Double Nickel gives his two cents

Jason Peter on Carol & Mick KZKX Lincoln, NE

Jason Peter — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:08:33 GMT

Jason Peter on The Morning Sorts Page show WFNZ Charlotte, NC

Jason Peter — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:08:28 GMT

Jason Peter on Peter Boyles Show KHOW Denver, CO Part I

Jason Peter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:50:41 GMT

Jason Peter on Peter Boyles Show KHOW Denver, CO Part II

Jason Peter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:50:37 GMT

Jason Peter on Dr. Drew Live

Jason Peter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:28:04 GMT

Jason Peter on Mason & Ireland ESPN 710 Los Angeles, CA

Jason Peter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:46:39 GMT

Jason Peter on The Final Round with Wes McElroy WRNL Richmond, VA

Jason Peter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:43:37 GMT

Jason Peter on Chad Hartman Show KFAN Minneapolis, MN

Jason Peter — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:48:58 GMT

Jason Peter on The Chris Vernon Show ESPN 730 Memphis, TN

Jason Peter — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:17:16 GMT

Jason Peter on The Opening Drive WJOX Birmingham, AL

Jason Peter — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:55:51 GMT

Jason Peter on Sirius Satellite "Hard Cores Sports"

Jason Peter — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:26:45 GMT

Jason Peter on Sirius Satellite "Hard Core Sports" with Richard Garner, Cam Stewart & Sarah Meehan. Click link below to listen!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!

Former NU player Jason Peter's secrets revealed in tell-all book

Jason Peter — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:23:55 GMT

OMAHA WORLD HERALD
Published Sunday June 29, 2008
Former NU player Jason Peter's secrets revealed in tell-all book
INTERVIEW WITH TOM SHATEL

Q: Are you surprised you're still alive?
JP: Yeah. Even to this day, I'll get calls from guys I met at various stages of rehab. They'll say, "You remember Johnny? He's dead. He OD'd." When you go through this, you think you're invincible, nothing will ever hold you down. I always thought, "I'll stop whenever I want." I justified it at the time I was playing football, with the pain pills. I needed it to play football. Was I banged up with injuries? Absolutely. Is that the reason I eventually became addicted? No. That was all on me. That's why people who don't know my story will say, he's just another drug addict. But it started somewhere. It started brewing with all of those injuries. I knew I liked how I felt when I took those pills at Nebraska. But I didn't have the means then or the money.

Jason Peter was an All-America defensive tackle at Nebraska.

Q: You also thought about suicide more than once?
JP: Oh, yeah. You get to a point where the highs aren't what they were when you started. With the pills and the opiates and the heroin, you develop a tolerance. It takes more and more to get to that high. The biggest battle I had was like, how do I get my hands on pain pills today? I was scamming all these doctors and pharmacies. It became work. And that part began outweighing the part where I took pills and didn't worry about anything. My football career was over. And, you know, football to me was everything. I got started late in my junior year in high school, but that was my passion. Through all of these rehab centers, they wanted to know what my passion was. But I couldn't go back and get that (football). I mean, this wasn't me walking out on my terms, like Grant (Wistrom), saying I've played nine years - that's enough. This was me sitting in a room with George Seifert and Marty Hurney, the GM at Carolina, and the head trainer, and they're saying, "We can't clear you to play football again. You'll never do what you want to do ever again."

Q: Should the NFL have a program to help guys adjust to life after football?
JP: The NFL has something. But here's the thing. I'm 25 years old and some guy is going to come up to me and say, "Jason, we have to meet for an hour about life after football." I'm like, "Who are you kidding? I'm going to play for 12 years, I'm going to go into the Hall of Fame." I wasn't thinking about life after football. I was trying to survive being in it. It was tough for me coming from Nebraska, where I had a couple of back spasms and hurt my hand, and going to Carolina, where I had two major surgeries each year. I didn't know how to deal with that. Combine that with the fact that I liked taking the pills, at least recreationally. I had to be up at a certain time in the morning to go to practice. So I had structure in my life. When that's over, and you have nothing to do, that's when the trouble started.

