Nebraska-Wyoming Review.

There are basically 2 kinds of football fans. sunshine pumpers and realist despite the nae it's often the "realist" who live in a world of what if's. They are the ones that tell you what really happened even though it actually didn't. If you take away this, factor in that, change all of that this is what really would have happened so there for it is what really happened. Confused? Well usually so are they. Another personality quirk most realist share is they are perpetually miserable. These are not glass is half empty people. These are if you take away the fact that the glass is half empty the glass would be completely empty people. I am a sunshine pumper...mostly. I find that the sunshine pumpers though sometimes a little too positive are the actual fans. With the realist you find yourself asking wow if this is how you treat a something you are a fan of how do you treat something you hate? And you also find yourself hoping these people don't have children and feeling the children if they do. But last night after Nebraska's 37-34 victory over Wyoming I was a realist fan! I was the very fan I hate.  Last night about 10:30 I was sure Nebraska was going to struggle to win games. I called the team "shitty" on twitter and of course felt terrible about it afterwords. I did not get on players social sites and call them out. There is a special place in hell for people who do that. But I was about as negative and abusive towards Nebraska football as I get. Thankfully I didn't linger on twitter and facebook last night. I made a few posts and then logged off. I was pissed. Too pissed to hear others just as pissed as me. Nebraska football is like your brother or sister For you see I can say the team is shitty. But you can't. So after 5-10 minutes on social media I logged off ate a cold cut, smoked a cigar, listened to music watched the late games. With in a half hour I was a sunshine pumper again. Sorta. I'm still not sure with that defense how this team wins more than 8 games. But they'll win more than 4. Hey  I must be getting better. Last night I just broke my glasses case in past years I would have broke my glasses.

Offense.  C- Nebraska had 530 yards and 375 yards rushing. 2 backs had 100 yards+ 2 more had more than 80. So it was all good right? right? Uh no. Nebraska's offense in the first half was spotty at best. Minus one 62 yard run the running game did next to nothing. There I am again being a realist. In the second half it appeared Nebraska's issues were solved as they were pounding Wyoming and scoring on every possession. then with Nebraska leading 37-21 and on there way to putting the game away a freshman receiver ran the wrong route  and Taylor Martinez threw and interception. Game on. Score there and it's 40-21 or 44-21 and Wyoming becomes one dimensional. The Wyoming defense which was tired checks out and maybe just maybe Nebraska scores again and today we are all happy. Later in the game Nebraska had 4th and a chihuahua's testicle and got stuffed on a QB sneak. The greatest offensive line in the Bo Pelini era could create enough space to gain an inch.

Defense D-. They won so that saves the F. Watching this defense last night put me in the mood for some Ray Charles "Here we go again" Wyoming was 99th in rushing last year. That makes you feel all warm and fuzzy after seeing them run all over the place on Nebraska last night doesn't it Nebraska fan? And that secondary that's suppose to be the strength of the defense? Oh dear! Wyoming had 603 yards last night. Don't dwell on that it will make your head explode. Wyoming's offense is good. But not that damned good. there's only one place to go from here...up. The fact that this is year 3 of the same old same doesn't fill your heart with much optimism. They're young...they're young. Rinse and repeat. Oh UCLA scored 58 points yesterday...

Special Teams. B-. They fielded the kickoffs! Nebraska's return team was ok. Like I said they fielded the kicks. That's an improvement. The defense against the return was great all night. Sam Fultz is going to be a great punter. The Field goal was shaky but good. And we made all of our PAT's well except one that was shanked it might have been blocked. let's hope it was cause he missed it real bad.

Overall. C-. Nebraska won. 15 years from now when you look the score up it will show a win. The details will fade. They can't fade fast enough. Next week Southern Miss comes to town. They lost yesterday to Texas State 22-15. Nebraska has to win big and has to hold Southern Miss to less than 20 points. HAS TO. If they don't...God help us after that. But keep it in perspective. Nebraska won. Did Kansas State? Did Iowa? McNeese State beat South Florida 53-21. Makes 37-34 over Wyoming sound not so bad.

