- Before we get Nebraska intensive, I had to discuss the latest from biggest F'ing idiot in sports.
- What a shock. The Stars aren't going to be heavy spenders this off season.
Isn't it nice to live in a top 5 market and have an owner who operates 2 major pro franchises like we're Kansas City or Minneapolis? Look, I understand taking care of your own (extending Michael Young, Mike Modano, Sergei Zubov, etc), you have to do this to build continuity/chemistry and show you're appreciative of what your own guys are doing for you, but at some point you have to spend money to get upper level players outside your organization to pair with your current talent in order to put yourself over the top.
Guys like Barry Zito, Derek Lowe, Carlos Lee, Ryan Smyth, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, etc. You need top of the line players to make a run at a championship. It's been proven again and again.
Yes, Modano, Lehtinen, Morrow, Zubov, and Turco are nice players, but they've proven in the past 7 years that they can no longer deliver in the playoffs by themselves. They need outside help in the form of top-level free agent talent. And consistently this point is ignored by Hicks. Instead we get re-treads (Lindros and Barnaby), nice players but definitely not upgrades to the existing talent on the team (Halpern, Nagy, Ribeiro), and that's it. Never can the Stars sign guys like Drury, Paul Kariya, Ryan Smyth, etc.
Same thing with the Rangers, instead of top level talent like Lee, Lowe, or Zito, we get a 40 year old center fielder, a known cheater who's been out of the game for a year and who no one else wanted, Frank Catalanotto, etc.
And you know something else? Maybe if you would spend a little more money and attention on scouting for both the Stars and Rangers, the need for top-level talent wouldn't be as bad, maybe you could actually home-grow your own superstar. What an F'ing concept.
To hear Tom Hicks continue to stress that turning a profit is his #1 goal makes me absolutely sick. So instead of doing whatever it takes to put a championship caliber team on the field, we get stop gap players every year to go along with hold-over average to above average talent.
That's exactly what I want to hear from my owner, instead of signing top players and being efficiently aggressive in the off season, we pass on top players just so that A-hole can turn a profit, even if it means we'll be stuck in mediocrity for the next 15 years. All the while he charges me $7 for a 12 oz. beer, $15 to park a mile away, and consistently alienates me and the rest of the fan base. What a prick.
I'm sick of hearing how his teams won't spend with the likes of the big market teams. News flash jackass, you are big market, you have the money, and you have the metroplex as a likable destination for free agents. There is no excuse for this crap.
You think Mark Cuban or Jerry Jones would ever operate like this?
Stars aren't expected to be big spenders
By TRACEY MYERS
Star-Telegram staff writer
When free agency begins today, there will be a flood of superstars available for the right, and most likely sizeable, price. But as far as the Stars are concerned, getting a lot of flash might not be worth the cash.
The Stars will be talking, watching and considering their options when free agency begins at noon today. But general manager Doug Armstrong said it's unlikely the Stars will make any eye-popping, wallet-busting moves.
"We'll be active, but it's not the type of thing where I'm expecting drastic changes to our roster over the next two weeks," Armstrong said. "If we find someone we will do something. But it has to make economic sense."
Owner Tom Hicks said he wouldn't mind adding size among the forwards.
"I like our defensemen and our goalies," Hicks said. "Everybody could use goal-scoring, but it could be some combo of goal-scoring and some size up front."
The salary cap will be more than $50 million for 2007-08, up from $44 million last season, which could give the team wiggle room. And there's always the chance of a trade if the Stars want to get a big fish.
But what do they want? Armstrong has said he isn't overly worried about the Stars' lack of goal-scoring last season, considering major injuries to Mike Modano and especially Brenden Morrow, who missed most of the season. Still, the Stars could use a little more punch in that category.
And there are solid forwards who might not command as much money. Jason Blake, who made $1.56 million last season, gave the New York Islanders their money's worth with his 40-goal season. Paul Kariya, who is concerned about the Predators' future in Nashville, will have some wallets opening. Dainius Zubrus, who was cut loose from Buffalo, is coming off consecutive 20-plus goal seasons.
Whoever they may be, the new Stars will have to fit in with the current ones. The Stars had a lot of character and heart in last year's locker room, two elements they don't want spoiled.
"He has to fit in to that mold," Armstrong said. "What we have now is a group of players who are all committed to pulling in the same direction. We don't want to disrupt that. That affects us negatively."