Q: Why write a book? Is this about the money? Or is there a story here you wanted to tell?
JP: I had a story to tell. Maybe it's not a self-help book. But that doesn't mean someone still can't benefit from this thing, that a 17- or 20-year-old kid doesn't read it and say, "Man, this is the way I'm going now." Am I shocked that I came out on the other end? Yes. So I think it's got something to offer if somebody is headed down that path.
But I also was like, "Do I want to do this?" I come from good family and, for the most part, we keep things in house. This was like airing dirty laundry. That's what I was nervous about. But I also realized that I put a major dent in my wallet in terms of the money that I spent, on the hookers, on the drugs, spending nights at strip clubs until they shut it down. It took its toll. I would be lying to you if I said there wasn't financial consideration here as well.

Q: Is this appropriate reading for high school kids?
JP: Absolutely. I spoke at a high school in Omaha. And one of the reasons they brought me up was because they have kids who are messing around with this type of stuff, smoking weed, messing around with cocaine, pain pills. This is what these kids are doing nowadays. This should probably start with the parent, and if it's something they feel their son or daughter can learn from it, go ahead.

Q: How do you think Coach Osborne < will feel about this?
JP: I think he'll be shocked. I don't think anybody really understood what was happening behind those closed doors at my house. It's an in-your-face type book. Coach Osborne is a guy who lives by his faith, but that doesn't mean he's not aware of what's going on out there. I told him, "If you ever need me to come talk to the kids down there, I'll be an open book." Does it matter to me what Coach Osborne thinks about this? Absolutely. He means the world to me. But the people that will be the hardest for me to read this book are my wife, my mother and my sister.

Q: Has your mother read it?
JP: Yes she has, and she thinks it's a great book. My aunt, who's in the book, also thought it was amazing. They went through this with me, so they know. I think they had an idea of what was going on, but to have it in a book, out there, where there's no turning back, that's a little different.
I knew I had to be honest if this thing was going to be a quality book. That started, really, the last time I went into the rehab. You have to be honest. If you are trying to fool people there, you aren't going to make it. It's funny, because when I was doing the book, I was saying, "I don't know if I should put this in," and it was my wife who said, "You have to put this in. You have to be honest and put this stuff in there." I said, "All right, but don't divorce me when it comes out."

Q: What will the average Husker fan think after reading the book?
JP: Some might be disappointed. Some might have this image, maybe, in their mind that they don't want distorted. This guy who is on the (Nebraska football) All-Century team, three national championship teams. I can't control what other people think. I hope they read it and can just understand that I was just trying to tell a story that I went through, that I wasn't trying to make myself a hero or anything.

Q: Is there a lesson here in that people shouldn't put their heroes on pedestals?
JP: I don't know. I do admit that that was a big part of my life here. And that was a big part of my struggle after football was over. I was used to hearing those cheers. There was nobody yelling your name, telling you how good you were. But in terms of the book, am I asking for some type of hero worship because I came out of this thing? No.
There will be people that think I'm wrong for putting this stuff out there. But there will be other people who have an uncle who was a drunk or a brother who is a drug addict or a mother who pops pills all day. Most people know someone or are related to someone who has gone through some sort of addiction. This is the truth. This is what happens. This is what happened to me.

Q: Maybe this isn't a fair question, but if you could do anything different, what would it be?
JP: In terms of my football career, I ask myself, every single day, probably 10 times a day, what if I didn't abuse my body with all of this garbage? Most of it came post-career, but I'm sure there was some damage when I was playing. Did that affect how my body could heal? I wonder even though this is medicine doctors give you when you walk out of the hospital, they don't give you enough to abuse it. I ask myself every day: Did I do so much that my body wasn't functioning as it should? Did that affect how my body could heal? That's something I have to live with.
In terms of the addiction, if I had had a serious relationship, or had been married, that might have straightened me out. I'm so happy that I didn't. I'm so happy that I went through this. Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't be married to the wife that I have now. There's a reason for everything. One way or another, I found myself out in California and met the girl of my dreams. That wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gone through this.