Last Thought.
Can we please...please start having officiating crews from conferences where neither team is involved? Don't tell me the NCAA cant afford it. This Mountain West crew last night went out of their way to keep Wyoming in the game. And of course B1G crews do the same. All of the officials do. How is there roughing the passer on a play where there was no pass? This wasn't the only head scratching call. All night this Mountain West crew kept Wyoming in the game. With calls and no calls. Poor Vincent Valentine is probably still being held. Amazingly after not calling holding all night When Wyoming could least afford it the officials called Wyoming for a marginal holding penalty. Ask me if I feel bad for them.

On the whole Dave Christianson and his staff had a better night than Bo Pelini and his staff. But their play calling at the end of the first half was baffling. Why not try and get points to end the half when you were moving the ball all half? Why waste 30 seconds at midfield? Why call a timeout with 2 seconds left and kneel down on the ball? It made no sense. And with a final score of 37-34 the way Wyoming played the end of the half may have been the difference in the game.

Final Score

              
          37                   34

2013 Gameday #1

VS   

From  the minute Nebraska and Wyoming signed a 3 game deal the first game in 2011 in  Laramie the next two in Lincoln Nebraska tried to get the Laramie game moved to Denver and  anybody who was  fortunate enough to get Tickets in Laramie  on September 24^th 2011 will tell you how happy they were the game wasn’t  move to Denver The Weather was a perfect 70 degrees at kickoff and the atmosphere quite honestly was one of the best atmosphere’s I have ever experienced for a football game. A third of the crowd was rooting for Wyoming a third was rooting for Nebraska and a third was decked out in home made stitched together jerseys and shirts of both teams. Nebraska won the game 38-14  and was never threatened Wyoming played well enough that they came out of the game with a positive vibe. Some how it was exactly perfect outcome for a near perfect football experience.

The big question for the game tonight is the weather. It really has been a cool summer. UNTIL this week. It’s as if on cue for a team that plays at 7000 feet that doesn’t get much severe heat and gets no humidity that a summer that had seen many 80 degrees days now saw 100 degree days with 100 percent humidity. The forecast for tomorrow calls for Temperatures around 95 at kickoff with a possibility of scattered showers bringing in the humidity. Wyoming simply isn’t use to this and isn’t very deep. So look for Nebraska to try and Pound Wyoming and wear them down. The 7 O’clock kickoff will help some but it will still be bloody hot. The EMT’s better be on their toes.

As for the game? Wyoming is pretty good offensively and Nebraska’s questions are on defense. However Wyoming doesn’t run the ball well and makes their living throwing the ball. The strength of Nebraska’s defense is their secondary. First games have mistakes that lead to garbage touchdowns and if Wyoming gets 1 or 2 they may score into the 30’s. However I think a score in the 20’s is more likely for the Cowboys.  And Wyoming’s defense is very porous and Nebraska’s offense is of course loaded. Wyoming’s offense is good enough to score some points on Nebraska’s defense but Wyoming ‘s Defense won’t stop Nebraska.

Count’s Krystal Bawl…

Nebraska 52

Wyoming 24

B1G Predictions week 1.

Thursday August 29th
Indiana 49 Indiana State 21
Minnesota 38 UNLV 17

Friday August 30th
Michigan State 31 Western Michigan 7

Saturday August 31st
Nebraska 52 Wyoming 24
Iowa 20  Northern Illinois  17
Michigan 45 Central Michigan 10

Northwestern 42 California 27
Illinois 42 Southern  Illinois 9
Ohio State 48 Buffalo 3
Penn  State 31 Syracuse 20
Cincinnati 34 Purdue 20
Wisconsin 44 Massachusetts 7

Nebraska Cornhusker 2013 Football preview.