There will be a lot of talking, a lot of moving and a lot of money spent by teams in free agency. The Stars will be doing a lot of the first, but their actions on the last two are up in the air. The thought will probably be to proceed with caution and good economics.
"I think it's a mistake to think you can cure whatever we felt deficient in by spending a lot of money," Armstrong said. "It has to come from the internal drive. That's where Brenden and that group of core leaders have stated they think the style of the team and makeup is fine. That's sort of the focus."
Cashing in
Free agency, which begins at noon today, could mean big rewards for some of the NHL's best players. Here are the top five free agents:
LW Ryan Smyth: The Islanders are trying to keep him, and about a dozen other teams are trying to get him. With 36 goals and 32 assists last season, he'll be a nice catch.
C Daniel Briere: After finishing with 95 points last season, including 32 goals, plenty of teams will find him worth the money.
C Chris Drury: He's incredibly consistent season after season. And he's not too shabby in the playoffs either, where he has 81 career points over six postseason appearances.
C Scott Gomez: His goals were down last season, but he's still a strong setup man with 47 assists during 2006-07. He's durable, too, having played in at least 72 games in each of his seven seasons.
D Sheldon Souray: The All-Star brings a great offensive game from the blue line, with 26 goals and 38 assists for the Canadiens last season.
- OK, enough of that, let's get into some Nebraska football.
- Apparently someone has too much time on his hands. One man's list of top defining moments in Nebraska football history. Pretty good list here, and people love lists.
1. November 1971--The Jet stuns Oklahoma and a National Thanksgiving Day Audience with 72 yd punt return
2. January 1995--Tom re-inserts Tommie, Cory scores twice to secure Tom's 1st National Title.
3. December 1997--Tom Osborne shocks Nebraska and announces his retirement.
4. January 1984--Nebraska chooses honor over honors and gives up the NC, going for 2 and the win instead against Miami.
5. January 1996--Tommie Frazier runs through 8 florida gators on way to TD and back to back NC's.
6. November 1997--Matt Davison catches kicked ball, keeps NC season alive at Missouri.
7. January 1971--Jerry Tagge stretches out over goal line to finish NU comeback and its 1st NC. Nixon proclaims NU #1.
8. January 1994--Byron Bennett's kick sails wide, Nebraska loses NC but wins over the nation.
9. November 1978--John Ruud anihilates Kelly Phelps, NU's defense rocks #1 OU and upsets the Sooners 17-14
10. November 2003--Steve Pederson fires Frank Solich, ends the most successful era in college football history.
11. October 1959--Huge Underdog NU upsets Sooners, ends 74 game conference winning streak.
12. November 1963--On the day following JFK's assassination, NU finally takes the crown as it beats OU and wins first conference title in a generation.
13. October 1994--Tunnel Walk Beats CU Before Game Even Starts--The loudest Tunnel Walk ever in Memorial Stadium stupefies CU, and Underdog NU shocks the experts by dismantling undefeated Colorado behind NU QB Brook Berringer.
14. January 1998--In the wee hours of the morning following Tom's last game, a 42-17 hammering of Tennessee, the coaches vote NU a share of the National Title and Osborne leaves the game a champion.
15. October 1969--NU enters KU game at 2-2 and at a crossroads in Bob Devaney's career. NU gets favorable call late in the game and comes from behind to beat KU. NU would not lose again until 1972.
16. October 2001--Number 1 v Number 2, Crouch seals the Heisman and the victory by catching a TD pass late in the 4th quarter and gives Frank Solich his biggest win.
17. December 1996--Flu, Priest and Roll Left knock NU off its course to three-peat as NC's in the inaugural Big 12 championship game.
18. September 1962--NU goes into the Big House and beats Michigan, getting Devaney and NU rebirth into high gear from the start.
19. November 1922--NU beats the Four Horseman in the season finale to lay claim to being one of the premier programs in the country
20. November 2005--Congden FG saves NU season and Callahan regime as NU beats KST to spark 12-3 stretch to legitimize new coaches.
21. January 1982--Osborne gets first NC game, but loses without his star qb against Clemson.
22. November 2001--CU rips NU and ends its perfect season, and spells the beginning of the end of Frank Solich's regime at NU.
