Catching Up

Been on the road the past two weekends which, when combined with the dearth of Husker news and some general business at work, has resulted in the dark period here at HiPlainsDrifter.com.

My apologies. Hope to be back in the swing of things soon.

In the meantime, here's a story about Texas barbecue that I just posted over on the Everywhere website.

Peter's Memoir Looks Heroiny

Was poking around online today and noticed that we now have a cover shot for Jason Peter's upcoming memoir detailing his ultimately fruitless chase of the dragon.

Look interesting or just menacing?

Here's what PW had to say:

"Peter, a star at the University of Nebraska’s storied football program in the late 1990s and a first-round NFL draft pick, details his short, frenzied life as a drug user and veteran of the treatment center circuit. It started with painkillers in college, which turned into a full-blown addiction as he battled an array of injuries that ended his career by his late 20s. With plenty of money and time available, Peter’s partying escapades eventually led him to freebasing cocaine and turning his upscale New York City apartment into arguably the world’s most expensive heroin retreat, complete with a live-in junkie stripper girlfriend. Avoiding self-help urgings and self-congratulations, Peter (who is now clean) and O’Neill have crafted an unflinching look at the dark side of a life devoted to pleasure. Peter’s recollection of his college glory days is a little overbearing, but the book’s power lies in his honesty in detailing the depths of his despair from seeking the next high."

A live-in stripper? I can believe that. World's most expensive heroin retreat? Even with the "arguably" qualifier, I'm almost certain that the world's most expensive heroin retreat was always, and remains to this day, Nikki Sixx's shaving kit, but either way I'm intrigued.

The book is out July 8, but I'm going to see if I can corral an advance copy to get us through these long off-season months.

And in case you're interested, Peter's co-author on this book, Tony O'Neill, is a recovered crack and heroin addict as well. His website includes the following blurb for the book from author Jerry Stahl:

"HERO OF THE UNDERGROUND gives us a portrait of red-blooded jock as monster dope fiend. It's a savage, unsparing, eye popping ride through the dark soul of big money, endless drugs, American manhood, and our national past time--self destruction. Ex-Cornhusker Jason Peter writes like a soulful badass, and we're lucky he lived to tell the tale. Had Hunter Thompson been a football player, instead of a fan, this is the book he'd have written. Flat out, mash-your-face-in-the-dirt-amazing."

You can pre-order the book right here and purchase the domain name soulfulbadass.com right here.

Casey At the Bat

As a brief sidenote to Sammy Vegas' recent post regarding some racy pics of Casey Connelly (aka Sam Keller's girlfriend) originally found on barstoolsports.com, the whole thing turned into quite the brouhaha when Connelly emailed the guys at Barstool Sports and pleaded for their removal then offered a vague threat of ugliness if they were not.

I'd excerpt one of the emails here but I sort of feel bad for the girl...then I remember she had nearly naked pictures of herself on the Internet.

C'est la vie. Click over if you want to.

God bless the offseason.

BBQ, Breaking Down and Bandera

Indulge me for a moment as I try to get back in the Nebraska football swing of things. Got back from Texas on Sunday, here's a recap/assorted thoughts.

BBQ - I've eaten barbecue in the Carolinas, Kansas City and, now, all over Texas. I've smoked about every meat you can think of and there's nothing better for me than making my own sauces and sausages on a random Saturday afternoon. While I should probably withhold judgment until I've hit Memphis, I'm ready to call the Lone Star state's barbecue the best. The sausage sandwich at the Taylor Cafe was otherworldly. I'd have more to say but I'm hoping to get some paid writing out of this aspect of the trip so I'll save it for now.

Breaking Down (i.e. Eight Belles) - I didn't win big betting the Derby. It was sort of an atypical week in terms of my normal preparation but, after a brief mid-week bout of uncertainty, I did go with Big Brown against the protests of most of my handicapping friends. I was confident enough to key him on top of every exotic I played. That, along with tossing out Colonel John and Pyro, was the good handicapping I did.

Also tossing out Eight Belles and placing a shoot the moon win bet on Cool Coal Man was the bad.

Needless to say, seeing a horse break down is no way to end the first Saturday in May. Not to downplay the situation but Big Brown's race was more impressive than Barbaro's Derby and that's barely been a story. For good reason.

This is a tough time for horse racing. A number of columnists who are not necessarily horse racing fans are ripping the sport. The fans and industry insiders are giving it the usual tragic shrug. I'm not sure where I fall. On the plane back Saturday I read William C. Rhoden's column in the New York Times and felt it was poorly executed. (No bull has ever survived a bull fight, for the record.) Jane Smiley's was better.

It's a particularly tough issue and all I really know at this point is that horse racing is probably at it's lowest point in recent history in terms of general public favor. If there was ever a year for a Triple Crown winner--and Big Brown certainly looks like one--this would be it.

Bandera, TX - After the Derby at Retama Park my brother and I headed to Arkey Blue's Silver Dollar Saloon. This was cowboy country. Sawdust on the floor, real hitching posts out front. I needed to hear Arkey Blue sing "Fraulein" to lighten my spirits. If you are ever in the San Antonio area, I can't recommend a side trip to Bandera highly enough. Just remember to tuck your jeans into your boots. That's how it's done.

Aside from the photo in this post which was taken at Gruene Hall during a break in the four-hour Dale Watson set, I'm still editing a bunch more that might eventually find their way on-line. As you may have noticed in the sidebar, there's a JPG Magazine link to one of the photos from Arkey's. It looks a lot better when it's bigger. Please click away.

After I catch up on the week that was we'll try to get back to some normal Nebraska talk.

HiPlains on Hiatus

Normally I'd be spending much of this week detailing the Derby. This year I'm taking a mini-vacation deep in the heart of Texas.

There will be barbecue.

There will be David Allan Coe.

There will be horse racing.

If you're in the neighborhood of Retama Park in San Antonio, feel free to join us on Saturday and contribute your coin (and possibly your picks) for the Derby superfecta.

There's still a chance that I'll get some Derby picks up later this week but that might be it until Sunday.