JOTA a Big Success Near Fremont, Nebraska

On Saturday, October 20, 2012, the Plattsmouth ARC set up their radios for the Scouts Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) at Camp Eagle southwest of Fremont, NE in northern Saunders County. JOTA is an annual event that enables Scouts around the world to communicate via amateur radio.  See:  http://www.scouting.org/jota.aspx

The AKSARBEN ARC set up their JOTA operation at Camp Cedars just a short distance west of Camp Eagle.

Wes, KD0PGV and Jarad, KD0EFC from the Pioneer Amateur Radio Club made the KD0EFC repeater in Fremont available on Echolink for JOTA.  Echolink combines radio and the Internet and allows amateur radio operators to make long-distance contacts at any time.

On Saturday morning on my way out to visit the operations at both camps, I listened to the Camp Cedars group working 9W6DEN in Malaysia.  Echolink contacts continued to be made all day from both camps through the KD0EFC repeater.

When I arrived at Camp Eagle, I started looking for antennas.  I spotted them leading to one of the cabins with a group of Scouts standing outside.

The pictures below show one of their antennas; John, KC0HYD briefing a group of scouts outside the cabin; Ray, N5SEZ running the 15 meter SSB station while waiting for the next group of Scouts to come into the cabin; and Dudley, KD0NMD at the 20 meter PSK31 station. 

After visiting with them and watching the Scouts on the radios, I headed west for Camp Cedars.

Camp Cedars is the larger of the two camps so the JOTA antennas were not immediately visible.  After receiving directions to head off in a northeast direction, I finally spotted them.  I never did find the road leading to their building, so I reached them by a short hike cross-country on a cool but beautiful October day in Nebraska.

The pictures below show their HF triplexer that allowed them to work several HF bands at the same time on one trap vertical antenna; Pat, K0CTU with one of the HF SSB radios with a Scout and an adult with Bill, WA9ASD off to the left; Bill, WA9ASD setting up a second HF rig; Mary, N0TRK at the briefing table, and their VHF antenna.

After watching their operations and visiting with one of the Scoutmasters about a possible Scout Radio Merit Badge course sometime in the future in Fremont, I headed back home while listening to the Echolink contacts being made on the repeater.

Judging by everything I saw and heard, JOTA was a successful venture.  I am sure that the Scouts all benefited from the combined dedication of the amateur radio operators who made it all possible.

Wes, KD0PGV will have more information when he presents a program on Echolink at the next PARC meeting in Fremont on Friday, October 26 at 730 PM at Hero's/Gambino's.

Nebraska 385 Idaho State 31

That was the rushing yards total for each team in Lincoln on September 22, but it seemed like it could have been the score, considering how easy it was for Nebraska to score.

The actual score was 73-7 in a game, that in my opinion, should have never been played. This game was played purely for money.  Nebraska got a home game with the millions it brings into the Athletic Department and the community.  Idaho State received $600,000 for offering up their football players on a platter.

But, there I go editorializing again.  I made the comment to three people on Saturday evening that I try not to do that.  That remark caused one of them to blow cola out her nose (I bet that stung) and the other two to yell, “What?”  OK, OK, so occasionally I have an opinion. 

This type of blowout isn’t good for anybody. The Idaho State players surely didn’t get anything out of getting beat up that bad.  The Nebraska fans and players get a false sense of accomplishment and athletic ability. Nobody wins in the end except the money counters.

It reminds me of the time many years ago when I rode a crowded Wayne State College bus all day to play football at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Truman State University) in Kirksville, Missouri.  We later found out that NMSTC was some kind of farm team for a Big Ten school.  I have forgotten the exact final score but it wasn’t pretty.

It was also the only time I ever carried the ball in college.  We kicked off and one of their linemen raised himself up to his full height of 7 or 8 feet at least and roared like King-Kong.  While he was roaring, the ball bounced off his chest and came back to me.  I caught it and kept on running forward.  The next thing I remember was laying on my back on our sideline with two man-mountains, nicknamed Earthquake and Landslide sitting on my chest.  At least I held onto the ball.

That was when we decided that the definition of an Athletic Director is a guy who is willing to dedicate your body for the good of the school, or more accurately, his athletic budget.

But, I digress. Ignoring the fact that Idaho State may have been one of the worst teams to ever play in Lincoln, Nebraska did look good.  Rex Burkhead  was wearing a knee brace, but it didn’t appear to me to hamper his running (8 carries for 119 yards and 2 TDs).  Plus, a lot of Nebraska players got to play.

The crowd got bored in the second quarter during a seemly 10 minute Big Ten Network TV timeout, but the students came through to save the day.  They started a Wave, like they usually do.  But, when it came back to them, they changed it to a Super Slow Wave.  They fan next to me said it looked like a Tsunami coming toward us.  When it got back to the students, they  changed it to a Super Fast Wave, which probably set a new speed record for Waves.  But they weren’t done yet.  They started two Waves going in opposite directions, which when they met bounced off each other and started back in the opposite directions.  Great fun!

