A quick update on the party:

Safeway Cabs will be picking everybody that needs a ride up from Barrett's. We have cab reservations for 40-50 people, and they will start arriving around midnight.

Hope to see everyone tonight at Barrett's!

Labels: Barrett's Barelycorn, New Year's Eve

In case you haven't seen the eVite, or just just didn't care to answer, we're having New Year's at Barrett's...because we cannot get enough of Barrett's.

$30 gets you in the door, and into the wonderful world of "Open Bar." All you can drink, top shelf to Busch Light, appetizers, and good times to be had by all.

If you're planning on going, please make sure to either respond to this post or the eVite. We have to get a list of people attending to Barrett's as soon as possible.

Hope to see everyone (again) Monday night!

Labels: Barrett's Barelycorn, New Year's Eve

From the world of completely underwhelming news: Mark Prior is a San Diego Father.

This is weird news for the Cub fan; Prior went from being the most sure-thing prospect to being the man with the glass Achillies/elbow/shoulder.

The Prior Hype was at fever pitch after the 2003 season. After having a solid first half of the season, Prior collided with Marcus Giles and sat out a few games, scaring Cub fans half to dealth. But after sitting out a couple of starts, Prior finished the season going 10-1, and just missed the Cy Young Award. He finished with an 18-6 record, but more impressively, the Cubs were 21-9 in games that he started.

2004 was the year that--according to Sports Illustrated--"hell would freeze over," and the Cubs would bring home the World Series trophy to Chicago for the first time since 1908. Needless to say, hell is still plenty toasty. Since then, it has been bad attitudes and excuses for Prior, pretty much cementing his future taking place somewhere outside the Friendly Confines.

So, fare-thee-well, Mr. Prior. I'm guessing that if we were to have expectations for you like we would for other former Cubbies, I will look forward to seeing your Cy Young acceptance speech sometime next year, and enjoy your World Series ring, while you're at it. Bastard.

Labels: Chicago Cubs, Mark Prior, San Diego Padres

A quick "thank you" to everyone that made it to A Very Heavy Soul Christmas last night. We had an incredible turnout.

The most important thing is that we accomplished what we set out to do: have a great time with friends and family, and raise hundreds of dollars while doing so.

Not to be too cheesy--then again, hey, it's Christmas--but I hope this reminds everyone that when we all get together we can really make a difference in the world. And I think that is something that everyone that came last night can really be proud of.

So, because last night was such a resounding success, there will be more Heavy Soul events soon to come. I don't think that anyone can argue that having that much fun while raising money for charity shouldn't be done a lot more often. So that's what we'll (hopefully) do.

Thank you again so much for taking time out of your busy holiday schedule to come out!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Labels: It's A Very Heavy Soul Christmas, United Way, Von Maur

We're developing a playlist of Christmas music for It's A Very Heavy Soul Christmas (it's this Sunday, in case you forgot! 8pm at Barretts! Deep-fried food! Beer! Charity! Good times to be had by all!).

Any requests? Leave them in the comments.

Labels: Christmas Music, Don't Worry We've Already Got The Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack On There, It's A Very Heavy Soul Christmas

So I was thinking about having another keg for new years. Of course this entails having various gaming i.e. Beer die and what not. Anyone interested let me know.

My brother over at a-peterson.blogspot.com had his book come out this month. I am ordering one today. Below is his sales pitch for why you shoud own this book, and not included is that he is both a Kansas City Royals and Miami Dolphins fan. Here it is:

Forgive me for this mass email, but I wanted to let you know that my little book My Untimely Death is now available from Subito Press. It’s just a small paperback, but I thought I should tell you about it.

