Blackshirt

DT is an amazing artist. If he isnt already, he should and will be working for a major production house. This is up there with ESPN quality. Big ups DT - and thanks for the love.

BRI, your 911 debut was emmy award winning material brother. I dont know what part was funnier, the "I think we're dead, I really do" comment, or how interested the dispatcher is in those BROWNIES!! chewy chewy chomp chomp. BRI you'll have to bring those brownies to a tailgate function this fall season. I'm sure they'll go great with ETRs vike-mellow jello mold.

Sweet kicks Jo Ann, and congrats on the wedding!

For those that enjoy the atmosphere of the College World Series, please consider signing a petition in an effort to restore Dingerville, via the link below. I think its safe to say the CWS just wouldnt be the same without it. Please sign and help us find a new home for Dingerville. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/897791238 Thanks for the support.

I finally had a chance to put together a quick petition for Dingerville. Please take a moment to check it out and add your name here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/897791238 Thanks for the help!

Some interesting comments from Erstad in reference to Osborne -- see bold comments about half-way down... Searching for a mentor By David Brown Comments (No comments posted.) Given his natural talent, and if left alone to fend for himself in the wilderness of Major League Baseball, White Sox rookie John Danks someday probably would make a fine left-handed pitcher. Mark Buehrle, Danks recently recalled, just could not leave well enough alone. “It took Mark Buehrle one day to start helping me out,” said Danks, a newcomer to the Sox after a trade this past off-season. “It was the first day of spring training and we were paired up together in live [batting practice], and after we got done throwing, we’d do about three or four pickoff moves to first. After my first throw, he came over and said, ‘Maybe you could turn your foot this way, or do it like this.’ “Mark’s been great. The first thing he told me was, ‘Need anything – ask me. If you have a question and don’t know where to be – ask me.’ ” Mentoring moments such as that one, Danks said, might be the difference for him between being good and very good, or improving sooner rather than later. The concept of mentoring in sports is a tradition similar to that which is seen in everyday life – where an experienced, trusted person counsels someone who is a bit green, troubled or at risk. Bob Hurley has played the mentor role for hundreds of kids the past 40 years. As boys basketball coach at St. Anthony in Jersey City, N.J., Hurley has been hands-on in influencing, improving – and sometimes outright helping to save – young lives. Rashon Burno, who played at DePaul University and recently was named the boys basketball coach at Marmion Academy in Aurora, credits Hurley in his development from precocious, but endangered, kid – surrounded by poverty, crime and death – to responsible adult. “The drive I had was something that any kid in the inner city has in order to improve his own situation,” Burno said. “I was just fortunate to stay focused, with the help of others, to get myself out. The [local] boys club, Hurley and other people along the way kept my eye on the big picture.” Hurley said he feels only partly responsible. “You know that expression: ‘It takes a village to raise a child’? We also need to look around and invest in the lives of people who need help,” Hurley said. “This is what happens if you can have these miracles or stories about a kid who came from very, very difficult circumstances, and now he’s living the American dream.” Young athletes need not to be a wrong step from jail, or worse, to need a nudge in the right direction. Sports is a fertile place for mentoring. “It’s huge,” said Sox outfielder Darin Erstad, who also played football at Nebraska. “It’s the natural progression of the game.” Erstad was a middle-class kid who punted for a national champion football team in Nebraska and was a top pick in Major League Baseball’s draft. Despite his advantages, mentors still played a big role in Erstad’s development. When he was a rookie with the Angels in the mid-1990s, Erstad counted on Dave Hollins and Gary DiSarcina to show him the ropes. “I had a great group of guys who taught me – not that I didn’t know