Go Big Red? Already?

Living in the Midwest as I do, there's some things that I should just accept as fact, and not question.

For example, the Midwest love of loose meat sandwiches. Runzas. Taverns. Tastees. Maid-Rite. Call 'em what you will, but it's still just overcooked ground beef in and/or on a bun. I personally think they're the most disgusting thing on Earth. But for some reason the tastebud-deprived locals love them.

So I don't question their desire to eat crumble burgers. It's just the way that they are.

But the one thing I'll NEVER understand that the locals do is best described in the article below.

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More than 80,000 watch spring game for Pelini's rebuilding Huskers

LINCOLN, Neb. -- After an agonizing end to the Bill Callahan era, Nebraska fans couldn't wait to see what Bo Pelini's Cornhuskers had to offer.

Nebraska's first spring game under the new coach drew a school-record crowd of 80,149, with some tickets reportedly selling for upward of $100 early in the week.

The Reds beat the Whites 24-14 in a scrimmage where the first- and second-stringers were spread across both squads to make things competitive.

The scrimmage was declared a sellout 10 days before, and some ticket brokers were finding buyers willing to pay 10 times the face value of $10 for a reserved seat.

"I thought it was a pretty special atmosphere," Pelini said. "I want to thank the fans and everybody who came out today."

Fans lined up outside the stadium gates three hours before kickoff. But those looking for spectacular performances were out of luck. That was OK with Pelini.

This spring, he said, was about installing his system, changing attitudes and improving work ethic after last year's 5-7 debacle, the Cornhuskers' second losing season in four years under Callahan.

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Yes, 85,000 people paid upwards of $100 a ticket to watch…a football practice. Wow, P.T. Barnum needs to update his slogan.

It may be just me asking this question – but I somehow doubt it – but why in the hell would anyone drop a hundred clams to watch a bunch of college football players play catch? Technically they did keep score, but what does it matter? You know they weren't going to really tackle the QB and risk hurting him. You know that most of the players out there will be cut before the "real" team takes form this fall. You know that it doesn't matter at all, because IT'S JUST PRACTICE. Yet they went anyway. 85,000 suckers with too much disposable income and too much free time.

It's like buying tickets to watch the Rolling Stones tune their guitars, and not seeing the concert. Or driving all the way to Disney World, riding the monorail to the front gate, then leaving.

The accountants at the U of Nebraska must be laughing their asses off, in between trying to figure out how they can charge $50 a ticket to watch the players have lunch.

Hopefully they'll be serving loose meats.