College Jeopardy challenges students
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Online game winners will score free CDs, money and game show appearance
By Emily Pyeatt
Staff uniter
Wanna score some cash, trips, free CDs, a
chance to have your sweet little face on TV for
your mama to see and an opportunity for the
University of Nebraska to be nationally recog
nized for something other than its athletic talents?
Betcha didn’t think that all you’d have to do is
log on to the Internet and play a game to make all
these dreams come true.
Sony Online Entertainment is kicking off its
College Jeopardy! Online spring 2000 competi
tion, offering both individual prizes and a chance
for the University of Nebraska to win an audition
for the “real” college Jeopardy! competition.
In order to compete, UNL students have to
register at www.col
iegejeoparay.com
as a student from
the University of
Nebraska and then
simply play the
online game. The
best part of the col
lege competition -
it’s free.
-f'
Don’t be intimidated by the difficult, typical
jeopardy questions. Laura Kanter, College
Jeopardy! spokeswoman, assures that the online
game is going to be a good time.
“The game is stimulating, yet it is still on a
college level,” she said. “It is definitely targeted
for a college audience and is really fun.”
The more students play the Jeopardy! Game,
the higher the chances of winning prizes and
scoring points for UNL.
Because the College Jeopardy! Online com
petitions began in fall 1997, the guidelines have
changed.
“There is a different format that looks not
only at the individual person but offers a demon
stration of school spirit,” said Nicole Opas,
spokeswoman for Sony Online Entertainment.
Although students may seem united
by their cumulative university
score, participation in the online game actually
has increased with the development of programs
that promote individual incentives.
Three specific aspects of the College
Jeopardy! Online game offer individual prizes.
In “The Magic Game,” the ooh-la-la is fueled
simply by a counter that awards a CD to every
thousandth player.
“It’s all about timing and a luck of the draw,”
Opas said. So there’s not too much magic.
This game typically has about 10 winners a
day. .
In “The Study Break,” students can walk
away with bigger booty.
Now, this is a serious break that could
land players in either New York,
Chicago or San Diego. To participate
in the Study Break, play the
Jeopardy! game from 4-7 p.m.
With each play, contestants
will immediately earn an entry
into a sweepstakes for one of
the three
trips. A lottery will select winners on March 21st
for the New York trip, on April 18th for a trip to
Chicago and on May 16th for the final trip to San
Diego.
The “Weekly Sweepstakes” is another lottery
competition that awards $500 to a student each
week.
To qualify for the weekly sweepstakes, your
individual cumulative score must reach 50,000 in
a period of one week. If the score reaches the
50,000 marie, the student’s name is entered imme
diately in the sweepstakes for the cash.
The Online College Jeopardy! competition
officially ends on May 16th for the final calcula
tion of the collegiate scores.
The college with the most points will win an
audition with College Jeopardy! The audition on
campus is a process of mini pre-tests. Top win
ners will then be chosen for the televised college
championship.
Right now, UNL has about 1,100 student par
ticipants and its status barely fluc
tuates in comparison to other
universities. The University of
Tennessee is sweeping the
competition with more than
W 70 million poifits.
South By Southwest offers opportunity for Omaha band
■ Prairie Cats rub elbows
with big names at festival,
may get record deal.
By Jason Hardy
Staff writer "
Every year some of the most
promising new musical acts from
around the globe are invited to make
their way to the Lone Star State for
something hotter than a Texas wild
fire.
The South By Southwest music
conference and festival, held in
Austin, Texas, from March 15-19, has
evolved over the years to become one
of the biggest events of its kind.
In fact, this year’s conference not
only includes shows by signed and
unsigned bands as well as showcases
by major labels and independent
record labels, it also includes a film
conference, film festival, interactive
festival and a music and media con
ference.
For unsigned bands SXSW is an
incredible opportunity, and for the
Omaha jump blues and swing outfit
the Prairie Cats, this couldn’t be more
true.
“It’s great,” said Jason
Grotelueschen, trombonist, guitarist
and singer for the Prairie Cats. “It was
definitely a goal of ours. We’re going
down to have a good time, but obvi
ously there are a lot of bands that
we’re looking forward to hanging out
with, and obviously there’s label stuff
going on also.
“But just to have our music heard
is going to be great, so we’re looking
to have a lot of fun with it.”
Prairie Cats lead vocalist and gui
tarist Jeff Koterba said the band’s
selection to the festival was very wel
come news.
“It wasn’t something that I really
thought we had a shot at getting into,
so it was a pleasant surprise,” he said.
“It felt great because we put a lot of
hard work into this band, and there
are a lot of really dedicated people
who made a lot of sacrifices, because
we all have full-time jobs.
“We’re doing original music and
if there’s a song that* I write and
SXSW notices it and invites us, that’s
pretty awesome. It’s very, very satis
fying.” _
The group is,set to play on Friday,
March 17, at midnight at the Caucus
Club in downtown Austin.
The performance will be part of a
showcase on swing and lounge type
music, which means there will be
record executives and other label rep
resentatives specifically seeking
bands such as the Prairie Cats to sign
to their labels.
“It’d be great if we caught the eye
of a record executive,” Koterba said.
“OF course any’type of exposure is
great. The fact that we’re playing the
festival has already opened up some
doors to play other venues.
“I am realistic though, and I know
how the music thing is, so I don’t have
any great expectations. I’m just
happy to play and keep playing and
getting gigs.”
Grotelueschen said he felt the
same reserved excitement about the
festival but said a lot of his excite
ment didn’t necessarily stem from the
opportunities for the Prairie Cats to
be signed.,
“There are going to be some peo
ple there that are going to shop
around for our kind of band, but we’re
just planning to make a bunch of
press packets and go around and
throw out our stuff,” he said.
“It’s just going to be Tun. There
are a lot of great acts that are going to
be there, so it’s going to be great to go
down and catch as many shows as we
can.
Koterba said after a little time, the
group’s inclusion sunk in, and now
he’s just ready to play the show.
“Unlike sports, when you just
** It wasn’t
something that I
really thought we
had a chance at
getting into, so it
was a pleasant
surprise."
Jeff Koterba
vocalist, guitarist for Prairie Cats
concentrate rift the next game, with a
band you have to look ahead and con
centrate on getting gigs down the
road,” he said. “We’ve got a show
tomorrow night and shows when we
get back, so we’re concentrating on
that.”