how to play – but they really fine-tuned what I already believed in,” Erstad said. “They made it stick; they reinforced what was there.” Before turning pro, Erstad said his college football coach, Tom Osborne, set the ultimate example in what happens when a coach shows confidence in players. “He’s a man of few words, but when he says something it’s got something behind it,” Erstad said of Osborne. “He’s got it figured out and was a great guy to learn from. He just stands for everything that’s right. You just don’t get much more pure than him.” Erstad said Osborne’s halftime speech at the ’95 Orange Bowl, in which Nebraska trailed Miami by 10 points before mounting a furious comeback, still amazes him. “He said to ride out the storm for the first half and, over time, our conditioning and strength will wear them down,” Erstad said. “Stick with the plan and, no matter what happens, toward the end of the game we’re going to be the better-conditioned team, and we’re going to do what we want to do.” Nebraska won, 24-17. “It couldn’t have been any more true, you know?” Erstad said. “He had the game plan. He knew his team so well and knew his opponent so well that, by the fourth quarter, they were down on one knee with a lot of tongues hanging out, panting. ... He knew what was going to happen.” Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan might have the same idea about Danks, a former first-round pick of the Texas Rangers. Long before Buehrle ever befriended Danks, Ryan was giving pointers to a skinny kid who pitched in the same town. “When I see him, I can talk pitching,” Danks said of Ryan. “Who better to talk to? It was right before I signed with the Rangers, he took me down to an Astros game and we sat right behind home plate. The whole game, we watched Greg Maddux throw for the Braves. He was pointing out different things he was doing and kind of gave me what to expect as a young kid coming to the minor leagues. Yeah, I’m forever grateful for Nolan Ryan doing that. Any time I see him, I can ask him a baseball question and he can help me.” Often, Sox slugger Paul Konerko said, the best mentors do so quietly. “I think you’re getting mentored best when you don’t know it,” Konerko said. “If you have to sit there and say, ‘I need a mentor, I need help,’ I don’t think that works as well as when it naturally happens. Then you look back and say, ‘That guy was a big help to me.’ ” Konerko said mentoring goes beyond on-the-field situations. “It’s how to handle yourself in the clubhouse, in the hotels, on the plane, around older players, around staff,” Konerko said. “It is hard, just because you don’t know. It’s just like going to school. When you go to high school where you go in as a freshman and work your way up to being a senior.” Konerko has tried to help Sox outfielder Brian Anderson through a rough start to his own career. Many of Konerko’s and Anderson’s conversations have nothing to do with baseball. “When you’re a young player, there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen trying to tell you how to swing or to do this or that,” Konerko said. “I certainly had a lot of people telling me that kind of stuff. So I said to myself, ‘If I ever get into a position where I’m older, you’re going to help – but only if a guy asks. Don’t try to force yourself.’ ” That probably is why, Konerko said, Buehrle and Danks get along. “The way he performs and goes about his business, it’s perfect,” Konerko said of Danks. “He works quick. He’s not a ‘mental’ guy who overanalyzes. That’s probably one of the biggest pitfalls in the big leagues – and we still fall into it sometimes – is when you overanalyze every little thing. When you see a guy like Buehrle not wasting a whole lot of energy, you tend to follow his lead.” – David Brown is a sportswriter for NorthWest News Group. Write to him at rdbrown@nwnewsgroup.com.

Ok guys, I received this 2nd hand, mis-spellings and all, so take it for what its worth. If this is accurate it doesnt look good.

Yeah we'll get it going again. It just became a huge pain in the ace with all the spam we were getting, so we had to disable all comments. But we're exploring a couple other options to improve it, and it should be ready within the next couple months. But in the meantime, as AR said, if anyone has comments to post please submit them to admin@huskerboard.com and we'll get them posted for you.

