I have returned from vacation, feeling better, and needing to lose about 10 pounds. I suspect that description belongs to a lot of you. In any case.... I'll start by rambling....

Rick Neuheisel the new head coach at UCLA. It amazes me how easily fans can rationalize a hire like this. Rationalization allows them to forget the problems at Colorado like they never happened. It allows people to believe that since he won a settlement against Washington that he never did anything wrong while he was there.

For Nebraskans, Ricky's tenure with the Buffs wasn't about Colorado's NCAA violations. It was his constant whiny remarks about our football program. Remember the comment about our 'county scholarships' that was complete bullshit? About how we recruited great athletes but not great students or great citizens as if Colorado had the right to throw stones in that regard.

Maybe Neuheisel has matured since his Colorado days. Maybe he's learned his lesson. Or maybe he's the same snake in the grass he's been for years. I guess UCLA has made their choice. I hope for their sake he has matured, become a better man. Don't hold your breath.

Listening to Craig James touting Neuheisel's NFL experience during the Alamo Bowl, he's either not paid attention to how lousy some of these NFL coaches have done in college lately or he thinks that we're idiots.

And hearing Lou "Leave Every Place A Wreck " Holtz stating that Neuheisel is a good hire is not that shocking as he doesn't know anything about any NCAA violations.

Mark May had the most relevant comment of the bunch when he stated that "in three years UCLA will be on probation or be the cleanest program in the nation."

Whooeee! Texas came out as an explosion against Arizona State, something I didn't expect as I picked ASU in the In The Bleachers Bowl Pick 'Em.

It was nice to see. I always root for Big 12 conference teams in their bowls, even if I hate them. It makes the conference look better when we win.

Talk about cold, though. There's already a Facebook group called "The Chris Jessie Appreciation Group" for the guy that touched a live football on the Texas sideline. The group includes this bit:

Hyuk. Touching balls. Someone stayed up for days to come up with that one.

Here's the scenario: You're behind by seven as the game is winding down. You've driven down the field, pounding the ball at the other team, their defense is clearly wearing down.  You have one of the biggest running backs in the nation and you have a 4th and 1 at their three yard line.

What do you do? Run the monster guy up the middle and pick up the first down? Or run a wide option and have your quarterback fall on his ass, thereby losing the game. If you made the second choice, you're an idiot and deserve to be fired because you've just re-created Texas A&M's season in a single play!

I appreciated the boys in the booth pointing out that Javorskie Lane had been stuffed on earlier plays and that the fourth down play was a good call. After the Penn State defense had been worn out a bit, it's still a good call? Man, these announcer guys just talk and talk and after a while it's repetitive bullshit by guys in nice suits. Say something useful once in a while. Maybe pay attention to the teams, learn something about them before you announce the game.

Speaking of announcers, I'm highly unimpressed with the bowl coverage to date. We are rarely being shown replays on penalties. Instead, we're getting crowd shots, coach shots, or shots of the players walking around on the field.

Maybe ESPN's production is a sublime advertisement for DVR's. I'm certainly glad I have one, otherwise the production SUCKS!

Regarding comments being disabled on the site - historically, we'd had heavy spam issues if we allowed anonymous users. The comments are automatically disabled after 10 days, I believe. I don't like that much either, but the spam is the reason for requiring an account. I will expand the disable default since we're moving to the off-season... just as soon as I figure out where that setting is. :)

BTW, continue to use the diary feature if you want to post your own stories or pictures.