Looking back and looking forward

Long story short (for once), I didn't go out for New Year's. That puts me here, in my computer chair, at less than two hours into 2009, and somehow I don't feel any different than I did before 12:00 struck. Also, all the cool kids are doing years-in-review, so I have to too!

This blog and its author had some fun times in 2008.
Like...January, when we went to Texas and caught up with Mike Sweeney again. Fun times, right?
We also hit up the Royals Caravan in that month, got a snazzy pic taken with Ryan LeFebvre, and made John Mayberry chuckle.

In February, we had some trouble with an old laptop (may it rest in peace), and openly mocked KSU superfrosh Michael Beasley to his face. One of those things was more fun than the other.

In March, we fretted about Spring Training performances, made some pointless tables, and also got "discovered" by a couple of Royals message boards and other Royals blogs. Finally, someone who doesn't share my last name or bloodlines started reading this! Then Opening Day finally arrived, and we babbled like idiots.

Then came April, which meant the Royals home opener. We ogled Crown Vision's enormous glory and watched A-Rod strike out FOUR times. Then we became one of the Ladies..., which was pretty exciting, and reflected on the origins of our Royals fandom.

May...was mostly stupid. We stewed about the Buzz Bissinger affair, had our hearts broken by a 12-game losing streak, and finally had something to celebrate when Mike Aviles got called up.

June was all about branching out, like a piece for Yahoo! about Aviles, and a new sports blog elsewhere where I pondered the human drama of minor league ball, and shared a tale of a game the ORoyals played with no electricity after a horrible storm beat our fine city to a pulp. (That game ended up being my favorite sports moment of 2008 in this Ladies... post.) Oh, I also saw my first no-hitter in person, and was not amused. Oh, and I went to Kansas City for a few days!

The beginning of July contains my birthday, so we figured out how the Royals have done on birthdays past. We later wrote our first-ever FanPost at Royals Review, which was a trade rumor involving Tony Pena Jr. And then TPJ pitched. Then, we were giddy to learn that the Hawaiian Punch himself, Kila Ka'aihue, had been promoted to Omaha.

Remember the time the Royals won seven f*^*^&*^*ing games in an entire month? Yeah, that was August. But we had Kila to keep us sane. His plate approach was a sensational break from people who we won't specifically name, but whose name might rhyme with...Mason Pith. Oh, and here's a tale from the dugout.

September was SO. MUCH. BETTER! The Shealy finally got his much-deserved callup when rosters expanded - and was still misused - and hit a bunch of homers. But we also got to see Kila (now!) in KC. We enjoyed all the winning and pondered why we're still Royals fans. Then we got to see The Shealy at an awesome win over the Stupid PoopySox.

In October, we DID NOT WANT Mike Jacobs, but it happened anyway. How miserable.

November came, and the Royals did a bunch of stuff with catchers, which prompted us to examine the catching market. Then Coco Crisp happened, and we reacted. We then ate our words for your enjoyment, and hopefully more of those posts are coming soon.

December was a month of farewells, like Greg Maddux. And the Royals said farewell to Mark Grudzielanek but helllooooo to a sandwich pick. The Baseball Writers Association of America said some hellos, inviting two Baseball Prospectus writers to join their ranks. And we tried but failed to make any sense of the Kyle Farnsworth signing.

Going into 2009, I hope to post more often, use shorter sentences, and use more statistics. I hope more people find this blog to be worth reading and sharing. I hope the Royals give me happy things to say. I hope I don't suffer any awkward injuries at an ORoyals game in front of 6,000 people, because Joey Gathright is no longer around to save my life. I hope Brian Bannister bounces back to his 2007 form. I hope Zack Greinke signs a long-term extension already. I hope there's at least one person who has read this far, and I hope anyone who is reading has a happy new year!

Random football thoughts

I think the phrase "nearly intercepted" is used way too often in football broadcasts, both on TV and the radio. I don't care if the pass truly was "nearly intercepted;" the phrase is still grossly overused. A good way to die is to drink every time you hear it, no matter who is announcing.

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My heart is totally broken after the Husker loss yesterday. It would have hurt less if we had lost to Texas Tech by 50, because that's what Vegas said we were supposed to do. Instead, Joe Ganz (or MANz, as I like to call him) and his receivers shredded the Tech defensive scheme and scored a VERY late TD to force overtime. You know what, I don't even want to describe that game right now. It hurts too much. Ganz should not have thrown that ball. It hurts. So hard.

Here's what happened, and a bunch of other stuff from Huskers.com.

He was SO GOOD. Until he wasn't. :(


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Turns out the Jerry Jones' strategy for dealing with Adam "not Pacman" Jones' latest scuffle is to not deal with it. Pacman is in the lineup today against Arizona. Also, Arizona ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown, which makes me laugh because I hate the Cowboys.

A good day?, and a proposal for ASG voting

The three teams that matter most to me will all be playing this afternoon. The KC Royals will try to mount a winning streak of two games at 1:05, which is the same time the Huskers will try to stay alive in their Regional after yesterday's loss to UC-Irvine. Then at 2:00, Carlos Rosa pitches for the O-Royals, which is obviously kind of a big deal. This could be a very good baseball day for me, or an exceptionally bad one.

Anyway, that's not the point at all. The point is, I got an e-mail from Nicole, a fellow bloggerette who has this proposal about voting for this year's All-Stars:

Hi, I'm a blogger in Wisconsin who covers the Brewers (cutesports.blogspot.com and here) and I had a thought on All Star voting that I think might be mutually beneficial and I thought I'd run it by you.

I'm not sure about your ballclub, but the Brewers go all out trying to push the All-Star voting by their fans. I've literally seen kids walk out of the stadium carrying boxes of unpunched ballots (3000 or so to a box). They offer incentives for every 10 ballots turned in with raffles of autographed merchandise.

