Flood

I live in Tampa and don't make it back home to many games. However, I would be interested in future technology that can provide me with a Virtual Reality seat. Full immersion 3D, live and able to watch as though I were actually there. I'd be willing to pay more (a bit) to get different options. Sell me a seat 10 rows up at the 50 yard line for 800 dollars a year. I can watch from home in addition to watching live on TV or listening on radio. Or sell me one in the endzone for much less. Or sell me one in the student section so I can relive that fun. Or sell me access to a bunch of them that I can switch to depending on where the action is on the field. Of course, we will need the cheerleading views, too, and the band. This could be the future. Probably will be in some shape or form. What of counting attendance when the definition itself could change? I hope we see options like this in the future as tech gets closer to making it possible. At that point, I do not know how you would (or if you could) count it toward things like a sellout streak. The world is changing and who knows what it will bring.

Iirc, the BTN money is available in MUCH larger numbers than has so far been distributed. That is, there is quite a pile of cash that has been built up as a reserve fund for the network that only just started paying dividends. That first dividend is the 1 million we keep hearing about. The next year's dividend is rumored to be in the 10-12 million range and then keep going up. If true, that would put our first tier + BTN money in the 44 million range, not counting bowls, basketball shares, and so on. It is possible, perhaps likely, that overall number jump to the low 50's millions in the next 2 years. That is what has other conferences concerned. I hope that we spend a large chunk of that money, if it comes, on coaching and facilities. Investing for the future if you will. I have moderate hopes for Riley. If he succeeds in a big way I will be thrilled. But my more down to earth expectation is that he will keep us steadily in the Top 10-20 and in the CFB conversation in a general fashion until we have the opportunity to hire another generational coach like Osborne or Devaney. The money we will have at that time should assure that we can keep a coach as long as we would like to, and as long as they wish to be here. Perhaps that coach is Scott Frost, which would make sense in many ways. If not him, someone who can get the job done. Spending a few years ranked 10-20 isn't the worst thing. We've done that off an on through our history.

The 'streak' has amused me since the 1980's. Every broadcast I watch, you can easily pick out blank spots in the stadium. It's ridiculous. /s

If this were to happen, I would breathe a giant sigh of relief.

This is getting intense. It's gotta end up with a split among broadcasters, right? I can't imagine where Fox would place 3-4 simultaneous early starts. And what about spillover as games end late?

Like a clock, Ferentz dishes out a 'good' season every 5 years or so. Exactly at the time Iowa fans seem ready to kick him out of town. That 'good' season consistently burns out right at the end, leaving Iowa fans thinking 'next year is the year'. And it never has arrived. I fully expect Iowa to find a way to lose 4 or more games this season, as has been tradition there during Kirk's time. He'll probably finish off a bit more of his contract and hand the team over to his son if he can.

I'm unclear on how all this works, so forgive any foolish questions or assumptions. The big games that ESPN/ABC already took have not yet been scheduled a time, correct? If they want those at night, I assume that's how they'll do it, but I also assume it depends on how each team is doing and what other games are compelling for the time slot.

I love night games. I can't get home to Lincoln often, and watching on TV is more fun at night, at least for me. Plenty of time to get the smoked ribs or brisket done, watch some early games, etc. We could end up with quite a string of night games this year. Our two road games are Wisconsin and OSU, leading up to Minnesota. I suppose there's a chance they all end up at night. After that Maryland and then Iowa (Black Friday). Has the Black Friday game ever been played at night? I'm too old to remember.

Higher. Much higher. That track was removed in 1978.

I have spoken to quite a few other B1G fans from OSU, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. According to them the random and stunning Purdue win is sort of written in prophecy and has been for decades. No one knows why or how but the Gods of Football occasionally insist that Purdue win games they have no business winning. A couple people suggested it was a tried and true method of keeping Purdue just interested enough in football to keep playing. Sort of like putting an apple on a stick in front of a draft animal to keep them moving. All of them suggested we not give it too much thought. Since it has happened to us, we should be in the back of the line again with our next loss to Purdue scheduled sometime in the mid '20's. They are, however, trying to decide who gets the next loss since conference expansion badly disrupted the previously scheduled Purdue upset lottery.