First of all, if you'd like to order a copy, specify the title and send $10 to:

Subito PressDepartment of EnglishUniversity of Colorado at BoulderHellems 101226 UCBBoulder, CO 80309-0226

The book, which won their 2007 fiction prize, is a collection of 15 short prose pieces, each one a kind of story about (and this is according to the back cover) “touching but absurd deaths.” That makes it sound a little macabre, but it's actually, I hope, not at all. I don't even know what to say about it. Here, listen to the blurbers:

“Wildly funny, poignant, exhilarating meditations that fracture and reassemble everything we know and believe about living and dying. Adam Peterson reinvents the notion of story here, dismantling the lines between genres and creating a gorgeous new kind of prose with a voice that is simply irresistible. You can't stop reading this book again and again.”
—Jonis Agee, author of The River Wife

“Audacious, ambitious and auspicious, My Untimely Death is the record of its own impossibility. Razor-sharp and brave, this is a remarkable debut.”
—Jeffrey DeShell, author of The Trouble with Being Born: A Novel

Those were, of course, coerced and far too kind (and possibly sarcastic), but I hope they give you a better idea what the book is about. You can also check out the Subito Press website for an excerpt (www.subitopress.org) though you should know their website is practically impossible to navigate even if it does look nice. If you decide to brave the website, my book is the one on the top left. All you have to do is get the bird up there to read about it. Yes, it’s as crazy as it sounds.

Other things you should know about the book:
1) It's a great gift for the holidays
2) It's possibly not such a great gift for funerals
3) It's perfect bound
4) It's 56 pages long
5) Its ISBN number is 0-9801098-1-7 (I don't know why, but I feel like I got a good ISBN number).

The press, which is out of the University of Colorado, did a great job, and I couldn't be happier with it. Anyway, I wanted to send around this email to let everyone know about it. For more information, I'll continue to have some pictures and information (and maybe another excerpt or two) up on my blog (www.a-peterson.blogspot.com).

If you read it, I hope you enjoy it and be sure to let me know what you think. Also, if you like, please feel free to forward this email and help me spread the word.

Thanks and all the best,

Adam

Labels: Adam Peterson, Help Pay my brothers rent for January, Shameless Plug

They just flashed to Adrian Peterson's dad sitting in the crowd on the Monday Night game and he seriously looks like he's fifteen. I thought they were showing his little brother until Tirico said it was his father. All I can think of is Don't Be a Menace to South Central while Sipping Your Juice in the Hood where Shawn Wayans' father is younger than he is.

Labels: Adrian Peterson, Vikings

So the Dolphins won their first game yesterday and reacted like they just won the AFC championship game. "Hey guys, let's show everybody how desperate we were to win a game and how terrible even we thought we were this season and celebrate like its Kiefer Sutherland's first night back at a bar." Shouldn't Cam Cameron have told his team to keep their cool and act like professionals if they won? This is the NFL, where teams are supposed to win at least three games no matter how terrible they are. Atlanta has been through a hell of lot more than the Dolphins and they haven't celebrated their three wins like a bunch of fifth graders who won their thanksgiving basketball tournament. Maybe the problem with the team is they didn't actually expect to win any of the games they played, if so, that's definitely on the coach.

Labels: Cam Cameron, Dolphins, Pussies

Can anyone figure out why the media (actually, it would be more accurate to say ESPN, as I haven't read much of any other media outlet's coverage of this stuff) is just completely going out of their way to tell people why it's OK to assume that Barry Bonds was/is on steroids, but not with Roger Clemens?

I've never understood why the media loves Clemens--arguably the biggest egomaniac in all of sport. He's a traitor and a drama-queen, not to mention he got better and bigger as he got older. When Barry Bonds got bigger and better as he got older, people started screaming "steroids!" With Clemens, it was like the media always went out of their way to protect him from any sort of suspicion, such as the seemingly endless breathless reporting of his "legendary workouts."

Now this is not to defend Barry Bonds. Bonds is a liar, cheater, and thief. By so many accounts, he is really a bad person.

But when it appears to *finally* be the time that Clemens is outed for the douche bag he is (who wears giant patches of themselves commemorating their 300th win EVERY GAME on their glove? Years after it happened, no less?), and ESPN is running as fast as humanly possible to cover his ass (pun intended). The tired argument of "well, this report would never hold up in court!" is pretty sad to watch.

The guy was--as Boston's then G.M. said when they let him go to Toronto--"at the twilight of his career" 10 years ago. He's won 4 Cy Young Awards since then.

Yeah...I'm sure that the specifically detailed (with dates!) Mitchell Report should be looked at skeptically. After all, the guy is white!

