Somewhere in Middle America - An Interview with KXSP's Matt Perrault Pt. 2

The biggest voice in the Omaha sports talk radio scene belongs to a Bostonian and his name is Matt Perrault. Hosting "The Big Show"--Omaha's only four hour sports talk radio show--on Big Sports 590, Matt's made a name for himself with his unique and always opinionated take on sports inside and outside the Cornhusker State. If you live just about anywhere in the Big 12 North country you can catch the show on weekdays between 2:oo-6:00 PM. If you don't, the segments are available via podcast right here. Need even more? Matt maintains a blog as well.

Interested in the fact that he and I undertook inverse migrations between Nebraska and Massachusetts, I sat down (at least I assume we were sitting down via e-mial) with him to get his thoughts on Cornhusker football and the state of the Nebraska sports scene in general.

What follows is the second installment of a two part interview with Matt. Click here for the first.

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Q: To broaden the scope a little bit more, I've told anyone who will listen that the College World Series is the most underrated sporting event in the country. Of course there's the Super Bowl and the World Series and beyond that you have other events like the Indy 500, the Masters or the Kentucky Derby that general sports fans dream of attending, but I never hear Joe Sportsfan say "I really want to get to the CWS." Do you think that's simply due to the lack of coverage during college baseball's regular season and where would you rank the College World Series in terms of sporting events you've attended?

A: The CWS is simply amazing. I honestly believe the lack of exposure it receives is because where it takes place. I love Omaha but it's hard to get to, far from any major media market and it's far, far away from the baseball hotbed of the Northeast. If you put the tournament in MA, PA or Washington DC - you would have every major media outlet on the East Coast covering it and it would be a huge, huge story. Some would argue that Little League World Series is a bigger deal than the CWS - but if it was held in Texas and not Williamsport, I don't think it would be considered that. It's about location and that's why the NCAA is talking about moving the event. The LWS has nowhere near the attendance of the CWS but the exposure is greater due to where it takes place. Yes, that's an East Coast bias but that's our country.

However, there is no question in my mind that 300,000+ crowds would not be seen at the CWS if the NCAA moved the event. It would not be the same outside of Omaha. The people here is what makes this event go. The volunteers are amazing, the business support is unreal, and the passion shown by the fans who wait in LONG lines to get in every night to watch teams not from Omaha is 2nd to none. The NCAA must ask itself is exposure more important than support and attendance numbers?

The CWS is No. 2 in my book for events that I've covered. The NCAA Basketball tourney is still my most favorite thing to cover but the CWS is No. 2. It's not just about baseball as well. People watching, parties, and the events around the game is why the CWS is so much fun.

Q: If March Madness is the best event you've covered, do you think a football playoff could actually come close to replicating that passion in December or January? I'm not so certain a playoff is the cure-all everyone assumes it would be.

A: Here is my idea and I think this would make everyone happy: 8 team playoff - All 6 power conferences must have a championship game. The winner of those games will auto-qualify for 6 spots. 2 at large teams get in. Those 8 teams play for all the marbles. 7 games will be played at the sites of the BCS bowl games. The rest of the bowls will be played as they normally are with the same conference connections.

Boise St. proved it last year by beating Oklahoma - a playoff is a must. Decide it on the field and make the power guys prove they are the best.

Q: Let's get to a couple predictions. Where do you see Nebraska finishing this year, nationally and in the Big 12?

A: This is not an easy year to prediction Nebraska because of all the variables. My prediction is based on the following: Sam Keller is actually as good as advertised. Zac Bowman plays at least half the year and the secondary actually can cover somebody. And the D line can stop the run.

Nebraska will go 10-4 on the year. They will win the Big 12 North and lose the Big 12 Championship this year to Texas and win their bowl game - probably the Holiday Bowl. I think the preseason ranking of #20 is right on. I think they will be ranked for most of the year.

Q: And, my favorite question for anyone who follows or covers Nebraska football, do you think Bill Callahan will win a national title at Nebraska? That will always be the expectation so isn't this the only question worth asking?

I think he could win the National Championship at Nebraska but I don't think he will be around once he wins the Big 12 Championship. Yes, I do think he will do that and go to a BCS bowl game while at Nebraska....but I think he'll be back in the NFL the following year. He's an NFL guy and still has a lot to prove on that level. He loves college but I believe Callahan feels like he is one of the best football minds on the planet. Those guys coach in the NFL.

