Zimmerer becomes the second commitment from a Nebraska prep player so far, joining Lincoln Northeast’s Cole Pensick. Fans can discuss the merit of this strategy until they are blue in the face. You can consider it like ‘picking the low hanging fruit’ and getting the momentum going early. Maybe it is better go get these home-state kids early before they get eyes for other schools.

There are others who believe that these kids will be available and willing to go to NU later in the recruiting process because they have strong feelings for the home state.I just wish this same mentality had been in place all of last recruiting season, when Nebraska had as many top-drawer football players in the state as I can remember Far too many got away to other schools. Clearly, Pelini and company were not going to let Zimmerer fall in to that category.. STOCKHOLM, April 23 (Reuters) – Sweden’s Swedbank (SWEDa.ST)posted a first-quarter operating loss of 3.36 billion crowns($393.5 million) on Thursday, far worse than marketexpectations, as loan impairments surged in its overseasbusinesses.The outcome compared with a forecast of a 813 million crownprofit in a Reuters poll and earnings of 3.72 billion a yearearlier. Bankruptcy The company said impairment losses on loans shot up to 6.85billion crowns, hit by recession in the Baltic region, a keybusiness area, and in Ukraine. Total income was 9.42 billion against a forecast 8.56billion and 8.45 billion in the year earlier period. Bankruptcy. NFL Draft – Jake Long, originally uploaded by Form Digital.Imagine the following scene:A top corporation with billions of dollars in revenue, a significantly bright future in terms of market stability, and a well-known brand name is in need of an entry level manager for one of their sub-brands.

The position would guarantee an influence on the overall vision for the corporation, and a solid position for upward mobility.The hiring committee settles on a candidate, one with a great upside, and mold-able talent. Before the candidate sets foot in his/her new office, he is offered an executive salary, comprehensive benefits better than those of his superiors, and stock options outnumbering all but those on the board-of-directors.In the normal business world, a scenario like this would be met with government inquiries, accusation of insider treatment, and numerous front pages in the Wall Street Journal. It would be taboo, and as such, it is never seen.Yet, take a look at the National Football League (NFL), and one is met with a school of economics that would make John Stuart Mill roll over in his grave. Last month, Jake Long signed with the Miami Dolphins as the first pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. His contract covered five years and $57.5 million, making him the highest paid offensive lineman in the league.Jake Long has yet to play a single snap of official NFL football.The structure for rookie contracts in the NFL is that of an upward spiral. Last year, JaMarcus Russell signed with the Oakland Raiders under a six-year $61 million deal, with $29 million guaranteed. This would suggest that if Russell turned out to be a bust, like Ryan Leaf a few years back, and was released, he would still be paid that $29 million.Every year, the top picks in the draft expect to be paid more than those of the previous year.

To this point, their demands have been met, despite being paid these grand sums on the ’science’ of speculation. Collegiate success is no true barometer for professional success. There are many cases where the two coalesce, but most of the time, the two are mutually exclusive.This has veterans in the NFL more than a little discouraged. While NFL owners are shelling out supersized checks to unproven rookies, star veterans are up a creek without a paddle for no other reason than they started playing a few years prior. There have been numerous cases where rookies were required, as an act of initiation into their new squad, to purchase gifts from a veteran’s wish list.Clearly, there is a significant disparity in wages of players in the NFL. In any other business, there would be an outcry for egalitarian measures, where salaries would become more appropriate to some calculation of talent, production, and value.This is certainly the case in the NBA, where David Stern fought a long battle in the 1990s to obtain a rookie-contract limit.