Gym Cracks By Jim June 25, 2004 TEAMS WE LOVE Nebraskans sound off on favorite sports teams, athletes By Jim (Babe) Berryman MissingNebraska.com Those of you who subscribe to Sports Illustrated are familiar with The Poll. Each week a state is featured in The Poll. It was Nebraska's turn in the June 14th issue of SI. How did Nebraskans weigh in on sports? According to this magazine the Chicago Cubs with 15% of the vote was the favorite major league baseball team. No surprise with this selection. The Kansas City Royals received 14% of the vote. The favorite NFL team--The Packers had 21% of the vote, while the Chiefs had 16% and the Broncos with 12% were the other teams in double digits. The University of Nebraska easily won the favorite college laurels. Eighty-one percent of those participating in this poll selected the Huskers. Two percent cited Notre Dame. The World-Herald's Tom Shatel took exception to the greatest athlete to live or play in your state. SI had Johnny Rogers with 26%, Ahman Green 15%, Gale Sayers 10%, Tommie Frazier 9%. Shatel writes in the World-Herald, "Bob Gibson has to be the greatest athlete to have lived in Nebraska." Most of us know Gibson had a great career at Creighton University, before being a stellar pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. According to this magazine, the state's biggest rivalry is Creighton-Nebraska with 36%. Oklahoma-Nebraska and Colorado-Nebraska followed Creighton with 19% and 15%, respectively. To some the biggest surprise was the Enemy of the State. A Nebraskan won this award. The University of Nebraska's Athletic Director Steve Pederson received 26% of the votes, outdistancing Barry Switzer and Bill Snyder with 18 and 14%, respectively. Under the Who and Where category regarding Huskerland, the Sand Hills Golf Club near Mullen was mentioned, as well as Ole's Big Game Steakhouse and Lounge in Paxton. Other individuals mentioned were Jay Novacek, Tom Kropp, Richie Ashburn, Mark Calcavecchia, Zach Wiegert, Andy Roddick, Bob Boozer and Johnny Goodman. The format includes a one-page article written by a sports dignitary from the state being featured that week. So it was not a surprise, Coach Tom Osborne was selected for this responsibility. This poll was conducted by the Harris Interactive poll group. This poll was conducted online, and surveyed 401 Nebraska residents who identified themselves as sports fans. The margin of error is +/- 5%. Post/Read Feedback PREVIOUS GYM CRACKS: Click Here