As the Kool Aid Flows....

God I hate Spring. Not that I miss the cold, or the crappy clouds and depressing brown landscape that goes with it, but if it’s going to warm up…can we at least do without the wind?

Anyhow, speaking of wind, I figured I’d fill you in on a side conversation I had the other day with my good friend Husker Mike. Now if you read Mike’s blog, you’ll know that he isn’t exactly known for his Kool-Aid keg stands, or his Mountainberry Beer Bongs. It is also a fact that (for the most part) Mike and others like him saw through the absolute sham that Bill Callahan was, and I have acknowledged this on several occasions. I give him credit for this on many occasions.

However, now that the GRF™ dust has started to settle, I’m beginning to notice a new type of solidarity making its way through the Husker ranks. (Including the bloggers who cover them.) This is not your normal Husker solidarity and fortitude, that backs you into a corner in a fit of rage anytime you don’t wholeheartedly agree that the 95 Huskers weren’t the greatest team of all time. (They weren’t.) But this is a bit more subtle, a bit more quiet. And now, it’s not just the whack jobs that are falling under its spell.

Enter Joe Ganz, the next big Husker superstar that has been handed the gold crown without remotely proving anything on the field. This would not be a big deal to me, or entirely unexpected, if not for the CONSTANT and sustained backlash at one J.C. Keller. You remember J.C. don’t you? That wonderboy backup of a Pac-10 powerhouse that was going to ride into Lincoln, throw a Heisman in his locker, and ride out of town as the greatest Husker QB since Tommy Frazier galloped behind a roided up line of hog mollies in 1995.

Now I don’t expect you people NOT to jump on Ganz’s back and anoint him the second coming of J.C. (Which I’m not sure what that would make him.), because let's be honest...we've seen this before from you. However, I’m absolutely dumbfounded by the complete and total disdain for past lessons that are (obviously) not sinking in with you people.

OK, Joe Ganz threw for 16 TD’s over the last three plus games of the season. And yes, J.C. threw for only 14 in the previous eight, and needless to say..had his struggles and had to deal with a complete buffoon in offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. (Who is replaced this year by buffoon offensive coordinator, Shawn Watson) But what does this stat and the blind faith that goes with it, really mean?

Well for one, Ganz didn’t have to play USC, Missouri or a majority of the Texas game. He didn't play on the road at Wake, or in either of the home debacles against A&M or Okie State. The Three games he DID start, he faced the #73 and #89 passing defenses in the country in KSU and Colorado. And the KU team (with a statistically bloated passing D ranking of 12th) he faced was up by 40 points throughout most of the game. Think they were going to open the playbook up a bit at that point? Also, do I need to mention that the KU game was pretty much the only time when Mo Purify actually played like the hyped up All-American you claimed that he was?

Throwing garbage touchdowns against horrible pass defenses while down by double digits isn’t exactly a good way to guarantee greatness is it? Especially if your ridiculously wild expectations toward the last QB you backed didn’t exactly turn out the way you thought? (Although I pretty much nailed it.)

I realize it’s easy to blame all of your problems on the nearest (Billy)scapegoat, which in this case is a former NFL coach who ran off with several million bucks worth of your hard earned farm subsidy dollars, just two months after you re-signed him to a contract. But why is it so damn difficult for you people to see these sort of things? Why is Joey Ganz suddenly the answer to your problems, despite the fact that he started a whopping THREE games and ran a pass-oriented system that your coaches have already pledged to scrap?

I know this overabundance of faith is an issue in these parts…BELIEVE ME I do. But when normally level-headed pundits like Husker Mike start buying into theory and hope, rather than looking at the facts..then it might be time for you to panic. Well…not that you have anything to lose, which we’ve proven long ago that you don’t. But still, I think your last voice of reason just left the building.

Something to think about as you start making your reservations for Kansas City in early December.

** Much is being made of the whole stadium debate in Omaha, which now has shifted focus to the much maligned Omaha Royals. It seems the Royals and their expert management are now toying with the thought of leaving town, as not to get “stuck” with the burden of playing in a 140 million dollar, state of the art stadium.

Now, I’m not about to get into the issues revolving around the Omaha Royals…far from it, because even I don’t care about them. But you have to admire the balls it takes to tell the city, “No thanks…we don’t want to play in your nice modern stadium.”

Over the past 8 years or so, the team formerly known as the Golden Spikes have taken bad marketing to a new level. Slashing their ad budget, and increasing their dizzy bat race and frozen T-shirt race budget…the out-of-town management has about as much of an idea of how Omaha fans think, as I do breaking down the Pakistan cricket League.

People here don’t give a damn about dizzy bat races. They don’t care of the Blues Brothers show up to entertain them. People here certainly don’t care if you play the kiss-cam on the scoreboard 4 times a night. No, the people here are arrogant enough to think of themselves as the big leagues. In order to win them over, you have to make them think that they’re watching the big leagues. If that includes playing in a $140 million dollar ballpark that is ¼ full, then so be it.

I thought these guys were idiots when they killed Casey the mascot and replaced him with some big fat giant purple lump of fur that looks like Grimace from the old McDonalds commercials. But if they turn down this opportunity…then they deserve to slink out of town with a giant failure behind them.

And yes…this coming from a guy who hate the College World Series too.

You better listen to me Alan.