by Brandon Vogel

Aside from a reliable supplier of detachable collars, Nucky Thompson’s got nothing on me when it comes to swaying the vote. How else to explain the fact my three choices for the new Omaha Royals team name are among the nine finalists still in the running? Simple luck? Probably. Judging by some of the online comments, people are really pulling for the Royals after seeing the list of alternatives. I’ll admit there are some bad ones in there. Anything that’s not plural (Force, Hail Storm) should be avoided at all costs, but I still maintain that history and regional specificity are our best guides. Initially my vote went like this: Cattlemen, Sodbusters, Omahogs. Sodbusters is my new top choice. A Twitter colleague called it laughable but, other than being on opposite ends of the harvest spectrum, I fail to see the difference between Sodbusters and Cornhuskers. People seem to like the latter. I can already picture the awesome ox-drawn plow logo in my head. You know what to do readers. Go to oroyals.com, vote early and vote often. I can’t ply you with cartons of cigarettes and bathtubs full of gin or make your enemies disappear, but I will be grateful. A vote for Sodbusters is a vote for Nebraska. n It’ll be interesting to see where the Creighton men’s soccer team fits into the national rankings this week. The Jays beat fifth-ranked Tulsa Tuesday but fell to unranked Indiana 3-2 on Saturday. Given the Hoosiers reputation as a national powerhouse and the fact that Creighton played with 10 men for 55 minutes following a first half red card to star Jose Gomez, I’d be surprised if they fell from their previous ranking of 11th in the country. This season is starting to feel special. Speaking of special, it’s too early after only two games to apply that label to UNO hockey but that’s exactly what they looked like while steamrolling to their fourth consecutive Mutual of Omaha Maverick Stampede title over the weekend. The Mavs came from behind to beat the 18th-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology 5-3 Saturday. That win followed an 8-0 trouncing of Clarkson College Friday, who then went on to thoroughly dominate fourth-ranked St. Cloud State in their second game. Beware WCHA. Dean Blais is coming back. The Jump takes you behind the local headlines. Email jump@thereader.com and look for daily updates at twitter.com/brandonlvogel.

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