Sam McKewon
Solich hour
lacking in
excitement
Tune in Sunday night. You’ll get
to see one funny show. And I don’t
mean Seinfeld.
The Frank Solich Show, starring
Frank himself and a hundred
Comhusker players, aired for the
second time Sunday night on KLIN,
which, apparently, is the official
Husker station. It comes on at 10:30
p.m. It lasts for what must be a gut
wrenching hour for Solich.
It used to be the Tom Osborne
Show. Old Tom got to be a pro at the
show. Osborne never looked com
fortable, but he got used to it, and he
was a TV man.
Not so with Solich. He literally
glares at the screen, as if he’s ready to
attack the cameraman. Maybe this is
just a look he has. Maybe he’s just
mad he has to do something like this.
For an hour, Solich and host Bill
Doleman, who’s good at his job, mill
through the highlights and lowlights
of the Nebraska football game. But
the way it’s handled, there really
aren't any highs or lows in a show
like this. They’re more like flatlights.
Through all of this, it's clear to
see that whatever football genius
Solich has, he’s not boob-tube savvy.
When he answers a Doleman ques
tion, he turns toward the host and
keeps peeking back at the camera,
just to check if it’s still there.
Beyond that, the show isn’t all
that enlightening. Not much is
learned about Nebraska’s strategy or
why a particular play is called.
In its place, however, 1 learned
lots of things I didn’t know before.
■ In a commercial, Frank Solich
tells us what his favorite toppings are
on a Valentino’s pizza. Funny, I never
expected Solich to be a Canadian
bacon, green peppers and onion
mall.
■ In another Valentino’s com
mercial, Sohch reveals to us he used
to (gasp!) go out for late-night pizza
snack.
■ I found out that when it comes
to video games, Kenny Cheatham’s a
lot better than Shevin Wiggins at col
lege football. Of course, Cheatham
got to be Nebraska.
■ According to Solich, one can
find exclusive Husker wear only at
JC Penney’s. Take that, Husker
Authentic.
Really, it’s not a bad show, and
the highlights do give the viewer a
second look at the game. And there’s
a beautiful picture of Memorial
Stadium as the set. Hey, I watched it,
video games and all.
But die show needs to be spiced
up. I suggest a dancing bear. Or
maybe a funny hat for Solich. It
might offset that rock-hard look of
his. Either that, or they’ve got to stop
taping that thing at night.
Sam McKewon is a junior
news-editorial and political sci
ence major and is the Daily
Nebraskan Sports editor.
Scott McClurg/DN
NEBRASKA SENIOR Fiona Nepo celebrates during the third game of the Huskers’ sweep of the Creighton Bluejays Tuesday evening at the NU Coliseum.
The Huskers defeated Creighton 15-2,15-1,15-3.
NU sweeps Creighton in opener
- rfti i i tT 1 uti. : . - r",. K r'
By Andrew Strnad
Staff writer
Nebraska Volleyball Coach Terry
Pettit accomplished two things with the
Cornhuskers' season opener against
Creighton.
His team won the match, while giv
ing young children from Omaha and
Lincoln an opportunity to see the
Huskers and Bluejays in action.
Nebraska (1 -0) made quick work of
the Bluejays with a 15-2, 15-1, 15-3
sweep in front of 3,149 people at the NU
Coliseum, but that wasn’t the focus after
the game for Pettit.
“Maybe the most important thing in
this match is that we brought some kids
from Omaha and Lincoln, and intro
duced them to volleyball,” Pettit said.
The match was sponsored by Dean
Johnson of Arby’s, which brought over
150 kids from the Omaha Boys and
Girls Club and the Malone Center in
Lincoln to the match.
“Volleyball has pretty much been a
middle-class sport,” Pettit said, “and the
plan is to start a development program
at the Omaha Boys and Girls Club. So
there may be some kids here that didn’t
have that opportunity before.”
What the children did see was one
of the most explosive teams in the coun
u y as 111c i um-ianiNcu iiusincis mi an
impressive .394 for the match.