I realized that I punch in all my Brewers and then arbitrarily vote for members of the AL. If I feel like reading over it, I try not to punch any Yankees or Red Sox, but for the most part, I just go right down the line. I don't care who's on the AL team.

If my theory is correct, AL voters feel the same way and I do about voting for the NL team, especially if they're voting in mass quantity.

So I propose we two fan bases tie together and agree to vote together. All your NL votes go to Brewers, all our AL votes go to Royals.

We're both small market teams with limited coastal media exposure and a long shot at getting more than one guy on the All-Star roster. As all our "opposite league" votes are just throw aways, why don't we start a campaign of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

We involve other team blogs, spread the word, and make a difference.

I've thought about possible detractors, and I don't see any. I can only speak from this side, but since they're handing out ballots 3000 at a time, I don't think the Brewers have any problem with stuffing the ballot boxes. If we're doing it anyway for our guys, why don't we help each other out.

What do you think? I know it's a bit late for the idea, but we do have 6 weeks til the game and I really think that it we can get this going, we could make it a yearly tie-together and get some midwestern love for our little teams that could.

Nicole

Harlan Chamberlain collapses in his home

Many of you may have already seen this linked from Ball Star or elsewhere, but it is pretty sad:

Harlan Chamberlain in critical condition

According to sources, Harlan Chamberlain collapsed at his home in Lincoln, Neb. He was listed in critical condition at St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, a nursing supervisor there told the Daily News on Sunday night. Chamberlain learned the news after the Yankees' loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Chamberlain's sister called a Yankees official during the eighth inning in an attempt to reach Chamberlain, who was in the bullpen at the time.

After the game, a source said, Chamberlain returned the call, only to learn of his father's collapse.

Sources said Chamberlain broke down in tears inside the clubhouse, as manager Joe Girardi consoled him.

I am a Yankee-hater; that is my job. But I love Joba Chamberlain and how close -- inextricably linked, really -- he and his father. And I cheer hard for all Huskers, no matter where they go on to play. I fear what would happen to Joba's trademark celebrations, not to mention his astounding pitching, if he was without that important piece of his life.

Prayers for Harlan, if you are the praying sort.

The baseball gods HATE GI Johnny

Non-Husker fans, you may leave this post alone if you wish. But I really feel the need to vent (The kind with words, not the Coors kind).

Nine innings. One run. That's a damn good pitching outing, right?

...not good enough for Johnny Dorn tonight, as the Huskers scored no runs against Oklahoma State.

Boo. BOOOO.

An interview and a dilemma

Interview: Due to some crazy homework happenings, I have not been able to get to my Royals projections Part II. That should come this weekend, but I can't make any promises. In the meantime, Ray at Royals on Radio, Etc. was kind enough to interview me.

Dilemma: This could also be labeled a "travesty," and "abomination," and even "a tragedy." As you well know, the real Opening Day (I refuse to acknowledge those games in Japan as Opening Day) is coming up, and...I have...an exam. From 2:30-3:45 on Monday. I also have classes from 11:30-1:20, but I was planning on, um, taking a break from those to watch the game.

But with this test nonsense, would I be better served to watch none of the game until later? Or should I still watch up until it's time to leave for the Stupid Class of Insensitive Scheduling (also known as Criminal Justice), then catch the later innings afterwards? It's quite the dilemma, one which could easily be solved if my teacher had ANY clue about anything. Instead, she's dirtying the Best Day Ever with her filthy exam. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

And some other stuff to get you through the LAST WEEKEND of the offseason. (Sorry for yelling, I'm just really excited that this is the LAST WEEKEND.)
-- Junior at FJM discovers why we should cancel every sporting event scheduled for the rest of eternity.
-- In a series that sounds like a Rage Against some sort of Machine, Royals Authority encourages us to know or enemies:
Know Your Enemy: The Detroit Tigers
Know Your Enemy: The Cleveland Indians
Know Your Enemy: The Chicago White Sox
Know Your Enemy: The Minnesota Twins
There's also a kind of recap of all the craziness happening with the KC roster.
-- Undying Royalty delicately handles the too-hot-to-touch Justin Huber trade.
-- The Ladies... remind us why reading is a winning activity, and present a few hotties who will be taking the mound on Monday.
-- For any fans of Big XII baseball, the #15 Huskers play at #13 Texas this weekend. Color me pumped for this; these series are always exciting.

Tables about the Royals, inspired by Bill James

My big problem with Bill James books is that I can't read more than half a page without stopping and scribbling some random ideas, inspired by what I see in the book. Here are some Royals-related numbers, inspired by stuff I found in the Bill James Gold Mine.

Here's the Royals' 2007 record based on number of homers in each game:

A few random observations from this: In April, the team did better with no homers (2-8) than when they hit one (3-10). Also, John Buck seemed to homer a lot in losses. I believe all of his multi-home run games were ultimately losses (but I could be wrong; please correct me if I am!).

Of course, measuring anything home run-related with the Royals is pretty useless, since the team was last in the Majors in homers. Sorry for bringing that up again; I know we're all painfully aware of our team's shortcomings. So here are some things, as listed in the Gold Mine, in which the Royals were not last in '07: (Holy crap, blogger is NOT letting me make this as big as I want, so click on the table for the full-sized version)
And what good is knowing the worst at various things in the Majors without knowing who was best? (Again, click on the table for full-sized version. Sorry 'bout that!)
I'm astounded at the difference between first and last place in stolen bases. That's an area where I'm not only hoping; but expecting, an enormous improvement for the Royals this season. The team has stolen 21 so far this spring (led by Joey Gathright's 8), and has been caught 7 times.

