Nebraskan vSPORTS
Thursday,April29,1993 KJJL V/IVl
NCAA cuts
will affect
allHuskers,
coach says
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
Wilhlheconclusionof spring prac
tices last Saturday, Nebraska football
coach Tom Osborne was disappointed
with the numbers of his players.
It wasn’t their statistics that con
cerned Osborne, but rather the num
(ber of players who were allowed to
competeduc to cutbacks by the NC A A.
This season, only 88 players will
be given scholarships as compared to
the previous allotment of 95. Next
year, the scholarships are expected to
drop to 85.
Osborne said the cutbacks aren’t
only hurting his team, but the entire
college football world as well.
“We’re like a lot of college foot
ball teams right now; we’ve got some
spots where we’re lhin,”Osbomc said.
“It’s probably more true today than it
was five years ago.”
Osborne said he puls some of the
blame for the diminishing numbers
on the recent push for gender equity.
“I’m all for opportunities for
women—I’d hate to sec itdonc at the
expense of opportunities for men,” he
said. “I don’t quite see the rationale
there. You’d think there would be a
better way to do it than to eliminate
the people that generate revenue.”
Talk of additional cuts has Osborne
concerned as well.
Proposals of reducing entire foot
ball teams to 105 players, cutting
scholarships to as few as 45 and fur
ther limitations on time and coaches
allowed for recruiting will hurt the
Comhuskcrs, Osborne said.
“There is going to be a point where
you’re going to hurt the level of com
petition; there will come a lime where
the product is watered-down and not
as quality,” Osborne said.
And if the football team can’t put
a team on the field that can continue
in their NCAA records of 31 straight
winning seasons and 188 consecutive
Memorial Stadium sellouts, Osborne
said it will affect all of Nebraska’s
athletic teams.
“The concern is that we’re being
asked to fund the entire athletic pro
gram at the University of Nebraska,”
he said. “If we lose scholarships and
can’t be competitive and can’t fill the
stadium, it’s going to hurt.
“At the present time, we have no
student fees for the athletic program;
if football no longer generates $10-11
million and basketball $3-4 million
dollars per year, then we won’t be
able to fund the 19 sports that don’t
make money.”
»-.. A __.;..r,M:. . .. .*.* ».....—-----■ *.
Stab McKee/D N
Creighton’s Michelle Esser collides with Nebraska’s Saundra Brown as Esser successfully made It back to first base after an
attempted steal. Brown was injured on the play but returned to the game.
Late blast finishes NU sweep
By Derek Samson
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska softball team used
a solo home run from Tobin Echo
Hawk in the bottom of the ninth
inning of the second game to sweep
Creighton in a doublchcadcr 2-0
and 3-2 Wednesday night.
Echo-Hawk’s first home run of
the season couldn’t have come at a
better time for the Comhuskers, as
they have now won four straight
and won the season scries with the
rival Lady Bluejays 3-2.
“This was the rubber game. I
think it feels good for the kids,”
Husker coach Rhonda Rcvelle said.
“We’re playing more now for pride,
and so we can look back and say
that we never quit.”
Revelle said she had been work
ing on mental aspects of the game
with her team, which may have
been the reason for Echo-Hawk’s
game-winning home run.
“We’ve been working in areas
that they didn’tcovcr in high school
ball, like visualization,” Rcvelle
said. “I think all that mental stud is
so important”
Echo-Hawk agreed.
“Coach gave us a thing on men
tal imagery. 1 think it has helped a
lot of people because we’re con
centrating more,” Echo-Hawk said.
“Truthfully, I thought in my heart
that I’m going to hit a home run. I
pictured it going over in a different
place, but I imagined it happen
ing."
Nebraska scored its first run in
the first inning when Kris
Vucurevic singled in Amy
Offenbackcr, who reached base on
a double. The Huskers then added
another run in the fourth when
Denise McMillcn’s triple knocked
in Shac Sloan.
In the first game, Nebraska again
struck early, earning its first run in
the first inning when Vucurcvic
and Sloan hit back-to-back triples.
The Huskers scored again in the
fifth inning after McMillen reached
home off of a Dusenberry single to
put them up 2-0.
Dusenberry pitched a complete
game in both contests to help Ne
braska raise its record to 15-22.
“(Dusenberry) is not a heat
pitcher. She is a finesse pitcher and
she had them off balance "Rcvcllc
said. '
Softball catcher is team s biggest tan
By Tim Pearson
Staff Reporter
In a season which hasn’texaclly
gone as planned for the Nebraska
softball team, senior catcher Kris
Vucurevic lias been the team’s big
gest fan. Coach Rhonda Rcvclle
said.
