STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Saturday, December 24, 2005 6:00 pm
SAN ANTONIO — Cory Ross wasn’t bragging about himself; he was merely stating a fact. “Oh, yeah, I’m a gamer,” the Nebraska senior I-back said. In this case, Ross used “gamer” in the context of a veteran connoisseur of video entertainment systems — XBox 360s, Sony PSPs, Madden NFL 2006, et al — which occupy endless hours for kids and grownups all over the world.
For Ross and his teammates, Christmas arrived early last week. They each received an XBox 360 as the primary gift from the Alamo Bowl. Indeed, Alamo officials distributed a combined 250 XBox 360s to NU and Michigan players.
“It’s the best thing ever,” said Husker true freshman Leon Jackson.
Perhaps the Huskers and Wolverines will put down the games long enough to show up for Wednesday’s 7 p.m. kickoff at the Alamodome.
Ross said he has never received a better bowl gift, which makes sense, considering the NCAA this season allowed each of the bowls to spend a record $500 in gifts for each player, up from $350 last year.
This year’s bowl gifts range from customized mountain bikes (Sugar Bowl) to a best-selling evangelical book (Peach). The Alamo is the only bowl that dished out XBox 360s.
In addition to $500 in gifts from bowls, the NCAA also permits each school to provide up to $350 in presents to each player.
No wonder Nebraska players wanted badly to return to the bowl scene after missing out last season.
“The NCAA wants bowl trips to be a reward for student-athletes, and it motivates the bowls to provide excellent gifts,” said Rick Hill, Alamo Bowl vice president of marketing and communications.
Nebraska players received their XBox 360s early last week, and at least a few players put them up for sale on eBay. Word is a few fetched as much as $500-$600 (Alamo bowl officials paid about $400 apiece, Hill said).
XBox 360s can be difficult to find in stores. Ordinary people — or people who don’t happen to play in the Alamo Bowl — often wait hours in line for a chance to buy them.
“I had one on hold at a store, but I guess they didn’t send too many to Lincoln,” Ross said.
Ross said he planned to keep the XBox 360 he received from the Alamo Bowl.
He then paused a moment, apparently overcome by entrepreneurial spirit.
“Do you want one?” he asked a visitor to a practice. “Name your price.”
Hill said the Alamo Bowl was lucky to get its hands on 250 Xbox 360s during the Christmas season. It was accomplished through “connections,” Hill said, a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend situation.
Six bowls gave out portable DVD players, and five offered Sony PSPs.
“Those are pretty cool,” Hill said of the PSPs. “But not as cool as the XBox 360s. It’s got like a 20-gig hard drive. It’s pretty ridiculous.”
Blake Tiedtke, a fifth-year Nebraska senior safety, agreed with Ross that the Huskers may have never received a bowl gift better than the XBox 360. It should be noted Ross and Tiedtke’s bowl resume includes the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl following the 2001 season.
“For the Rose Bowl, we received mostly memorabilia-type things — a blanket, a coin, that type of stuff,” Tiedtke said.
The Rose Bowl upgraded this season, doling out a Sony PSP, Madden NFL 2006, and a watch, among other things.
It’s not always about the money. The Peach Bowl gift list included the book “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge. The book’s message, as quoted from the inside dust jacket, is every man must have “a battle to fight, a beauty to rescue and an adventure to live.”
S. Truett Cathy, founder of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain (which sponsors the Peach Bowl), selected the book for the players. He operates his restaurants with strong moral and spiritual guidelines, said Matt Garvey, Peach Bowl director of communications.
“It’s just his way of impacting the players’ lives in a positive way,” Garvey said. “Who knows if anybody will read them? But he wasn’t going to let an opportunity like this pass him by.”
For most players, a book probably won’t make as heavy an impact as a video entertainment system.
Jackson, the Husker freshman, has never had an XBox 360 in his life. Until now.
“I’m a PS2 guy — a PlayStation guy — most of the time,” he said. “But hey, a free XBox 360, I’m going to keep it.”