a small school in Iowa. He said his dad really didn't want him to play football because he needed to help with farm work. He said when they grew up they didn't have a TV. He did go out for football and had a pretty successful career.

Back when Trev was getting recruited, they didn't have internet recruiting services but Tom Lemming had a publication. Trev's dad called Tom Lemming and asked why his son wasn't on his all Midwest team. Lemming told him to send $25 and he would send Trev future copies. The next publication had Trev Albert as second team on the Midwest team. This helped him get recognition with college football programs.

One day Earl Bruce, who was then coaching Northern Iowa called him and said they would like to offer him a scholarship. He asked what that meant. Coach Bruce said that if you come here we will pay for your schooling if you play football for us. Trev said "alright, sounds good to me."

One day the legendary Nebraska linebacker football coach, John Melton, showed up at his door. That started his relationship with Nebraska. He had two or three offers from other schools and Iowa had asked him to walk-on but then Nebraska got interested. Dave Gillespie asked Alberts to send him some film. Trev laughed when he told us what his football tape consisted of. A father had taped a couple of games on an old recorder. He sent that tape to Nebraska.

Trev Alberts admired Tom Osborne. When Coach Osborne visited him, he wrote down on a piece of paper eight names. Trev's was at the bottom. Coach Osborne explained that if Trev came to Nebraska that he would be listed as the eighth linebacker. It would be up to him to move up. He admired Coach Osborne because he didn't make promises that he would start if he went to Nebraska. Coach Osborne also wanted competitors on his football team and they had to have the drive to improve themselves to start.

Trev Alberts went to Nebraska despite his parents wanting him to stay closer to home and attend Iowa. Iowa offered him a scholarship after Nebraska did. The other reason he went to NU was:

1. He loved the visit to Nebraska
2. His high school football coach told him to go to Iowa because he could never play at NU. He said he still loves his high school coach dearly.

Trev Alerts said playing at Nebraska created a "larger mission of college athletics". He said that the student-athlete was never mistreated. We were always treated right."

He said that playing at Nebraska gave him many life lessons. Perseverance was a key. He felt like quitting many times but his dad told him he was not to quit and that being a quitter makes it easy to quit other things in life. He learned a different level of toughness and work ethic and that the work ethic was set by those that had an investment in the state.

"We believed in what we believed and we didn't waiver. We had principles." Another life lesson learned was honesty.

Trev Albert ended up as a rush end for the Cornhuskers. He attributes a lot of his success to his position coach, Tony Samuel. He won the Butkus award when he was a senior.

Trev Alberts was very entertaining. You can see why he has been successful on television. He said he is still friends with Mark May and had just spoke to him a couple of weeks ago.

Trev left us with "Football can't be about total thinking. You have to be free to play."

Next up is Bo Pelini.

Football 202-Part 1

PICTURES COURTESY OF THE OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

This writer found out how little he knew about the new age of football last Friday when he attended Football 202, a new program headed by Bo Pelini, the Nebraska football coach. Jeff Jamrog, the head of football operations, organized the day that allowed Husker fans to see up close a small sampling of what goes on inside of "Nebraska football." 132 attended the event. My guess is that next year there will be double that amount.

My daughters, Sarah, Jessica and Kim, paid and registered me for Football 202 as a birthday/Father's Day present and it was one of the best presents a dad could get. It was also fun to see Kim during the day as she works in the football office.


In addition, this writer sat in front of Tom Shatel from the Omaha World-Herald. See his article about Football 202 :

Tom Shatel

Jeff Jamrog started the day reviewing information regarding Nebraska football. Their budget is close to $34 million. The football programs helps pay for most of the budgets for the rest of Nebraska athletics.

Some of the items budgeted are interesting and mind boggling. Here are a few of the budgeted items:

Guarantees to non-conference teams to play at Nebraska......$2,700,000...
Recruiting expense ......$560,000...
Postage.....$50,000....
Supplements......$112,000....
Autographed footballs....$12,000....
Team travel.....$437,185...
Contest or game expense....$1,350,000.. Out of this officials are $170,000..
Scholarships......$2,000,000....

Nebraska is #1 in the conference in paying out for guarantees for teams to play at Nebraska. The average guarantee is $710,000. Jamrog said this is not a position NU wants to be in.

Recruiting is a top priority for Nebraska. Their priorities in the area of recruiting are:
1. Nebraska (500 mile radius)
2. California
3. Texas (In the 2009 class, six of the nine recruits are from Texas)
4. Florida
5. National Junior Colleges
6. National Position Recruiting

The Huskers grade each player they are looking at. One of the items that is very important is that social skills must be good. If a player doesn't act like a team player or doesn't seem to blend in with the present players on a visit, they are eliminated right away.

Jamrog discussed official visits vs unofficial visits. He noted that on an official visit that "we have 48 hours to impress the recruit".

Jamrog is down to earth and a very funny guy. He was enjoyable.

James Dobson was the next part of the program. He is the new strength coach for Husker football. He says when a recruit is looking to a college team one of the first things they should check out is the strength coach, his assistants, and the weight room facilities. He said a football player will spend more time working out and lifting than he will with everybody else during his college stay.

The new emphasis to the NU football team by the new strength coach is developing burst and speed. They do their workouts based on 40 yard dashes with very short rests and then repeating the short bursts again. They also workout almost year around which they hope will give NU an advantage. Dobson doesn't believe in taking time off because you lose what we have gained in a short period of time.

James Dobson is very likable and as energetic as any person you will ever see. The tour guide mentioned that the players are drenched in sweat now when they leave a workout. Asked if they were not this way the last few years, the tour guide diplomatically said "Next question!"

Part 2 of Football 202 will be completed in the next couple of days.

Sport Shorts

Brett Favre should be the starting quarterback for the Packers in 2008 but it doesn't look like it will happen. The Packer fans are the best pro football fans. They are even more loyal than the Steeler and the Cowboy fans. The fans and TV should want Favre back. He gives them the best chance to make the playoffs next year. Aaron Rodgers is a good quarterback but he is no Favre. Management is being too stubborn. I would hate to be the new quarterback when he has a rough start to the season.

Favre is likely to land with Tampa Bay to play for Jon Gruden.

