The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, April 10, 1998, Page 5, Image 5
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.