Now on to some links:
- Rany's series on why now is a great time to be a Royals fan keeps getting better and better: #9 is Joakim Soria, or "the Mexican Zack Greinke", and #8 is the Voice, Denny Matthews.
- Barry Bonds is not planning on retiring. ...ummm, yep. Good luck with that, bud.
- JoePo gives a (free!) snippet from The Soul of Baseball, in case you haven't bought it yet. (Buy it!)
- Eric Seidman at Statistically Speaking has gone completely insane, and will liveblog Moneyball tomorrow. Yes, he's going to read a book, and blog about it chapter-by-chapter. But I heart Seidman, so I will read it.
- Speaking of StatSpeak, Mike Fast is leaving the blog.
- In Husker baseball news, Dan Jennings kicked the crap out of Arkansas. I know a lot of you aren't Nebraska fans, but you should know that former Husker coach Dave van Horn is now Arkansas' coach, so beating them feels particularly good. Not that I wish ill will on Coach van Horn; he's a great guy and all, but I like being reassured that we have moved on and can survive without him.
- Here are two stories about the Yankees visiting Virginia Tech for an exhibition game. I'm not a Yankees fan by any stretch, but I like this. Baseball does heal; even if those VT students will never feel normal or safe at school again, maybe they can scoot an inch closer to some kind of comfort, knowing the superstar Yankees feel for them and were moved enough by their tragedy to visit the way they did.

If you're here from RoyalBoard, Royals Nation, Royally Speaking, Royals On Radio, Etc., or anyone else who has graciously linked to me in the last two days...welcome! I hope you stick around. Check out the featured posts, or just hang out and help yourself to the Dr Pepper in the fridge.

Suddenly it is 2:30, so I should be off to bed.

No worries, it's just Spring Training...right?

I know that I can't put a whole lot of stock in Spring Training performances, either good or bad. If you take ST stats too seriously, the Royals are all better batters than Ichiro. But how many sub-standard performances am I supposed to shrug off here? My handy countdown tells me the real actual season is coming very soon, and right now a lot of KC pitchers have some scarily big numbers in statistical categories where smaller is better.

I should point out that I haven't been able to actually listen to many games, so maybe I'm missing something. My mlb.com audio has been playing a funny game for the last two weeks, wherein I go to sign in to listen to a game, and they say "Nope! You aren't actually a subscriber," and I say "But I signed in just fine yesterday, what's the problem now" and the site says "Nope! You aren't actually a subscriber, I'm not listening to you lalalalalala!" so all I've had for reference so far are box scores. Maybe the broadcasts would be more informative than the box scores. Are Brett Tomko, Hideo Nomo, and a few others in whom I'm supposed to have faith just hiding their true skill until Opening Day?

I understand small sample sizes -- Tomko is the only Royals pitcher to have reached double-digits in innings so far -- and I understand that ERA is a flawed statistic and I understand that I'm not supposed to be too upset about ERAs in the tens and teens because the calendar tells me it's only mid-March.

But...it's mid-March. That's close to April, when for-real games start. Are pitchers supposed to be closer to their regular-season form yet? I honestly don't know, because I haven't always been a religious Spring Training follower as I am at the moment. Is it getting to the point where I should be worried about various parts of the KC pitching staff?

On an unrelated note (aren't they all that way with me?), I am spending my Spring Break in my hometown with my parents, little brother, and dogs. I guess most people go somewhere crazy during this week. I think the most exotic thing I have going on is a trip to the eye doctor, to get my glasses updated for the first time since 8th grade or so. My older dog (we call him The Perfect One) is napping at my feet, which I think is better than some overpriced trip to a place overcrowded with drunken frat boys and scantily clad sorostitutes. I may have mentioned this before, but my dorm building is nestled among about 60487 Greek houses, so I am surrounded by these types of "people" during every week of the year. This is my break from them.

Some links, for your reading pleasure:
-JoePo interviews Bill James. I like this: two of my favorite baseball minds talk about a bunch of random stuff.
-Clark Fosler takes a look at Royals pitching prospects. I think more are coming.
-The Minnesota/Illinois game (the Big 10 quarterfinals) ended in a CRAZY fashion. Definitely worth watching if you, like me, missed SportsCenter last night.
-A little late, but here's something "completely useless" but somewhat entertaining from Pizza Cutter at StatSpeak. It includes a Royal being first in the Majors in something. I'll let you read to find out who it is, and in what he led the league.

Lastly...
In Big XII tournament presented by Phillps 66 action,Nebraska lost to Kansas last night, which isn't much of a surprise. However, the first half was awesome. I wish I could have watched on TV, because I think I missed one of the only opportunities I'll ever have to see my Huskers frustrate and ultimately outplay the Jayhawks.

Baylor...what?

So, remember when I said that Colorado would for sure lose to Baylor in round one of the Big XII Tournament Presented by Phillips 66?

...wrong. So, so wrong. What the heck, Baylor? 12-seeds are NOT supposed to win these things, ever. EVER.

Other than that, I guessed correctly about the outcome of the round one games: Nebraska, OSU, and Texas A&M all did the right thing. That makes for Round 2 matchups of Texas vs. OSU (on right now), Oklahoma vs. Colorado at 2:00, my Huskers vs. Kansas at 6:00, and K State vs. Texas A&M at 8:20.

Spring break starts for me today, and I have long since checked out mentally. Unfortunately, I have one more class that will get in my way of watching today's Big XII action. Worse yet, that particular professor does not allow laptops, so I can't even check the score. Boo!

In Royals news, KC has a 4-game winning streak, their second such streak of Spring. I don't want to be a negative Nellie, but the winning may stop at 4, as Brett Tomko is the starter today. It's not that I don't have any faith in Tomko, but...I don't have the slightest bit of faith in him. I keep hearing from Giants and Dodgers fans that he has good stuff, but somehow never makes that translate into success. Some also say that his fastball doesn't move at all, so how is he in the majors?

