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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 1995)
Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln JeffZeleny....... Editor, 472-1766 Matt Woody.Opinion Page Editor Jeff Robb....Managing Editor DeDra Janssen.....Associate News Editor Rainbow Rowell.. .Arts & Entertainment Editor James Mehsling......Cartoonist Chris Hain.- ....Senior Reporter I mioKi \i Fair play Athletes should receive stipend Huskermania has hit Nebraska again. OK, so it never really left. But with Nebraska’s Orange Bowl victory over Miami and the subsequent national championship, the Husker throng has rushed to stores across the state to purchase national championship memorabilia. Sweatshirts and T-shirts proclaiming the Huskers as national champions have been selling at a high clip. Outlets including the Nebraska Bookstore have been unable to keep copies of the Daily Nebraskan’s national championship souvenir edition on the shelves. From the borders of Iowa and Colorado, North Dakota and Kansas, cash registers are playing a symphony of profits. And the University of Nebraska stands to make money from its championship. For each officially licensed product sold, the uni versity gets a bigger payoff. But what of the players who earned, through nothing but hard work, will and dedication, Nebraska’s first national title since the 1971 season? They won’t see a single dime of it. The football players don’t need a profit-sharing plan. But people, and certainly the NCAA, need to realize the financial impact that these athletes have upon the institutions they attend. Two hundred one consecutive sellouts in Memorial Stadium have carried the athletic department a long way. But the only recompense that football players and other athletes can receive is a scholarship. Granted, those scholarships cover an athlete’s tuition, room, board and books. However, so much of players’ time is taken up by practice that they are unable to get a job on the side, as so many college students can. In many cases, that leaves athletes from poorer backgrounds without spending money to go out for a cheap fast food dinner or a movie. The NCAA watches scholarship athletes with an Orwellian eye. A coach cannot even buy a meal for a player without violating NCAA regulations. State Sen. Ernie Chambers ofOmaha long has advocated a sti pend for Nebraska football players, the NCAA be damned. Many times he has proposed bills before the Nebraska Legislature that would enact such a measure. Passing a law that put the Nebraska athletic program in viola tion of the NCAA doesn’t make much sense. But neither does out lawing any sort of small compensation for athletes. It seems that the NCAA is trying to increase its control over intercollegiate athletics. Its Draconian regulations have infuriated many of its member schools. Nebraska coach Tom Osborne has been one of the strongest op ponents of many proposed NCAA rules, including more strict aca demic requirements for athletes and reductions in the number of schol arships. Whatever the NCAA has in mind for college athletics, it does not seem to have much to do with college athletes. A small stipend is one way to help the students who make the games happen. Athletes should not be allowed to live as kings, but they should be allowed to live as college students. L: I»1 I < >KI M 1*01 K 'k Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1995 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. I I I I I K I’OI K N The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity, originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit material as guest opinions. The editor decides whether material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Letters should included the author’s name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. HOW WAS YOOR ClffiSf 0H,M. \siE-fr A mtMi> DiWK 6EeR. fC vWftr&sE./ b\b Yco "bo? Big Red mania equals big $$ Just think if Cory Schlesinger would have tripped... If Eric Alford would have dropped the 2-point conversion pass ... and if Tom Osborne would have left Brook Berringer in the game. Things in Nebraska certainly would be different now. No $84 championship ... sweatshirts. No $24.95 game video tapes. No Sports Illustrated National Championship Collector’s Edition. No money. As time ticked away in the fourth quarter of the Orange Bowl and Nebraska began to see the Big Red, retailers began to see the big green. Now, it has been eight days since Nebraska defeated Miami in the Orange Bowl. The flurry has not stopped, or even ceased — it has just begun. From dawn until dusk Saturday and Sunday, people crammed, jammed, pushed and shoved their way into any store selling Husker paraphernalia. But the Sports Illustrated edition was the biggest drawing card. Many Husker fans thought the 300,000 copies were going to sell out, so they began to hoard them. Grandmas shoved other grandmas with their stack of 15 magazines as they looked for a spot to wait in the 1 1/2-hour-long line at Nebraska Bookstore. The only stores without lines were ones with signs in the win dow: “Sports Illustrated Special Edition Sold Out.” The Big Red is big business. When all copies of the magazine — sold exclusively in Nebraska — are gone, Sports Illustrated’s piggy bank will be $1.5 million fuller. But the revenue doesn’t all go to Time Inc. About $90,000 will stay in the Nebraska income tax coffers. Jeff Zeleny What’s that about a state budget shortfall? But the Sports Illustrated magazine makes up only a portion of the memorabilia revenue. At Nebraska Bookstore, the proclaimed “National Champion ship Headquarters,” well over $1 million worth of shirts, hats and posters have been sold. The Legislature’s Appropria tions Committee should again be smiling as they see the more than $65,000 in tax revenue from one week of sales. Money. Money. Money. The retailers win and the state wins. But have we forgotten who actually was responsible for winning this money for us? If Lawrence Phillips wouldn’t have gone wide right for 25 yards with 8:11 remaining in the bowl game, there wouldn’t be any of this revenue. If Schlesinger wouldn’t have followed that play with a 15-yard touchdown run, the cash registers would be silent. And if Tommie Frazier would have been sacked on the 2-point PAT, there would be no money . But since the game did fall into. place for the Huskers, cash registers across the state are humming to the “Hail Varsity” tune. Many of the football players who played 13 games this season and have worked four years for the trophy, walk away with a black championship T-shirt and an Orange Bowl watch. Sure, there are a few more kick backs and advantages given to the players, but that isn’t enough. Tom Osborne was given a $50,000 bonus by the NU Board of Regents for leading his tejHp4Q<a,ori national championship. But other key ingredients to the team’s success also need to be rewarded. Even Osborne said he can only take a small part of credit for Nebraska’s success. The assistant coaches and players deserve more, he said. But unfortunately, they won’t get it. A myriad of NCAA regulations prohibit any type of additional player stipend or payment. This should be reconsidered. But it is heartening to see players satisfied with winning the championship for the non-fmancial reasons. “We’ve all been waiting 23 years for this and now we’re right back where we belong — on top,” Nebraska defensive tackle Terry Connealy said after the game. “We won this for the whole state of Nebraska.” Although I haven’t bought a sweatshirt, hat or poster yet, I confess I have bought an SI special edition. As I stood on the Orange Bowl sidelines, I was hoping for a Husker win as much as the people back in Nebraska. By the way, thank you Cory Schlesinger for not tripping. Thank you Eric Alford for not dropping the 2-point conversion pass. And thank you Tom Osborne for putting Tommie Frazier back into the game. Zeleny is 4 senior news-editorial major and tke editor of die Dally Nebraskan. The Daily Nebraskan wants to hear from want to newspaper, let us know, Just write a brier letter and sign it (don't Mget your student ID number" the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union. 1400 R Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, or stop by tn|c the Nebraska Union and visit with us/we1^ al®
