Are you ready for National Nebraska Day this year? It's April 5, Sunday, this year.
I have to admit, I wasn't aware of National Nebraska Day. It's a creation of National Day Calendar which launched the following campaign a few years ago:
In 2017, National Day Calendar began celebrating each state in the order they entered the union starting the week of Independence Day and ending with Hawaii. We highlight a small part of each states’ history, foods and the people who make up the state. Many states have their own state celebrations, and National Day Calendar’s observances in no way replace them. There’s so much more to explore, we can’t help but celebrate our beautiful country even more!
OK, cool. This feels like a made-for-radio event, as do all such "it's National _______ Day," as they provide morning radio shows something to mention as you’re on your way to work. We hear that it's, say, National Waffle Day, think, "OK, cool, waffles are good," and tomorrow is something else. It's all pretty harmless fun.
But, as we enter a new month without live sports, we're starting to see just how far the major sports networks are having stretch for thematic content. ESPNU announced Sunday that it will be celebrating National Nebraska Day on Sunday with a day full of games from the Cornhusker State.
And this actually is kind of cool as it includes all three of the state's Division I programs and five sports. National Nebraska Day programming on ESPNU begins with Omaha against RIT in the 2015 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Regional Final at 12 p.m. CT. Nebraska volleyball's 2015 championship match win over Texas follows at 2 p.m.
Creighton basketball rounds out the afternoon slate with its 2012 win at the buzzer over Long Beach State (4 p.m.). If you're missing regular practice updates from Scott Frost (which would've resumed this week), you can watch him quarterback the Huskers to a win over Missouri in 1997 at 6 p.m. No spoilers, but watch that one until the very end.
National Nebraska Day comes to a close, at least on ESPNU, with the final game, UCLA-South Carolina, at Rosenblatt Stadium. First pitch for the replay of the last game is at 8 p.m. If you're looking for something to watch this weekend, this is actually a pretty interesting lineup.
Staff Picks – No. 4
If you're like me, you don't need another cookbook. If you're even more like me, you often wonder if it's time to downsize the collection, something that will never go beyond a thought experiment, but while in the middle of such hypothetical meanderings you realize that if you could only keep one cookbook it would be Michael Ruhlman's Ratio.
It is, without much competition, the book I pick up and use the most when in the kitchen. It's such a well-structured book that, in some cases, it has even eliminated my need to pick it up.
As the title suggests, Ratio is not full of recipes but . . . well . . . ratios. Here's the opening paragraph to the book:
"A culinary ratio is a fixed proportion of one ingredient or ingredients relative to another. These proportions form the backbone of the craft of cooking. When you know a culinary ratio, it's not like knowing a single recipe, it's instantly knowing a thousand. Here is the ratio for bread: 5 parts flour : 3 parts water."
I've used the basic bread ratio here about every three days for the past three weeks. Judging by social media plenty of people are using their social distancing time to cook elaborate meals there's just not time for otherwise. I like that practice, but if you want to strip things down and improve your ability to improvise, Ratio is a great place to start.
The Grab Bag
- Derek Peterson is back and so is his Monday column (a strong return). The Varsity Club podcast is back, too.
- Greg Smith looks at how some of the QBs that didn’t commit to Nebraska are doing in college, and it’s a pretty strong group so far.
- Speaking of QBs, Nebraska extended two new 2022 offers over the weekend.
Today’s Song of Today
Brandon is the Managing Editor for Hail Varsity and has covered Nebraska athletics for the magazine and web since 2012, Hail Varsity’s first season on the scene. His sports writing has also been featured by Fox Sports, The Guardian and CBS Sports.