23. Spring 1972--Devaney announces his retirement after the 1972 season, and appoints Tom Osborne as his successor.
24. September 1972--NU's long unbeaten streak comes to an end in a sloppy performance in LA.
25. January 1972--Devaney finally whips the Bear as NU wraps up perfect season and its 2nd straight NC.
26. September 1982--Nittany Lyin...Horrible calls in last drive deprive NU of victory over Penn St and an undefeated NC season
27. January 1941--NU appears in its first Bowl Game, the Rose Bowl, losing to Stanford.
28. January 1992--NU loses to Miami in the Orange Bowl, prompting them to develop the 4-3 and go harder after a young man named Tommie Frazier.
29. November 2004--NU loses to Colorado at home to end the season 5-6, its first losing record since 1961.
30. September 2004--NU unveils its West Coast offense, routing Western Illinois in the first game of the Callahan era.
31. November 1984--Jeff Smith is tackled on 4th and 1, ending NU's chance of playing for the NC and cementing "Sooner Magic" as the bane of NU's existence.
32. September 1977--NU breaks a 4th quarter tie and upsets the Bear in Lincoln, calming restless natives and giving Osborne his biggest win to date.
33. November 1969--NU throttles OU and Heisman winner Steve Owens 44-14, putting an exclamation point on the rebirth of the Devaney era.
34. January 1991--NU is humbled by Georgia Tech in the Citrus Bowl, prompting numerous off-season changes in discipline, conditioning and behavior that served as the phoenix to NU's dominance in the 1990's.
35. November 1987--Game of the Century II, in "our house," ends on sour note as OU rallies to beat NU and end its NC hopes.
36. November 1978--One week after beating OU for the first time, Osborne sees his NC hopes go up in flames as Wilder, Winslow and company beat NU and NU finds out later that day it must play OU in a rematch.
37. December 1999--It wasnt algrebra, geometry or trigonometry, but it was an ass-kicking as Eric Crouch and the Blackshirts whip Texas for the Big 12 title.
38. September 2000--NU pays tribute to Touchdown Jesus by wearing its best Red suit and Eric Crouch runs all over the Irish in South Bend.
39. January 1964--NU beats Auburn for its first New Year's Day Bowl win.
40. September 1970--NU ties USC, but establishes itself as a team that can compete nationally and goes on to win the NC.
41. November 1990--Kenny Walker signs I love you to an adoring senior day crowd, but bad calls and bad breaks allow the Buffs to come back in the 4th quarter to give NU its first loss.
42. October 1997--Somewhere over the rainbow, NU football will live forever. Osborne gets his 250th win over the hated sooners and is honored at midfield.
43. January 2000--NU puts on a "This is Nebraska" drive against Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl, ramming it down their throats on the ground every play of a length of the field drive, cementing NU's win over Tennessee.
44. November 1993--Glen Mason goes for 2 and the win instead of tying NU and ending its bid for NC, KU fails and NU stays perfect.
45. December 2005--NU beats Michigan in a crazy Alamo Bowl 4th quarter to give Callahan his first bowl win at NU.
46. September 1981--Osborne inserts Turner Gill at haltime of a 3-3 tie with Auburn, and it turns around the season and begins a legacy.
47. November 1975--#2 rated NU, on the verge of returning to a NC game, is whipped soundly in the 4th quarter by OU and ruins a perfect season.
48. November 2003--KST anihilates NU at home on senior day, signifying the end of Frank Solich's career.
49. November 1983---Neil Harris gets a finger tip on a 4th down pass in icy norman, keeping alive the "best team ever's" perfect season.
50. October 1989--CU comes back and beats NU in a battle of unbeatens, giving notice of a new day and a new power in the Big 8.
- UT homer Chip Brown says expect a 2nd place finish from Nebraska this year. Until Missouri proves to me they're big time and wins 10+ games once, I never believe they'll win the north.
NORTH
1. Missouri
Record: 10-2, 6-2
League losses: at OU, at Colorado
Bottom line: The Tigers have the most experienced talent in the North, only four road games, and they get Nebraska at home. Quarterback Chase Daniel of Southlake Carroll will help erase any mistakes by coach Gary Pinkel. Mizzou wins the North with a tiebreaker win over the Cornhuskers.
2. Nebraska
Record: 8-4, 6-2
League losses: at Mizzou, at Texas
Bottom line: Coaching blunders cost the Big Red a Cotton Bowl victory against Auburn and tempered enthusiasm about progress made in three seasons under Bill Callahan. If a new defensive line exceeds expectations, Nebraska could return to the Big 12 title game this year.
- A big game every week this fall for the Big 12 teams. It'll be here before you know it.
