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What’s in a nickname?
I like to think of myself as someone who is pretty easy going guy. Someone who can run with the punches, someone who takes things as he sees them. I don’t really cause a ripple in the grand scheme things, I just stay in the background.
I do have one pet peeve though, wait no, its not a pet peeve, its down right irritation. School nicknames. Particularly ones that change the mascot to a different gender and change the name for the girls. In other words, its a different “mascot” for a the girls than the guys. Take for instance the argument that I had just this morning. The Perkins County girls are the #1 team in Class C2, undefeated and barring a major upset, they will will the C2 title. Their school nickname is the “Plainsmen.” Someone told me that they are called the Plainswomen. First off they’re wrong, because the school is registered with the NSAA as Plainsmen for both genders. But second, why are the girls not good enough to get the Plainsmen nickname? Why do they have to get a different nickname than the boys?
Other examples throughout the state:
Axtell Wildcats call their girls the Lady Cats.
Beatrice Orangemen call their girls the Lady Orange.
Hastings St. Cecilia Bluehawks call their girls the Hawkettes
Sidney Red Raiders call their girls the Lady Raiders
Sutton Mustangs call their girls the Fillies
Lexington Minutemen call their girls the Minutemaids
And the worst nickname change of all:
The Columbus Lakeview Vikings call their girls...yes this is actually registered with the NSAA… the ViQueens.
And I’m almost positive that Waverly did this at one point while I was in high school.
I have a little bit less irritation, but still a irritation, for those schools that put “lady” in front of the nickname but don’t change the original name. (Lady Irish, Lady Bulldogs, Lady Warriors)
This changing of the nicknames irritates the hell out of me and it really needs to stop. Its very sexist, and, to me at least, it sends the message that the girls aren’t good enough for the nickname of the high school they go to.
Sorry, soapbox rant over.
Will we ever get there?
The most consistent inconsistent team in the nation, the Nebraska Cornhusker mens basketball team, took another turn Wednesday after they upset the #24 ranked Kansas State Wildcats. This team has had its ups, the win over Oregon and now Kansas State, its downs, the Missouri, Iowa state, and Colorado losses. All games should have been Husker wins, they’re better than those teams.
But now I go back to the Kansas State win. The Purple Kitties were ranked. The students rushed the floor. Brian Rosenthal wasn’t happy with it as evidence as his post in his Life in the Red Blog. “For cryin out loud, they stormed the court. It’s only K-State.”
I kinda agree with Brian. It was only KSU. I understand the rushing the court against Oregon. They were rated #16, it went to OT and it was at the Qwest in a wild atmosphere. I kinda understand it when we beat Creighton, but even that’s boarder line.
Pate Forde, columnist for ESPN.com, published a guideline for rushing the court. Nebraska’s defeat of KSU, doesn’t apply. Neither does the Oregon or Creighton for that matter.
So my question is, will Nebraska ever get to the point where they will ever NOT rush the court for a win over a ranked team?
CWS: Going, going, gone?
I know its not a Lincoln issue, but its a Nebraska issue.
This fight over the future home of the College World Series is getting a bit out of hand. If you don’t know, Omaha’s Rosenblatt stadium has been the home of the College World Series for well over 50 years. Omaha is synonymous with the College World Series. It has a huge economic impact on not only the city of Omaha but the state of Nebraska. Omaha has bent over backwards to keep the CWS in town. Improvements upon improvements have been made to Rosenblatt to appease the NCAA. Omaha gets it, they like the CWS, they want to keep it here and will do anything to keep it. Only so many improvements can be made to the old girl on 12th and Burt Murphy. Its an old stadium and it has gotten to the point where if they are going to make more improvements, major reconstruction needs to take place.
So a new stadium was proposed. But where to put it. Downtown Omaha? Great idea but where to put it. If you’re going to build a downtown stadium, it seems right next to the Qwest would make the most sense. How about demolishing the Civic and putting it there? There are several different camps. 1 camp wants to keep it right where its at and renovate. Another camp wants to move it to a brand new stadium. And that camp is split into several factions that suggest different places. No one can seem to agree on anything.
But wait...what about the original tenants and the people who use the stadium the most, the Royals?
Every Royals game is played in a near empty Rosenblatt. Don’t get the Royals wrong though, they love playing in the biggest, nicest ballpark in Triple A. But the Royals envision a smaller intimate ballpark they can call their own or at least share with Creighton.
The city of Omaha is at a real crossroads in my mind. Move the CWS to another location and you’re losing a lot of the “magic” you have. You now become like EVERY other place that wants the CWS and give the NCAA an excuse to move it. Keep it at Rosenblatt, yeah you keep the “magic” but you run the risk of running out of things/room to improve and eventually lose it cause its not up to NCAA standards. You also risk alienating the Royals to the point where they don’t feel wanted any up and move. Does the city of Omaha want a multi-million dollar stadium that is used only 2 1/2 weeks out of the year?
In my opinion, Omaha will lose the CWS eventually. Its inevitable. They’re foolish to think that in 2050 that they’ll be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the CWS in Omaha. Its not going to happen.
So where do you put it?
This is the voice of the huskers…
Greg Sharpe is the new voice of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Great choice, IMO.
Press release from the HSN:
LINCOLN - Greg Sharpe has been named the play-by-play announcer for the University of Nebraska football and baseball broadcasts, IMG College and the Husker Sports Network announced Tuesday.
Sharpe will begin his duties on Thursday, Feb. 7 as the emcee for the University of Nebraska Football Recruiting Dinner in Lincoln and will begin his baseball play-by-play duties with the first game of the season on February 22 at Stanford.
In addition to his duties as the play-by-play voice of Husker football and baseball, Sharpe will continue to serve as the play-by-play announcer for men’s and women’s basketball on Fox Sports Net. He will also host the football and baseball coaches TV shows, appear on Sports Nightly, and host various functions throughout the year.