Nebraska has picked up two more recruits this week. One is Emerson Evans from Houston Texas. He is a defensive end and he is not rated very high by Rivals or Scout. He had offers from Ole Miss, Utah and UTEP. Emerson is known as a rising star and a power rusher which will fit a need for the defensive side of the ball. I would guess he will end up a three-star. Also Nebraska got an offensive tackle from Texas. His name is Jesse Coffey. He was down to Kansas and Nebraska as to his last choices. Arkansas had also offered Coffey. Nebraska is hitting Texas hard in their recruiting efforts.

The media has picked Missouri and Oklahoma to win the Big 12 divisions. Missouri will have a season similar to Texas last year. Colt McCoy was the preseason pick for MVP of the Big 12 in 2007 and had a so-so year. Look to the same thing happening this year to the Tigers. In the south, the game of the year will be Texas Tech at Oklahoma. Ohlahoma has 17 starters back but they lost a lot of depth. Injuries could be a factor for them. If they stay healthy, Oklahoma wins.

The Big 12 final will be Nebraska with home games against Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado and the winner of the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game. I take Oklahoma if they stay healthy.

The South winner will win the Big 12 Championship this year. The writers are wrong about Missouri. Nebraska will prevail in the North but they will need to improve even more to win it all.

United Way and You

Along with United Way and the Susan G. Komen Foundation (Breast Cancer) you can give back. If you would like to donate money to the research for breast cancer please visit the link below. There is a $10 minimum donation but anything over that is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your support.

https://volunteer.united-e-way.org/dundermifflin/donate/?_vm10283527261_=75_119846&catalog_code=1049292969

Republican River

The river was up to 600cfs this weekend compared to 60cfs on Thursday. Rain caused the river to raise. How was the fishing? As good as it gets!

Fishing near Orleans, Bryce Boehler of Lincoln caught ten catfish. Seven weighed four to six pounds. He fished for about two and half hours and spend most of his time putting Balkers on his rubber worm. The key to his success was finding a hole around some downed trees where a school of large catfish were located.

Meanwhile this writer was up the river fishing using shrimp and nightcrawlers as bait. A wiper, a number of channel cat, a few drum, and a flathead catfish were retrieved. The biggest only being three pounds.

Mr. Catfish, Michael Boehler, let the fishing exposition.

In the picture above is Elle June, Bryce's girl,and his catch of fish. Should be some good eating.

Padraig Harrington won the British Open today. Greg Norman faded in the closing round. It was reported Wednesday that Harrington may withdrawn because of problems with one of his thumbs. Must of healed after this writer took him off his fantasy team.

This writer will be attending Football 202 this next Friday thanks to a Father's Day/Birthday gift from my three girls, Sarah, Jessica, and Kim. That will be fun and I am looking forward to it!!!!

Can Greg Norman win the British Open?

No, but he is only one stroke out after the second round.

Did you know Greg Norman is married to the tennis legand, Chris Evert. They got married last month.

Kyle Busch won't win the Nascar race this week. Oh that's right they don't race this week. He won't win next week at the Brickyard either. Kyle Busch is the best motorsports driver in the world right now, but he won't win them all.

Kerry Earnhardt may be driving for DEI for the Cup next year. That would be fun to watch and add some more excitement to the sport. Kerry Earnhardt is 38.

The Harlan County Lake is at 1946.77 in elevation right now. 1946 is normal elevation. The Republican River had 600 cfs running in today due to local rains. It had dropped to 50 cfs the day before.

Sport Shorts

When I was a kid Major League Baseball's All-Star Game was something we all looked forward to for months. How was Maris and Mantle going to do against Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax? Who was better, the American League or National League. This writer was an American League fan so it was depressing when they lost. Depressing like when Nebraska loses a a football game. It was that important. Maybe its due to Free Agency and players switching teams every other year that the game isn't like it used to be. Maybe because there is so much sports on TV that the game isn't any big deal anymore. The press doesn't seem to care about it either. Nobody treats it like the Super Bowl the way we used to. It was a huge summer event.

The other sporting event this writer looked forward to in the summer as a kid was when the college all-stars who were going into the NFL played the NFL champions from the year before. Watching Jim Taylor of the Packers knock down a bunch of college studs was fun. Sometimes the game was pretty close. Usually the NFL champs won. They stopped this annual game because of potential injuries to the players and the fact that the NFL camps get started a lot sooner now.

Brett Favre should be a Packer again. He is the best QB they have and they should readjust their plans and take him back. Aaron Rodgers is no where close to Bret Favre. The Packers pushed him to a decision and he realized he made the wrong choice. Let him come back Green Bay!!

This writer feels strongly about Kyle Busch being the best racer since Dale Earnhardt, Sr. I have mentioned this before and the feeling is still there. The "Intimidater" always sent a fear through the other competitors when he was driving to take the lead. Well, Kyle Busch does the same thing and if you watch him a work, he can take a driver out if they don't get out of the way. Some drivers seem to let him go past them for the fear that they may get wrecked if they battle with him. Like Dale Sr. he is the best driver on the circuit and he takes advantage of it. Over the next few years Kyle Busch's popularity will grow and grow. Just watch!!

The world heavyweight boxing championship was on TV today. How sad boxing has become. These fighters couldn't hold a candle to Mohammed Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and the boys. They listed five contenders that the winner may fight next. All no names. Boxing needs an overhaul with somebody that will promote the sport. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was globally known at one time.

Cody Green

Quarterback Cody Green committed to Nebraska today. He is 6'4" and 220 lbs. He is from Dayton, Texas and is part of the 2009 class. He was recruited by Shawn Watson and Mike Ekeler. Green is one of the top quarterbacks in the nation in the 2009 class and Rivals rates him a four-star.

Nebraska has had commits from top QB's in the past such as Curt Dukes, Harrison Beck, Josh Freeman, and Blaine Gabbert. They didn't pan out for NU for various reasons. Cody Green will need to prove himself but it is a great signing for NU.

A movie about Sal Aunese is in the works!

Husker Extra reports that Sal Aunese, who died at the age of 21 in 1989 from stomach cancer, will have a movie made about his life. Tom Osborne was recruiting Aunese, but lost out to a young Buffs assistant named Les Miles. Miles now has Aunese's son, T.C. McCartney, on his LSU roster as a walk-on quarterback.