Q: How much damage did you do to your body or your brain with all the coke and heroin?
JP: I don't know. I don't know that I'll know that for a long time. I've been checked, my liver, kidneys, all that stuff, and I seem to be just fine. But you never know what that might have started. Who knows? We'll see. Do I have lapses sometimes where I kind of just forget things or lose my train of thought? Yes. But I think that's a combination of football on top of the drugs.

Q: How much money did you throw away?
JP: I'm not a guy who gets on a computer every day and checks. It's at least, through all the hookers and all the drugs, at least half a million dollars. It could be close to a million. I wasn't completely broke when this was over, but it was to the point where my financial adviser was telling me, "You can't live the lifestyle you think you can live." It went from one of those things if you manage things and don't do anything crazy, you don't really have to work, to now, you have to work.
It was a lot of trips to the ATM machine at 4 in the morning. That's a reason why a lot of people stop, because the money's gone. I wasn't one of these drug addicts roaming the street, trying to get a $10 fix. I was having people drop it off at my house. And I'm paying for $500 or $1,000 worth of cocaine or heroin at one time. Cash. For some of the girls, I could use my credit card.

Peter says in the book that there was no shining moment where he knew he had to stop; one day you just know and hopefully you are still alive to realize it. But during his last stint in rehab, his mother was taken to a hospital with a heart scare. It turned out to be stress related, but the incident deeply affected Peter, who felt more than a little guilty.
JP: Drug addicts are so caught up in their own world, they don't pay attention to what it's doing to the people around them. The addict is high all the time, so he feels good. But the mother is waiting by the phone every night. When there was the scare with her, in large part did I feel like I needed to end it with me, that it was my time? Yeah. That could have been more than 50 percent of why I stopped, because I couldn't put my mother through this anymore. I couldn't care less what happened to me.

What brought Peter back to Lincoln? He said it started, ironically, with an interview he did for HBO with the infamous Bernard Goldberg, the TV reporter who drew the ire of Osborne and NU fans during the Lawrence Phillips days of 1995 for his "win at all costs" profile of Osborne.
JP: I did the "HBO Real Sports." And Bernard Goldberg interviewed me. When I found out, I didn't really put it together. Finally, I said, this is the guy who did the CBS piece on Coach Osborne and Nebraska. I almost backed out. People said, "No, you gotta do it, because hopefully somebody else will see it and this could help somebody." He came and he did it. We didn't talk between the takes, he did the show, packed up his bag and left. That was it. A year later, they called and asked how I was doing. We want to come out and do a follow piece. He comes back out this time a completely different guy, just a really nice guy, good guy. The whole Nebraska thing was just doing his job. Sometimes you don't get to pick and choose what you get to do. We shot at one place, a lot of joking around. He stayed after at my house after all the cameras were gone, sat around and talked for a couple hours. Did I blame him for the first time, being all business? No. Because at that time I was just another drug addict, probably going to be back on the street the next week. We actually have a friendship to this day. One time he said, "You handle yourself well in front of the camera. Have you ever thought about doing something like this?"
Sometime after that, I did the Jim Rome show. I went in studio to do that. We were supposed to do one segment. We ended up staying an hour and 15 minutes. He said it was the longest segment he'd done. When we were done, he said the same thing: "Have you ever thought about it?" At that point, I said, "Let's try it." I called Coach Osborne and asked him if he knew anybody. He gave me a couple of numbers.

Former Husker Jason Peter now works for Lincoln's 1480 AM ESPN. Peter auditioned for the station last summer and got the job, a 3-to-6 p.m. daily show.

