Just got back and filed a story on ESPN's "50 States in 50 Days" taping today on the east side of Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. It was a decent turnout of about 1,000 -- most of them Big Red fans and students.

SportsCenter anchor Jay Harris, who hosted the Nebraska "50 in 50" stop, seemed to be an extrememly nice guy. He played to the crowd and took time to sign every autograph and take every picture that was requested after he was finished. Harris said he didn't really get to see much of the state, but was impressed by the enthusiasm of the Big Red fans. Before he left, he was headed for a tour of Memorial Stadium.

You have to give those folks behind the set credit. They broke into wild cheering on command -- something they had to do several times as the ESPN crew worked through several takes. I felt real sorry for the dudes trying to hold their buddies up on their shoulders to get a little air time.

A few humorous moments:

--Some rowdies broke out in a "Lawrence Phillips, Lawrence Phillips" chant before being booed down.

--Everyone jumped in on an "OU sucks" chant.

--One guy tried to throw a cornhead hat to Harris on the set, but it fell well short of the target. Of course, someone yelled "Joe Dailey threw that!" Ouch.

I thought the segment went well. The Nebraska volleyball team got big props -- Huskers' coach John Cook couldn't have paid for a better recruiting video than that. Plus, Grand Island native Tom Rathman, a former NU fullback who played in the NFL and is now an assistant coach with the Detroit Lions, also got some air time in a feature on homegrown Nebraska fullbacks.

It's definitely worth checking out.

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