If the flightaware rumors are true, this does NOT bode well. Not good. Not good at all.

What the damn hell does it even matter? Leave 'em up. Start a new wall with the date of the Performance Lab results, inaugurating a new era of standardized testing and the methodology used to determine this. Good way to get some of the students in that area better handle on this and so on. There will come another day when Boyd, or someone else, decides on a new standard. In 2022 or some other year, we will all be told that the current method Boyd is using has been replaced. Hopefully by an even better idea from the Performance Lab.

No PAC network. I'd like that, too, just to make sure I have every CFB possibility within reason. Unfortunately, PAC network hasn't done terribly well in the marketplace. I DID have it on Brighthouse, so it's my one (minor) regret on this Vue transition. However, I think I can survive without watching Oregon State play Washington State. Eventually it'll be available, I imagine . . . Speed is recommended at 5 mbps per device. I'm sure higher speed is better, as usual. Damn, I sound like a salesman. I'm really not! LOL. It is a good service though, as long as you have the speed and can get your local network channels over the air without trouble.

The other BTN channels normally ARE inactive. They only activate when there are multiple games, as overflow channels. Otherwise they are dead channels. If you have experienced NOT getting games when you know there are games on those channels, please let me know. It is something I need to look into. For instance: BTN might look like this on a weekend early in the season when no big games are on*: BTN: OSU/Western Michigan BTN2: Nebraska/South Dakota State BTN3: Illinois/Rutgers *Example purposes only. I have no idea what the actual schedules are. Usually BTN tries to schedule with as little overflow as possible, so those channels aren't usually showing anything.

You can use up to FIVE devices simultaneously, wired or wireless. We're all wireless and it's been flawless. Their 'DVR' is cloud-based and works just like you'd expect. It automatically saves every program you 'normally' watch for 30 days. That is, if you are in the habit of watching "Fishing With Scantily Clad Plumber Girls" it will save ALL those episodes for a month, just in case you miss a plumbing episode. Or fishing. This can be toggled on or off at the launch and anytime via the menu. You can also set it to record multiple things at once. I have not experienced any BTN overflow channels yet, obviously. They show 4-5 total, listed as BTN, BTN 2, 3,4, etc. I assume (hopefully correctly) that those will activate during football season just as usual. The Amazon Fire Stick we bought was $50.00 (with voice activated remote). The less expensive option is $40, I think. There are ways to side-load apps that let you watch Chromecast and other platform/OS's. I don't know anything about them, but it's something I saw on some forums related to the Vue.

What's the video feed like? Does it freeze up or buffer a lot? So far no freezing. One tiny issue I noticed, but I think it's easily explained. On the original Twilight Zone I watched Episode 1 and noticed an odd pause with strict regular timing. The picture seemed to lag a moment but the audio was fine. I believe this is because the episode was shot in 24 fps and isn't handled well by whatever is trying to convert it. Watching newer movies (Sin City, Matrix, Interstellar. The Martian, so far) I have noticed utterly no lag or buffering. For me, it is comparable to watching a DVD or DVR in every way. The only caveat is that it takes a second or two jumping between apps, from Netflix to Vue or to HBO, etc. Nothing terrible, but it's the only minor complaint I can find. Lag and buffering probably depend entirely on your internet connection. The Vue side seems solid.

I'm in Tampa Bay, but the Sony Vue stuff is nationwide. I watched a few things last night, as we get used to it. It really is outstanding so far. We still have cable for a few days but I can see this being an easy transition.

Yes, sorry about that. I saw that post too late. Apologies for the trouble, mods!

Thought I'd share this in case anyone has missed it. Playstation Vue is now nationwide. It does NOT require a playstation, though you can use one. You can use it on computer, Kindle, smart TV's, the Amazon Fire TV stick and others. Not sure about Chrome, though, someone may want to check it out. Not affiliated in any manner, but this is something I think others would want to know about if they do not already. Here's the link: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/network/vue/#1 There's a 10 day free trial and three plans. The middle price plan has all the sports stuff below and more. I am paying $35.00/month and get all the BTN channels, SEC Net, all the ESPN channels and a slew of other channels like NBC Sports and so on. The only possible issue is that you will need an over the air digital antenna, which can be had for about 20 bucks on the low end. If you live far from your nearest TV stations you may need a more expensive version. You still have to have internet access of course. I think they recommend 5 Mb/s download per device. You are allowed up to 5 devices at once. We just switched but so far the speed and quality are outstanding. Better than our local cable, Time Warner Brighthouse, which has been plagued by digital interference for years. I'll answer anything I can, but my knowledge is limited, having just switched.

