[Husker] Husker Baseball Article

[Dave Mennenga]

I'll be honest, Bob -- I frequently disagree with your posts.  Most of
the time I just move on, but the baseball discussion about a month ago
brought me out of the woodwork a bit.  I guess I'm a little more
optimistic when it comes to the Huskers, and a little more realistic
when it comes to setting expectations for a group of young men.  So,
when I read this article, I feel as if Anderson addresses some of the
issues we discussed.  I think the difference in our perceptions after
reading the article is that I mostly concentrated on what Anderson
himself was quoted as saying, not what the columnist (Curt McKeever)
chose to interject.

Regarding chemistry and off-field issues:
"Things were never bad in the clubhouse - things were bad off the
field," Anderson said. "We had kids make mistakes off the field, (but)
they never lost that bond. They never lost that chemistry."

About a month ago, these incidents were being offered as reasons why the
Huskers had underachieved, and why they likely wouldn't make the NCAA's,
etc.  I disagreed with you then, Bob, and believed that our strength of
schedule and conference record would be enough to get us there.
Although we're out of it now, that is exactly what happened...

Regarding fan's expectations:
We also discussed the perception of the season's success, which I think
Anderson believes was close to maximizing potential given the talent on
this year's squad.  However, you (and others) disagree.  Curt McKeever
alludes to this expectation when he adds "Even if the perception of some
of their followers was markedly different."

And Anderson says "Personally, I think there's four of five teams that
are expected to be in the (College) World Series every single year,"
Anderson said. "Stanford, because of their past, LSU, Texas and us.
We're expected, because it's here. Everybody else, if we took this same
team and moved it to Alabama this year and did what we did, it'd
probably be (judged as) pretty successful when we got to a regional.

"(You've got) national powerhouses that didn't even make the NCAA
Tournament. And yet, a perception is we had a bad year. That's a tough
one to swallow. My inner focus has got to be not all that other stuff.
My inner focus has got to be with these guys and say: 'What did we get
out of this group?' And I know we got the most out of these kids in
2007."

These quotes don't make it sound like he buys into this being an
unsuccessful campaign.  Rather, I read it to say that he thinks there
are some unrealistic expectations from the fan base.  And I have to
agree with that.  We've got 3 CWS appearances (and only one win) under
our belts --- we hardly belong in the same discussion with Stanford,
LSU, Texas, or even Arizona State...  Making it to a regional final game
against a Top 8 Seed is good enough in my book. 
George Butler Associates, Inc. 
Creating Remarkable Solutions
for a Higher Quality of Life 

David J. Mennenga, P.E., PTOE 
Senior Traffic Engineer
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9801 Renner Boulevard
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