Romance is dead in Nebraska

In a recent super scientific poll posted on twitter it was found that romance is dead in Nebraska.  Over 130 people participated in a poll asking what their plans for Friday would be.  14% of respondents would be attending High school football games while a staggering 80% of respondents said that they would be watching the Nebraska Illinois football game.

For those of you who are not inclined to addition those figures show that 94% of respondents would rather watch football than go have a lovely evening with their significant other.  Yes, 5% did say they would do the "Netflix and Chill" but there is no romance in watching old reruns of the Office and going off to bed.

More disturbing is only 1% of the 146 would be going to dinner and a movie. When you do the math that comes to one and a half people. How sad. Somebody is eating alone except for maybe the company of an imaginary friend.

Yes my friends, this a truly dark time in Nebraska.  Nobody wants to be romantic anymore.  Football still rules the day in "The Good Life."

Why Eichorst was fired.

Because he's a ginger... NO NOT BECAUSE OF THAT!

The saying, "The simplest explanation is useually the correct one."  I have it.

All athletics at Nebraska with the exception of volleyball and track have noticeably declined on his watch.  He didn't care enough about the programs that matter to Nebraska.  Let's examine the programs Nebraska wants to be competitive in..

Football. Low hanging fruit here but in year 5 of Shawn we're losing the games that don't matter.  With Shawn gone I think that'll change unless Mike Riley totally packs it in and I don't think he'd do that.

Men's Basketball.  Seriously what the heck happened here?  Tim Miles comes in and takes the program into March Madness!  Shawn Eichorst arrives and back into the shit tube it goes.  Probably not a big deal if it wasn't for the investment of that kick ass practice facility.  Not to mention that beautiful arena down town is occupied by two sub-par basketball programs.

That brings me to Women's basketball.  We fired Connie Yori because she was a tough coach going through a tough stretch in her life.  So what did he do?  Hired a new coach that took the program back to the dredges of obscurity.

Baseball.  Granted some of its problems can and may be traced to the move to the Big Ten but that can't be the whole story can it?  Our climate bodes well for baseball and our northish direction didn't stop us from making the CWS before.

The other sports listed being abject failures points to one common point, the AD.  The higher ups made the right call at the right time.  If we want to be competitive in these sports we need an AD with a vision capable of seeing it through.  Eichorst is too green for a program the size of Nebraska.  Nebraska needs a proven leader, maybe not somebody from a sports background, but who can handle big picture programs.  Being great at football isn't good enough for Nebraska anymore.

I want Dave Rimington. There I said it.

When the time comes.

Hard hitting in depth Husker Football analysisis are fantastic. You're still not going to find that here!

In the midst of the Frost Warnings this afternoon I tweeted that Scott Frost would be my 3 or 4 guy in a coaching search.  Simply put Frost doesn't have enough seasoning.  But for me he's good enough to be considered for the position.

To answer the question from @KingJHip, "if Frost is number 4 who are the others?"  I present my top 4.

4. Scott Frost Former Husker QB National Champion on field kicker of defender's ass' and shot put thrower.

3. Turner Gill Barry Switzer's biggest miss.  One third of the formidable Triplets.  Current head coach at Liberty University. Got an unfair shot at perennial loser KU.  I think he needs that big time chance. Besides this is my list so shove it.

2. Chip Kelly. He is instant credibility for the program.  He turned Oregon into what it is today.  With him there is no doubt our program will have an identity, something NU desperately needs.

D
R
U
M

R
O
L
L

1. Mark Richt. Take him from Miami in the same manner as we did the national championship from them in '94.  Big recruiting ties in the south east.  His brand of physical football will resonate in Lincoln. Here is a coach that can win with the resources NU can provide.  Move over Suburban Meyer, James Lardball and Whoever the coach is at Penn State.

Conference Shedule Prediction

This is how I foresee the rest of the season going based on what has happened.

Rutgers NU W

Illinois NU W

Wisconsin NU L

OSU NU L

Purdue NU Could go either way L

Directional NU 50/50 L The nerds always play well here

Minnesota NU L

Penn State NU L

Iowa NU L

Confidence and optimism in the big red is at an all time low.  But unless the coaches change what they're doing we will not feel guilty about hunting during the games.

