
For the Lawrence Welk crowd.

For the Three Dog Night crowd.
That is all . . . as inexplicable as it is.
IT WOULD SEEM that -- as he sat at the keyboard lying through his teeth to cover his ass -- Coach forgot that reporters witnessed the postgame exchange. This is known as the public-relations equivalent of "Hey, y'all! Watch THIS!"Lincoln East Coach Jeff Hoham issued a statement Thursday and sent a letter to Omaha South Coach Joe Maass regarding the “green card'' incident after the state boys soccer championship game.
Hoham apologized for fans' misbehavior in throwing homemade green cards after East defeated South Tuesday night.
And he said he was not talking about the cards when he told Maass after the incident, “Fans do silly things. . . . Make sure your kids know it wasn't intentional.”
Hoham said he was referring to East fans' running onto the field and to East players' penalties when he made the remarks, according to the statement.
“In several media reports, it would appear that I was not concerned about the actions related to the display of green cards,” Hoham said in the statement, issued by the Lincoln Public Schools.
“In reality, my comments were in reference to something totally different. After the game, I was attempting to apologize for our fans running onto the field, and for my players' penalties during the game.
“I wasn't aware at the time of the events that had transpired with the horrible racist act of fans throwing green cards on the field.
“Please know that those comments do not reflect my thoughts regarding the green card incident, as I deplore racism at any level. Prejudice based on stereotypes is always intentional, and I certainly didn't mean to state that it was unintentional.”
After being approached on the field by reporters and asked about the green cards, Maass walked from South's celebration over to where Hoham was standing with his team. Maass said the two had already shaken hands after the game.ALL TOGETHER NOW . . . "Oy veh!"
With reporters watching, Maass brought up two things with Hoham — how East fans were waving U.S. flags, and the green cards that had been thrown on the field. Maass asked Hoham what he thought about that.
Maass turned and began walking away when Hoham said fans do silly things. Hoham said, “Make sure your kids know it wasn't intentional.”
Maas looked over his shoulder and said, “It never is,” and kept walking.
In his prepared statement, Hoham wrote, “When events like this despicable act occur, it is hard to deal with them, and often painful for us to reflect. However, I believe that a greater good can come from what we all learn from this experience. We can raise our awareness of what stereotyping and discrimination does when it goes unchecked, and we can work actively together to prevent it in the future.”
Several Lincoln East students were suspended Wednesday in connection with a postgame incident that sullied the high school’s Tuesday night boys state soccer championship match against Omaha South.HOLY CRAP. That ain't good.
The students admitted making and distributing “green cards,” a reference to immigration status aimed at South’s largely Latino soccer team.
Also Wednesday, dozens of East students began forming a group to “plan action steps to mend bridges with the South High community,” said Dennis Mann, East’s associate principal.
“Their foremost concern is not how to protect our reputation, but how to heal hurt relationships with South,” he said.
East won the game 4-2 in overtime. But what happened afterwards marred the victory.
Dozens of green paper rectangles were tossed into the air as fans and players celebrated on the field at Creighton University’s Morrison Stadium. The “green cards” lay at midfield behind the Lincoln players and coaches as they received their trophy and medals.
As soon as the ceremony ended, several East administrators and a tearful student rushed onto the field and hurriedly scooped up the paper.
The incident offended South staff and supporters, many of whom had attended graduation ceremonies just before the game.
(snip)
Mann said that only one person, whom he would identify only as a “Lincoln East fan,” actually threw cards on the field.
“One fan threw a stack of cards,” he said.
He said video of the postgame celebration confirmed that.
When pressed whether the person was an East student, an adult or a college student, as some reports have claimed, Mann would say only, “I’m going to call him a Lincoln East fan.”
“We’re taking ownership of this,” he said.
East students made the cards and distributed them, and some other students knew about it and didn’t stop it, Mann said.
The students’ original intention, he said, was to have the crowd hold up the cards en masse during the game, the way a soccer referee would hold up a red or yellow card.