San Diego, Calif., –- Whether on the court or in the sand, Nebraska volleyball proved to have the queens of the sport, as the Husker duo of Jordan Larson and Sarah Pavan teamed to win the Powerade Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championships Sunday afternoon. Pavan and Larson led Nebraska to the event title, as they rallied for a three-game win over the Stanford team of Cynthia Barboza and Bryn Kehoe, prevailing 19-21, 23-21 and 18-16. Nebraska also defeated Stanford to win the NCAA volleyball team title last December in Omaha. Pavan and Larson, who were playing their fifth match of the day, were down 1-0 to the Cardinal in the title match and trailed 19-17 in game two before rallying to tie the match and send it to a decisive third game. In the finale (first team to 15), the teams traded points throughout the final game and Stanford had match point at 14-13 before a Barboza service error tied the match. The teams continued to battle until the Huskers broke a 16-all deadlock with two points to win the hour-long match. “It was a back-and-forth match all afternoon,” Assistant Coach Lizzy Stemke said. “We were able to make the defensive plays we needed to late to win the match.” Pavan said that while the Huskers were challenged with an unfamiliar surface in a different setting, the key was to keep errors to a minimum. “The game was just up and down,” Pavan said. “We would get a sting of points, and then they go on a run. It came down to who made errors and when. There were obviously a few things we struggled with but we held our own. Jordan and I are very competitive and we just went out there to win.” The Huskers advanced to the finals with a 23-21 and 21-16 victory over the seventh-seeded San Diego pair of Andrea Csaszi and Jaimarie Sutherland. Barboza and Kehoe lifted the Cardinal to the championship match with a 21-16, 21-12 win over the eighth-seeded Cal Poly team of Kylie Atherstone and Chelsea Hayes. Both Nebraska and Stanford earned a spot in the semi-finals after being upset in pool play to finish second in both groups behind the Cal Poly and San Diego, respectively. Cal Poly, Nebraska and Texas tied with 2-1 records in Pool A, but the Mustangs won the group with a 2.5 set ratio with the Cornhuskers second (1.67) and the Longhorns third (1.33). After Cal Poly lost to Nebraska 15-7, 16-18 and 15-13, the Mustangs posted wins over Minnesota (15-13 and 15-10) and Texas (27-25 and 15-13). After Texas defeated Nebraska 15-13, 16-18 and 23-21, the Cornhuskers rebounded to advance to the semi-finals with a 15-11 and 15-11 victory over Minnesota. San Diego, which upset Stanford 15-11 and 15-12 in an opening pool play match, won its group with a 3-0 record after downing Penn State (16-14 and 15-9) and Florida (15-11 and 15-13). Stanford posted wins over Florida (15-11 and 15-10) and Penn State (15-11 and 15-13) to gain the second spot from Pool B. Powerade Collegiate Beach Volleyball - CSTV Broadcast Schedule Sunday, May 6 - 4:30 p. m., Collegiate Nationals Preview Show Saturday, May 12 - 8 p.m., Collegiate Nationals - Premier of Beach Volleyball Friday, May 18 - 8 p.m., Collegiate Nationals - Premier of Beach Volleyball Semifinal No. 1 Saturday, May 19 - 8 p.m., Collegiate Nationals - Premier of Beach Volleyball Semifinal No. 2 Sunday, May 20 - 8 p.m., Collegiate Nationals - Premier of finals for Beach Volleyball

