Well, the evening weather didn't cooperate, but the Fourth of July weekend once again was an unqualified success here in the Corridor.
For a brief personal recap of a couple of Saturday's activities, I will turn it over to my sons, who wish to comment on Melissa's parade and a fireworks show later in the evening.
The boys don't have a great grasp of English yet, so I will do my best to translate for you.
Upon seeing the fire trucks and police cars: "Oooooooooooh."
Translation: "That looks like a giant version of something I want to chew on and throw at my brother."
So that's a positive.
Upon seeing horses in the parade: "Yayayayayayayayayaya (While clapping hands)!"
Translation: "Those are some really big, colorful dogs! I want to chew on them!"
Upon seeing and hearing fireworks (With stricken expressions, furiously shaking heads from side to side): "Muh muh muh buh. Waaah."
Translation: "That's loud and scary. I don't even want to throw it at Bubba. Take me home to watch 'Little Bear'."
A good day overall, but we're probably looking at a little more time before fireworks are fun for them.
After spending the better part of 12 years writing a column, I finally discovered a surefire way to encourage reader response a couple of weeks ago when I made negative comments about Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne.
As it turns out, there are numerous NU fans among the readership, most of them capable of providing reasoned arguments, all of them apparently fans of Osborne.
The two words that have been thrown around the most are "hypocrite" and "disingenuous".
While looking through the comments I received as well as a dizzying array of online bulletin boards, it became somewhat obvious that the matter hinges largely on preconceived notions, or faith.
For instance, many Nebraska fans will happily describe how their school took the high road by joining the Big 10, where TV revenue is shared equally among the member schools, which is just the right thing to do. Along with that supposed high road, of course, is a multimillion-dollar increase in TV revenue thanks to the Big 10 Network. To suggest that such a sum of money was not a factor in the decision to leave the Big 12 is not only naive, but if it were true it would mean that Nebraska's leadership was incompetent. I am obviously not a fan of Tom Osborne, but I have never questioned his competence.
So Nebraska left its conference at least partially for more money, the same reason Texas ultimately did not leave. Nebraska's leadership, and Osborne in particular, then proceeded to condemn Texas for its money-grubbing ways. That is why I called Osborne a hypocrite.
You see, I don't argue one bit that Texas is a money-grubber -- I simply don't have a problem with it.
Right now, Texas is the most valuable athletic program in the country, able to choose whatever conference partner it wants at pretty much any time. Right now is when Texas needs to lay the foundation for that point in the future when the Longhorns do not finish in the top five every year and don't bring in $120 million in revenue.
If the UT leadership did not exercise every ounce of its considerable leverage right now to benefit the university, then what purpose is that leadership serving?
As for being disingenuous, no one has done that more egregiously than Osborne when he said that one school leaving a conference does not destroy the conference, but six schools leaving does.
OK, so basically it's all right to bail out on your conference as long as you go first and don't take anyone with you? Um, no.
The most idiotic letter I received did manage to make an argument in between the poorly spelled expletives, taking me to task for saying that Nebraska didn't want anyone calling the shots for other schools except Nebraska. I admit that I actually did a little reading between the lines on this point.
Forgive me, but when Osborne laments the fact that the former Big 8 members no longer vote together, most of them instead choosing to vote with Texas (and oh, yeah, everyone else except NU), that sounds to me like someone who is upset about his status change as a former leader of the pack. He also never made any bones about the fact he wanted the Big 12 to be the "Big 8 Plus 4 Texas Schools We Barely Tolerate". It didn't turn out that way, so he left.
As for Nebraska's supposed moral high ground? Despite NU's navel-gazing about how sorry they feel for their former Big 8 brethren, who exactly is the reason why Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Missouri all get to stay in a major conference? Yes, that's right -- Texas. And they all get double their previous TV money without even revenue distribution.
Believe it or not, I will miss Nebraska in the Big 12.
The conference was formed when I was in college. The first Big 12 championship game in football was in 1996 and pitted mighty Nebraska against three-touchdown underdog Texas in St. Louis.
I knew a group of guys who made the drive to Missouri for the contest. The game turned out to be a classic, with Roll Left going down in the Texas annals as one of the greatest calls ever made, setting up the Longhorns' eventual 37-27 victory.
As the game ended, my friends said they were shocked by what they saw and heard: Nebraska fans applauding not only their own team, but also Texas for its effort. The Big Red fans near my guys in the stands even wished them luck for a safe drive home and a bowl game victory.
It was the most puzzlingly classy thing I had ever heard of, especially when the stakes were so high. Texas fans are a lot of things, after all (passionate, demanding, tardy), but "classy" is rarely what jumps immediately to mind.
That is the image of Nebraska fans that I have carried in my head for the last 14 years, and all else aside, I will be sad to see them go.
Except for Tom Osborne.
"Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing."
Oscar Wilde
Jeremy A. Corley is the managing editor of The Anna-Melissa Tribune and the Van Alstyne Leader. Questions and comments can be sent to him at jcorley@vanalstyneleader.com.