I hope I have to eat all of the above words (after "Nellie"). An unnamed scout told JoePo that Tomko could win 15 this year. That's 15 MLB games, not like...15 innings, or 15 Lucky Lotto drawings, or 15 March Madness pools. That would be lots of flavors of lovely for the Royals and their fans. (that's me!)

And in one last quick note: This Onion article is one of the funniest things I have read, ever.

ESPN.com baseball columnist Rob Neyer has announced the formula for a new statistic which compares and contrasts his own disillusionment with the sport of baseball against that felt by his fellow sabermetricians. "It's called Baseball Fatigue Average, or 'BFA,' and it's the most comprehensive anti-baseball stat out there," said Neyer in a chat session in which he also argued the meaninglessness of the run batted in.

Wow. With that, I'll leave y'all alone.

Big XII and other awesomeness

Today was really really awesome. I mean, the kind of awesome that leaves you grinning for hours, for no particular reason. Firstly, I only have one class on Tuesdays, so I didn't have to waste much time being indoors. It was the first warm day we've had a long while (I think we finally passed 70 degrees). And there was a Husker baseball game (another win, which gives us a 10-game winning streak that stretches all the way back to the season's first series). And I got to play catch. And playing said game of catch did not hurt my shoulder nearly as much as I thought it would. And my dining hall had papaya at supper time. And the Soul of Baseball is now out in paperback. (Hi, Joe.)

So really, I could scarcely ask for more awesomeness in a day. But now the time has come to sit down and write something, so...well, here. The Big XII men's basketball (presented by Phillips 66) tournament starts in like 35 hours, and here's what I think will happen on Day 1. I am probably going to be totally wrong.

Thursday 11:30 a.m. - Oklahoma State vs. Texas Tech
I'm actually going to call a Cowboy win here. I know Tech is the 8 seed and OSU is #9, but in the first matchup between these two teams this year, OSU won by a handy margin. Later in the year, Tech took the win in a second contest, so I think Okie State might be looking for a little revenge.

Thursday 2:00 - Colorado vs. Baylor
Baylor wins, no question. Colorado is not a team. They are a Roby and a bunch of bodies. (Then again, my refusal to respect them as a team possibly stems from a deeper hatred of all things CU. But still, Baylor will win this game.)

Thursday 6:00 - Missouri vs. Nebraska
My apologies to Tigers fans, but...well, Nebraska ought to win this game. Last time these two teams met, it was a heartbreaking overtime loss for the Huskers. I mean, it hurt. Doc Sadler has proven to be an excellent button-pusher, and I'm guessing he'll use that last meeting as quite a motivator for the 7th-seeded Huskers.


Another reason Nebraska has to be refreshed is the return of playmaker Cookie Miller, who was out for what seemed like ages (but what was really 3 games) with a separated shoulder. He came back against Colorado, but wasn't quite back in form. His hand was all taped up, which affected his ball movement pretty ferociously. If that is all cleared up by Thursday, Tiger fans can expect to see Miller come up with a few sneaky steals, and slide a lot of passes to his teammates where it might look like there aren't any passes open.

Thursday 8:30 - Iowa State vs. Texas A&M
Texas A&M. Again, I don't see any upset brewing here; the seedings are the way they are for a reason.

It worries me a little bit (OK, a lot) that Nebraska is stuck playing Kansas on Friday (assuming they do, indeed, beat Mizzou). By the way, here is the schedule of the Big XII Tournament Presented By Phillips 66.

DSB

Sixth inning. A runner on first, one on second, one on third. Hoo boy, the sacks are juiced. Number 21 steps out of the on-deck circle, and music blares.

"Don't stop
Believin'
Hold on to that fee-eeee-liiinn
Street lights, people o-oh-whoooooaaaaa!"

God bless Nebraska's Nick Sullivan for his choice of walk-up song. If I were a ballplayer, that would be my song forever. Instead, as a promotions gal, I get the YMCA, the chicken dance, and Cotton Eyed Joe.

For the record, Sullivan popped up in the at-bat I described, and the inning ended, leaving the Huskers with three more stranded runners and an 8-4 lead over Northern Colorado after six. Not all things that have awesome beginnings can have awesome endings, but it's fun to try. That's why we, as fans, stick around, isn't it?

Today was Senior Day for Nebraska's basketball team, which meant it was Aleks Maric Day. Prior to standing by the court, I had thought I was ready to see the big Aussie go. I'd been mentally looking forward to next season, thinking about what the rest of the Huskers would be able to do without the guy who has been the star attraction for that last four seasons of Nebrasketball. But during the pregame ceremony in Maric's honor, when the PA announcer was reading a letter from Maric's sisters and nephews, I saw tears work their way down Aleks'cheeks, and I realized I wasn't OK with his departure yet.

I have spent a lot of this season nitpicking Maric, like the no-look hook shot thing, or sometimes for his apparent lack of passion for the game, but the fact is that those nitpicky things are all the bad things I have to say about his game. He has been a huge part of a shift in offensive strategy this season. Last year, as head coach Doc Sadler was figuring out what he had to work with in his first season here, the team relied a lot on the three-ball and on Maric forcing a lot of tough shots right under the basket. This year, as Sadler has had more time to implement better things, the team has leaned on Maric again to open himself up down low every possession, take a pass, and either make a quick 2-footer (and often draw a foul or two) or kick the ball back out to an open shooter elsewhere. That kickout is something that finally seemed comfortable and rhythmic for the Huskers, but they'll have to find another vertex for the offense next year.

Today we hoped our very hardest for about five more of those kickout passes to result in baskets by other Huskers, which would have given Maric enough assists for his first career triple-double to go with his 37 career double-doubles. Sadly, it didn't happen, but Aleks still had a game worthy of cheers, including a jaw-dropping three three-point attempts, one of which fell in gracefully amidst a mighty roar from the crowd.