Offense: It’s great that Taylor Martinez has no loss of confidence but let’s put the delusions of grandeur to bed here and now. Nebraska’s offense will baring injuries be really good and could be great. It will not however be the best in school history. They will not score 53 points a game like the 95 Huskers nor 52 points a game like the 83 Huskers however 40 points a game is not out of the question.
Nebraska is set at everywhere on offense but tight end. Taylor Martinez already owns much of the record book. If he stays healthy you may as well rename the record book The Taylor Martinez memorial playbook. Running back still looks strong but not as strong as it did before Braylon Heard’s transfer to Kentucky. Amir Abdullah ran  for over a 1000 yards last year and is set for another big year. Ball security appears to be his only weakness. Imani  Cross was the short yardage back last season. He lost 15 pounds to try and add some speed. 2 Highly touted Freshman provide back up. Nebraska doesn’t use Fullbacks to run much anymore but they do still use the to block and receive the ball. CJ Zimmer and Andy janovich are both solid there. Kenny Bell, Jamal Turner, Quincy Enunwa, Taariq Allen simply put  make this is the best wide receiving crew in Nebraska history. There are also some youngsters like Jordan Westerkamp  that the coaches are excited about. Tight End is the only question mark on the offensive side Ben Cotton and Kyler Reed are gone. Only Jake Long has any game experience. Long  is a great blocker but hasn’t caught many passes.  This is expected to be the best offensive line of The Bo Pelini era. The line 4 starters from a line that was good but inconsistent last season.

Defense: Can we talk  about offense some  more? First the good news. Nebraska  had a very good secondary  last season for the most part and it returns 3 starters and 4^th man who played enough to be a  starter. This is the strength of the defense which would be great if Nebraska were back in the Big 12 and not in the Big 10. The Front 7 is Oscar The Grouch Green. Since Nebraska’s front 7 struggled so much last year that could in time  be a good thing but there will be growing pains. Only Jason Ankrah has any starting experience on the defensive line. Thad Randle also has playing some experience but that is  it. The coached believe what this group doesn’t have in experience it makes up for in talent. The Linebacking group is greener if that is possible. Atheism in the front 7 has been a huge problem for Nebraska sans Lavonte David for the last 2 years. That appears to be somewhat rectified. Still it’s hard to think  of a front 7 less experienced than this one other than maybe 2007. Do I have to remind you how that season turned out?

Special Teams:  Great Kicking is almost getting to be a Nebraska  trademark. At Field Goal kicker since 1995 Nebraska has had Kris Brown, Josh  Brown who both had long successful NFL careers. David Dykes and Jordon Congdan were both sold. Alex Henery was the greatest College Kicker I  have ever seen and Brett Maher followed him with great success. Now the job falls to Maurio Baundi. If the Spring game is any indication he’ll be fine. He made one kick from  50yards and barely missed from 58. If Anything Nebraska’s punting game has been stronger longer than it’s field goal kicking game has. Going back to the late 80’s  Nebraska had a string  of great punters. This year the job will fall to Freshman Sam Foltz who is also a back up receiver so maybe you can expect some fake punts this year. When Nebraska catches the ball on Punt and Kick returns they have been solid returning kicks. The problem is catching the ball. Amir Abdullah, Kenny Bell, and  Jamal Turner were all tried a year ago and all struggled to a field a kick. Eventually Nebraska put Rex Burkhead back to catch punts sacrificing  a return for  just catching the ball. Rex now plays for the Cincinnati Bengals. It got to be such a problem last season that when  kicks were successfully fielded the fans  cheered. Obviously this needs to be fixed.

The Schedule. It’s hard to find a major college football team with one much more friendly.  Thanks to buying  off Southern  Miss’ ex coach the first 5 games are at home and only UCLA  would seem to be a threat. Here Nebraska get’s a break by the TV gods putting the game at 11. There is no Ohio State or Wisconsin. Home games against Northwestern and Michigan State will be anything but easy and road trips to Michigan and Penn State will be a chore. Still If Nebraska stays healthy on offense and plays at least average defense it’s hard not to find 10 wins here.