I rarely leave the game early but this was finally more than I could take.  We left early, along with most of the students and a lot of other fans.

After the Mississippi State game we had tried a shortcut back to our car, only to run up against a closed gate.  I thought I could slither under it.  While I was on the ground working on my slithering, Karol walked over and opened the gate.  It turns out it was closed but not locked,   The Roadrunner always was smarter than me. This game we took the correct route and were out of town while they were still counting the money.

On September 29, Nebraska gets back to playing the game the way it was meant to be played with the opening of the Big Ten schedule.  Wisconsin comes to town for a 7 PM game and a chance for us to have a little payback for the loss in Madison last year.

I’ll end this on a sad note.  Earlier in the day on Saturday we said our final goodbyes to a very good man.  May your Huskers and your Cardinals always make you proud, Ralph.

Go Big Red!

Nebraska 49 Mississippi State 20

Before I start writing on our experiences at the 49-20 Nebraska win over Mississippi State in Lincoln on Saturday, September 1, I need to make a few introductory remarks.

First, I keep forgetting to put a notice on all the pictures in any of my posts that they can be enlarged by clicking on them.  Also, I found out Saturday how hard it is to get really good sports photographs.  I almost had an award winning touchdown photo, but at the last second a guy wearing a cornhead jumped up and blocked the shot.  Now all I have is a great shot of a cornhead if I ever decide to make on post on sports hats.

That experience makes me appreciate even more the work that professional photographers do at the games.  A good example would be the game photos by Omaha World-Herald photographer and amateur radio friend of mine, Jeff Beiermann, in the game coverage in Sunday’s edition.  His photo of Coach John Papuchis was even selected for the two-page photo on page 10CF.  Great job Jeff!  Now, how about some of those sequence photos from the good old days? 

Second, when preparing these posts I try to never read the write-ups by the professional writers until after I have completed mine.  I don’t want to be influenced by what they write.  Although, if you want play-by-play descriptions you are not going to get those from me anyway.  I’ll let them handle the X’s and O’s.  I try to provide, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story”.”

I do download the game statistics from http://www.huskers.com/  It is easy to compile a game story just from the statistics.  For my comments on how computer software handles it, see my post in my Archives from January 22, 2012.

With all of that out of the way, I can proceed with my story.  On the drive down to Lincoln, Karol and I couldn’t help but notice the effects of the hot dry summer.  The beans are already starting to turn color, which I think is early.  Actually, I was surprised that more corn had not been cut or combined as most of it is still in the field.  The dry-land corn really looks pathetic.  I’m working on a post about the summer weather statistics for Fremont, which should be ready in a day or two.

We parked in a parking garage on 14th Street northeast of the stadium.  I had forgotten about my amateur radio antenna on the top of the truck, so BAM, BAM, BAM all the way to the top as it hit the roof of the garage every few feet.  And to make matters worse, on the way out I did the very same thing.  BAM, BAM, BAM all the way down.  Too bad our kids or grandkids weren’t with us as it would have embarrassed them to no end.  But, isn’t that an unwritten requirement to be a parent or grandparent?  Embarrass kids and grandkids whenever possible?

Entering the stadium, the massive stadium expansion project is the first thing that is visible.  The next thing I noticed was that the Dorothy Lynch signs were still up.  Over on the sideline, the Fairbury Brand Hot Dog Man was getting Der Wiener Schlinger ready to go.  Actually, he looks a little smaller this year, as if he might have been eating the lo-fat variety.

Did you remember to click on the picture to enlarge it?

The next thing I noticed was the heat.  The kick-off temperature in Lincoln was 92 but I always add 10 degrees for “crowd heat” to come up with a stadium temperature, so that would equate to 102 degrees.  The flag on the top of the construction crane showed a brisk north wind, but the ribbons on the top of the goal posts barely moved during the game.  One good thing about sitting in the west stadium is that eventually we sit in the shade.  Fortunately, for this game that happened at the end of the 1st quarter.

The Lincoln Journal-Star reported that nearly 300 people were treated at the game with heat-related issues, but that only 15 people, including one of our neighbors, required transport to the hospital.   We talked to her after the game though and she is ok.

It wasn’t as bad as a few years ago when the kick-off temperature was around 100 on two consecutive Saturdays.  The only thing that kept me conscious was the belief that Karol would probably sell my season ticket to the highest bidder before the paramedics could revive me!

Nebraska’s team entry into the stadium with the Tunnel Walk Music (Sirius by the Alan Parsons Project) never fails to get me excited.  The other 85,424 people at the game pretty much feel the same way judging by their reaction. See and listen to this clip from 2011:     

Other items of interest included a humorous spot on HuskerVision by new head basketball coach Tim Miles, getting everybody but the team fired up and ready for the upcoming season.

