National Lampoon's (California) Vacation Part IV

Okay, so, I'm finally going to wrap up the end of the little trip Megan and I took out West over a montha ago. I know that I've kind of dragged this out for a while, and truth be told, I probably would have abandoned posting about if the last leg of our trip wasn't so cool. At least we thought so, so I hope that you do too.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13
Megan and I got up early and regretfully said goodbye to the craziest hotel we've seen, let alone stayed at, so we could make it to San Simeon in time for our 10:20 tour of the Hearst Castle. Now, for those not familiar with the Hearst Castle, this may seem like a pretty odd tourist destination. Especially when you consider that when Megan asked me before our trip what the one thing I wanted to do when we got California was, and I said that we should tour the Hearst Castle.

The reasons I wanted to take the tour are numerous, but basically it all starts with my love of the movie Citizen Kane. The movie was loosely based on the life of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), with Orson Welles' Charles Foster Kane standing in for Hearst. The movie even featured a fascimile of the Hearst Castle which they called Xanadu. After seeing Citizen Kane and sunsequent doccumentaries about Hearst, many of which feature the opulance of Hearst Castle, I knew that it would be quite a sight to behold first hand.



The pictures above are two I took from the visitors' center. Before his death, the castle sat on a huge chunk of property that was 250,000 acres in size. Big enough to house Hearst's own private landing strip for his plane, the castle itself, servants quarters, a ranch for the ranchers, cattle, and at one time the world's largest private zoo. Not only does the property still house cattle, but other animals from the zoo also roam the hills to this day, including Roosevelt elk and zebras! The only way allowed to the castle is to take a bus for a 5 mile ride from the visitors' center.


The first stop on the tour is the Neptune Pool which looks out to the mountains of the central coast. One really cool aspect of the design of the pool is that it looks completely level, when in actuality it is 3 ft. deep at one end and 10 ft. deep at the other.


This is the rear entrance to one of the guest houses, the Casa del Sol. This particular guest house overlooked the pool and also connected to the pool's changing rooms. This was one of three guest houses at the castle and with 18 rooms and 2,604 square feet, it's probably bigger than most visitors regular houses.


The front of Casa del Sol.

One of the bedrooms inside Casa del Sol.


This is the exterior and entrance to the main house at the castle, Casa Grande which is 60,645 square feet. To give you some perspective as to how big it actually is on the outside, those crosses at the top are 8 ft. tall. Casa Grande is so big in fact that if you want to see the whole thing, you have to take multiple tours.


Here's a shot of the first of 5 rooms we got to see at in Casa Grande. This one was called the Assembly Room and it was freakin' huge. I don't remember the exact dimensions, but our tour guide said that the square footage for the room itself was bigger than the average four bedroom house. My favorite architectural detail about the room was that the ceiling could be raised and lowered to better suit the artwork on the walls when they were occasionally switched out.

Here's a shot of the Refectory, the only dining room at the castle. Supposedly, newer or favored guests got to sit closer to Hearst. Those he was tired of were seated farther and farther away from him.

This is a detail of the Refectory ceiling.


Here's a shot I stole off of the web of the Billiard Room. Since they don't allow flash photography and there's scaffolding up for restoration they're doing to the ceiling, I couldn't get a decent shot. But I wanted to post it to point out how insanely rich this guy was. That ceiling that they're restoring? It's a15th century ceiling from Barbastro in northeastern Spain which Hearst had shipped over and installed. Think about that. That ceiling dates back to before Columbus "discovered" America and this guy had it put in his house. Normally, that would probably be astounding enough in and of itself, but its even more so when you consider that he ended making it the centerpiece for what basically equates to his "rumpus room."

This is Hearst's private movie theatre. Keeping in mind that its the biggest room in Casa Grande, it kind of puts your home theatre to shame, huh? It actually reminded me somewhat of the old Westroads Theatres inside the mall. Except much, much nicer.

Detail of a statue in the theatre room.