Finally: If they stay healthy Nebraska  will average at least 38 points a  game on  offense and with  their schedule that should guarantee another 10 win season  whether or not Nebraska takes the next step up off the 10-4 merry go round will be up to a very green defense. A good goal for this defense would be to average holding their foes to 21 points a game  or less. 99.9% of the teams in College Football are going to lose a game from  time to time and this team almost certainly will as well. Another sign of progress will be what will the loses be like?  Too often the last two years by halftime I was smoking a cigar and looking and reading a Modesty Blaise comic strip while keeping only a half eye on the massacre on the screen. Those days have to stop. Ohio State is the class of the Big 10 but the legends race appears to be a 3 horse photo finish between Nebraska, Michigan and Northwestern with Michigan State behind by just a nose. If there was any reason to believe Nebraska’s defense is going to be much improved despite their inexperience there then  I’d say this could be a very special season. But I haven’t seen it yet. The Spring game didn’t which isn’t a great way to judge such things anyway didn’t ease any fears. Nebraska will be good again. There will be many great memories this year again. There will be 10 wins again. Whether or not there will be 3 or 4 loses will depend on whether or not Nebraska wins the Legends…again.

A Word Of Advice

You may notice if you read older threads that many of them are littered with junk and spam  in the comments. DO NOT CLICK ON LINKS!!!!

The Count.

Modesty Blaise A Taste For Death

Modesty Blaise A Taste For Death by  Peter O'Donnell **** 1/2 / *****  

The fourth Modesty Blaise novel starts with Willie Garvin noticing the grisly death of Judy Pilrim while her blind sister Dinah escapes. The murder was ordered by  the criminal mastermind Gabriel and  Dinah was kept alive because although blind she has a psychic ability to find buried objects.  pipes, treasure...etc. Garvin rescues Dinah and threw a series of coincidences Modesty Blaise and her sometimes boyfriend Steve Collier become involved and it become apparent that not only Gabriel but  the giant killer Simon Delicata  working with Gabriel need to use Dinah Pilgrim to find buried treasure. It's difficult to judge the Modesty Blaise books by The James Bond Books even though they are the same genre. The Books are clearly designed to be fun fast reads. And that they are. There's violence and sex o'pleanty and O'Donnell proves just as adept at moving a story a long in novel form as he is in Comic strip form. Willie Garvin gets a bigger role here but as always it's clear it's Blaise who is at the end of  the day the boss. That Garvin (the male) is Robin to Blaise (the female) batman is what makes these stories work so well.

The first four novels in the series were all well done and there isn't much to separate them in terms of merit. I would put A Taste Of Death just below  Sabre-Tooth and just above I Lucifer and Modesty Blaise. The Next book in the series is The Impossible Virgin. 

Not Guilty.

Not all surprised. Sick? Yeah a little but not surprised.

Late Edit by Mr. Brown:  Regardless of anyone's opinions on the Zimmerman trial, the tragedy about what happened cannot be ignored: if Mr. Zimmerman had just stayed put in his car and not followed Trayvon Martin, like what the dispatcher told him to do in the first place, there wouldn't have been a trial, George Zimmerman wouldn't be the most polarizing figure in America currently, and Trayvon would have been 18 years old.

The Miami Heat Your 2012-2013 NBA Champions

Game 3 San Antonio 113 Miami 77

I've been waiting to use this photo :)

Credit as always goes to the Great Yoga Frog check out his website at Yoga Frog caps

Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 Miami Vs Indiana

Game 7 Boys and Girls. No way in Hades did I think we'd be here tonight. On an off topic note Greg Brady was on Adam 12. His  Mother's Boyfriend was drunk and holding her at gun point. Tell me that wouldn't make a bitching episode of The Brady  Bunch.

LeBron had better decide to take this game over because LeBron the facilitator will be home tomorrow to fire up the hibachi.

Indiana better learn how to hold on to the damn basketball

Steve Kerr says Indiana has to keep their turnovers down to 15. They'll have more than that at halftime.

Glad they don't seem to be calling the flops but this game is getting away from Indiana.
  
Reggie Miller just pointed out that if you're the Pacers you want to stay close...No Reggie if you're the Pacers you want to get blown out.

If you're Eric Spoelstra you have to be pleased with this first half. Reggie bringing that in-depth analysis once again.-

Poop. Miami 52 Indiana 37 at half. Really disappointed in Indiana. Gonna go take a shower put on a T-shirt in Pajamas. If Second half doesn't improve I'll be heading out to have a smoke.

Miami 76 Indiana 55 after 3 quarters

Final Score Miami 99 Indiana 76. NBA Finals start Thursday. San Antonio Spurs Vs The Miami Heat.