Funny...

Ok, kinda wrong but still funny.....

www.vpilf.com Palin is hot...even if I disagree with everything she stands for :)

You Are Kidding - Right?

Have you seen Nebraska's Non-Conference schedule? This is what I'm talking about when I mention that media members in this state are beginning to make me question if they are taking sides. I talked on the show about how I think some media members are getting ready to rip Dana Altman for not producing but let's be honest here with NU's schedule - Nebraska under Doc Sadler is simply scheduling to pad their overall record. He is saying "we play in the Big 12, we don't need a tough non-conference" . Well, you do - but this ain't SEC football. Winning 20 games doesn't put you into the NCAA tournament. This year's non-con is WORST than last year's! Look for yourself (last year's record is next to the team):

San Jose State 13-19
at Texas Christian 14-16
Arkansas-Pine Bluff 13-18
St. Louis 16-15
Creighton 22-11
Alabama State 20-11
at Arizona State 21-13
at Oregon State 6-25
Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne 13-18
Maryland-Baltimore County 24-9
South Carolina State 13-20
Maryland-Eastern Shore 4-28 (worst rating in DI)
Florida A&M 15-17***

Get ready for it....AVERAGE KEN POM rating of 215. By my count - 1 team that played in the NCAA Tournament. 1. It should be noted that I'm using "RATING" and not "RPI" as the OWH did today. NU Kenpom RPI (95 to Rating of 35) is more than twice worse but since they used that...I thought I'd use the same spin as them to paint the picture. Now CU's isn't that much better at an average of rating 164 (Game 12 rating was averaged between St. Louis and Depaul. (CU's Kenpom RPI is 46) and 3 NCAA teams, however many schools simply won't play CU. The same can not be said for Doc Sadler and Nebraska. They bring a bigger name thanks to football and have the resources to do things that Creighton can not.

So why, year after year, do we see NU play a sad non-conference schedule? It would work for a small mid-major but not a Big 12 school. You can say "Once" Doc Sadler gets it going - then he will schedule....why would anyone play a team that is going to kill your RPI? The Huskers had a Ken Pom rating of 35 to use to their advantage. Oregon St.? Maybe Doc wanted to meet Michelle Obama's brother but that's not a good game other than it's a name. Arizona St. and Creighton. 2 games on the entire schedule! Wow. Way to go after the big boys Doc but I doubt you will hear that from any other media member.

Tom Shatel interview

Here's the interview we talked about on the show today:

Tom Shatel Interview

Jays Announce Schedule

Big Sports 590 for the 14th straight season will be the home of Bluejays basketball team. The Jays announced their 2008-09 schedule today. Some hightlights: Opening vs. New Mexico (Steve Alford), other homes games include Oral Roberts and Dayton in the Non-Conference. Road games at St. Joe's and Nebraska and a trip to Vegas for 2 games (Fresno and maybe St. Louis).

Dana Altman gets a B+ for this schedule. For more info: www.gocreighton.com

I agree completely :)

You will need to press the volume up but it's blocked...so click just to the right of the sound button and you should get sound of the song.

More videos from the "ryanparkersongs's channel" channel at Heavy.com

Back on Wednesday

Hey All,

The Big Show with Matt Perrault (and Brian the Producer) will be back in full force tomorrow at 2 pm. We are all recharged and ready to go for the college football season. Remember that we have some awesome things returning to the program next week! like

Fight Song Fridays! live from Farrell's Elite Sports Bar!
Lee Sterling of Paramount Sports Fridays 5:30! - the best football handicapper in the country!
Look Around the Big 12 - Every Thursday at 3:30!
Big Show Big Picks for weekly prizes
Nail the Score Contest on football Saturdays
Huskers Monday live from T.O. Garcia's in Papillion from 2 to 6 pm

more to come as well!!

Remember Him?

Our friend Garrett from Floswimming.org is in Beijing and he has posted a really interested video about traveling to the cube. You will notice that he did not get a press pass - but rather scalped tickets to the prelims today. You had to apply for media credentials 3 years ago....they didn't do it in time. Cool look at the Olympics behind the scene:

Garrett Video

This is good :)

God asks Tony Romo: "What do you believe?"

Tony thinks long and hard, looks God in the eye, and says, "I believe in hard work, and in staying true to family and friends. I believe in giving. I was lucky, but I always tried to do right by my fans."

God can't help but see the essential goodness of Romo, and offers him a seat to his left.

Then God turns to Tom Brady and says, "What do you believe?"

Tom says, "I believe passion, discipline, courage and honor are the fundamentals of life. I, too, have been lucky, but win or lose, I've always tried to be a true sportsman, both on and off the playing fields."

