Random sports stuff

Sorry if you don't care, but I sort of do. So here are the biggest sports stories on my radar.

1. Joba mania
Joba Chamberlain, the Lincoln native and former Husker, is the buzz of the big leagues. It's pretty cool that he's been lights-out with the Yankees. He seems like a good -- if not foolish -- guy. And he first pitched collegiately at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. So he's sort of a Kearneyite like me. Oh, and it's cool he's named after a fat monster from "Star Wars."

2. Football and fat
I saw two former Husker football stars recently -- QB god Tommie Frazier (at Wal-Mart) and OL/brainiac Rob Zatechka (at a firetruck rally at a bank). Frazier had gained 60 pounds. Rob had lost 60. So they were about the same size. Freaky.

3. Skers return
Prediction time for the football season opener:
Nebraska 37
Nevada 17

Where are they now? Daily Nebraskan style

*This is the first of what I hope to be many then-and-now Daily Nebraskan features. I have a hunch Josh Nichols may be next.

Matthew Hansen

Aka: Matt, Smatthew, Smatty McSmatt

Then: DN sports writer, sports editor and opinion editor from 1999 to 2003. That's his column mug shot on the lower left.

Now: Higher education reporter at the Omaha World-Herald. That's his official OWH glamor shot on the right.

Family status: Living with former DN editor Sarah Baker.

Current infatuations: Hoping the Chicago Cubs make the playoffs and pestering his co-workers to join the Omaha Press Club and drink scotch on the rocks with him.

Drives: A VW Jetta

Wow, I'm a huge dork

I always thought there might be a moment when you realized you had become old and lame. Sure enough, that moment came when I started getting stoked about owning a Honda Civic.

But I just didn't get excited. I did hours of research. I checked miles per gallon, safety ratings and whether or not it had a jack for my iPod. The worst part: I didn't even have my other car paid off yet.

Then in June I got rear-ended -- a 16-year-old blasted me going 40 mph while I was sitting at a stoplight. Her insurance company cut me a fat check for way more than my Grand Am was worth.

So it was Civic time. Now, you'll see me tooling around in a tiny four-banger sedan instead of my V-6 GT coupe. And you know what? The inner dork in me is indeed stoked.

That's hot

So Omaha is having this public art initiative where artists took a template of the city's O! logo and doctored it up. One dude -- Eddie Dominguez -- made a wooden one and stuck it in Millard. Last night, he set it on fire. A local bank handed out s'mores and speakers blared "We Didn't Start the Fire," "Come on Baby Light My Fire" and "Ring of Fire." Despite that, it was pretty sweet.

"Strawberry juice and carrot juice"

That special concoction -- which is actually strawberry kiwi juice with a splash of red Gatorade -- is Rye's newest elixir. He usually sucks it down while watching Barney movies.

Yeah, I know.

Anyway, the kid's as cute as he's ever been. Laughing, talking, running, bossing us around. It's great when kids get older because they become friends in addition to being children.

Why hate primer?

Because it sucks. That's why. It's one of those things that stands in the way of something that seems easy -- say, painting cabinets -- and makes it a bitch. It doesn't go on evenly, making subsequent coats uneven and ugly. Then you have to sand the cabinets down and repaint them.

Primer, in essence, represents all the crap that gets in the way. It's the traffic jam on your morning commute. It's the dangerously low bank account balance. It's the glitch that won't let you open a Word document on deadline. It's long lines at the post office.

So even if you've never primed anything, you hate primer. Trust me.

The point of this blog is to get at that kind of stuff -- average everyday things that are annoying, interesting or absurd. I'll also provide updates and pics. And I'd also like to use it as a gathering place for friends. Ideally, I'd a like to start a "Where are they now?" feature of former Daily Nebraskan workers and/or Kearney High School graduates. If you fit the bill, post a comment and we'll get it rolling.