Labels: ESPN, Jayson Stark, Mitchell Report, Roger Clemens, Sucky Journalism

Labels: Doc Sadler, Nebraska basketball, Suck it Creighton

So now that the Mitchell Report is out there and the finger pointing and backtracking can really begin. Do you think that most of these players are really that upset or sorry for what they did? From a financial stand point I think not. In a league where the difference between a $750K salary and a $2.2 million salary can be a couple of RBIs, a few percentage points on the batting average, or a few more innings pitched, what did the fringe players ( for instance, Harriston Jr., GlennAlan Hill, Jay Gibbons) have to lose? It is not like they were going to be superstars, so why else would they take steroids than to stay in the league a few extra years, and maybe rake in a few million extra dollars in the meantime. It might be different for the likes of Bonds, Clemens and Pettite who had great careers prior to the late 90s and early 2000s. It is their names that are going to be the lasting legacy of this thing. The other guys will just try to not get noticed when they go to buy their new Bentley.

Bo Pelini in an interview with the Lincoln Journal-Star today said that Marlon Lucky is indeed turning in pre-draft paperwork for the NFL Draft:

Pelini said he'll help Lucky submit paperwork to the NFL College Advisory Committee, a group that helps underclassmen gauge their draft status. Pelini said he'll advise Lucky during the process, but that the final decision is Lucky's.

The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft is Jan. 15.

Pelini's opinion?

"That's between me and him," Pelini said. "But I do know this: Unless you are a first-round draft pick, you should come back."

Good for Pelini for telling him like it is. I think this is some of the Bo Pelini honesty you always hear about that endears his players to him. I hope Marlon takes heed to his advice. We could certainly use him for one more year.

That said, I'm not surprised at all, really.

What do you think about this?

Labels: Bo Pelini, Marlon Lucky, Nebraska Cornhuskers, You Really Think You Should Do That?

From the guys at Kissing Suzy Kolber. . .

Roger Goodell Reacts To The Mitchell Report

BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

(takes deep breath)

Ah ha... Ah ha...AHHHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

(sighs)

(wipes away tears)

Oh, God. Oh, God. Can't stop... laughing... Selig... so very dumb... such an amateur...

(giggles)

(calls Paul Tagliabue)

Tags! Tags! Are you watching this?... I know!... That's what I did too!... It's fucking GREAT... Later.(hangs up)

Tee hee hee!

Hoo hoo hoo!

BAHHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

(takes deep breath)

(makes self tequila gimlet)

What a bunch of losers.

So this Mitchell Report is a pretty big deal, huh? SportsCenter is fixin' to jump off into SIX HOURS of SportsCenter, all to cover the much-anticipated release of the Mitchell Report.

ESPN is already reporting that Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are steroid users. Color us completely and totally not surprised.

How else you think is on here? I heard from the Yankees alone that there were All-Stars, a Cy Young winner (Clemens), and an MVP. I wonder who the MVP is? I mean, everyone knows about Giambi, so it's not like they need to be all secretive here about it. Could it be A-Rod? I honestly doubt that, but I think what this thing is going to show us all is...you never know.

Labels: baseball, shocking revelations, Steriods

To celebrate the Huskers coming to Omaha and taking on the Oregon Ducks at the Qwest Center (it's about time a proper school hosted a game there. Anyways....), I thought I would post this picture. I saw it on a message board. It had me pining for typing class; pounding out sentences as fast as humanly possible so I could play Oregon Trail or Jeopardy.

Anyways, I'll never understand the internet's obsession with ninjas and nostalgia...and I don't want to. I'm just happy it's all there.

Labels: Awesomeness, Nebraska basketball, Oregon Trail

To say that this Christmas season is "conflicting" is quite an understatement.

This is, I would venture, most peoples' favorite time of the year--I know it certainly is mine. While it can be lost in the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, travel, and all the other things that come with getting ready for Christmas, the most important part of the season--religious meanings being put to the side for a moment--is taking time and being with friends and family.

However, as has been said ad naseum the past week, not everyone is going to be with their friends and family in the Metro this year. With the senseless murders of people in our community at Von Maur last week, it leaves a proud city with a heavy heart.