Peter auditioned with ESPN 1480 AM in Lincoln last summer and got the gig, a 3-to-6 p.m. daily show. He also did some TV work with KETV last fall.
JP: I love it. Getting the opportunity to do this and work with Channel 7 in Omaha, some pregame and postgame stuff for them. I won a Nebraska broadcasting award, if you can believe that.
Would I like to do football on TV? Absolutely. Do I always want to have my 3-to-6 gig on the radio talking Nebraska football? Absolutely.

Q: What's your take on what's happened with Nebraska football and Bo Pelini?
JP: Obviously, I was really glad to see Coach Osborne get back into it. I didn't know Bo, other than he was here in 2003. The biggest thing for me is that Bo is teaching them the fundamentals and getting them to play with passion and having that energy no matter what it says on the scoreboard. He's also made us ex-guys feel proud again to be part of it.
It was embarrassing. I said all along, these kids keep getting patted on the back and saying everything is going to be OK. Maybe it's just the way I was treated with Coach (Charlie) McBride, but they didn't need a pat on the back, they needed a kick in the (butt) and somebody in their face saying, "That's not good enough. And if you continue to play like this, you won't be playing anymore." There were no consequences for what they were doing.
I go down to the stadium often to see familiar faces and have gotten to spend some time with Bo. I like him because he's just a normal guy. His interviews, and the way he says things, it's almost like what I do on the radio. It's honest and heartfelt. I don't think he's concerned about making this person happy or that person happy. "I'm here to win football games and make sure Nebraska is proud of its program again."
Just coming out of spring ball, are they going to win the national championship next year? No. I get people mad when they call into my show and I say they aren't going to go 13-0. Are they going to be better record-wise? Hopefully. Maybe. I don't know. Are they going to play more passionately? Yes. And that's all that matters to me right now, because the scores will turn if you continue to play with that passion, that love for the game. Eventually you will score more points than the other team.

Q: How are you doing? Do you still have to check in with somebody?
JP: I get together with certain people. When I was in California, I had a life coach, a therapist. Now I meet with somebody every month, every two months, just to BS, talk. It's there if I need it. It's good. I'll have a drink every once in awhile. Alcohol was never my thing. It was just something that sat on the side and turned to water half the time because I never touched it. Grant (Wistrom) will come into town, and I'll have a drink with him. I'll have a glass of wine with my wife. There are groups out there who don't think that's OK, and I don't care. I found out what works for me. For me, it's not about counting days and telling people how long I've been off it. It's about being able to call my mother and not have it in my head: "I have to talk slower or she'll know I'm high." It's about not being afraid that someone's going to stop by my house today and I've been up since 4, wired. It's nice knowing that my mother can go to sleep tonight not worrying that "Tonight's the night I'm going to get that call."

Q: How long has it been since you last took drugs?
JP: It will be four years in July. I've had surgeries a couple times since then, and that was obviously a huge, huge test. It's not like I took the bottle of Vicodin from the doctor when I drove myself out of there. I had to take some, so it was like feeding the devil again. But again, it was about honesty. When I was prepping for the surgery, I told the doctor I used to be a drug addict.

Q: Who should play you in the movie?
JP: My wife does that all the time. She's always picking people out. It's hard because you have to find someone who can be big enough to portray this football player but also be a skeleton of himself. She likes that Jake Gyllenhaal. Everybody likes to have fun with that. I don't pay attention to it. I get nervous enough about the book coming out. How will people perceive it? What's important to me is that my wife is OK with it and my family is OK with it. And I can't control what everyone else thinks, but I'm a caring guy. I love the guys that I played with. I care what they think. I don't know, some mother whose son looks up to me might not like it. I can't do anything about that.

Q: One final question: One of these days you'll have to tell me what actually happened on that private jet.
(No answer. Just a smile.)

