Staff Roundtable: Should We Worry About Paul Meyers Leaving UNL?

Note: We started this roundtable before the news of Drake Martinez leaving and Monte Harrison signing with Milwaukee went down. We'll hit that next week.

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1. First off... Final thoughts on the Baseball team and the season they had.

Cobcast Ryan: It was very baseball-y

Paul - I think the upgrade to the the earliest part of the schedule really paid off.  This year was an upgrade from last.  I expect that next year will continue the progress.

Andy: On the upside, it was nice improvement & Erstad is showing that he can recruit, teach & motivate. On the downside, we’re still digging ourselves out an Anderson-sized hole as the 2nd best team in the equivalent of the Mountain West. (Sorry, Jayskers, you’re the Sun Belt)

The best thing to happen all year may have been Omaha turning out in huge numbers for the B1G tourney at TD Ameritrade. Along with Indiana making the series last year, that got the conference some notice nationally and it needs all the similar pub it can get if its teams are ever going to attract enough talent in numbers to make it mildly relevant. (Memo to Jim Delaney: Playing the tourney in front of 1200 indifferent fans/game in Yankee Stadium will not accomplish this.)

Cobby: SO I’M WATCHING A MOVIE RIGHT NOW WITH BUFFY IN IT AND - HOLY CRAP!! SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR’S NAKED! IT’S A SEX SCENE! PAN DOWN! PAN DOWN!! WAIT, WHY IS EVERYTHING GETTING BLURRY? (opening cable guide - flip, flip, flip) PG-13??

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! WAIT - WHAT WAS THE QUESTION?

Brian: While it wasn’t the end that we all hoped for, 40 wins and a NCAA berth isn’t anything to laugh at. Now, next is the B1G title and a Super Regional hosting in the next couple of seasons.

2. We talked about the hottest seat in the B1G Football landscape last week. Now, who will have the hottest seat in the B1G Conference Basketball picture?

Cobcast Ryan: I stand by my guns. Brady Hoke.

Salt Creek: Tom Crean of Indiana has my pick. His teams have been rather underwhelming at Indiana and their eyes may start wandering soon if he doesn’t start clipping some nets. Chambers from PSU is a possibility but they seemed to like this season’s progress. Otherwise, I can’t think of any team that is struggling right now - seems like most of the coaches are new hires or have been there long enough and succeeded enough to stay employed. But I may be wrong.

Andy: Tim Miles’ ass is dreamy. I think he wins any B1G Hottest Seat competition hands down.

COBBY: I’M SORRY, NOT OVER THE NOT-NAKED-BUFFY DISAPPOINTMENT YET. GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCHES OF “SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR NAKED” ARE JUST A CAVALCADE OF CUT & PASTE HER HEAD ON OTHER BODIES BULLSHIT. I HATE MY LIFE.

Brian: Matt Painter of Purdue has to be straight toasty right now. Honestly, I can’t believe he wasn’t capped after this last season. Crean I would buy if anyone seemed to care about any other sport up there. Chambers could be on the toaster too, but we’ll have to see how good they are without Tim Frazier.

3. Bo Pelini has added 2 guys this offseason (Stringfellow & Alex Lewis) that has had legal issues where they previously were attending school. Do you have an issue with this? Or are you alright taking a flyer on kids like this?

Cobcast Ryan: Fighting isn’t that big of a deal. Its not like they robbed a gas station. On one side of my line  is fighting and on the other is sexual assault and gun play that doesn’t involve Quail.

Paul - Maybe we should get another gas station robber...it worked out okay last time.  I’m a believer in second chances.  But that’s it.

Salt Creek: I mean, Michigan already thinks we’re degrading the value of their degrees so why not. We could have the entire team get mug shots. And call Memorial Stadium the Jailhouse. And play Johnny Cash the entire time.

Andy: Sounds like two pretty different situations. Stringfellow’s situation might have been arguably justifiable and people have spoken in his defense & to his character.His transfer appeared to be a separate issue as Washington wanted him to stay. Am I trying to justify a questionable move here? I don’t think so although I can be as guilty of that as anyone.

Lewis, on the other hand, is a different story. His beatdown earned him some time in the hole and that’s tough to overlook. One hopes it’s just a case of a kid who needs to learn the difference between on-field and off-field actions and that history doesn’t repeat itself. Am I the only one who finds the comparisons to Incognito to be just a little bit of a red flag?