Alec Maric is playing well so far for the Indiana Pacers. Let's hope he continues to play to the level that will allow him to make the team.

Tonight Maric played his summer league game against the Chicago Bulls. He played twelve and a half minutes, had two points and three rebounds. Courtney Sims is the Pacers summer league center. He had ten points and five rebounds 25 minutes of play.

Sport Shorts

Kyle Busch won the Nascar Dayton race last night in a narrow win over Carl Edwards. One of the better cars in the field was Tony Stewart who got sick. He was replaced early by J.J. Yeley.

The Republican River is starting to get very low with only 160 cfs. During the flooding it ran 9000 cfs. What a difference. At least there is still some water in the river. It has been dry most of the past eight summers. The Harlan County Lake elevation is at 1947.29 down from 1947.83 a week ago. Normal elevation is at 1946.

The fishing in the lake was slower this week. Mr. Catfish and myself caught carp, large mouth bass, catfish, wipers, drum, white bass, and bullheads on July 4th. Mr. Catfish, Michael Boehler, caught a two pound and a four pound catfish. Otherwise most of the fish were small. We used leeches, minnows, shrimp, and nightcrawlers for bait.

"Hero of the Underground, Jason Peter" is a new book out. Looks like interesting reading.

Tom Kropp has been elected to the National High School Hall of Fame.

Nebraska basketball redshirts Brandon Richardson and Toney McCray are getting praises from their teammates this summer. Also 6'9" Alex Chapman, who is Nebraska's tallest player until 6'11" German recruit Christopher Niemann arrives, is also showing improvement.

Former Kearney High School and University of Nebraska-Lincoln player Drew Anderson is Triple A Louisville's top hitter this year. Watch for him to move to the majors soon.

Harlan County Lake still above normal elevation!

Even though there have been large releases from the Harlan County Lake,it is till only one foot below the high. Today it was 1947.83. The high was at the end of May at 1948.87. Normal elevation is 1946.

How's the fishing? Well this writer and Mr. Catfish, Michael Boehler, took a shot at the lake yesterday and caught 25 fish. Yes,exactly 25. Sixteen catfish were released due to their smallness. We caught catfish, drum, and one BIG bullhead. Mr. Catfish had three real big fish on but they all broke his line. Shrimp and night crawlers worked the best. We had no success on shad. Towards the end of the day, Mr. Catfish yelled "Walleye!, Walleye!" As he fulled the fish up, it was an 8" bullhead. Mr. Catfish knows catfish but he got fooled on this catch.

Alex Maric signed with the Indiana Pacers. We wish him luck and hope that he can make the team.

I hate rain shortened races. The best cars usually don't win and it becomes a lot of luck. Kurt Busch won the New Hampshire race today.

Eshaunte "Bear" Jones has signed with the Husker basketball team. Know as a great shooter, he was recruited by a number of top 20 teams.

We are only about eight weeks away from the first NU football game vs. Western Michigan. They are called the Broncos, they are located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and they are coached by Bill Cubit. This group has a bunch of skilled seniors. Last year they knocked off Iowa 28-19 in Iowa City on Senior Day. Two years ago they upset Virginia.

Wide receiver Jamarko Simmons had 84 catches for 970 yards last year for Western Michigan. Tim Hiller is their much improved QB but he does lack mobility. Do you suppose Bo will have the blitz going that day? The Broncos run a spread offense so we will see three cornerbacks on defense a lot of the day also. On defense, the Broncos return 11 starters with nine of them seniors. Should be an interesting first game!!

Huge Nebraska basketball recruit???!?!?

Eshaunte Jones, a 6-foot-4 wing player from Fort Wayne, Ind., visited Nebraska this last weekend. He may commit as soon as Wednesday. If he can get cleared, he may be one of the top players Nebraska basketball has ever had. Stay tuned............

Nebraska started the season against Stanford!

A picture of the Husker Sport Network announcers. From left to right Greg Sharpe (Announcer for Husker Football and Baseball) Matt Davison (Announcer for Husker Basketball and Husker Football), Janet Boehler, John Boehler, and Lane Grendel (Announcer for Husker Baseball, Husker Football, and Sports Nightly)

Earlier this spring (2/22/08), this writer and his wife were able to go on a trip to watch the Stanford baseball games with the Husker Sports Network group. We stayed in San Fransisco and the trip was great.

Greg, Matt, and Lane were interesting and fun to visit with. You couldn't find a nicer bunch to be with than the Husker Sports Network group. Jim Rose was also on the trip to San Fransisco and he is as nice a guy as you will find. This writer hopes he can get back into announcing soon in some fashion. Nebraska is fortunate to have such a great group of announcers!!

The Nebraska baseball team started its season against a Stanford team that is in the final four of the College World Series! Nebraska lost the first game of the Friday night doubleheader 7-17 but came back and won the second game behind Johnny Dorn 9-2. Jeremy Bleich, the ace for Stanford, gave up one hit in six innings in the first game.

2008 Stanford Baseball
Nebraska at Stanford (Game 1)
02/22/08 at Stanford, CA (Sunken Diamond)

Nebraska 7 (0-1)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Belfonte, DJ rf/cf....... 5 1 2 1 0 0 9 0 0
Mort, Jake 3b............ 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 3 1
Opitz, Jake 2b........... 4 0 1 2 1 1 0 1 0
Neer, Cody 1b............ 5 0 2 0 0 0 10 0 2
Tezak, Jeff dh........... 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Sowers, Brett ph........ 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Abeita, Mitch c.......... 2 2 1 1 2 0 1 0 0
Nimmo, Bryce cf.......... 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0
Stewart, David rf....... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cuno, Clay lf............ 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Sullivan, Nick lf....... 2 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0
Kline, Ben ss............ 4 1 0 1 0 1 1 2 0
Weber, Thad p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Hatasaki, Joe p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mariot, Michael p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 36 7 9 7 4 5 24 7 7