Now that Texas has beaten Okie State this afternoon, Nebraska will be the #7 seed in the Big XII tournament later this week. Apparently, we will be stuck playing Kansas in the second round with a Husker win in the first. Sigh.

This and that

There goes another piece of my childhood...
This KC Star article got buried pretty quickly and quietly, but it's worth mention. I grew up listening to Fred and Denny, and was distraught when the team fired White in 1998.

When Ryan LeFebvre made his way into the daily Royals broadcasts, I hated him. He wasn't Fred White, I reasoned, and therefore I was never going to like him. In the almost 10 years since then, my opinion on LeFebvre has shifted considerably, but sometimes I still think back on my (much!) younger days, listening to the inimitable radio duo of White and Matthews, and wishing that I could do their jobs someday too. I think other little girls wanted to be princesses, or ballerinas, or some nonsense like that; I wanted to be the Voice of The Royals.

When I was 16 I got to meet Fred White for the first time. I was really nervous, the way some people get nervous for job interviews. The plan was, Fred was going to come to the radio station at which I worked happily for my whole high school career, and by some magical coincidence, I would also appear in the meeting room. It worked swimmingly, and he even said something about being impressed with my obvious passion for the Royals. I remember being amazed at the way his voice sounded exactly the same in person as it did on the radio, because, well...mine doesn't. (Or does it? I don't know.)

Anyway, I'm sad to know I won't hear his voice carrying over the unmistakable hum of AM radio static and baseball sounds anymore. That sound was a significant chunk of my childhood, and played a huge role in making me the hopelessly devoted Royals fan I am today.

John Buck tells us everything we ever wanted to know about his junk but were afraid to ask...
...in this interview with Sam Mellinger. This interview cracked me up, almost as much as Garfield Minus Garfield does. (Hat tip to the brother for GMG.)

But I'm confused...last week in an interview with Dayton Moore, Mellinger asked the (fantastic!) question about which Royal, after Mike Sweeney's departure, is the "Guy I'd Want My Daughter To Marry". Moore's response: "Oh, boy. Gosh, I love all these guys. I’d trust my daughter with every single one of them."

But John Buck had a very different response to the same question: "Yikes. I don’t know if I’d want any of these guys to marry my daughter."

So which is it? Are they are marry-able, or are none of them proper suitors? Inquiring (read: female) minds are dying to know.

Nebrasketball holds Sooners to 12 points in 1st half
The Husker offense was absolutely horrible in the first 20 minutes of last night's home game against Oklahoma, but 1) OU's was worse, and 2) the Husker defense was beautiful.

Nebraska played a tight man defense for most of the game. Everyone held their assignments admirably, and there were several possessions in which OU didn't get a shot off until the final seconds of the shot clock, if at all. In fact, 14 minutes went by in the game before the Sooners managed a single shot within the first five seconds of a possession, and they missed it.

Once the OU players started getting frustrated, the game got pretty ugly. I think the Sooners were honestly just embarrassed at the way they were playing, but the way they vented was to beat up on Husker players at every opportunity. It was a lot more physical than such an offensively crappy game should have been, but no one was terribly hurt, save Sek Henry's punctured lip and Ryan Andersen's very dislocated pinky. (You know the angle at which your thumb protrudes from your fully-outstretched hand? That is the angle Andersen's pinky took after he dislocated it. It looked gross, but he came back after halftime and played again.)

In other Husker news, the 1-2 baseball team opens home play tomorrow. I'm elated.

The wrap, finally: NU-KSU

To be completely and embarrassingly honest here, I did not have much faith in Nebraska's chances against Kansas State last night. I figured Michael Beasley would do his thing, as would Bill Walker, Jacob Pullen, and the rest of the Wildcats. Sure, I was excited about the game, but I didn't expect a win because I didn't want to leave disappointed.

The game, a Nebraska victory, was more than 24 hours ago, so I'll be brief with my observations:

1) KSU tried to be really aggressive in scoring; Nebraska's defense never made KSU hold on to the ball for more than 18 seconds or so before the Cats got a shot off. On the other hand, the shot clock ran down to its final seconds a ton on Nebraska's end, including one awkward shot clock violation. Don't know what this means, but I'm glad the Huskers were always able to hang on to the ball for that long instead of committing stupid turnovers every time the clock started burning down.

2) As I briefly mentioned in a post last night, Michael Beasley is a huge brat. I can't recall a moment where he wasn't complaining about one thing or another. This was after he promised in a pre-game interview that he was going to put up fifty points against the Huskers. Um...Michael, darling? 17 and 50 are not the same thing. Do they not teach that in Manhattan?

3) Steve Harley was awesome in the first half, dumping in tons of sneaky little baseline layups on his way to 20 points. He said in the postgame press conference that the team worked a lot on backdoor plays during practice this week, and it was obvious that their work paid off.

4) Which is it, coach? K-State coach Frank Martin said both of these things after the game:

"Give them [Nebraska] credit. Doc’s a good basketball coach. I’ve said that before. Doc’s a grinder...they deserved to win."

and

"In 23 years of coaching it’s the most embarrassing defensive performance of any team I’ve ever coached. And that includes 13-year olds."

So did Nebraska win this, or did K-State lose it for themselves? Does Doc Sadler get credit for his coaching last night, or KSU not show up?

The world could seriously use more coaches like Rutgers women's coach C. Vivian Stringer, who doesn't use any of those stupid coach's cliches in her interviews. Things have gotten to the point where every word from post-game press conferences is meaningless, something we've all heard as recently as the last time we watched a basketball game.

5) Cookie Miller had more steals (5) than points (3). Nothing more to say here.

6) I want you all to know that I was NOT part of the court-storming nonsense. People...it's K-State. It's not Kansas, nor Texas, nor North Carolina, Duke, or anyone that amazing. As much as I wasn't expecting to win, I wasn't so shocked at the outcome that I thought storming the court was appropriate. What I did think was appropriate was kindly reminding Beasley of how many points he didn't have. Ooh that felt good.