Coach Bo Pelini has always been open about his strong Catholic upbringing.  But he must be pulling out all the stops this year, because I spotted a Priest patrolling the Nebraska sideline.  Hey, if it occasionally works for Notre Dame, why not us?  I suppose now all the ministers from the other faiths will be demanding equal time on the sideline.  Come to think of it, I might try that gig myself.  There are websites on the Internet where a person can become licensed to marry and bury people.  I could be Father Dave from The Church of What’s Happening Now!  Trivia question:  Who founded that church?  No fair using Google.  Answer at the bottom.

I never could tell why Taylor Martinez’s throwing motion didn’t look “natural”.  But the summer coaching and his attendance at two high profile quarterback camps seems to have paid off.  He does seem more “natural” now.  But, when he is 26 of 34 for 354 yards and 5 touchdowns he can throw it anyway he sees fit.

Nebraska looked good, but it will take a stronger opponent to tell how good.  Now to go read what the pros had to say.

Don’t forget the second Husker Luncheon in Fremont at the Wooden Windmill on Wednesday, September 5.  Sean Callahan will be the speaker.  The doors open at 11 AM with the program starting at Noon.  The next game will be on September 8 at UCLA.

Trivia answer – Comedian Flip Wilson founded The Church of What’s Happening Now.

Go Big Red!!

Review of First Husker Luncheon in Fremont

For what my opinion might be worth, plus the comments I heard from other attendees, I think the first Husker Luncheon today (August 29) at the Wooden Windmill in Fremont was a big success.

Dale, Wayne, and I were among the first ones to arrive shortly after 11 AM, so we had our pick of the seats.  For those of you familiar with the Wooden Windmill, the buffet was set up in the main dining area but the eating and the program were in the large room on the south side.  The food was typical buffet food, but as is also typical of the Wooden Windmill, it was excellent and plentiful.  It consisted of a salad bar plus BBQ sandwiches, two types of chicken, potatoes, beans, rolls, and a beverage.  Cost of the meal and program was $12.

We thought attendance might be low due to some apparent glitches in the advertising.  I couldn’t find anybody who ever saw any mention of the event in the Fremont Tribune.  But people obviously found out about it in other ways as they continued to arrive during the entire eating hour.  I estimated about 45 people attended with about ten of those women.  The Roadrunner didn’t accompany me this time as she had a small conflict, but I don’t think she wanted to be the only woman there.  That will not be a problem the next time.

All attendees received a Husker Sports Network Fall Sports Guide, a card good for one free appetizer with the purchase of two meals at the Wooden Windmill, and a ticket good for any of about ten prizes at the end.

The program started promptly at Noon with Lincoln Journal Star sportswriter Steve Sipple as the speaker.  I have found that the best speakers are people who talk about what they know and just pass that on to the audience by telling stories.  Steve Sipple is very good at that.  He ran through what he thought would be the starting lineups, but mixed in enough humorous stories about players and coaches to keep the audience’s attention, as well as causing outbursts of laughter. He talked for about 45 minutes and then answered a wide range of questions for another 15 minutes.  I would give him a big thumbs up for his performance.

At 1 PM drawings were held for the prizes, which ranged from cups, T-shirts, and hats to a framed photograph of the Huskers emerging from the stadium tunnel.

Next Wednesday (September 5) the speaker will be Sean Callahan.  Sipple will be back on September 12, with the two alternating throughout the season on any Wednesday when there is a Nebraska game, home or away, that week.

Based on what I saw today and when the word gets around about this event, the Husker Luncheons are going to be a must-see for Nebraska fans.

First Husker Luncheon in Fremont

The first Husker Luncheon will be held today (August 29) in Fremont at the Wooden Windmill.  Doors open at 11 AM with the program from Noon to 1 PM with Sean Callahan or Steve Sipple as hosts. The cost is $12 for an all-you-care-to-eat buffet.

I don’t know why this event has not been promoted better.  Last night I finally saw a large ad in the Fremont Area Shopper, but I never have seen anything in the Fremont Tribune.  Perhaps I missed it.  I have had some calls about it since my email and Facebook post on August 24.  I have no affiliation with this event, but I have been promoting it among my friends.  It is open to the public and women are also welcome.  The Roadrunner (see my post on January 22) hasn’t decided if she will accompany me yet.  

This luncheon comes in advance of the Nebraska opener this Saturday afternoon, September 1 against Southern Miss.  We have been assigned new parking this year, in a parking garage northeast of the stadium on 14th Street.  Formerly we parked near the baseball/softball complex.  The walk will be similar in length, but with no streets to cross.  However, I will miss walking through Sodom and Gomorrah, the name I have given to the big-time party that takes place under the I-180 overpass west of the stadium.  The security guards won’t allow people to walk through the area before the game without a pass, but it is possible to get close enough to catch a flavor of the event.  Following the game people, are allowed to walk through the party as it is winding down, or up, as the case may be.  I doubt that you will ever see Tom Osborne in this area, unless he is accompanied by the Temperance Union ladies as bodyguards.

