Getting to know you,

 

Since the Big Ten is the oldest conference in the nation it seems natural, because of their highly competitive nature and the border line existence of these states, that rivalries have been formed over the years and continue being formed even in the 21 Century. Some of these rivalries exist because they offer bragging rights within that state. The history and the formation of these rivalries are both interesting and in most cases very amusing.

BIG TEN RIVALRIES

Wisconsin and Minnesota and the Paul Bunyan Axe. The most notable of rivalries and the longest running rivalry is the annual football game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers with the winner picking up the Paul Bunyan Axe. The first game in this series was in 1890 with the Gophers winning 63-0.

This score along with the other 119 scores are marked on the handle in red ink. There have been so many games that the scores scroll up and down the width of the handle on both sides. Now it is necessary to mark the scores on the narrow edges of the six-foot handle.

The Axe is on the side of the field of the team winning the previous year. At the conclusion of the game, the winning team, all of them, grab the Axe and parade it around the stadium.

Actually there wasn’t a Paul Bunyan Axe in existence until much later in the 1940’s. In 1906 the game was canceled by President Theodore Roosevelt who decided that the heated college rivalry should take a year off and “cool it’.

Dr. R.B. Fouch of Minneapolis fashioned a log of black walnut into a traveling trophy the he hoped would compare to the well-known “Little Brown Jug “ of the Minnesota and Michigan matches. This first trophy was christened as the “Slab of Bacon” with the idea that the winning team would “bring home the bacon”.

But later on in the mid 40”s, the trophy became the “Missing Slab of Bacon”. Following a Wisconsin home game win the students and fans ran crazy over the field and the trophy disappeared. and remained loss. Meanwhile the teams had to play for something so in 1948 the Wisconsin W Club instituted the “Paul Bunyan’s Axe”, which they deemed more fitting for this great rivalry.

In 1994, the Slab of Bacon was back in the news when the long-lost trophy was found after a Camp Randall Stadium storage room was cleaned out. Wisconsin officials estimated that it had been missing since 1945; yet the scores of every Wisconsin-Minnesota game from 1930-70 were printed on the back of the slab. It is one of those Twilight Zonesque mysteries that remains unexplained, and contributes to the legend of Minnesota’s and Wisconsin’s “Border Battle” rivalry.

Wisconsin and Iowa and the Heartland Bul. This is another long term rivalry, but it was not put into trophy form until 2004. This series is also over 100 years old but with the expansion of the conference, these two teams are now in different divisions and this brings this annual clash to a halt. (Similar to what happened between Oklahoma and Nebraska)

The trophy for this event was a brass bull, a symbol of the farming background of these two schools. The Heartland trophy was designed and crafted by former University of Iowa football player, Frank Strub. The Trophy is 30 inches tall, 36 inches long and 18 inches deepand is mounted on a walnut base. This Trophy became the 16th traveling trophy in the Big Ten.

Iowa and Minnesota and Floyd the Pig. The history of this traveling trophy starts with the game in 1934 and the rough treatment given Ozzie Simmons, a black Iowa running back, by the Gophers. Enough said.

The following year, the Gophers were 5-0 and the Hawkeye’s were 4-0-1 and that game was to be played in Iowa City. Fevers were still running high and the Gophers coach requested police protection and was granted coverage. In return the Iowa Governor said, “if the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year, I’m sure the crowd won’t,” clearly a threat. And then, as you can imagine, the remarks and letters and phone calls flowed between the two State Houses.

To lighten the mood, Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson sent a telegram to Governor Herring which read, “Minnesota folks are excited about your statement about the Iowa crowd lynching the Minnesota football team. I have assured them that your are a law abiding gentleman only trying to get our goat…I will bet you a Minnesota prize hog against an Iowa prize hog that Minnesota wins.”

The Gophers won 13-6 and Iowa’s star, Ozzie Simmons, played an injury-free game. Gopher players went out of their way to compliment Simmons and Simmons praised the Gophers for their clean, hard-fought play.

The Iowa Governor was given an award winning prize pig by the Rosedale Farms in Iowa and the pig was named Floyd of Rosedale, after the Minnesota Governor and a few day later Governor Herring personally walked Floyd of Rosedale into the office of Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson.

Now you might think all was now hunky dory and every thing was cool, but other people got into this ongoing story.

