Antone Oseka
A look back
reveals much
to remember
So, this is college.
Or, should I say - this was col
lege.
I’ve experienced events other
people only dream about. I was on
the field when Tom Osborne won
his first national championship.
In fact, I’ve never missed more
than half of a Nebraska football
home game in the past five sea
sons.
I’ve seen that same Comhusker
team lose one of its own. I’ve seen
the grief death can cause an entire
program.
I’ve seen Lincoln get its first
hockey team and go hockey crazy.
I’ve been on the athlete side of
things. Before I became a journal
ist, I was part of the Spirit Squad, a
mascot for the 1994-95 school
year. I saw the ’94 national champi
onship.
I know Tracy Jensen, the cheer
leader, and I was here at the news
paper the night she was injured.
I almost considered quitting
journalism. I almost considered
quitting school all together.
I got a C in my first reporting
class. Not even a C-plus, a C.
Luckily, for me, the university did
n’t support the minus system.
But that teacher, and three great
blondes from that class, kept telling
me to stick with it.
Now I’m glad I did.
Through the encouragement of
the current sports staff, I came to
the Daily Nebraskan in 1995. My
first assignments sent me to cover
the women’s golf team. I soon
inherited the wrestling beat, and
learned then I wanted to be a jour
nalist. t *
I wanted to be a special kind of
journalist. I wanted to be a sports
writer.
For life.
That sounds weird. There was a
time I didn’t know what I wanted
for dinner, let alone what to do with
my life. But eventually, it came to
me, and I excelled at what I chose
to do.
Now, I’m ready to move into
the “real world” and see if I can cut
it. I made it through college, two
jobs and 12 credit hours per semes
ter at times. I think I can cut it with
one job and no classes.
You can cut it, too. Don’t let
this be the semester where you
drop out.
Don’t settle for a C as I did. Ace
your finals. Eventually things will
fall together for you.
Have confidence in yourself
and seize every day you have left in
your college life. It’s a time you’ll
look back and tell your grandchil
dren about.
I know I will.
Oseka is a senior news-edito
rial major and a Daily
Nebraskan senior reporter.
DN File Photo
TOM OSBORNE denied rumors Tuesday at his press conference that he will retire in the near future. Osborne
has been Nil’s head football coach for 25 years and will lead the second ranked and undefeated Huskers into
the Orange Bowl against Tennessee on Jan. 2.
Osborne says he s staying
COACH from page 1
Osborne said he typically stays up
until 2 or 3 a.m. looking at tapes.
“If you want to call the plays
and you want to be able to make
adjustments on Saturday, and you
want to be actively involved, that’s
what you have to do,” Osborne said.
* The alternative, he said, would be to
assume a supervisory role and transfer
responsibility to die assistant coaches.
“But I think in my case, that
would be self defeating because I
enjoy the football and I enjoy the
players,” Osborne said.
“And the other parts of it - it’s
not bad, but it’s not what I choose to
do. I don’t think I can do that until
I’m 70.1 know I can’t.”
Since his 250th victory Nov. 1
against Oklahoma, Osborne said he
had been surprised at the amount of
attention he received.
“It hasn’t been bad,” Osborne
said, “but it’s been a little embar
rassing because we have, as a pro
gram, won quite a few games.
“The head coach is kind of out
in front and people know who he is
and therefore, often he gets singled
out - good or bad.”
Defensive Coordinator Charlie
McBride, who has coached under
Osborne for 21 seasons, said
rumors of Osborne’s retirement had
come up before.
“Unless something went hay
wire, I think our staff would be the
first to know,” McBride said. “And
they’re all on the road.”
NCAA regulations permit coaches
to visit high school.athletes face to face
beginning Dec. 1 and Osborne is one of
three Nebraska coaches - along with
McBride and Rush Ends Coach Nelson
Barnes - that didn’t hit the road for
recruiting visits this week.
After NU’s 77-14 victory
against Iowa State Nov. 15,
Osborne was hospitalized
overnight because of concerns
about an irregular heartbeat.
“What happened to me, the atri
al fibrillation, is something that
people can live with, but it can
cause strokes and it can cause heart
attacks,” Osborne said. “It’s not a
good condition to have and it prob
ably will come back.
“I’ve had some warning signals,
there’s no question about it,”
Osborne said. “But I’m here today
and that’s the main thing.
“When the time comes, you’ll
be told.”
Huskers, CU
set to renew
hoops rivalry
By David Wilson
Senior Reporter
With momentum in its favor, the
Nebraska basketball team travels to
Omaha tonight to face Creighton, the
only other Division I basketball team in
the state.
Though not everyone calls the
matchup a rivalry, consensus is that hie
game’s intensity level will be high.
The Cornhuskers (7-1) look to
extend a two-game winning streak at
the Civic Auditorium at 7:05 p.m.
against the Bluejays (3-2). Nebraska
leads the series 20-9 winning each of
the past seven meetings, including a 71 -
52 win last season.
