The Voice of the Mavericks

John Bolton, United States ambassador to the United Nations is scheduled to meet the faces of Lincoln students this upcoming fall semester. Word on the street is that the Husker student body is more than happy to welcome the acting Chief of Staff for the current Presidential administration. I really hope that jab of sarcasm is well-received by the people who read this...

Posted by MavSauceAdmin at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

This green thing is a cucumber that has been long marinated in vinegar, popularly called a "pickle". This title has also been used to denote a tricky situation, sometimes in a derogatory fashion. My friends, the situation that the administration has placed our institution in, mainly with actions regarding our athletic program could in fact be denoted as a pickle. Harold W. Anderson, an editor for the OWH, wrote a pro-Belck piece that some "Voice" writers believe is well within reason. The article does in fact make sense, labeling Belck as an "administrator", that in a sense of making harsh decisions that are in the best interests of our school. Agreed. There must be a sort of Machiavellian-aire to executives of any sort; decisions that are best for the school must be made outside of right and wrong. "Amoral", as he famously described that necessary characteristic of the proper ruler. We are not asking to go that far here, but it is necessary that there be intelligent reasons behind decisions made. We have since begun to see that lacking at UNO this summer.

History lesson warning: For some that don't remember it, UNO entered Division I hockey on a whim. Jumping in with no safety net, hockey landed with a bang in the Omaha area. Selling out, Mav hockey was once an extremely hard ticket to get when the Omaha Civic Auditorium was home. Then came the Qwest Center and our program has fallen on hard times. As the OWH printed an article concerning the moneymaker that it once was. Hockey is an extremely necessary moneymaker needed to fund 4 women's sports teams that were made to comply with Title IX (National Champion Women's soccer team, for example). Dwindling numbers associated to the fact that Omaha is a growing city entertainment-wise, we now see the pickle that we are in.

What does this have to do with Supreme Chancellor Belck? Who entered into a 10-year lease with the Qwest Center, raising our gameday operating costs by nearly double ($700,000+ per home game). Well now, no wonder we are in the red! All we have to do now is entrust our marketing of supposed moneymaker to the same geniuses who do the Omaha Royals, BUT we are not going to specifically market hockey as to cut down on inter-sport squabbling by having one sport favored over another. I am not making this up, folks! The reason hockey was not more aggressively marketed in Omaha was that the Administration feared the repercussions of some sports feeling more favored over another. WHAT??? Do you think UNL fans give two poops about basketball as opposed to football? What do you think would happen if Barry Collier sauntered into AD Steve Pederson's office, wanting more attenion paid to his sport over football? You do the math. And why on Earth would you entrust anything to the people that market the Omaha Royals? The same people whose idea was to name them the "Golden Spikes" for a season. The best job that they do all season could be when the Royals go on a two-week road trip that called the College World Series.

How in the world does UNO let the Omaha Knights into town anyways? For the 147 people that are actual hockey fans, enough that would go see a AAA professional hockey team in a football state, dividing them among professional and amateur lines seems stupid! There should have been a full court press AGAINST the Omaha Knights and Luc Robitaille's mullet, eh.

I'm sorry if this has taken a pro-sports tone in the "Voice" blog, but this is the current vehicle that shows that a change at top might be necessary. Don't what we just said? Well what if I told you that some Athletic Department funds are used to supply the Vice-Chancellor with a car and his country club dues? As reported July 21st in the OWH, $13,836 dollars is accounted for in the AD budget to place Vice-Chancellor Jim Buck a Cadillac DeVille and a membership to the prestigious Omaha Country Club. I know what you're thinking, this must be a common thing right? Well, sort of. For some of you who don't know, Buck followed Belck from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville where Belck affirmed that this was apart of his compensation package there. When Buck received his position, from Belck of course, here he then was given a similar package that was paid for out of the NU Foundation, "the fundraising arm" of our institution. Well, it was subsequently decided that the Foundation was no longer going to fund Mr. Buck's car and his golfing membership. So golf is a sport, right? Why not take money out of our athletic fund to pay for a sport. Makes sense... I wonder, is there a major you can pick to be a top school administrator like this?

In the conclusion of the article, Supreme Chancellor Belck is quoted as saying, "it may again be time to change the funding source for Buck's dues and lease". HOW ABOUT JIM BUCK PAYING FOR IT??? Next time you see Uncle Buck, ask him to take you golfing with the membership you had a hand in paying for. Oh, tell him to pick you up in the car that you are also working 2 jobs to help pay for. Do you think he would give up his car and his golf membership if it meant we could positively benefit as a university? I honestly don't think so. Do you think that these are the people can take us over the top?

Posted by MavSauceAdmin at 7:45 PM | Permalink | Comments