The Origin of "Nebrasketball"

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
I think knapp asked this question awhile ago but I couldn't find where.

And Marty Amsler is the guy who coined the catchphrase of the current season while walking the halls at work more than 17 years ago and thinking about an ad campaign.
His employer, Bailey Lauerman, had been hired to market Husker hoops that year, and Amsler was the creative guy.

“I ran home that night and thought about it. I didn’t know if it was a great idea or a terrible idea.”

But when he pitched those sweet syllables to his boss the next morning, Rich Claussen’s eyes lit up.

It was brilliant, said Bailey Lauerman’s general manager and executive vice president.

It wasn’t Husker Nation, he said. A term that could work for Gator Nation or Cardinal Nation or Name That Nation.

It was Nebrasketball.

“Something that can be uniquely owned only by Nebraska … it’s been fun this fall to watch it come back and bubble to the top.”

It’s been fun for Heidi Cuca, too.

The senior account executive at Husker IMG Sports Marketing was working for Athletic Director Bill Byrne in 1996, when basketball fans had a lot of elbow room at the Devaney Sports Center.
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LJS

 
It’s been fun for Heidi Cuca, too.
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Fun Fact. My oldest daughter came up with her own name for her vagina when she was little. She called it a Cuca (Koo-Kah). That became the accepted word for vagina in our household. My 4 year old still calls hers that.

 
It had to be either '95 or '96; those are the two years I was at UNL and I remember seeing that "a whole new game" poster on billboards everywhere. Everyone kind of snickered at it and ignored it, but I always liked using the phrase. I think it took quite a long time to catch on, if only because we weren't winning anything.

In fact, I remember seeing an early meme where someone had photoshopped "a new definition of mediocrity" in as the slogan.

Funny how things become more popular when you associate them with a winner.

 
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