The last stop on the tour was Hearst's indoor pool, or the Roman Pool. This pool was amazing. Ornate and beautiful as it was, it was seldom used as the pool was 10 ft. deep throughout and unfortunately, most people at the time didn't know how to swim. My favorite element was the little alcove you can see in the upper right which was also the diving platform. By the way, just so you know, if it looks like gold at the Hearst Castle, it is. All that gold tile you see in the Roman Pool is tiles of actual 24k gold sandwiched between tiles of clear glass. Megan and are actually thinking of using a similar technique when we remodel our bathroom...

Another shot of the Roman Pool.

And that was it. After taking the bus back to the visitors' center, Megan and I made our way back down the coast, but not before we stopped to check out some seals hanging out on the beach.

I know that they look like they're all dead, but trust me, they were just sunning themselves.

Anyhow, we drove all the way back to LA and stayed at the Holiday Inn by LAX. Our final night was unspectacular, as I'm sure any stay at a Holiday Inn just having finished immersing ourselves in the architecture of the Madonna Inn and the Hearst Castle.

Before I go, though, we have one last picture that I snapped in LAX waiting to board our plane.

Check out the Rear Admiral on the laptop. Only in LA, my friends, only in LA...

LOL KIRBY

I promise to finish my little Goin' Back to Cali travelogue next time, but Max's post today prompted a quick little aside.

You see, Max is trying to start a new internet meme, akin to LOL CATS (or its' progeny LOL BOTS). This time, instead of taking cutesy pictures of cats out of context and putting funny text over the top, Max wants to use the art of comics icon Jack "The King" Kirby.

I thought the idea was genius, so during my break at work today I threw a couple together for him. Max liked them so much he suggested I post them here, so he could link to them. If you're not familiar with Jack Kirby or LOL CATS you won't get them at all, but trust us, they're hilarious.

National Lampoon's (California) Vacation Part III

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12 CONTINUED
I last left off with Megan and I spotting the Madonna Inn from the highway. Once we saw it, we both knew that we had to stay there. First off, it's a hotel built into the side of a mountain. Second, the exterior of the hotel looks like a plantation house designed by way of the Swiss Alps for an Old West cattle rancher. Third, the hotel contains has 109 totally unique rooms, the most famous (according to internet research I conducted after our stay there) of which are the Love Nest and the Caveman Room (which is often booked up a year in advance), but my personal favorite was by far the Cabin Still. And that's just the hotel! The Madonna Inn also has two restaurants (one with a 28-foot golden tree made of copper tubing and other metal leftovers from construction projects), a pastry shop, cocktail lounge, and a convention facility that holds 2,600 people. Finally, there's the 2,200-acres on which it sits that not only features a ranch complete with grazing horses but also the 1,292-foot Cerro San Luis, a mountain whose trails have long been popular with local hikers.

Now that I've begun describing it, I know that there is no way, however, to adequately describe it's lovable, awe-inspiring absurdity. Even Umberto Eco had a hard time in his book Travels in Hyperreality when he gave it a shot: "...the poor words with which natural human speech is provided, cannot suffice to describe the Madonna Inn... Let's say that Albert Speer, while leafing through a book on Gaudi, swallowed an overgenerous dose of LSD and began to build a nuptial catacomb for Liza Minnelli. But that doesn't give you an idea. Let's say ... Chopin's Sonata in B-flat sung by Perry Como in an arrangement by Liberace and accompanied by the Marine Band."

Bel Mooney, writer for London's Guardian newspaper had a similar take and wrote that the hotel "looks like Fred Flintstone got it together with Barbie one night, and - high on a cocktail of mead and pink champagne - scribbled crazy plans on the side of a rock."

Needless to say, the Madonna Inn is like nothing Megan and I had seen before. Knowing that we may not ever have the opportunity to do so again, we booked a room and stayed for the night. Here's what we saw:

Here's the Madonna Inn sign we spotted outside the hotel the night we checked in.

Here's what the Madonna Inn sign looks like in the light of day.

Here's a shot of the hotel itself, along with some grazing horses.