Week 3 Iowa Evaluation

Herkie is 3-0 with victories over Wyoming, Iowa State, and North Texas.  Their undefeated record puts them 5th in the Big Ten west division behind undefeated Minnesota and three, one loss teams (LOL.)

Head coach for life Kurt Feret has the Hawkeyes looking to upset Penn State when the Ninny Lions travel to Iowa City Saturday.  Game time is set to 6:30 PM Central.

Quick Blog

This isn't the blog I was going to post.  If Nebraska looses to Rutgers I'll post it.  When that happens all of Nebraska will understand what I'm saying.

Right now for going into the future we need to look at where Iow.... I mean NU athletics is as a whole.

Football: Shit show
Men's Basketball: Bad
Volleyball: Very good
Women's Basketball: Was good but is now Bad
Baseball: not good enough

These are the sports that Nebraska fans gravitate towards.  On the surface of major Nebraska athletes is this acceptable?  Is it acceptable to say "Hang in there" when your most important revenue driving sport turns into a shit show and you have no other sports performing at a high level?  NO! This is completely unacceptable at any major University.  It's time for the University to act or the fans will move on.  #GBR

What next?

I'll work for half of what they pay Eichorst and give you the same results across all sports.  I won't give up Black Friday, it's absolutey stupid to give up TV sets on a day where you're the biggest show.  Yeah I think it's a good deal.  There will continue to be a dropoff in the quality of sports played at Nebraska for half the cost. We won't lose Black Friday and I'll gladly stooge for the donors.

I'll work half of what anybody there is getting paid and do their job just as marginally.  Save the tax payers some money.

Yeah, I'm not happy and am using this blog to vent. Still, the offer stands. #GBR

GAME DAY PREDICTIONS

Offense will amass 538 yards total
Defense will allow 389 yards total
Special Teams will do admirably
There will be much to cheer and curse about.  Fans will leave the game head to their cars and go home or to a bar.  Mike Riley will answer questions after the game and provide more coachspeak for the scribes to write about.
The bench will not get to play.
NU-48
NIU-32

Coaching Staff

One of my favorite debates for Husker football is the, "Who would be on your coaching staff only using former players?"  It's a fun topic because there is no right or wrong answer (except Grant Wistrom.)  So here it is Ndamukats all Husker coaching staff. (Hate mail accepted)

OFFENSE:
OC: Damon Benning, follow his post game breakdowns on twitter, you'll understand.
QB: Turner Gill, coached 3 National Championship QB's.
RB: Frank Solich, same reasons for Gill at QB coach.
WR: Jordan Westerkamp, sorry Matt Davison you never caught a ball behind your back.
OL: Richie Incognito, I want the OL mean and nasty deal with it.

DEFENSE:
DC: Jay Foreman, same reason for Damon Benning.
LB:Barrett Ruud, record breaking linebacker, vs '95's numbers dude was legit.
DB: Mike Brown, he's the best to ever play in the defensive backfield I don't care what you think.
DL: Jason Peter, the 3 "I's" Intensity, intensity and intensity.

SPECIAL TEAMS:
Punt Return: Johnny Rodgers, do I need to explain?
Kick Off: Adi Kunalic, if he can teach how to kick it a mile we're in good shape.
Punt: Sam Koch, really too many choices here

S&C: Brandon "Rudy" Rigoni, I think they named him lifter of the year for life.

MISC:
AD: Dave Rimington, I think he's a member of Mensa, can someone verify?
Team Psychologist: Christian Peter, Put em on their ass! Big 8 style, SMASH, SMASHMOUTH FOOTBALL!

Drumroll... You don't think I forgot do you?

Head Coach: Scott Frost

That's the spirit!

It's unfortunate but true the Nebraska football team lacks the intensity it used to have.  For those of us stuck in the 90's we remember a team that was content enough to go out for 4 quarters and beat the shit out of it's opponent.  The joy of victory was all you needed to play with passion.  That passion is gone.

