I was back home in northwest Iowa for Thanksgiving, and Saturday night my presence was expected at a family dinner at a restaurant. You know what this meant: using "alternative" methods of monitoring the Creighton-Nebraska game.
Namely, free WiFi and ESPN Mobile Gamecast on my iPod. Its an ingenious thing, to be perfectly honest. Much better than the desktop computer version, Mobile Gamecast strips down the interface to just the essentials: time, score, and the latest plays. Period. AND it updates automatically, so if you have to hide the iPod under the table in your lap for a few minutes while you engage a relative in discussion about any number of less important things, the game tracker will be up to date when you can next catch a glance.
Like I said, genius. Just after 8 o'clock when the iPod screen refreshed to say "Kaleb Korver made Three Point jump shot. > CREI 31, NEB 18" I summoned all of my strength to avoid making a scene at the restaurant. After all, no one knew I was doing this.
Using the "STATS" panel, I was able to click -- with trepidation, of course -- to take a peek at the rebounding and turnover stats. I was alarmed but not overly upset to see the Jays with 12 turnovers. I was downright ecstatic to see them with a 24-12 edge in rebounding, lack of Husker size or not.
During halftime, I made enough conversation to buy me a "conversation grace period" during the second half. Fifteen minutes or so later, it was back to making quick glances under the table every minute for an update.
Continue reading 2008-09 Game #5: Nebraska 54, Jays 52.
