H U S K E R D A N
December 15, 2009
HEISMAN
HOAX
To all you D-1 college defensive linemen: no matter how good you are,
no matter how hard you work, no matter how much you dominate, no matter how many
tackles, sacks, interceptions you may get, no matter if you're the best player
in college football, you will never, ever win the Heisman
trophy.
Proof of that came Saturday night in New York City at this year's Heisman
trophy presentation when Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh (clearly the best player in
the country) not only didn't win the award, but came up 4th in the
voting. With their selection, the Heisman voters should come out
and admit it. Unless you play a position that allows you to score lots of
touchdowns, you don't stand a chance of winning the award.
Husker head football coach Bo Pelini was quoted after the ceremony
saying that those who didn't vote for Suh, just weren't informed. And
he's probably right. The only region that had Suh as its number one
candidate was the Southwest Region, home of all but one of the states in
the Big 12 Conference (the state of Iowa was the exception).
It's true that a 9-4 record this year for the Huskers didn't help Suh's
cause, but Paul Hornung won the 1956 Heisman playing for a 2-8
Notre Dame team.
But not to worry. In a couple of months, Suh will be a
multi-millionaire and will be able to tell his children and grandchildren
about the Outland, Lombardi, Bronco Nagurski and the Chuck Bednarik awards
he won this year.
THE BEST HUSKER OFFENSIVE PLAYERS NEVER TO WIN A HEISMAN
1.) Tommie Frazier QB
He was clearly the best option quarterback not only at Nebraska, but in all
of college football.
2.) Lawrence Phillips RB
Although LP had myriad problems off the field, he was clearly the best
running back Nebraska has ever had.
3.) Turner Gill QB
He was a marvelous player, great leader, could run and pass, was a
very intelligent guy. The Huskers should have won a national championship
in '82 and came within inches of another national championship the following
season.
4.) Ahman Green RB
Had he stayed for his senior year, he would have been a Heisman
candidate. He brought a combination of speed, quickness, power and agility
that is rarely seen in running backs.
DOM-A-DON
Yesterday, my three year old grandson, Will, was playing a game with his 2
year old sister, Ella. The game is called, "I'm thinking of a..." The
other player has to guess what it is the person is thinking of. So Will
says, "I'm thinking of a football player...he likes to bam
stuff..." Ella immediately yelled, "Dom-a-don-SUUUUU!"
Priceless.
THE KUMBAYA CONFERENCE
With the hiring of Turner Gill as the new head football coach at Kansas,
the Big 12 Conference just got a little mushier. Good grief, if it's not
bad enough to have Oklahoma's Bob Stoops hugging the brothers Pelini, now we're
going to have to put up with more hugs and smooches when the
Huskers and Jayhawks play each other in football each year. It's a little
bit too Kumbaya-ish for me.
Turner Gill is a class guy. A soft spoken gentleman. He'll do
great things at Kansas, but what the conference needs is more coaches like
Barry Switzer, Mike Leach, Rick "Skippy New-weasle" Neuheisel. Coaches you
love to hate. Things are just getting too chummy.
Sigh...
THE CARDINAL MOONEY BOWL
And if that's not enough, the Huskers' Holiday bowl opponent is the
University of Arizona Wildcats coached by Mike Stoops. Mike is the brother
of Oklahoma's Bob Stoops. Mike's brother, Mark, is Arizona's defensive
coordinator. What the Pelini and Stoops brothers have in common
is that they all are graduates of Cardinal Mooney High in Youngstown,
Ohio. So now we'll have another Kumbaya moment when Bo and his brother
Carl, meet before the came and have a huge hugfest with Mike and Mark.
Where's the barf bag? I only hope that current Husker wide receiver Tim
Marlowe, another CMHS grad, doesn't join them.
SOMETHING TO KICK ABOUT
The Wildcat place kicker is Alex Zendejas. If that name sounds
familiar, it should. His uncle Max was a 1985 All American kicker at
Arizona. His uncles, Luis and Alan kicked for Arizona State. Luis
went on to kick in the NFL for Dallas and Philadelphia. Another uncle,
Tony kicked for the NFL Oilers and Rams. (How many uncles does this
kid have?) And Alex's father (Alex) kicked at Scottsdale Community
College.