Here's the front desk, with a walkway that connects to the shops and restaurants.

Here's a shot of the interior of the Madonna Inn Steakhouse that we took the morning we left. Note the tasteful and um, understated use of pink. Yeah, that's it tasteful and understated. Anyhow, the use of pink is so prevalent at the Madonna Inn, you'd think they owned stock in the color.

Here's a portion of the Madonna Inn Hotel and Cerro San Luis, the mountain that it's built into.

Here's the staircase leading up to the room where Megan and I stayed.

Here's the view from the parking lot outside our room.

Here's the inside of our room, named Currier and Ives.

Here's a closeup shot of the gold lamé wallpaper and the ridiculous light fixtures in the room.

Here's a shot of the opposite wall of our room. The wall is made or real stone. Note the sparkles in the ceiling as well. And is it just me, but does that flatscreen TV on the left, although welcome, look totally out of place?

Here's the bathroom in our room, which doesn't really come close to capturing it's rococo meets colonial insanity. Note the prints on the wall, which are reproductions of those created by the room's namesakes, 19th Century printmakers Currier and Ives.

Even the ice bucket and wrappers for the glasses are gold and pink!

Here's our room key, stationery, and pen. Note the multiple shades of pink, most of which don't really go together.

Aside from the Madonna Inn, the town of San Luis Obispo also seemed to have a lot offer. Megan and went and strolled around the downtown area which reminded us both of Mass Street in Lawrence quite a bit. Which is probably due to the influence of nearby Cal Poly. After dinner, and a long day spent mostly in the car, we finally made our way back to our bed at the Madonna Inn for some much needed sleep. The next day, however, would mean even more driving as we continued on to the end of our journey North in San Simian.

National Lampoon's (California) Vacation Part II

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Having hit the Getty and the touristy Hollywood Walk of Fame, we didn't really deem it necessary to spend another night in Los Angeles. So we loaded up the rental and checked out of our room at the Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel. Our hotel, by the way, had by far, the nicest room I have ever stayed in at a Best Western. I know that may not sound like much of a compliment, but Megan and I stayed at Best Western hotels in both Florence and Venice in Italy, and neither of those matched their Hollywood counterpart's elegance. That said, we were never forced to call the front desk in Italy because 15-20 jackasses decided to form a chorus and start singing Latino pop songs around the pool at 3:00 AM either. To their credit, the front desk squashed the little sing-a-long in a hurry, so I'm not going to hold it against them. Let's just say that I was extra thankful the next morning that the hotel was connected to the 101 Coffee Shop, a somewhat famous LA coffee house. Anyhow, if you ever want to visit Hollywood, I would actually recommend this hotel because it's cheap, the rooms are nice, and its a good location.

Before totally making our exodus from LA, we still had a couple of stops to make. We began by checking out the Los Angeles Farmers Market and having a delicious breakfast there at the Kokomo Kafe, where Megan swears she saw Noah Baumbach. After browsing the shops and stands at the Farmers Market, we did a little shopping at an outstanding outdoor mall right next door called The Grove. Both the Farmers Market and The Grove are definitely worth checking out if you're in the area, especially if you like shopping. And unlike Rodeo Drive, which we cruised through next, you'll actually be able to afford to by stuff there. Since neither of us saw much point in shopping at stores that sell purses that cost more than our cars, we didn't even stop along Rodeo and continued to Santa Monica Pier.



I know that Santa Monica Pier is the West Coast's oldest pier and is designated a National Historic Landmark, but really, it's kind of lame. It's probably a cooler place to be for kids, or if the weather is nice, but since we had neither of these acting in our favor, we were pretty underwhelmed. After we had enough of the cold wind, the fine mist it was nearly soaking us with, and the plethora of annoying tourists, we grabbed some carnival-style snacks for the road, but not before Megan re-lived her favorite scene from Big and made a wish at Zoltar.


Megan must have wished for better weather, because as soon as we got back in the car and began making our way North up the Pacific Coast Highway, the sun came out and it was nice enough to visit a beach in Malibu.

