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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1996)
Sports Weekend Friday, April 5,1996 Page 9 KUN awarded Lincoln’s NSN rights By Mitch Sherman Senior Editor Four weeks to the day after having its nightly sports talk show unexpect edly ripped away by KFAB, Lincoln radio station KLIN got the last laugh Thursday. Paul Aaron, president of Pinnacle Sports Productions—recently formed by Great Plains Media Inc. — an nounced that KLIN (1400-AM) would remain Lincoln’s affiliate to the newly revamped Nebraska Sports Network. Terms of the five-year contract were not disclosed. KLIN will handle the majority of the production responsibilities for the network, which was awarded to Aaron’s group in February after it bid $8.5 million for the exclusive rights to broadcast Comhusker football, vol leyball, men’s and women’s basket ball and baseball. ‘‘Our partner in Lincoln will be a very important part of the upcoming plans,” Aaron said. On March 7, KFAB removed the KLIN-originated “SportsDay Mid America” from the network. The nightly talk show had been produced by KLIN for the network since 1993. On Monday, Pinnacle Sports Pro ductions awarded the Omaha rights to KKAR (1290-AM) and KDGE (101.9 FM). KFAB has held exclusive rights to the Nebraska Sports Network since 1983 and has carried Husker football since 1926. “With KFAB gone,” said Jim Rose, KLIN’s operations manager, “it’s a great day for us because we don’t have to compete with their signal in our market. Now we have a chance to truly be Lincoln’s Nebraska sports station.” Aaron said his company chose KLIN over two other Lincoln bids. KLIN was picked because of its con tributions to the network over the past three years, he said. In addition to handling the produc tion of“SportsDay Mid-America”and “Husker Huddle,” KLIN has originated broadcasts of Husker volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. “They arc an enthusiastic crew with a ton of talent and a real commitment to the network,” Aaron said. Norton Warner, owner of Warner Enterprises, which operates KLIN and its FM sister stations, said he was excited to be a part of the new network. Aaron said KKAR and KLIN would jointly run the nightly talk show, which will begin when the network is offi cially handed over to Pinnacle Sports Productions in August. Football and men’s basketball games will also be broadcast on Warner Enterprises’ newly purchased fre quency, 98.1 FM. The 100,000-watt station, called “The Big Stick” by Warner, originates from a 1,000-foot tower near Milford. Warner said “The Big Stick’s” signal would be the most powerful in Lincoln, stretching from Omaha to Grand Island and from Nor folk south into Kansas. Negotiations will begin soon with Kent Pavelka, KFAB’s 22nd-year an nouncer. Aaron said he wanted Pavelka as his play-by-play man. “We’re going to see what he has to say and what his goals are,” Aaron said. “We would like to have him, but Kent has a career he has to consider. I have no idea whether he wants to do this or not.” The network’s remaining affiliates, Aaron said, will be announced soon. He said he plans to include 30 stations in Nebraska and several outside of the state. The network currently is made up of 50 stations, including 28 in Ne braska. Matt Miller/DN Nebraska senior Stacie Stafford pitches Wednesday during the Huskers’ 9-710-inning win over Iowa State. Nebraska, 23-11 and 1-0 in the Big 12, will play Kansas in a three-game series Saturday and Sunday at the NU Softball Complex. Iowa center commits By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter The Nebraska basketball team has begun to build toward the 1997-98 season by receiving a verbal commitment Thursday from one of Iowa’s top players. Brant Harriman, a 6-foot-11, 244-pound junior center from Mason City, Iowa, said he would sign a letter of intent in Novem ber to play basketball for the Comhuskers. Mason City coach Bob Horner said Harriman was pleased with the Nebraska pro See HARRIMAN on 11 NU hopes to keep Big 12 lead By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter Nebraska softball coach Rhonda Revelle cannot control the weather, but she wants to see a favorable fore Revelle cast lor piaying softball this week end. The Cornhusk ers, 23-11 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12, play host to Kansas, 21-11 and 3-1, at the NU Soft ball Complex. The