Editorial
Nebraskan
Mike Reilley, Editor, 472-1766
Diana Johnson, Editorial Page Editor
Jen Deselms, Managing Editor
Curt Wagner, Associate News Editor
Scott Harrah, Night News Editor
Joan Rezac, Copy Desk Chief
Joel Carlson, Columnist
A long way to go
'The Greek's' remarks set Kings dream hack
/ nave a aream inai one aay
this nation will rise up and live
out the true meaning of its
creed: cWe hold these truths to
be self-evident; that all men are
created equal.’"
— Martin Luther King Jr.,
Aug. 28,1963
“l mean all the players are
black; 1 mean the only thing that
the whites control is the coach
ing jobs.... The black talent is
beautiful; it’s great; it’s out
there. The only thing left for the
whites is a couple of coaching
jobs."
— Jimmy “The Greek”
Snyder, Jan. 15,1988
It’s ironic that almost 25
years after the birth of a
dream for the equality
and humane treatment of man
kind, oncof the most prominent
sports color commentators
shows just how far the nation
hasn’t come.
Seeking comment on the
progress of blacks at a popular
Washington, D.C., restaurant,
WRC-TV’s writer-producer Ed
Hotaling talked to “the Greek”
about civil rights in sports. “The
Greek” revealed his true colors.
“Well, they’ve (blacks) got
everything; if they take over
coaching like everybody wants
them to, there’s not going to be
anything left for white people,”
he said.
“The Greek” also said black
athletes are superior to white
athletes because they have big
ger thighs that allow them “to
jump higher and run faster.”
“The Greek” apologized
minutes after the interview was
aired.
“If what 1 said offended
people, 1 apologize, he told The
Washington Post. “I didn’t
mean for my remarks to come
out the way they did.”
CBS Sports showed respon
sibility Saturday when it termi
nated its 12-year relationship
with Snyder. An apology
couldn’t possibly justify ‘‘the
Greek’s” appalling statements,
in which he even managed to
enlighten with a historical per
spective.
“I’m telling you that the
black athlete is the better athlete
and he practices to be the belter
athlete and he’s bred to be the
better athlete because this goes
all the way to the Civil War,
when during the slave trading,
the owner, the slave owner,
would breed his big woman so
that he would have a big black
kid, see. That’s where it all got
started,” he said.
The Greek also makes light
of a greater problem in the Na
tional Football League — where
no blacks hold head coaching
positions.
It is not the first time a public
figure has made ill-timed, racist
statements. Last April, Los An- |
gclcs Dodgers General Manager
A1 Campanis said on a national
network telecast that blacks
“lacked the necessities" to hold
management positions in base
ball.
Campanis’ comments came
on the 40th anniversary of the
entrance of black athletes into
baseball. Campanis was fired 48
hours after his comments ap
peared on ABC’s “Nightlinc."
On a day when our nation
should be celebrating its prog
ress in minority civil rights, a
public figure instead dominates
the limelight after making racist
comments.
Quibbles & bits
Magazine reports on UNL's 'maturity'
• The University of Nc
braska-Lincoln’sannual snow
ball fight was featured in the
December issue of National On
Campus Report. The story re
ported that UNL students from
residence halls and Greek
houses threw rocks, eggs and ice
as well as snowballs.
National On-Campus Report
is published semi-monthly and
is distributed to college students
all over the country. Way to go,
everyone. We’re really showing
the rest of the country how
mature we arc.
• A San Francisco laundry
succumbed to pressure from
women customers recently
about the di ffercncc in prices of
laundering men’sand women's
shirts, according to an Associ
ated Press article. The firm
charged women $3 to $4 for
women’s shirts while charging
men $ I to $2 a shirt. The laundry
has agreed to equalize prices and
launder 3,000 women’s shirts
free of charge.
Assistant District Attorney
David Moon said other laun
dries in the area have followed
suit because "they don’t want to
face the wrath of women.”
• Closer to home, farm
women have complained to
state Sen. Pat Morchcad of
Beatrice about private farm li
cense plates that read "Not for
Hire.” Morchcad has proposed
LB9(X), which would change
the plates to "Private.” More
head told the Omaha World
Herald that she may have diffi
culty getting the farm women to
testify at the bill’s public hear
ing.
• Congratulations to the Ne
braska basketball team for its
70-68 upset of Missouri Satur
day at the Bob Dcvancy Sports
Center. Henry T. Buchanan’s
winning jumper with :05 left
was sweet revenge for the Com
huskers, who lost to the Tigers
two years ago on a buzzer shot
by Lynn Hardy. But this time, it
was Buchanan and his Husker
teammates who left the court in
celebration, not the Tigers.
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Bill collectors rival boogie man
Store’s call causes Royko dry mouth, pounding heart, shakes
Editor’s note: Mike Royko is on
vacation for two weeks. While he is
gone, we are reprinting some of his
favorite columas. The following col
umn first appeared July 19,1977.
My phone just rang and a man
identified himself as being
from my favorite bookstore.
He asked me when I intended to
pay the $4.29 that was overdue on my
account.
I said, “Uh, gee, how long have I
been overdue?”
“Three weeks,” he said.
“If that is true,” I said, “I will pay
it immediately.”
“Fine,” he said, and hung up.
I checked. He was right. 1 hadn’t
paid the $4.29.1 wasn’t trying to beat
the store out of it. Honest, it was an
oversight.