The five-star curse Pressure can ruin recruits DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press Writer In his prime as a high school player in 1999, 6-foot-7, 304-pound Blake Larsen was one of the nation’s top offensive linemen SHAWNEE, Kan. -- Blake Larsen wishes he could have been just another guy on campus. A police officer in suburban Kansas City, it was only a few years ago the 6-foot-7, 320-pound offensive lineman was the prized recruit of the University of Iowa. He was a Parade All-American, rated by several experts as the top offensive line prospect in the country. Larsen never started a game. "It's tough to stay grounded,'' he said, reflecting on a promising career gone awry. "You're the center of attention. You start to believe your own hype.'' Larsen quit the Hawkeyes program after his junior year, one of many former high school stars whose college careers are tarnished by unfulfilled, and often unrealistic, expectations. While injuries and academic problems have doomed many, experts and administrators increasingly say external influences _ mainly fans and the media _ are contributing to the downfall of high school athletes when they reach college. In some cases, players develop a sense of entitlement that sets them up for failure, said Dr. Doug Gardner, a sports psychologist with ThinkSport Consulting Service in Lafayette, Calif. In other cases, athletes wilt under the pressure and scrutiny. "A lot of young people get totally absorbed in the situation,'' Gardner said. ''They're flattered that someone is interested in them.'' R. Gerald Turner, co-chairman of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, said the increased attention is "dramatically impinging upon the lives of student-athletes,'' turning them into commodities by people ''who care nothing about them other than their news value.'' Turner, the longtime president of Southern Methodist University, said there is a pressing need for reform in recruiting, but acknowledges there is no good way to curtail growing public interest. "We've become very concerned with the intrusiveness of the whole process on the lives of these young people,'' Turner said, "as if nothing about college is of importance other than how many stars they get on their athletic ranking.'' Companies such as Rivals.com and Scout.com have found a niche in recruiting coverage, and in turn are becoming the target of athletics reformers like Turner. By the time the football signing period ended April 1, both sites had posted extensive profiles on nearly every player who signed a Division I letter of intent. Most were accompanied by photographs and video clips. The news comes at a price, though. Many athletes say they get phone calls from reporters at least once a week, often more. Letters, e-mails and text messages are almost constant. "There are obviously some (players) who enjoy it,'' Turner said, ''but plenty of others and their parents are crying out for a more controlled system.'' Bobby Burton, editor-in-chief for Nashville, Tenn.-based Rivals.com, argues that his Web site provides a valuable watchdog service over the sometimes seedy world of recruiting, while delivering a product fans crave. The popular network logged 1.6 billion page views last year, and many prospects and college athletes have subscriptions. Rivals.com consistently rates as one of the ''stickiest'' sports sites on the Internet, according to comScore Media Metrix, which compares the amount of time people spend on a Web site. "t's up to the player to make the decision when enough's enough,'' said Burton, who believes parents and coaches must be more actively involved in the recruiting process. ''It's their decision. It's not the school's decision. It's not the committee's decision.'' Patrick Crumb, senior vice president of Fox Media Interactive, which owns Scout.com, believes recruiting coverage has become mainstream. USA Today, ESPN and others cover it, particularly around national signing day in February. "We're certainly cognizant of the fact that we're dealing with teenagers and young adults,'' Crumb said. ''But I think we're gaining quite a bit of credibility.'' Not among coaches like Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, who said the attention creates "undue and unnormal pressure'' on highly touted recruits that causes more to wash out than in years past. "The exposure to recruiting is greater now than it's ever been,'' Ferentz said. ''There's a stronger interest -- not always healthy -- but a stronger interest in recruiting than ever before.'' In the recruiting class of 2002, nine of the top 100 players identified by Rivals.com didn't make it to campus, falling short academically or running into legal problems. Thirty-one did not play their entire career at the school where they signed, excluding a handful who left early for the NFL. While Vince Young led the University of Texas to the 2006 national title, Garnet Smith and Marquis Johnson virtually disappeared. Ten players from Young's signing class were no longer part of the Longhorns program four years later. "The pressure the outside sources put on you, expectations get real high,'' Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. "We've had a lot of five stars that didn't pan out. ''It just seems like it's out of hand. You just have to keep up with the faith that there will be something or some legislation to rein it in.'' Ray Reitz, a football coach at Pennsylvania's Jeannette High School for the past 25 years, said the attention he gets for junior quarterback Terrelle Pryor -- who has more than a dozen offers from the likes of Michigan and Penn State -- is staggering. "The danger of society right now is kids are skipping these years, adolescent to adult,'' Reitz said. ''There's people out there exploiting kids like this.'' Cathy Larsen thinks her son missed out on growing up. She remembers the Internet message boards ripping on Blake Larsen when he did not make an immediate impact at Iowa. Those who had lauded him began to attack him. "It's hard, because you have to live up to that,'' Cathy Larsen said. ''He would call home and you could just tell in his voice. He was down a lot.'' Blake Larsen contends he's still a success, unlike so many other high-profile recruits who flame out. Larsen earned a degree, met his wife at Iowa and landed a job he loves. But, he acknowledges, his football career might have turned out differently if not for the attention he received in high school. He considers a former teammate, Bob Sanders, who arrived on campus relatively unknown and blossomed into a star for the Indianapolis Colts. "He's a Super Bowl champion now,'' Larsen said. "When they do something great, it really opens eyes. If you're already getting all the hype, it's pretty much, 'He was supposed to do that.''

