THE BIGGEST UPSET EVER?

THE BIGGEST UPSET EVER?

The most exciting sporting event I’ve ever watched was not a Super Bowl. It wasn’t a World Series seventh game. It had nothing to do with the World Cup. It wasn’t the Big Ten Network’s six-hour salute to Ohio State - “BTN Hearts Them Buckeyes!” It wasn’t that hot day in Peoria when Joey Chestnut ate 14 live goats in 27 minutes. No, the greatest, most thrilling event I ever saw - and arguably the biggest upset - occurred 30 years ago this week: the world heavyweight championship fight between Iron Mike Tyson and journeyman Buster Douglas on Feb. 11, 1990. 

REMEMBER WHEN OMAHA HAD AN NBA TEAM?

REMEMBER WHEN OMAHA HAD AN NBA TEAM?

The report last week that Omaha will host the 2020 Major League Baseball draft got me to thinking about a time when Omaha did even better than that. This city was once home to a major league professional sports team.

Even the most diehard NBA fan may not realize it but Omaha, Nebraska a place better known for steakhouses, Warren Buffett and “horizontal sleet” once had an NBA team. It actually shared a team with Kansas City, a city better known for professional baseball and football and for erecting fountains everywhere including in front of mortuaries and inside dental offices.

This is the story of how Omaha landed an NBA team, made a go of it and then ended up losing the team. The Kansas City-Omaha Kings were a thing from 1972 to 1975. It was the old Cincinnati Royals franchise that changed its name from Royals to avoid confusion with the Kansas City baseball organization. Big mistake. Management would’ve been better off sticking with Royals and selling tickets to confused fans thinking they were going to see a young George Brett.

Click here to read story.

STOP WAVING THE FLAG

STOP WAVING THE FLAG

I usually hate it when football teams carry the American flag into the stadium before a game.

We’ve all seen the pre-game ritual at a big time college football program, that awkward commingling of sport and patriotism. Ninety thousand fans, some intoxicated and shouting profanities at an out-manned opponent who’s mostly just there to collect a $1 million check. The out-manned opponent’s program has historically been so sad the school fight song is by Sarah McLachlan. There are six different mascots cavorting across the sidelines as the big time school’s student section aggressively chants a rhyming obscenity, many of the students shirtless and inebriated, when here comes the home team with a designated player, perhaps a linebacker who was ejected earlier this season for spearing a guy who was lying prone on the ground, carrying the American flag.

MAKE MEMORIAL STADIUM A HOSTILE PLACE TO PLAY

MAKE MEMORIAL STADIUM A HOSTILE PLACE TO PLAY

You people are too darn nice.

For as long as I can remember Memorial Stadium in Lincoln has had a well deserved reputation for being kind to visiting teams. Win or lose fans in the end zone often applaud the visitor as players head for the locker room after the final whistle. Fans are also very quiet. Many of them don’t even scream when the visiting offense is backed up on its own goal line.

SCOTT FROST VS. HISTORICAL FIGURES

SCOTT FROST VS. HISTORICAL FIGURES

The electronic and print media around here clearly loves Scott Frost. Never before in history has a coach with a career head coaching record at Nebraska of 4-8 been so revered. However, I don’t think our sportswriters and broadcasters go far enough in their adulation. You can’t just compare Frost to past and current coaching legends. The man transcends mere sport. Now that his second season at the helm of the Husker football team is nigh the time is right to take a few minutes to gauge the brilliance of this shining star. I think the best way to do that is a head-to-head match up featuring Frost vs. renowned historical figures.

BIG TEN MEDIA DAYS DIARY

BIG TEN MEDIA DAYS DIARY

The mind-numbing tedium; the absurd repetition; the hatred; the anger; the ugliness; the jealously; the bitterness; the line dancing. Of course I’m talking about Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. Below is my only slightly exaggerated running diary of the 2019 meetings.

ONE LAST ROUND

ONE LAST ROUND

My father died a decade ago of congestive heart failure. It wasn’t a shock since he’d suffered a heart attack a few weeks prior (his second) and doctors sent him home after a month in cardiac rehab with a dire diagnosis, an oxygen tank and a whistle to blow if he woke up in distress.  

An hour after arriving home from rehab Dad went to take a nap. A few minutes later the whistle loudly chirped. My mother and brother frantically rushed into the room to see Dad lying in bed with a broad smile on his face. He said, “Just testing.” That tells you most of what you need to know about the man.  

AN OPEN LETTER TO NEBRASKA’S NEW COACH

AN OPEN LETTER TO NEBRASKA’S NEW COACH

Dear Fred Hoiberg:

First of all welcome to the University of Nebraska men’s basketball program! The people of this proud state are prepared to embrace you with open arms. I think you’ll find that Nebraskans are some of the nicest, most decent people on the planet. Just make sure that you are always honest and straight forward with them or they’ll rip your head off, chew it into little pieces and spit it into the Platte River. But if you try hard and you’re aboveboard with folks around here, they will treat you like a king.

SUGGESTIONS TO REPLACE TIM MILES

SUGGESTIONS TO REPLACE TIM MILES

Bill Moos faces the most difficult decision of his life, with the possible exception of having to decide to leave the relatively temperate climate of Washington state for a place where winters tend to be harsher than on the South Pole outback. I figured I’d lend a hand to Moos and offer up these suggestions for a new head Nebraska basketball coach.