7) Last thing about this game: Why on earth do college students insist on chanting "Overrated"? It makes no sense to me. Don't you want to say that your opponent was a superb team, and your team was better? KSU was #23 going into last night's game. So if they were really overrated, then Nebraska basically beat an unranked team. I'd rather say that KSU really is a Top 25-caliber team, and Nebraska brought enough game to hang right with them.

UPDATE: one more "last" thing:
Doc Sadler's suits and angry yelling aren't fooling me. I know who he really is:

Beasley? More like... BOOOOOO!sley

I'll write more later, but I really, really hate Michael Beasley.

Laughing in his face after he failed to put up the 50 points he promised against my Huskers tonight? That felt good.

Tigers say RAWR, Nebraska loses.

I'm no expert analyst, nor am I a Division I coach of any sort, but I can tell you one way to NOT win an overtime game:

Don't score in the first four minutes of overtime.

Ouch, Nebraska. I mean, really.

Here's an excerpt from the Huskers.com article about the game:

Despite a 10-of-18 shooting performance, Maric attempted just one shot in overtime as he couldn’t connect on a tip try following a missed free throw.

And here's what that tip attempt actually looked like:
It was a weird game, officiating-wise. In the first half, Nebraska only got to the line for two free throws, but got 27 FT attempts in the 2nd half, and 4 in OT. How in the heck does one team get 27 free throws in 20 minutes of basketball? Anyway, the refereeing was questionable in all areas. At one end of the court, a player could breathe in the general direction of his opponent, and a foul would be called. Then at the other end, a player could punch (bar-fight style, because Missouri was involved) his opponent, put him in a half-nelson, depants him, and say insulting things about his mother...and it wouldn't be a foul. Note that I didn't specify which team was getting things called unfairly, because it sucked both ways at various times in the game. I don't ask for perfection from officials, because I know they have a hard job. I only ask consistency, so that the players and not the refs can decide the outcome of the game. Last night was not consistent officiating. Fans of both teams have a right to hate on the refs from last night.

To me, the turning point in the game was the ridiculous run Missouri went on to close out the first half. In those moments, the Tigers did everything right, and the Huskers had no answer for any of it. It started when Paul Velander came off the bench to try and supply some quick points from beyond the arc. He popped one shot, but it missed, and Missouri took the rebound and responded with a three. Next possession: Velander gets the ball early in the possession and finds himself surrounded by Tigers. There's tons of time left on the shot clock, and someone had to have been open since he was being double-teamed, but he forced an awkward, off-balance shot anyway. It missed too, and Mizzou again responded with points of their own. So it went for the rest of the half, and suddenly Nebraska was the lesser team on the court, the one that looked like it would run out of gas. Missouri took an 11-point lead to the locker room at the half, coming off the strength of that ridiculous 20-2 run.

Nebraska was thrilling in the 2nd half. Aleks Maric played like a true star for one of the first times all season, finishing the game with 32 points and 16 boards. He commanded the 2nd half, with the exception of one dumb no-look hook. (Yes, I'm still on his case about that. Those shots NEVER work, so until they go away, I'll be watching.) Steve Harley nailed two free throws to tie it all up with just over 5 seconds left. Missouri failed to score on the ensuing possession, and then...overtime.

I'm not sure what happened in the huddle after regulation ended. I think the Huskers forgot how they had been playing all night. They looked sloppy and a little bit lost for those first 4 minutes of the 5-minute frame, while Missouri kept doing their thing.
Final:
Missouri - 86
Nebraska - 78

A few quick things

This drama occurred between my new-to-me (aka used) laptop and I this afternoon. The laptop does not have internet access yet, and I finally got the wireless adapter card that would, in theory, allowed me to get online. Here's what happened instead:

ACT I
Me: [installs drivers for wireless internet card]
Laptop: Hi! OK, thanks for installing that, I'm gonna have to restart now, k?
Me: OK, go for it.
Laptop: [restarts] [Stage goes dark; curtain drops]

ACT II
Laptop: OKback, what's that? I see some new hardware...looks like a wireless internet card.
Me: Yeah, that's exactly what I just installed drivers for. That's the whole reason you restarted, remember?
Laptop: Let's run a Wizard! Wizards are awesome!
Me: There's no need for that; I already installed the drivers.
Laptop: No seriously, you could not have possibly done that without a Wizard. Wizards are so cool, and they make hardware and software installation so easy! Run the Wizard. Run the Wizard. Run it, run it, runitrunitrunit!
Me: Why the hell would I do that? I ALREADY INSTALLED THE DRIVERS.
Laptop: I don't care. You did something behind the Wizard's back. The Wizard is displeased with your malfeasance. Why don't you connect to the Internet to find a list of drivers you could try to install for this new card thingamabob?
Me: I alrea-- you know what? Connecting to the Internet is a lovely idea; let's try it. [clicks]
Laptop: You know, I can't connect to the Internet without a card or something. Do you have one of those?
Me: Yes. It's plugged in; I installed the drivers like a half hour ago. You're in software denial.
Laptop: Let's connect to the Internet, really! You might be able to find the driver you're missing there! On the internet.
Me: Yes. The internet. To which I can't connect without a functioning wireless adapter card. Which I actually have, and all the required software is ON YOU. It's there. You have it. Let me set up an internet connection PLEASE.
Laptop: Why don't we hop online to configure some settings for you? I have another Wizard you could run!
Me: Forget it. Who needs mobile internet access anyway? [Snaps lid of Laptop closed.]