The Roadrunner will be going to the game with me as it is still prior to the Autumn Equinox, after which it is too “cold” for her to sit outside.  If Saturday’s game is a blowout, she will probably walk downtown for a salad.  The Roadrunner is quite the fan!

One last item.  What is the structure being build on the east side of Highway 275 just north of the Breaking Ground Nursery near Valley?  Is it a Shrine, Church, Barn, Store, or what?  If you know, please let me know. 

Golf Balls too Old to Use

On August 7th the First United Methodist Church held a Best Ball Outing at Whitetail Run near Fremont.  For the history leading up to this event see my post on August 2nd.

Picking up from there, as Karol and I were leaving the practice range my 50 year old golf bag finally gave its last gasp and the handle fell off.  The bottom had previously fallen off and was being held on by two bungee cords.  So, not wanting to take my clubs to the big event in a plastic garbage bag, I picked up a new bag at a local sporting goods store.  While transferring all the contents of the old bag to the new bag, I found a now expired credit card I had been looking for during the last 12 years.  The contents also included a nice collection of nice, but old, balls, pencils, gloves, tees, and just about anything I would ever need to tear up the course.

I was telling this part of the story to Glenn and Dave on Tuesday night and Dave said, “I hope you didn’t use those old balls”.  I said, “I did but why?”.  He went on to tell me that golf balls have a shelf life and they were probably “dead”.  DEAD BALLS!  Where did that come from?  In the 50 years I have been stomping around golf courses I have never heard anything about DEAD BALLS. I told Pastor Greg about this and he told me he had just bought 150 balls for 13 cents a piece.  I asked him what he thought the chances were that they might all be “dead”.  He said it didn’t matter as he had already lost half of them and besides that the price was right. As I thought about this “dead ball” idea some more, maybe that could explain a lot about my golf game for the last 50 years, or why I never could beat Leo, Karol’s father. More on balls later.

On the day of the big event, Karol and I eagerly arrived but with some apprehension.  After all it had been years since we last played.  Karol got paired up with the other women and I went with Gail and Wayne, with Roy as a driver and official scorekeeper.  As we headed for the first tee I was informed that I was to tee-off in a special place.  You might remember that at the end of the August 2nd post I made a tongue-in-cheek remark about the Methodists needing to loosen up.  They must have taken offense at that because here is where they sent me to tee-off.

                   

How nice of them to provide ramps for me to get up there.  There was a side benefit.  Most of my tee-shots have gophers and ground squirrels diving into their holes.  At least from up there I had a built-in loft that gave me a chance of hitting a bird.  But, I learned a valuable lesson.  DON’T MESS WITH THE METHODISTS!

Whitetail Run is a beautiful course, which I assume gets its name from deer.  We didn’t see any deer but we did see seven turkeys strolling across the fairway.  It is an unforgiving course in that if the ball goes anywhere but straight, it is gone for good into the Enchanted Forest.  If we were playing our own shots, I would still be out there, but I least I would have satisfied all the field requirements for a forestry degree.

But, we all had some good and bad shots.  The important thing was that we all had fun.  As we headed back to the clubhouse we spotted smoke, which we thought might be a grass fire due to the drought.  But, it was only Claude cooking up some of those world-class hamburgers he is famous for.  Here are some more selected pictures from the outing.

Now, what about dead balls?  For that answer I turned to my golf expert, nephew Brandon, who is CEO of Dancin’ Dogg Golf (www.dancindogg.com/), which makes OptiShot, a well-respected golf simulator.  He wanted to know what brand of golf ball I was using and what temperature extremes they had been subjected to.  I said I wasn’t sure about the brands since most of them had XXXXXX’s over them.  Combining the time the balls had spent in our garages in Sioux Falls and Fremont, they had seen temperatures ranging from 110 to –30.  When Brandon heard that he pronounced them “not fit for use”.  He suggested I put them all in a box for Matt, Niki, and Suzy, and, like my grandmother, mark it “Golf Balls too Old to Use”.  He also added that OptiShot will not be able to differentiate between a bad golf ball vs. a good one.  OptiShot measures the clubface through the impact zone - so the condition of the ball is not relevant to the simulator's performance.  OptiShot would probably analyze my swing as some kind of weird karate attack.

So, it appears that the best solution is to use old balls on an OptiShot to perfect one’s swing and then use new balls on the course. In fact, I heard that the Hooper Elevator is selling a new kind of golf ball that has the core made out of super-compressed soybeans.  Not only would that be a “green” ball, but buying it would help out the farmers in this drought.

But, next time I tee-off with that soybean ball, if it comes down short of Cherry County, I am giving up golf and switching to croquet.  Now, I suppose somebody will tell me wooden croquet balls have a shelf life.  What’s next?  Tiddly-Winks!

