JJ.
,HARDER
Dateless for the Dance
Root ofHuskers’ woes lies in the hands of coach
ATTENTION HUSKER FOOT
BALL FANS: If you haven’t
checked your calendars, the Red/
White game is only 45 days away!
It’s only 171 days ‘til the Big Red
Machine makes its official debut in a
forecast annihilation of the Zips of
Akron. Get ready to break out the
red sweat shirts and face paint:
Football Saturdays will be here
before you know it.
What’s that? Was that a quiet
voice from the back of the room?
Did you say NEBRASKETBALL?
Oh, there’s a good laugh. Come on,
Nebraska is a football school. Pav no
attention to the March Madness that
is ready to consume the nation. We
just need to sit quietly and wait for
our boys to head to the gridiron.
Whoa, hold up, Nebraska
basketball is for real—we’re the
NIT champs, baby! Please. I almost
had to vomit earlier this year when
we raised the banner in the Bob
Devaney Sports Center for winning
a “national championship.” Way to
go Huskers, 65th in the nation,
maybe next year.
Well, this year has come and
gone, and our inconsistent, roller
coaster season has left all of the true
basketball fans disappointed once
again. We did pull off impressive
wins against Colorado, at Iowa State
and took Kansas to overtime, but
choked against K-State, Bowling
Green and Baylor. In a season built
up almost as much as the lyson
Holyfield fight, we were let down
again and are headed to defend our
title as the champions of the “little
dance.” The question that should be
coming to everyone’s minds: “Why
is the basketball team continually
sub-par?”
Regardless of what some think,
the players are not the problem.
Sure, we don’t have the talent of
Kansas or Kentucky — our reputa
tion is not esteemed enough for
recruits to give our school a chance.
However, our present players are, at
the very least, adequate.
Tyronn Lue is arguably one of the
best point guards in the nation.
Cookie Belcher has not only made
the transition from high school to
college well, but has stepped up into
a starting role. Troy Piatkowski is
certainly not his brother, but he does
have skills.
For all of you Freddie Freethrows
and Rickie Rebounds out there who
actually know our team, it is easy to
see mai most oi our piayers ao, in
fact, have the capability to help take
us to the next level. But what about
Bernard Gamer, the 1994-95 Junior
College Player of the Year? We
managed to recruit him, but he
hasn’t played up to his potential by
any means.
The players have the ability, but
obviously have not come together as
a team. After scoring only 24 first
half points against below-.500
Missouri in the opening round of the
Big 12 Tournament, we should have
warmed up the bus and gotten a
head start on hyping up the NIT.
I heard the mascot for the men’s
basketball team will be changed
permanently next year. No longer
will we be called the Huskers, but
we will be known as the Nebraska
Feces because that’s what we’ve
been looking like on the court. I can
see the opposing crowd’s signs now:
“Down with the human excrement,”
or better yet “Beat the CRAP out of
‘em, really!” So why haven’t we
used our talent productively and
made a respectable name for our
school regard to college hoops?
One name answers the question
completely: Danny Nee.
Die Nebraska head coach is the
source of our basketball woes. He is
not a scapegoat for a frustrated,
excuse-minded writer, but has been
around for too long and has taken us
nowhere. Four NCAA Tournament
berths have gone to waste and we
know the ins and outs of the NIT all
too well. A quality win around here
is a victory against the dominating
force Weber State or, my personal
favorite, Marathon Oil. Nee has just
not been able to get it done when it
counts.
Nee’s recruiting is decent, but he
doesn’t increase the value of the
players. Our team could easily be in
the NCAA Tourney this year if Nee
would have buckled down and tried
to eliminate our countless flaws.
Some of the players don’t realize
that we aren’t on the playground and
that this is a team sport. If they are
running the offense well as a whole,
some of the players are still looking
lazy and sluggish. This leads
directly to Nee’s lack of discipline.
Matt Hanky/DN
Forget about that little stint with
the suspension of Alvin Mitchell
and Larry Florence. Nee was just
trying to please the public and
appear to be a strict coach, rather
than one who cannot control his n
own players. Too bad he can’t! I’m
sure most of you remember the
previous disciplinary extravaganza
with the rebellious Erick Strickland,
Jar on Boone and a late-season walk
out. It seems that Nee brings out the
worst in his players, no matter their
talent or attitude. Nee didn’t have
discipline when he came to Ne
braska, and he still doesn’t today.
In truth, Nee has taken this
program from the depths of D-l to
mediocrity but has managed to have
teams that remain constantly
stagnant. I don’t criticize Nee’s
personality or knowledge of the
game, but centrally his lack of
discipline. It’s time to send Danny
Nee back to the East Coast where he
belongs and bring in someone who
can get this school a real champion
ship.
Harder is s sophomore broad- *
casting major and a Daily Nebras
kan columnist.
Guest
VIEW
Imagine a place...
CPUs, bytes, rmdtimedia... journey into the unknown
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (U
WIRE) — There are times lately
when I feel like I have entered the
Twilight Zone. Actually, it is more
like the microchip zone. I am in a
place where paper ceases to exist,
everything is networked and anyone
can retrieve information electroni
cally.
Even writing something as
simple as an essay is not so simple
anymore. Many programs such as
WordPerfect and Microsoft Word
exist to accomplish the task, each
with its own set of rules and
applications. We have now entered
me epocn or tecnnoiogy known as
the information age. I personally
call it the “I have no idea what I’m
doing era.” It has caused words like
hypertext, link, multimedia and web
browser to be mainstays in society.
But how many students know
exactly what these words mean?