Now I know many will say, "but look at the Oregon comeback those kids never gave up!"  We can debate till our eyes pop out as to what happened there.  I am saying the intensity or spirit isn't the same.  Nobody looks at Nebraska and says, "Even if we win we're getting our asses kicked this week" anymore.  As the Arkansas State coach said before he game, "they're beatable."  For his team he was almost right.

In the past few years we have watched the University make some changes to the game day experience.  They have not produced the desired effect of improving the experience because they do not produce wins.  Nobody leaves after a poor performance saying, "Gee the ribbon boards and fireworks  sure looked good."  I propose we go a different route.

We need to do something, in game, that appeals to the sensibilities of today's young men.  Here is a point by point list.

1.  After a player has a good series on the field, scores a touchdown, drive stopping sack let them brag about it on twitter!  I realize the basketball program has had mixed results from the coach tweeting at half but I think for players it will have a different effect.  Put yourself into the mindset of today's youth.  Everything is instant fame and gratification.  Twitter is a driving force behind it. The desire to express yourself on social media seems to be everything today.  Players don't celebrate on the field they do so in 140 characters.  That's why we need a twitter kiosk on the sideline where players perform well can celebrate properly.

2. I have noticed a new trend in college football.  Miami has it. You all have seen it. The oversized gold pimp chain with a "U" dangling from it.  Nebraska needs that.  The pimp chain is taken and it would be abvious plagiarism to hang a giant gold corncob from a pimp chain.  My idea is a golden and jewel encrusted corn stalk scepter!

Let's not stop at he scepter however. If you're on twitter as much as I am you have noticed that people really like a show called "Game of Thrones."  In this show there's this throne that is made of swords! I think it's call the iron throne or something to that effect.  We need to add something like that to the golden corn scepter.  I think a chair made out of old tractor parts or hay bails.  Move over Miami pimp chain, in Nebraska's Game of Inches it has the King of Kick Ass.

3.  My last idea to drive that kick ass spirit on the team is similar to the scepter.  A 12 foot tall golden corn stalk.  This would be used in the same manner as the spirit sticks you see at high school football games.  You know where you see a player, typically a freshman, holding a stick above his head the whole game.  The stick isn't allowed to fall below the player's helmet or else all spirit may be lost. Nebraska can do something just like this.

Another benefit to the Spirit Stalk is you can attach corporate sponsorship to it.  The Monsanto Cornhusker Spirit Stalk! Win win if you ask me.

If the Huskers are having any issues getting maximum performance out of the team I hope they can bring some of these, if not all, to life.  #GBR

The Ballad of Tim Beck

There once was a man from Lincoln
Who loved throwing the ball without thinking.
He threw left and threw right
And first and goal from the five
So much he drove run the ball guy to drinking

I'll give it a try

I have always considered starting a blog to add to what I post on twitter.  This could be a fun outlet but I am by not means a skilled writer.  I don't plan on providing insight that is already provided all over Husker media.  There is, to an extent, an over saturation of Nebraska Football coverage that would make it hard to stand out in the crowd.

When I started Ndamukat (then @boshuskercat) I did so because I saw the success of Faux Pelini and some other funny parodies. Those parodies were based on real people or mascots and those who were acting them out were funny.  I saw a opening in the marketplace with a crazy idea.  I thought the Cat in the Faux Pelini pic needed a voice.  A "loyal to a fault" cheerleader for Bo Pelini.  It was a fun role to play because I already liked Bo as a coach and being an undying apologist for Bo would be easy to play.  I has been tons of fun and as a result I was able to meet, communicate and interact with people I would've never have been able to otherwise.

So here I am about to start the next step in the character that I came up with and because of the following has been kept alive.  I hope to be different from all the other blogs that provide good and valuable inside to Husker athletics.  There is a spot in the oversaturated world of Husker sports blogging that I hope to fill. There won't be any breakdown of 3-4 defense or the nuances of recruiting.  This will be Huskers from a different angle.

Finally to all my fans that have followed me for the last 5 (I think) years, thank you.  I would've folded up shop years ago if you guys weren't around.  Now its time to step back behind the curtain and start blogging.