THE HUSKER NO-FENSE
Brad Dickson who is a former writer for "The Tonight
Show with Jay Leno" now writes a column "Upon Further Review" that appears each
Sunday in the Omaha World Herald. Last week, Omaha received a foot of snow
that crippled the area. Tying the Husker offensive
problems with the winter storm, Brad wrote, "I called this the 'Nebraska
Offense Blizzard' because nobody was going
anywhere.'"
AND YOU THOUGHT NDAMUKONG WAS BAD!
I pity this year's Holiday Bowl game day announcers. They'll
have to struggle not only with Nebraska players who have eye-chart names like
Ndamukong Suh and Curenski Gilleylen, but the Wildcats have some doozies of
their own. Try these: brothers (?) Vuna, Sione and
Apalata Tuihalamaka, or Taimi Tutogi, Conan Amituanai, Lolamana Mikaele and
Haig Abnous. Good luck Greg Sharpe, Adrian Fiala, Lane Grindle and
Matt Davison!
HUSKER DAN'S ARMY
Gary McGirr (President of the Northeast Kansans For Nebraska, a Husker
alumni group in Topeka, Kansas) sent me the following letter he
received recently from a Husker Dan's Army donor.
Dear Gary:
Enclosed is my check to help send gift boxes to our troops. Part
of this donation is from my 12 year old daughter, Megan. She has been
saving up her allowance and asked for donations instead of birthday gifts to
help out a local animal shelter. When I told her I was sending you a check
for the troops, she immediately offered to give me some of her shelter
stash. Good kid, I think.
Regards
John Utecht
CW4, USA Retired
Gary's response:
Thanks for this donation. I appreciate your generosity. It is
very special that a young person like Megan would sacrifice gifts for herself to
help others. You have raised a special daughter.
To donate to Husker Dan's Army, send your tax deductible donation to:
Gary McGirr
Northeast Kansans For Nebraska
3610 SW Woodvalley Terrace
Topeka, Kansas 66614
Make your check payable to the Northeast Kansans For Nebraska. Be
sure to indicate that your donation is to go to Husker Dan's Army. For
every $50 raised, we send Husker Care Packages to US military personnel who are
deployed in the Middle East. The Packages are filled and boxed by the Red
Zone Husker apparel store in Omaha. To register, write me at www.huskerdan@cox.net. We will
need the trooper's email address, APO address, branch of service and
how long he'll be deployed.
Thanks to all of you who have already donated. Our brave service
personnel don't ask for much. Your donation will help bring a touch of
Nebraska to them.
PICTURES FROM IRAQ
Lt. Col. Todd Pennington, USAF sent these pictures taken in Iraq. One
was taken of him standing in front of the skeleton of an Iraqi MiG 29
fighter jet at an Iraqi airbase in the western part of the country.
The other one shows Todd overlooking the ballroom at Al Faw Palace
near the Baghdad International Airport. This building once served as the
hunting lodge for Saddam Hussein when he was in power.
HUSKER FANS' SALUTE TO THE TROOPS
Plans are already underway for the third annual "Husker Fans' Salute To The
Troops" celebration scheduled for the weekend of September 18-19th at the
Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln. Once again, there will be a Husker
Football Watch Party (University of Washington Huskies) that will be held in the
hotel's Grand Ballroom.
Troopers, veterans from any branch of service, from any war and their
families are invited to attend.
To lean more about the event and to register and donate to this great
cause, go to www.huskersalute.org.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Mrs. Husker Dan and I wish you all the best during this Holiday
Season.
I leave you with this dorky little quiz.
TAKE THE NDAMUKONG SUH QUIZ
1.) What's Ndamukong Suh's favorite football
game?
The Suh-per Bowl
2.) What do opposing quarterbacks fear the most when they play
Nebraska?
Getting Suh-ed
2.) What's his favorite car?
Suh-baru
3.) What's his favorite city in
Iowa?
Suh City
4.) What are his favorite towns in Nebraska?
South Suh, Suh-ward, Suh-perior
4.) What are his favorite American
Indian tribes?
Lakota Suh, Nakota Suh and Dakota Suh
5.) What's his favorite school
nickname?
The Fighting Suh
6.) What's his favorite name?
Suh
7.) Favorite food?
Suh-shi
8.) Favorite country?
Suh-dan
9.) His favorite hero?
Suh-perman
11.) His favorite allergy
medicine?
Suh-dafed
12.) Favorite table game?
Trivial Pur-Suht
12.) Favorite musical group?
The Suh-premes
13.) Favorite composer?
John Phillips Suh-za