Week 1 – Oklahoma State at Georgia
Kansas State at Auburn will be interesting, but OSU has the better chance of pulling off the SEC road game upset. The Big 12 can get loads of national respect with a win in either of the two.
Week 2 - Miami at Oklahoma
It’s not exactly for the 1987 national championship, but it’s still a great matchup of superpowers.
Week 3 - USC at Nebraska
If the Huskers have any hopes of being in the national title discussion, this is the game they must win.
Week 4 - Texas A&M at Miami
The last time the world saw Texas A&M, it was being run over by Cal in the Holiday Bowl. Beating Miami in a nationally televised Thursday night road game would kickstart the Aggie’s season.
Week 5 - Kansas State at Texas
The Longhorns will be taking this game very, very seriously after last year’s upset in Manhattan.
Week 6 - Oklahoma vs. Texas
Obviously the Red River Rivalry is always one of the big games of the year, but Nebraska at Missouri will be every bit as big for the Big 12 title race.
Week 7 - Texas A&M at Texas Tech
Missouri at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State at Nebraska will be good, but A&M at Tech will be an elimination game in the South race.
Week 8 - Texas A&M at Nebraska
This will be step two of a brutal stretch of four road games in five weeks for A&M (at Texas Tech, at Nebraska, Kansas, at Oklahoma, at Missouri) before finishing up with Texas.
Week 9 - Nebraska at Texas
Possibly a Big 12 Championship preview, each team might also be fighting to keep national title hopes alive.
Week 10 - Texas A&M at Oklahoma
If this is half as good as last year’s thriller (when OU sealed the win by going for it on fourth down deep in its own territory), it’ll be one of the Big 12’s must-see games.
Week 11 - Texas Tech at Texas
Kansas State at Nebraska might turn out to be just as big. If Tech can beat A&M, it should be right in the South title hunt with a trip to Austin and a showdown with Oklahoma to finish up.
Week 12 - Oklahoma at Texas Tech
If the Sooners beat Texas and hold serve at home, they’ll likely be 10-0 before dealing with the Red Raider passing game.
Week 13 - Texas at Texas A&M
These two have taken the rivalry to another level over the last two years. Like last year, Big 12 title implications should be on the line.
- The Lincoln paper discusses Nebraska's early push for its 2008 class. This is the way recruiting works these days, more and more programs are getting commits from seniors-to-be more than a year in advance. Nebraska's class includes some studs.....
Nebraska's recruiting picking up
BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
It’s a problem hard-core followers of Nebraska football recruiting might enjoy. Sort of.
What happens if the Huskers fill their 2008 recruiting class by the end of the summer? Who’s left to track? For whom should they now wish?
Easy. The high school juniors, of course.
A stretch? Not by much. The college football recruiting calendar has been advancing in recent years, and Nebraska, too, is picking up the pace.
Today is July 1, and the Huskers have 14 known oral commitments for 2008, the most ever for a Nebraska recruiting class by this date. Ten are high school seniors; four are junior college transfers.
From a national perspective, having more than half a recruiting class filled by July is anything but groundbreaking. Around here, it’s a bit of a brow-raiser.
Consider that Nebraska’s 14th commitment for its 2007 class came on Oct. 13 of last year. The Huskers didn’t get No. 14 for their 2006 class until Dec. 5, 2005.
This year, it’s possible No. 15 could be celebrated with holiday fireworks.
“That’s what a lot of schools are doing. It’s par for the course now,” said Allen Wallace, national recruiting editor of Scout.com and publisher of SuperPrep magazine.
“You generally have to work incredibly hard at this stage, and you have to establish some really strong footing with kids, even if they don’t commit to you.”
Impressed with Nebraska’s commitment number? Three other Big 12 Conference schools have more — Texas (20), Texas A&M (19) and Oklahoma (15). Nationally, UCLA has 21.
“It’s a sign of the times,” said Tom Lemming, a veteran national recruiting analyst. “I remember just a few years ago, it was Texas and just a couple of other schools doing it. With that said, Nebraska was prepared and started zooming in on everybody.”
Nebraska’s recruiting picked up steam in June. Half of the Huskers’ commitments have come in the last three weeks; four came in the last week alone. It’s a pace that would fill the 2008 class by the time fall camp starts.
That’s not likely, of course.
“But,” Lemming said, “it does help if you can get your class done (early). Texas, the last couple of years, has spent the entire fall recruiting juniors in the state. By January, Texas knows who they’re going to offer already. Normally, you’re still going after seniors.