After our relaxing walk along the beach, continued our trip up North. The drive along Pacific Coast Highway was amazing. The highway twists and turns along the coast and offers majestic views of the ocean on one side, with equally captivating views of the mountains and valleys on the other. If you're ever out West, a road trip along the PCH is well worth your time.


As I've been saying, the drive North towards San Simian was spectacular. However, the only real SNAFU we had took place during this portion of our trip. Along the PCH, it seemed like you came across a new town every 5 minutes or so. Seriously, most towns just bled into new ones, with little if any space in between. This seemed pretty logical to me, as everyone knows beachfront property is in such high demand. Needless to say, I wasn't really too concerned about my gas gauge as their seemed to be no shortage of towns to stop and fill up. That is, of course, until it got dark and the fuel light came on. Suddenly, we were miles away from civilization and looked to be in dire straights. The situation got worse, when we saw a sign for a town called Lompoc, which directed us away from the main highway. Seeing little choice, we took the road leading to Lompoc which seemed to lead us only deeper into the mountains. It was only after we had already committed to driving to Lompoc that we were graced with a sign which read Lompoc: 30 Miles. I don't remember ever being so stressed about running out of gas. As we drove up and down the mountain roads, and I watched the gas gauge creep closer and closer to E, Megan and I began taking note of the location of call boxes along the road and how far we were from each one as we passed them. Did I mention I had to pee like a race horse, as well? When we finally saw the lights of Lompoc, I was elated, but pretty certain that if I didn't make the right call on where to actually get gas, we could still stall out in the middle of town. Luckily, I took a quick left, and found a gas station with fuel to spare. Unfortunately, the didn't have a restroom and I had to drive across to the street to a bowling alley. Definitely a harrowing experience, but it was also comforting to find that no matter where you go in this country of ours, bowling alleys are not only a mainstay, but they're also pretty much the same and attract pretty much the same kind of people.

After our little adventure in Lompoc, we took a highway out of town and linked back up with the PCH and once we hit San Luis Obispo, we decided it was time to find a hotel for the night. We hadn't booked a hotel for the night since we were unsure exactly how far North we would get before we wanted to call it a day. Cruising down the highway we passed a Motel 6, which sounded good enough especially considering the Lompoc mishap, but we decided to check out the next couple of exits first. And are we ever glad we did, because just up the road we saw a structure illuminating the night sky that caused us both to exclaim "What was that?!?" What it was, my friends was where we ended up staying the night, a hotel called The Madonna Inn.

Since the Madonna Inn is worthy of a post all it's own, I'll leave my little travelogue here until next time.

National Lampoon's (California) Vacation: Part I

So, a few weeks ago now, as I alluded to in a previous post Megan and I ventured west to California to attend the wedding of our friends Tim and Shanna. Since we were already spending the money to fly out there, we decided to make a short vacation out of it. Here are some pics from our vacation as well as some stories, descriptions, and snarky comments. Enjoy!

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9

After a long day of travel, spent in planes and a rental car, we arrived at our hotel in Laguna Beach (The REAL OC). We met up with everybody that was already there and made our way to a local eatery and hung out with everyone over drinks and food. Since very few of us in attendance live in Omaha anymore, it was a nice chance to catch up with the old crew. However, exhaustion due to our long day of travel caused Megan and I to call it an early night, so we didn't get a chance to take any pictures. Instead, here's a picture of our hotel, the Vacation Village to make y'all jealous...

Before you get too jealous, I should point out that it was pretty cool in Laguna Beach when we were there with highs in the 60's. Also, our room was not one with an ocean view, but rather a highway view. So instead of the soothing sounds of the ocean carrying us off to dreamland, we got the not-so-soothing sounds of near constant traffic.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10

The day of the wedding. Most of the day prior to the big event was spent chill-axin'. We ate some great local fare, having breakfast as a french-style restaurant C'est La Vie and lunch at Taco Loco, walked along the beach, and Megan even got a massage. It was a great dray spent getting some much appreciated down-time.