Olympic Volleyball at Logan View High School

If you have been following the Olympics like most of us, you are probably aware of the Nebraska connection to the USA Women’s Indoor Volleyball Team.  Starter Jordan Larson grew up in Hooper, Nebraska, graduated from Logan View High School, and became an All-American at the University of Nebraska.  Hooper and LVHS are just up the highway from Fremont.  Her volleyball accomplishments throughout her career have all been richly deserved.  She also stated a desire  at an early age to play in the Olympics.  So, that dream came true in London in 2012.

NBC has been less than helpful in finding out when the USA matches will be televised, in that they are sometimes live, sometimes on tape-delay, and sometimes not all, except for streaming video over the Internet.  On Thursday, the match was scheduled to be televised live but then wasn’t, so I ended up watching a play-by-play printed account on the Internet as it was typed out word by word.  How archaic is that in this age of instant communications?

So, with the final gold medal match against Brazil on Saturday not scheduled to be televised live, in favor of a tape delay on Saturday night, Karol and I decided to travel to Logan View High School where we could join other volleyball and Jordan Larson fans watch the streaming video projected onto a large screen in the gymnasium.

The boosters were selling Jordan Larson T-Shirts so we had to buy a couple of those before finding seats in the last row of the bleachers.  The boosters were also providing hot dogs, nachos, and water free of charge.  It was a little hard to see the big screen on the stage from the last row, so Karol went on a recon mission and found two folding chairs in the second row.  Much better!.  Other people with more sense than us had even brought their own lawn chairs.

So, how did the game go?  The first set was a complete surprise with #1 ranked USA winning so easily 25-11 against #2 ranked Brazil.  Every time the USA made a good play or there was a close-up of Jordan Larson, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers.  That continued throughout the match, but the second surprise was how easily Brazil won the next three sets (25-17, 25-20, 25-17) to take the match and the gold medal.

Written news media accounts of the match mentioned the different standard of sportsmanship displayed by the Brazilian fans and players than what we are accustomed to, but the USA players seemed to take it all in stride because they are used to it.  Brazil could have taken a few sportsmanship lessons from the fans at LVHS, who broke into applause at the end of the match, even though the USA lost.  I expect that is the norm for LVHS, as it is at many Nebraska high schools and the University of Nebraska.  In any event, Karol and I thought it was a nice touch at the end of a disappointing loss.

The 2016 Olympics will be held in Brazil.  Many of the top women either play professionally in Russia or Brazil, so it seems likely that we could see many of these same players again in four years.  Brazil will also be the early favorite to repeat their victory. I did find one report that said that Jordan Larson was committed to playing one more year in Russia, but it will be interesting to see if she tries for a second Olympics.  Nebraska coach John Cook has already said he would like to see her coaching at UNL some day.  But whether she tries again in 2016, she will always be remembered as a small town Hooper girl who realized her dream in 2012.

Kudos to LVHS for making it possible to watch the match in real-time.  I’ll bet they are already making the arrangements for the day when Jordan Larson makes a return visit to her school. Now that will really be a BIG event!

I’m preparing this post for the first time with Windows Live Writer, which should make it easy to attach the pictures that I took on Saturday.  Check below to see if it was.

With the Nebraska football season on the horizon, and a new Nebraska basketball coach in the wings (the season ticket order arrived this week) it is time to start writing again.

I changed the title of this blog in honor of my paternal grandmother.  She was a great saver of all things important, as the family discovered after her death.  She even had a large plastic bag full of pieces of string.  It was labeled “String Too Short To Use”.  Thus, the title of this blog.  I also changed the focus from Nebraska basketball to anything I feel inclined to write about.

Our church is planning a Best Ball Golf Outing next Tuesday morning.  The Road Runner (Beep-Beep-Get Out of My Way) and I thought we might give it a try.  Since neither of us has played for some time (years) we decided to hit a bucket of balls to test whether joining the Outing was a good or bad idea.

I found our golf bags, both covered with a layer of dust that may have come from the last Mt. St. Helen’s eruption.  The bottom of my bag fell off several years ago and is held on by two bungee cords.  Karol and I have also believed in keeping our sporting equipment up to date.  My clubs are signed by Sam Snead and Karol’s are signed by Patty Berg.

So, we find the golf range, buy a bucket of balls, and head for the tee-off area.  I go first because Karol says there are too many nearby golfers for her to embarrass herself.  My first test is to see if I can stay upright during the swing, what with my new knee and a not-so-good other knee.  Well, I pass the test probably due to the Ibuprofen flowing through my veins   But I almost take the head off a gopher about 25 yards out.  So much for getting loft on the ball, but at least I taught that rodent a lesson.  He probably hasn’t seen anything like that since he had to deal with Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

Karol goes next and only has two whiffs so she hasn’t lost her touch.  We alternate back and forth until we start to see cars stopping on the road to watch.  Finally, we use up all the balls and traffic starts moving again.  Why do people always flock to see disasters?

