A Bad Case of the Mundays

I can tell I’m on the downward slide of keeping up this blog, because it’s the Monday after a big college football weekend, and I nearly forgot I haven’t updated you in like five days. Then again, you may have to tell me how it all went, because I’ve spent the last 48 hours in an alcohol fueled, BBQ smoke filled haze in Columbia. More on that in a second, but let’s get back on track:.

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So let’s see….apparently good ol’ Baylor wasn’t quite the easy pushover at home many of you thought they’d be. Still think the Huskers are just a few steps away from being “Back?”. To answer that question, let’s go back in time to your mid 90’s heyday and think of just what the score would have been had your warriors played Baylor on the plastic tundra of Lancaster County. I could be way off, and maybe I don’t remember those days very well…but I’m pretty sure Tommie Frazier’s teams would not have been trailing Baylor at the half.

So to answer the question last week, “Are the Huskers back?” the answer is of course hysterical sarcastic laughter, followed by a simple, “hell no.”

But regardless, you gotta be feeling good about yourself for a couple of reasons. First, the big win on Saturday apparently was the first time in FIVE years that the Huskers had won a game in which they trailed at the half. This is an absolutely amazing statistic, considering both the mathematical possibilities as well as the complete and total delusional nature of your fans who apparently ignored such things and simply figured your name and moldy National Championships would be enough to pull you through. Second, as bad as your team sucks...apparently most of the rest of the division sucks just as bad. (Although one of those teams beat you by 5TD's at home...but I digress)

So now the Huskers stand one win from bowl eligibility, with a trip to Norman to take on a wounded Sooner team on national TV, and then a home tilt against Mark Mangino’s suddenly-crashing-to-earth squad. Ok, so Iowa State’s complete and total ineptness hurt my 4-8 prediction for you this season….but hey, how the hell was I supposed to know the rest of the division was going to suck that bad? What’s funny is…even when teams like Coloardo, Kansas and KSU are struggling, you are somehow thinking your own team is immune. Case in point the delusional Husker blogger who somehow thinks that Colorado is terrible for giving up 58 points on the road….yet his own team gives up 52 points at HOME to the same team is somehow tolerable.

This is the home-grown ignorance I’ve been preaching at you people for years. In college football, you simply cannot set aside one poor performance as a fluke or an aberration. You remember 8 days ago right? Mizzou gets thrashed by Texas hours after NU beats a HORRIBLE ISU team, and things are definitely getting better for you. But in reality, Missouri is still head and shoulders above Nebraska…just as they were 3 weeks ago. The same week-to-week over-analysis that makes the sport great, also adds to the ridiculousness of myopia and insanity of both fans and pundits alike.

For example, this morning…I’m listening to Rivals radio and they’re already talking about how Penn State might get screwed by Alabama in the fight for the BCS title game. They then go into how USC is going to be left out of any sort of scenario etc etc etc. Didn’t last year’s November teach us ANYTHING? Do people realize they are just wasting their breath assuming teams are going to win weeks..even months in advance? Remember how West Virginia was a LOCK for the BCS title game last season? How did that turn out? I realize it's good conversation, but is it REALLY necessary to speculate this much?

Let’s just keep focused on the next few weeks, and deal with BCS births and the like when we actually see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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Dear God, is this election over yet? Make it go away. This is going to be one of the worst 8 days in recent memory, as candidates do everything they can to bash each other and dodge the issues. Well…dodge the issues with actual facts and not twisted lies and propaganda that props up their own agenda. I’m not sure how things are going to shake out, but I’m 110% sure that whomever wins…the country will be as divided and partisan as it ever has been.

Gone are the days were service and experience and here are the days of $400 haircuts, flashy speeches and wardrobe shopping sprees that cost $150,000. Much like the country music industry of the mid 90’s, politics today are more about a flashy machine designed to appeal…rather than understanding ideas and theories that can and will affect your life in the future.

The whole thing is stupid now and I’m sick of dealing with it.

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As I mentioned earlier in the week, I’m a bit late because I spent the weekend in Columbia at the Missouri vs. Colorado game.

First of all, props to the Colorado fans who came out. I only spoke to a few of them, but the ones I did meet were a blast to meet, and a lot of fun to talk football with. I felt a bit bad the way the game came out, although there wasn’t a whole lot Dan Hawkins’ team could do running into the pissed off buzzsaw that was the Missouri offense. Not sure why the pundits are so surprised by the Missouri defense…especially considering their improvement in every game minus the Texas game.

Homecoming was nice, and the weather was absolutely beautiful.

Zero thanks to the Mizzou athletic department, who have now made finding a public parking spot to tailgate in more difficult than a U.S. patent. I understand underage kids who drink need to be dealt with, and the university is liable for whatever damage they may cause themselves or others. But is it REALLY necessary to harm those other fans who do nothing more but pump hundreds..perhaps even thousands of dollars into the local economy? I'm sure Mizzou isn't the only school who experiences this...but just because I'm not some big time donor or tuition paying student...why am I the one who feels the pinch of "restrictions" first?

Big time college football is great...but the impacts of such growth suck donkey balls.

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What the hell was that Redleggers? And to think, I actually thought KU was going to give Texas Tech a bit of trouble at home. Have you seen Mike Leach’s road record? And then to give up 60+ points? AT home? What the hell are you thinking? Ok, perhaps Telib was more important to your defense than people thought.

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Nice effort by Oklahoma State, but I’m still not convinced they’re all that just yet. Texas has been playing at an extremely high level of late, and was due to let up…if just a bit. The Cowboys are definitely improving on defense, but it would have been interesting to have seen what the score might have been had they played Texas at the beginning of this 4 game stretch for UT….not toward the end.

Speaking of which….biggest game in school history for Texas Tech this weekend as the Horns travel west to nail down their ticket to Kansas City. I have no doubt (as I”ve said before) that Tech has the horses to put up big points. However, their pathetic sleepwalk effort against the hicks two weeks ago tells me all about their mental toughness. I think the Red Raiders keep it close or perhaps even jump ahead against a tired Texas team. But teams that aren’t mentally tough tend to beat themselves…and I would be shocked if Mike Leach’s team had the stomach enough to pull all the way through.

We shall see.

(Photo Thanks - Columbia Tribune)