The wedding itself was beautiful, touching, and even pretty hilarious at times. The ceremony was held intimate open-air space that really made . I wish I got more pictures of the bride and groom, but I never want to be that guy, you know? Anyhow, the reception was also quite the affair, with dinner, dancing, and drinks, in an open-air tent. And the drinks? Complimentary champagne and beer. But not just any beer. Complimentary Stella. That, my friends, is my idea of a reception.

Here's a shot of Ben, Max, Zach, myself, Tim, and Tristan hamming it up old-school for the camera. I tell ya, you can take the boys outta North High, but you can't take North High outta the boys.

Tristan and his daughter Finley. Finley and I share the same birthday, which is cool, but it freaks me out when I think how she's exactly 30 years younger than me.

Ben and me enjoying free drinks and looking damn good doing it.

Megan and Katie on the dancefloor, showing those California girls how its done.

Nate rocking the mic to N2Deep's Back to the Hotel. Nate would only do it if we threw down some scrilla, but it was definitely worth the money. No joke, it was flat-out awesome.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11

Megan and I said our goodbyes and made our way to LA, and hit the Getty Museum. The museum and grounds are works of art in and of themselves, with a great view of LA and some pretty tasty food as well. So, even if you're not into to art, it's worth checking it out if you're ever in LA. Other than that, we didn't do much in LA on Saturday, other than walk down Hollywood Boulevard (a little too late at night for my comfort level) and have a delicious meal at Prizzi's Piazza. Megan and I highly recommend eating there, if only for the Pane all'Aglio aka Prizzi's famous garlic stix aka heaven. Anyhow, here are some shots of the Getty Center. Note my un-official Husker's "got defense?" shirt. Nebraska represent!

So, that's it for now. I'll be back next time with more pics and stories from our trip.

In case you haven't heard already, Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne is out looking for a new head coach for the Nebraska football team. Rumors have been flying around all season about exactly who the next coach for Nebraska is going to be. Some say the coach has even already been hired, and still others say that Nebraska had a coach locked up months ago. The fact is, nobody knows for sure what's going on except for Tom Osborne, and he says no one's been hired. And I believe him to be a man of his word, so that leaves everyone to keep speculating on who Tom's going to pick.

During this entire season people have been talking about this subject, but recently it's really picked up steam because the search is now out in the open. Before now, no one was really talking with me about it, but now it seems like everyone is talking with me about it. So, I thought that I would put up the the most popular candidates, and what I see as their pros and cons. Now, keep in my mind, I have no better information than anyone else as to who TO is actually going to pick, and in fact his pick could actually be someone I don't even mention, but since speculating on a new head coach seems to have become the people of Nebraska's new favorite pastime, I'm going to give it a go anyway.

First up is LSU's defensive coordinator Bo Pelini. I'm going to start with him for a couple of reasons. The first is that by far and away he is the current fan favorite pick (astoundingly getting over 60% of the votes in a recent poll conducted by Action 3 News) and is the pick most sports writers and "insiders" seem to think is going to get the job.

Positives:
First off, he was the defensive coordinator for Nebraska and during his one year on the job he took a defensive unit ranked 55th the previous year and turned them into an 11th ranked one. Former Huskers who played with him speak very highly of him, saying that they'd "run through a brick wall for him." Obviously, he's a player's coach, and one that can bring some fire back into Nebraska's defense. Also, having actually coached at Nebraska before, he knows what Nebraska football is all about. Second, Osborne says that he reminds him of a young Bob Devaney. That's pretty high praise coming from TO. Third, he coached Nebraska in it's victory over Michigan State in the 2003 Alamo Bowl. I liked the intensity he showed during that game and in addition that game lead to his being the all-time winningest coach at Nebraska... percentage wise that is, as he is currently 1-0 and therefore has 100% winning percentage as "Head Coach" at Nebraska. Finally, it sounds like he really liked Lincoln and would like to return to the Midwest. If that's true, he would probably stick around at Nebraska for a while.

