It’s a man’s world
Tennessee women’s basketball coach has outdone her male peers
MALCOLM KASS is a
chemi-cal engineering
major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
Happy Easter, Campus Atheists
and Agnostics!
Now... on to the column.
The Lady Volunteers of the Uni
versity of Tennessee.
They are winners of three
straight NCAA Women’s Basketball
Championships and six in 11 years.
They frequented the NCAA Sweet
16 for 17 straight years, every year
since the birth of the Women’s
NCAA Tournament.
In the 1997-1998 campaign, UT
women’s hoops went 39-0, beating
Louisiana Tech in the championship
game by 18 points. The Lady Vols
are not a notch better than the rest....
... They are five or six notches
better.
This juggernaut of a team is led
by a demanding, hard-nosed
Tennessean whose coaching style
has been compared to Bobby Knight
by Sports Illustrated.
Her name is Pat Summitt, and
she is arguably the most dominating
coach in all of college basketball,
male or female. She is also The
Associated Press Coach of the Year
and is truly at the top of everyone’s
game.
This spring break I was in the
heart of Good 01’ Rocky Top
Tennessee to visit my brother Mike
and catch up on some hiking up in
the Smoky Mountains.
Considering he lives in a town 20
miles outside Knoxville, where the
University of Tennessee campus is
located, I was hit by the fullest
amount of Lady Vol basketball fever.
Everyone in East Tennessee loves
their Lady Vols. While it is probably
true most Tennesseans would give it
all up for one victory against Florida
in college football, they are absorbed
by the success of Pat Summitt and
show their support by making the
UT women’s basketball program
self-sufficient, a rarity in women’s
hoops.
An unbridled success like Pat
Summitt has been a dream for the
University of Tennessee, and since
Summitt earns an annual salary of
$ 135,000, giving her the highest
base pay of any UT coach, the
University of Tennessee is more than
willing to show their gratitude.
She is Tennessee bom and raised
and like many Southerners (just ask
a Texan), she is very proud of her
state.
So proud, in fact, that she was on
a recruiting trip to Pennsylvania two
weeks before the due date for her
son, Tyler, and she went into labor.
Determined her son would be
Tennessee bom, she immediately
flew back, delaying hospital care,
until she was home in her cherished
Tennessee. I am not condoning her
behavior of delaying a pregnancy,
but this is testament to the pride and
inner strength of Coach Summitt.
Her astonishing success brings
up interesting questions. Could a
woman, especially a woman with the
resume of Summitt, coach a major
men’s college basketball team?
It is certainly commonplace for
men to coach women’s teams, but
are we mature enough as a nation for
a Chicago Cub-like men’s basketball
team to hire a women’s coach? Such
as a program that has never won a
men’s NCAA tournament game?
Hint hint.
Anyway, I suppose it’s apparent
this is not only a sports issue, but a
social question as well. Would a
large university extend a men’s bas
ketball coaching offer to a woman or
(pardon the pun) would players or
recruits even perform for a woman?
Understand that I have no idea if
the great Pat Summitt even wants to
accept a position of head men’s bas
ketball coach. If I were as beloved as
Summitt, I wouldn’t move.
But what about other female
coaches who may want the opportu
nity? Could they break this societal
wall? Honestly, I don’t believe uni
versity officials would hire a woman
or fans would support a female
coached team.
Nor do I believe major male col
lege athletes would accept playing,
considering a woman in power is
still a rarity and will stir some
resentment within the male-dominat
ed society.
However, if a female coach were
hired, it would destroy a major social
barricade. Don’t misunderstand me,
I am certainly advocating revolting
against the sexist situation, but will
it happen now? I don’t think so.
But a premier university that has
the courage to step first would cer
tainly receive the same PR for
women’s rights as the Dodgers re
ceived for civil rights many years
ago. There would be many benefits
for the university.
Besides, with my negative mind
set, in the late 1940s I probably
would be the one who said baseball
players and managers would not
want to be associated with a black
athlete, and boy, would I have been
wrong.
And most importantly, since
there should be women,coaches for
men’s basketball teams ... GO!>
EXISTS.. ...iX.
Driving for dummies
How to get around on the mean streets of Lincoln
ANTHONY COLMAN is a
general studies major and
a Daily Nebraskan colum
nist.
As more and more yuppies find
their way to our fair city of Lincoln,
we are faced with the inevitable con
sequences of urban sprawl.
One such consequence is a rather
dramatic increase in the volume of
traffic on our city’s streets. As we
reach the point of saturation for the
number of cars our streets can han
dle at peak hours, traffic slows
down, drivers get frustrated and
impatient, and we get lost in the
downward spiral to road-rage.