Vucurevic’s encouragement for
her teammates may have paid off.
The Comhuskcrs have reeled off
four straight wins, including a
doublchcadcr sweep of Creighton
Wednesday night.
“Krissy is the one who keeps us
going,” Rcvcllc said. “She’s
everyone’s biggest fan. We haven’t
had a banner year, and I commend
her for what she’s done for this
team.”
A first-team All-Big Eight pick
her sophomore year and an honor
able mention All-Big Eight selec
tion last year, Vucurevic said she
had hoped to do belter this year.
Vucurevic, who was named to
the Academic All-Big Eight team
for the third lime on Tuesday, went
2-for-3 with a triple and a run scored
in the 2-0 victory over the Lady
Jays in the first game. She knocked
in a run with a first-inning single in
the second game, a 3-2 win in nine
innings.
With four straight wins,
Vucurevic said, she is hoping she
can cap off her college career in a
winning way. “We’rccapitali/.ing
on the small things, which lead to
big things,” she said. “We have a
chance of winning every game. We
started strong, then fell back. Now
I think that we will finish strong."
Sportswriting a profession of highs, lows, bests, worsts
The creative art of sportswriting
— it is one of the few jobs where
intelligence and creativity take a back
scat to patience and persistence.
Whether it entails needing 10 min
utes on a five-minute deadline or get
ting dizzy from the constant runaround
each sportswritcr inevitably has to go
through with coaches, players, etc.,
sportswriting is usually seen as a per
petual trial and tribulation.
But it can also be one of the most
rewarding experiences a person can
go through.
* As my sportswriting career comes
to an eiid, after years of carrying a
notepad and recorder, it’s obvious to
me that if sports writers don’t have the
best job in the world, it sure doesn’t
take long to read the list of who would
be in contention.
In what other job can you sit down
and talk to such Nebraska football
dignitaries as Tom Osborne, Irving
Fryar and Tommie Fra/.ier all on the
same day?
Or in what other profession can
you gelColorado football coach Bill
McCartney, Kansas basketball coach
Roy Williams or Nebraska basketball
coach Danny Nee to give you a phone
call upon your request?
Or what kind 01 Job would pay you
to travel to such places as Norman or
Los Angeles to watch a sporting event
that you would pay big bucks to watch
anyway?
So from my experiences, here arc
some of the best and worst aspects in
the profession.
Mo6t quotable: Hands down, the
honor goes to Comhusker basketball
player Bruce Chubick. Here arc a
couple of his gems from the past year:
About playing in Stillwater's
Gallaghcr-Iba Arena against Okla
homa State: “It’s one of the toughest
to play in — mainly because the
Jeff
Singer
—I , ...r
crowd’s right on lop of you. They
could literally spit on you anywhere
you arc on the court, and I’m not so
sure they haven’t tried.”
After Nebraska struggled against
lowly Sacramento State: 4,I felt like
booing myself. The thing is, when we
sec ourselves playing like that, we’ve
got to be strong enough to smack
ourselves on the head a couple of
times and say,4 Hey, we look awful.’”
Least quotable: Steve Emtman,
former University of Washington de
fensive lineman and No. 1 draft pick
of the Indianapolis Colts.
If there were ever any stereotypes
about defensive linemen, Emtman
filled them all. It is often difficult to
quote people when the majority of
their vocabulary consists of grunts
and groans and an occasional burp.
Most enjoyable to talk to: Ne
braska legend Bob Devaney.
No matter if he's known you for
two minutes or for 20 years, Devaney
will always seem happy to talk and
can usually mix inasloryorlwoofhis
many experiences.
Best sportswriting experience:
Going to Royals Stadium last year
and getting to talk to Oakland Athlet
ics All-Star first baseman Mark
McGwire in Oakland's clubhouse.
McGwire and I, both graduates of
Damien High School in California,
got to talk tor 15 minutes in Kansas
City, with the majority of the inter
' view takingplacc at a table with three
people: McGwire, myself and former
Oakland outfielder Jose Canseco.
Worst sportswr iting experience:
Being forced toatlcnd the 1992 NCAA
volleyball regional in Champaign, III.
After debating with my editor on
whether I should be sent to Illinois for
a volleyball match during dead week,
I found myself at 6 a.m. on a bus filled
with volleyball boosters on the 10
hour ride to Champaign.
A quick Huskcr loss ended the 36
hour trek, with 20of those hoursbeing
spent on the fun-filled bus.
Clarence Darrow once said,
“Working people have a lot of bad
habits, but the worst of them is work."
Too bad sportswriling happens to
be the exception.
Singer is a senior news-editorial and po
litical science major and a Daily Nebraskan
sports senior reporter.