Negatives:
First, he seems to jump around a lot. Since entering the coaching ranks, the longest he's stayed at any one job is three years. Combine this with the fact that he played for Ohio State and was a team captain there, and the fact that he's still only in his 30s, and it makes me think that he might not view Nebraska as a place where he would finish his career. Also, supposedly he hates recruiting, which is something that is very important for school stuck in the middle of the country where it can get really, really cold. Cold weather is definitely something those kids from recruiting hotbeds like Florida, California, and Texas don't like too much. Third, he's pretty rough around the edges and can come off as egocentric and abrasive. Fans, boosters, and players may like his intensity on the sidelines, but very few people have good things to say about him outside the football field. Fourth, he's a defense-minded guy. I know that this ultimately could work in Nebraska's favor, but the Cornhuskers just got rid of a coach that apparently only focused on one side of the game. I guess that would make Pelini sort of the anti-Callahan, but it still makes me a little leery of a coach with a possible one-track mind Finally, and most importantly, he has yet to truly be a head coach. Yes, I just said he coached Nebraska in one game as an interim head coach, but he's never been hired into that position.

Verdict:
I like Pelini, I really do. I would have taken him as Nebraska's head coach in a heartbeat after Frank Solich was fired. But right now, as far as the candidates that are out there being talked about, he's the one I like the least. I just don't see Nebraska being a job for a first time head coach. I know that it worked for Nebraska before with Tom Osborne and that Oklahoma struck gold with Bob Stoops, but for where Nebraska is right now, it seems like too big of a gamble.

Next up is the head football coach of the Buffalo Bulls, Turner Gill. Like Pelini, he's another fan favorite and one with even stronger Nebraska ties.

Positives:
First off, unlike Bo Pelini, he's a head coach. He's actually put on a headset and called the plays. It also means that you can take a look at what he's done so far and see what he's capable of. Second, he's actually winning games at Buffalo. Buffalo. Some may look at the Bulls' 5-7 record and wonder what the big deal is, but as Lee Corso recently said, if you can win at Buffalo, you can win at Ethiopia. If you think he's joking, consider the fact that prior to this season, the Bull's won just 8 games in the previous 8 years. And those 5 wins? Well, they were enough to claim a share of the regular season MAC title Third, aside from being the head coach, Gill also served as the Bulls' offensive coordinator and directed an offense that scored 291 points. That total is the most in Buffalo's I-A history and just 28 points short of their all-time school record. Also, Buffalo had eight players selected to the All-MAC team after having just seven total in their first eight years of conference play. Fourth, Turner Gill was named the MAC Coach of the Year. Not only was he able to accomplish that in just his second year as a head coach, but take a look at the names of some of the award's previous winners: Frank Solich, Gary Pinkle, Jim Grobe, and Urban Meyer. Pretty impressive company. Finally, and most importantly, Gill bleeds Husker Red. As a former player and someone who is very close to Tom Osborne, the job of head coach of Nebraska would be a dream come true for him. If Nebraska would let him, he would stay on the sidelines until he died or retired, whichever comes first.

Negatives:
In a word: inexperience. I know that it may seem like I'm contradicting myself here, but while he may be a head coach, he is at Buffalo and it's only his second year. Again, I know that Nebraska feels burned by going outside of the family for the last coach, but strong consideration should really be given to coaches with longer track records. Yes, he's been able to win at Buffalo, but he's only been on the job for 2 years and, ultimately, he still has a losing record.

Verdict:
While I actually like him better than Pelini as the choice for next head coach, it's not by much. If it was a couple more years down the road and Gill was still winning at Buffalo, I'd probably be ecstatic about the prospect of him being Nebraska's next head coach. But, as it stands right now, I'm just not sure that Turner is ready to take that next step and coach one of the elite programs in college football.

Third on the list is Wake Forest Head Coach Jim Grobe. His name is also one that most media "experts" have linked to Nebraska's current coaching search, along with Gill and Pelini.