Sharpe has been active with University of Nebraska athletics since 2003, serving as the play-by-play voice of the Husker Pay-Per-View football games, Husker men’s and women’s basketball games on Fox Sports Net, and Husker baseball on Cox Cable.
He was the play-by-play radio announcer for the final three football games of the 2007 season and has hosted the Bo Pelini Television Show since November, 2007. He was also the play-by-play announcer for the Nebraska Spring Game on the NFL Network in April, 2007.
“It is an incredible honor to be joining the Husker Sports Network,” said Sharpe.
The announcement was a little delayed. HSN said that one would be announced sometime in January (its February now in case you didn’t know).
Then there was this funny little back and forth between the former voice (Jim Rose) and Matt Perrault (co-chief Big Sports 590 blow hard). And then the co-chief Big Sports 590 blow hard response.
A super Super Bowl
How about that game?
I was gonna blog about it last night but the internets went out in North Platte right after the game (probably a disgruntled Pats fan or an over exuberant Giants fan) so I couldn’t.
Who honestly thought that the Giants could win? And if you say you did...what drugs were you taking cause I need some of that.
I kept waiting for the Giants mistake/Patriots capitalize moment in the game and it never really came. And probably everybody thought the game was over when Randy Moss caught the Pats last TD.
But here’s the most amazing thing about the whole game to me...not the fact that the Pats lost, but that ELI freakin’ MANNING can call himself a super bowl winning and MVP QB. Eli has been average at best through his now 4 year career. And of course he’s got the older brother thing going against him too. But Eli came up huge in that final drive including that amazing escape/heave/amazing catch play.
Great game, I haven’t cheered that loud for a non Nebraska/Minnesota Vikings football game in a long time.
Commercials I thought, overall, were pretty subpar. My favorite was Will Ferrell’s Jackie Moon Bud Light commercial.
The Qwest is Red
Nebraska invaded the home of the Creighton Bluejays for a day and what a day it was.
Nebraska gets the win over the #16 ranked Oregon Ducks 88-79 in OT.
I really like this team. I think Doc has this thing going in the right direction.
Two things on my mind
I have always hated when towns or cities claim native sons and they either were born there but immediately moved away or only lived there for a short period of time. It is never more apparent when we talk about Andy Roddick. In an article titled Simply Red: Roddick coming to Omaha.
“As Andy Roddick comes home to Omaha Friday, he sets his sights on stopping Roger Federer — and cheering on the Huskers.”
Comes home? COMES HOME?!?!?! He lived her for no more than two years. How is this coming home? I was born in Sioux City, Iowa and lived there for about the same amount of time as Andy lived in Omaha...does that mean every time I go back to Sioux City, IA I say to myself, “ahhh...I’m home.” Absolutely not. My home is Omaha, Nebraska.
People around here are really desperate for famous people around Nebraska, IMO, that’s pushing it.
Number two…
Does anybody care about this Mitchell Report on steroids in baseball? Honestly?
Bo knows Nebraska
Bo Pelini is the head football coach at Nebraska...again.
In the end, this was my choice from Day 1. I am surprised though because I thought Tom would play it safe and pick Turner Gill. I am glad that Tom did “step outside the box” if it were just a little bit outside.
Discuss.
Down to two?
ESPN.com is reporting that the search is down to two.
Pelini and Gill
Two other coaches have been reportedly contacted for interviews.
Brian Kelly from Cincinnati.
Jim Grobe from Wake Forest.
Calla-canned!
Billy C. is no longer the head coach at the University of Nebraska.
Couple impressions of the news conference:
1) Surprised that there were benchmarks put in place. (8-4, 7-5 you probably stay, 6-6, 5-7 no chance in hell you stay) That being said, the coaching staff asked for them. I doubt that Tom would have put them upon them had they not asked for them.
2) Did tom really think he couldn’t survive a losing season? I know hindsight is 20/20 but...come on tom...cut us a little slack.
3) I really wish Tom would have addressed the poor way fans have treated the coaches while they were here. It really needs to be addressed
4) It seems Bill knew he wasn’t going to be around after the KU game and then he just ran up the score for the home fans against KSU.
5) Tom has kept his word through out the process. I doubt we can really paint him in any evil role at this point.
Ok, first I want your thoughts on the whole Bill C. out.
Now, the process of finding a new coach is already underway. As of Sunday afternoon, Pelini has been interviewed. Tom was given permission to interview Gill and that will probably be conducted in the next day or so. Tom said during his press conf. that he’s using a 3rd party to get in touch with possible candidates. (the norm now a days) He also said he wants to interview 4 or 5 candidates total and wrap things up quickly. I imagine Brian Kelly out of Cincinnati will be at least be courted for an interview. As for the 4th and possible 5th people to be interviewed...up in the air.
What do you all think?
Oh the possibilities…
Lets run down what we know:
1) Steve Pederson fired.
2) Tom Osborne hired.
3) Osborne’s comment on ‘new coaching staff’ adds to speculation
4) Osborne clarifies comment on staff
5) Callahan won’t say if he’s been asked to resign
6) A day later, Callahan: ‘Resignation is not in our vocabulary’
7) Players refute report that Callahan was asked to resign
8) Osborne: Coaching decision to come at end of regular season
9) During the bye week, husker coaches hit 70 Nebraska High Schools. A week usually reserved to recruit nationally.
Now we move on to speculation…
Are you serious Husker Nation?
Caller threatens to kill Cosgrove
“Go back to where you (expletive) came from you (expletive), before I (expletive) kill ya,”
It really makes me want to throw up.
TO better take down those “greatest fans in college football” signs during the offseason because we are the furthest thing from it.
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