We decided to try another bucket over the weekend before the sign-up deadline on Monday.  But, we will probably give it a try, if for nothing else than to give the Methodists something to smile about.  They could definitely use a little loosening up. 

On January 26^th, the Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball teams swept their counterparts from the University of Iowa.  The men played at Iowa City while the women’s game was in Lincoln.

I watched the men’s game on TV but had to resort to listening to the second half of the women’s game on radio.  I usually don’t write much about games that I don’t actually watch in person, as I comment more on the atmosphere of the game than I do the actual playing of the game.  The game atmosphere is hard to pick up from a TV or radio broadcast.  However, I will make a few comments in general.

The men badly needed a victory, or at least a good effort, after the lopsided loss to Ohio State on January 21.  They came through by coming from behind to beat the University of Iowa 79-73.  Brandon Richardson had the best game of his career by scoring 25 points.

Meanwhile, the Nebraska women had to fend off a late charging Iowa team but managed to hold on for a 60-53 victory.  Alliance’s Jordan Hooper recorded another double-double with 22 points and 15 rebounds.

Karol, two friends, and I had attended a women’s game in Lincoln for the first time back on January 15.  I wanted a first hand look at the players, especially Nebraska high school graduates, Jordan Hooper from Alliance and Emily Cady from Seward.

The game was a little disorientating at first because we sat on the opposite side of the Devaney Center from our men’s seats.  In addition, the teams sit on different ends of the scoring table and the pep band sits on the opposite end of the arena floor from the men’s game.  I have no idea why the differences exist but when I mentioned it to Karol, she said she saw no problem with it and it reminded her that she wanted to rearrange the furniture in our living room.  That will teach me to keep my observations to myself.

The women eventually lost this game to Penn State, but remain in the thick of the Big Ten race.

During the game, I saw Karol get that far-off look in her eyes.  She played high school basketball in Manilla, Iowa, and has always regretted that she never had a chance to have a try at the college level.  She had to settle for knocking a few guys on their cans in pick-up games at Wayne State College, a feat that earned her the nickname of the Manilla Mauler.  She also likes to remind me that she once scored more points (42) in one game than I scored in my entire high school career.  However, she does admit that point totals that high were not uncommon in the 6 girls, half court game of her day. I don’t tell her that it doesn’t take that large of a number for somebody to be able to make the same claim.

  

As I think back to my high school days, I will admit that I never thought of my female classmates as athletes.  That sounds stupid and sexist in this day and age, but that is the reality of growing up in Nebraska in the ‘50s when high school boys could participate in sports, but high school girls did not have the same opportunity.  I don’t remember even thinking or talking about the inequity of the situation.

I should have known better because my mother played high school basketball in Smithland, Iowa, in the age when the rules called for a center jump after every basket.  If a team had a tall center, they could control the ball for most of the game, which resulted in some interesting and lopsided scores.

Title IX, which was signed into U.S. law in 1972, brought about significant changes in opportunities for women in athletics.  As near as I can find out, Nebraska high school girls began to have sports available to them in the ‘70s.  The University of Nebraska fielded their first women’s varsity basketball team in 1975.  Across the river in Iowa, even though high school girls had played basketball since the ‘20s, both Iowa State and the University of Iowa did not field varsity women’s teams until 1974.   Wayne State College was actually ahead of other schools by introducing women’s basketball in 1970.

 

To look at the growing popularity of women’s sports today and the skill levels exhibited by the individual players, it is hard to understand why it took so long to bring gender equality to the schools.

And thinking back to my female high school classmates now, I am betting they could have become good athletes if they had just been given the chance.

Back to the present, the Nebraska men play on the road on February 2^nd against Northwestern and return home against Minnesota on February 5th.  The Nebraska women, after winning at Illinois this afternoon, play at Purdue on February 2^nd, and return home against Michigan on February 9^th. 

***The popular Nebraska sports website, www.huskerpedia.com  which was taken down by a court order pending the outcome of a lawsuit, has been replaced by the original owners, and is now called

www.huskerMAX.com  A quick look shows this to be a much better site than the original.

***After watching the Iowa State men upset Kansas on Saturday, I am glad we now play “the other Iowa team”.  Iowa State looked good.

By now you have probably heard or read that Ohio State really did a number on the Nebraska men’s basketball team in Lincoln last night, beating them 45-79.  That is the second huge loss to Ohio State as Nebraska lost on the road 40-71 back on January 3^rd.

With my apologies to Reverend Michael, I didn’t pay as much attention to his sermon this morning as I should have, as I was hoping for some divine guidance on how to write about the game without going on a rant.  I didn’t get much help, but then the Divine Guidance Department may be too busy working on Tim Tebow’s passing game to pay much attention to my problem.  So, I am on my own to try to bring you some of the flavor of the game.