Simply awesome DT - and thanks for the kind words about our board. We're proud to have you as a member. Thanks for all you do.

Yeah, but that just wont be the same. kinda kills the atmosphere when youre surrounded by casinos, hypo needles & shuttle buses.

the city is "trying to clean up the cws", they are also eliminatin all but 4 beer gardens around the area Yeah, and by "cleaning up the cws", they mean "monetizing it in everyway possible". They realized that was premier real estate and they couldnt regulate it as easy as slamming some more ghey corporate tents in that space. Place is gonna turn into a freakin matrix of nike & coke tents. they'll probably clear space in left field by 2010.

No doubt about it, it's Freeman's team Joshua Kinder jkinder@themercury.com Josh Freeman will only be a sophomore, but already Kansas State head coach Ron Prince is making comparisons to former LSU quarterback and possible top NFL draft pick JaMarcus Russell. Although the comparisons at this point are only based on Freeman's size. "I hear people talk about this JaMarcus Russell from LSU and how big he is," Prince said last week. "If JaMarcus Russell and Josh Freeman stood next to each other right now, they'd probably look very similar." Freeman, who enters next season as the clear-cut No. 1 quarterback, said he's already up to 255 pounds, despite being listed at 238 in the Spring Football Prospectus. "I feel stronger and faster," said Freeman, who passed for 1,780 yards and six touchdowns last season. "My body's been maturing and things are coming easier to me." That's good because Prince is counting on Freeman to take more responsibility and have "more latitude to exploit his skills." That also goes for Carson Coffman, a 6-foot-2 redshirt freshman from Peculiar, Mo., the only other quarterback on the roster. "I think that this spring is a good opportunity to develop our quarterback position," Prince said Tuesday. "Our quarterbacks are going to have the opportunity to make another move and take another step towards maturity. "With all the preparation and work they're doing, this can be a very good step for our program. We can go ahead and take the level of our quarterback play up a little bit." One thing is certain, unlike a year ago - this is Freeman's team and he knows it. "It's my team," he said confidently. "This year the team knows I can play and have an expectation as to what I can do." In a better place now Jordy Nelson trudged through last season with a chip on his shoulder. He battled through injuries and then closed himself off from the media. Now though, Nelson is smiling again. After all, he'll be a senior next year and he's healthy again as he hopes to return to form that saw him grab 45 balls and score eight touchdowns as a sophomore. "I feel good again," he said Tuesday. "I'm ready to get going." As for last season, he said he just got frustrated. "When you get injured and everyone gets banged up, it just gets old — get tired of doing treatment, get tired of doing this, tired of doing that," said Nelson who had 39 receptions for 547 yards and one touchdown a year ago. "I just got tired of talking about it." Though he still led the Wildcats in receptions and yards, he said it was like no other season's he's ever had, even at the high school level. "It kept me from playing at my best level, at least early, I had to deal with it and kind of got tired of getting reminded about it," the Riley County product said. Coaching carousel, who cares? When asked whether the loss of so many assistant coaches this offseason "shocked" the team, Freeman emphatically said, "no, not at all. Those coaches felt like they had a better opportunity somewhere else," he said. "We're not going to sit around and cry about it. "Auburn, Nebraska, Texas — they don't care about our coaches leaving. They care about beating us."

