Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Christopher Hain.Editor, 472-1766
Doug Kouma...Managing Editor
Doug Peters.Opinion Page Editor
Sarah Scalet.... . Associate News Editor
Matt Waite.Associate News Editor
Michelle Garner.....\.Wire Editor
Jennifer Mapes...Columnist
Husker support
Come check out your basketball team
Danny Nee may have one of his best teams this season.
Too bad nobody’s seen the team in action.
The football team has run up 208 consecutive sellouts. The vol
leyball team had a crowd of 11,114 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center and regularly packed the NU Coliseum.
The men’s basketball team, however, hasn’t had a sellout this
| season and just three crowds of
I more than 14,000 fans last year.
But on Saturday, the bas
I ketball team did something it
f hadn’t done in a while.
The Cornhuskers defeated
| Oklahoma State in Stillwater,
?] Okla. — for the first time since
Nee’s first season at Nebraska.
' Ten years is a long time.
And if the Nebraska fans
don’t come out to support their
team, it could be a long time
t until they see a team as good as
this one.
Nebraska is 14-4, and with
a few breaks here and there, the
Huskcrs could be 17-1. After a
weak nonconfcrencc schedule,
James Mehsiing/DN the Huskers are putting it to
gether against the big boys in the Big Eight.
Now the Huskers face a brutal two-game stretch at home, where
they arc 8-1, against Missouri and No. 4 Kansas.
Too bad nobody knows about it.
In the Huskers’ nine home games, they have averaged 9,274 fans.
That’s a respectable number, but not for a team that’s on the verge
of being in the top 20.
Not for a team that’s heading into the toughest part of its season.
Not for a team that will face the fourth-ranked team in the coun
try on Super Bowl Sunday.
Not for a team that’s fighting for a berth in the NCAA Tourna
ment.
In 1989-90 when the Huskers went 10-18, they averaged 10,013
fans at home. You’d think they’d be a big draw this season with a
14-4 record and somewhat of a shot at the Big Eight title.
Nebraska senior forward Terrance Badgett said Saturday that the
Huskers could succeed on their own. When asked if the Oklahoma
State win would open some eyes and bring more fans to the Devaney
Center for Wednesday’s game against Missouri, Badgett said no.
But the truth is that Nebraska needs help. The 10 Husker players
can’t win everything on their own.
The Husker players have always enjoyed going on the road, where
there’s not as much pressure on them to win. They’re expected to
win at home; they’re expected to perform admirably. Anything less
than a victory is condemned.
Lighten up, Husker fans. Go out to the Devaney Center and see
what the Huskers can do.
Sure the Huskers started off 14-4 last season and lost 10 of their
last 14 games. But without fan support in the next month, the Husk
ers could repeat last year’s lackluster effort.
But with fan support against Missouri on Wednesday and Kan
sas on Sunday, and throughout the remainder of the season, the
Huskers could go on to do something unheard of.
They could win an NCAA Tournament game.
, _' _'
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of the Fall 1995 Daily Nebras
kan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebras
kan 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. Accord
ing to policy set by the regents, respon
sibility for the editorial content of the
newspaper lies solely in the hands of its
students.
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Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all materia]
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Jack Frost
Winter tends to unveil stupidity in Nebraska
Nebraska has two things that never
fail to capture the imagination of its
residents: college football and the
weather. The disadvantage of college
football is that it doesn’t last all year.
Which leaves us with the weather.
I’ll go with a generous estimate
and say that Nebraska is fit for
human habitation for about two
weeks out of any given year. Other
than that, the weather is too hot, too
cold, t(x> humid, too dry, or down
right dangerous, depending on what
time of year you happen to be
complaining about.
I don’t mind living here, because
I love bad weather. It sounds
strange, but it’s a crutch I’ve
cultivated through a lifetime of
living in Nebraska.
Truly horrible weather has taught
me to appreciate the rare and
wonderful nice days. Spring, for
example, is usually wet and windy.
The bugs come back and my sinuses
begin their annual mutiny as soon as
the flowers bloom. But there is a
certain sort of day in early spring,
when the air is warm, the breeze is
cool, and the really bloodthirsty
insects arc still hibernating.
Life in Nebraska has taught me
that these days ought to be enjoyed
at all costs. (The proper procedure
for appreciating a spring day: Find a
warm patch of grass. Spend the
afternoon holding it in place.
Ideally, this paten of grass should be
located within sight of the classroom
I’m supposed to be in at that very
moment.)
Summer is my least favorite
season. The heat doesn’t bother me
so much, but the combination of
heat and humidity makes me feel as
though I’m walking around inside
someone’s mouth. Besides that, the
flesh-eating bugs and my hay fever
are in full swing.
Summer has its share of bad
weather, though—and I do love a
good thunderstorm. I’m not talking
about the kind with distant thunder
and gentle rains—that’s weenie
stuff. Tornado watches? I scoff at
them. Give me a real storm, a
roaring window-rattler that sneaks
I-i-:
Jennifer Mapes
“Summer is my least
favorite season. The heat
doesn't bother me so
much, but the
combination of heat
and humidity makes me
feel as though I'm
walking around inside
someone's mouth."
up on the state before the TV
meteorologists can say “doppler.”
Tornado warnings are my kind of
weather. (Standard procedure in the
event of a tornado warning: Do not
panic. Go to the kitchen. Get a beer
from the refrigerator. Go outside.
Find tornado.)
Autumn is by far my favorite
season. The air cools, the bugs die
and my hay fever goes away. Then
there’s football. ‘Nuff said.
1 like winter too. I like snow, and
I don’t mind the cold because I
know how to dress like the Pillsbury
doughboy.
There’s a game I like to play in
the winter, on the coldest day of the
year. It’s a variation of “Where’s
Waldo?” I like to look for the dumb
SOB in shorts.
The temperature might not have
struggled into positive numbers for
days. The wind might be howling
faster than cars are allowed to go on
most Nebraska highways. But it
never fails: In the seven years or so
that I’ve been conducting this
informal survey, there has always
been some imbecile walking around
outside in shorts.
Last Thursday was very, very
cold. “Dangerous wind chills are
expected,” the National Weather
Service warned. “Don’t leave skin
exposed,” the Weather Channel
added. “Just don’t go out unless you
absolutely have to,” a local news
station concluded.
I was more than willing to take
their advice and stay home like a
sensible Midwestern kid, had it not
been for the intervention of The
Almighty Bureaucrat. Some all
powerful, all-knowing creature
decided — doubtless from the
vantage point of a cozy office —
that the high winds, sub-zero
temperatures, ice-covered streets
and dangerous wind chills were not
sufficient reason to cancel classes.
Well, I had a night class on
Thursday, and the Almighty
Bureaucrat didn’t. When the wind
chills hit the liquid-nitrogen stage,
this bureaucrat was probably
snuggled in its nice, warm condo
minium, maybe dreaming about
things it could administer in
Bermuda. I was staggering across
campus in a hypothermal stupor,
vaguely wondering if I’d have
enough use of my fingers to manipu
late a pen by the time I got to class.
That Thursday night excursion,
however, gave me an opportunity I
might otherwise have missed. I sat
in the Union for a couple of hours
before class, sipping coffee and
looking, out the window. I found the
dumb SOB in shorts. He was racing
across Broyhill Plaza with an
expression of extreme pain and
desperation on his face.
And that’s the thing I truly love
about winter. It’s the only season
when one of my life’s fondest
wishes can come true.
Stupidity really is painful this
time of year.
Mapes is a senior advertising and his
tory major and a Daily Nebraskan colum
nist
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braska Union, 1400 “R” Street, Lincoln, NE 68588,
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