The incredibly slight silver lining to this is that I hope that people go into the Christmas season with a renewed appreciation for life and their friends and loved ones. And with that in mind, we hope to celebrate life and the season with all of our friends.

"It's a Very Heavy Soul Christmas" will be the first of hopefully many Christmas celebrations where we get to come together and celebrate friendship and all the ridiculous times we've had together with our friends. And of equal importance, have a chance to give back to our community at the same time.

Here's the crucial info:

Where: Barrett's Barleycorn. 4322 Leavenworth Street. Omaha, NE.
When: Sunday, December 23rd.
Time: 8:00 pm.
Cost: $5 at the door; ALL proceeds going to the United Way of the Midlands Von Maur Victims Fund.
Why would I come: Why wouldn't you? We've got Barrett's completely rented out to ourselves. There will be some free beer. It will be a great time for people to get together and have fun. And you're contributing to helping your community heal. So really what it comes down to is that you should feel awfully guilty for NOT coming.

We'll be sending out an e-vite sometime soon, as well, so you can pass it along to your friends.

So please join us at Barrett's December 23rd and help us celebrate life and friendship, and help out a great cause while you're at it.

It's that time, ladies and gents. I'm gonna break these puppies down into listening skill levels. The top albums require minimal effort to enjoy the most.

Get Your Ass Out There and Buy These:


Josh Ritter, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
Kings of Leon, Because of the Times
Okkervil River, The Stage Names
Patton Oswalt, Werewolves and Lollipops
Feist, The Reminder
Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The National, Boxer
Heartless Bastards, All This Time
The Thermals, The Body, The Blood, The Machine
The Good Life, Help Wanted Nights

For the Veteran Music Listeners:


Johnny Cash, American V: A Hundred Highways
Caribou, Andorra
Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
Dinosaur Jr., Beyond
Harlem Shakes, Burning Birthdays
Bright Eyes, Cassadaga
Band of Horses, Cease To Begin
The Avett Brothers, Emotionalism
The Twighlight Sad, Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters
Black Lips, Good Bad Not Evil
Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
White Stripes, Icky Thump
Bruce Springsteen, Magic
St. Vincent, Marry Me
Elliott Smith, New Moon
Jens Lekman, Night Falls Over Kortedala
Robert Plant & Allison Krause, Raising Sand
David Dondero, Simple Love
Brandi Carlisle, The Story
Two Gallants, Two Gallants
Peter Bjorn and John, Writer's Block


Albums That Were Impossible to Live Up to the Hype Inside of My Head, But Were Still Good:

The Shins, Wincing the Night Away
Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City
Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Wilco, Sky Blue Sky


As my favorite Irishman, Bill O'Reilly would say, "Tell me where I'm wrong."

Labels: Awesometown, Best of 2007, Good Music, Suck it Creighton

To say that this Christmas season is "conflicting" is quite an understatement.

This is, I would venture, most peoples' favorite time of the year--I know it certainly is mine. While it can be lost in the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, travel, and all the other things that come with getting ready for Christmas, the most important part of the season--religious meanings being put to the side for a moment--is taking time and being with friends and family.

However, as has been said ad naseum the past week, not everyone is going to be with their friends and family in the Metro this year. With the senseless murders of people in our community at Von Maur last week, it leaves a proud city with a heavy heart.

The incredibly slight silver lining to this is that I hope that people go into the Christmas season with a renewed appreciation for life and their friends and loved ones. And with that in mind, we hope to celebrate life and the season with all of our friends.

"It's a Very Heavy Soul Christmas" will be the first of hopefully many Christmas celebrations where we get to come together and celebrate friendship and all the ridiculous times we've had together with our friends. And of equal importance, have a chance to give back to our community at the same time.

Here's the crucial info:

Where: Barrett's Barleycorn. 4322 Leavenworth Street. Omaha, NE.
When: Sunday, December 23rd.
Time: 8:00 pm.
Cost: $5 at the door; ALL proceeds going to the United Way of the Midlands Von Maur Victims Fund.
Why would I come: Why wouldn't you? We've got Barrett's completely rented out to ourselves. There will be some free beer. It will be a great time for people to get together and have fun. And you're contributing to helping your community heal. So really what it comes down to is that you should feel awfully guilty for NOT coming.

