491 pages by a self-publisher; Dave Kolowski is my kind of guy, but is this my kind of book?  I try to place my work on the positive side of the ledger, whether in the GPAC columns or A Season.  I might get criticized for being Pollyanna in outlook, but I know there is enough negative in life that we really don't need to read even more of it.  But with today off from work, and unable to get to the NAIA Wrestling Nationals due to the Blizzard of 2007, I picked up DK's Nebraska tell-all.   

 

 

Initially, I could not find it on the Barnes and Noble shelves in their Dodge street store.  When I asked at the information desk about it, the explanation covered the ommission.  There were 15 copies in-house, but 13 were spoken for; ordered and paid for, just not picked up yet.  The other two were being held for persons who had called to reserve them.  Using my unlimited charm, I was able to persuade the young clerk to allow me a few moments to scan one of the tomes she had hidden behind the counter.  (15 books in, 15 books sold!  Dang, maybe I should have written an exposé on Jason's years in the GPAC instead) 

 

 

Kolowski discusses his career in high school as a 6'3" 255 lineman and his early years in Huskerville, but I was most interested in his last couple falls when he saw a little p-t on the field.  Coincidently, they were Frank Solich's final two turmoil-filled seasons, also.  The author doesn't disappoint, he's gives us a detailed picture of the player's perspective through an almost daily journal.  A would-be center, he sees playing time through long-snapping, almost solely in his senior season, 2002. 

 

 

His Kowolski bitter for not playing more?  A little, but a reading of his work will show he realizes he wasn't the mis-treated player, just a guy who didn't live, eat, and/or breathe Husker football.  An Academic honored scholar-athlete, Kolowski accepted a 3.0 grade point for one semester because he knew he had given it his best effort.  That closely resembles his perception of his career on the offensive line, that maybe he wasn't cut out for stardom and that he might not have been able to do anything about it.

 

 

I read enough to pick up who the slackers were, who the egotists were and who were the guys who "got by and got away with things".  Frank Solich?  Kowolski and I are blood brothers here.  The Ohio University head coach is a nice guy, a good assistant coach, but not really a big-time Head Coach.  This comes from the first recruit ever signed by Solich, (though recruited by Dr. Tom Osborne).

 

 

Good read?  Absolutely.  It's not as biting as other tattle-teller book sellers such as Gary Shaw's 1972 Meat on the Hoof, an indictment of Darrell Royal and the University of Texas football program.  Kowolski wrote Diary over the course of 4 years as he lived it; not having to rely on a tarnished memory, not writing with a grudge in hindsight.  And while it may not be held in high esteem by some Husker fanatics, it won't bring the program crashing down either.