Oklahoma is not and has never been AAU, a sticking point for B1G presidents in the past. We all know they voted NU in with knowledge that we were losing AAU status. Heck, some of their own votes were responsible for NU losing that very status. I have no idea what would happen with OU, but I imagine Delany is working hard to help them understand that OU has closed the gap considerably and that inevitably compromises will be necessary if expansion continues--and if the B1G hopes to land teams that generate viewers and money. How gray the line is and how sharp is an interesting question. There must be factor(s) that are changing as the years go by.

I'm right there with you guys. I don't know any more than what I posted: OU is talking to the B1G. That is confirmation (at least for me) that this time OU is not bluffing. Texas better be prepared to lose this hand with Boren or lose OU in their conference. We chatted a little more, but it was just our personal thoughts, nothing that everyone hasn't already dissected over and over and none of it is particularly new. Maybe Texas can keep OU happy. But my personal feeling is that once someone has a wandering eye the grass often looks greener on the other side. I certainly felt that way after the shock of Nebraska to the B1G wore off a bit.

I know I don't post much, and rarely contribute to rumors, BUT: As some of you may recall, or notice from searching my post history, I work in media, specifically geared toward broadcast radio and television. I worked in the Omaha market for most of the 90's and still have many friends in Omaha and scattered in media around the country. I am currently in the Tampa Bay area. One of those old media friends is a fellow in Chicago. I'll be short on details, as I was warned to keep him anonymous, but here's what little I got: The B1G and OU are in fact talking about OU moving to our conference. I know that isn't much of a surprise. I don't have any actually surprising info. But this was a confirmation of something we all suspected and I thought it was worthwhile to verify it, inasmuch as I can. My friend is also a longtime media veteran in the sports broadcast world. He's not a guy anyone would know, more of a behind the scenes person in the executive area of broadcast. He does not know anything more, really. No dates, no prophecies, no legal crap. Just that they are talking about moving to the B1G. Take it for what it's worth.

If we could bring back the County Scholarship program, I would be okay with it. Also, we need to carry on promoting the Sell-out Streak that actually ended back in 2004. It means something to most people. And the textbook thing. If it will give us an edge, sure. Or, better, craft some book-shaped weights and make our guys tote them around campus to get the extra workout. Think we could get a textbook to weigh 250 lbs that way? I bet we could. And staff should get to wear tropical shirts every day. I think that covers everything we might need to win a CFP Championship.

Simple Minds got us into this mess. Sound Minds will get us out.

I found part of your problem, at least. You predicted a first year coach would take the Huskers UNDEFEATED to the CCG where we would lose to OSU. That is an incredibly lofty expectation with a new staff. Probably need to put the brakes on unrealistic hopes. We got rid of the previous staff because they couldn't get it done, so there were obviously things that needed to be changed or fixed. Expecting those changes to happen all at once, in the first year, is a silly hope. Lol. You're a fool. I'm not one raising the fire coaches flag. I made that prediction out of sheer hope and in a joking manner. To honestly have that expectation would be true lunatic status. I think you don't understand which side of the fence I'm on. Ok, I apologize. In this storm it's hard to see who is for what. I didn't and don't know your thoughts and am myself guilty of assumptions. Perhaps things will calm down in the coming days and weeks. I surely hoped for great success, like everyone else. But it also seems that so many peoplse blindly said, "I can handle a bad first year, even more losses than usual, as long as we ultimately get to a higher (much higher) place as a team." But now, when it seems to be happening, we're seeing a rush to judgment that belies their earlier claims. As id they said or wrote these words, but inside their hearts fully expected us to win the CCG or be dominant in year one. I hope we win a lot of the remaining games. But I won't be surprised if we win less than 7 or 6. I also hope this year leads us to tremendous improvement next year, no matter what our 2015 record.