After parking, Karol and I headed off for the Devaney Center.  She stayed with me this time until we rounded the corner of a building and headed into the bitter gusting southeast wind.  That is when the Roadrunner grabbed her ticket and headed off for the arena. Beep.  I only hear one Beep as she is moving too fast for the second one to reach me.  I’m reminded of the old weather adage, “The north end of a south wind is colder than the south end of a north wind”.  It is cold and windy, but a great night for basketball.

As I head up the north slope to the entrance, there are more people than normal walking with me.  The hallways are full and I have to stand in line to buy a program.   It looks like a great crowd has come out to see if the Huskers can match their Wednesday night upset of Indiana by downing 6^th ranked Ohio State.

The crowd size is confirmed when we reach our seats.  There are special promotional prices so we see lots of students, families, and young people.  Football players, coaches, and their wives share seating with students in the east end balcony.  The crowd (11,439) and the noise bring back memories of the glory years in the ‘90s.

The stage is set for another great game and an upset.  But it is very apparent early that this is going to be a tough night.  It is one of the great mysteries of sports why on one night everything goes through the net and the next night nothing will fall, even with uncontested shots.  The Huskers shoot only 25 percent in the first half compared to Ohio State’s 44 percent.  Nebraska can hit only 1 of 9 3-point attempts while Ohio State is knocking down 4 of 11.  Ohio State leads by 20-36 at the half.

Following intermission, things really get out of hand in Ohio State’s favor.  The Buckeye’s are a good team and live up to their national ranking.  Plus they play really tough defense that eventually leads to Nebraska having 27 turnovers, which includes 13 steals by the Buckeyes.  I’m starting to get disgruntled so it is time for a media break.

After my post on the Indiana game, I heard from a high school classmate, David G., now in California.  On January 18^th he had attended a seminar at Stanford University on “Generating Stories from Data”.  You can watch the talk online by going to: http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/   and clicking on the camera icon in the right hand column for January 18.

The talk was about a company, Narrative Science that uses software to write sports stories based on game statistics.  As I start to watch the video I am surprised when the speaker uses an example of the Nebraska-Wisconsin game in Lincoln on December 27^th.  I do some more searching and find that Narrative Science has partnered with the Big Ten Network to produce rapid narratives of games for display on their website. 

Surely, the statistics from the Nebraska-Ohio State game will cause any computer to melt down.  I envision HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey saying, “I’m sorry Dave.  I’m afraid I can’t do that”.   But later I go looking for the software-generated summary anyway.  I eventually find what I think is it on the Big Ten Network website.  It is accurate, well written, and concise.  Great!  I’m just getting my feet wet in this business and I’m already scheduled to be replaced by a computer.  But I don’t see the computer writing anything about the antics of the Roadrunner so maybe there will still be a place for me.

Back to the game, which by this time has really gotten sloppy on Nebraska’s part.  It is getting difficult to watch.  The crowd starts to leave at the 11-minute mark with a major exodus with 9 minutes left.  The football players and their coaches are gone by the 8-minute mark, leaving mostly friends, relatives, and invited guests until the bitter end.

I usually don’t comment on officiating, especially after a loss, because it sounds like sour grapes.  I’ll make an exception this time because Kent Pavelka asked Doc Sadler about it on the post-game radio show.  The question shouldn’t have been asked because coaches cannot comment on officiating, so Doc hemmed and hawed while giving a non-answer.  The officiating didn’t alter the outcome of the game because they were consistent on both ends of the court, but they were certainly not consistent with how other crews have called Big Ten games that I have seen.  This crew called 46 fouls, many of them “strange” while the officials at the previous game only called 27 fouls, with the same amount of contact in my opinion.  Officials are at their best when the crowd doesn’t notice them.  This crowd noticed. But, Ohio State adapted and Nebraska did not.  Nuff said on that subject.

So, where do we all go after a devastating loss like this?  Everybody has to let it go now or the entire season could go in the dumpster in a hurry.  Nebraska goes to Iowa on January 26^th and to Northwestern on February 2nd before returning to Lincoln against Minnesota on February 5^th.  All three of those teams are in the bottom half of the Big Ten standings, so we should at least have a chance.

The best advise I can offer at a time like this is to remember my favorite quote from legendary UCLA coach John Wooden, who said, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out”.

Go Big Red!    

I started writing about Nebraska men’s basketball games back on January of 2011.  I forget the exact reason why I started but it probably had something to do with Nebraska upsetting 13^th ranked Texas A&M in Lincoln.  I continued to write about the games for the remainder of the 2010-2011 season.  I enjoyed it and several of the people receiving the articles seemed to enjoy them too.  However, I was sending the articles via emails, so I never really knew how many  recipients liked receiving them.  I had to face the possibility that I was actually clogging up people’s mailboxes.  That is the reason for the switch this year to the Blog format.