Junior Mandy Monson sparked the
Huskers with four kills and nine digs.
"We came off the alumni match dis
appointed,” Monson said. "So we really
had to come out tonight and keep up the
intensity.”
After winning the first two games of
the alumni match last Saturday, the
Huskers looked disjointed and unorga
nized the rest of the way.
Tuesday night was anything but dis
appointing for the Huskers as they limit
ed CU to a -.060 hitting percentage.
Bluejays Coach Howard Wallace
gave great praise to Nebraska, a team
Creighton hadn’t faced since 1980.
inis ij a i uiai 1 uui-iypc itam,
Wallace said. “This is the type ofteam
we want to be down the road.”
The Huskers wasted no time in the
first game as senior Fiona Nepo served
the first 10 points without a sideout.
Creighton did grab the lead in the
second game at 1 -0, but the Huskers ran
off the next 15 points, highlighted by
four serv ice aces, including two from
sophomore outside hitter Angie Oxley.
Game three allowed Pettit to experi
ment with the 6-2 offense at the end
with sophomore Jill McWilliams enter
ing as NU’s second setter on the floor.
Pettit's big concern for the match
was to keep the intensity level high,
something the Huskers were unable to
do during the alumni match.
“I was pleased with our focus."
Pettit said. “That was our goal tonight.
At the end of game three we wanted to
be playing as good as we did,at the
beginning of game three.”
Nebraska now travels to the to the
West Coast to compete in the San Diego
State Tournament, where it will play
three matches.
CU continues to build program
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Senior staff writer
Creighton Volleyball Coach
Howard Wallace watched his team
walk off the court dejected and
drained after falling to Nebraska
Tuesday night at the NU Coliseum.
But Wallace said he can’t wait
for his team’s next trip to Lincoln.
He may face a long wait.
The Bluejays mustered just six
points and hit -.060 against the No.
5 Comhuskers. Nebraska dominat
ed CU in every aspect of the match,
winning 15-2, 15-1, 15-3. For the
Huskers, a perennial national
power, scheduling Missouri Valley
Conference contender Creighton
doesn’t make a lot of sense.
“I’d love to see it happen,”
Wallace said of an annual
Nebraska-Creighton match. “But
coming from Hawaii, I know what
scheduling is like for Nebraska. He
(NU Coach Terry Pettit) has been
very gracious to play us.
Please see JAYS on 10
i i
Beer, chicken make for crazy bike race fy
By Todd Munson
Staff writer
Last Friday night, while visions of
Husker football danced in the heads
of the many, the few took place in an
entirely different sporting event.
As the sun set over Bike Pedalers,
at 33rd and B (as in bike), a keg of
Crane River’s finest arrived with a
heap of chicken and a finely tuned
racing machine rolled out of the
mechanic’s area.
It was time for the 15th annual
Chicken-N-Crit bicycle race.
As you might have figured, the
likes of Lance Armstrong or Bobby
Julich weren’t in attendance. They
may be America’s top cyclists, but get
a few beers in them and they’d be out
of commission worse than a 98
pound sorority girl on her 21st birth
day.
The rules were quite simple.
Anyone wishing to compete may do
so, preferably buzzed on the intoxi
cant of their choice, on the same bike,
racing against the clock on a special
ly designed course, with the best of
two runs
counting
toward the
overall classi
rication.
To call the rig a “Frankenbike”
would only begin to do it justice.
Designed with a 10-year-old in mind,
it was specially modified to handle
the rigors of high-speed racing. Six
gears were added, a disc wheel was
mounted on the front and an aero han
dlebar was installed to keep the speed
and danger at a premium. Its sharp
handles were perfectly spaced to poke
out one s eyes in tne event or a crasn.
The course for the evening’s fes
tivities wasn’t exactly Tour de France
caliber, but the danger level ranked
up there with driving a Ford Pinto or
telling “Stone Cold’’ Steve Austin
you violated his mother with a spatu
la. A figure-eight that was a whop
ping tenth of a kilometer, the course
Please see BIKE on 11
