Thursday, May 22 was a dark day for Husker hoop fans. This was the day the Big 12 conference denied entrance to the highly touted basketball recruit, Roburt Sallie. Although the day will be remembered, the saga started in the fall of 2006.
Roburt Sallie committed to Washington out of high school but failed to meet academic requirements. He enrolled at prep school and after a year, committed to NU to play in 2006/07. The NCAA denied him entrance after Sallie could not produce any homework from his year at prep school. Sallie had provided test scores and transcripts, but after 3 appeals he was still denied. Here is what cost NU a shot at possibly the best player they have ever signed. Sallie, while waiting for the appeal from the NCAA in 2006, enrolled ( or someone else did on his behalf ) in NU, paying his own way. This was in violation of Big 12 conference rule 6.2 which reads in part ”any student-athlete who enrolls at a conference institution, part time or full time, must meet NCAA initial eligibility requirements”. Since the NCAA hadn’t cleared Sallie, he was in violation of this rule. Nebraska asked for a waiver from the Big 12 Board, comprised of faculty athletic representatives. A University would have to show extraordinary circumstances in order to receive a waiver, and the conference didn’t feel it was justified.
I am just appaled that the Big 12 conference wouldn’t consider this an ”extraordinary circumstance” since Sallie was getting the runaround from the NCAA in 2006. I am writing a strongly worded response to the Big 12 and if you would like to do that, you can click here. What on EARTH was the Big 12 thinking? Roburt Sallie would’ve run through a brick wall to come to NU and they deny him because of 3 DAYS? This man has gotten the run around since 2006 and this panel had the opportunity to right the wrong and for whatever reason, they chose not to. Do they want this player in some other conference? Roburt Sallie is the the type of player the Big 12 needs. In every interview he ever did about NU, it wasn’t about “I” or “ME” but it was about NU as a school, a team, a family. What is with the Big 12? NU made the Big 12 from 1996-2001, but as of late, the conference has been a HEAVY south conference favorite. What if Texas needed this waiver? NU gets no respect from the Big 12 in my opinion. I say we leave this conference and go somewhere else. They can change the name of the conference to THE OTHER 11. WHO’S WITH ME?
Lincoln Journal Star reminds us that Loserhan never once called a play for the fullback last year. I guarantee you that’s about to change. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if our first play against Western Michigan is a run up the gut.
Darren Carlson wants in. The Big Red Network blogger feels he’s earned the right to ask coaches, players and administrators at University of Nebraska questions.
While my colleague Steve may not want credentials and access, I most certainly do. But, when we request press credentials from the University of Nebraska, we are given a form letter response saying that only print, television and radio media are given credentials. Universities need to revisit the standards for press access. Frankly, I think our site absolutely qualifies.
That is a laughable policy in 2008. Particularly considering that print media is fast moving to the web, where their readers/viewers are, not to mention the ad dollars.
I’m not going to argue for change here. The argument makes itself as blogs–including severalgoodones that currently cover the Cornhuskers–are becoming more mainstream by the day.
As an imperfect means of evaluating market place reach, Let’s look at some Alexa rankings:
In other words, Big Red Network is the 273,995th most visited site on the web, according to Alexa.
BRN, a part time site run by four fans, isn’t all that far behind Nebraska’s top three newspapers in online circulation (the entire paper, not just the sports section). HuskerZone’s numbers are a somewhat smaller–our traffic typically decreases after the football season (along with the frequency of our posts). But, traffic is one measuring stick. There are others. Like, honesty, integrity, loyalty, professionalism and passion for the subject.
I’m confident you will see members of online media organizations with press credentials in the Husker locker room before too long.
Brandon Vogel of Hi-Plains Drifter is a Nebraskan living in Bahstin. As such, he encounters two types of people—people who have never met someone from Nebraska and people who want to talk football.
This basic fact of Vogel’s life led him to ask the vital questions. Like:
What is the societal value of Nebraska football?
He wants to hear from other Huskers residing outside the state.
So transplants, what have you found the cultural currency of Nebraska football to be? Is Nebraska still a fond memory of that crushing ground attack of the 90s or is it one of the fallen kings mentioned on The Big Lead?
I left a comment on his site. Here’s what it says: I live in South Carolina, near the Georgia border. People ’round here love ‘em some college football. Go Dawgs. Go ‘Cocks. Go Tigers. Georgia Southern is popular too. Anyway, I don’t get much reaction when people learn I’m from Nebraska. I think we could change that by playing better teams in Sept. Let’s play Florida State. Let’s play Clemson. And so on. So people have some first hand experience. So they can grow to love us, or hate us.