Stanford 17 (1-0)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Cord Phelps 2b........... 4 2 2 4 1 0 3 1 0
J.J. Jelmini 2b......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0
Brendan Domaracki lf/rf.. 4 1 2 2 0 1 2 0 0
Kirk Erickson ph........ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dave Giuliani rf........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sean Ratliff cf.......... 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0
Wande Olabisi cf........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jason Castro c........... 5 2 2 2 0 0 5 0 4
Ben Clowe c............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Randy Molina dh.......... 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Toby Gerhart ph......... 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kellen Kiilsgaard ph.... 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Jonathan Kaskow pr/dh... 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Austin Yount 3b.......... 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Zach Jones ph/3b........ 3 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 0
Brent Milleville 1b...... 5 1 2 1 0 0 10 0 0
Jeff Whitlow rf.......... 2 1 2 2 1 0 1 0 0
Joey August ph/lf....... 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Jake Schlander ss........ 4 2 2 1 0 0 1 3 1
Adam Gaylord ss......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Jeremy Bleich p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Michael Marshall p...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Blake Hancock p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Billy Vernon p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Rex Petrill p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 39 17 16 16 5 1 27 11 6

Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Nebraska............ 000 000 304 - 7 9 2
Stanford............ 503 045 00X - 17 16 1
-------------------------------------------

E - Belfonte, D.(1); Neer, C.(1); Marshall(1). DP - Nebraska 1; Stanford 1.
LOB - Nebraska 7; Stanford 6. 2B - Belfonte, D.(1); Mort, J.(1); Castro(1);
Molina(1); Yount(1); Milleville(1); Schlander(1). 3B - Castro(1). HR -
Abeita, M.(1); Phelps 2(2); Jones(1). HBP - Mort, J.; Domaracki; Ratliff. SH
- Yount(1). SB - Opitz, J.(1).

Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Weber, Thad......... 3.0 8 8 8 2 1 15 18
Hatasaki, Joe....... 2.0 4 4 4 2 0 10 13
Mariot, Michael..... 3.0 4 5 4 1 0 14 16

Stanford IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Jeremy Bleich....... 6.0 1 0 0 3 4 18 22
Michael Marshall.... 0.2 2 3 1 0 1 5 5
Blake Hancock....... 1.1 1 0 0 0 0 5 5
Billy Vernon........ 0.2 4 4 4 1 0 6 7
Rex Petrill......... 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2

Win - Bleich (1-0). Loss - Weber, T. (0-1). Save - None.
HBP - by Bleich (Mort, J.); by Hatasaki, J. (Ratliff); by Mariot, M.
(Domaracki). PB - Castro(1). Inherited runners/scored: Hancock 1/1; Petrill 1/0.
Umpires - HP: Joe Burleson 1B: Bill Speck 3B: Kelly Gonzales
Start: 2:03 pm Time: 2:53 Attendance:
Weather: 53F, N-NW 13mph, mostly cloudy
Game notes:
BATTERIES: NEB - Weber, Hatasaki (4), Mariot (6) and Abeita. STAN - Bleich,
Marshall (7), Hancock (7), Vernon (9), Petrill (9) and Castro, Clowe (9).
HRs: STAN - Phelps 2 (1st, solo in 1st; 2nd, 3-run in 6th), Jones (1st,
solo in 5th); NEB - Abeita (1st, solo in 7th).
Game: 022208


2008 Stanford Baseball
Nebraska at Stanford (Game 2)
02/22/08 at Stanford, CA (Sunken Diamond)

Nebraska 9 (1-1)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Belfonte, DJ rf.......... 6 0 4 4 0 1 4 0 0
Mort, Jake 3b............ 3 0 1 1 1 0 2 1 1
Opitz, Jake 2b........... 3 0 1 0 3 0 2 3 3
Neer, Cody 1b............ 5 1 1 0 0 0 6 1 6
Tezak, Jeff dh........... 5 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
Johnston, Dan pr/lf..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Abeita, Mitch c.......... 5 1 2 1 1 1 10 0 1
Nimmo, Bryce cf.......... 4 3 2 0 2 0 0 0 1
Sullivan, Nick lf........ 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Kline, Ben ss............ 4 2 1 1 0 1 1 1 2
Dorn, Johnny p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Nesseth, Mike p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Herr, Zach p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 39 9 13 7 7 5 27 6 16

Stanford 2 (1-1)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Cord Phelps 2b........... 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 3 1
Joey August lf........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0
Sean Ratliff cf.......... 2 0 0 1 1 1 3 0 0
Jason Castro 1b.......... 2 0 0 0 1 2 7 0 0
Randy Molina dh.......... 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Toby Gerhart ph......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
Austin Yount 3b.......... 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4
Colin Walsh 3b.......... 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Brent Milleville c....... 2 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 0
Zach Jones c............ 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
Jeff Whitlow rf.......... 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
Brendan Domaracki ph/rf. 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Ben Clowe ph............ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jake Schlander ss........ 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 0
Erik Davis p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Danny Sandbrink p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alex Pracher p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cory Bannister p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Will Krasne p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tom Stilson p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 31 2 6 1 2 10 27 10 7

Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Nebraska............ 043 010 010 - 9 13 2
Stanford............ 100 000 001 - 2 6 0
-------------------------------------------

E - Neer, C.(2); Abeita, M.(1). DP - Nebraska 1. LOB - Nebraska 16; Stanford
7. 2B - Belfonte, D.(2); Abeita, M. 2(2); Walsh(1). HBP - Mort, J. 2; Neer,
C.; Tezak, J.; Kline, B.; Phelps; Castro. SH - Sullivan, N.(1). SF -
Ratliff(1). SB - Belfonte, D.(1); Nimmo, B.(1); Phelps(1).

Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Dorn, Johnny........ 6.0 3 1 0 1 7 20 24
Nesseth, Mike....... 1.1 1 0 0 1 1 5 6
Herr, Zach.......... 1.2 2 1 1 0 2 6 6

Stanford IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Erik Davis.......... 2.2 8 7 7 1 4 16 19
Danny Sandbrink..... 2.1 2 1 1 2 0 9 12
Alex Pracher........ 2.0 2 0 0 1 1 8 10
Cory Bannister...... 1.0 1 1 1 3 0 3 7
Will Krasne......... 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 3
Tom Stilson......... 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Win - Dorn, J. (1-0). Loss - Davis (0-1). Save - None.
WP - Nesseth, M.(1); Davis 2(2); Sandbrink(1); Pracher(1); Krasne(1). HBP - by
Dorn, J. (Phelps); by Davis (Tezak, J.); by Davis (Mort, J.); by Sandbrink
(Kline, B.); by Dorn, J. (Castro); by Pracher (Mort, J.); by Krasne (Neer, C.).
PB - Milleville 2(2). Inherited runners/scored: Herr, Z. 2/0; Sandbrink 1/0;
Stilson 1/0.
Umpires - HP: Bill Speck 1B: Kelly Gonzales 3B: Joe Burleson
Start: 5:37 pm Time: 3:40 Attendance: 1618
Weather: 51F, NNW7 mph, mostly cloudy
Game notes:
BATTERIES: NEB - Dorn, Nesseth (7), Herr (8) and Abeita.
STAN - Davis, Sandbrink (3), Pracher (6), Bannister (8), Krasne (9),
Stilson (9) and Milleville, Jones (7). HRs: None.
Game: 022208-2

The greatest dad that ever lived!

My dad was the greatest dad that ever lived. If I could change anything about my dad, what would I have changed? Nothing. I have thought about this may times and I honestly can't think of anything.

Dad had many passions. He had a passion for his wife, my mom. He had a passion for his kids and grandkids. He had a passion for his family. He had a passion for fishing and hunting. He had a passion for visiting with people. He had a passion for his garden. He had a passion for his faith.

Dad loved life but we lost him on October 4, 2006. Now when I say we lost him, but he is still here living in us. Many businesses have a mission statement and core values that drive their decisions. For myself, since dad's death and even before that, my decisions are made by asking myself "What would dad do?". By using this for my driving force in life, decisions have been better and easier because I end up making decisions that are right, even if everybody does not agree. I always know that if I do what dad would have done, God would be very happy because he was a great example of how we are to do things.

On this Father's Day, I think about all the great memories I have of my dad! I think of stacking hay as dad brought in the bales with the farmhand. Irrigation was a big part of our summer and when we had a break in the ditch, dad and I would pitch the dirt towards the break where my sister was laying in the ditch trying to keep the water from running so fast. A big part of my life was all the fishing and hunting experiences I had the pleasure to be a part of with my dad. They were events. There are so many memories. My dad was the best hunter and fisherman I have ever seen but he was always more happy when us kids were successful. He was proud of his family.

Even though it is Father's Day, I feel very grateful that I have a mom that although she is different in some ways, she is just as great. Thanks mom. I am so happy you were ok this week after your car accident.

I miss my dad. I miss him calling me and wondering when I was coming to Orleans again even though I had been there three times in the last week. I miss driving up to mom's house and not seeing him sitting at the patio table. I miss working with him in his garden. I miss the hunting and fishing experiences and talking about previous hunting and fishing experiences. I missed dad at my two daughter's weddings this spring. He was ALWAYS so proud of his grandkids and his great grandson. He loved them very much. I miss all his stories. I just miss visiting with him.

I just miss him because he was the greatest dad that ever lived.

So if your dad is still alive give him a big hug today and tell him you love him. Our time on earth goes so fast.

Mosquitoes take over the Republican River

With all the rain and flooding the past three weeks, the mosquitoes have taken over the enjoyment of fishing. It is like a lynch mob! Maybe it is as bad as it has ever been. The fishing is slow. You have to work to catch a catfish. Saturday afternoon this writer caught a three pound cat south of Orleans. Michael Boehler, know as Mr. Catfish, scouted the river today for a couple of hours and didn't have a bite, except for those little mosquitoes. Craig Hoxmeier of Orleans said the flooding has changed the look of the river. He said that his favorite fishing place was eliminated when the river swept a car body away that he called "his favorite place". He said he couldn't recognize the river that was there before.

The Harlan County Lake, withstanding more large rains, has probably peaked for the year. On June 6th, the lake had an elevation of 1948.87. Today it was at 1948.83. They are presently sending 750 cfs a day out of the lake into the Republican River below the dam. Normal elevation is 1946. A year ago the lake was at 1937.37.

The Nebraska baseball team was maybe closer than you think of making it to the CWS. If NU could have won the Johnny Dorn pitched game that they lost 3-2, it may have changed the whole series with UC-Irvine. UC-Irvine beat LSU on 11-6 in the super-regional, but lost today when LSU scored five runs in the ninth. Yes, NU was really closer than you think. Coach Anderson did a heck of a job this year, period.

Kyle Busch was hot, then finishes 43 today at POCONO in NASCAR racing. Now Kasey Kahne is hot and dominated the race today. Jeff Burton continues to be Mr. Consistency.

Fantasy Sports is very tough this year for this writer. He is fifth out of six teams in fantasy golf. With three teams in the Nascar fantasy league, he is presently 27th, 30th, and 31st out of 34 teams. Not to be outdone, he is 7th out of ten teams in fantasy baseball. Not a good year.

Check out the Auction Ads!!!!

Is this blog worth reading? Should this writer continue? Please leave your comments below.

Republican River and fishing

The fishing season peaked on Friday and Saturday. This writer believes many got their limit of catfish. The river is still high but is now going down pretty fast. By next weekend the best catfishing could be over. The Harlan County Lake is now at 1948.54. They are letting quite of bit of water out of Harlan now.

Above you will see one of the catfish this writer has caught. Larry Lapdance from Naponee helped me get it in. The wish was to flllet it but somebody took both of the chainsaws at my moms so it was released back into the river. That makes six catfish and one white bass caught for the year. Definitely, not close to last year.

My car now has 250,002 miles on it.

A year ago today, this writer ruptured his fourth disk in his back and along with stenosis wasn't able to do much for the rest of 2007. Today there is still pain but it is much improved since surgery in December.

The Husker baseball team lost today and ended their season. They really had a great season. The Huskers lost energy after the Texas A & M series in Lincoln. It was draining. Texas A & M had a hard time recovering also.

Did you know Bo Pelini takes his kids to school every day?? He is a very good dad!!

Rumors are that Joe Paterno will retire after this season.

Did you hear about the golfer that was having a terrible day and said to his caddy "Do you think I can drown myself in the lake?" The caddy replied' Do you think you can keep your head down long enough?"

Water is being let out of the Harlan County Lake!