We'll be sending out an e-vite sometime soon, as well, so you can pass it along to your friends.

So please join us at Barrett's December 23rd and help us celebrate life and friendship, and help out a great cause while you're at it.

Labels: Barrett's Barelycorn, It's A Very Heavy Soul Christmas, United Way, Von Maur

So I finally hooked up my XM radio (Thanks GA!). And turns out channel 54 (90's Alternative) might be the greatest radio station ever invented. The bands that have played in the last hour are Blues Traveler, Soundgarden, Portishead, Sonic Youth, Juliana Hatfield, Fuel, the Butthole Surfers, and Hum. I couldn't be happier spending my $122.95 a year on this shit. At any point you can turn this thing on an be transported to a time when mainstream music was decent and MTV still showed videos. Not to mention National Lampoon radio which has some of the best comics' standups on at any given point. Last night I listened to a Chris Rock standup that I had never heard before. Overall I give XM an enthusiastic three thumbs up, and once this merger with Sirius goes through and I can listen to any sport at any time, I might just give up on all other forms of media.

Labels: Awesomeness, Birch Needs To Move Back, Good Music, High School was awesome wasn't it, Sirius, XM

So last Wednesday, some dude drove his truck into the Guiness brewery, hooked up a trailer holding 450 kegs of beer, and drove off. The story was reported in the Irish Times on 11/29/07 (here's the link: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/1129/breaking41.html?via=mr).

My question: Does the Guiness brewery not have a single security guard? Shouldn't somebody have questioned a random truck that pulled up, hooked up a refrigerated trailor, and then just pulled away?

Also: Is there a black market for beer? I guess if there were to be one, it would be in Ireland.


Omaha you're in our prayers

Labels: Guiness, Stupid Security Guards, Theft

Just wanted to do a quick update; not that everyone doesn't know already.

1. Nine people are dead. I believe 2 people are still in critical condition.

2. The kid who killed all these people was a 19-year-old Papillion dropout. And, as you always hear in these cases, there were warnings about violent behavior in the recent past.

A man on 1110 KFAB this morning talked about how the loser tried selling his son and daughter drugs. The idiot sent--via text message--sent basically a price list for the drugs. The father took the text messages to Sarpy County police. Not only this, but the shooter also threatened to kill his daughter, their family, and "burn their house down." This was also reported. What did the police do?

Not shit.

I guess they were too busy trying to get speeders on I-80. Your tax payer dollars at work, friends.

There are many different little stories and eyewitness accounts that I could add there, but anyone in Omaha has probably heard all of them anyways.

The main thing that we wanted to say is how sorry we are for all the people that have been affected by this. Mrs. GA Hill e-mailed me this morning talking about how difficult school is today--lots of connections, parents of kids that were there, family members being victims...incredibly sad and challenging things for a community to go through, and it is still unimaginable.

Although only two or three victims' names have been released, I'd venture to guess that when these names come out, there will be people that we all know in one way or another. That's one of the things that makes Omaha/Nebraska so unique: my MBA professor at Creighton, who is not from Omaha, had a very good insight on this town: "don't' ever say anything bad about someone from Omaha in Omaha, because chances are you're talking to their best friend." There's a lot to be said about this. And sadly, there are a lot of "best friends" in the metro that are probably in a lot of pain today.

From all of us that contribute to this silly little blog, our deepest condolences to those in the community who have been affected.

Labels: Nebraska, Omaha, Westroads Shootings

This must be the reason their athletic department did that stupid power towel promotion...

When ya gotta go...

Here's the update:

-A man using some sort of assault rifle stood on the 3rd Floor of Von Maur at Westroads in Omaha trying to kill people on the 1st and 2nd Floors.

-2 people are dead. One person dead was found on the 3rd Floor next to the Customer Service area with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They are pretty sure that this was the gunman, however, it sounds like there may have been two gunmen. Channel 3 is reporting that someone was taken into custody, too.

-Witness reports say that there were probably 20 shots fired.

-Conflicting reports on how many injured, Channel 3 is reporting 10, Channel 6 is reporting 5. Let's hope Channel 6 is right.

Labels: Eastern Iowa news sucks, shooting, Von Maur

...the ACLU comes along and ruins it.

