Nebraska...not feeling Frosty anymore

[THE_WIZARD_]

So DR sucks more than TM?

[entropy]

So... To the Michigan fans... Do you think teams give UNL their best shot? How about the fans?

[entropy]

Randy York’s N-Sider

Forty-four years ago, Jim Croce recorded the song Time in a Bottle, but Nebraska has a better idea to celebrate 50 consecutive years of sellout football crowds at Memorial Stadium ... Time Capsules, and the best thing about them relate to a question we asked ourselves: Why just look back? That, in turn, triggered the only theme that makes sense to us: Let’s plan the next 50 years!

We’ve had 200 scarlet-and-cream time capsules made, and we plan to stuff every one of them with meaningful memories, mementos and memorabilia that describe and define our half-century journey that became an ongoing, unremitting, unrelenting quest to fill every seat in what soon will be a 92,000 capacity stadium.

Our university and athletic department are preparing those time capsules to celebrate Nebraska’s 50 Years of Consecutive Sellouts at Saturday night’s nationally televised home game against Michigan.

Our 1962 to 2012 accomplishment covers 323 consecutive home-game sellouts. Your recollections from those games – and predictions for future historic sellouts – must be received by Monday, Nov. 12, to qualify for placement in a vault that will be buried near the East Stadium later this year.

Seeking Your 50-Year Flashbacks, Predictions

Your 50-year flashbacks and your next 50-year predictions won’t be opened until the fall of 2062. That vault, however, would not be complete without Big Red fans submitting their own magic moments from the past 50 years and making their own golden predictions for the next 50 years of consecutive sellouts that will create the opportunity for a Centennial Celebration in the year 2062.

Nebraskans not only are very proud of our past, but also very confident about our future. We only have 1.82 million people in this state, yet over the past 50 years, we’ve sent 24,048,577 fans through those hallowed gates.

There’s a reason why Memorial Stadium archways say: “Through these gates pass the greatest fans in college football.” Who else puts a metaphorical Sold Out sign on its ticket office window every game for half a century?

Vision for 2062: 100 Consecutive Sellout Years

How did we do it? You tell us, so we can put it in a time capsule. But, at the same time, let’s do something bigger and even better. Let’s allow the greatest generation to celebrate and honor its 50-year accomplishment, and, at the same time, let’s encourage the next generation to take us beyond where we are, so they can commemorate 100 consecutive years of sellouts in 2062.

Yes, it’s time to dream big and think big, to go confidently and imaginatively, to follow one path yet create another, to catch some new trade winds, to explore and to sail beyond where we’ve already been, to make the improbable probable and the impossible possible and to believe it, then achieve it.

How can that happen? Let The N-Sider boil down the three most important ways:

1) Access and print a 2062 Husker Time Capsule Kids Sheet or pick one up Saturday at the Husker Nation Pavilion beginning at 4 p.m. before Nebraska hosts Michigan for the first time ever at Memorial Stadium.

http://www.huskers.com/pdf8/958400.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=100

The Kids Sheet is a great tool for teachers and parents to help their students and children celebrate 50 consecutive years of Nebraska football sellouts. The activity sheet includes opportunities to predict the future of Nebraska football in seven sub-categories: 1) Concessions; 2) Mascots; 3) Ticket prices; 4) Uniforms; 5) Logos; 6) National championships; and 7) Seating capacity. Kids who participate in the Time Capsule experience also get the chance to answer the proverbial question: What do you want to be when you grow up?

2) Big Red fans of all ages will have the opportunity to submit photos, letters, stories, notes, quotes and anecdotes via old-fashioned mail. Use every windmill in your mind, put your best thoughts on paper and mail to: Nebraska Athletic Marketing; Attention: 2062 Time Capsule; One Memorial Stadium; Lincoln, NE, 6855-0153. Our Marketing staff will sort, collect and curate every submission so we can place the most inspirational into time capsules. Open your hearts and minds on everything from your first Husker experience to your most memorable one, but don’t forget to offer up your hopes and thoughts for the future. Let your imagination run rampant. Remember, predictions placed in this vault will survive tornados, floods, even earthquakes.

