Cindy Lange-Kubick: The allure of the rumor
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According to a guy named Chowder, Bo Pelini is definitely HuskerLand’s next head coach.
Ditto, declares Denver Bob, who has an “excellent source” telling him the same thing.
And then there’s Scoring Explosion, who spoke to a business colleague who spoke directly to a person who said he saw Pelini in Lincoln the weekend LSU had a bye.
This is confirmed by my uncle’s brother’s cousin’s wife’s nephew, who spotted Tom Osborne having lunch with the defensive coordinator at Lazlo’s that same Saturday.
Pssst, listen close, because I’m only going to say this once, and don’t tell anyone where you heard it, but I have it on good authority that the DL on the HC is that interim AD TO is waiting for BP to coach in the SEC championship with LSU before he makes the NU announcement of BC’s replacement official.Ahh. The allure of the rumor.
The juicy, gossipy, shivery, telephone game pleasure of knowing something not yet known to the rest of the oh-so-utterly-oblivious world.
Something important, something secret, something insider friends in high places overheard in hallways leading to the AD’s inner office private bathroom.
Something passed from cell phone to cell phone as fast as fingers can type Prs conf at 10 TG 2 b namd HC.
Something that Might Very Well Be True.
Or not.
Sports writers have wannabe Deep Throats waiting in their in-boxes, guys who could sniff out Osama in a heartbeat if given half a chance.
Talk radio eggs them on. Husker fans of the serious variety categorize the classified info coming their way.
Grobe is in and Kelly’s out.
Turner Gill will be assistant head coach, Marvin Sanders the defensive coordinator.
They’re clearing a spot on the staff for Jason Peter. Charlie McBride is coming out of retirement.
Chickens can live with their heads cut off, and if you drop a penny off the Empire State Building, it’ll kill a guy.
People tend to believe what they want to believe, says Ed Daly, educational psychology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
There’s a term for it: cognitive heuristics.
Translation: Humans tend to seek evidence that confirms their preferred explanations. I know that was Bo ordering the portabella mushroom sandwich and fries with a side of creamy garlic.So even if the rumor is just a rumor, if it backs up what we want to believe, we’re holding on to it as gospel. The Holy Word of Husker Coaching Changes.
Consider this, says Greg Wright, a 40-year-old Lincoln man who yelled “Go Johnny Rodgers!” from a military base in the Philippines when he was a toddler and wouldn’t mind seeing a fiery former defensive coordinator on the Memorial Stadium sidelines: “It’s been a done deal for more than we know about with Bo Pelini.”
And he has sources. Insider types who have given him the goods — “reasonably reliable intelligence” — in the past.
Does this mean Osborne has been lying about the search?
Wright wouldn’t use that word, no.
“Keep in mind he did just come back from Washington, though.”
Makes perfect sense to me.
Scoring Explosion, the guy who had a friend who knew a guy who spotted Pelini, needed to keep his cover for professional reasons but let me know that he’s been doing some undercover work on the weekends as a member of Tiger Droppings, down in LSU blogging territory.
He sent me a link to the latest, posted on Rumor Central on ESPN.com.
Maybe you’ve heard already?
“According to a source with knowledge of the search, Nebraska has whittled its candidate pool to two people and is close to announcing a new coach.”
The two? Grobe and Gill.
Which obviously can’t be true.
I know this because Lazlo’s isn’t returning my calls. Which obviously means BP was there with TO ironing out the HC deal.
Reach Cindy Lange-Kubick at 473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com.
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