Page 8 Daily NeorasKan .
Stop sniffling, start facing ‘big time’reality
This is a bush-league story about
an anything-but-bush-leaguc athlete.
Calvin Jones, the 6-foot-1, 205
pound Omaha Central High School I
back who has been grabbing head
lines, breaking records and winning
games for the Eagles is one of the
finest prep football players ever to
come out of Nebraska.
He’s the latest product of a high
school that has produced such star
running backs as Gayle Sayers, Keith
Jones and Leodis Flowers. His size,
speed, strength, determination and
drive are an asset to his team, to
football and to any college program
lucky enough to get his signature on a
national letter of intent next Febru
ary.
But that’s about it for the compli
ments — at least in this column.
* Quite some lime ago, I toned down
the practice of taking out frustrations
in my weekly column space. I guess I
just learned somewhere along the line
that people around here just don’t
listen indifferently enough to make
editorial opinions matter.
But once again, I’ve had enough.
Back in September, First Down
Magazine, which I co-edit, ran a story
about this year’s high school football
standouts. The story featured the
views of Allen Wallace, a national
recruiting expert based in Costa
Mesa, Calif.
The article happened to mention
the fact that Wallace, who publishes
SuperPrcp Magazine, said he thought
Jones was one of the top high school
players in the nation this season, but
that many Division I programs might
stay away from him because of his
low grades that may not meet Propo
sition 48 standards, and would render
him ineligible for next season.
“Recruiters won’t tell you,’’
Wallace told First Down, “but
they’re worried about his grades.
More and more schools arc beginning
to stay away from prospects with
grade problems. It just takes too
much time and effort to take a chance
on them.’’
Notice the attribution? Wallace
said it -- not First Down, not me, not
our staf f reporters, not our publisher
-- Wallace.
But never mind the facts, not in
Nebraska. Let’s talk scapegoating.
Earlier this season, Jones, who
happens to be a friend of Comhusker
I-back Leodis Flowers, was looking
at Nebraska’s program with more
than a passing fancy. According to
Central Coach William Reed, the
Huskers were keeping up with Jones
well enough to have a lock on his
letter of intent signature ... until the
article.
It seems that Jones attended Ne
braska’s game against Northern Illi
nois, picked up a copy of First Down
and proceeded to misinterpret the
story, taking offense to it.
The next thing I know, the Omaha
World-Herald reports that Jones is
looking at Alabama, Georgia and
Tennessee, and letters from irate
Husker fans pour into its Omaha of
fices.
The readers were livid over First
Down Magazine’s obvious attempt to
make Nebraska lose its top in-state
prospect and otherwise upset the bal
ance of nature.
We admit it. We’re jerks. We
planned it all along.
By the way, we caused the San
Francisco earthquake, too. None of
us like the Oakland A’s.
But the readers, being the unob
jective, double-standard-spewing
Husker fans they are, forgot one
simple point: It’s not our job to help
Tom Osborne and the boys with their
yearly recruiting campaigns by
smoothing over stories and deleting
quotes that might bring a tear to a
player’s eyes and sniffle to his little
nose.
Which brings me to my next point:
Tears and sniffles are not high on the
list of things that make college foot
ball recruiters lick their lips antfenvi
sion Heisman Trophies dancing in
their heads.
In other words, whimpering about
criticism doesn’t score touchdowns.
It doesn’t score brownie points with
anybody, either.
If Jones wants to maxe it to me
“big time,” he needs to learn that
criticism is part of a football player s
everyday life. If he really is thinking
about snubbing the Huskers because
of some discouraging words - which
didn’t even come from Nebraska, or
any aspect thereof -- then he didn’t
want to come here very badly in the
first place. •
If Jones plans on throwing a
Huskcr football career, a shot at na
tional championships for four years
and subjection to Hcisman Trophy
talk because of someone else’s opin
ion, then I’ll personally help him
pack his bags.
Hell, I’ll even buy him his plane
ticket and a fruit basket.
The last thing Nebraska’s program
needs is a prima donna player who
turns his back on a challenge, espe
cially a challenge from a so-called
high school football expert.
And if he thinks the media in the
South is any more forgiving when it
comes to college football and its
players, he’d better do his homework.
If anything, Nebraska’s the safest
place to be for a player who wants to
escape the harsh words of a big, bad
sportswriter who thinks 100 yards a
game isn’t enough.
Next year isn’t high school any
more, Calvin. Learn it now, or it will
be the worst year of your life.
Wherever you spend it
Green is a senior news-editorial major, co
editor of First Down Magazine and a Daily
Nebraskan sports senior reporter.
TITLE from Page 7
Eight teams previously mentioned
and in-state rival Colorado Stale.
“They played a good schedule,”
Osborne said, “a stronger schedule
overall than what we played.”
Notes:
• Osborne said he does not mind
playing in Boulder. He said road
contests have their advantages be
cause most of the press disappears by
late in the week.
“It’s a little bothersome to have
people ask you the same question 500
times,” Osborne said. ‘‘It gets a little
wearing.”
Osborne said Colorado’s Folsom
Field is different than any playing site
in the Big Eight because beer is sold
before and during games. He said
Colorado officials add to that unique
ness by allowing students into the
stadium early.
“It can be a little bit of a wild
scene,” Osborne said, “but that’s the
way they’ve chosen to run the
place.”
• Osborne joked that he did not
know why Colorado prints its sched
ule with the Nebraska game in red
letters and the rest of its opponents in
black letters.
The Buffaloes have printed Ne
braska in red ever since Colorado
coach Bill McCartney declared Ne
braska as the Buffaloes’ official rival.
“I don’t know what that means,”
Osborne said, “whether they ran out
of black ink or not.”
• Osborne said he is disturbed by
the attention that point spreads re
ceive in college football. He said
most of the negative incidents in col
lege athletics can be traced to indi
viduals who have lost money through
betting.
Osborne said he has noticed the
newspaper advertisements that pro
mote gambling by guaranteeing sure
bets.
“Maybe you’ve got tc take what
ever ads you can get,” Osborne said,
“but I really don’t like that mental
ity.”
SECOND from Page 7
second consecutive day.
“Our No. 1 and 2 doubles didn’t
produce like they could,” McDer
mott said. “They didn’t rise to the
occasion when we needed.”
Nebraska also had to win two out
of three doubles to defeat Southwest
Missouri State Saturday. McDermott
said he was particularly pleased with
the play of Moyer and Rahme, who
won all three of their doubles
matches over the weekend.
They were the only Husker entry
to go undefeated.
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DEADLINE DATE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1989
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