How's that for a headline to get your blood pumping on a Monday morning?
Nebraska lost their baseball series to Iowa over the weekend. That happened after I said this on Friday:
We're at the point of the season where you can pretty much start to predict what's going to happen in each series, and the top of the conference has separated itself from the bottom.
What a dumb statement. Not only did Iowa unexpectedly beat Nebraska, but Indiana took their series against conference-leading Minnesota. Rutgers beat Purdue. Rutgers won a series. How 'bout that?
Back to that Iowa headline.
I hate losing to Iowa. I hate losing to them in any sport. I think I'd rather have lost the Rutgers in baseball than Iowa and I realize that baseball is a game of streaks and slumps and that you can't view it the same as you do other sports. Still, Iowa.
We can make fun of Kirk Ferentz' massive buyout all we want, but at this point in time Iowa has a better football team than we do. We laugh it off by making jokes about the lack of trophies but that's all about the past and has nothing to do with the right now or, potentially, the future.
The men's basketball team split a pair of games with Iowa this past season. The women's basketball team lost, but they lost a most everyone else to. Neither of those sting as much (at least to me) as losing to Iowa in football and baseball.
Iowa beat the holy hell out of us last football season, 40 – 10. We laugh it off as a "fluke". They beat us the year before, 28 – 20. We laugh that off and blame Tommy Armstrong for his four interceptions.
This reminds me of a fight that occurred between two of my college roommates years ago. Tension had been building between them until one night when one came home rather intoxicated and decided to push his luck a little too far. I don't quite remember what triggered "Bob" (not his real name), but he decided to charge at "Jim" (not his real name either), yelling "I'm a Ranger", because he was in ROTC and thought that his training made him superior.
Jim picked him up, turned him upside down, and set him down on his head, and then proceeded to bend his head and neck in a way that made me believe that Jim might kill him should this continue. I talked Jim out of killing Bob, and after Bob was released, he stood up and said, "You can't do that again, that was a fluke". Bob rushed him again, at which point Jim picked him up, turned him upside down and set him down on his head, again. Bob again began to turn all sorts of colors of red and this time it took me much longer to convince Jim that Bob wasn't worth killing. By the time I'd finished, Bob was exhausted and beaten. We made him go to his room.
Bob never acknowledged any of this. It was as if it never happened, much like last year's football loss to Iowa.
I'd like to suggest that before we get all amped up about competing with Wisconsin that maybe we should start beating Iowa on a consistent basis first. And the "Iowa isn't a rival" statements that Nebraska fans make? Are we all just dense or is it that we're incredibly fickle?
Man, I hate losing to Iowa.
Stuff
Here is a short summary I did regarding my thoughts about the spring game:
Spring Game Review!2017 Spring Game Review
Posted by Corn Nation on Sunday, April 16, 2017
Huskers Win 6-4, Sweep Penn State - Huskers.com - Nebraska Athletics Official Web Site
The Nebraska softball team completed a three-game sweep of visiting Penn State with a 6-4 win on Sunday afternoon at Bowlin Stadium.
Big Ten Baseball
Maryland baseball dominates Penn State, 15-2, to complete series sweep - Testudo Times
The Terps finished Easter Sunday with a season-high 19 hits.
Hoosiers take series from Minnesota - The Crimson Quarry
Indiana wins two of three against the Big Ten leaders after getting blown out on Friday.
Purdue Baseball Drops Two at Rutgers - Hammer and Rails
Purdue drops the last two games in New Jersey to reach the halfway mark of the Big Ten season at 6-6.
Northwestern drops two of three to Illinois despite another comeback effort - Inside NU
A furious late-game surge just wasn’t enough in Sunday’s rubber game.
Ohio State-Michigan State 2017 final score: Baseball Bucks erupt for 13-8 win - Land-Grant Holy Land
The Buckeyes bats couldn’t be stopped as they avoided a sweep against the Spartans.
Mostly Football
In fact, the new rules are a definite improvement over what came before.
The Ohio State Spring Game Means Everything - Off Tackle Empire
and PJ Fleck is at it again
Takeaways from Michigan football’s spring game - Maize n Brew
It’s a work in progress, but what do ya expect? It’s April fergodsakes.
Spring Game Standouts: Peters, Black, Hudson, Another Glasgow | mgoblog
I guess I need to include a SPOILER ALERT for those who weren't able to watch the live stream. If for some reason you want the ending of the Spring Game to be a mystery, and yet you still are on this blog, stop reading now. The full game is airing right now on tape delay on BTN and will be replayed several times this week.
The NCAA’s 6 new football rules to know about, briefly explained - SBNation.com
College football recruiting is getting shaken up in some major ways.
14 ways college football said 'Happy Easter' to its fans - SBNation.com
Who said sports can’t be festive?
Louisville news crew gets creative because it can't film the Cardinals’ spring game - SBNation.com
Sometimes you’ve gotta work around obstacles.
IT’S SPRING RIVALRY WEEK - Every Day Should Be Saturday
WHAT DID YOU GET ME
Then There’s This
A Montana State University professor is suing the world’s largest retailer for libel after, he says, an employee at the Bozeman store listed the occupation on the professor’s fishing license as a toilet cleaner.