Huskers and Jayhawks are scheduled to play a doublehcader be ginning at 1 p.m. Saturday and one game Sunday at noon. Saturday’s weather calls for tem peratures to be in the mid 30s to lower 40s, not great weather to play softball. Revelle said if the weather prevented Saturday’s games, a doublcheader would be played Sunday, when the temperature should reach the upper 40s. “The weather is something we are really concerned about,” Revelle said. “We just don’t think playing in a wind chill of 13 degrees is good enough to have a quality game.” The Huskers have missed four Big 12 conference games because of bad weather. Last weekend’s three-game homestand with Missouri was snowed out and the second game of a double header against Iowa Slate on Wednes day was called off because of the cold. Nebraska did manage to squeeze out a 9-7 win over the Cyclones in the first game when Ali Viola crushed a two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Huskers led 7-0 be fore Iowa State tied it in the top of the seventh. The win pleased Revelle. “We’ve won one game, and we are on top of the Big 12,” Revelle said. “Wc had to win it that way because that made a statement that said,' Take that.’” Kansas enters the Nebraska game coming off a doubleheader split over Creighton. On Wednesday afternoon in Lawrence, Kan., the Jayhawks lost the first game 4-3, but won the second 6-0. Kansas swept a doubleheader against Missouri on April 2, and won one of two games against Texas A&M for its three Big 12 wins. * Revelle said the series this week end was very important. Last season, the Jayhawks and Huskers split their four-game season series. Nebraska won the two games played in Lincoln, but lost the other two, both by one run in Lawrence. In the two games at the NU Softball Complex, the Husk-ers outscored Kansas 17-3. “We may have made too big of rivalry out of it,” Revelle said. “Last year we wanted to beat them too badly, and we had trouble staying focused.” _ Beau Finley NU proves that winning is everything Redemption. It’s been an ongoing theme in Western Culture from its inception and continues to pervade the con sciousness of our religions, our jus tice system and even our entertain ment industry. And now it applies to Comhumper basketball. As most know, the Homhonkers won the National Invitation Tour nament last week followingan emo tionally drainingdisappointment of a 16-14 regular season. The season witnessed a host of turbulent events that I have neither the desire nor the writing space to enumerate. Suffice it to say, you could not walk into a room and throw an $8,000 check or an Alge rian recruit without hitting some one who thought Danny N ec should be gone. But the HuekFinnsters beat five mediocre teams, and all that changed. Now Danny is the coachcst with the mostest. And I tell you, vast readership, I’m as tickled as a two-handed bird under a bridge in spilt milk about it. You see, I was able to view the redemption firsthand. Myself and two of my pals, Andy Paycheck and MC IccTheis (his rapper handle), went to New York to see the game, and see the game we did. To say we loved it would be an understatement. I, in fact, do not remember being that excited since I heard that Michael Bolton had laryngitis. Despite my excitement of watch ing a Husker victory, however, I felt pangs of ambivalence. What’s so great about being the best of the rest, the champ of the chumps, the leader of the wieners, the Bill Byrnes of basketball teams? But as I watched St. Joseph’s shoot 11 percent from the field, I realized it didn’t matter how it looked. It only matters that you win. This revelation harkened me back to my youth. I remembered that thrill of victory I experienced when I was but a boy. I recalled that time I beat that one-legged, blind girl in an obstacle course race. I reminisced about the time I defeated that illiterate, mute boy in a spelling bee. Yes — win ning is good. And so it was here. It doesn’t matter what they won. It only matters that somebody else lost. Following the victory, as the three of us exited the arena, Andy Paycheck put things into perspec tive by reminding me of just how lucky we were to have a coach like Danny Nee. As he pointed out, any used car lot in the city would love to have him. It’s amazing the clarity that comes with redemption,not tomen tion the blind luck. Flaky Is a third-year law stadeat and a Dally Nebraskaa sports coiamalst