God is greatly moved by Tom's sincere eloquence, and he offers him a seat to his right.

Finally, God turns to Brett Favre: "And you, Brett, what do you believe?"

Brett replies, "I believe you're in my seat."

Chris Cornell Rips Stir

Chris Cornell came to Stir in Council Bluffs tonight really did a great job of blowing the doors off the venue. I have to say - what an amazing summer of music here in the Metro and this night was a great end ot it. Chris did an fun mix of AudioSlave, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and orginal songs for 2 hours plus. My ears are ringing still an hour and half after the show but Chris really seemed to enjoy the crowd and the back up band sounded perfect.

Really fun, fun night.

Olympics Viewing Is Fun...

Who says the Olympics are boring? Take your pick of these "athletes":

Bia and Branca - Brazilian syncro-swimmers:

http://withleather.uproxx.com/photo.phtml?post_key=6572&photo_key=2052

or Leryn Franco - Javelin thrower from Paraguay

http://www.pbase.com/crespoide/personal_2007_calendar

Fun stuff :)

Flogging Molly at Westfair

What a show for the LA based Irish rockers Flogging Molly! Westfair was the wrong venue for this show but it was still awesome! Great way to end the summer.



That's Matt Hensley from Flogging Molly in between myself and Brian. He's the accordion player who came on the Big Show to promote the show. If you have a chance to see them - do it!

For more pictures of the concert including backstage shots - go to www.myspace.com/thebigshowomaha

Patriots Fan Club Starting....

Hey Guys,

I need your help to pass this along here in Omaha. A while ago, a man approached me about starting a New England Patriots fan club here in Nebraska. I have lost track of him so I'm hoping to start a fan club and get in touch with him as well. So here's the announcement:

I'm starting a Patriots fan club that will get together every week for the Pats game at Farrell's elite sports bar - 9th and Dodge. We will get a party room to ourselves with 2 TV's and an optional 3rd if we need it. There will be drink/food specials and lots Patriots cheering going on. I'm not working on Monday nights this year so I will be available for every game to host.

This has nothing to do with the radio station so email is the best way to talk to me about this matt@bigsports590.com If you are interested - let me know and let me know if there is another group in town that we could join up with for the season. Kickoff is less than a month away! Go Pats!

Big Show Big Bus was a Blast

Thanks to everyone who came on the bus last night to see the Red Sox beat the Royals 8-2. We saw Josh Beckett pitch like it was 2007 and we saw Jason Bay tie a career high for hits at 4 including a crazy, top of the wall rolling ball double. I've seen 2 games this year -the first on the 4th had that nutty Johnny Damon almost-catch ball land top of the wall only to fall off and now Jason Bay's. Wild year so far for my Red Sox live watching. Sox are 2-0 with me there though I'm trying to go to the game on 17th too. They need all the help they can get.

It was a great time and a late night. If you missed the trip - we'll do it again next year for sure! Pictures are soon to come so check back on the blog later on.

RIP Skip Caray

I just want to pass along a sad note from the broadcasting world. Skip Caray, son of Harry, father of Chip passed away last night at the age of 68. I watched Skip for years on TBS and listened to him on radio during Atlanta Braves broadcasts as we were a Brave affiliate in Huntsville.

Skip said earlier this year while he battled health problems: "I'm 68," Caray said on April 2. "If I go tonight, I've had a hell of a life."

We will miss you Skip.

Something Fun For A Sunday - Go Red Sox

Dropkick Murphy show - St. Patrick's Day in Boston 2008 at the Avalon - the first place I ever saw a live concert. I will be there in 2009!

Fun Red Sox site too: http://www.redsoxdiehard.com/features/if/page3.html

Manny Knew What He Was Doing

According the Boston Globe, Manny Ramirez tried to talk his way into staying in Boston after he was traded but before the deal was approved by the league. Amazing. Simply Amazing.

Why did Manny do this? I think it was because he learned that GM Theo Epstein had the blessing of 7 Red Sox leaders to trade him. I think he realized that his actions had made him an enemy of the very players he won 2 Championships with and he thought were his friends. Manny isn't a talker. Yet in the final days of his career in Boston, it was his spoken words that got him finally kicked out of town. In my opinion, it was on purpose.

I believe that Scott Boras knew that he wasn't going to any money from Manny until he signed a new contract and he didn't want to wait another 1 or 2 years to captalize on Manny. Ramirez's contract was orginally done by Jeff Moorad and he was getting the commission off that deal signed 8 years ago. At 36, Manny can sign a 4 year deal and make around $20-25 per. Boras gets his cut off that after not seeing a dime for the past 2 years off Manny. It was a caculated decision to get the Red Sox to not pick up his option years.