Book Excerpt: Part 1: Hero of the Underground

The Cautionary Tale of Jason Peter

Jason Peter — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:23:04 GMT

Peter King

MONDAY MORNING QB

The cautionary tale of Jason Peter

Posted: Monday June 9, 2008 2:03AM; Updated: Monday June 9, 2008 1:48PM

After reading an advance copy of former NFL first-round pick Jason Peter's riveting memoir about his grotesquely self-destructive life in football and as a drug addict so out of control that he used to take 80 pain and sleeping pills in a day -- 80! -- I called him Sunday and didn't know quite how to begin the interview. So I just said it.

"I'm shocked you're still alive."

"I am too,'' he said.

The first page of Peter's Hero of the Underground (with Tony O'Neill, St. Martin's Press, due out July 8) took me to the top of a roller coaster and dropped me straight down. In part, it reads:

When you swallow sixty Vicodin, twenty sleeping pills, drink a bottle of vodka, and still survive, a certain sense of invulnerability stays with you. When you continually use drugs with the kind of reckless determination that I did, the limit to how much heroin or crack you can ingest is not defined in dollar amounts but in the amounts your body can withstand without experiencing a seizure or respiratory failure ... when you still wake up to see the same dirty sky over you as the night before, you start to think that instead of dying, maybe your punishment is to live -- to be stuck in this purgatory of self-abuse and misery for an eternity.

Vicodin. Ambien. Cocaine. Crack. Heroin. GHB, the date-rape drug. Lots of others I've never heard of. He's not sure if he's been in rehab six or seven times. He's blown most of the $6.5 million Carolina paid him over a disappointing, injury-filled NFL career with the Panthers. Nights and weeks with prostitutes so numerous ... well, so numerous that his Madame at a high-rolling Manhattan brothel ran out of girls for him.

How did it all happen, this trail that led to one suicide try and thoughts of a second, when he'd use a gun instead of the drugs his body had built up such a tolerance to?

The condensed version: Peter grew up in Middletown, N.J., one of four children of a noted central Jersey restaurateur. He never played football until his junior year in high school, yet he was good enough and big enough (6-foot-5, 275 pounds) after a year of prep school to earn a full ride where his brother Christian was starring -- Nebraska. He played well enough there to be the 14th pick in the 1998 draft, by Carolina. But he could never stay healthy for the Panthers, and seven shoulder and neck surgeries later, he was cut in 2001 ... for his own good.

This is more than a book about a druggie who had a failed pro football career. It's a good look into the sordid world of how a pro football player survives when he feels pain every day of his life. And Peter doesn't blame Nebraska, the Panthers, the NFL or his family.

"I didn't want to put the blame on anyone for my drug use -- anyone but me,'' he said. "I've got great parents. I had all the advantages any kid would want growing up. I take all the blame for everything. There are guys who come out of the surgeries I had and they don't get addicted.''

One quick note: In "A Note to the Reader'' before Chapter 1, Peter writes, "This is my true story. However, some names and details have been changed.'' He explained to me that St. Martin's originally wanted a tell-all book, with names, about life in the NFL. Peter said he was willing to indict himself, but not his friends and any teammates that might be involved in his debauchery. I told him that sentence would leave it open for people to wonder how much of the stories in the book were true. "This book was about my experiences, and if I thought it might be negative to anyone else, I changed their name. But the stories are true.''

The best football story was the day in 2001 he was told by Carolina coach George Seifert he would no longer be cleared to play football for the Panthers. Called into the trainer's office with GM Marty Hurney and the team trainer, Peter wrote:

I knew what this was. This was the Death Blow. I approached the office slowly and silently. I felt like a man stepping up to the gas chamber. I closed the door behind me and was ushered into a chair. Everyone sat in silence. I took in the office, the polished mahogany desk, the pictures of the trainer's family ... [Hurney and Seifert] were men who knew and loved sports. They knew what they were about to say to me was one of the cruelest things you could say to an athlete. I had the sudden, confusing urge to laugh, or to get up and run out of the office, pretend that this wasn't happening. But, crushed by circumstance, I just sat there and did my best to smile.