Pictures from the Coaches Clinic this past weekend. Anyone that can find ETR gets a chicken dinner with DaveH(asselhoff).

Thanks GC, this has been corrected. I appreciate it. Looks like Marcel Jones has the wrong bio too. Looks like Burkes'. Can you imagine those two on basketball court? Wonder if we'll see them pull a Julius Peppers and play both sports. Also Anthony Blue has the Bio for Armando Murillo Just saw this - it's been fixed - thanks for the feedback.

Im sure most have heard by now that the City of Omaha is eliminating RVs from the CWS / aka Dingerville. Well personally I think they're making a foolish decision which could ultimately cost Omaha the Series. I know e-petitions are for the most part worthless, but Im going to start one anyway - at least we'll make some noise, and you never know who might end up reading it and offer some land for a new Dingerville. I'll post the petition link when it's ready, and link to this thread for discussion. Anyone up for helping with this? Save Dingerville!

Arvada West's power making a statement

Six Husker Sporting Events to be Carried on NET This Spring Lincoln – The University of Nebraska Athletic Department and Nebraska Educational Television announced Wednesday that five Husker baseball games and one softball game will be carried live on NET this spring. All six games will be telecast in high definition on NET-HD, while the baseball games will be carried live on NET1 and the softball game will be telecast on NET2. The baseball schedule begins on Saturday, April 7, as the Huskers host nationally ranked Oklahoma State at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park at 1:05 p.m. It is one of four Big 12 games slated for telecast this season, as NU’s contests with Texas (Friday, April 20, 6:35 p.m.), Kansas State (Saturday, April 28, 2:05 p.m.) and Baylor (Saturday, May 12, 2:05 p.m.) will also be carried live. In addition, the Huskers’ game against Creighton from Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium on Wednesday, May 15, rounds out the NET regular-season telecast schedule. The Husker softball team will be featured on NET2 and NET-HD on Wednesday, April 25, as Nebraska takes on Kansas at Bowlin Stadium, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Husker Baseball on Nebraska Educational Television Date Opponent Time Channel Saturday, April 7 Oklahoma State 1:05 p.m. NET1 and NET-HD Friday, April 20 Texas 6:35 p.m. NET1 and NET-HD Saturday, April 28 Kansas State 2:05 p.m. NET1 and NET-HD Saturday, May 12 Baylor 2:05 p.m. NET1 and NET-HD Wednesday, May 15 Creighton 7:05 p.m. NET1 and NET-HD Husker Softball on Nebraska Educational Television Date Opponent Time Channel April 25 Kansas 6:30 p.m. NET2 and NET-HD Where to tune in your area for NET's Digital Television cable broadcast. Cox Cable Omaha NET1 channel 12 NET2 channel 16 NET-HD channel 812 TimeWarner Cable - Southeast Nebraska NET1 channel 12 NET2 channel 17 NET-HD channel 112 Charter Communications – Central Nebraska NET1, channel 14 NET2, channel 392 NET-HD, channel 780

For those that didnt come across it in the Contest forum, the board Bracket contest via ESPN is now open. Join us!!! http://www.huskerboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15273

Great turnout so far, but plenty of room for more! lets make ours the biggest Husker bracket on ESPN, and put someone in the top 1 percentile from the Huskerboard Hardwooders!!1 Get N here: http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=39683

thanks for the laugh. <-- pancake bunny YOU ARE ON NOTICE... after the woolly mammoth from Morrill Hall is de-tusked dedhed is coming fer ya.

Cheers guys. DJR, I will buy you 27 shots of Natty Ice this wknd in celebration. you will be begging for Mill Beast.

Yeah if you could at least do 1 with your board name that would be fine. That will make it easier to clown on each other.

Nope, its free. and the winners get board points for gear, so its even free'r than free.