The high school fall sports season had its first full complete day of action yesterday with the first volleyball and cross country events of the year. Girls golf, football and softball already had a week under their belts before the final two sports kicked off with a flourish. A large crowd watched the Plattsmouth Invite at Rhylander Park and volleyball teams from all five Cass County schools played around the region.
The following are a few observations from the opening week of action:
1) Syracuse and Plattsmouth are both going to be good volleyball teams. The Rockets knocked off Plattsmouth in straight games last week and beat PHS in an exciting three-game match at the Platteview Invite Saturday afternoon. Both wins came over a Plattsmouth team that has the talent to contend for the Eastern Midlands Conference title this season.
2) Plattsmouth's softball team will surprise some schools this year. The Blue Devils almost beat four-time defending Class B champion Elkhorn in the season opener and lost to a good Bennington team 4-0 last week. PHS should have a chance to be competitive in the Eastern Midlands Conference this season.
3) Elmwood-Murdock will be the team to beat again in area C-2 action. The Knights rolled past 2007 state qualifier Palmyra last week and weathered a stiff test from Scribner-Snyder in the second game last Friday. Key tests the rest of the season will come at Archbishop Bergan Sept. 12, at Louisville Sept. 26 and at home against Weeping Water Oct. 23. The Weeping Water game will be especially interesting, as playoff berths or seeding could be at stake in the final game of the regular season.
4) Louisville's volleyball team will have a chance to have one of the best seasons in program history. The Lions swept three opponents to win the Boys Town Invite last weekend and have a veteran lineup that gained a lot of experience last season. It should be interesting to see how Louisville will do at the Malcolm Invitational this week and against a tough Mead team Sept. 23.

Your thoughts are welcome...

With football season almost underway, thousands of Nebraska fans are counting down the seconds until the opening kickoff against Western Michigan Saturday. Parking lots in Lincoln will be full, tailgating will be nonstop and Memorial Stadium will be hopping with the start of the Bo Pelini era.

But those expecting the Huskers to whip Western Michigan might not like what they see by the end of the game. It's not going to be easy getting to 1-0.
Most of the talk in the preseason has been centered on two games: Virginia Tech and Missouri. Both of those teams are considered to be the biggest tests on the first half of Nebraska's schedule. But there are a couple of reasons why the Broncos have a decent shot of leaving Lincoln not just with a moral victory but an actual put-a-W-next-to-their-name victory.

#1: Western Michigan won't be afraid of walking into Lincoln. The Broncos opened the 2005 season against Virginia, played Indiana in 2007 and went into West Virginia last year. They also beat Iowa 28-19 at Kinnick Stadium last season to keep the Hawks from going to a bowl game. Granted, the way Iowa played for most of the season didn't make that too big of a surprise, but it was still a win in front of 70,000 hard-yelling Hawkeye boosters. Western Michigan did lose at Missouri 52-24 last year, but there weren't many teams who did do well in Columbia in 2007. Nebraska knows that all too well.

#2: Western Michigan wasn't a bad football team last year. WMU finished 5-7, but it lost to Akron by one point, Central Michigan by three and Northern Illinois by four. It also lost to Ball State 27-23, which is significant because it means it was about the same level as a Ball State team that, barring a late interception, would have beaten Nebraska in Lincoln.

#3: Western Michigan won't be a bad football team this year. Junior quarterback Tim Hiller has thrown 40 touchdown passes in his career and needs just 635 yards to break the 4,000-yard passing barrier. The 6-5 Hiller is also smart; he had a 4.0 GPA last semester and will start work on his master's degree this fall.

Senior wide receiver Jamarko Simmons caught 84 passes for 980 yards last year, tight end Branden Ledbetter has hauled in 1,049 career receiving yards and kickoff returner Brandon West had a 98-yard touchdown return against Indiana last season. In addition, all four defensive backs return this fall, including Louis Delmas, who has eight career interceptions.

In short, Western Michigan isn't Nicholls State or Maine or San Jose State. They're going to be a good team and won't make life easy for Nebraska. There's a real possibility that Nebraska could start the season 0-1, which would get the Bo Pelini era off to a rockier start than expected.

Your thoughts are welcome...

Coming soon to a baseball stadium near you: the Sarpy County Royals!
There aren't any billboards bearing that slogan right now, but that could change in a few years if things bounce Sarpy County's way.
The Sarpy County Board of Commissioners voted July 1 to pay Convention Sports and Leisure of Minneapolis $70,000 to study the feasibility of having the Triple A team in their backyard. The project will look at whether it makes fiscal sense for the county to build a 10,000-seat park for the Royals and how much, if any, the stadium would help in terms of future commercial and residential development.
Sarpy County's decision to at least look at the Royals is an eye-opener because it could be an important milestone for the area. A new stadium would be the latest in a series of big commercial developments that include Shadow Lake Towne Center, the Shoppes at Market Pointe and the area around the new Cabela's store. Landing the Royals would be a big deal.
However, Sarpy County's gain would be Omaha's loss. If the Royals leave Omaha, then the overall success of the city's new downtown stadium would, in baseball terms, find itself down eight runs in the bottom of the ninth.
If everything happened according to the best-laid plans of Omaha stadium organizers, the Royals would use "Coca Cola Field" for 72 games, Creighton baseball would occupy it for 20-25 games and the College World Series would be in town for 15-17 games. That's the most optimistic scenario.
But, if the Royals pack their bags for Sarpy County or an out-of-state city, then "Pepsi Park" would host baseball for only 30 or so days every year. Even if you throw in a few concerts and some local high school games, it would still add up to maybe two months of total action along the basepaths. That adds up to a lot of downtime for a $127 million stadium.
And it's that downtime that would worry me if I were a businessperson looking to open up a shop around the field. It would be one thing if there were people milling around the area for at least 100 days, but it would be quite another if that number goes down to 30 days.
And to be quite honest, the Creighton dates would probably not generate that much commercial revenue. Most Bluejay fans would likely bypass commercial areas after the final inning in favor of meals at their own dinner tables. There's no sense spending $20 for a meal along Webster Street when you can pop $2.50 worth of Hot Pockets in the microwave instead.
That would leave 10 days worth of College World Series traffic to build name recognition and pay the majority of the bills. Qwest Center visitors might help some, but if you're counting on the Qwest Center to anchor the majority of your sales, why haven't you opened a business around the arena yet?
If one of the main purposes of "Berkshire Hathaway Stadium" is to increase economic development, then it's critical that the Royals play Pacific Coast League games there. If the Royals are tenants, then the local economic development outlook becomes much rosier. If not, then it's an awful lot of money for Omaha to spend on an empty park.
It's still very uncertain whether billboards with Sarpy County Royals logos will pop up in a few years. But if they do, then Omaha leaders will have to try to keep the new stadium from becoming an economic strikeout. That could be easier said than done.

Are you planning on attending any of the CWS ganes? Do you think it's fair to over sell general admission seats?