Q: Finally, do you need me to send you anything from the greater Boston area?

Yes, a 2 lb. lobster, Clam chowder from Legal Seafood, cookies from Mike's in the North End and a World Series Championship.

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Thanks again to Matt for indulging my curiosity. As for the shopping list, lobster and chowder I can do but it'd take 20 more questions (and a slight bump in Nebraska's final ranking) before I'd wait in-line at Mike's. They are that good, but I am a man of finite patience.

Omaha...it's not Milwaukee - An Interview with KXSP's Matt Perrault

The biggest voice in the Omaha sports talk radio scene belongs to a Bostonian and his name is Matt Perrault. Hosting "The Big Show"--Omaha's only four hour sports talk radio show--on Big Sports 590, Matt's made a name for himself with his unique and always opinionated take on sports inside and outside the Cornhusker State. If you live just about anywhere in the Big 12 North country you can catch the show on weekdays between 2:oo-6:00 PM. If you don't, the segments are available via podcast right here. Need even more? Matt maintains a blog as well.

Interested in the fact that he and I undertook inverse migrations between Nebraska and Massachusetts, I sat down (at least I assume we were sitting down via e-mial) with him to get his thoughts on Cornhusker football and the state of the Nebraska sports scene in general.

What follows is the first part of a two part interview with Matt...

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Q: I'm always interested in people's impression of my home state. What was your first thought when you learned you would be moving to Nebraska?

A: When I first applied for the job, I thought the job was in Milwaukee. I wasn't told about the job being in Omaha until my 2nd phone interview. My first thought was - if a Boston kid can live in Alabama for 5 years - I can live anywhere. Honestly, I knew nothing about Omaha except the band 311 came from there. I was very happy when I visited the city on my interview and fell in love with the downtown Old Market area. I've lived there since Day 1. Omaha is nothing like people think and once you get here - you realize that it's one of the best sports towns in the country. I couldn't be happier with my decision to move here 2 years ago. Husker football has sold out 282 straight games. Creighton basketball out drew on average the Philadelphia 76ers last year. The College World Series draws over 300,000 people and we get some of the best concerts in the country. Omaha has a ton of culture and is a hidden gem in the Midwest.

Q: My experience in the Northeast has been that college football runs a distant second to Fantasy Football, much less the NFL. Did you grow up following the college game?

A: Nope, I was a pro kid all the way around growing up in Boston. I did however go to Boston College football games every now and then but I wasn't passionate about following them. If it wasn't Patriots season - it was Celtics/Bruins season - then it was Red Sox season. The only college games I used to watch on TV besides the Eagles were Florida Gators football. I liked their colors and wore a bunch of Gator gear growing up. I'd watch the Tenn vs. Florida games on CBS and quickly learned to hate the Vols and that sick orange they wear. I guess I was destined to go cover the SEC at some point in my career.

Q: How familiar were you with Nebraska football coming in? I know you worked in Alabama prior to Omaha, but what did you do to prepare yourself to basically talk Nebraska football 365 days a year?

A: Growing up in the mid-90's you know about Nebraska football - it's impossible to be a male sports fan and not be informed about the tradition. However, going to Alabama was great for me because I quickly learnedabout the love that millions have for college football. SEC fans were all too eager to educated the "Yankee" on their love of football. I don't think anyone can top their devotion and if they can, I don't really want to be around them anyways. They take things way too seriously but it was fun to work there because of it. Nebraska fans are awesome but they have lives outside of their fandom. After the SEC experience, understanding their love of their program was pretty easy.

Now, as far as talking about football 365 on my show - welcome to a big issue that people here have with me. My show is basically what I want to talk about. I talk about Nebraska football non-stop in season but I talk about Creighton Basketball in-season because we carry them on our station and I'm very close to the program. I love college basketball as much as college football. I talk about baseball, pro basketball, pro football and my life too. I do a 4 hour sports talk show - I'd be bored out of my mind if I limited my show to one topic. I love talking about college football and Nebraska but I do it when it is the front page story. Some might argue that NU is always the front page story, but here in Omaha - basketball is exploding. We talk about the BIG story, whatever that might be.