Peter, a star at the University of Nebraska’s storied football program in the late 1990s and a first-round NFL draft pick, details his short, frenzied life as a drug user and veteran of the treatment center circuit. It started with painkillers in college, which turned into a full-blown addiction as he battled an array of injuries that ended his career by his late 20s. With plenty of money and time available, Peter’s partying escapades eventually led him to freebasing cocaine and turning his upscale New York City apartment into arguably the world’s most expensive heroin retreat, complete with a live-in junkie stripper girlfriend. Avoiding self-help urgings and self-congratulations, Peter (who is now clean) and O’Neill have crafted an unflinching look at the dark side of a life devoted to pleasure. Peter’s recollection of his college glory days is a little overbearing, but the book’s power lies in his honesty in detailing the depths of his despair from seeking the next high. (July)
As a former college journalist, I love to see today’s students take risks, hunt down facts and get the big interview. That’s what happened in Lincoln last February, as Katelyn Kerkhove published a piece on Sarah Pavan in Redwire, a publication of the College of Journalism & Mass Communication.
From the moment she arrived in Lincoln, Pavan has been fighting a losing battle in the dangerous war between perception and reality.
Teresa Prince photo, Redwire
She said she cannot remember a time when her teammates ever acknowledged an honor she had received in her storied career.
“Oh, I’ve never been congratulated for anything I’ve gotten,” she said. “I’ve actually had it said to me before, ‘Why do you have to get every award that there is? You like the attention, don’t you?’ It’s hard because I’m actually the complete opposite. I hate the attention. It’s just hard to see that the people you are around so often don’t even know you.”
After four years of constantly struggling to be one of the girls, to bond with her teammates, Pavan said she felt exhausted, worn down by the frustrations of being the best.
“I have felt a lot of resentment,” she said. “I don’t know what I can do about it, you know? I’m not going to change who I am to make other people happy. I’ve never once talked about any award I’ve gotten. It doesn’t define who I am.
According to Omaha World Herald, the article stirred up some dust in the volleyball offices. Two days after the Lincoln Journal Star reprinted the original Redwire story, expanding its exposure, the Daily Nebraskan ran a follow-up that stated that Cook had told Pavan she could no longer practice with the team. She could return, the article stated, if she apologized to teammates. She declined.
The four-time, first-team All-American who also managed to hold down a 4.0 in biochemistry, graduates this month and makes her way to Northern Italy, where she joins the professional team SpesVolley. She recently signed a three-year contact with the team.
T.O.’s time in Congress may pay off for Nebraska’s student athletes.
According to Omaha World Herald, T.O. is lobbying the Big 12 Conference for more money for scholarship athletes to meet the true “cost of attendance” of going to school beyond tuition, books, room and board.
“When you see facilities expenditures rise 100-fold and coaching salaries increase tremendously,” Osborne said, “it’s my feeling that we should take a large portion of that NCAA TV contract and move toward the cost of attendance, which would be about $2,500 per student more.”
AJ, the Husker Hater doesn’t think Nebraska will win the Big 12 North this fall.
I’m actually stunned that some of you simply brush off the fact that Tom Osborne destroyed your program (and yes..he did it by recommending Frank Solich and Steve Pederson…don’t kid yourself) 10 years ago…and yet some of you still fight back as if you actually have facts or recent history on your side.
I mean, it’s mind boggling to think that ANYONE who actually witnessed the events of last year can be so full of passion and confidence…..it simply defies logic and explanation. Just when I think you’re ready to settle into your new role as rebuilding underdogs…I see case after case of delirious fandom gone horribly wrong.
According to this ESPN poll, 78% of Nebraska residents do think a title is within reach. Where are you on this? Can we win our division?
Coming on the heels of yesterday’s news about Sam Keller, it’s nice to see the good news about Maurice Purify.
According to his agent Gary Glick, Eureka High graduate and former Nebraska wide receiver Maurice Purify is expected to sign a contract with the Cincinnati Bengals this week.
Purify, who became an undrafted free agent when he was not selected during the NFL Draft April 26 and 27, was invited to rookie mini-camps with the Bengals over the weekend, where, according to Glick, he performed well.
“The chances are excellent that he’s going to sign with Cincinnati this week,” Glick said. “Right now we’re just working out some of the details with the contract.”
According to Glick, Purify was tested thoroughly in all areas, and passed with flying colors.
“Overall they said he did a really good job,” Glick said. “They said he ran his routes well, he caught the ball and looked sharp. They also interviewed him extensively about these off-the-field things, and they loved his responses. They liked the guy that he is, and they said he represented himself well.”