“Creighton is realty going to play us
nara Because its rseDrasKa, inu center
Venson Hamilton said. “If they beat us,
that’s going to make their season. To them,
it’s probably a rivalry, but for us, it’s just
another step to the NCAA Tournament”
Nebraska Coach Danny Nee said the
Huskers are excited to take on the
Bluejays.
“We look forward to the game,” Nee
said. “Our players and their players know
each other. Wfe do consider it a rivalry..”
Creighton is led by forward Rodney
Buford, averaging 19.8 points per contest
“Creighton has greatly improved
from last year,” Nee said. “They’ve
improved their athleticism, their outside
shooting and they play good defense.”
Defensively, Creighton holds its ■*
opponents to an average of 67 points
per game and has out-rebounded its
foes 194-169.
But the Huskers have built momen
tum and are playing their best basket
ball of the season, Hamilton said.
Against North Carolina-Wilmington
in the first round of the Ameritas Classic
chi Friday, Nebraska shot 72 percent from
the field - the second-best mark in school
history-jind shot 51 percent against
Grambling State in an 85-48 champi
onship game win.
Scheduling divides Big 12
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Assignment Reporter
With every swing of Lisa Reitsma’s
powerful left arm and each resounding
slam caused by the contact, Nebraska
Volleyball Coach
Terry Pettit gains
growing incentive
to turn the Big 12
Conference sched
ule upside down.
‘ Reitsma and
other leading hit
ters pound the ball
100 to 180 times
during back-to
back weekend
matches, a demanding task that leaves
Pettit and Nebraska Athletic Director
Bill Byrne cringing.
“We are beating up our athletes,”
Byrne said. “Lisa Reitsma takes 120
swings a weekend. That’s like asking a
pitcher to go out there and throw a dou
bleheader. You just wouldn’t do that So
why are we going and asking these vol
leyball players to do the same?”
Two seasons after adopting the cur
rent Friday-Saturday scheduling format
for league matches, Big 12 coaches and
administrators remain tom between the
benefits of a solid bottom line and the
drawbacks of aching athletes.
In the former Big Eight and
Southwest conferences, schools played
primarily' on Wednesdays and
Saturdays, When the leagues merged
two years ago, coaches and athletic
directors bowed to the pressure of a new
format to avoid excessive travel costs.
Many schools could not - and still
cannot - afford to charter flights from
the Midwest to Texas, a necessary
aspect of a Wednesday-Saturday sched
ule.
The coaches voted unanimously in
1995 to modify the schedule. Instead of
playing matches on Wednesday and
Saturday, the Big 12 universities would
play its matches on Friday and Saturday
nights.
Today, several coaches regret that
decision, and in March the league’s ath
letic directors will vote on a proposal
designed to reverse it
“We had it all,” Oklahoma Coach
Miles Pabst said. “We had everything
the way we wanted it, and the coaches
went and voted it out”
Evidence of physical and emotional
strain on the athletes points to a conclu
sion coaches hadn’t expected to see so
soon. The time has come to alter the cur
rent format Pettit said.
“In the old Big Eight the quality of
the product just was not the same,” Pettit
said. “The game has evolved to the point
where it is much more physical now, and
the matches are more demanding.”
Big 12 coaches have voiced their
opinions numerous times during con
ference calls organized to discuss the
league’s schedule.
“For the most part, we are not going
to come to a consensus on this,” Texas
A&M Coach Laurie Corbelli said. “It’s
unfair to even expect that. But the
majority of us want (the old format), and
we are going to fight for it.”
Strain on athletes
An obvious strain on the volleyball
players constitutes Corbelli’s argument
for a move back to Wednesday-Saturday
scheduling.
With the exception of non-confer
ence tournaments, A&M competed in
back-to-back weekend matches 11 con
secutive times over a 2 ‘/2-month span.
Corbelli does not allow Stacy Sykora -
the Aggies’ top hitter - to participate in
attack drills during practice.
“My eyes have really been opened
to the risk of injury,” Corbelli said “We
have a senior-dominated team. These
girls have been playing on consecutive
nights for four years.
“About the middle of the season,
fatigue really set in, and we were upset
by some teams we shouldn’t have lost
to. Maybe some of that can be attributed
to the fact that the girls get really emo
tionally and physically drained”
NU setter Fiona Nepo backs
Corbelli.
Volleyball
cost
Below are the operating cost for the Big 12
conference volleyball programs, and their
support for a schedule change.
Ftrtftesclmiuleckaaie
School Operating costs
John Frank/DN
Source: Kansas City Star
“Your body just does not get enough
rest,” Nepo said. “Around the middle of
the season, we’re just mentally and
physically tired.”
Pabst, the OU coach, said Patrice
Arrington, the Sooners’ most effective
attacker, often swings 160 times per
weekend.
Much like other heavy hitters,
Please see SCHEDULE on 8
