Celebrating O'Fallon's New Sports Complex

The O'Fallon Township High School (OTHS) Sports Complex opened last Friday night and the Marshall family was there in full fashion.


Matthew is a lineman on the OTHS football team, and although he couldn't play on Friday night because he needs a couple of more practices he was on the sidelines. That's him as number 63.

Bethany was also there cheering her heart out with the kids that joined her OTHS cheerleading team at Cheer camp. That's her cheering in the center with her arms up.

Then, at half-time Matthew became the first student in years to both be on the football team and play in the marching band. He dwarfs the other band members as he plays his Mellophone below.

All in all, even though the football team lost 24-3 to a very good Cahokia team it was a lot of fun. The stadium is fantastic and the entertainment was great.

I Am Still a Nebraska Fan

Here's a link to Jordon Cooper's "At Least I'm Not A Nebraska Fan" post that I commented on earlier today. Link. I thought the tone was very uninformed. My comment back to the blog was:

I am a Nebraska fan, and although I am not happy with what happened last weekend I'll have to say that at least they have beaten Kansas 36 of the last 38 times they have played. Most college football fans seem shocked about what is going on at Nebraska this year, which speaks volumes to the quality and consistency of the program over the last 20 years. I would imagine that Callihan is gone at the end of the year, and as much as I hate what has happened to the defense, at least he brought a balanced offense. As far as the Cornhuskers nickname, I agree it sucks, but it was an upgrade. They swapped "Bugeaters" for "Cornhuskers". At least when you are talking about the Cornhuskers everyone knows who you are referring to. If you refer to the Tigers are you referring to Missouri, Auburn, LSU, or the Detroit Tigers? The name sets them apart and defines both the team and their fans.

I hate what has happened this year at Nebraska, but it happens occasionally to every team. It has happened to Oklahoma and Penn State. I actually took a pounding from one of my former co-workers about the Kansas game last weekend. My co-worker happens to be a Colorado Buffaloes fan, so I sent hiim back a quick E-mail reminding him that Colorado lost 55-10 to Missouri this weekend, and that he has no room to talk. What I enjoyed about his pounding me though is that Colorado fans have come to expect getting spanked on the field and a 55-10 loss is no big deal, while us Nebraska fans aren't accustomed to losing, so this year is a shock to us.

Steve Peterson's firing is the first step in the right direction. I thought Peterson missed his opportunity when he let Bo Pelini go and hired Bill Callahan as the coach. I defended the choice of Callahan, but he didn't do it as the Oakland Raiders coach and he has panned out to be a dud as the Nebraska coach. Lets get rid of Callihan at the end of the year and go back to a program that is not flash in the pan, but a solid, quality, tough program. I hear the top candidates for the job are Pelini again and Turner Gill. I'm for either one. Pelini is the mastermind behind the nations top college football defense and Gill is a favorite of Tom Osborne and Nebraska fans in general. I'll bet Gill gets the nod. Either way we need to turn this program around. As Steve Peterson said and I still believe, "I refuse to let the program gravitate into mediocrity," and "We won't surrender the Big 12 to Oklahoma and Texas."