Q: I think your show does a great job of striking that balance. I never feel lacking for Huskers or Jays coverage, but you also get national talk radio with a regional slant. In an era of radio syndication, I don't think you can overvalue that.

Nebraska, in terms of football, is sort of a unique situation as there is no opposition--from either professional teams or other D1 college football programs--in state. Auburn has Alabama, Boston College has the Patriots, every big time football school has some sort of competition for fan allegiance except for Nebraska and probably Arkansas. Ultimately, do you think that's good or bad for sports in Nebraska?

A: Nebraska football has no competition but Nebraska as a University does have competition. Creighton is the little brother who won't shut up but must be acknowledged. While Creighton will never be able to compete with Nebraska in terms of money and exposure because of football, basketball is exploding here in Omaha and outside the city. The Qwest Center has become the crown jewel for basketball venues in the state and CU was #13 in the NATION in attendance last year. CU Baseball, if they build a new ballpark, could also begin to chip away at NU's attendance from people in Omaha. The Jays basketball and baseball programs are growing at a faster rate than Nebraska's and they are beating NU consistently.

To answer your question - it's great for Nebraska as a university to have no competition for football. It means total attention all fall from everyone. From a media person's perspective, I think it's boring. You want that instate rivarly game every year for the drama and hype. I've seen it with Alabama vs. Auburn and Virginia vs. Virginia Tech. That's why I have pushed the rivarly during basketball season since I've been here. Fans need someone to "hate" in order to establish their identity and get pumped up for that one big game.

This is a big topic that some say I just don't get because I'm not from here but I think you either love your Jays or your Huskers. Just because Husker basketball blows, doesn't mean you can put on blue and yell for the Jays in the winter after wearing red all fall. It's a little different for Jays fans because they don't have football but for Husker fans, they need to keep their love on Lincoln side of the Platte River all year long.

Q: To segue away from Nebraska football for a bit, is it ever acceptable to root for Nebraska football AND Creighton basketball? I maintain that it is and here is why: Growing up in Nebraska, just like every other option-obsessed boy, I was a Cornhuskers fan. When it came time to choose a college, I foolishly thought that I should try to walk-on to the Creighton basketball team in 1998. I didn't make it, but I did become a CU hoops fan for life. Conveniently, Creighton doesn't have a football team so in my mind I'm conflict free.

A: Well, I just answered the 2nd question in the first. I often put it like this on my show - If you had $1 dollar left to your name and you had to give it to the school you love to save your life - who would you give it to? If it's Nebraska - you need to keep out of the Qwest Center in the winter except when Nebraska basketball is disgracing the court with it's presence. Jays fans have it tough because they don't have football so I don't really have a problem with them cheering for Huskers football. But if Big Brother is so big and strong - their fans shouldn't cherry pick teams just because one is good and the other isn't. CU won the season series vs. NU this year in baseball - who did you cheer for then? What about Volleyball? I bet you were proud when the women won the National Championship? See my point......If the Jays had football, this would be easy but because they don't, people feel like they can have this "bi-fandom" thing going on. Husker fans need to stay with their teams - for all sports.

The only legit excuse I have heard is a person who has graduated from both CU and NU for undergrad/grad. Those people have an arguement but others don't.

(Ed. For the record, I always root for CU when it comes to hoops or hardball. As much as I want to support pan-Nebraskanism, rivalry cannot be overestimated.)

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Return tomorrow for part two of this interview where Matt ranks the CWS and makes his prediction for the 2007 Cornhuskers while assessing Bill Callahan's potential at Nebraska.

The (Cornhusker) State of Football Coverage

For the modern Cornhusker fan, both at home and afar, there are a number of ways to get your Nebraska news fix: the Lincoln Journal-Star and Grand Island Independent both supplement their traditional print coverage with staff blogs, there are a couple of compelling podcasts and many more independent blogs that deliver news and commentary from a fan first perspective. There's even a blog devoted solely to hating Nebraska football just to keep everyone in check.

But there's one large piece missing from the above puzzle and it just happens to be Nebraska's biggest newspaper. Where's the Omaha World-Herald? Modern media continues to move towards highly specialized, timely content delivered on the consumer's schedule. It used to be that a consumer would have to sift through a pile of news, commentary and ads to get what they wanted but now, thanks to iPods, TiVo and the ilk, your average citizen can go days watching, reading and listening to only that which interests him. I'm not entirely convinced that this is a good development, but that's an argument for another time. What I'm interested in today is why the Omaha World-Herald seems to be headed in the opposite direction when it comes to Nebraska football coverage.