I was also slow in getting started this year.  I had total joint replacement surgery on my right knee in October, making it a little more difficult to get to the early games.  Plus the team itself was making it a little difficult for me to find anything exciting to write about.  Above all, I wanted to remain a fan and not turn into a disgruntled critic.

Once the Big Ten season started, Karol and I made a real effort to attend the home games.  On the last day of 2011, we were playing Michigan State in an afternoon game.   Karol thinks any temperature less than 72 is an arctic outbreak, so she usually takes her ticket and heads off from the parking lot to the Devaney Center, leaving me to face the bitter cold alone.  However, on this day the temperature in Lincoln eventually reached 52 degrees, so it was relatively mild for a winter day.  I couldn’t help but think back to a New Year’s Eve in 1973-4 when Karol and I had joined friends in downtown Sioux Falls.  The temperature that night eventually fell to 32 below.  That is an 84-degree swing!

But on this day Karol still headed off alone in a light coat, grabbing her ticket as she went by me.  As I was walking along I noticed her coming back.  She got halfway there and decided she needed a heavier coat from the car.  I walked some more and heard her coming around me again, like the Roadrunner, Beep-Beep.  I walked some more and here she comes back at me again.  When she opened the car door to get her coat, she put the ticket on the seat and forgot to pick it up.  In a few minutes she passes me again with her coat and her ticket.  Beep-Beep.  I’m only halfway there and she has gone by me 5 times. This the first time I have ever been lapped on the way to a game.

Eventually I make it to the bottom of the north slope that leads up to the Devaney Center.  My knees feel good but I need an incentive.  I pretend I am headed up the final 60 yards to the top of Mt. Everest.  I can see the Roadrunner up on the peak waving me on.  Just put one foot in front of the other and repeat the process!  I finally summit and find Karol inside the door.  She looks a little winded, but that is understandable since she walked about 10 miles just getting here.

Nebraska eventually drops this game to Michigan State, which becomes part of a four game losing streak to Big Ten teams, before finally winning against Penn State in Lincoln on January 11. Nebraska loses again at Wisconsin on January 15, which brings us to  Wednesday’s game against Indiana.  We are 1-5 in the conference while Indiana is 3-3, but still ranked 11^th nationally.  The Hoosiers are also leading the Big Ten in scoring with 81 points per game.

Nebraska gets off to an early lead, which is never more than 4 during the game.  Indiana pulls ahead and leads by 7 at the half.  I think that Indiana’s players are really good ball handlers and passers, although maybe a little too flashy for their own good.  Indiana’s Tom Pritchard picks up a technical foul for taunting, probably trash talking, after scoring a basket.  The referees have been making an effort to stop taunting in recent seasons.  We saw the same call against a Penn State player in the women’s game in Lincoln on December 15.  I don’t know what words were used in either case, but it was probably stronger than the “your mother wears combat boots” from my youth.

Nebraska picks up one point from a free throw and gets the ball because of the technical.  Pritchard will probably regret that one point for awhile.

In the second half, Indiana pulls ahead by 13 points at the 15:10 mark.  Several times it looks like they will sew up the game.  But the Cornhuskers just keep hanging around and hanging around, eating away at the lead.  I think they are shooting too many 3-point shots (they are eventually 10-30), but they continue to fire away and pull closer.

With 4:19 left we close the gap to 3 points.  Now this is the time that the Nebraska crowd, no matter what the score, starts to leave.  But nobody is leaving.  Maybe it is the cheap tickets or the cheap hot dogs and they feel an obligation to stay, but everybody is on their feet and NOBODY is leaving.  With 11 seconds left, Nebraska’s Diaz is fouled.  We are behind by 1 point.  Diaz steps to the foul line and shoots fast. Whoosh! Score tied.  He fires again.  Whoosh!  We lead by 1.  Hulls brings the ball down the floor for Indiana.  A lay-up attempt hits the bottom of the rim.  A wild scramble for the ball and Hulls takes an off-balance shot by his bench.  The horn sounds.  Shot no good.  Nebraska wins 70-69.  

And then, in a scene resembling Nebraska’s upset win against 2^nd ranked Texas last February 19, the students rush the floor.  The geriatric brigade that guards the floor wisely decides to not stand in their way.  The band continues to play as the arena does wild.  Even Governor Dave across the arena is high-fiving his bride Sally and Democrats and Republicans alike, just like he did after the Texas upset.  Doc Sadler and a few of the players eventually pop out of the floor crowd as they make their way to the broadcast table for the Big Ten Network post-game interviews.  Doc looks like he has been on an all-nighter with his tie over his shoulder, hugging and chest-bumping players, fans, students, and friends.

For whatever the long-term problems may be with this basketball program, tonight belongs to the team and their coach.  They hung in there and pulled it off when things were really looking grim.

It doesn’t get any easier on Saturday, January 21, when 6^th ranked Ohio State comes to Lincoln for a 7 PM game.          

The Roadrunner and I will be there. Beep-Beep.