3) We haven’t forgotten our IY-Generation Big Red fans. We know our more tech savvy fans will be compelled to use Twitter, and we will collect and curate your tweets on Twitter. Please use our new hash tag – #Huskers2062 . The same rules apply. We encourage tweeters to take your own snapshot of 2012, so you can honor the past 50 years and predict the future for the next 50 years. Tweets should focus on memories and experiences. We’ll collect and curate the best, so they can find a place inside a fan time capsule. Given the emergence of technology and the capability to apply that technology, who thinks Twitter and/or Facebook will still be around 10 years from now, let alone 50 years from now? This is the place to showcase your vision and creativity.

What Goes in Capsules? What Gets Left Out?

Frankly, I’m looking forward to see how many programs, game notes, posters, schedule cards, jerseys, alternate jerseys, gloves, polo shirts, coins and merchandise get in line to become a priority. Who will be the judge and/or jury that will decide what goes in and what gets left out? I don’t want any part of that, but I will support all of it.

Just make sure that the kids out there today appreciate what we’ve already done, so they can take ownership of what must continue in the future. That means the target audience may be eighth grade and under, but to honor the late, great Lyell Bremser, participation should not preclude any man, woman or child who has a good idea or something meaningful to contribute.

We all know how difficult it is to sell out one game, let alone 323 and counting. We will never take that streak for granted because our unprecedented achievement is a daily, weekly, monthly and annual reminder that our fans are second to no other fan base out there. Every fall Saturday, there’s a pilgrimage to Memorial Stadium. We’ve all seen the gates open, watched the tunnel walked and heard the crowd roar. Now it’s up to our youth to carry on our tradition and to make the next 50 years as fast, fun and fashionable as we’ve made the last 50 years.

Empowering Next Generation to Do Its Part

Yes, we’ve been able to shape the past, and now we’re passing the torch so our youth can sculpt the future. To be sure, it takes love, respect, passion and stick-to-it-iveness. Unlike so many other fan bases, Big Red loyalists don’t believe in the “We’re with you, win or tie” mantra. We support, we act and we stand for what our fight song says – We all stick together in all kinds of weather. We all know the way we were, but that’s not what’s important right now. We’re looking ahead more than we’re looking back. We know it’s the only way we can truly empower and inspire the next generation to plan the next 50 years and then execute that half-century like we did.

Just make sure you leave Memorial Stadium in 2062 the way we’re leaving it in 2012 ... SOLD OUT!!!




Post Extras:

[entropy]

1 hour ago • By STEVEN M. SIPPLE
(0) Comments

Nebraska's improbable rallies the past two seasons apparently helped inspire an addition to the Husker fan experience:

Rally towels.

According to N'Sider, the official blog of NU, more than 100 Husker student-athletes and volunteers will give fans rally towels when they walk inside the stadium Saturday night -- a "thank you" from the athletic department for helping Nebraska become the first NCAA school to celebrate 50 years of consecutive sellouts.

The towel idea isn't necessarily new to Nebraska. It's just being expanded.

About 9,000 black rally towels were distributed to Nebraska student season-ticket holders for the Wisconsin game Sept. 29. Now the whole stadium will join in the fun.

I'm sure Husker players and coaches will appreciate the added enthusiasm Saturday night. I'm sure they're also hoping no rally will be necessary this time around.





Post Extras:

[Jeff Buchanan]

I created a game thread so we don't have to talk about next Saturday's game in this shit hole. Get the hell over there. Now.

Carry on.

[THE_WIZARD_]

No

[entropy]

ANN ARBOR -- Michigan senior defensive lineman Will Campbell doesn't know much about the state of Nebraska, but he's heard great things.

As the Wolverines prepare to make their first trip to Lincoln, Neb. in 101 years Saturday (8 p.m., ESPN2), they insist a great knowledge of the state and its culture isn't required.

It'll be college football in Nebraska -- what else is there to know?

"They don't have anything down there but their college football," Campbell said. "It's going to be exciting."

The last time Michigan made a trip to Nebraska, Fielding H. Yost was roaming the sidelines. The Wolverines have played the Cornhuskers in a true road environment just once in their 133 years of football -- a 6-6 tie in 1911.

But just because most of the team's roster has never been to Lincoln or seen Nebraska's Memorial Stadium, they say they're plenty aware of the Cornhuskers' famed "Sea of Red."

And just like Michigan Stadium was a mad house at night last season against Notre Dame, Michigan expects Lincoln to be a full-on hornet's nest come Saturday.

"I can't wait," Michigan junior defensive back Thomas Gordon said. "I've never been to Nebraska before, but you hear a lot of stories about the 'Sea of Red' at Nebraska and things like that. You look forward to environments like that.

"I've seen how crazy the crowd gets (on television), I'm looking forward to seeing it first hand."

Nebraska's home crowds can be intimidating, to be sure. And the nighttime environment will naturally make it that much worse.

But just because Michigan hasn't been to Lincoln in a century doesn't mean this will be the Wolverines' first rodeo in a prime time slugfest.

Michigan opened the season at night in Cowboys Stadium against the defending national champions and played at night three weeks later against unbeaten Notre Dame.

Hostility, craziness, late-night kickoffs -- it's all become old hat for Michigan.

"I think they're used to playing at night, I don't perceive that being a problem," Michigan coach Brady Hoke said. "The blueprint for what we'll do with walkthroughs, meetings, (when we'll) eat, that kind of stuff, that'll be what they're used to.

"Crowd-wise, it should be what they're used to (also)."

Most of Michigan's roster has never been to Memorial Stadium, but Hoke has.

His Ball State Cardinals dropped a heartbreaker at Nebraska in 2007, 41-40.

What does Hoke remember most about his experience in the "Sea of Red?"

"We got beat," he said. "We dropped the ball at the 5-yard line (with a chance to win)."

Enough said.

Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan sports for MLive.com. He can be reached by email at nbaumgardner@mlive.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.

[entropy]

Rally starter Allen looks to do more for Nebraska
ERIC OLSON, AP Sports Writer
Updated 1:34 p.m., Tuesday, October 23, 2012


LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Taariq Allen introduced himself to Nebraska fans in a big way with a leaping touchdown catch that started the Cornhuskers' fourth-quarter rally against Northwestern.

They saw what receivers coach Rich Fisher saw long ago.

It was summer 2009, and Allen was in the gym at the Boston-area high school where Fisher was head football coach. Allen had just transferred to the Rivers School and was dunking basketballs.

"Alley-oops, behind the back, 360s," Fisher said. "I was drooling. I figured I could do something with him."

Fisher helped Allen develop into one of New England's top Division I prospects. Shortly after Allen signed his letter of intent with Nebraska in 2011, Fisher accepted Huskers coach Bo Pelini's offer to lead the receiving corps.

The touchdown that pulled Nebraska within 28-23 with 5:55 left in the game last Saturday meant almost as much to Fisher as it did to Allen.

"Proud of him like a papa figure and a coach," Fisher said. "I know where he was, and to see where he's at now and what he's accomplished, it's just great stuff."

Allen positioned himself for more playing time this week when Nebraska (5-2, 2-1 Big Ten) hosts No. 20 Michigan (5-2, 3-0) in a game that will give the winner the inside track to the Legends Division title.

Before last weekend, Allen's main contributions had come on the punt return and kickoff coverage units. As a receiver, he had one reception for 3 yards against Arkansas State. Taylor Martinez had thrown his way two other times — one was pass interference on Arkansas State, the second was a pass Allen dropped against Ohio State.

Allen's breakout against Northwestern came with the Huskers trailing 28-16, after Quincy Enunwa was shaken up making an over-the-middle catch to set up the Huskers at the Wildcats' 8.

Allen lined up wide left, started to run a slant and then cut hard to his left to get a step on cornerback Daniel Jones.

Martinez double pumped and threw a perfectly placed high pass that Allen went up to snatch. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound redshirt freshman put his left foot down inbounds as he fell. He got up and ran toward fellow receiver Tim Marlowe on the sideline for a leaping chest bump.

"I didn't even know how to react to it," Allen said. "I knew we were still down, so I couldn't really celebrate how I wanted. That got the momentum going. That was a big play. I'll always remember that play."

Allen could really let loose about three minutes later when Ben Cotton scored the go-ahead TD in the Huskers' 29-28 win.

Allen said he received about 50 text messages from friends and family and about the same number on Facebook.

"Coming from Boston, there aren't a lot of people who get recruited to play Division I football," he said. "For me to go out there — being on TV and making plays — that was a big deal."

Before moving to the Rivers School, Allen had starred in football and basketball at Marblehead (Mass.) High School. He already had a football scholarship offer in hand from New Hampshire, but he thought he was capable of playing at a Bowl Subdivision school. His cousin, a star running back at the Rivers School, told him he could reach his goal if he put his trust in Fisher.

Allen excelled as a running back and receiver his first year at the Rivers School. Before Allen's senior season, Fisher, a longtime friend of Pelini's, urged him to attend Nebraska's football camp.

Allen impressed, and he went home with a scholarship offer. He thought it over for a couple months and then pledged to become the Huskers' first scholarship recruit from Massachusetts since 2002.

"It was a huge eye-opener for him as far as seeing the facilities," Fisher said. "When you're a little kid growing up in Boston, you probably hear about the University of Nebraska. But to step foot in here and be offered a scholarship to play here was a huge deal to him."

The Huskers worked Allen at safety and receiver at the camp and ended up liking him more on the offensive side.

Two weeks after Allen signed with the Huskers, Fisher was hired to fill the job vacated by Ted Gilmore's departure to Southern California.

Allen said he was glad his high school coach was joining him at Nebraska, but he said, "I knew I wasn't going to be handed anything. I knew I'd have to go out and work hard and do what I had to do to get on the field."

Winning that jump ball in the end zone Saturday should put Allen in position to be even more of a factor the rest of the season.

"Taylor put it in a place where nobody else could get it except for me," Allen said. "I did my job, tried to get open as fast as possible, as clean as possible. I saw the ball and made a play."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Rally-starter-Allen-looks-to-do-more-for-Nebraska-3974822.php#ixzz2AAomun8B

[entropy]

for stan...

========

Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska's volleyball identity doesn't end with the powerful Cornhuskers.

The program Terry Pettit built into one of the sport's best is just the most visible part of a statewide volleyball culture that rivals any in the nation.

The state produces the most Division I women's players per-capita than any besides Hawaii and is on track to have its most major-college scholarship recruits in 2013. Seven Nebraska colleges or universities were ranked this week in the top 25 in their respective divisions, with in-state players making up the bulk of the rosters.

Papillion-La Vista South, a suburban Omaha school that features three future Huskers players, was named the top high school program in the country the past two years by ESPN.com and MaxPreps.com.

Pettit is widely credited for developing border-to-border interest in the sport, not just for his work as the Huskers' coach from 1977-99 but for his grassroots efforts to educate high school and club coaches in the area.

Pettit, who won 21 conference titles and the 1995 national championship, is now a coaching mentor and leadership consultant based in Fort Collins, Colo. He still follows the volleyball scene in Nebraska and takes pride in the sport's growth the past 35 years.

He said he gets too much credit for the sport's ascent in the state. He pointed to a number of longtime high school coaches who shared his passion.

"I really do believe it was a collaborative effort," Pettit said. "It wouldn't have worked if the university was only interested in promoting volleyball in the eastern part of the state."

The 4,030-seat Nebraska Coliseum in Lincoln is, to be sure, the state's volleyball hub.

The Huskers have sold out 173 consecutive matches. Next year, the team will move into a refurbished Devaney Sports Center, which will seat more than 7,000 for volleyball. The Huskers have their own radio network and all home matches are shown on public television.

Coach John Cook said the statewide TV coverage of the Huskers and the state high school tournament has helped sustain interest.

"You go to the state tournament, and it's a big, big deal," Cook said. "All the towns come in and NET televises it. We had a kid from a small town visit. She has several other offers, and she's considering walking on here. I asked why, and she said it's every girl's dream to play at Nebraska."

Of course, Cook can't sign all of the elite in-state players.

This year, there are 69 Nebraskans on Division I rosters, according to RichKern.com, a Lincoln-based website that promotes women's volleyball. That's 40.3 players per-million population, which ranks second only to Hawaii's 56.1 players per million.

Five Nebraskans play for the Huskers, second in the Big Ten and ranked No. 4 nationally this week. Six play in Omaha for Creighton, which is three spots out of the Top 25. Eleven are playing for the upstart Division I program at Nebraska-Omaha.

In Division II, Nebraska-Kearney was No. 1 for five straight weeks earlier in the season and is now No. 4 with 12 homegrown players. Wayne State has been as high as No. 12 in Division II and is now No. 18 with 11 Nebraskans.

Four of the state's small colleges are ranked in the NAIA — No. 6 Hastings, No. 19 Doane, No. 22 Midland and No. 24 Bellevue — with all but a handful of players from the state.

Former Huskers player Christy Johnson-Lynch, who grew up in Omaha and coaches No. 22 Iowa State, regularly mines the state for players and has three Nebraskans on this year's roster. No. 16 Kansas State has three Nebraskans and No. 17 Kansas has four.

There are 20 high school seniors known to have verbally committed to signing with Division I schools in 2013. The recruiting class is highlighted by Papillion-La Vista South stars Kadie and Amber Rolfzen and Kelly Hunter, all of whom are going to Nebraska.

Schools as far away as Boston College, Central Florida and Pacific — not to mention Ohio State and Notre Dame — will sign players from the state.

Some Division I schools now pluck away players who used to be destined for Division II programs like UNK and Wayne State.

Omaha Skutt's Jessica Diederich and Omaha Marian's Lexi Elman have pledged to sign with Pacific in Stockton, Calif. Coach Greg Gibbons said recruits from Nebraska can strengthen his program as it prepares for its 2013 entry into the West Coast Conference, which has three top 25 teams this week.

"It's one of the top conferences in the country, so we're looking for the right kind of people to get on the bus for us," Gibbons said.

Gibbons said he finds that Nebraska recruits generally have a stronger work ethic than players from other parts of the country.

"We're just looking for the best student-athletes possible to get in here, whether they're from California, Arizona or the Midwest," Gibbons said. "We've made a humungous push in the Midwest and, more specifically in this next class, in Nebraska."

Volleyball has been played in varying forms in Nebraska since the early 1900s. For many years, girls' volleyball matches were warm-up acts for boys' basketball games.

The Nebraska School Activities Association sanctioned the sport in 1972. The Huskers' program started in 1975, and Pettit took over two years later. The program has produced five Olympians since 1988, including 2012 Team USA player Jordan Larson.

When Pettit conducted camps, he would hire high school coaches from around the state and set aside time to work exclusively with them on concepts and strategy.

Pettit also conducted what he called "satellite" clinics across the state. He remembered that at one clinic in the small town of Dunning, he brought along six clinicians to work with just five participants.

Interest in volleyball blossomed, and now there are more than 80 club programs in the state to go along with the high school teams. Cook and Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said the best female athletes in the state now tend to pursue volleyball over sports such as basketball and track.

So abundant is the talent that women from this state of just 1.8 million can be found playing at the highest level across the nation.

"No matter what the population is," Pacific's Gibbons said, "when you have good teachers of the game and girls who want to play the game as hard as they are in Nebraska, you're going to come up with a pretty good product."

[UMStan White]

Go Huskers! (I'm a believer!)

[THE_WIZARD_]

My daughter plays volleyball in high school this year and they are 26-1 this year and they have 4 players that are being recruited by Division I progams...and they are in the fourth biggest classification in the state...NE truly is a volleyball powerhouse...

[THE_WIZARD_]

...by the way my daughter is 6'0" and really doesn't even care about volleyball...she is a basketball player...she has been recruited by several Division I volleyball schools but prefers basketball...it is very odd how Nebraska can be so dominant in volleyball? My daughters team is 26-1 and is only rated as the 20th best team in the state in all classes combined...

[lineygoblue]

Seriously, Wiz. What is it with volleyball in Nebraska? Why is it so popular there?

[THE_WIZARD_]

Well UNL has been a force for a long time liney...it trickles down from there I guess...hard to explain given our limited population. The #1 ranked high school team in the nation right now is a school in an Omaha suburb and I think our #2 team is ranked in the top 30 in the nation as well...weird.

[entropy]

liney.. the previous UNL volleyball coach did an excellent job of creating passion in the state. He helped HS coaches build programs and with success and high level of play came the fans.

Girls now dream of playing at UNL. Parents dream of their girls playing at UNL. it has become a passion built over 20 years.