The elevation hit 1948.32 today. Normal pool level is 1946. They are letting a good amount of water out of the lake. This hasn't happened in a while.

Harlan County Dam rises even more!

Michael Boehler takes in some swimming at the Harlan County Lake last Sunday!!!!


The Harlan County Lake had an elevation of 1947.61 early today. That is up almost eight inches in one day. A year ago the lake was at 1936.84. On 1/2/07, the elevation was 1926.44. So in 16 months the lake is up almost 20 feet. Rain is expected tonight. The inflow is still heavy from the Republican River but it definitely peaked on Monday. Tourism traffic near Orleans to see the high Republican River was amazing over the weekend and on Memorial Day.

Oral Robert is in the regional in Lincoln this weekend. They have three pitchers at 32-4. After Eastern Illinois, the Lincoln regional is as tough as anywhere in the country except for in Miami, Fla. where they are joined by Missouri and Mississippi.

Roburt Sallie is gone from NU basketball. This writer wonders how all the enrollment issues caused problems. Did somebody not know the rules. It would have never happened if Sallie would have had his grades up to start with. Bad news for the Huskers.

Look to Kyle Busch to continue his pursuit of the Cup. He is the closest thing to Dale Sr. I have seen. Most fans won't like that comment but JJ Yeley drove the 18 car last year and look how he did. Casey Mears is driving the 5 car this year, the car Kyle Busch drove last year, and look at the dismal season he is having. There is no driver better. Look for Carl Edwards to give Kyle B. a run for the money this week.

Dan Jennings is starting for NU this Friday. A great choice,but not this writer's choice. He was Eric Bid. Anderson knows what he is doing though and it will be great for the Huskers to be home and start with Eastern Illinois. Look for a 10-4 vistory on Friday and then a pitcher's duel against UC-Irvine on Saturday.

Eric Bird should start against Eastern llinois!

Nebraska starts its regional this Friday. This writer's pick to start game one is Eric Bird. Bird is NU's fifth starter but in reality is number two or three. Why start Bird?
1. Bird has been pitching well and is well rested.
2. Eastern Illinois is a 500 team and will be somewhat intimidated by the crowd.
3. Weber needs extra rest.
4. If we don't win with Bird on Friday, we are in deep trouble anyway.
5. Johnny Dorn is one of the best pitchers in the nation and we need him against Oral Roberts or UC-Irvine who will be using their #2 pitcher.
6. Left-handed Jennings will be available for Saturday or Sunday. He might be our best bet to start Sunday if the starters in the first two games can go quality innings.
7. That will leave us with Pribanic or Weber for Monday. We have a good chance of playing on Monday.

Why Dorn might start on Friday. Nebraska has a history of always starting the #1 pitcher? Quinten Robertson started a couple of years ago ahead of Marsden but normally NU goes with number one in the first game.

Eastern Illinois is not very good and to get to the CWS in Omaha we have to go with Bird Friday!! If it doesn't work, then we probably weren't going to make it anyway.

Thank goodness this writer is not the manager, but it is fun to pretend. What is your prediction?

The Harlan County Lake hit an elevation of 1946.74. Normal pool is 1946. Just crazy!! The lake is up over ten feet from this time a year ago.

Also Robert Sallie is NOT coming to Nebraska to play basketball. The Big 12 voted not to allow him to join any team in the Big 12. Academics? So now we have two scholarships available. Sallie was looked to as a player who could change NU's future. Bad news for basketball fans!

Harlan County Lake

The Harlan County Lake now has an elevation of 1945.62. It will hit normal pool of 1946 tomorrow. HOWEVER, Bryce Boehler reported from Orleans that the Republican River is starting to drop. HOWEVER, it is now starting to rain again. Stay tuned for more HOWEVERS.

Michael Boehler caught five catfish on Saturday in the river. Bryce Boehler caught one today. This writer fished for seven hours both days without a bite except for some disease carrying mosquitoes. Scott Boehler says they aren't biting because there is too much to eat. He thinks that the flooding has carried all kinds of food into the river. My thought is if there are stale chips in the buffet, I still go for the prime rib! That's what I say anyway.

That's our current fishing report direct from Orleans today.

Sport Shorts

The Gretna golf team won the Class B golf championship this week. Scott Boehler, the Gretna coach, said that his team worked hard this year. He also said he had a great bunch of kids. He was especially proud of his senior's leadership.

It was announced this afternoon that Nebraska will host a regional next weekend in Lincoln. Teams will be announced tomorrow. Nebraska hopes to rebound and this writer believes they will win their regional.

Texas beat Kansas State 15-7 today to win the Big 12 baseball championship. Texas has been hot but to see K-State in the final is a mystery.

The Harlan County Lake is at 1944.97 today. Normal pool elevation is 1946. It should hit that by Tuesday or Wednesday as the Republican River is out of it banks. Lake activity was brisk in the Alma area. South of Orleans there was a steady stream of cars viewing the flooding of the river.

James Dickey

James Dickey was in Lincoln today talking to Doc Sadler. Sadler and Dickey are old friends and hopefully Doc can talk him into being an assistant coach at Nebraska. Dickey was a head coach for Texas Tech for 11 years. Read more about Dickey on the Oklahoma State info page.

okstate

Harlan County Lake continues to rise!!

The Harlan County Lake is up to 1944.18 which is less than two feet below normal pool level. If you have a fishing report for the lake or the Republican River, leave a comment.

The Nebraska games will take on a few changes this fall. The doors that are shut during the tunnel walk will come down. The players will no longer have to stand for a period of time while waiting for the doors to open. The national guard usually had two of their guards open the door. I am sure we will find another way to honor the military. Also we will go back to the song during the tunnel walk that we had when Solich was coach. It will be a nice change.

The Oklahoma Sooners football stadium is getting a new scoreboard. Read more about the Sooners....

NewsOK

Jimmie Fallon is taking over for Conan O'Brien when O'Brien takes over for Jay Leno. Read more about it.

edubtv.blogspot.com

Bengals:A Great Spot for Mo

Big Red Report

Tuesday Bullets from the NBA

truehoop

Jason Whitlock talks about K-State's success in athletics.

