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EDITOR
Doug Kouma
OPINION
EDITOR
Anne Hjersman
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Doug Peters
Matt Waite
Paula Lavigne
Mitch Sherman
BethNarans
Yikes!
Herbie's new look
just plain scary
Mothers, hide your children.
The Nebraska Comhuskers took the field
Saturday for the first time this season, and
the Big Red spirit hung thick in the air.
But as about 76,000 fans in Memorial
Stadium and millions of television viewers
looked on, a horrific scene unfolded before
them.
No, it wasn’t the Huskers’ 55-14 thrash
ing of the Michigan State Spartans. And it
wasn’t the hordes of red-clad fanatics who
screamed their team to victory with slightly
drunken and obviously enthusiastic abandon.
It was Herbie.
Just one short year after NU Athletic Di
rector Bill Byrne announced his plans for
Herbie’s retirement — plans which were
soon put down by loyal Husker fans — the
NU Athletic Department has unveiled Herbie
’96. And, brother, it ain’t pretty.
Face distorted into a pained, almost tor
tured expression, traditional overalls
overstuffed to the seams at the gut, Herbie
’96 is everything his opponents last year
claimed him to be — an ugly stereotype of
Nebraskans in general and an unfavorable
symbol of the Comhuskers in specific.
If Byrne’s plan was to unveil a new-look
Herbie that would be horrid enough to gar
ner support for his plans to eliminate the
long-loved mascot, this could be the answer.
But why don’t we just take a simpler
route instead? Give the guy a reasonable diet
and a few hours on the treadmill, put a ge
nial smile back on his face and ship him back
out for the next game with a new look that
everyone can live with.
That way, we can all have pride in our
mascot, and we can leave the job of scaring
the opposition to the Huskers.
Swain’s got style
The new voice of Comhusker football,
Warren Swain, made his debut behind the
microphone Saturday afternoon at Memorial
Stadium.
Swain showed the grace and style that
made him a fan favorite at Virginia, but he
also displayed his limited exposure to Ne
braska football several times.
Along with color commentator Adrian
Fiala, Swain described the action of NU’s
55-14 romp of Michigan State well. His play
by-play calls were accurate and Fiala’s com
mentary was often insightful.
However, Swain and Fiala mispro
nounced die name of NU linebacker Jamel
Williams; they failed to mention more than
one of the true freshmen who were stripped
of redshirt seasons, and Swain constantly re
ferred to Nebraska’s third- and fourth-team
defensive units as the Blackshirts.
For future reference, Warren, only the
first teamers are Blackshirts.
In time, Swain will be a great addition.
1
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the
Fall 1996Daily Nebrafskan. They do not nec
essarily reflect the vijews of die University
of Nebraska-Lincoln,,its employees, its stu
dent body or the University of Nebraska
Board of Regents. A column is soley the
opinion of its author. The Board of Regents
serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan;
policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Edito
rial Board. The UNL Publications Board, es
tablished by die regents, supervises the pro
duction of the newspaper. According to
policy set by the regerts, responsibility for
the editorial content of the newspaper lies
solely in the buds of its student empkiyees.
Letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief let
ters to the editor and guest columns, but
does not guarantee their publication. The
Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit
or reject any material submitted. Submit
ted material becomes the property of the
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Anonymous submissions will not be
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tion, if any. Submit material to: Daily Ne
braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400R St
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letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
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Where’s Willey?
Did someone castrate Steve
Willey over the summer? I enjoyed
reading all of his columns last year
because they took cm topics most
columnists are afraid to write about
(or are smart enough not to). Perhaps
he has run out of fresh ideas. No one
cares about how he got his hair cut
when he was a boy. I want more
pom! I want more sex!
Take this letter more as construc
tive criticism than insult. I thought
Willey’s Sep. 6 column lacked the
luster of his previous work. Whoever
castrated this young man deserves to
be shot. We need to pump Willey full
of testosterone to get him back on
track so he can write those fresh
pieces about masturbation again.
Jason Flatowicz
sophomore
undecided
Dangerous myth
This is in response to Brice
Sullivan’s letter (Sin tax, Sept. 5).
While I don’t have a problem with
many of Sullivan’s points, I would
like to take issue with the statement
that legal prostitution “would bring
aboutdecreases in... sexual assaults.”
This is an all-too-common myth that
needs to be addressed.
Brice Sullivan needs to under
stand that sexual assault and rape are
not caused by sexual frustration.
Many who commit these crimes are
married or have regular sexual
partners. To say that these assaults
can be avoided by merely providing
a sexual outlet is an insult to survi
vors of sexual violence.
If it is still difficult for some to
see why this is insulting, recall that
U.S. Admiral Richard C. Macke
made similar remarks in regard to the
rape of a 12-year-old girl in
Okinawa. This kind of thinking lets
the perpetrators off the hook a little
too easily, and underestimates the
violence and terror involved in the
crime of rape.
It’s not that the perpetrators
“can’t help” what they’re doing, or
don’t know what they’re doing—
they are very much responsible for
their actions. I highly recommend
that folks like Sullivan read a book
or two on the subject, such as A.
Nicholas Groth’s “Men Who Rape,”
before perpetuating such myths about
sexual assault.
Kerry Keane
graduate student
unclassified
Enlightening idea
How many UNL maintenance
faculty does it take to change a light
bulb? Evidently more than we have!
(hie would think that after
winning two straight national
championships that UNL could
maintain its football landmarks in a
manner fitting a championship
organization. The big red “N” on the
west side of Memorial Stadium has
not been completely lit for a couple
of months.
Do you remember how long it
took for UNL to get the “1995” up
on the back of the north scoreboard?
Four months, which was right before
the red/white game. If it was up to
me, I’d be up there as the Fiesta
Bowl clock ran out, with screwdriver
in hand.
We get so much from our Huskers
that the least we could do is treat
“their house” with respect that
champions deserve.
Michael Petersen
senior
mechanical engineering
Get seal
I am a returning student to the
University after being out in the “real
world” for a couple of years. In my
first two weeks back on campus I am
noticing a lot of the same problems
as were present when I left school:
parking, class availability, the
administration. I would like to say to
all students that if you don’t think
you can hack it in school,then get
ready to be slapped in the face hard
when you leave school.
I see so many of you wasting so
much time whining over trivial ,
campus issues instead of concentrat
ing on the real issue at hand for all
students: Pursuing your college
education!! Believe me, people,
your parking problems, inability to
get a ticket to a football game and ;
crying over being locked out of a |
class are only trivial issues in the big
picture.
I can tell all of you from experi
ence that not finishing school or not
making the most of all your opportu
nities in school will be the biggest
mistake of your life.
Stay focused an the job at hand,
getting your degree, and everything
else will fall in place. If you can’t
find a parking place, ride a bike to
class. If you can’t get into a class you
need to graduate, set up your class
schedule cm the first day of registra
tion, not the last. Study, pass your
classes, graduate, and have a great
career, lie rest will fix itself. Crying
will only waste your time and a lot of
tissue paper.
Chris Shipwash
senior
broadcasting
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