Yes, I wish I were making the title to this post up. In the last few months, the sporting world has been “rocked” by a scandal. Allegations yesterday of tennis player Tommy Haas, ranked 13th in the world, broke alleging that he was poisoned before his match with Mikhail Youzhny. During that match, Haas was forced to retire early during a Davis Cup semifinal match due to what was thought to be a stomach virus. Apparently a Russian manager said it was poisoning, not a stomach virus.

This latest allegation comes a couple of months after allegations of match-fixing broke. Belgian player Gilles Elseneer admitted that in 2005, he was offered $100,000 to lose a 1st round match at Wimbledon against Potito Starace but turned it down (honestly, I probably would have taken the money. It is $100K after all).

A popular online betting site back in August voided bets after noticing illegal betting patterns for a match pitting Nikolay Davydenko against 87th ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello. Davydenko, ranked 4th at the time, had to withdraw from the match due to a foot injury (allegedly).

There have also been “rumors” circulating throughout the tennis world that during matches overseas, “shady characters” can be seen hanging out by the locker rooms and in the stands. Tennis has been a target of “seedy characters” because matches can be manipulated without causing too much of an uproar.

So my take is this: There MUST be some truth to the match fixing going on. Even though Davydenko is ranked #4, he is not nearly as high profile as Federer, Nadal, Roddick, or Sharapova. If they can offer Gilles Elseneer $100K to lose a 1st round match at Wimbledon, imagine how deep that it goes. Unless you are a big tennis fan, you do not know who these guys are, it is an individual sport, unforced errors happen all the time, and because of the different amounts of prize money, a player may be able to be “convinced” to take a dive.

Sports betting is not a tennis exclusive, but it does happen in sports. My grandmother once said, “Things tend to get a lot worse before they get better”. I am thinking that this is the start of a bigger sports scandal. Maria, please provide me with a little comfort…

By now I’m sure everyone has heard about Callahan’s comments about how he would not resign before the season ends, even if he were offered a buyout worth more than he is entitled to by his contract. I’m not sure if I would classify it as arrogance or sheer stupidity.

“That term ‘resignation’ is not in our vocabulary,” Callahan said.

OK, are the words “first five-game losing streak since 1958 & being outscored 226-98 in those five games” in your vocabulary? Or are the terms “you’re an embarrassment to the once great Nebraska program and you have one of the nation’s worst defenses, allowing 35.9 points and 477.6 yards a game,” there as well?

This Saturday Nebraska plays Kansas State. I’m predicting that this game will be so unbearable to watch that judges are sentencing criminals to watch it as a form of punishment.

Callahan signed a new contract in September that is worth over three million dollars, since then the AD has been canned & officials have brought in Tom Osborne as acting AD. Translation: He is currently looking for a new coach as I type this.

“You need to understand this isn’t about money. I didn’t get into coaching for money, for buyouts or anything like that,” Callahan said.

This disappointing season hasn’t changed his feelings for Nebraska, he said. Callahan has often said he wants to finish his career at Nebraska.

“I sincerely want to be here,” he said. “I think I indicated that when I signed a contract extension. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t have signed the extension.”

Dude you signed for money just admit it, there’s no shame in that. What is a shame is the fact you recruited and signed 29 JUCO players and the majority of those haven’t panned out. You lost 7 starters on defense with no one to fill in the gaps. No one is saying you can’t stay in Nebraska, you just can’t continue to fuck up coach their program.

Jesus won’t help until Callahan is gone

“Gosh, I don’t think we wanted to do this,” he said. “These coaches didn’t purposely tell these kids, ‘Hey, don’t go out there and tackle today’ or ‘Don’t go out there and rush the passer.’

“Our guys coach to the best of their ability, and they did the best they could. It hasn’t been good enough at this point. Hopefully, Saturday we can rectify this,” he said.

No shit it hasn’t been good enough to this point, nor would it have been good enough at majority of the D-1 schools that have some semblance of football history.

“It’s a game,” he said. “I understand here in Nebraska it’s more than a game. It’s life. It’s the most important thing to Nebraskans, and I share that passion.”

Callahan said he won’t leave on his own accord, even if it means relieving pressure on himself, his staff and their families.

“There is a message if you do resign, that you’ve quit on your football team,” he said. “There is no quit in this staff. We’re going to keep plugging away and keep pushing and keep coaching and try to get through this.”

First of all if you truly did have that passion for Nebraska then you would willfully step down instead of planning on getting fired, which is exactly what you’re doing. Sometimes it’s better to admit that you’re not in the right situation and admit failure than be so self-centered to the point that you’re willing to place unneeded pressures upon your own family.

Callahan claims much of his fan correspondence has been supportive, which I’m not buying for a second. I have a feeling that if there are some supportive e-mails, faxes or letters they were written by Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas fans. I’m not sure if I would count those if I were him.

So I profess on this day 11/08/07.

TtT