Jason Whitlock

Here's a Kansas City Royals blog. Interesting.

royalsreview.com

No Domo Arigato Mr. Jo Votto

Yesterday when the Reds played my Cubs, the Reds hit 7 home runs! Joey Votto (pronounced Va-toe) pictured left, had 3 home runs himself. The Reds really laid the beat down to the Cubs. The Cubs are slumping right now. They are 3-7 in their last 10 games but only 2.5 games out of first. They have been on the road a lot lately but return to Wrigley tomorrow night to start a 3 game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Should be a great test for the Cubs.

In other baseball news, the Twins center fielder, Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle last night. His was the first player to do so since Kirby Puckett.

After getting demoted to the bullpen after starting 0-6, Giants pitcher Barry Zito returned to the starting lineup after making zero appearances in relieve. He didn't look too bad but he received no run support and took the lose which drops him to 0-7.

I hope you got to see the two outfield assists from Rick Ankiel, of the St. Louis Cardinals, on Tuesday night. He threw out two people from deep and deeper center field who were trying to tag from second base on a fly ball. He originally was a pitcher who couldn't hit the strike zone from 60 feet 6 inches but now can throw a strike from 200 feet away. The throws were incredible!

The top college baseball series in May is this weekend!

Texas A & M is ranked sixth in the nation. They are 40-8 and they play eighth ranked Nebraska in Lincoln this weekend. Nebraska needs to sweep the series to take the lead in the Big 12. Here is how the teams have done against common opponents.

Team...................Texas A & M......Nebraska..
Northern Colorado.......2-2..............6-0...
Arkansas................1-0..............1-1...
Texas Tech..............2-1..............3-0...
Oklahoma St.............1-2..............1-2...
Kansas..................3-0..............2-1...
Kansas St...............3-0..............3-0...
Oklahoma................3-0..............2-0-1.
Baylor..................3-0..............2-1...
TOTAL..................18-5.............20-5-1.

The game is in Lincoln. This writer takes NU winning two out of three. What is your guess and why?

What do you think of PETA getting involved with Eight Belles going down in the Kentucky Derby? Sounds like they want to end horse racing. What do you think?

Chiefplanets.com

We made into Chiefplanets.com, which is a site for Kansas City Chief fans.

Chiefplanets.com

Jason Whitlock discusses the Kansas City Chiefs' draft.

Jason Whitlock

The Big Red Report has the statistics and a story on attendance for the football spring games. See how Nebraska placed.......

Big Red Report

Danny Woodhead goes to the Jets!

The Lincoln Journal Star has reported that Danny Woodhead is going to the New York Jets as a free agent! He'll be coached by the "Running Game" coach of the Jets, Bill Callahan.

Steve Octavian will go to the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent. The Chiefs had a good draft with Glen Dorsey of LSU and Jamal Charles of Texas.

No news on Sam Keller or Maurice Purify yet.

Zach Bowman and Carl Nicks were drafted in the fifth round. Bowman was drafted by the Bears. Nicks was drafted by the New Orleans Saints. Bo Ruud was drafted in the sixth round. Ruud goes to New England.

Sport Shorts

The Harlan County Lake is up to 1943.86 compared to 1934.9 a year ago. The Republican River is down about a foot from its flow two or three weeks ago. Catfishing is not good at this time in the river and this writer is unaware of mushrooms appearing yet.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win the Nascar race at Talledaga this week. Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart will be other possible winners. Yesterdays, Nationwide race was filled with some bad wrecks and there weren't many cars left on the track that didn't have damage.

Nebraska baseball swept the doubleheader with Baylor yesterday. In the second game Thad Weber pitched seven innings with no earned runs. NU won 14-1. In the first game they had to go extra innings to win 6-4. Good news is that Jake Mort and DJ Belfonte are hitting ball well now. Jake Opitz, Mitch Albeita, and Nick Sullivan continue to hit well. NU continues to play well with a record of 32-7-1. In early loss to Stanford now isn't such a big deal as they were ranked sixth last week.

How did you like last week's Red-White game? Did you like the new format with the draft? Leave your comments!!

Nebraska Spring Game!

There were 80,500 fans at the Nebraska Annual Red-White Game. There were 150 high school recruits at the game. There were 200 ex-players at the game, mostly on the sidelines. What an atmosphere for a practice game!!

This writer has three plays that were his favorites!

1. Early in the game, Lance Thorell hit Todd Peterson as he received a pass on a down and out. Thorell jarred the ball loose as he made a jarring hit!! The crowd went crazy and, after that, the defense set the tone for the game on both teams.

2. Tyler Wortman's hits. He was all over the field. He looked like he was an All-American, if we didn't already know better. He looks like he should be on the field a lot this fall. Totally impressive. A great hitter with great passion.

3. Joe Ganz to Curenski Gilleylen for a 77 yard TD pass. Curenski outran the defense and Ganz laid in a perfect ball.

Anybody that comes away from the game and says whether NU will be good or not is beyond me. Nebraska played Nebraska. It looked like there wasn't any part of the team that looked like we have deficits in any area. It also looked like there wasn't any part of the team that did great except for the kickers and punters. This is good, this writer thinks.

Some disappointment with the backup quarterbacks. It seemed like a lot of passes got batted down or were off the mark by quite a ways. The offensive line did not dominate the defensive line as we would have guessed before the game. In fact, the defensive line may of outplayed the offensive line. Quentin Castille may be our best back, but he fumbles too much. Kody Spano was very impressive for a kid that should still be in high school. Receivers dropped too many balls. The defense got four turnovers. Matt Donahue may have improved his status with a nice catch from Beau Davis.

It was fun to watch and fans should be excited for this fall.

Husker Hoops

Please make the trip to Holdrege on April 27th at 3p.m. to attend the 2008 Husker Hoops basketball game. Husker football players will be playing basketball against local athletes from Loomis, Betrand and Holdrege, to raise money for Team Mates, a mentoring program at Holdrege Middle School. $5 for adults and $2 for students, pre-K is free. There will be contests to win shirts and a raffle to win some great prizes. Some prizes include a UNL football autographed by the current coaching staff and players, UNL helmet display signed by Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier and Eric Crouch, coolers, cookbooks, HHS baskets, huskers sweatshirts and caps and camp chairs. Come and enjoy the fun and festivities. Hope to see you there.

