I’ll admit, I wasn’t going to expand my credit card debt.
I wasn’t going to spend any more money on Husker football media web sites.
But, with kickoff of the 2021 Cornhusker gridiron season only 10 days away, I caved.
Some background on what continues to fuel my addiction.
In case you haven’t kept up to date on Nebraska’s newspaper industry, the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star newspapers are now owned by Lee Enterprises. Lee, headquarter in Davenport, Iowa, also owns newspapers in Beatrice, Columbus, Fremont, Grand Island, Kearney, Lexington, North Platte, Scottsbluff, Wahoo, York, and even little Hemingford. They also operate newspapers in 24 other states as well as several marketing services and digital publications.
With this Titanic-type of media power, I became convinced that a new digital offering called Husker Extra would benefit my continued infatuation with Nebraska football.
Last week, I signed up for this new service that combines the talents of photographers, writers, and video artists of both the Omaha and Lincoln newspapers – in an online format known as huskerextra.com.
The site offers not only stories and photos, but live video and audio of Husker news conferences and reporters’ recaps of the day’s practices for all Cornhusker sports.
Do I really need this? No.
Did I want this? Yes. And I’m committed to $10.99 a month. But I can cancel at any time.
However, I’m still old school.
Despite live network television coverage of every Husker football game and a good portion of the other major sports at NU, my best friend is still the radio.
While the long-ago days of Lyell Bremser, Dick Perry, Bob Zenner, Don Gill, Joe Patrick, and Kent Pavelka serving as stadium access for non-ticket holders have passed us, I still am hooked on sports theater of the mind. Greg Sharpe and Matt Davison do a magnificent job of painting the gridiron picture and Kent Pavelka and Matt Coatney do the same with Husker hoops. Sharpe is also a wonderful baseball play by play man.
Plus, my autumn Sunday afternoons are usually spent attached to the Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network – via the internet – and their superior announcer, Mitch Holthus.
Be it Alliance High, the Cornhuskers, or the Chiefs, give me a radio with a good play by play man, and I’m content.
Might I repeat. I am old school.
I still long for the days of picking up my Omaha and Lincoln Sunday paper at 7 a.m. and reading the Cornhusker football recaps.
While I am ready to plunge into the internet’s Husker Extra, my old school habits continue. Recently, my daughter from Omaha brought me a copy of the 2021 Nebraska Football media guide. A good old book with 240 pages of Cornhusker football information.
Even though the guide is available in digital form on the huskers.com web site, I still must hold Nebraska football in my hands.
And that’s a tradition that dates to 1963 that I cannot cancel.