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After a stellar baseball season that culminated with Nebraska hosting an NCAA Regional, pitcher Tony Watson was drafted in the 17th round by the Baltimore Orioles, but ultimately chose to return for another season with the Huskers. Now a junior, Watson sat down to Take 10 with Huskers.com about his decision, his participation in the Lincoln Paint-a-Thon to help serve the Lincoln community, and what he thinks about doing the chicken dance.
What were the top five reasons you turned down the major leagues to come back to NU after being drafted?
1. The money didn't work out, the negotiations didn't quite work out
2. My coaches and teammates
3. The fans
4. The facilities
5. Working toward getting my degree
You participated in the Lincoln Paint-a-Thon in August. What was your experience with that like?
6. There are four sites, and every site has a foreman to run things, and for the past two years, I've been a foreman. Basically I've been making freshmen paint the tough stuff and I've been doing the easy stuff. It's been pretty fun.
Rate your painting skills on a scale of paint-by-number to Vincent Van Gogh.
7. I'm probably higher than Van Gogh, I'm pretty good. I've had a lot of practice in my four years with the Paint-a-Thon
How does the Paint-a-thon contribute to your season?
8. It's basically a starting point for us. Everyone meets the new guys, and it's our first chance to develop some team chemistry. We get to work together for the first time and start bonding as a team.
The Paint-a-thon kicked off your fall ball season. Any thoughts about the team's progression as the season is closing now?
9. We've gotten a lot better since the first practice, so that's a good sign. Everyone's working really hard and we're definitely improving.
What can fans expect at the Red-White game this week?
10. It's going to be a lot of fun. It'll be pretty intense, because we've got a lot on the line. I don't know if the fans know this, but the losing team has to serve the winning team a chicken dinner and do a chicken dance, so there are pretty high stakes for the game for us. I don't want to have to do a chicken dance.