So in Wisconsin, a teacher was arrested--ARRESTED!--for a comment posted on a local political blog.

According to CNN, James Buss left a message on a political board seemingly praising the Columbine shooters. His comment said:

"They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time!"

Now, is this over the top? Absolutely. Is there a pretty good chance that this was an offensive way of just trying to be funny? Probably, if I were to guess.

However, the police is trying to compare it to saying "bomb" in an airport. Which is more than absurd--and the absurdity is heightened when I happen to read this article while watching "V for Vendetta" (which, by the way--upon further viewing, is an incredible movie).

This sounds like an egregious overstepping of power, and a blatant attack on our rights as citizens to voice opinions. Not to mention it is a flipping anonymous comment on a blog.

So what's this have to do with the ACLU? Take it away, Larry Dupuis, legal director of the Wisconsin ACLU:

"At worst, it was somebody expressing admiration for somebody who did something reprehensible. But the more reasonable explanation is this is somebody who is trying to mock the conservative view of teacher salaries."

What a ridiculous cheap shot. The conservative / classic liberal view of teacher unions is that it cheapens public education and takes away the free market approach of what education should be: the best teachers paid the best wages, and the worst teachers fired without the fear of union legal protection.

This really is not inherently "political" post; in fact, I think it could be pretty fairly said that I have avoided such posts for quite a while here. However, a blatant cheap shot and uniformed opinion simply could not go without comment.

All that said, I sincerely hope that Washington County, Wisconsin sobers up awfully quick off the drink of self-righteousness and power and let this man go--no matter how ridiculous his opinion may be.

Labels: ACLU, Free Market, Free Speech, Insanity

Ok, so I saw an ad for Law and Order: SVU tonight. It features not one but three of my favorite rappers from the glory days. Obviously Ice T is on every week, which still weirds me out, the guy wrote "Cop Killer" for Christ's sake. Also guest starring this week are Method Man and MC Ren. The worst part is that Ren doesn't even get his name mentioned in the promo, I just saw him standing in the courtroom.

What the hell happened to Meth? That guy was larger than life when we started college. He and Redman could have done anything they wanted in the late 90's/early 00's. They let them make a movie about pot and Harvard for crying out loud. Now he's a guest star on Law and Order: SVU and Redman's sniffing MTV's jock? Next thing you know, Chuck D will be a guest star on Deal or No Deal and Ghostface will be next to David Caruso solving murders in Miami.

Labels: Ice T, MC Ren, Method Man, My Brain Melting

If you were to give to a charity, what charity would it be? I know this seems quite random, but it will make sense soon.

I personally like JDRF (little brother) and Habitat for Humanity. What about you?

Leave it in the comments--and please do comment because...uh, well, because you'll go to hell if you don't. Seriously.

Labels: Charity

(Author's Note: This is Part 1 in a yet-to-be-determined number of articles where I select something, someone, or somewhere and talk about whether it's still up to snuff. Today: Taco John's)

I say without a doubt that I have been one of Taco John's biggest supporters since approximately 1985. This is when i first remember eating one of their delicious tacos, in Holdrege, NE. In 1995, when both skipping lunch for Taco Tuesday and drinking entered my life, my love for Taco John's increased precipitously. This led to a glorious run in the early 21st century that culminated with myself and other members of both Exit177 and Heavy Soul creating Tshirts celebrating "A Whole Lot of Mexican". It was the combination of delicious food, awesome specials, ridiculous menu items, and colorful personalities of the employees, combined with a gimmicky ad campaign featuring Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey from PRCA rodeo fame that really made me and others a fan for life.

About 5 minutes ago, I had Taco Tuesday in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, IA, and it dawned on me how much Taco Johns had changed over the years, but how the core principles remained intact. How they have become much more corporate and business savvy but still cling to the outlaw tradition of their Cheyenne, Wyo. roots. Here are a few examples:

1. Placards all over today were visible for "Nachos Navidad", which, if you are unfamiliar, are nachos with Christmas red-and-green chips and an abundance of seasoned beef and all kinds of other goodies. This is a concept so ludicrous I am not properly describing it. I'm sorry. It's like you are eating a big Mexican flavored wreath.