The influx of outsiders has upset
the delicate local ecology of our
streets. The vernacular of Lincoln
driving has been watered down, and
may soon be forgotten by all but a
few anthropologists who specialize
in local driving customs and rituals.
Lincoln is, in yet another way,
starting to look just like everywhere
else in America.
i-'iu lungci jusi uie mce miuuie
American town, with nice middle
America drivers, Lincoln is getting
to be a sort of dangerous place to get
around in.
Everyone insists they are a good
driver, and everyone loves to bitch
about what bad drivers everyone else
is.
By longstanding tradition, resi
dents of Lancaster County are com
pelled to gripe about what lousy dri
vers the folks from Saunders County
are. Similarly, people from Lincoln
County like to bitch about those
from Dawson County, and Hamilton
County drivers are positively notori
ous among Adams County residents
for their mindless driving.
Lincoln residents: Watch out for
those 6-county license plates.
Being the conscientious and alert
driver that I am, I would like to offer
some basic tips for tooling about our
fair city:
Know how big your car is. I can’t
stress this one enough. If you’ve
been driving the same vehicle for
any length of time, you ohght to
have a pretty good feel for where it
can and cannot go.
Use your turn signal, always.
You’re in a very large object made of
a lot of metal and glass that probably
weighs a lot.
If you suddenly decide to do
something radically different with
your car, let the other drivers know
about it. Use your turn signal, make
hand signals, use telepathy, do an
interpretive dance - just let the other
drivers know.
If you’re going to turn - signal.
If you’re going to change lanes —
signal. If you’re pulling into your
driveway on a quiet residential street
- signal.
Your turn signal is a wonderful
thing, and isn’t just there to be used
sometimes.
A lot of people seem to think
they’re only obligated to use their
turn signal if they’re turning left at
4:00 pm on a Thursday and it’s rain
ing. This is a widespread misconcep
tion. If you’re going to put your car
in a place where it isn’t presently,
signal.
wui ways uciure running a
red light.
Avoid making left turns at peak
hours. This may take a little planning
ahead, especially in downtown
Lincoln, where the traffic pattern
makes left turns all but unavoidable.
More than a few Lincoln drivers
have committed tragic and desperate
suicides while sitting in left-turn
lanes, waiting for a chance to go. (If
you want some more information
regarding this tip, you can ask my
friend Brian Bizzell about his per
sonal experiences of having to turn
left in Lincoln.)
Avoid 27th Street during peak
hours.
Pedestrians have the right of way,
so pay attention. The only time this
does not apply is on campus -- most
notably on 16th Street in front of
Neihardt Hall. If you notice a pedes
trian attempting to cross the street
here, do not slow down for them.
For these students, crossing three
lanes of busy traffic is a highly
evolved and complex process. They
have it down to an exact science, and
their whole equation depends upon
you driving at a constant speed. They
don’t expect you to slow down, and
if you do, you throw off all the vari
ables and risk getting them killed.
Be kind to bicyclists. Remember,
they’re the good guys. They’re not
wasting gas and oil, _
they re not adding to
the pollution, and
they’re not adding to
traffic congestion.
If drivers work
together, three cars
should be able to get
through any left
turn lane before the
light turns red. The
person in front
should have their ass
all the way out there
and ready to go, so
next person can
have their front
wheels up over the
crosswalk, and the
third car can be
ready to gun it.
Also, if you are
attempting to make
a left turn, be sure to
employ the element
of surprise.
Pick a destina
tion and go there.
Be decisive. If
you re contused or
lost, don’t panic,
just do something.
Choose creative
routes during peak
hours. O Street is an
obvious choice—
everyone takes O
Street when they
need to get some
where in Lincoln.
See if you can
avoid congestion by
taking side streets.
Explore a little. If
you have four-wheel
drive, you can create
some amazing
shortcuts by driving
right over those
damned concrete
lane dividers
Lincoln is so infa
mous for.
Don’t drive behind a person
whose head doesn’t reach the top of
the steering wheel.
In the long run, parking your car
inalot^pfc^^^ig^^th^ ^
parking at a meter.
Never get in the way of any car
that needs extensive body work.
The most important thing to
remember is to relax. Lincoln isn’t
all that big.
In the worst case scenario, it still
shouldn’t talqp ijjore than 20 or 3Q
i g0ta»tofi»
easy, and enjoy^our^meal^^^
the car. You shouldn’t let driving
stress you out.
