Sports

THE BIGGEST UPSET EVER?

THE BIGGEST UPSET EVER?

The most exciting sporting event I’ve ever watched was not a Super Bowl. It wasn’t a World Series seventh game. It had nothing to do with the World Cup. It wasn’t the Big Ten Network’s six-hour salute to Ohio State - “BTN Hearts Them Buckeyes!” It wasn’t that hot day in Peoria when Joey Chestnut ate 14 live goats in 27 minutes. No, the greatest, most thrilling event I ever saw - and arguably the biggest upset - occurred 30 years ago this week: the world heavyweight championship fight between Iron Mike Tyson and journeyman Buster Douglas on Feb. 11, 1990. 

REMEMBER WHEN OMAHA HAD AN NBA TEAM?

REMEMBER WHEN OMAHA HAD AN NBA TEAM?

The report last week that Omaha will host the 2020 Major League Baseball draft got me to thinking about a time when Omaha did even better than that. This city was once home to a major league professional sports team.

Even the most diehard NBA fan may not realize it but Omaha, Nebraska a place better known for steakhouses, Warren Buffett and “horizontal sleet” once had an NBA team. It actually shared a team with Kansas City, a city better known for professional baseball and football and for erecting fountains everywhere including in front of mortuaries and inside dental offices.

This is the story of how Omaha landed an NBA team, made a go of it and then ended up losing the team. The Kansas City-Omaha Kings were a thing from 1972 to 1975. It was the old Cincinnati Royals franchise that changed its name from Royals to avoid confusion with the Kansas City baseball organization. Big mistake. Management would’ve been better off sticking with Royals and selling tickets to confused fans thinking they were going to see a young George Brett.

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ONE LAST ROUND

ONE LAST ROUND

My father died a decade ago of congestive heart failure. It wasn’t a shock since he’d suffered a heart attack a few weeks prior (his second) and doctors sent him home after a month in cardiac rehab with a dire diagnosis, an oxygen tank and a whistle to blow if he woke up in distress.  

An hour after arriving home from rehab Dad went to take a nap. A few minutes later the whistle loudly chirped. My mother and brother frantically rushed into the room to see Dad lying in bed with a broad smile on his face. He said, “Just testing.” That tells you most of what you need to know about the man.  

AN OPEN LETTER TO NEBRASKA’S NEW COACH

AN OPEN LETTER TO NEBRASKA’S NEW COACH

Dear Fred Hoiberg:

First of all welcome to the University of Nebraska men’s basketball program! The people of this proud state are prepared to embrace you with open arms. I think you’ll find that Nebraskans are some of the nicest, most decent people on the planet. Just make sure that you are always honest and straight forward with them or they’ll rip your head off, chew it into little pieces and spit it into the Platte River. But if you try hard and you’re aboveboard with folks around here, they will treat you like a king.

SUGGESTIONS TO REPLACE TIM MILES

SUGGESTIONS TO REPLACE TIM MILES

Bill Moos faces the most difficult decision of his life, with the possible exception of having to decide to leave the relatively temperate climate of Washington state for a place where winters tend to be harsher than on the South Pole outback. I figured I’d lend a hand to Moos and offer up these suggestions for a new head Nebraska basketball coach.

REAL SPORT/NOT A REAL SPORT

REAL SPORT/NOT A REAL SPORT

There’s an age-old argument over whether certain activities that we watch and/or participate in are in fact actual sports. It’s time to settle these debates once and for all. My criteria is not readily definable but I know a real sport when I see one.