Three final thoughts on Tuesday before I go watch Barney's "Night Before Christmas.''
1. I had no problem with Mack Brown winning Big 12 Coach of the Year. Usually it goes to an overachiever, but nobody stood out this year. Bill Snyder was great, but he didn't get to a bowl game with an easy schedule. Paul Rhoades was terrific in pulling ISU to six wins, but winning with eight gifts from Nebraska was the Clones' biggest accomplishment; otherwise, ISU beat Baylor and Colorado. Not really coach of the year stuff there. I thought Bo Pelini could have garnered some votes, dragging this one-dimensional team to nine wins, but it was nothing spectacular in hindsight. For years, Barry Switzer and Tom Osborne never won the Big Eight coach of the year because it was expected. As Switzer once said, recruiting is coaching, too. So it goes with Mack.
2. I'll remember Bobby Bowden for a lot of things but mostly his relationship with Nebraska, Tom Osborne and Husker fans. The two programs were intertwined, from the time in 1980 when Bowden came to Lincoln and stunned the Huskers. Bowden reminded me a lot of Barry Switzer, from the way they ran their programs to the image that they were CEO's and caretakers, which wasn't always true to their consistency to their good old boy personas and finally, the way they were treated like icons by Nebraskans, who invited them to come to the state and speak even years after inflicting pain on the local natives. Both of Bowden's national titles came with Nebraska impact; in 1993, Bowden beat/outlasted the Huskers in the Orange Bowl while in 1999, I thought Nebraska was the best team in the country and would have played Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl if it hadn't lost a close one in Austin that year. In the end, Bowden avoided a train-wreck retirement and went out with his integrity and class intact. That's more than some can say.
3. Finally, I'll leave you with two Tiger Woods jokes I heard today.
What do you call Elin Woods' nine-iron? A rescue club.
I pulled out of my driveway today. Finally, I can say I outdrove Tiger Woods.
--Filed by Tom Shatel
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