Morning Walk-thru - The 200th Post

What you're reading right here is the 200th post in the history of HiPlainsDrifter.com. Join me as we celebrate the bicentennial by walking through the biggest stories (to me) from yesterday...

1/1000th Better...Yes, I am proud to announce that the Cubs are your NL Central division leaders by one one-thousandth of a percentage point. By beating the Phillies in the bottom of the 9th, coupled with a Brewers loss, Chicago now leads Milwaukee .538 to .537 in winning percentage.

It wasn't a pretty win, but the win marks the second straight night the Cubs have lost a lead and fought back to wave the white flag, but that's just the beginning of how much has changed with the Chicago nine. The Cubs are making plays on defense, running the bases aggressively and getting some unreal production from role players.

Of course, I attribute this all to the fact that back in June I ordered my own authentic replica of the 1908 Cubs lid from Cooperstown Ball Cap Co. It arrived just in time to see Chicago take the top flag pole spot at Wrigley and I'm not taking it off until they lose it.

Stewart Mandel is the straw that stirs Nebraska's drink...but for the Cornhusker faithful that drink might just be hemlock.

A few weeks back, Mandel riled up many Bugeaters by defending his position on Bill Callahan. This week he's entertaining the notion of Nebraska joining the Big 10. It's purely conjecture but it is an interesting notion to consider.

With Oklahoma off the yearly schedule, do you care if Nebraska gave up the rest of the Big 12 North? Would you miss Iowa State or even Colorado?

I think I would. Colorado is so cute when they hate us but, more than that, I simply can't stomach the thought of having to watch Big 10 football for an entire year each and every year.

Learning is fun...Be sure to check out Jeffie Husker's--of Double XP fame--first column for Cold, Hard, Football Facts.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with CHFF, it's pretty much the gold standard for pro football blogs and now, behind Jeff's efforts, they're branching out into the college game. It's basically Baseball Prospectus only not about baseball.

Moving forward...I'll be off witnessing nuptial bliss the next two days so if anything major happens it will have to wait until the weekend.

Otherwise, I'll be back Monday and by then we'll be in serious college football mode. See you then...