2. The corporatization of Taco Johns concerned me about three years ago, which led to me frequenting the restaurant at a low level not seen since before I had a driver's license, but I realized that now, every time I go to a Taco John's, the food tastes the same no matter the location. And the food is still good. How can this be a bad thing? It isn't.In the past, Taco John's locations were very dicey and to go to one in a foreign town was simply playing Russian (or Mexican?) Roulette. Sterling, Colo. and Kearney, NE (with the Spaghetti Shop) come to mind as examples of hideous Taco John's locations.

3. Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey is still figured prominently in the ad campaign, as is their use of the song "Feliz Navidad" only with lyrics relating to Taco John's. It sounds like what I do to bad songs when I'm drunk: change the lyrics to things that relate to me. For Taco John's, that would be Nachos Navidad.

4. I've been to Taco Tuesday before, and their is seemingly a renewed enthusiasm in Taco John's. The stores are legitimately busy. In Iowa, I bet there are 3 Taco John's to every 1 Taco Bell. Awesome. People throw out terms such as "Six Pack and a Pound" and "Meat and Potato Burrito" with ease. I credit this to the corporate influence.

5. The menu is at an all time high. Ole's are being seasoned properly, and clearly rank as the best side at any fast food restaurant, ever. The Meat and Potato Burrito kills it, as does the Taco Bravo. The ridiculous dessert Apple Grande is back from the dead. For those who don't know, it's a deep fried, hard tortilla with apple cinnamon and cheese on it. It sounds gross, it kicks ass. They've added trendy items like the cilantro-lime steak taco and the grilled chicken burrito, and they are both good and suburbanite-approved.

Overall, Taco John's is on the upswing and has seen a renewed sense of purpose in this author's eyes. By cleaning up a little but sticking to the things that made it good in the first place, (this sounds like the Nebraska football program) Taco John's is clearly the pinnacle of Mexican fast food.

Labels: State of the Union, Taco John's

I don't mean to bump down Pete's post about A Very Heavy Soul Christmas--because it's totally gonna kick ass--but I just wanted to throw this out to anyone else watching Monday Night Football...

Is there anyone who isn't rooting for New England like mad after hearing these fools drool all over the most overrated football coach of all time / whiny, "crusty old fuck" Don Shula and his stupid 1972 Miami Dolphins?

I normally could care less one way or the other with the Patriots, but I am officially rooting for them to go undefeated the rest of the season. I cannot handle Shula. What a douche bag.

Labels: Don Shula, Monday Night Football, New England Patriots, No One Cares About The 1972 Miami Dolphins Anymore So Shut Up About It Already

...is coming. Stay tuned for details. Just know that commercialism will not ruin our Christmas.

Labels: A Christmas Story, A Very HeavySoul Christmas, How are we possibly this cool?

The excitement continues, Husker fan! Speculation is running rampant: who will be the assistants?

OK, maybe it's not that exciting, but it is certainly crucial with not only a new head coach at Nebraska, but a new head coach that has never been a (full-time) head coach.

According to the Lincoln Journal-Star, here are some likely names we'll see:

-Ron Brown will be on the staff again
-Marvin Sanders will be on the staff again
-Carl Pelini--Bo's brother--will be on the staff. And if there's not a finer Midwestern name than "Carl Pelini," let me know. The only way it could be better would be if his name was "Carl Pavelka."
-Barney Cotton is a "leading candidate."
-Shawn Watson will "likely" be retained.

It would be assumed that there is a guy or two brought along from LSU, and there are also rumors about Scott Frost being brought on board.

Also, in this story, Trev Alberts says "We’re going to have one of the best coaching staffs in the country." I like the confidence, Trev. Hope you're right.

What does everybody else think? Too much of a "blast from the past?" Or exactly what we need?

I think this staff sounds pretty good. I really hope Shawn Watson stays on, for several reasons. He is apparently a very good recruiter, a nationally-respected coordinator, and is the one assistant that most of the current players say they hope to see back. Not to mention the transition on offense, well, it wouldn't be a transition. It would basically be like having our offense from the last 4 games coupled with a defense with Bo Pelini running the show.

I could not be more excited about this.

