[Husker] The Husker Team and the Husker List

[Steve Stone]

When I learned that Richie Incognito left the team before the season 
began, I realized that this season was going to be disappointing. No 
team can lose a dominant O-lineman and not suffer a setback, 
notwithstanding the fact that his replacement played much better than 
anyone had a right to expect.

At that time, I promised myself to suffer in silence - - as far as 
the Husker List is concerned - - and have done so despite 
considerable provocation.

When Matt Herian went down with a broken leg, there could be no 
question that the final part of the season had to be dismal.

So I lurked all season on the Husker List, reading every post but not 
responding to any of them because I wanted it to be my own private 
Hell, unshared. I felt I should wait until most of the post-Colordo 
tantrums and hysteria had subsided before posting, but now seems the 
time.

First, I have nothing but plaudits for the players who, with no 
observable exceptions, played their hearts out under trying 
conditions and a insurmountable handicap. The number of wins in a 
season does not always equate to the effort. In the immortal words of 
the late BobFather, "They done good."

Second, the jury is still out on the coaching staff. They, too, were 
laboring under considerable handicaps. Sometimes they came up to 
scratch, sometimes they didn't.

Third, most Husker List members kept their cool and stayed focused 
through a roller-coaster seasons of extreme highs and lows. I 
honestly doubt that many "equivalent" forums would have done so well.

Of course, there were exceptions, some extra good, some not so extra good:

1) The usual minority of talent experts felt it was their right and 
duty to pick out specific players and name them on the list (even 
though these players' family and friends are almost certainly 
themselves Listers). One claimed Joe Dailey can't pass and doesn't 
have a good arm, even though Mr. Dailey proved the exact opposite on 
several occasions. Another opined that the Bullock brothers have gone 
a step backwards without offering a scintilla of evidence, much less 
proof. And then there were the "no talent" advocates who, like the 
poor, will always be with us, I guess. The hallmark of all these 
posts is that they're invariably couched as flat-out categorical 
declarations without qualifier, hedging, or maybe - - the sure sign 
of a no-talent writer imitating a no-talent journalist.

2) The usual few "oh, I can't hold up my head in public now that the 
Huskers are losing" posters popped up. I would like to suggest that 
if one's ego is so fragile that it must be bolstered by Husker wins, 
perhaps that ego needs a good deal more than a mere facelift.

3) A brand-new kind of poster has just recently crawled out of the 
dark, namely, the posters who write spiteful - - even vindictive - - 
screed in harsh and judgmental fashion, apparently in an attempt to 
serve as latter-day Torquemadas. This is something entirely new - - 
and to my way of thinking highly undesirable - - phenomenon on the 
Husker List, but I leave it up to the Mike Nolan to make a ruling. 
For my own part, I'll just say that such posts are strictly a waste 
of bandwidth on this List.

As I said, the above constitute exceptions on a List that in my 
opinion has kept a remarkable degree of equipoise during these trying 
months. That alone is a reason to keep the faith.

Believe me, there is no place like Nebraska.

Steve Stone