Cartoon sparks discussion, conflict
Mark Mangino, fans mocked in comic
Nebraska's school newspaper, The Daily Nebraskan, ran an editorial cartoon Monday about Saturday's football game. It can be construed as offensive, and classless.
By CJ Moore
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
After an Omaha television station ran a news story about an editorial cartoon that appeared in Monday’s Daily Nebraskan, the Nebraska school newspaper, the paper received an abundance of letters to the editor and comments on its Web site.
The cartoon angered fans of both Nebraska and Kansas.
Jenna Johnson, the editor of the Daily Nebraskan, said the paper was running eight to 10 letters to the editor in today’s newspaper. But before people jump to a quick judgment of the cartoon, Johnson said it’s important that they understand the context.
Johnson said that the cartoon was meant to be critical of both Kansas and Nebraska fans.
She said that a number of Kansas fans showed up to the game in “our coach can eat your coach” T-shirts. During the game when Eric Washington was injured in the third quarter, Nebraska fans started to do the wave around the stadium.
“I think people who misunderstand it are people who weren’t at the game or do not know the context of the cartoon,” Johnson said.
Some fans, like Morgan Henzlik, Atlanta junior, have interpreted the cartoon as making fun of KU coach Mark Mangino’s weight rather than as a criticism of the fan bases.
“It seems like a cheap shot – an easy thing to go after,” Henzlik said. “OK, our coach is fat, that’s not the first time we’ve heard that.”
Before publication, Johnson said the Nebraskan editors made sure that Washington was not going to be severely injured. Johnson said if Washington had been paralyzed, the cartoon would not have run. Once they found out Washington was going to be OK, the editors decided to run the cartoon.
“This is an editorial cartoon that our editorial cartoonist did just like an opinion column,” Johnson said. “This is his opinion, his view on the football game.”
Kansan staff writer C.J. Moore can be contacted at cjmoore@kansan.com.
— Edited by Erin Wiley