NFL Mock Draft

The Houston Chronicle and the Z Report has a mock NFL draft for the first round. Are there any Nebraska players taken? Read on.

Houston Chronicle

Ways to avoid a cold!!

Kansas Coach Mangino has a bad cold this week. Must be going around cause I have one too.

There are different things you can do to avoid a cold. Here are a few.

Wash your hands constantly. Or when you can. Especially after you have been out in public or before a meal.. Eat a healthy diet. Lots of fruits, vegetables, and wheat. If it is cold dress warmly. try not to be around someone that is sick too much. One other thing that might be good is to spray disinfectant spray on stuff that you touch a lot like doorknobs.

Please don't pick your nose and wipe it on somebody as illustrated above.

Harlan County Lake elevation

The Harlan County Lake elevation is at 1943.55. Normal pool level is 1946. The lake continues to rise at a good rate.

Jay-R Strowbridge is transferring

It was announced today that Sophmore Jay-R Strowbridge has decided to leave the Nebraska basketball team. He averaged 4.8 ppg and 1.6 rebounds in 32 games last year. This should open up another scholarship to recruit a big man for this fall.

Cody Glenn will be a starting linebacker!

Word is Cody Glenn is practicing well, very well. In the last four practices, he has three turnovers. Now this is a guy who is still learning the position. He is good!!! Now to go a little further, look to Cody Glenn to be a team captain. This comes after seeing the other players rally around him last week. He is popular and respected. With his development, the defense will be that much more talented. They are young, but aggressive and talented.

Nebraska Football's practice

This writer watched the Nebraska football practice on Friday. The players were in half pads but they got after each other pretty good at times. What was the difference between this year's practice vs. practices under Bill Callahan?

One thing that was noticed was that Friday's practice was spirited for the whole practice. Most of the time players were yelling encouragement to each other. Cody Glenn, for example, got a lot of attention from coaches and the players. It has been reported that Joe Ganz is the best liked player on the team. Sports Nightly has talked about this at times. Friday the man was Cody Glen. You could tell that the team wants him to do well. He is learning the drills and doing a pretty job of it, but he has a ways to go. But he is getting a lot of attention from Coach Ekeler. When Glenn intercepted a pass and ran down the field with a pile at the end of the play, the players went nuts. They congratulated Glenn for his good play. There was a lot of screaming and yelling!! Fun to watch.

Another thing is that in the past years, the practices were very businesslike and kept on schedule. They did a lot of things in a short amount of time. Coaches were coaching but they seemed to keep going at a rapid pace. This year's practice was very scheduled also but there seemed to be more time spent on coaching the players. Less efficiency as far as the number of plays run but more development of the players.

It could be just the practice schedule this writer saw on a particular day but it seemed that practice was split more with offensive and defense. It seemed in the past that the practices emphasized offense. More players participated in the practices also this year. In the past there was more reps with the top units.

When players dropped the ball, ran the wrong coverages, or did other miscues, they had to run. Some were doing pushups

One thing missing from the practice of this year compared to the practice from the previous coaching staff was the Oklahoma drill. This is when the players get in a circle and and an offensive and defensive player goes against each other. They were matched up by position and this drill really got things going. Coaches were yelling and the players went crazy. It was a fun drill to watch.

The above is just observations of the practice Friday. They aren't meant to say one coaching staff did things better than the other but the players were more into the practice with more yelling of encouragement, etc. this year which is a good sign.

Joe Ganz looks like the best QB so far. Actually Ganz looked as good as any QB we have had in the past five years this writer has watched a practice. Lee and Witt look like they can contribute also. We have a good group of QB's with good arms. You have to give Beau Davis credit. He has a great arm but his chances of playing in games aren't that good. he is a team player.

The offensive line is the best we have had in the past five years. It looks like we have recruited some real good offensive linemen over the past several years. We have to be better on offense this fall just because of this. Lots of depth. Lydon Murtha needs to hide his holding as he was going against Zach Potter and held him some of the time.

Same story at running back. Lucky has proven himself. Castille looks like he can run and catch the football. We might want to use him like Missouri used Rucker and Coffman last year. He is big and fast. Roy Helu looks like an all Big 12 back. Again lots of depth.

We don't have a Maurice Purify this year, but with Swift, Peterson, Holt, Gilleylen, Paul, Henry, Brooks, and others, we should be in fine shape. We'll see Chris Brooks on the field quite a bit this year if he can hang on to the ball.

At tight end Dreu Young looks real good. Mike McNeil looks fast but is hurt right now. We should be in good shape at tight end if McNeil stays healthy.

All in all, the offense, will be powerful!!!!!

On defense, it is harder to tell how good they are. Right now the offense is ahead of the defense. The offense has more experience coming back. The Red White game could be a higher scoring game because of the defense adjusting to the new system and the offense having a veteran crew coming back.

The defensive line doesn't have Suh as he is recovering from surgery. Steinkuhler, Dixon, and Barfield are playing a lot on the top unit. At defensive end, Barry Turner looks in good shape. He didn't practice last spring because of surgery. He could shine this year. Potter is back at the other end. Looks slimmer and quicker.

The linebackers are young except for Philip Dillard. He should have a great year. He looks and plays like the veteran. Latravis Washington is also playing linebacker on the starting unit. He looks like a great athlete but is learning the part. Blake Lawrence also plays on the first unit as long as they aren't in the nickel package. It will be interesting to see where Cody Glenn fits in. He has a huge learning curve. He is making the effort and the team is behind him. He could be a pleasant surprise.

With the number of spread offenses NU will face, we will probably see Dillard and Washington as the two linebackers and Murillo, West, and Prince Amukamara as cornerbacks in the nickel package a lot. Anthony Blue will be a big part of this in the fall also.

The safeties include Asante, Thenarse, Culbert, and O'Hanlon. Thenarse is hurt a little so O'Hanlon was running with the top unit. Hard to tell how good O'Hanlon is but he must of impressed the coaches so far. Thenarse is a hitter. Sounds like he is still learning the coverages but most of the players are.

Should be an exciting year. Players are developing so there will be a few changes before we play our first game. Can't wait til the first game. Heck this writer can't wait until the Red White game.