The fact is, I usually pay my bills on
time. 1 have to be prompt because of
the terrible consequences. When I
hear from a bill collector or get an
angry letter from a computer, I get the
shakes. My mouth gets dry, my heart
pounds, and I begin panting like a
thirsty basset hound.
I have a morbid fear of bill collec
tors. This stems from a traumatic
childhood experience. Almost every
body who grew up in the old neighbor
hood has it.
For a few days each month, every
body in the neighborhood would turn
out all their lights when the sun went
down. And they would all sit around
their apartments or houses in pitch
darkness.
“Why is it dark?” a kid would ask.
“It’s good for your eyes,” the old
man would explain.
That wasn’t the reason. We were
ducking bill collectors. Until the next
paycheck came, nobody answered the
phone or a knock at the door. All the
cars were parked six blocks away so
they wouldn’t be repossessed.
You couldn’t scare any of the kids
in my neighborhood by saying the
boogie man would get us. But we were
all terrified of Friendly Bob Adams.
To this day, the fear lingers. People
don’t hear from bill collectors very,
often. Instead, we have the computer
ized letter that begins:
“Dear customer: WARNING —
YOUR ACCOUNT IS OVERDUE. IF
YOU WISH TO REMAIN .. .”
1 once got that kind of letter from a
credit card company. I hate credit
cards. But if you have one and try to
pay cash, nobody trusts you.
That evening, I turned out the
lights, locked the doors and wouldn’t
respond to any knocks.
I wouldn’t even answer when my
kids yelled: “It’s us, Dad, unlock the
door.” Bill collectors can disguise
their voices. The kids slept under the
porch that night.
I deal only with companies that!
send out gentle, kindly letters. If 11
forget to pay a bill on time, I want toB
hear from a nice computer that says: I
“Hi, Cherished customer: We hate®
to bother you, and we’re sure it's only!
an oversight, or the Postal Service’^®
fault, but we thought we’d drop you a
little reminder that you arc a teensy bit i
late in your account. If your remit- *
lance is already in the mail, feel free to
spit in our face.”
So that is it with me and the book
store employee. Even before my
S4.29 gets there, they will have a letter
telling them to scratch ntc off their
credit card list.
It’s not that I think the store
shouldn’t have called. It was abso
lutely right in doing so. If I owe $4.29, i
and I’m three weeks late in paying, I
don’t blame the worker for getting j
nervous and phoning me at work. For ;
all he knows, I might have skipped out
to Costa Rica.
6 I ‘»XX (’hitago I rihunc
Rnyko is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist
withthc( hit ago Tribune.
Athletes work hard
for tuition and board
After reading a letter last week
("NCAA pampers athletes," Daily
Nebraskan, Jan. 15). I was upset that
students don’t realize what athletes go
through. The letter basically implied
that athletes don't do anything and
that they get everything handed to
them on a silver platter.
Being an athlete, I know that this is
true to a point. Yes, we do get room,
board, books and tuition for free in the
eyes of the public. But if people would
think about it, this is not at all true.
Imagine starling days at 6 a m.,
having to walk in the strength com
plex in Memorial Stadium to lift
weights. I know that when most stu
dents have a (>: 30 or 10:30 class, they
would sleep at least until 8 or 8:30.
Also think about going to practice and
busting your butt for three hours for
what? Why would you do this?
It’s work. Il’sjusi like anyone else.
We athletes work for a living. Our
salary, though, isn’t given to us in a
check that we can spend on jeans, it’s
given to us through pay ment of hook s,
classes and tuition.
If one would lake the total amount
of money athletes receive through
scholarship and divide it by the total
hours the athletes actually use up in
their day devoted to their sport, one
would find out that athletes earn less
than the minimum wage.
Why? To entertain the public,
that’s why. Whatel.se would people do
on Saturday aflermxms than watch
Nebraska football? Why are most
home events (especially football and
basketball) sold out? Athletes are
actors. They entertain the public, just
like television shows entertain
people. If no one enjoyed it, then
sporting events would not be one of
tnc highest income sources at the
university.
In conclusion, I ask that people
reali/.e that athletes would work as
hard as, if not harder than, anyone else
at this university.
Unless someone can actually say
that they have experienced the physi
cal as well as menial pressures (such
as traveling) that athletes do, then they
shouldn’t judge how “easy’’ athletes
have it.
Val Novak
freshman
Nebraska volleyball player
Osborne pay editorial
a joke,reader says
Congratulations on the special
"panxly” editorial (Daily Nebraskan,
WWWWWWWW—i—....
Jan. 14). It had a great comic premise
that Tom Osborne has to do any
thing belter than he already has to
justify a higher salary. And the gag
about a 10-Irecord being mediocre
you guys slay me.
As one amateur comedian to an
other, though, you should have tried to
work in a few other nutty facts. For
example, you might have mentioned
that Osborne is the second- or third
most-succcssful active coach and that
he has taken an amazing number of his
teams to New Year’s Day bowls. The
clincher, though, the snappy punch
line to the editorial, should have said
something about the free enterprise
system, in which very successful
people with jobs that receive a lot of
media exposure can demand the high
est salaries.
I hose criticisms aside, it was the
wackiest, zaniesteditorial I’ve seen in
a long time. It really whetted my
appetite for the end-of-lhe semester
parody issue.
Greg Dawson
senior
history
Editor's note: The editorial men
tioned Oslnirne as being one of the
winningest active coaches as well as
his K-7 record in howl games. The
parody issue will appear April I.
.S’. 4 I . It .4 • . * * 1 *