"You know, [Seifert said] ... I've coached men who have damaged themselves so badly playing this game ... that they can't even hold their children anymore. They pushed it too far, and once your body reaches a certain point ... well, there's just no coming back. Do you understand what I'm telling you, Jason?''

"Yes, sir.''

"Jason, you can't keep doing this ... The bottom line is this: We can't clear you to play anymore. The doctor has told us that you're at risk for a major injury. I'm really terribly sorry.''

"Yes, sir.'' ...

I knew what they were saying was perfectly true. I could feel it, deep inside of myself. I was one good hit away from being a cripple, and that scared the living s--- out of me. This little talk in the office was just the final confirmation of something I had known for a long time. It was game over. I was finished.

And when it was over, the pain didn't stop. But the meaning of his life did. As Peter told me Sunday, "We had a guy who used to play for the Steelers, Donnie Shell, who worked for the Panthers helping guys with life after football. He'd say to me, 'Let's work on your career after football.' I thought, Are you kidding me? My life is football. I'm 25 years old, making more money than I ever dreamed of. I don't need help. I'm playing 12, 13 years.''

He had nothing to do. But he had ways of passing the time, writing that he found it easy at first to score painkilling pills like Vicodin. He was still suffering, so it was logical for the team to give him medication. When that wasn't enough, he'd meet friendly doctors, some in his adopted hometown of Manhattan, more than happy to write him a prescription for a favor like an autographed jersey. But it got to the point, he told me, "where it was easier to buy five eight-balls of cocaine than it was to buy 500 Vicodin.'' That's what led to the rampant drug use. Rampant is putting it mildly.

I had two questions: How did he evade the NFL's drug policy while he was an occasional user of painkillers and recreational drugs with the Panthers? He didn't. He got a DWI in his rookie year, and was put into the NFL's substance-abuse program. But what he was using -- Vicodin and other substances that wouldn't show up dirty in a drug test -- made it possible for him to get away with using. And how prevalent did he think painkiller-abuse was in the NFL? "I would have to think there are some guys who walk away from the game with some kind of addiction,'' he said. "How many, I don't know.''

The bottom line, as he said, is that the NFL gives you chances to stop, by not suspending players on a first offense, but rather putting them into a drug program. "I don't think the risk of getting caught is serious enough,'' he said. "Now, if you put in a four-year suspension like they have in track for a guy like Justin Gatlin [who got four years for a second doping violation], that would get guys' attention. But with all the money there is in the NFL, guys are going to do what they have to do to get an edge.''

This book will suck in readers, in and out of the football world, because of the graphic nature of Peter's stories. And it will be a cautionary tale for someone. I don't know if it'll be a football player or a stockbroker or a realtor or a CEO. Just someone with lots of money.

"I hope it helps somebody,'' said Peter, who claims he is four years clean. He's married, living in Lincoln, Neb., working as a radio host and living on six acres with a wife, Sarah, he met after leaving his last -- successful -- rehab stint in California. The amazing thing is, he lived to tell the story.

Jason Peter to appear at Barnes & Noble to discuss his memoir and sign books

Jason Peter — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:46:33 GMT

July 9, 2008 @ 7:30 PM
BARNES & NOBLE
765 Route 17 S.
Paramus, NJ 07652

July 10, 2008 @ 7:00 PM
BARNES & NOBLE
232 E. Ridgewood Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ 07450

July 19, 2008 @ 2:00 PM
BARNES & NOBLE
333 Oakview Drive
Omaha, NE 68144

Check back for more locations...

7th Inning Stretch Huskers vs. Creighton "Take me out to the ball game..."