Fin
******
The Husker basketball game yesterday afternoon was pretty strange. It didn't feel like any Nebrasketball game I had ever been to. I don't know if there has been some bad blood between the Huskers and the 'Clones, but it sure felt like there was. Ryan Andersen, for example, played like a man who had been hurt and needed revenge. He had a couple of steals early in the game that could not be adequately described by the word "steal" -- it's not nearly strong enough a word. Instead, what he did was more like ripping the ball away from the ISU players, and hoping that an arm and some blood came away with it. He looked pissed off, but it made him play some monstrous defense. I liked it.

ISU brought a bunch of fans in chartered buses. They were all tucked high up in one corner of the Devany Center, and I'd like to give them credit for being fairly loud. I'd also like to say that the Red Zoners around me are all idiots. At one point in the game, ISU was ahead 29-27 and a timeout was called. The Clones fans started a chant of "ISU! ISU! ISU!" and the (brilliant) Husker students supplied the word "Sucks!" between each call of "ISU." Yes, ISU sucks, guys. That's why they're ahead of your Huskers at the moment. Anyway, I wasn't yelling back at the ISU fans, because I was glad they were there. It's a lot more fun to have opposing fans around; I've always thought that it would be zero fun to be a Husker fan (or sports fan at all) if no other teams had fans of their own.

For the record, Aleks Maric seems to be learning. He only attempted two (maybe three; one was borderline) stupid no-look hook shots.

******

I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I think the time is right. SiteMeter tells me a lot of fascinating stuff about where you all come from. My favorite is when people Google stuff to get here. I think I could start a Matt Wright fan club, based on all the people who have Googled him to get here. (I'm up for that, by the way. I've always kind of wanted to be a president of someone's fan club, just to see if it's fun or creepy.) Here are some of the other fun things people have Googled to get to this blog:

craig brazell IS HE MARRIED (Ed. note: I think so, yes.)
gil meche religion
minda band
mike sweeney cried
THINGS NEEDED FOR A BASEBALL COSTUME (Ed. note: Is Google more effective if you yell at it? I should try that. I mean, uh... I SHOULD TRY THAT)
skinheads in Alabama
papelbon "halloween costume idea"
jonathan papelbon alds dance in sliding shorts
baseball things
Free Sara Lee bread at baseball game
billy butler married royals
justin huber asked
Mike Sweeney get married
frame to fit 19x25 poster
party hats (Ed. note: I've gotten a ridiculous amount of traffic from image searches for party hats, which I used in this post. It makes me giggle a little bit)
Neal Cotts Wedding
what’s fukudome going to do?
things to now about baseball
where matt wright royals
joba chamberlain speeding ticket
baseball weddings
mike sweeney, nebraska minor league, blog
usa matt wright royals baseball
"neal cotts" wedding jaime
tornado storm clouds
things people do because of love
doc sadler, headache, asu
"that did just happen"
minda physical therapy texas
5 thng mostly ask to baseball player
does mark teahen have a girlfriend
i hate sororities (Ed. note: My personal favorite, and the inspiration to give you this list today.)

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!
UPDATE: Why do they do a kickass flyover after the National Anthem in a DOME???

Shenanigans in the Big XII

Lead story tonight:
Duh. What else would it be?

A few thoughts:
1) Why not televise that game somewhere? I got to see the last few minutes thanks to "bonus coverage" on ESPN, but I wanted to see the whole thing.
2) Michael Beasley, please don't kill my Huskers when you play them. Please? I really love seeing super-hyped players (think Kevin Durant last year, all of KU this year) in person, which is a bit of consolation when they beat up on my Huskers. So in that sense, I'm excited for February 20, when K-State visits The Bob in Lincoln. But I am a Nebraska fan first, so I'd rather see an upset of some sort.
3) I want to know what it felt like to be a K-State fan tonight. That's the first time in my life I've ever said that, I think, and it could be the last. But The Streak came to an end, a streak that would not have been a huge deal if it were against any other team. The Jayhawks saw a somewhat significant streak of their own (a previously unbeaten record, for those of you just joining us) come to an end, and Wildcat fans got to see it happen in their house.

With 35 seconds left, KSU's Bill Walker grabbed the ball away after a KU basket and stormed down the court, capping it off with a powerful dunk that sent the fans to the next level of Nirvana, I think. If I had been there, and if I were a K-State fan, I may have passed out from the sheer ecstasy of that moment, within the already ecstatic context of a historically MASSIVE win in the making.

Elsewhere in the Big XII, another in-state rivalry was an unexpected blowout, as the Aggies of Texas A&M had their way with the UT Longhorns. I didn't see the whole game, just a few minutes at a time while the NU/MU game was in commercials, but the first score I saw of it was A&M's 19-5 lead early on. Texas looked feeble, and all their attempts at making a comeback were quashed as soon as they got started.

And lastly, before I go back to pretending to do homework (hey, those Bill James tables LOOK like they could be some math homework, right?), my Huskers tried their darndest to lose to a shorthanded Missouri, but pulled out a 4-point win, much to my blood pressure's delight. As per my request over the weekend, Aleks Maric did not attempt a single no-look hook shot. Lo and behold, he scored more than his zero-point performance against KU (13 tonight), which is what I suggested might happen if he were to look at the hoop when he pushed the ball towards it. Sek Henry led the Husker bench with 14 points, after losing his starting spot to the still-struggling Ade Dagunduro.

It wasn't the greatest win for the Huskers, but it was a conference win, and that's just what the doctor ordered. (Ha, get it? Doctor? Because our coach's name is Doc--oh, never mind.)

Missouri vs. Nebraska

"I've bowled three perfect games...

...

...on the Nintendo Wii."