On the other hand, I’m in Allen Pinkett’s corner when he said it’s awfully tough to win championships without a few “bad citizens”, so I’ve never had a problem with taking a few high-talent character-issue guys which Osborne started doing in the early 90’s. This paid off with an increased workload for local law enforcement and 3 national titles.

Was it worth for you? Yep, me too. Let’s not wait 20 years this time. There, I justified that one, too.

Cobby: MAYBE WE CAN GET THEM TO FIGHT EACH OTHER? A TOTAL MOUNTAIN VS. THE RED VIPER SHOWDOWN! I LOVE GAME OF THRONES!! BLOOD, TITS & WISE-ASSERY TO THE NINES!!! AND I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A WAY TO GET AN ILLEGAL PIT-FIGHTING GAMBLING DEN GOING AND THIS COULD BE JUST THE THING!! ISN’T MY MIND GREAT THE WAY IT NEVER STOPS COMING UP WITH IDEAS?? REMEMBER MY ALCOHOL/CAFFEINE HOME & OFFICE DO-IT-YOURSELF IV KIT???

Brian: Stringfellow, I guess a few folks in the Seattle area are trying to make this worse because he beat a female (a male too mind you), and this means he’s awful. Lewis’ issue isn’t better. If they make it the rest of their careers at Nebraska with no issues? Then we’ll be able to make that decision better. It doesn’t hurt to find guys who want to rectify their mistakes.

Husker Mike: I suspect the administration in Lincoln has done more than their due diligence on this. Maybe I'm being naive here, but I'm expecting that they've investigated the circumstances more than we have. It's less of a concern what they did elsewhere, but rather did they learn something and recognize they can't do it again.

4. Is Paul Meyers leaving the AD office a big deal to you?

Cobcast Ryan: No. Michael Stephens however was a good guy. Either way I don’t think it will matter in the long run. I’ve heard that it's reminiscent of Pederson but until he brings in Jacksonvilles O-line coach to replace Pelini I’m not worried.

Paul - Not at all.  I can’t see any evidence that his departure was anything more than a personal career move.

Salt Creek: This is just another sign that Shawn Eichorst is part of the Illuminati conspiracy to take down Nebraska football. I can already hear HuskerBornAndPower875 writing his manifesto about how this is the end of Nebraska athletics and how we should bring Osborne back again, this time as Chancellor. Oh, and the smart money is on Charlie Weis, Ryan.

Andy: Um, I don’t know?

Cobby: ME EITHER, BUT I THINK HE’S GOT A GREAT NAME FOR STARTING HIS OWN LINE OF BOOZE. “WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO, IT HAS TO BE PAUL MEYERS. PAUL MEYERS BOURBON - REDEFINING SMOOTH FOR A NEW MILLENIUM.” BTW, I’M AVAILABLE FOR QUALITY CONTROL & PRODUCT TESTING IN THIS START-UP VENTURE.

Brian: Let me know how this goes when they replace a guy who could seemingly get blank checks from guys like Howard Hawks. Nevin Shapiro around? Nah, bad idea there probably, not a lot of places for boats in Nebraska.

Husker Mike: Big deal? Not at this time...as long as there isn't more to this story.

5. Wings. How do you like yours, and where do you go to get the best ones?

Cobcast Ryan: In Los Angeles (Hollywood specifically) go to Birds on Franklin. Get them hot. Try to not acknowledge the hipsters. I keep thinking that if you act like they aren’t there they will go away. Also try Big Wangs on Selma.

Paul - Flame away, but I like the Asian Zing boneless wings at BWW.

Salt Creek: When I was young, I thought buffalo were some sort of flying cow. Man, was I disappointed.

Andy: I’m actually a pretty big fan of the Blair Wings at Tanner’s. From what they told me, the sauce is a combo of BBQ, teriyaki and hot sauce with some additional peppers thrown in for seasoning. For homemade, I make my own with a sauce mix of Frank’s & some spicy garlic with a few other things. For a milder sweet & hot taste that my daughter prefers, I use Sparky’s.

Cobby: I LIKE MINE FREE & I GO PLACES WHERE PEOPLE WILL BUY THEM FOR ME OR ELSE HAVE THEM PROVIDED FOR ME IN A MANNER IN WHICH I AM NOT CHARGED IN ANY WAY FOR EATING THEM. I LOVE HOTELS WITH HAPPY HOURS.

Brian: I’m probably the only guy who will vouch for anything Hooters here, but the Daytona wings are fantastic. Sauced and then put on the flat top…. mmmmhmm.  I go with Andy though, when I make them at home it’s Sparky’s with a touch of honey.