“Very inappropriate, and very hurtful,” Mann said. “But we were able to put the kibosh on that, thanks to some students who did step up (and tell administrators). But we were appalled and ashamed to see the cards come out on the field.”
He said the students who had planned the green card stunt did not know about the fan’s plan to throw them onto the field.
“The kids who have had disciplinary action taken against them are also agreeing to be part of the solution,” Mann said. “They have agreed to take actions, including writing letters of apology, to help heal the hurt that they have caused.”
Lincoln East Principal Susan Cassata said East’s athletic director sent an apology to South’s athletic director. Cassata said she planned to apologize to South Principal Cara Riggs.
Everywhere record-setting soccer goalie Billy Loera goes, from the hallways at Omaha South High School to the streets of his South Omaha neighborhood, he hears the cheers.IT SOUNDS LIKE these kids from South -- or South Omaha -- didn't deserve what they got from the East fans, who I assume don't throw lutefisk at the Gothenburg Swedes . . . or BMW key rings at Omaha Westside.
“Teachers, staff, alumni, people I don't even know at school come up to me,” Loera said. “They tell me, ‘You're making us look real good. Thanks a lot.' ”
By qualifying for Tuesday night's Nebraska state soccer championship game against Lincoln East, Loera and his teammates have given a reason to cheer to a community that sorely needs one.
South High hasn't won a state championship in any sport since a basketball title in 1990. The Nebraska Department of Education recently designated South as one of 52 “persistently low achieving” schools in the state. And some may take a dim view of South Omaha and its growing Latino population, despite the area's lively historic business district and other assets.
That might explain why cheers, tears and text messages flew out of Creighton's Morrison Stadium and spread through Omaha to thousands of Packer supporters after South beat Creighton Prep in a semifinal Saturday night.
“People are just excited that South made it to a championship game,” said Rich Gonzalez, who played baseball, basketball and football at South in the 1980s. “It's about bringing back South High tradition, bringing back some of the state tournament wins that we used to have. But the biggest thing is it's good for the community.”
Gonzalez, a South Omaha native who is a captain on the Omaha Police Department, said people from the area “know we have a great community here; they know what the community's about.”
“When you're from South High, you have the pride,” he said. “No matter what, when they're losing, when they're down, you still follow 'em, you still care about 'em.”
It's 7:15 p.m. at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Three blocks away at Morrison Stadium, music is blaring in preparation for the Class A state boys soccer final, scheduled to start in exactly one hour.FIRST IN their families to get a high-school diploma? That's, like, inspiring.
Soon Manny and his five senior teammates will be under the lights, competing for Omaha South in the school's first state championship game in any sport in 20 years.
But first first they must get to Morrison Stadium. First they must listen to speeches about journeys and goals and ideals.
Manny wants to enjoy the moment. He does. But he would rather beat Lincoln East.
A class officer takes the podium, recounts memories of “dreaded stairwells and delicious cafeteria food.” She thanks her parents. She reminds her classmates to notice life's beauty. She cries.
Manny Lira leans forward in his chair, fidgeting like a 8-year-old who missed recess. He's in the front row about 300 classmates are behind him and he already has soccer socks and spandex under his creased, black slacks. Time is ticking.
6:56 was “Pomp and Circumstance.”
7:10, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
7:21, the school choir.
7:26, the principal.
7:32, an Omaha Public Schools administrator.
“Graduates, I implore you to dream,” she says.
Lira can't take it anymore. He looks at his teammate, Billy Loera, and grumbles.
Roni Huerta saw this coming.
Several weeks ago, the South athletic director contacted the Nebraska School Activities Association and introduced a potential problem. The state championship game is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. May 18. South High's graduation is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 18.
Some of these kids are the first in their family to earn a high school diploma. Some of these kids if forced to choose would choose the graduation ceremony, Huerta told the NSAA.
But really, she was only covering her bases. South had never won a state tournament soccer game, let alone a state championship game.
Then the Packers made state. Then they beat Elkhorn last week in a shootout. Then they beat their nemesis, Creighton Prep, in another shootout.
The NSAA moved the championship game back an hour, to 8:15 p.m.