Iowa social crusader Virgil Case swore out a criminal warrant in Des Moines against Governor Herring, alleging that the bet violated Iowa gambling laws. Herring jokingly stated that he had retained Governor Olson as his attorney, who argued that it was not a true bet because Herring did not have a chance of winning it. However, an assistant Iowa attorney general convinced a judge to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds because the bet had been made in Minnesota and Iowa City, beyond the local court’s jurisdiction. Crusader Case also argued that the governors were guilty of violating federal gambling laws because the pig had been placed into interstate commerce when Herring made good on the bet, but the U.S. Attorneys declined to prosecute. President Franklin Roosevelt’s former son-in-law, Curtis Dall, who attended the 1935 game as a guest of the governors, suggested that they name the pig “New Deal.” Herring vetoed that proposal.

Since the two schools could not continue wagering a live pig, Governor Olson commissioned a Saint Paul sculptor Charles Brioscho to capture Floyd’s image. The result was a Bronze pig trophy 21 inches long and 15 inches high. And this has been the trophy every since.

Minnesota and Michigan and the Little Brown Jug. This rivalry started on very friendly and fun terms.

In 1901 Fielding Yost took over the head coach position for the Wolverines and the team took off with a win streak of 28 wins and in 1903 were scheduled to meet the Gophers who also were fielding one of the best teams in school history. Being a home game the Minnesota fans were hyped up for this great showdown between these two giants and the possibility of ending the Michigan streak.

Yost was worried that the high Gopher fans might try to contaminate his water so he sent a student manager to buy something that they could keep water in for the players. For thirty cents the manager came back with a five-gallon jug.

Twenty thousand fans watched the match up between the two teams in an overflowing of the Northrop Field. Minnesota held the fabled “point-a-minute” squad to just one touchdown but hadn’t yet managed to score a touchdown of their own. Finally, late in the second half, the Gophers reached the end zone to tie the game at 6–6. As clouds from an impending storm hung overhead, pandemonium struck when Minnesota fans stormed the field in celebration. Eventually the game had to be called with two minutes remaining. The Wolverines walked off the field, leaving the jug behind in the locker room.

The next day custodian Oscar Munson found the jug and gave it to L. J. Cooke, the Atheletic Director  for Minnesota and told him “Yost left his jug”. Being all excited to have this little bit of memorabilia, they painted it brown and on the side wrote, “Michigan Jug – Captured by Oscar, October 31, 1903” and on the side along with the score “Michigan 6, Minnesota 6”. And of course in the spirit of favored owners they wrote the Minnesota score much larger than the Michigan score.

A couple of days later the Michigan coach sent a letter to AD Cooke and told him he had left the jug and wanted it back. I can imagine the grin on AD Cooke’s face as he wrote back, “Yes, we have your little brown jug and if you want it back you have to win it.”

Another traveling trophy was launched in the Big Ten.

Roger

The Red Clad Coot in the Desert

 

　

　

　

　

I am writing this after being hitched to the Big Ten Network from 9:00 am Saturday till 6:00 Sunday. The only time I didn’t watch was to follow the Wimbledon Tennis and go to church. Yea I know, that was an awful long time but I enjoyed every minute of it. And I hope you watched it to.

I got an e-mail from Betsy Apking thanking me for putting this out in Husker Huddle Quicky. She said she didn’t know about it till she read the article and then she watched every minute of it and enjoyed it immensely.

It was wonderful watching National Championship games against Miami (and Mr. Sapp) and against Tennessee (and Mr Payton). Golly gee, watching that old smash mouth, wear ‘em out style of football. Who can forget in the fourth quarter of the Miami game, Mr. Sapp on his knees gasping for air while the Big Red O line stood up looking down at him.

And hearing names you hadn’t thought of for a long time, Damon Benning, Frazier, Berringer, Ed Stewart, Zack Wiegart, Brandon Stai, Zatechka, Donte Jones, Terry Connealy, Ahmen Green, The Peter Brothers, Phillips, Wistrom, Schlesinger. And there are plenty of others, all contributors to the success of the Huskers in the 90’s. And at the end of the Tennessee game we got to hear Scotty Frost dare the voters not to give Nebraska and Coach Osborne the title. You have to remember that little speech. That was probably the best game of all for Frosty the QB.