Seriously. That pause was long enough for me to think, "Holy crap! Is there anything he can't do?!?" The quote, by the way, is from Luke Hochevar in a little video through mlb.com. I have no idea how to link to it, because MLB is dead serious about having the smallest number of people possible actually see their videos. But if you go to the Royals website, you can find the video among the current featured stories.(Somebody please explain to me how it harms MLB if someone posts highlights of games on YouTube? Why does it hurt their enormously deep pockets if I get to relive some of Mark Teahen's fabulous outfield assists, or take another look at Joey Gathright robbing a homer? What did it harm them when I YouTubed Bob Davis saying David DeJesus was hotter than a July day at KC? And wouldn't it actually help them if their videos were somehow link-able, so that I could share them with all 14 of you fine folks without making you have to hunt? It has never made sense to me, but it's aggravating.)

Anyway, this is actually a tiny bit of a Nebrasketball post, because if it wasn't that, then it would turn into a Minda bitches about how crappy winter is compared to baseball season type of post.

Is this good news for Nebraska? I'm tempted to say it is, because after disastrous losses to Colorado and Baylor, plus two expected losses to Kansas, the Huskers just need a conference win, and they need it now. (Well, technically they need it Wednesday, because the game is Wednesday, not now.) But what is the point of having a conference win under your belt if it comes against a team that's missing its best player? By the way, hat tip to regular commenter Royal8085 for the Hannah story. And I suppose if Nebraska should happen to fall in the game at Columbia on Wednesday night, that would look doubly worse, right? This team needs to win something so that they believe they are capable of winning within the Big XII. I'm not sure what has happened to the team that worked so wonderfully well together in seemingly huge wins over ASU and Oregon earlier in the season. Did Santa bring them all coal? They've only won two games since Christmas, and neither was against anyone too...well, they were against Alcorn State and Maryland Eastern Shore. Not exactly program-defining wins, there.

In any case, you can check out the Huskers vs. Tigers on FSN Midwest at 7:00. Also, today's themed MLB fantasy team is 4-letter last names.

Bannister lovin' in the offseason

You good folks already know that I love Brian Bannister a whole lot, and lately folks at a couple of other sites have been falling all over themselves to praise him too. I love this.

Craig Brown at MVN's Royals Authority talked about Bannister's newfound golfing hobby after the Royals forecast luncheon, and MLB Trade Rumors has a fantastic and insightful 2-part interview with him.

I love hearing about baseball players (as human beings, not just as numbers or as trade bait) during the winter. I'll take any random reminder of the season, though, not just stories about players. Today while I was watching the Nebraska/Kansas basketball game*, I had the pleasure of hearing Fred White's voice doing the broadcast. It was a random and happy flashback to every baseball season of my childhood, even though White was calling a wholly different sport today. Some things were consistent with Royals broadcasts from days gone by: White's familiar voice, obviously, and the fact that he had to find ways to gently suggest that the team for which I was rooting had absolutely no chance to succeed.

*Dear Aleks Maric,
Don't you EVER take another one of those stupid no-look hook shots you attempted so much today. Other than one completely unnecessary 3-point attempt, all of your shots were this pathetic thing. You have all the light touch of a cinder block, so when you poke that shot in the general direction of the basket, I want to punch you for wasting a possession in which the ball actually made it inside of Kansas' "no-catch zone." You have to look at the basket before you shoot if you want to score more than zero against a team like KU, so drop this shot from your repertoire before NBA scouts start to notice this nasty habit.

Hugs,
A mildly jaded fan

Bummer in Boulder

I have a confession to make: (Mom, cover your eyes for a moment, please.)
I spend a lot of time in class writing potential blog ideas, rather than paying attention to what the teacher is saying. I don't even know why I go to class half the time, because I have taken a total of maybe 20 pages of notes in my entire college career, and filled the rest of my notebooks with ideas for blog posts, and fun with numbers.(OK, Mom, you can look again.)

So I had this wonderful little plan that I was going use class time today to outline exactly how bad the Nebraska-Colorado basketball game last night was; something more substantial and stats-based than my little rant in a comment on another post. Turns out, I actually have to (or kind of want to) participate in all of my MWF classes. (Well, I suppose I could try to use time in Econ to do blog stuff, but my prof in there is...well, strict would be as big of an understatement as I've made in quite a while. Seriously, the guy might will snap me in half with his hands or shoot my face in with mind bullets if he were to catch me doing anything other than paying rapt attention to his lecture.)

The point is, you don't get my in-depth analysis of how sucky the Huskers were last night. But you are smart folks; you don't need me to tell you how awful it was if you saw any of the game. If you missed the game, the box score tells it pretty vividly too.

Nebraska was led in scoring by little Cookie Miller, whom I love dearly but who is not typically any kind of scoring threat. I mean, good for him that he scored 18 points, but most of them came off of stupid shots forced by a complete lack of intelligent ball movement. Nebraska looked like a court full of idiots, meaninglessly meandering around the arc, dumping the ball off in endless succession of pointless passes, none of which ended up inside the paint, or even inside of 30 feet from the hoop. In theory, it's cool that coach Sadler doesn't draw up every little play the Huskers are supposed to run. I like the idea of them being a tight enough team that they can work together to figure out where the ball should go and how to best get it into the hoop. But last night, that was less than an idea; it was a hopeless dream, and there was nothing the six of my friends and I gathered around the TV could do about it.

Furthermore, the more I watch Aleks Maric, the more I am convinced that he hates basketball. I know he prefers soccer, but now it looks like he has zero fire for basketball left in him. It's pretty sad, really, and pretty confusing to consider why he's going to try for the NBA if he hates the game so much.

What might be the most sad thing about last night is that if you look at Colorado's box score in isolation, you would probably bet money that they got their asses handed to them. They had almost as crappy a game as Nebraska did, and still won. Just like the Huskers, only two Buffs scored in double digits, but Colorado's top scorer had 13 compared to Miller's 18. 11 team assists for CU? Pathetic. But Nebraska sucked a little bit more, dishing only 9. Ditto for rebounds, and pretty much anything else in the box score. Yuck.

In the immortal words of Mike Gundy, "That's all I've got to say. Makes me want to puke."