Morning Walk-thru - Marathons aren't won in the first three steps

Let another summer of eternal torment begin!!! By my estimation, the Cubs 2007 season was 12 minutes old before I was totally pissed off. They were a great 12 minutes: Soriano swung mightily at the first pitch of the season, Thunder Matt was silenced, Derrek Lee was caught stealing and Hagwilt kicked things off with a lead-off walk. Just what I had expected.

But then Carlos gave up a two-run shot to Adam freakin' Dunn. He of the .238 batting average who either hits a home run or doesn't hit at all. (And he did it again in his second plate appearance too.) That I didn't count on, but perhaps I should've. Hagwilt became only the third Cubs pitcher this century to start three consecutive opening day games, but he hasn't won a single one of them despite the fact that Chicago has won their last four season openers.

So maybe this is a good sign. The Cubs didn't win on Opening Day. Just let me have that one. April is for optimism.

Speaking of Opening Day...there is a flurry of coverage from all the team-specific writers over at Bugs & Cranks concerning baseball's launch. Yes, this is a shameless plug for a site that I write for on occasion, but I really believe that by offering one talented writer for every team in the league the site is giving something you can't get anywhere else

Arkansas loves Nebraskan coaches...I touched on the Dana Altman departure at length last night, but another interesting note courtesy of the Yun' Ball Coach: this is the third time Arkansas has absconded with a college coach from the Cornhusker State. (How's that for alliteration? It is National Poetry Month.)

First Eddie Sutton traded bluejay wings for cloven hooves, then Dave Van Horn left Nebraska to take over as the head coach of the Arkansas baseball team, and now Altman.

I guess the good thing about this pipeline is that it didn't run both ways when the Cornhuskers came a'callin on Houston Nutt.

Florida wins the National Title. The rest of us lose...If you consider yourself a college football or basketball fan and you're not a Gator, you lost last night. I've never rooted for The Ohio State University in anything, but I was the biggest Buckeye ever last night.

College sports are built on bragging rights. They're what allow us to get through the lean times, and Florida has them ALL right now. Football and back-to-back basketball titles. An unprecedented run. All I can say, Florida fans, is enjoy it. This will be the best year of your life and the pendulum will eventually swing the other way. It doesn't feel that way now, but it will. As a Nebraska football fan, I never felt like 2004 could happen either. 5-6? No bowl game? Unranked? Right.

But it did, and you know what got me through those tough times? You should, they both involve your school. 1) Terrell Taylor's game winning three over you boys in 2002 for Creighton, and 2) the ultimate ass-kicking in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. 62-24.

Does this sound pathetic? It does now. You're the undisputed champions of everything. But it won't. It won't somewhere down the line.