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Saturday’s loss
quells hopes for
3rd championship
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Nebraska’s road to the Big Easy
turned out to be anything but.
Instead of heading to New Or
leans and the Sugar Bowl for a shot
at a third straight national champi
onship, the Comhuskers will usher
in the new year in warm and sunny
Miami.
The sixth-ranked Comhuskers
(10-2) will play the No. 10 Virginia
Tech Hokies (10-1) in the Orange
Bowl, Dec. 31 at Pro Player Sta
dium — formerly Joe Robbie Sta
dium — in Miami at 6 p.m.
After losing 37-27 to Texas Sat
urday in the Big 12 championship
game, NU lost its chance to become
the first team to win three straight
national titles. Before Saturday,
Nebraska appeared to be headed to
the Sugar Bowl for a battle with No.
1 Florida State. That task will now
fall to the Florida Gators.
Sunday afternoon, the Huskers
were selected as one of two at-large
teams—Penn State being the other
— for the six-team Bowl Alliance.
Four conference champions —
Florida State, Florida, Texas and
Virginia Tech — earned automatic
bids.
Nebraska receives 15,000 tick
ets for the Orange Bowl, which, for
the first time, will not be played in
the Orange Bowl. The game will be
played in Pro Player Stadium, ca
pacity 75,192. Tickets, which cost
$60 and $75 each, went on sale this
morning at the South Stadium ticket
office.
Coach Tom Osborne said he
was excited the Huskers were mak
ing their 15 th trip to the Orange
Bowl.
“When our game was over (Sat
urday) I didn’t think we would be
invited,” said Osborne, who will be
coaching in his 10th Orange Bowl..
“I’m a little surprised we are in it.”
Scott Bruhn/DN
TEXAS LINEBACKER Tyson King celebrates the Longhorns’ 37-27
victory over Nebraska Saturday in the inaugural Big 12 championship
game in St Louis. The loss ended the Huskers’ hopes for a third straight
national championship and earned Ttexas a berth in the Fiesta Bowl
against Penn State.
The Hokies knew they would
get an alliance invitation after win
ning the Big East Conference
championship. Virginia Tech has
won 20 of its last 21 games, with
the only loss coming to Syracuse
earlier this season at the Carrier
Please see BOWL on 3
fct
Our players on the
team have only
experienced the
big game. It’s still
a big game to us,
however.”
Tom Osborne
NU football coach
Cheerleader remains
in critical condition
Doctors have not
determined the extent
of Tracy Jensen’s
injuries.
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter
A UNL cheerleader who injured
her neck while practicing last week
remains in critical condition in Lincoln
General Hospital’s intensive-care unit.
Doctors have not yet determined
the full extent of Tracy Jensen’s inju
ries.
Jensen, a junior at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln, was hurt
Wednesday night while tumbling in
the gymnastics room of Mabel Lee
Hall. She was attempting a round-off
to a back handspring to a single back
tuck when she fell on her neck, Spirit
Squad Director Renee Swartz said.
Jensen’s injury was an accident,
with no one at fault, Swartz said.
“This is the move Tracy had done
a million times over,” Swartz said.
“It’s just like any other sport. Even
when you take all the precautions,
there’s still an injury risk.”
A Saturday Omaha World-Herald
article stated that accounts of Jensen’s
flip were different. Jensen’s grand
mother, Donna Jensen, had told the
newspaper that Jensen had done a
double backflip — a maneuver more
dangerous than a single backflip, the
article stated.
Swartz said everyone who actually
saw Jensen fall told the family and
doctors that she was doing a single
backflip.
Donna Jensen may have misunder- *
stood the terminology or been con
fused during the family’s turmoil,
Swartz said.
Based on Tracy Jensen’s gymnas
tics ability, Swartz said, she would not
have attempted a double backflip.
The squad follows national
cheerleading safety guidelines for ev
ery move, Swartz said.
The squad members are not al
lowed to practice unless Swartz or
Coach Jamie Boling is present, she
said. And practices are held on a gym
nastics floor-routine mat for safety,
Swartz said. The mat, in UNL’s Mabel
Lee Hall, consists of a spring floor
Please see JENSEN on 3
Holidays can be a struggle
for recovering alcoholics .
By Erin Gibson
Staff Reporter
The holidays can be happy. They
can be bright, joyous reunions of fami
lies and friends and brilliant celebra
tions of faith and tradition.
But for those battling alcoholism,
the holidays can be hell.
Rick, a recovering alcoholic and
member of Alcoholics Anonymous in
Lincoln, said many alcoholics alien
ate themselves from family and friends
while in-the throes of active drinking.
So the celebrations and homecom
ings of the holidays can send both al
coholics and recovering alcoholics
spiraling into loneliness, self-pity and
regret, he said.
“I think there’s a feeling that we
should be happy,” Rick said. “There’s
always a celebration and everything
around us makes us wonder, ‘Why
don’t I feel happy?”’
In return, they may treat their dis
ease of alcoholism and cope with their
feelings by drinking.
Rick said it’s common to hear
people in recovery say they struggle
around the holidays. It’s crucial that
they actively treat die disease with AA
meetings and practice the AA steps to
Please see ALCOHOL on 7
Song presents unique gift ideas
for the 12 days of Christmas
By Darren Ivy
Staff Reporter
Interested in getting your true love a unique
gift this Christmas? How about everything from
the “Twelve Days of Christmas?”
Romantic, indeed. But although the gifts are
suggested by a holiday tune, they certainly can’t
be bought for a song — try about $16,000.
But at least you won’t have to travel far —
all of the 83 items can be found in Nebraska, if
you are willing to accept slight alterations, such
as pheasants for French hens and milk-machine
> operators for milk maids.
So, those warnings issued, let’s go shopping.
On the first day of Christmas, my true love
gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.
Earl May Nursery and Garden Center in Lin
coln has a semi-dwarf pear tree for $30, and
Brandon Finkral of Lindsay will sell you Hun
garian Partridges for $25 each. True loves on a
budget can substitute a chukar, a type of par
tridge, for $5.75 from Brian Turpitt of Genoa.
On the second day of Christmas, my true
love gave to me, two turtle doves...
The Pet Ark in Lincoln has a pair of doves
for $24.99.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love
gave to me, three French hens...
In Nebraska, you’ll have to settle for three
American pheasants instead of three French
hens. The Nebraska Game and Paries Depart
ment verified the similarity between the two
birds. Aid it jiftt so happens that Ed
Schuleneberg of Denton sells American pheas
ants for $8 each.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love
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TREVOR SMITH, 3, of Lincoln, meets Darth Vader Saturday morning near 14th
and 0 streets during the 12th annual Star City Holiday Parade. The parade, which
wound through downtown Lincoln, featured more than 70 entries.