Police say a 24-year-old Lincoln man is missing a chunk of his right ear that was bitten off by a woman who didn't like being called "fat."NOW, Miss Godfrey -- who is kinda cute for a girl who absolutely, definitely IS NOT fat, not in any way, shape or form . . . no way, no how, no siree, Bob -- is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and must not be prejudged, etc., and so on (and please don't eat my ear).
Police spokeswoman Katie Flood says officers were called to a Lincoln hospital around 3:25 a.m. Wednesday to talk to the injured man.
He told them that he'd been bitten at a party.
Flood says officers later learned that the injured man and two others had been arguing with other people at the birthday party. Flood says the man or one of his friends told 21-year-old Anna Godfrey that she was fat.
Officers say Godfrey then tackled the man and bit his ear.Flood says the ear chunk was not found.
A political spat over whether Gov. Dave Heineman is a true tea party patriot took another turn Wednesday.
The governor said the only reason he had signed a February letter with 46 other governors asking for more federal stimulus funds a tea party no-no was to show solidarity with his colleagues.
“I was trying to be supportive of my fellow governors, who face much more difficult challenges than (Nebraska),” Heineman said Wednesday.
The issue was raised after Heineman, who is seeking re-election, visited a Lincoln tea party gathering Tuesday. The tea party movement opposes the federal stimulus program, as well as other things seen as making government bigger, such as the recently passed health care overhaul bill.
Heineman said that if he'd been given a chance, he would have voted against the stimulus program. But, lacking that opportunity, he supported taking the $1 billion allocated for Nebraska so the funds would not be sent to other states.
His explanation prompted a howl of hypocrisy from State Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha, a Democrat who supported the stimulus plan.
“If he doesn't support the stimulus money, he should send the money back and not sign a letter saying he wants six more months of it,” Mello said. “This is hypocrisy at its worst.”
During Salem Communications' fourth-quarter and full-year earnings conference call Tuesday, CEO Ed Atsinger detailed Salem's sales since its last call -- Salem has announced the sales of WHKZ-AM/Warren, OH, for $600,000; KTEK-AM/Houston, for $7.8 million; and WFZH-FM and WRRD-AM/Milwaukee, for $11.8 million -- and said, "We will continue to monitor the performance of our broadcast stations generally, and we are actively engaged in negotiations, I can say at this time, for the sale of some additional properties."WOULD KGBI be one of those "additional properties"? That now looks likely, given what Omaha evidence there is to go on. Salem purchased what was then The Bridge from Grace University for $10 million in late 2004.
Atsinger also updated the progress of Salem's newest format, Spanish-language Christian Teaching & Talk, saying the company now has four stations on the air in the format, and "the early results are encouraging, both in terms of revenue and station operating income." He said more stations can be expected to move to Spanish Christian Teaching & Talk in the coming months.
Later, Atsinger discussed the state of the industry, saying, "We're fully aware of the challenges facing the radio industry. Salem clearly faces the same challenges." He said Salem has been hit particularly hard by the problems in the subprime mortgage market "because of our target demographic attracting a substantial number of advertisers from the mortgage and home-improvement industries." He said, "Many of these advertisers are gone. We believe that they will come back, but we expect that this particular challenge will remain with us for some time."
And now, a contour map for KGBI -- when the main transmitter was on its Springfield tower -- from a 2004 application for a minor change to its FCC license:
The 60 dBu signal contour is the same as the KVSS proposed coverage area. And, looking at the previous post, we note that the pattern is identical to that in The Big O's signal map.
There's a reason for that. According to an old KGBI filing with the FCC, when the station was on the Springfield tower, it shared an antenna with KOOO. Same power, same antenna, same coverage pattern.
So, I'm changing my bet back to what my original suspicion was before digging into the FCC database the first time -- KVSS is trying to buy KGBI. And the Catholic station intends to move back to the Springfield transmitter site to better cover Lincoln and southeast Nebraska.
I think. If it's not KGBI, it's got to be KOOO. And vice versa.
As always, stay tuned.