Positives:
He's a head coach with a proven track record. Not only has been working as a head coach since the 1995 season, but he's been such a good one he was named Coach of the Year by the Associated Press in 2006. Second, he build teams and then wins where people aren't supposed to win. He began his head coaching career at Ohio University, who was 0-11 the year before he took the reigns and he turned them into a team that for his six years there had a .500 record. Again, that might not sound impressive, but when you consider that in the 10 years before Grobe arrived, Ohio won a total of 17 games, that should put his record of 33-33-1 into perspective. Grobe left Ohio after the 2000 season to jump-start another program at Wake Forest. Last year, Wake finished with an 11-3 record and were ACC champs. Aside from the fact that nobody wins as head coach of Wake Forest's football team, the most impressive thing about their 2006 record was that they lost their starting quarterback for the year in their season-opener and as a result had to totally retool their offense from an option-rushing attack to a more downfield passing offense better suited for their backup QB. Did I mention that Wake Forest has mere 5000 students? In other words this guy can win with the talent available and is able to coach to their strengths. Third, he has continuity with his staff. Not only has he kept pretty much all of his same assistants since his days at Ohio, but in his seven seasons at Wake Forest, only two assistants have left the program. Finally, at 55, it's possible to see Nebraska as a place where he finishes out his career.

Negatives:
While he's won games at place you aren't supposed to, his overall record is still 77-71-1, not something most fans and boosters are going to get too excited about. Another strike against him would be money. In February, Grobe signed a 10-year extension with Wake Forest. This would mean that should Nebraska decide to hire him, they would have to put up about $2 million buy him out of his contract, and that's before they even decide on his actually salary. One final negative might actually be the continuity I praised earlier. Since he takes such pride in the cohesion of his staff, it seem unlikely that there would be any room for keeping Shawn Watson or more importantly for getting back Marvin Sanders.

Verdict:
After just buying out Pederson, Callahan, and his staff coupled with the fact that Tom Osborne might be a little stingy when it comes to how much he thinks a head coach at Nebraska should be paid, I think his price tag is probably too high. Would I like to see him as Nebraska's next head football coach? Hell, yes. Of the top 3 candidates the media is talking about for the job, I like him the best. I just don't think he'll get the nod.

Finally, we come to a guy that's flying under the radar a little bit and that's Navy's Paul Johnson. I say flying under the radar, because while his name has been listed as a possible candidate, it's not one that anyone has reported that has actually been contacted by Nebraska.

Positives:
He's a coach that knows how to win, and not just win but win national championships. Granted, he's won his championships at the Division I-AA level, but they're still national championships, and he was able to win two in a row in 1999 and 2000. Second, he's winning at Navy. The 2 seasons previous to his taking over as head coach, Navy had gone 1-20, since his arrival the Midshipmen have reached their highest level of success in the modern era. They've had 5 straight winning seasons, 5 consecutive bowl berths and 10 straight victories against the other with five straight winning seasons, five consecutive bowl berths, and 10 straight victories against the other service academies, Army and Navy. But Johnson's success at Navy has been historic as well. He coached his 2004 squad to 10 wins, the most ever in a season at Navy since 1905 and Navy's win against Army on December 1, marks the first time ever either team has beaten the other 6 times in a row. That 10 win season, by the way, lead to his being named NCAA Coach of the Year. His success at Navy is made all the more impressive when you consider it's nearly impossible to recruit at a school where after graduation, you go straight into the service for 5 years. Third, the guy adjusts his offense to match his talent. As offensive coordinator at Hawaii he called the plays that set all the school's passing records until June Jones took over and the Rainbows' offense broke or equaled more than 160 school records overall during his tenure. At Navy, Johnson runs the triple option, which is an almost exclusively run-oriented offense. Finally, there's his record. The guy is 106-39 as a head coach.