REAL SPORT/NOT A REAL SPORT

REAL SPORT/NOT A REAL SPORT

There’s an age-old argument over whether certain activities that we watch and/or participate in are in fact actual sports. It’s time to settle these debates once and for all. My criteria is not readily definable but I know a real sport when I see one.

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SUPER SUNDAY PREDICTIONS

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SUPER SUNDAY PREDICTIONS

Anyone can try to predict which team will win Super Bowl 53, formally known as Super Bowl XXXXLLLLVIIIIIII. Instead, I will attempt to forecast how the CBS Super Bowl broadcast will go down, from start to finish, hitting most of the highlights. Fasten your seat belt - some of this ain’t pretty.

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100 ACTORS WHO PLAYED ATHLETES IN MOVIES RANKED

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100 ACTORS WHO PLAYED ATHLETES IN MOVIES RANKED

There have been a plethora of movies about sports. Some were excellent, others fairly good and quite a few were dismal. The same goes for the performances. Say what you will, it takes guts for an actor or actress to attempt to portray an athlete especially when they do their own difficult stunts like bending over to field a ground ball. Below is my completely subjective ranking of some of those who have tried, ranked from worst to best.

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HUSKER ROAD TRIPPIN’: NEW ORLEANS

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HUSKER ROAD TRIPPIN’: NEW ORLEANS

Some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around my extended family traveling to Husker football away games inside a Buick that was pulling a camper.

This was back in the halcyon 1970s a few years after the Huskers had won back-to-back national championships and it was all but impossible to score tickets to home games without paying a guy on the street named Guido $400 for a pair of seats that may turn out to be fake. One sign you’d just purchased fake tickets from a scalper: there was a photo of Guido on the ticket. Another sign your tickets were fake: you’d buy nine and all nine would read “Row 22, seat 7.”

REMEMBER THAT TIME TERRY BRADSHAW WAS ON LENO?

REMEMBER THAT TIME TERRY BRADSHAW WAS ON LENO?

During the thirteen years that I was a staff writer for “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” NBC featured a tremendous number of athletes on the program, even though Jay possibly knew less about sports than almost any human on the planet.

You name the sport and we had athletes and/or coaches on the show. From the NFL, to the XFL, to college football, to the NBA, to the World Series MVP, to gold medal-winning Olympic athletes.

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ADRIAN MARTINEZ’ HEISMAN ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

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ADRIAN MARTINEZ’ HEISMAN ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Although he’s only a true freshman it’s crystal clear that Husker quarterback Adrian Martinez is a very special player. How special? I don’t think it’s too early to begin working on his future Heisman Trophy acceptance speech. I’ve taken the liberty of putting together a draft of a suitable speech for Adrian.

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THANKFUL IN NEBRASKA

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THANKFUL IN NEBRASKA

University of Nebraska Cornhusker football fans have gone through a miserable stretch for most of the past several years. It’s been difficult because these are proud folks who expect excellence in the program. Still, I think Thanksgiving would be a good time for Husker fans to stop and count their many blessings.

Below is a partial list.

NIX THE BALLOON RELEASE, NEBRASKA

NIX THE BALLOON RELEASE, NEBRASKA

I sort of hate it when the University of Nebraska football team scores its first touchdown in a game because it means that thousands of red balloons will be released into the atmosphere and eventually land where the balloons may be encountered by hungry wildlife. Some of that wildlife will be strangled to death; entangled in the balloons and not be able to get to real food sources; or possibly have the balloon just eaten block their intestines or bind to their beaks leading to a slow, tortuous death. None of those sound like a good way to go.

Imagine you’re a beaver or a sea turtle or even a skunk. (C’mon, skunks have feelings too!) You’re hungry and haven’t eaten in days when along comes this bright, floating object and it plops down right in front of you. It’s basically the animal version of Jimmy John’s. It landed beside you so of course you’re going to eat it, right?

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ELECTRIC FOOTBALL: A LOVE STORY

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ELECTRIC FOOTBALL: A LOVE STORY

It’s back. I’m referencing a recent list of “Most Popular Toys” which to my surprise and delight included electric football, perhaps the greatest game ever even though it has, let me double-check - yep, it has almost zero in common with actual football.

For the uninitiated - and never having played electric football is sort of like never having watched a sunrise - electric football is contested on a tiny, tinny board made to look like a football field. Electrical vibrations cause the ball carriers and defenders to move up and down the field. It’s somewhat less realistic than a 1950s Japanese-made “King Kong” movie.

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NOT SO FAST, USA TODAY

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NOT SO FAST, USA TODAY

USA Today just featured an article speculating that the University of Nebraska could possibly fire Scott Frost and pay off his hefty salary to the tune of $26 million. Which got me to thinking about the plausibility of this happening. I decided that the following are more likely to occur:

* Jason Peter is named spokesperson for the Nebraska Nice campaign.

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PLEASE TALK GOODER

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PLEASE TALK GOODER

I’d like to issue a plea to TV football play-by-play personnel and analysts to work on their grammar game. Or, to put it into football commentator vernacular, please talk good. 

I’ve been on a crusade for several years now - mostly conducted on Twitter which is to proper grammar what the Taco Bell jingle is to Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction - to get football commentators to stop saying “Michigan is on their own thirty" and “Look at Notre Dame - they’re ready to make their move.” This is fifth grade English, guys. Michigan, Notre Dame, USC and even Florida State are “its” not “theys.” “Michigan is on its own thirty" is correct. Or, “The Wolverines are on their own thirty" is correct.