So, I know that my blog isn't the fave among our readers (believe me, we've got stats on these things. And they're announced at staff meetings. Not embarrassing at all.)
Anyway, because of this, I've gotta take my props where I can. One of my good friends teaches in Boston, and this is a snippet of a Gchat we had the other day:
(Teacher friend): hey funny little tidbit for you: me: oh yeah? (Teacher friend): i'm teaching an intro to mass media class this semester, and thursday, we covered the "magazine" chapter so i asked them to all bring in magazines that they read and one of the girls brought in AP and i was like, "oh, one of my friends is an editor there!" and i showed her your name and she was like, "wow, that's soooo cool!" so i'm pretty sure you just made me look cooler in front of my students
So there ya go. AP: Making teachers look cooler since 1985.
Well, Nebraska suffered their first loss of the season last Saturday against Virginia Tech. I'm gonna blame it on the fact that both dweebs on College Gameday picked us to win. Jinx!
I actually didn't get to see the game, even though it was on ABC prime time. I dunno, I guess the network execs thought viewers in Cleveland would rather see Penn State play Illinois. What-evs. But, judging from conversations with my brother and parents, they looked pretty good, but still made some mistakes and got absolutely killed on penalties. That's OK, though. Progress, not perfection, as a good friend of mine likes to say.
Tomorrow, though, it's gonna be a whole different ball game (pun intended). Tomorrow marks the start of Big 12 Conference play for the Huskers, and they're kicking it off with a doozy: The Mizzou Tigers.
Rewind to October 2003: I was a senior in college and my best friend and I had taken a road trip from Illinois (where I went to school) to Mizzou. I was going for a campus visit as I was applying to their grad school program, and I figured scheduling it the same weekend the Huskers were in town was pretty much the best idea I'd had all year. I rarely got to see Husker games once I started college, and I'd never seen one in Columbia. What transpired was not pretty. The Big Red gave up 21 points in the rain-soaked 4th quarter to lose to Missouri for the FIRST TIME IN 25 YEARS.
Needless to say, they've been on my shit list ever since. Doesn't help that Mr. David McKay (formerly of AP Warped Tour booth fame, now of Photo Finish Records) is from Missouri and always decides to cheer for them after USC (his alma mater) effs up. So, now I actually know a Mizzou fan who will no doubt, like the past season, give me major crap via text message every time the Tigers score.
However, not all Mizzou fans are bad apples. (And for clarification's sake, David's pretty okay in my book.) Tom Shatel is a sports columnist for the Omaha World Herald, who also happens to be a Mizzou alum. He gave an interview this week to Behind The Stripes, an online branch of the Columbia Tribune. He sheds some very interesting light on why Nebraska's program so quickly spiraled into the shitter under the fearless leadership of one Coach Callahan.
Here's an insightful excerpt:
BTS: This Huskers team strikes me as being tougher and more fundamentally sound but not all that athletic. Just doesn’t seem to have many playmakers to match up with Missouri or the other high-powered teams in the league. What’s been your impression so far?
Shatel: Bo was hired to clean up this program, literally. So much sloppiness, so many mistakes, so much lack of motivation.
A quick story for your Tiger fans: Callahan ran this program like an NFL team. I had numerous former players who would attend practice (when they were allowed; BC didn't like former guys hanging around) tell me they couldn't believe what they were seeing. In a Callahan practice, only the first team would run plays, against the scout team. The second and third team would stand and watch. This is an NFL thing. Apparently after he was hired as AD last October, Tom Osborne went to a practice and told someone, "There sure is a lot of standing around going on here.'' I had one former player say he witnessed the second and third team players get into a water fight at one practice; they were that bored. As for the players who practiced, if a mistake was made, practice would not stop and the mistake would not be corrected. It was all about tempo. Onto the next play. That, ladies and gentlemen, is not college football. And this team rarely hit in practice. Nebraska? Not hit? Surely, you recall the game in Columbia last year. That wasn't all Missouri.
Anyway, Pelini was brought in to change that. He did so immediately. There has been lots of hitting and lots of teaching going on. Real college football. What a concept. There will be blood. But it's going slower than Pelini had anticipated. Here's the problem: The new staff basically has to re-program a group of kids who were brainwashed to play a certain way. When linemen have been backpedaling for so long, it takes time to get them to go forward and attack. Pelini's defense takes time to learn. Right now there are still a lot of mental errors as the system sinks in. That does not bode well for Saturday night against a quarterback and receivers who could run the offense with the lights off.
I'm not saying Nebraska's going to win tomorrow (though judging by the eleventy-hundred upsets last week, anything's possible). I'm just hoping to see more of Bo Pelini's ship-steering in the right direction.
And as for Mizzou's grad school program? I was so appalled by the behavior of their fans at that game, I decided to give all my money to Boston University, instead. I figured a school that had long ago traded football for hockey would never mock me for wearing a Husker hoodie.