Jason Peter — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:15:36 GMT

Signing Day

Jason Peter — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:29:31 GMT

    Today was a big day for Nebraska Football. It was National Signing Day and some twenty plus high school seniors made a commitment to play football for the University of Nebraska. Congratulations to all of them, I'm glad they all made the decision to spend the next 4-5 years of their life in Lincoln. They have the opportunity to attend a great school and to really challenge themselves on the football field. That being said, I'd rather not hear any of their names again until they arrive on campus in August. If any of you listen to my radio show you know that recruiting is not my favorite topic to talk about. I believe there is too much hype and too many expectations laid upon these kids that have never stepped foot on a college field. A lot of these kids arrive on campus and they've already been labeled the savior of Nebraska Football. Imagine that pressure when you were just 17 or 18 years old. The truth about recruiting is that most kids won't be a success on the football field, some of them will turn out to be All-Americans, some will become All-Conference players, some will be a starter for their senior year but most will never contribute in a major role.

    In Coach Pelini's press conference today I loved the fact that he didn't talk about each recruit individually. I have to imagine a reason for this is because he doesn't want to add to the hype that already follows each kid. Again too much is being made of these kids that haven't played a down. If he's going to talk about them as individuals then maybe first they have to get on that field and prove that they can play with the big boys, after all this isn't high school anymore. It also says that the team mentality comes first. Nebraska isn't about playing for yourself, it's about winning championships and to do that it will take more than just one player. Coach Pelini talked about the stock that he and his staff put into the star system, for those of you who didn't hear the press conference, his response was "none". The grading system by which all recruiting guru's live their life by means nothing inside Memorial Stadium. Bo and his staff went out and found a group of kids that they thought could play football. I saw one of the kids on TV last night and he was talking about how he's part of the team now, I couldn't help myself, I had to laugh. Maybe things are different now but when I played it took more than signing your name on a piece of paper to be part of the team. You had to earn a spot on teams that I played on, you had to show up for training camp and battle your ass off and earn your teammates respect before you considered yourself a member of the team. Anyway I've spent to much time talking about recruiting already, I'm glad the staff is satisfied with the group of kids they selected and I can't wait to see how they develop over the years. One last thing on the press conference, I thought it was great that the majority of the conference was talking about the walk on program. I've stressed to all of you before the importance of that walk on program and I was glad to see some 30 players will be coming to Lincoln to live the dream, or at least try to. It's the heart and soul of the program and it gives Nebraska an edge over other schools, glad to see this staff is committed to making it strong again.

    How about Clemens trainer? I've been listening to all the sport shows this morning and they are all shocked that this guy has been holding onto some needles and gauzing that has Roger's blood and DNA on it. Why are they shocked, this guy is a drug dealer, he's a shady guy, it doesn't shock me at all. If he was selling crack or some other street drug people probably wouldn't be shocked by it but since he's selling steroids to pro athletes people think it's odd he would hold onto something like that.  He's just as shady as a guy who sells cocaine in my eyes.  All this doesn't mean I'm on Clemens side, he's as guilty as they come, I just think people need to start looking at McNamee like the drug dealer he is.

    I have to apologize to all of you for not being on top of my blogging. I have been finishing up my book the last couple of months so I haven't had much time to get on the computer.   I will try to get down at least one new entry a week so let me know what you guys want to talk about.  My show "The Spread" on ESPN just recently got ranked the number 1 afternoon talk show in Lincoln. I want to thank all of you because I know you guy's are my solid listeners. I'm having a blast doing the show and I hope all of you are enjoying the show, hang in there, it will be football season before you know it. JP

Hero of the Underground

Jason Peter — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:35:20 GMT

HERO OF THE UNDERGROUND
A MEMOIR
JASON PETER with Tony O'Neill
Book will be released July 8, 2008

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY ON AMAZON.COM

"A portrait of red-blooded jock as monster dope fiend. 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."

- JERRY STAHL, AUTHOR OF PERMANENT MIDNIGHT

Show Feedback

Jason Peter — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:37:29 GMT

Hi everyone, Happy New Year!