Of course, there are those techies
who thrive in the computer labs all
hours of the day putting up web
pages and transferring files all over
the place. These are the same people
who delve into PC Magazine with
the fervor mid analytical depth
usually designated for such novels at
“War and Peace.”
Sometimes I think that the
average computer user is slowly.
losing touch with a fast-growing era.
Every day new computers come on
the market which are faster and
better than the old versions. Some
say that five minutes after buying a
computer, it has already become
outdated. For instance, a computer
bought five years ago for a few
thousand dollars can now be
purchased for a few hundred because
it no longer has the cutting-edge
technology consumers are willing to
pay so much money for.
What I am trying to describe is a
computer era in which many people
like me do not feel quite comfortable
yet. I realize that while many
computer programs are out there,
getting to use them is another ball
game. When 1 got my brand new
Pentium 120 MHz with an 8X CD
ROM Drive and 1.2 GB computer at
the beginning of the year, I thought
that I was a real computer user.
I was ready to take on the
Internet, learn to create web pages
and make my own graphics — all in
one hour.
What I ended up doing in thos^
first weeks was playing pinball,
using WordPerfect and learning how
> to insert the CD in the CD slot. I
came to the conclusion that I was
not yet ready to conquer all of these
advanced features as a new com-...
puter user. And I know that there are
other technology novices like me out
there wondering what to do with
their advanced machines.
So I made it my mission to
become one of those highly-intelli
gent computer users. I realized it is
important to sit down at the com
puter and handle it like a relation
ship — by getting to know each
other first. Search the features of the
computer and keep in mind the No.
1 rule — you can’t break it!
unce yen see wnat me computer
is all about, play around with the
important applications. I am a
writer, so I sat down with Word and
WordPerfect to learn the programs
inside and out. I did not only want
to type, but to use other word
processing features as well, such as
setting templates and aligning text.
After fooling around a little with
your new partner, you have probably
eased into the comfortable pjart of
the relationship, but no one is an
expert at this px)int. Buy a book to
learn more. The dummy bodes are
perfect for learning about applica
tions within the computer. These
bright yellow books contain infor
mation ranging from starting the
computer to putting up web pages.
I have also found that the
university offers a course that
supplies all of the basic knowledge.
Computer Science 110 is an intro
ductory course that teaches the
basics of the computer, word
processing, graphics, spreadsheets
and BASIC programming.
A course like this, although not
always interesting, provides the
basics for anyone interested in the
field. Beginners can always choose
to stop at this introductory point, but
I feel the need to move onward. If
this is going to be the wave of the
future, then I want to dive right into
it.
I went on to leam basic elements
of the web language called HTML
and ways to search the web effec
tively, as well as the difference
between the World Wide Web and
the Internet.
I will never be one of those all
night computer techies who have
their own seat in the lab or who
spend 15 hours a day surfing the
web, but I have found that does not
matter. Computers are all about
learning and exploring, and all who
make the effort to do this will have
begun traveling on their own path
through the information superhigh- -
way.
---
rawne mbw
Daily Targum (Rutgers U.)
Guest
VIEW. .
Thithishard
Thirty years agolhe govern- '
ment of the Divide^ States of
America began a series of
programs, laws and initiatives
known collective!^ as affirmative
action.
The initial explanation for the
necessity of this program was to
correct the discrepancies in
opportunities between the races
which came about through past
discrimination. This is not truth.
The true purpose of affirma
tive action is to correct present
discrimination, -v
Affirmative action was created
when this country realized that
since its inception, the Divided
States of America has been
infiltrated with racism, sexism,
classism, prejudice, bigotry,
discrimination, oppression and
systematic, institutionalized,
pervasive inequality — and still
is today.
Pundits of affirmative action
say that it is an entitlement .
program, that it inhibits a
meritocracy, that it polarizes the
racial groups and that it unfairly
rewards under-qualified ethnic
minorities and women — that it
is injurious to white men. This is
not truth.
The truth is that the Divided .
States of America was never a
meritocracy. The truth is that the
Divided States of America was
never unified. The truth is that
the Divided States of America
has never given a single job,
scholarship, admittance, contract
or loan to an under-qualified
individual unless that individual
was a white man.
Central to the debate on
affirmative action is this notion of
qualifications.
Affirmative action was created
because highly qualified —
indeed, overqualified—blacks
and women were being passed
over for less talented white men;
because the racial caste system of
the Divided States of America
denied even the best and the
brightest racial minorities and
women any access into the circle
of higher education and higher
economics — and still does today.
All persons who benefited
from affirmative action had the
qualifications to merit their
positions; those who did not
dropped out of school or were
fired or were kicked out of their
apartment just like an under
qualified white man would (only
sooner), and their positions were
given to some other overqualified
individual.
is.eep in mina inai quaiuica
tions mean talent, organizational
ability, intelligence, problem
solving skills and responsibility.
What is the truth? No resource
is limited, and the number of
people competing for jobs and
scholarships and contracts is
growing every day. For whatever
reason, white men gained the
upper hand and subsequently
created institutions and practices
collectively called racism to
maintain their high position and
eliminate their “competition.”
Affirmative action is a
program created to do the
opposite.
W.E.B. DuBois aptly named
the 20th century the century of
the color line. Affirmative action
— and similar programs like
welfare — are "necessary to finally
end the discrepancies of the
Divided States of America. If we
take than away, then we have not
changed the problem of 100 years
ago and the next 100 will
regrettably become the century of
the color war.
And that is truth.
Erie Crump is a sophomore
political science and sociology
major. '