It was a fantastic Husker afternoon. Watching these games again really wetted my appetite for Husker Football. Each game was followed by a 1 hour recap of the game, but in a different manner. You got to hear the coaches talk to the DL, the OL, the Secondary and of course Osborne’s final talk to the team. Also during the game, a lot of attention was given to the coaches talking to each other about the next play or whatever and you listened in.

Late Sunday I was surprised to find a recap of the 2001 Baseball season where the Huskers swept the League Title and the Conference Title and then go on to the CWS. Like I said, this was quite a welcome.

I plead with you, if you don’t have the Big Ten Network, hustle in and get it. It is fantastic. Do that and I will contribute my commission for selling the Big Ten Network to our Scholarship Fund.

Football

Well we still have a couple of months to go before the first kick off. So lets take a look at the one position which will go a long way to determining this season.

Quarterback.

Very probably Martinez will be the starting QB for the first one, two or three games. But then who will be the QB? A lot is questionable, like injuries, defensive pressure, decision making. Three easy games and then Washington, and that game should set the lineup for meeting our new friends in the B1G.

We can expect to see other bodies in at this position. First there is 200 lb. 6’1” RFR Brian Carnes who made such a big splash in the spring game. He’s probably #2 now as he had been somewhat introduced into Coach Becks offensive style. Last year as the QB of the scout team, he did present a little problem to the defensive teams, both lines and backs.

Untested at this time, but with a lot of credentials, is Bubba Sterling from Kansas and at 195 lbs and 6‘5“ and is now on campus. Bubba was drafted by Kansas City for baseball and the question still remains as to his intent to play football for UNL. He has quite a record in Kansas High School football and hopefully will be able to adjust to the Big Red style.

All in all, it will be very interesting to see what develops over the first 3 or 4 games before Conference play starts.

One thing I noticed in those two games, Miami and Tennessee, was the power of the offensive line and the pancake blocking, knocking your man down. Back in those days, one of the recorded stats was “Pancakes”. I hope that maybe it is time to start counting those kind of plays again and have an OL that knocks them down on the line.

Now lets take a look at other Husker teams starting many of whom are getting ready for their new conference play and new teams.

Women’s Basketball

The Nebraska women’s basketball team tipped off practice June 19 for its summer tour of Europe in early August, and Coach Connie Yori is excited about the Huskers’ level of play after two days of practice.

“I am very encouraged by the play of our freshmen,” Yori said. “We’ve got some good young players who really have a chance to help us this year. It’s exciting to see them picking things up pretty quickly.”

Nebraska’s four-player freshman class of Emily Cady, Brandi Jeffery, Tear’a Laudermill and Hailie Sample practiced with the rest of the Huskers for the first time with an early morning workout on Sunday, June 19.

The Huskers will conclude their summer practice Aug. 1-4, before playing four games in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Aug. 5-15.

“Our returning players have gotten better since the end of last season, and our freshmen have shown both the athleticism and instincts to help us right away,” Yori said. “Emily, Brandi and Tear’a have all done good things for us in practice, and Hailie was able to practice for the first time Tuesday, which was also encouraging.”

　

Women’s Softball

Coach Ronda Revelle has had a good season in bringing in outstanding players to boost this team who posted a 41-14 record and finished with a No. 21 national ranking. I just hope these players and the whole team can play in the cool, if not old, spring weather they will find in the B1G.

Two members of the Nebraska softball team’s incoming freshman class where honored when the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association (NFCA) announced its high school all-region teams. Outfielder Jordan Bettiol was a first-team selection in the south central region, while shortstop/pitcher Mattie Fowler was a second-team choice in the west region.

A native of College Station, Texas, Bettiol is an all-state selection and the district player of the year. Bettiol batted .593 (64-for-108) as a senior, with six doubles, seven triples, three home runs and 20 RBIs. She stole 35 bases in only 36 attempts. Bettiol hit safely in 31 of the Tigers’ 34 games and finished with 22 multi-hit games, including 12 games with at least three hits.

Although she was a second-team all-region selection, Fowler has garnered even bigger accolades following her senior season at Canyon del Oro High School in Tucson, Ariz. Fowler was named the 2010-11 Gatorade Arizona Softball Player of the Year.