Since Jason hasn't had time to add a new entry I've taken upon myself to spark up some conversation. Perhaps everyone can submit segment ideas for Jason, Chris & Jefferly to talk about on their show http://espn1480.com . What would you like to hear about? Send us your feedback.

Casting call for Nebraska fans

Jason Peter — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:20:22 GMT

JIM CAREY MOVIE CASTING CALL

Casting Nebraska fans in California.. click link for more details.

http://castingpedia.com/Casting-Applications/index.html

The Start of Something Special

Jason Peter — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:45:21 GMT

Who's jacked up and excited for the 2008 season to start? Is anyone else experiencing the following; it's easier to get up in the morning, enjoying your day at work, getting along with your spouse better, sleeping without nightmares? Well for me all of this stuff has been happening to me and I have to think it is a direct result of one thing, the hiring of Bo Pelini. Nebraska has a new coach and from everything I can tell, he's a good one. This past Sunday, Nebraska officially started the Bo Pelini era, the healing has begun. Our legendary coach knew that our storied program was in trouble and he took the first step to make sure it didn't fall any further. Coach Osborne went out across America and interviewed a number of coaches who he thought might be qualified enough to take our beloved Huskers back to the promised land. He narrowed the search to two great coaches and probably had to make one of the toughest decisions of his life. Does he pick the guy who once went to battle for the coach himself or does he pick the guy Nebraska once had but let go? I truly believe either one could have done an exceptional job leading the Huskers but Bo is what the Huskers need right now.

Over the last four years the Huskers biggest problems have been attitude, intensity, passion and playing physical. Bo Pelini can fix these problems. In his years as a coordinator at Nebraska, Oklahoma and LSU, Bo has been known to get his players to play with all of the above characteristics. His players play for him and that is the number one goal as a coach. Get your kids to work hard and play with some passion. All of his ex-players say the same thing, "I'd run through a wall for Coach Pelini". He makes his players work extremely hard but they have a fun time while doing it. Over the years I have watched some games that Bo has coached and it's easy to see that he loves his kids and they love him, that goes a long way in the game of football.

This past Sunday while I watched Bo's introductory speech I was very impressed with the following points he made. Knowing he has a legend sitting in an office one floor above him, admitting he won't always have the answers but having the ability to lean on Tom Osborne for some answers. Giving Coach Solich the respect he deserved earned him major points in my book. It was a sign that he understands the Nebraska tradition. He talked about making sure there was the "family" atmosphere amongst the team, that is the only way a team will have success. When I spoke at the '97 reunion dinner that was the main point of my speech, we were a family and would do anything for one another. A reporter asked Bo about recruiting and how he would sell Nebraska to recruits, his answer was "I'll tell them they'll have the opportunity to play at the greatest school in the country". That's the same thing I say to people on my radio show, Nebraska is a special place and to me there isn't another school in the world that I would have wanted to play. The last topic he talked about that caught my ear was his desire to make sure the walk-on program is built back up and returns to being the backbone of the program. In my days at the University I learned a large part of my work ethic from the walk-ons. They were kids that waited their entire lives for the opportunity to run out in Memorial Stadium and they were going to work as hard as they could to achieve that dream. If they were willing to give 110% every time they walked out on the field, all the while nobody really expected them to succeed, how could I give any less. If it wasn't for the walk-on program I don't know if I would have become the player I did.

To finish up here, I think with Bo's knowledge of defense and his desire to be directly involved in calling the defense I don't see why we wouldn't have an opportunity to win all of our games next year. Bo doesn't care what you did in high school, he doesn't care how many stars you had next to your name, the only thing that matters to him is if your willing to work and give everything you have. There is enough talent down at the Tom Osborne Athletic Center to win games, now with the right leader in charge I think the Huskers are back in business.

Later, JP
jasonpeter.com