Friday Flakes: An Enlightening Road Trip Through the Old Big 12 Nebraska Football Huskers News

Last weekend I drove down to a town outside of Austin, TX for some training. While I have been on some long road trips, I realized that the longest I have ever driven by myself was probably to Kansas City.

I have driven to many other destinations much further away from Nebraska but I was always with family or friends when that happened.

I had complete control of my trip down to Texas so I went a little bit out of the way.

On my way down to Texas I made my way through Manhattan, KS (Where were you at Bill Snyder?), Stillwater, OK (I am not yet 40, but I a man Coach Gundy) and Norman, OK (the home of Baker Mayfield) all in one day. The next day I made my way through Waco (Matt Rhule would be proud) and Temple and Troy and North Texas and finally to Austin (horns down).

So that’s hitting Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas in an easy drive. For about a minute I thought about heading over to College Station to see Trev Alberts but that would have been over 4 hours out of the way.

How close all of these schools were is, for me, one of those things that you know, but I didn’t quite appreciate. If that makes sense.

On the way back I COULD have stopped in Lawrence, KS and jumped over to Columbia, MO. But at that point, I just wanted to get back home.

While we were in the Big 12, I took advantage to go see a game at Colorado but that was it. Now I am kicking myself that I didn’t find an opportunity to go see games at any of those other venues.

What a missed opportunity.

Any chance the new athletic director would schedule a home and home with Kansas State? That would be fun.

SPORTS! SPORTS! JORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS!

Baseball Catchers Keep Getting Whacked by Hitters. It’s No Accident. – WSJ
In a bid to convince umpires that low pitches are actually strikes, catchers have been inching nearer to the batter. They’re now setting up so close that they frequently wind up getting clobbered.

2024 college football coach rankings: Deion Sanders falls slightly among Power Four coaches ranked 68-26 – CBSSports.com
Houston’s Willie Fritz makes a strong debut, while Baylor’s Dave Aranda plummets after a 3-9 season in 2023

Ranking the top 25 Power Four college football coaches entering the 2024 season – CBSSports.com
We began ranking Power Five — now Power Four — college football coaches at CBS Sports in 2015, and for the first nine years, there was a routine I could rely on when putting together my ballot. I’d start at the bottom and list any newcomer yet to coach a game for his team. Then, at the top, I’d write Nick Saban’s name and follow it with Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart, Urban Meyer or Jimbo Fisher, all of whom were national title winners. After that, the top 10 to 15 were pretty simple with the middle-of-the-pack range being where things got tricky.

Struggling Cardinals, Blue Jays among 3 teams that could spark life into the MLB trade deadline – Yahoo Sports
It’s never too early to start looking ahead to MLB’s trade deadline. And as San Diego Padres president of baseball operations AJ Preller showed when acquiring two-time All-Star Luis Arraez earlier this month, the same is true for front offices.

Around Memorial Day, executives begin to evaluate their rosters for strengths and areas they may look to improve. With the introduction of the second wild-card team in the postseason, clubs may be more likely to see where they are before deciding definitively if they want to buy or sell.

The three teams below are each in a unique position with one in a rebuild and the other two on the precipice of a potential major shakeup.

And each could have a big impact on this year’s trade deadline on July 30.

“STICK TO SPORTS!” Nah.

50+ Old Fashioned Insults | The Art of Manliness
As Lesley M. M. Blume observes in Let’s Bring Back: The Lost Language Edition, while clothing fashions have a way of cycling in and out of popularity, when the sun sets on popular slang, it tends to remain buried forever. This isn’t always a bad thing — no one is jonesing for “Tubular!” and “Groovy!” to resurrect from the 1980s and 60s, respectively.

Eliminate Mosquitoes with the Power of the Mosquito Bucket | The Art of Manliness
Now that warmer weather has arrived, mosquitos are beginning to show up as well.

I’ve done battle against these detestable bloodsuckers for some years now.

Thanks to treating mosquito breeding grounds (i.e., standing water) around my property, I’d significantly reduced the number of mosquitoes bugging us.

Then, early last summer, I came across a new weapon in my war on these infernal pests: the mosquito bucket.