So, I heard the new All-American Rejects song, "Gives You Hell," (off their upcoming album When The World Comes Down) for the first time this weekend. Hear it for yourself:
OK, it starts out a little weird/Coconut Records-ish... (Dig the click track!) But, I've gotta admit, it grew on me super fast. (It doesn't hurt that Tyson has chiseled cheek bones for miles and, being from Oklahoma, probably prefers the Big 12 to the Big 10--and that will be today's transgression into fangirl land. Done and done, I swear.)
But it's actually very catchy, and I can imagine that it will do quite well. Honestly, to me, it sounds more like a summer song, even though the album's coming out Nov. 18. But, you know what? We can't all live in sunny SoCal, so maybe a blast of sunshine in the winter months of Northeast Ohio will be much needed. There's been much anticipation around the band's third record. They've had such mega-hits on the last two, I can't even imagine what kind of pressure that might create. Regardless of how much a band will say they don't care what people think as long as they are making the music they want, there has to be a teensy bit of fear of not living up to previous expectations.
Anyway, I haven't personally heard the rest of the album, but I have high hopes for the album and the band, if only because they also grew up in Central Standard Time (and, you know, the cheek bone thing).
So, I know it's not October yet, but I was at Target today and couldn't resist:
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (neck and neck with the 4th Of July and Christmas), so I always geek out a little bit when all the decorations and costumes and CANDY are put out and seasonal Halloween mega-stores start opening. Expect more Halloween. Soon.
(PS: That candy is staying at home. If I brought it to the AP Office, it'd be gone in about 2.3 hours. Vultures.)
So, let me start this appreciation of all things college football with a hearty laugh about USC's loss to Oregon State last night.
MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!
I am not a fan of Pete Carroll, and this should humble him a bit (but it probably won't).
Anyway, tomorrow Nebraska (3-0) and Virginia Tech (3-1) will face off in Lincoln. This should be the first real test about just how good Nebraska might be this season. Not that our previous opponents haven't put on some pressure this season, but this is definitely the first game that seems to have much weight to it. It'll be a good primer for our conference opener against Mizzou next weekend.
Tomorrow's game is the first in a two-year series with VT. They're not a team the Huskers play normally. In fact, the only other time the two teams have met was in the 1996 Orange Bowl, and the Huskers (who were still coached by Tom Osborne at the time) won 41-21.
A win tomorrow could possibly put Nebraska into the rankings (they're hovering just outside of the Top 25 in both the USA Today/Coaches poll and the AP poll. But ultimately, I just hope we play well, make our tackles, stay concentrated, and keep the turnovers to a minimum.
And no matter what, it's great to be back in the news for the program being in a good place, rather than bad.
So, I'm pretty sure I should have titled my last blog: "Greetings From Nebraska PLUS Next Cover Stars Revealed!!!!" because only one person seemed to notice that sitting next to the delicious ribs was the new cover.
Or, lots of people noticed, but only one person was excited.
Or, of the four people who read my blog, two were co-workers (so they'd obviously already know who was on the cover), and one was my mom--who also happened to know who was on the cover:
And why did my mom know who was on the cover? Well. I wrote the story.
Remember when I was blogging from Warped Tour, but was always running around attending to "other obligations" and things like that? Well, I was scraping together as much time as possible to hang out with the Dallas sextet. I'd met the band when I was out on the road for the AP Tour last spring, but in all honesty, I didn't get to really talk to them too much, as they were in a van and their schedule was a little different than those of us on the busses. Plus, they filled their days with in-stores and high school performances and pretty much anything else they could be doing to meet their fans and play some tunes, so they weren't around a ton. (I did, however, become friends with Kevin, who was their merch dude on the AP Tour, and now drum techs for Kyle. He is one of the sweetest dudes ever--and pretty much has the best hair I've ever seen. I was truly sorry I couldn't work him into the story, as all the FTSK guys love him, and he's been with the band since they were the Flipside.)
Anyway, so Warped Tour was the first chance I got to spend some real time with the band. All I can say is that the guys surprised me on many levels. It was a bit of a challenge to get them to open up at first, but after some time, I found that they are genuine and totally dedicated to their music.
There was a lot that had to be cut from the story because, well, we only get so many pages. So if you have any questions about the guys that don't get answered in the mag, hit me up. I may not be able to answer it, but chances are it might be something we talked about.
For example, if you are wondering whether or not Jeffree Star crashed the stage during FTSK's Warped Tour performance in San Diego, then let me assure you that no, he did not. (He merely stood on the side ramp.)
One of the best things about coming home is undoubtedly having my parents cook for me. I enjoy cooking, I really do. But there's just something about being home and having a home-cooked meal in the house where you grew up that can't be beat.
That said, my parents pulled out all the stops for Sunday dinner, Nebraska style. My dad smoked ribs all day yesterday (MmmMmmMmm) and my mom whipped up her fabulous Cornflake potato casserole. Pair that with green beans, fruit cocktail, olives, pickled okra, cornbread and a cherry pie, well, needless to say, I'm sufficiently stuffed.
It's the kind of meal that I'm guessing someone else in the pic would approve of, too...
Oh, and just so Jenn isn't the only one with cute doggie photos, this is Chloe, my fam's Havanese:
