Nebraska...not feeling Frosty anymore

[*JD*]

Nike > Adidas at alternate uniform designs...

Under Armor > Adidas too... I don't care much for any of these new jerseys but Adidas sets the bar really low to make the others look decent.

Nike? Really?

They did nicely with Mizzou's unis a couple of years ago but they still have these on their resume':

[*JD*]

Under Armor did take the cake for crap, though.

[*JD*]

I don't understand the emphasis that these companies put on eliminating the team's traditional colors.

I mean MSU's "special" uniforms last year made them look like anything BUT Michigan State. They looked more like Oregon or Colorado State.

These Nebraska uni's definitely have a T Tech look to them. What's wrong with the red and white that Nebraska usually wears? Just use their regular colors ... sheesh

I have a friend out here that is a Nebraska fan and he said he doesn't mind the black because of the D wearing black shirts in practice.

[UMStan White]

Uh...that's black skirts lately

[entropy]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120727/BIGRED/707279864/-1#bo-knows-keeping-husker-ship-steady-isn-t-easy

Bo knows: Keeping Husker ship steady isn't easy

[WingsFan]

All the Nike looks terrible, I must say I did think Maryland was ok for a team with no really football tradition. What did they have to lose, plus Halloween was around the corner.

[Wild Hoss]

http://www.omaha.com/article/2012072...ady-isn-t-easy

Bo knows: Keeping Husker ship steady isn't easy

Really tired of his whining.

[entropy]

Bo Pelini described it as riding a wave. Will Compton, a roller coaster.

Whatever your preferred metaphor, Pelini believes that the waves can be as big in Lincoln as they are anywhere.

“You tell your players: Don’t read the blogs, don’t do this and that. But they’re human, they hear it, they see it,” the Nebraska football coach said at the recently concluded Big Ten Media Days. “I as much worry about it when things are going good as when things are going bad … because they ride the waves.

“You guys know. Not just the media, but I’m talking with the fan base, or in town. You play good and you’re the ’85 Bears. You lose and the sky is falling. Or you don’t play well and the world’s coming to an end. There’s not a lot of middle ground.”

That can make it tough, Pelini said, because it's a contradictory message to the one stressed within the program — a message that focuses on staying with the process, of maintaining an even keel whatever the previous week’s result.

And, yes, he thinks the local attention to Husker football is probably even greater at times than it is at other big-time programs such as LSU or Oklahoma, two places he coached at as an assistant.

“LSU is into it, Oklahoma was into it,” Pelini said. “But the constant seven days a week, 365 days a year, it’s different here than those places. It’s not as constant a barrage of it at some of the others places I’ve been. It’s kind of compartmentalized a little bit where the players aren’t slammed over the head with it every day of the year. That is a challenge here.

“But it just is the way it is. It’s not going away. And believe me, the fans' passion for it, and the media, that’s a positive. But there are issues with that, too, that relate to our football team and how you keep them focused and heading in a certain direction.”

Compton, a senior linebacker who will be a leading voice of the defense in 2012, said blocking out the hype after wins is something this year's team must learn to do.

He recalls last year when Nebraska beat Michigan State 24-3 and “you get put on this pedestal.”

“And then what happens is you buy into it, and then you get humbled real fast,” Compton said.

Nebraska lost 28-25 to Northwestern in Lincoln the next week.

Similar letdowns happened in previous years. In 2009, the Huskers got a big road win on national television against Missouri only to lose at home the next two weeks, to Texas Tech and Iowa State. In 2010, Nebraska followed a dominating win at Kansas State with a bitter loss to a struggling Texas team.

“And when you get humbled real fast, the next thing you know, you’re the worst Nebraska team ever assembled,” Compton said. “It’s good and bad. It sucks because you want positive support from fans all the time, but then at the same time, it’s also a good thing your fans are so passionate. You want it like that.

"We need everybody (on the team) to understand, ‘Hey, we can’t ride the roller coaster throughout the season.’ … And we can’t buy into the hype. We have to understand that we’re on a mission to restore stuff and take care of ourselves.”

Compton thinks this team, led by a senior class loaded with players now in their fifth year in Pelini's program, is going to do just that.

The games will tell soon enough, but Pelini sees encouraging signs. He said players are holding their peers more accountable than in past years.

That’s always been around to some degree, he believes. But he said that accountability has been growing more in the last year, and never more so than with this team.

When a player sees another player doing something wrong, Pelini said leaders on the team are now sometimes taking care of the discipline themselves.

“Then they’ll come up to me (and say), ‘This is what happened, Coach. You need to know this. We already took care of this. You don’t need to worry about it.’”

One of the best parts, Pelini said, is that “young guys are learning from the older guys.”

It’s a growing maturity on his team that he believes is helping limit distractions off the field, too.

“One thing I’m proud of with our team is you don’t see our guys in the paper for the wrong reasons,” Pelini said. “Our kids represent themselves and the program pretty well right now. … I’m not saying there hasn’t been a stumble here and there, but it’s few and far between.

"When I first took over here, you’d lay down to go to bed and it’d be like, ‘What am I going to get called about tonight?’ And that’s gone away. And that’s a testament to the kind of kids that we have in our program.”

Bo Pelini described it as riding a wave. Will Compton, a roller coaster.

Whatever your preferred metaphor, Pelini believes that the waves can be as big in Lincoln as they are anywhere.

“You tell your players: Don’t read the blogs, don’t do this and that. But they’re human, they hear it, they see it,” the Nebraska football coach said at the recently concluded Big Ten Media Days. “I as much worry about it when things are going good as when things are going bad … because they ride the waves.

“You guys know. Not just the media, but I’m talking with the fan base, or in town. You play good and you’re the ’85 Bears. You lose and the sky is falling. Or you don’t play well and the world’s coming to an end. There’s not a lot of middle ground.”

That can make it tough, Pelini said, because it's a contradictory message to the one stressed within the program — a message that focuses on staying with the process, of maintaining an even keel whatever the previous week’s result.

And, yes, he thinks the local attention to Husker football is probably even greater at times than it is at other big-time programs such as LSU or Oklahoma, two places he coached at as an assistant.

“LSU is into it, Oklahoma was into it,” Pelini said. “But the constant seven days a week, 365 days a year, it’s different here than those places. It’s not as constant a barrage of it at some of the others places I’ve been. It’s kind of compartmentalized a little bit where the players aren’t slammed over the head with it every day of the year. That is a challenge here.

“But it just is the way it is. It’s not going away. And believe me, the fans' passion for it, and the media, that’s a positive. But there are issues with that, too, that relate to our football team and how you keep them focused and heading in a certain direction.”

Compton, a senior linebacker who will be a leading voice of the defense in 2012, said blocking out the hype after wins is something this year's team must learn to do.

He recalls last year when Nebraska beat Michigan State 24-3 and “you get put on this pedestal.”

“And then what happens is you buy into it, and then you get humbled real fast,” Compton said.

Nebraska lost 28-25 to Northwestern in Lincoln the next week.

Similar letdowns happened in previous years. In 2009, the Huskers got a big road win on national television against Missouri only to lose at home the next two weeks, to Texas Tech and Iowa State. In 2010, Nebraska followed a dominating win at Kansas State with a bitter loss to a struggling Texas team.

“And when you get humbled real fast, the next thing you know, you’re the worst Nebraska team ever assembled,” Compton said. “It’s good and bad. It sucks because you want positive support from fans all the time, but then at the same time, it’s also a good thing your fans are so passionate. You want it like that.

"We need everybody (on the team) to understand, ‘Hey, we can’t ride the roller coaster throughout the season.’ … And we can’t buy into the hype. We have to understand that we’re on a mission to restore stuff and take care of ourselves.”

Compton thinks this team, led by a senior class loaded with players now in their fifth year in Pelini's program, is going to do just that.

The games will tell soon enough, but Pelini sees encouraging signs. He said players are holding their peers more accountable than in past years.

That’s always been around to some degree, he believes. But he said that accountability has been growing more in the last year, and never more so than with this team.

When a player sees another player doing something wrong, Pelini said leaders on the team are now sometimes taking care of the discipline themselves.

“Then they’ll come up to me (and say), ‘This is what happened, Coach. You need to know this. We already took care of this. You don’t need to worry about it.’”

One of the best parts, Pelini said, is that “young guys are learning from the older guys.”

It’s a growing maturity on his team that he believes is helping limit distractions off the field, too.

“One thing I’m proud of with our team is you don’t see our guys in the paper for the wrong reasons,” Pelini said. “Our kids represent themselves and the program pretty well right now. … I’m not saying there hasn’t been a stumble here and there, but it’s few and far between.

"When I first took over here, you’d lay down to go to bed and it’d be like, ‘What am I going to get called about tonight?’ And that’s gone away. And that’s a testament to the kind of kids that we have in our program.”

[entropy]

Nebraksa fans do take things to extremes. But I'd argue that many canvases do that as well

[entropy]

http://omaha.com/article/20120728/BIGRED/707289859#shatel-pelini-should-embrace-the-big-red-spotlight

Tom Shatels opinion..

[entropy]

A survey conducted two years ago determined that there was a significant demand for more tickets for Nebraska volleyball matches than the 4,000 per match at NU Coliseum.


But there are some times you don’t need a survey to know a change might be for the better.

When Nebraska coach John Cook takes the court before each match at the Coliseum, he walks past long lines of fans waiting outside the women’s restroom. In the past, Cook has received notes from fans disappointed they had missed entire sets of matches while waiting to use one of the two restrooms available to fans.

So, yes, it was probably time for a major upgrade for the volleyball program, at least in terms of the number of seats, different seating options and restroom and concessions available to loyal fans.

Still, only time will tell if the Nebraska volleyball team's move to Devaney Sports Center next season will be able to re-create the same intimate atmosphere that can be electric — and downright loud — during matches at the Coliseum.

The Coliseum has arguably been the toughest place to play in the country, and made a Husker volleyball match an event many Nebraskans want to experience.

Project managers and architects are confident the atmosphere and noise at a renovated Sports Center can be comparable to the Coliseum. If nothing else, numbers will be in the Huskers’ favor, and more tickets means young volleyball players, along with high school and college students, will have a better chance to attend matches.

The details are still being finalized, but the Sports Center is expected to have between 6,000 and 7,000 seats for volleyball matches, according to John Ingram, associate athletic director for capital planning and construction. A curtain in the upper sections will allow more seats to become available to meet demand. Devaney could still be used for gymnastics and wrestling meets and state basketball tournaments.

Plans are still in the works as to what the move will mean for current volleyball season-ticket holders. Cook hopes the now 10-year-old sellout streak will continue at Devaney.

Seeing the artist renderings for the project gives you a feel of the excitement planners have for the makeover. The ceiling has a bit of the old charm of the Coliseum, and makes the arena seem smaller than it is. A new lobby will have displays to honor the program's three national championship teams — along with a growing number of Olympians — and will be more accessible for fans.

“When I saw the first set of drawings,” Cook said, “the first thing I thought was, ‘This is a new version of the Coliseum.'”

Two-a-day practices for the Huskers begin Aug. 8, and the upcoming season will be the last one for NU at the Coliseum, the historic building one block east of Memorial Stadium. Nebraska will shift practices and matches to Devaney for the 2013 season.

Cook thought the Coliseum would always be the home of Husker volleyball. Then the perfect storm occurred. Lincoln voters approved a new downtown arena, giving the Nebraska basketball teams a new place to play. And the volleyball team had outgrown the Coliseum. Last season, single-match tickets sold out in less than 30 minutes.

Initially skeptical of the move, Cook was not eager to lose what the team had at the Coliseum.

“Devaney is a completely different building. It’s a big, square building,” he said. “The great thing about the Coliseum is that it doesn’t matter where you’re sitting, you feel close and part of the action. You can feel the speed and power of the game. You feel like you can almost reach out and touch those players. We have those courtside seats where people get hit with balls. That’s what you want. That’s why they love volleyball. You feel it. You experience it.”

After sitting in on several project planning meetings, Cook is fully behind the move. For matches, the floor-level A section will be redesigned, bringing fans as close to the floor as possible. The number of courtside seats will double to 128. Two students sections will be added near the benches to possibly include as many as 500 students.

There are minor upgrades that will make life better for the athletes and coaches — expanded locker rooms and training rooms — but it’s the south side of the arena that has Cook most excited.

“Everything is going to be in one place, and it’s going to be a very powerful look when you’re sitting down on the court looking up at (five) skyboxes, offices, fans, all the banners. That’s going to be the signature wall,” Cook said. “We’re designing it so that’s what TV is going to be showing. I think that’s going to be the great visual. You’re going to look at that and think, ‘Something special is happening here.’”

The move could also give Nebraska a chance to one day overtake Hawaii as the women’s volleyball attendance leader. Hawaii led the NCAA for the 16th straight year in 2011, with an average of 6,814 fans per match.

Hawaii is also the only volleyball program that turns a profit. More chances to generate revenue from ticket sales mean the volleyball program could soon become a revenue-generator at Nebraska, even without sizable revenue for the rights to television broadcasts, like football and basketball.

The $20 million for the project had previously been set aside by the athletic department for future Devaney improvements.

“To have a female sport that doesn’t have to rely on football, I think that’s a powerful statement,” Cook said.





Post Extras: * * *

[entropy]

Ljs

Cameron Beck doesn’t mind being homeless for three days and two nights when the payout is nearly $1,700.

“We thought it’d be a good opportunity to make some money to lessen our rent cost per month,” he said. “It’ll lessen our rent a lot.”

Beck and his four roommates hope to rent out their five-bedroom southwest Lincoln home on Husker home game weekends this fall. Their home is one of the first two to be listed on a new website created recently to connect willing homeowners and potential game weekend renters.

Lincolnfootballrentals.com is part of a larger network of nearly 20 websites established across the country to connect homeowners and renters in cities with established college football teams. University Football Rentals currently lists homes for rent in 21 college towns, as well as in Sturgis, S.D., where the company lists homes for rent during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Mike Doyle, CEO of Rent Like A Champion, the parent company for the rental websites, said three Notre Dame graduates started the company in 2006 after having listed their rental homes on a website. He said other South Bend, Ind., residents began asking the three men to list their homes on the website as well.

Since then, Rent Like A Champion has coordinated more than 750 rentals resulting in more than $1 million in income for homeowners. The average price for a weekend stay at one of its listed homes is about $1,500, though at least one South Bend home was priced at $3,600 for four nights.

Doyle said the company looks for cities that have well-established football programs and where demand outpaces supply for hotel rooms on game weekends.

“Lincoln really fit that mold nicely,” he said. “It’s obviously a really great football tradition.”

In addition, he said, “There was a need for some sort of new lodging option.”

Sierra Allen -- marketing director for Lincoln Football Rentals and a junior marketing major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln -- said she has begun knocking on doors of homes near Memorial Stadium that appear suitable for rental. She earns $50 for each home she signs up.

She said homeowners set their own prices, though those prices typically depend on how close a home is to the stadium and how many people can stay there. Two homes were listed on Lincolnfootballrentals.com this week, though Allen said another three homeowners are planning to list their homes.

She said she looks for well-maintained homes and requires a $1,000 security deposit from renters to pay for any potential damages. It’s free to list homes on the website, though the company receives 15 percent of paid rental fees.

“People are desperate for a place to stay, especially close to campus,” she said. “It’s really about comfort, as well as convenience.”

Beck said he and his roommates were concerned about people damaging their home but decided the contract and security deposit should protect them. He and his roommates plan to stay at their friends’ home next door on game day weekends when their home is being rented.

“We haven’t really told them yet we’d be crashing there,” he said.

[entropy]

Ljs

Cameron Beck doesn?t mind being homeless for three days and two nights when the payout is nearly $1,700.

?We thought it?d be a good opportunity to make some money to lessen our rent cost per month,? he said. ?It?ll lessen our rent a lot.?

Beck and his four roommates hope to rent out their five-bedroom southwest Lincoln home on Husker home game weekends this fall. Their home is one of the first two to be listed on a new website created recently to connect willing homeowners and potential game weekend renters.

Lincolnfootballrentals.com is part of a larger network of nearly 20 websites established across the country to connect homeowners and renters in cities with established college football teams. University Football Rentals currently lists homes for rent in 21 college towns, as well as in Sturgis, S.D., where the company lists homes for rent during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Mike Doyle, CEO of Rent Like A Champion, the parent company for the rental websites, said three Notre Dame graduates started the company in 2006 after having listed their rental homes on a website. He said other South Bend, Ind., residents began asking the three men to list their homes on the website as well.

Since then, Rent Like A Champion has coordinated more than 750 rentals resulting in more than $1 million in income for homeowners. The average price for a weekend stay at one of its listed homes is about $1,500, though at least one South Bend home was priced at $3,600 for four nights.

Doyle said the company looks for cities that have well-established football programs and where demand outpaces supply for hotel rooms on game weekends.

?Lincoln really fit that mold nicely,? he said. ?It?s obviously a really great football tradition.?

In addition, he said, ?There was a need for some sort of new lodging option.?

Sierra Allen -- marketing director for Lincoln Football Rentals and a junior marketing major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln -- said she has begun knocking on doors of homes near Memorial Stadium that appear suitable for rental. She earns $50 for each home she signs up.

She said homeowners set their own prices, though those prices typically depend on how close a home is to the stadium and how many people can stay there. Two homes were listed on Lincolnfootballrentals.com this week, though Allen said another three homeowners are planning to list their homes.

She said she looks for well-maintained homes and requires a $1,000 security deposit from renters to pay for any potential damages. It?s free to list homes on the website, though the company receives 15 percent of paid rental fees.

?People are desperate for a place to stay, especially close to campus,? she said. ?It?s really about comfort, as well as convenience.?

Beck said he and his roommates were concerned about people damaging their home but decided the contract and security deposit should protect them. He and his roommates plan to stay at their friends? home next door on game day weekends when their home is being rented.

?We haven?t really told them yet we?d be crashing there,? he said.

[Wild Hoss]

http://omaha.com/article/20120728/BI...-red-spotlight

Tom Shatels opinion..

That's as close to breaking out the fastball as Shatel has come for a while. Dirk threw out a little heat as well.

World Herald may be sending a message.

[entropy]

http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/story?storyId=8225419

LAS VEGAS -- Tipoff is in four minutes, and Tim Miles has missed the exit to Bishop Gorman High School.

"God bless-ed!" he says. "We're not going to be there for the jump ball."

The new Nebraska coach zigzags from lane to lane on Interstate 15 in Las Vegas, eventually taking the next exit and circling under the highway. Frustrated with his Garmin, Miles threatens to treat the GPS device the same way he did the "fuzz-buster" -- his term for radar detector -- that failed to prevent him from receiving a pair of speeding tickets a few years ago.

"After the second one," he says, "I threw it as far as I could into some cornfield in Minnesota."

Miles chuckles as he zooms toward the gym to recruit. So much has already happened on this Thursday in Vegas -- and it's only 8 a.m.

Less than eight hours earlier, as his plane descended toward the McCarran Airport runway, Miles pressed his cellphone against the window and snapped a photo of Sin City's infamous Strip.

"Arrived in LAS. Ready for some more serious hoops!!" the coach tweeted at 12:21 a.m.

Miles, who had spent the previous evening recruiting in Kansas City, got lost on the way to the Marriott and didn't make it to bed until 1:30 a.m. His wake-up call came five hours later and he was out the door by 7:30 -- all so he could be at Bishop Gorman by 8 to watch Nick Fuller, a 6-foot-7 forward from Wisconsin who ranks near the top of Miles' wish list from the Class of 2013.

And now he's running late.

"I'm not sure if recruits notice those things or not," Miles says as he pulls into the high school parking lot at 8:05. "I think all of these kids realize that stuff happens, that life happens. The summer is tough on the players. But it's tough on the coaches, too."

Especially Miles.

While his wife, Kari, has been packing up their belongings in Fort Collins, Colo., where Miles coached the past five seasons at Colorado State, Miles has used the four months since his hiring at Nebraska to play "catch-up" in recruiting. Cont...