[Husker] What Do Husker Fans Want?

[Rod Wellman]

On Dec 23, 2004, at 8:19 AM, Knox, Chuck wrote:

>
> This year Nebraska has a very highly ranked recruiting class.  Let's
> suppose this trend continues.  Let's even say that the team becomes
> successful again, and in three or four years wins a national
> championship.  Why would this be any different than Oklahoma?  Or Ohio
> State?  Or USC?  I have asked the question before, in all seriousness,
> without getting much response.  Is anything in place at Nebraska that
> makes it any different than any other program?  I am open to 
> suggestion!
>

To me, some of what makes Nebraska Nebraska has been lost.  Maybe 
forever.

That's why I have this strange feeling about the Big Red right now.  
Another post I wrote up some time ago, but never actually sent, 
examined whether or not fans who are living outside the state of 
Nebraska are being impacted more by what has taken place over the last 
10 to 12 months, simply because they are the ones who get grief from 
"non Husker fans" more often.  Interesting thought, isn't it?  It's 
similar to one that Hamer touched upon where he said he had to 
constantly defend our program to those outside media writers.  I have 
defended, over and over again, to my Iowa friends, relatives and work 
associates over the last 15 years, the things that got distorted in the 
media about our beloved Huskers.  The LP incident was especially 
trying, but I defended Osborne's decision, and to this day I believe it 
was handled properly.  Because they know I'm a Husker fan, they "get in 
my face".  I don't get in theirs when their team has a negative issue 
pop up.  Now when they bring some up some of the recent happenings (the 
FS firing, this Houston thing, BC yelling an obscenity), I don't have a 
response.  What is my response?  Should it be:  "I don't care...I still 
love the Huskers"?  There is absolutely nothing you can say to defend 
these actions.  You can maybe point out some inaccuracies to them, 
which I do.  But you can't possibly make those things seem like 
Nebraska "did the right thing".  The more you try to convince them, the 
more you will sound like someone who has no clue...following their 
leader no matter what.  People on the list are talking about rose 
colored glasses, or dark glasses or seeing things only they want to 
see, but I'm here to tell you right now, that if you can with honestly 
and with clear conscious defend those 3 things I mentioned to a 
non-Husker fan when they are getting in your face about them, then YOU 
are the one who has scarlet and cream colored glasses and are not 
looking at them objectively.

So Chuck, you ask Is there anything in place at Nebraska that makes it 
any different than any other program?  Right now, I'd say "It doesn't 
look like it on the surface".  However, we really haven't had quite 
enough time with Pederson, and the new coaches to know for sure.  Most 
of the time, we really don't know all the facts to make a knowledgeable 
decision (were any of us privy to each and every conversation and 
interaction between Birkel and Callahan this season?)  Yet, as I and 
Bob Hamer outlined, there are quite a few things that have happened in 
the last 10 to 12 months that seem to me to be very "un-Nebraska-like", 
and there is evidence that things are going on that I don't really care 
for or agree with.  This is what concerns me.  It doesn't bode well for 
the future, and not so much for the future of winning football 
games...I'm talking about for the future of GETTING BACK to what made 
NU special (or keeping it, if you are of the opinion that it is not 
lost yet).  Things like honesty, integrity, treating others with 
respect, academics, loyalty, hard work, perseverance, the walk-on 
program, doing more with less resources or less talented athletes, etc. 
  Bob Hamer stated that it was the fans who need to demand that we 
return to those principals. I'm a Husker fan through and through...no 
bandwagon here.  One of my favorite T-shirts is a Husker helmet/logo 
and the words "Till Death Do Us Part".  But I don't have to agree that 
it's OK when our head coach yells an obscenity to opposing fans just 
because I'm an ardent fan.  I don't HAVE to like it when our AD makes 
NU look like we are "scared" to play Houston (regardless of the "he 
said this, he said that" war or words taking place in the media, this 
is what the country now thinks, and SP should know better when it comes 
to avoiding this type of situation in the first place...basic business 
and communications skills here) just because I'm an ardent fan. In 
fact, because I'm an ardent fan, these are things that we should demand 
DO NOT HAPPEN at Nebraska.  Again, I think the point of the Hamer 
article is:  This Is Nebraska.  We deserve better.

Fans don't need to demand a return to the option game, or the return of 
Frank Solich...but we should demand a return to a good, quality, 
well-run program.

I'm still at a loss as to how the average fan can hope to do this, 
though.

Rod W.
Sioux City, Ia.