“If Nebraska is done by September and October, they can bring in juniors for official visits.”
Lemming said he remembers being in Lincoln last year when then-juniors Baker Steinkuhler, Trevor Robinson and Arthur Brown were visiting. Steinkuhler and Robinson, two of this state’s top high school players, are committed. Brown, from Wichita, Kan., is highly touted but not yet committed anywhere.
Steinkuhler, the heralded lineman from Lincoln Southwest, got the 2008 class going with his commitment last September. Another in-state player, Omaha Westside running back Collins Okafor, followed with his October commitment. By December, when lineman Dan Hoch committed, the Huskers had three members.
“Schools have had to adapt to the fact if they don’t offer early, you’re going to be left in a lurch,” Wallace said. “It doesn’t matter how powerful you are. The bottom line is, you’ve got to build a stronger list of commits earlier, if at all possible.”
Nebraska isn’t exactly going for quantity over quality, either. Rivals.com recently rated Nebraska’s high school recruiting class No. 10 nationally, behind Texas (2), Oklahoma (4) and Texas A&M (9). The recruiting service rates five of the 10 high school players with four or five stars on its five-star system.
“The guys they’ve got are just outstanding ball players,” Lemming said. “They’ve got All-Americans coming at them.
“They’ve got everyone they wanted in state. All their questions are being answered perfectly. They’re a top-10 recruiting class right now. There’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing.”
In discussing the strength of Nebraska’s class thus far, Lemming and Wallace both pointed to quarterback Blaine Gabbert and a slew of talented offensive linemen, led by high school standouts Steinkuhler, Robinson, Hoch and Bryce Givens.
Gabbert, rated by Scout.com as the nation’s No. 4 quarterback and No. 2 by Rivals.com., committed in May.
Said Wallace of the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Gabbert: “He’s everything the program could be looking for.”
Gabbert, from suburban St. Louis, has been trying to reel in other recruits, texting and phoning other high school seniors who are high on Nebraska’s list. It’s a practice, Wallace said, that’s become a “bigger deal” across the nation.
Among players Gabbert has been helping recruit are linebacker Will Compton, a linebacker from Missouri, and Jonas Gray, a running back from Detroit.
Could they become the next players to join the early recruiting parade?
Compton visited Lincoln last week and has Nebraska high on his list. Gray said he’s narrowed his list to six or seven, with Michigan State and Nebraska on top.
Gray said he and high school teammate Kenny Demens, a linebacker, are taking an official visit to Lincoln this month and an official visit in September, when Nebraska hosts USC.
Is there any truth to talk Gray and Demens want to attend the same college?
“There’s definitely truth to that,” Gray said. “It’s a huge possibility that will happen. It’s not definite, but it’s pretty much set in stone that we will, though.”
Said Gray of Demens: “He definitely likes Nebraska. A lot.”
Gray said he’s heard often from Gabbert, and also from Nebraska commitment Doug Rippy, a close friend.
“They just say, ‘We want you to do what’s best for you, but we want you to take a serious look at Nebraska, and once you get here, you’re going to realize what kind of place it is.’
“They always say to me, ‘If your dream is to go to the NFL, then Nebraska is the place for you.’”
Compton and Gray, both four-star players according to Rivals.com, would give Nebraska’s class another jolt, if they commit.
And should they do it sooner than later … well, there’s always 2009 to follow, too.
- Wow, Rip Hamilton to the Sonics?
Trade rumorPosted by Frank Hughes @ 04:10:41 pm I got a call from a friend in Detroit who said a radio station there -- 1270 AM -- is saying that Richard Hamilton may be heading to the Sonics. This has not been confirmed by anybody I know but just thought I'd throw out the scuttlebutt. Keep in mind, though, that assistant GM Scott Perry was hired from Detroit, and the Pistons just drafted Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo.
- Funny stuff right here
- Was just alerted to this clip by BaD Radio yesterday, fast forward to the John Candy part
- The greatness of Old School (language warning)
- Picks O' the day
Yesterday - 6-3 (very good day)
YTD - 41-35
As always, take the home dogs, as well as:
LAD -140 - at home, ATL 15-20 vs. LHP
FLA +140 - no real reason b/c SD beats up on LHP's (16-8), I just have to bet against every over 40 starting pitcher (Maddux. But at same time, Olsen for Florida is a good pitcher. It's a good dog play in my opinion.
CIN -130 - Team is 12-5 in Harang's starts
STL +130 - A dog at home, have to take them
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