Negatives:
I'm almost at a loss here, because I think that Paul Johnson would be a great pick. I guess that you could say that he's never coached at a school on the same level as Nebraska, but honestly, to that I say think about what he could do with the talent at a school like Nebraska. His age at 50, might be a cause for some concern, as he's young enough to possibly leave to coach elsewhere. The counter to that is that he's also old enough to finish his career at Nebraska, Also, there's his offense, and the possibility that he may try to run the triple option at Nebraska, which again, would probably depend on which offense the players would be best suited for. Honestly, the biggest strike against him in my mind is that no coach is guaranteed to be a success at Nebraska.

Verdict:
Paul Johnson is definitely my top choice for next head coach at Nebraska.

All right, there you have it.. I've definitely let this go on for way too long, but before I go, I want to say one thing: Tom Osborne knows way more than me. Whatever decision he makes, I feel will be the right one. Whoever he picks, I will get behind them 100%.

So, if it's Bo Pelini, as both ESPN and The Sporting News are reporting, expect to see me rocking a "Bo Knows Football" t-shirt some time soon.

ABC, Easy As 5-7

Well, after finishing the season 5-7, the Huskers will miss the post-season for the second time in 4 years, thanks to Bill Callahan. Before he got here, Nebraska went to bowl games for 35 years straight, and since he got here they stayed home for the holidays twice. And there are actually people out there that think he should have been given one more year, one more chance, to turn this thing around. I don't know about you, but when Tom Osborne, the King of Giving People Second Chances says no, well, I'm going to have to agree with him.

In many ways, the Cornhuskers' final game this season, in which they lost to the Colorado Buffaloes 65-51, was a microcosm of the whole season. At times things were clicking, as evidenced by the 11-point lead at halftime and the 610 yards of total offense and 51 points put up by the Huskers. But just when you started to feel good about things, they started playing like crap, got into a funk, and couldn't figure out a way get it back together. And the defense? Well, they managed to give up the most points that Colorado has ever scored against Nebraska. Not that I should put that all on the defense, because if Nebraska had actually tried to run the ball in the second half, Colorado wouldn't have got a couple of interceptions that ultimately cost Nebraska the game.

By the way, can Nebraska fans please stop wondering whether or not the Colorado game is a rivalry game? Look, I know that Oklahoma is supposed to be Nebraska's rival, but they don't even play each other every year any more. The Colorado game is the last game of the season and as such can often make or break a possible run for a championship by either team. Hell, this year it decided which team got to go to bowl game and which team would have a regular season losing record. And for everyone who claims that Nebraska has pretty much owned the series in recent years, you should reconsider what you to mean by own. If you look back 20 years and start at the 1988 season, sure Nebraska has won more games splitting the series 13-7. But, Colorado did win 2 years in a row from 1989-1990, and tied (remember those?) in 1991 and then won two years in a row again from 2001-2002. Don't forget either that CU pounded Nebraska 62-36 in 2001, which at the time was the most points ever allowed by Nebraska. And of those 13 wins Nebraska has had over Colorado since '88, seven of them were by 7 points or less, and the 1999 game went into overtime. So, don't tell me it's not a rivalry. It is. Deal with it.

Back to last week's game, all I can say is at least it's over. The game, the miserable season, Bill Callahan's career as Nebraska football's head coach. Yes, Bill Callahan is gone. Finally. And as I predicted, his fate had nothing to do with the outcome of the Colorado game. Tom Osborne had pretty much decided Callahan was gone after the Huskers lost their 5th game this year. So, now, maybe instead of chastising Bill Callahan for coaching the Huskers to just their second losing season since 1961, we should actually thank him.

After all, not only did he get himself fired, but thanks to him, we got rid of Steve Pederson, got Tom Osborne back, got fans to appreciate 9 win seasons, and will hopefully get a new head coach who understands what Nebraska football is all about. Scratch that. With Tom Osborne doing the hiring, we will get a new head coach that understands what Nebraska football is all about.

So, as much as I hate to see the Cornhuskers lose, Nebraska may have just won by losing. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to wait until next September 20, when Nebraska plays Virginia Tech to find out. That's 297 days and counting. And believe me, I am.

Are you ready for some football?