As a senior, Fowler helped her team offensively and even stepped into the circle to pitch for the first time since middle school. Offensively, Fowler batted .569 with 17 home runs, 22 doubles and a state-record 91 RBIs while leading the Dorados to a 36-1 record and a state championship.

In the circle, Fowler posted a 14-0 record with a 0.85 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 82.0 innings. Fowler was superb in leading Canyon del Oro to its third state championship in her four seasons, as she started each of the Dorados’ final three games and allowed only three runs.

To top that off, both girls were selected as two of the 30 players for the MaxPreps High School All American 1^st Team.

The third member of Nebraska’s incoming freshman class is pitcher Emily Holt from Woodland, Wash. Holt was the Washington Class 2A state player of the year as a junior, before an injury prevented her from pitching for the majority of her senior season. She helped lead the Beavers to their first state championship in 2010, posting a 4-0 record with 44 strikeouts in 26.0 innings while throwing every inning of the state tournament.

After spending the past two seasons at Arkansas, Courtney Breault will join the Huskers this fall and will be eligible to play immediately. Breault’s decision to transfer to Nebraska potentially fills a void for the 2012 Huskers.

Nebraska must replace only two players from the 2011 season, when the Huskers posted a 41-14 record and finished with a No. 21 national ranking. Both players who must be replaced were four-year starters on the infield, and Breault was Arkansas’ primary starting second baseman the past two seasons. Breault joins incoming freshman Mattie Fowler as the only new infield additions to the Husker roster this season.

“Courtney has the potential to help us immediately next season,” Revelle said. “Not only does she play on the infield, but overall she has the talent and ability to contribute to the team regardless of where she plays.”

Breault batted .272 with 14 doubles, nine home runs and 51 RBIs in her two seasons at Arkansas. She hit for power, posting a .429 slugging percentage, as nearly one-third of her hits went for extra bases. Breault also showed good plate awareness, drawing 38 walks in her Razorback career while finishing with more walks (23) than strikeouts (18) in 2011.

Ladies Soccer

A quick jump over to the Lady ‘Skers Soccer team. Well its more like a long jump over to the UK where the lassies spent two weeks touring England, playing some matches against top women’s teams in UK and watching some of the famous EPL pro soccer matches.

Sophomore forward Maddie Hanssler did a fabulous job posting the diary for this exciting trip . Just go to Huskers.com – Soccer and see her articles. Its loaded with comments and great pictures of their visit. She reported that against Bristol, there was some fan interaction – a streaker. Well he was really dressed so he wasn’t a real streaker.

Since this is a blog, go to the bottom of the postings as they are the beginning and then read , ah up.

Men’s Basketball

How about the guys in basketball. Again a new schedule and some new opponents. As in the Big 12, there was a face off series against PAC 10 teams. Now its against the ACC, another strong B-Ball conference.

The two-day event, which is televised on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com, will have all 12 teams from both the Big Ten and ACC participating. Nebraska will pair off against the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest. The Nov. 30 match up between the Huskers and Demon Deacons will be the first time Nebraska has hosted an ACC school and one of nine first-time matchups in the 2011 Challenge.

You think the football schedule will be a tough one? Well the Huskers face the same in B-Ball and it will be a little different type of play. The B1G is a power, hard hitting, physical style of play. Just go to the Big Ten Network and watch some of the game. Far different that the former conference. (Gosh, who was that? I can’t remember)

Well it’s a little hard to cover Husker Power Sports in the summer time. One thing you can count on is that athletes from all stages are working this summer to improve their physical beibg and push their technical skills to a higher level.

Living here in SaddleBrooke, a retirement community, its fun to wear my Husker shirts and see what kind of response I get from fellow Brookers from all the B1G states. it’s a lot of fun.

I’ll give you a little secret now. Later on we will announce an event featuring seven B1G Alum groups for a Big Ten Alum Corn Roast. Ha, ha, ha that is going to be a fun event. So watch for more news later on. And if you have any roasting stories to tell about these teams, let me know.

Remember on the home page of SOAZ4NE.org there is a place for you to sign up and receive e-mail notices of new posts to our web site. I will continue to send you a notice for a couple of months but then, its up to you to follow our web site.

I just love this new headline on Huskers.com

　

　

　

Roger

The Red Clad Coot on the Desert

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