Was it just me or did anyone else find themselves struggling to respond to Saturday's absolute whitewashing of Kansas State?
Normally if you roll up 73 points on a team, and especially if it's a Josh Freeman led K-State team, it's a time for unrepentant joy, but watching things unfold on Saturday I almost felt like I was getting something I didn't deserve. I enjoyed it but at a significantly lower level than what I would've expected had you told me Nebraska would hang 73 on the Wildcats.
Like everyone else, I had quietly resigned myself to waiting for the merciful end of the 2007 season, where all the questions we couldn't answer during the season would be answered after the season--or at least made irrelevant--by the firing of Bill Callahan.
That should probably still happen, in fact the new questions that arose from such an out of sorts performance only fanned the flames that scorch Bill's seat. When asked where this team had been all year, Callahan didn't have an answer. No surprise there, but I don't really have any either.
The only thing I was certain of coming out of Saturday was that I was happy for the seniors. On their day they were finally able to simply play football.
Win or lose you can't ask for much more than that. (But it's good to win.)
Danagate hits home...Matt Perrault, an Omaha radio host whose blog I quite enjoy and link to in my "blogroll" (what an awful word), has had quite the go of it with the Altman departure/return.
Following an interview with Rasmussen, posted on Perrault's blog, the AD himself e-mailed Matt to express displeasure with his opinion of the situation. Next, Omaha City Weekly Media Watch jumped on the story, and the comments accusing Perrault's of irresponsible journalism followed, both on that site and Perrault's own.
Personally, I'm shocked that Rasmussen took such offense to Perrault's take. Isn't that what radio hosts are supposed to do? Have a take? I haven't heard a second of the radio broadcasts that covered this topic in depth, simply looked at the blogtrail (another awful word), but I have a hard time saying this was totally mishandled. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but it was far from irresponsible...in my opinion.
Is baseball over already?...Second day of the MLB season and, after a day full of games on Monday, there wasn't a single one on the tube last night. No Sox, not even the Braves. But the women's national title game got the Full Circle treatment on the "ESPN family of networks." Great.
With few other options, I was left to witness the oddest hour of television that I've seen in at least a year. It was part of the Sundance Channel's "Iconoclast" series which puts two celebrities together and gives them the opportunity to mutually fluff one another.
Pretty ho-hum concept, but the episode last night featured Quentin Tarantino and Fiona Apple which was an interesting pairing because Apple is, for all intents and purposes, a reclusive misanthrope while Tarantino is a 6-year-old boy. Tarantino continually compared filmmaking to male arousal and Apple giggled uncomfortably...for an entire hour.
Honestly, it was fascinating. If you have 44 minutes or so, you can find the whole series in five parts here. Or you can just watch the the final segment, where Fiona reveals her unhealthy amusement with bats.
The best thing I can say about K-State...For whatever reason (partially the above reason), I've found myself watching two Kansas State home baseball games over the past four days and there's something strange going on in Manhattan.
As a Nebraska fan, I have a lot of reasons to hate KSU--their hideous purple and black baseball hats, the ridiculous "powercat" logo, Josh Freeman--but I will give them credit for one thing: being the first school I've ever seen use George Jones' music at an athletic event.
In both of the games I've seen, KSU has used Jones' "A Picture of Me Without You" to herald an opposing team's pitching change, which is odd for a couple of reasons.
1) It's a painful, slow, 100% whiny country song (also known as "great" to me), that seems entirely out of place at an athletic event.
2) It doesn't seem particularly effective as a taunt, which is all to customary in baseball stadiums throughout the country. I suppose that you could consider KSU to be the "me" in the song and the unsuccessful pitcher to be the "you" since he's now leaving. Additionally, because he was yanked, it remains feasible that the Wildcats could want, nay yearn, for him to remain in the game but now we're stretching. Why wouldn't they just use "Hit the Road Jack" or "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" like everyone else?
Because they're K-State that's why and, for once, I'm okay with that. Long live even the misappropriated Possum!
(And if I may make one more music related note, the song "Knocked Up" off the new Kings of Leon album, released yesterday, is phenomenal, as is the first single "On Call", which you can watch below.)
Z-DAY?...Last night, Carlos Zambrano was reportedly 85-90% sure that Carlos Zambrano wouldn't go to arbitration today with the Cubs, but Gordon Wittenmeyer of the Sun-Times isn't sold. This is a sour turn as I expected to get to lunch today and find that the Cubs had at least appeased Big Z with a 1-year deal.
Now, that may not be the case. Aside from the all the logical reasons the Cubs should just give Zambrano his deal (he's your only reliable pitcher, he actually shows that he cares about winning, he's better than anyone else who'll be available one year from now) perhaps the most important reason is this: Zambrano is as volatile as 30-year-old TNT. To go to court and try to convince an independent party that he's not worth at least the agreed upon mid-point could be particularly damaging for the young flamethrower. Shouldn't the Cubs just continue to let the hand of God destroy their pitching staff rather than doing it themselves?
Z is a little crazy and that's why I love him, but if the two explosive references above weren't enough I'll give you one more: expressing doubt in Carlos' abilities truly is playing with fire.
KU-KSU Still Not a Rivalry...Back in October at Midnight Madness, Bob Huggins claimed that KU-KSU would be a rivalry once the Wildcats ended the Jayhawks 23-game winning streak...in Manhattan. It didn't happen last night. The Jayhawks haven't lost in the Little Apple since before Lucas unleashed Return of the Jedi on the world. Even Nebraska, who has never won an NCAA tournament game and who has lost their two games to the Jayhawks this year by a collective 73-points, has dusted Rock Chalk off at home a couple of times in that period.
K-State was in the game for the most part, but they faded down the stretch in embarrassing fashion. This may have been due to the fact that Huggins looked like he had just gotten of his overnight shift as a croupier at Harrah's in Topeaka, wearing a long-sleeved purple polo under a black vest. Turns out, he's fond of the look.
I knew Vegas wouldn't let me down...Sunday night, I questioned whether or not the Vegas All-Star game had been a bust in terms of debauchery, but the stories are starting to come out and it looks like Pac Man Jones, a place called Minxx (excessive x usage always spells "tawdry"), and Michael Jordan may be involved.
That whole "what happens in Vegas" thing is great for the average Joe looking to lose a weekend in sin, but if you've got any juice whatsoever it should probably read: "What happens in Vegas will be blogged about within the next two days."