I haven't lived in Nebraska since 2002 and I came to count on the OWH's coverage during football season to keep me up to date on the games I couldn't see or only heard. Tom Shatel's weekly column provided perspective, the game recaps made my Sunday's in Boston feel like Sunday's at home.

Now, most of that is gone. Shatel columns haven't been available to non-subscribers for months now but I was willing to overlook that as long as I could read everything else. That's not the case anymore either.

Last week you may have noticed that certain stories about Nebraska's spring practices became "World-Hearld Subscriber Exclusives." While you can read this superb profile of Adi Kunalic by Dirk Chatelain, you cannot read the accompanying piece on special teams coaches or the NU Notes from that day. At least not for free.

Realizing that some people may be reading the World-Herald only for its football coverage, you can become an E-Edition subscriber for the duration of the season only for the low, low price of $56.00.

I can't really criticize the World-Herald for charging a fee. It's their content, they can do what they want with it, but I can question the validity of that decision. While the OWH is selling their "Nebraska College Football Coverage", you can sill get free columns and stories from almost every major newspaper in the country by simply registering with the site. You can get all the Big 12 coverage Texas has to offer free of charge, same goes for the Kansas City Star and the Denver Post.

Almost every major newspaper associated with the Big 12 will give you for free what the World-Herald is asking you to pay for, but it may not matter. Nebraska fans are notoriously willing to loosen the purse strings when it comes to their Cornhuskers, but there might be an even better solution: if you're going to charge for the traditional format, why not embrace the newest format and give it to us gratis?

The World-Herald isn't only unique among Big 12 newspapers in its pricing, it's also different in the fact that, to date, it has made no move to incorporate weblogs into their on-line content, and it's never been more noticeable than the past few weeks during fall camp.

Getting a meaningful story out of fall camp is like pitching a no-hitter; it's damn hard to do and far too infrequent but that's not the journalists fault. Bill Callahan lords over the information coming out of his camp like a war-time censor. Practices are closed to the media. A few players are offered up as sacrificial lambs at the end of each day to deliver their quotes and then the scavenging scribes are left to shred and share the scraps. That's the way it is and the end result is you read the same story three times.

Of course the difference is, at least when it comes to the Omaha World-Herald, you don't read that story until the next morning. Zack Bowman practiced in full-pads today. I know that because I read the LJS's Husker Extra page. The World-Herald? Well, they'll have that story for you tomorrow. What's the point of having an on-line edition of your newspaper if you're just going to run it like the print version?

Numerous publications throughout the country have proven that the Internet can be used to supplement the print edition not detract from it. What would it take for the OWH to take such a step? A little more server space, maybe a couple of extra bucks for the additional assignments for their staff? I know personally at least two or three people who would be willing to do it full-time for real cheap. (OWH: Call me!)

Until then, the World-Herald is going to continue to lag behind the rest of the up-to-date Internet sites out there, both professional and amateur. Their sports staff is as bright and talented as ever, but are they so good that your average Husker fan is willing to pay the price of admission and wait an extra day to get it?

Doesn't seem like a good bet to me. Here's an anecdote for you: Fifty-odd years ago horse racing was one of the top three sports in America when television came along and while baseball, basketball and football were relatively quick to embrace the new medium, the horse racing higher-ups were contemplating whether or not it would kill the sport. Quite the opposite actually. Staying put killed the sport.

I'm not asking the Omaha World-Herald to blaze the trail, that's already been done. I'm simply hoping they don't fall so far behind that the path becomes overgrown before they can find it.

Morning Walk-thru - Coming back to you, Omaha

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.

First, he had a reliable source tell him that Dana was not going to Iowa, only to "flip" when Perrault said the same on the air. Then, he quoted an ESPN.com report that said Creighton AD Bruce Rasmussen could follow Altman to Arkansas and eventually replace the lame duck Frank Broyles.

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.

For what it's worth, Perrault doused the coals as best he could in a follow-up post by admitting that he was "wrong."

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.)