Labels: Awesomeness, Barney Cotton, Kickin' Ass, Marvin Sanders, Nebraska Football, Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini, Shwan Watson, Trev Alberts

From Huskers.com:

Nebraska will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. today to introduce the 28th head coach in Cornhusker football history.

Not that it even needs to be said, but HuskersIllustrated.com's Sean Callahan is reporting that it has indeed been confirmed that Bo Pelini arrived in Lincoln sometime this morning. There is also a player's meeting scheduled for 2:50PM today before the press conference.

I've been kind of up in the air about Bo being our new coach. That said, after watching the end of the SEC title game yesterday and reading all the quotes from defensive guys from LSU, I'm feeling pretty good about things here. Ol' Coach Osborne is certainly taking a risk, but he just might have hit a home run here.

Speaking of Tom Osborne, there are rumors that--health permitting--he is going to be running the show for the next 3-5 years. I think that's great.

Let the healing begin, Nebraska! Welcome home, Bo!

Labels: Nebraska Football, Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini, Tom Osborne, We're Really Glad Our Source Was Right Because We Just Weren't Convinced Ourselves

Who the hell gets into the national championship now?
Obviously you put Ohio State into the BCS championship, where they should lose to whoever else gets into that game.

But who's the national champion?

Kansas only has one loss, but they didn't win their conference championship or even their division. Georgia's #4 but they didn't win conference or division either. LSU has consistently been the media darling, they won the SEC and both losses came in 3OT. VA Tech has the feel good story going for them, they won the ACC, and that win was against a team they previously lost to. Hawaii really should be pissed off if they run the table (which is unlikely as they have to play Washington tonight and then a good team in a BCS game) and a team with two losses wins the national title. How do they have any less of a claim than the BYU team that won the title in 84?

If the presidents don't change to at least a four team playoff after this mess, it will never happen.

The Omaha World-Herald and ESPN are reporting that Bo Pelini is the pick (just a few days after it was reported on Heavy Soul..suck it, World-Herald!).

The Lincoln Journal Star doesn't seem totally convinced yet.

Pelini and Tom Osborne don't seem to have conceded it to be true, either. I'm sure it is a 99% done deal situation we're dealing with, but something doesn't seem totally right yet, if that makes sense.

But I'm going to go ahead and say "welcome" to Bo Pelini and his family. Here's to you bringing us back to glory!

P.S.: In fairly unrelated news, apparently Les Miles is about to announce that he's actually staying at LSU, and he reportedly signed an extension sometime today. I am pretty shocked by this decision--you think he maybe had a contact at Michigan who told him that he might not get the job? So he's acting like a hero by announcing he's staying at LSU? I think that there is something to that story there...

Labels: Bo Pelini, Les Miles, Lincoln Journal Star, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska Football Coaching Search, Omaha World-Herald, Tom Osborne

Seems like Pelini is our man.

(And in Steven A. Smith style) HOWEVER, why is everyone saying, "Welcome home, Bo." I love the fire and intensity and piss and vinegar as much as the next fan embarrassed by the defensive effort this year, but the dude was here for less than a calendar year. I've heard Bo called a Nebraska boy. A man with roots in the program. Let me be clear that I like the idea of Bo as the head coach, but to say that one season, and one (1) game as interim head coach qualify him as the next leader of a vaunted collegiate program is Chris Bridges ludicrous.

There has to be something more. For all of the rough edges and post-game midfield sprints to confront Bill Snyder on his epic prickery, there must be something more. Tom Osborne is smarter than that. He knows what this hire means to the state, and possibly (though I'm sure he's unconcerned) his legacy. I'd love to call Bo out on his lack of head coaching experience at any level. But I'd have to throw Hastings' favorite son in that bucket as well. I'd love to say that Pelini's type of emotion no longer is in fashion, but I'd be face to face with Jim Mora, Sr. Playoffs? Nevermind. Bad example.

Turner Gill could have been the safe choice. Appease the faithful. Sombitch. You wouldn't necessarily be wrong. But would you be right?

It's 1:10 in the am and I have to open the doors to the carpet cleaners in five hours and I've had a few drinks, but the idea of Bo Big Red is growing.