Nebraska Huskers' Taylor Martinez and Bo Pelini Are the Best of Friends Again

(Taylor Martinez, clearing the air a mere seven months after the kerfuffel in College Station)

Welcome to another issue of the Husker Hotwire, the sometimes-weekly, sometimes funny look at Husker athletics!

Talk about a huge relief. For months, staff at the Husker Hotwire worried about the confrontation in College Station between Taylor Martinez and Bo Pelini, when Pelini angrily jabbed a finger in Martinez's chest and screamed at him. Could they patch things up? Would they ever be friends again? Enquiring minds want to know!

Well, that mystery is now solved. According to CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd, the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. According to Martinez, Pelini just misunderstood the fact that Martinez returned his father's phone call in the middle of a game, in violation of team rules.

Whew! What a relief! Dodd quotes Martinez as saying a trainer didn't accurately convey to Pelini what happened in the locker room. There's a rule against players making cell phone calls during a game, Martinez violated that rule, the trainers informed Pelini about the violation, and Pelini confronted Martinez. An obvious misunderstanding, right?

The real Husker fans, the ones who post anonymously on a random message board, don't seem too won over by Martinez's comments. They still do not have faith in Martinez, saying he lacks "leadership qualities." Which is completely understandable. After all, leaders are never supremely confident in their abilities. They never play through pain. They take their cue from legendary Husker quarterback Tommie Frazier, who was beloved by all his teammates.

Not that the Husker Hotwire staff would have noticed any of those things. The shock of seeing Martinez talking to the media, voluntarily, more than one sentence at a time, would have left Hotwire reporters with their jaws agape and unable to form a coherent sentence in reply.

Cue the "so, really nothing different than an average day" responses in three, two, one ...

PSYCHO EX-GIRLFRIEND UPDATE

 No, this isn't what you think it is. Various restraining orders prevent Hotwire staff members from taking the subhead literally in deciding what to post. Instead, the Husker Hotwire has decided to forgo the weekly BeeOneGee Conference Update, primarily because nothing new in the Ohio State scandal has come to light since the last issue, and the staff has forgotten how to write about anything else in this space.

But in addition, on Friday Nebraska formally left the Big XII for the B1G Conference, and columnists from two of Nebraska's former conference-mates decided to get a last lick in before NU headed out the door.

First up was John Henderson from the Denver Post, who waxed rhapsodic about the Oregon coastline for four paragraphs before helpfully informing his readers that there was no Oregon coastline in Nebraska. Then, Barry Tramel of the The Oklahoman observed that people have been getting along great in the Big XII since Nebraska left, leading him to conclude that "[m]aybe the Huskers were the problem all along."

It's always sad after an ugly breakup when one side just can't let go. We're better off without you. Look at all this great stuff we've got now that you're gone. Henderson and Tramel are one step removed from hiring two swimsuit models, renting a convertible, and driving around Lincoln hoping Tom Osborne will see them driving by and get jealous.

Don't worry, Sooner fans. You've still got Texas. Sure, they've got their own TV network and have set the system up so their advantage on you is going to get bigger and bigger with each passing year. But you two are made for each other. It's destiny.

Same for you Buffalo fans. You've still got ... well ... Utah? Don't worry though. There's plenty of fish along that scenic Oregon coastline for you. Just make sure to pack an umbrella for the 300 days of rain they get.

AROUND THE HOTWIRE NETWORK

 Spartan Hotwire reports that Michigan State defensive end Jerel Worthy used Twitter for it's intended purpose, namely to provide bulletin board material for the Badgers with an ill-conceived tweet saying that it "still don't matter" that phenom quarterback Russell Wilson transferred to Wisconsin. Michigan State's English department was reported to be thrilled at Worthy's representation of what a Spartan education can provide to a student.

SEC Hotwire reports that the conference has sent recommendations to the NCAA on methods to "modernize" and "streamline" football recruiting. Of course, SEC Hotwire didn't actually read the report, but assumes that the recommendations are to make sure that the payments to recruits are in non-sequential, small denomination bills, and that the cars are titled in the name of a local booster before giving the keys to the recruits.

BC$ Hotwire reports that the Fiesta Bowl has requested Arizona lawmakers to justify the tax-free benefits received by them from the scandal-plagued bowl in an attempt to demonstrate the gifts weren't illegal campaign contributions. After they receive all their responses, bowl officials will be chastising area banks for leaving all that sweet, sweet money lying around waiting to be stolen by area robbers.

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