This is the same agent that tried to steal the spotlight from the Red Sox during the World Series by announcing that A-Rod would opt out of his contract with the Yankees. This is the same agent that A-Rod stopped talking to and bashed publicly for his behavior. Should we have expected anything else from a slime ball like Boras? This guy rep's J.D. Drew of the Red Sox - great. When does J.D. start his crying and whinning? Boras should be hated in Boston...but so should Manny. He acted like a kid and then knew he screwed up after he was evicted from the team. He went too far and you have to be proud that the Red Sox brass said enough was enough. They were better off without him.

Incomes Jason Bay. 2 games - 2 wins. Bay has scored 4 runs - both in a 2-1 win Friday, hit a 3 run homer, a triple, walked 3 times and made 2 nice plays in left field. It's not called the "Bay State" for nothing. Maybe, just maybe - the Red Sox will do exactly what they did in 2004 and when they got rid of a clubhouse cancer in Nomar.

We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime - Manny is as far from Boston as possible. Good.

So Long Summer....

So it's August 1st. Summer is gone. As I've talked about on the show - my fun time is from April 1 to August 1. Once the calendar flips to August - it's football season and that means it's time to go back to work. However, it does give me time to reflect on the last few months...and boy, is there a lot to reflect on. It's been a lot fun and painful too!

Ever since I turned 31, I've been trying to have as much fun as possible. Call in intuition that it won't always be like this - freedom and no responsibilities. April 4th kinda set things in motion for this summer of fun as I had a bunch of friends out to the Urban Wine Company for a really fun night....then I got hurt :(. The first really nice day of the Spring saw me throwing a football at a cookout and I partially tore my right rotator cuff. As you probably know - it wasn't the only injury of the summer. I went to the Masters, South Carolina, New York City for the 4th of July and The Red Sox at the Yankees, and Boston 3 different times. I had a ball but it's time to get work...football is back.

However, the most memorable times will be the music that I experienced over the past 4 months. I thought it would be fun to rank the top 5 shows that I saw this Summer. Many of you were at these shows so feel free to join in the conversation about them:

5. BB King at Stir - The veteran guitar hero came to Council Bluffs and did his thing for 2 hours. While I can't say I love blues music, I really had fun at this show watching the legend work his guitar into a frenzy. You can tell that Father Time is catching up with B.B. as he sat for the entire set but he still rocked it out including an awesome version of "When Love Comes To Town" which he originally did with Bono of U2.

4. Tom Petty at Qwest Center - This was my 4th time seeing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and they did not disappoint. The one thing that you have to love about Petty is that he knows how to entertain. Unlike the Police, putting on a show is important to the band. They played the hits and rocked for 2 hours plus. "Running Down a Dream" will always be a special song to me and it was one of the 2 encores songs that they played.

3. 311 at Westfair - I waited nearly 4 years to see 311 in their hometown but it was well worth the wait. I have been a fan of the band for years and had seem so many times that I've lost track of the exact number but they blew through a 90 minute set with ease. They played lots of newer, slower songs but the old favorites ripped like always and everyone had a blast.

2. The Roots at Stir- Walking into the venue, I really didn't know what to expect out the Philly hip-hop group. It didn't take me long to realize that I was watching something very, very special on stage. From the amazing percussion, strings, guitar and rocking Tuba playing, the musicianship was 2nd to none. If there was a roof on the building - it would have come off. Their rendition of Dylan's "Masters of War" was the song of this summer that I will take with me for a long time.

1. Dropkick Murphys at Sokol - This shouldn't be a surprise....hell, I dislocated my shoulder during "Tessie" :). It was an amazing, unreal performance by the Boston punk/rock/folk band. From opening with my requested "For Boston" to "State of Mass." and the Irish Folk song "Fields of Anthery", DKM sent the sweaty, capacity crowd home very happy. The interview with Ken Casey of the band was a treat but hearing the songs that keep me from being too homesick in Omaha was the highlight of my summer of fun....and the fact that my shoulder will be F'd for years to come will just be a reminder of much fun I had on that July night.

Other shows attended: The Police at Qwest, Snoop Dogg at Westfair,

Bye Bye Manny

My dislocated shoulder makes it tough to type so I apologize for not writing a lot on here lately. I will try to write some more about the Manny deal on here in this weekend as I should have some time but in the meantime. This is from Boston.com - really good:

Red Sox Poem about Manny