[Husker] why I quit posting

[weldoc at juno.com]

As you get older, your priorities change and what was once a huge passion
(following every nuance of Husker football) and part of your life maybe
becomes secondary (to the Job, the Wife, the kids, and other interests.)

It's easy to get immersed back into "Husker culture" when you go back
home and visit. Which I do, maybe twice a year. I do miss it---it's about
all anyone talks about. It's fun. It's easy...just pick up a paper, turn
on the radio, it's what's being talked about in every barbershop.

Out of state, you have to work a bit harder to stay in touch. The Net
helps; if you have the bucks to subscribe to satellite radio or the
pay-Husker network; even the List does to a degree (if discussions are
about topics, not the semantics of a poster or his lack of qualifications
for making a point.

We used to hear regularly from posters, who'd been coaches at one point
in their lives, who went into detail regarding players or specific plays,
strategies, etc. By implication--or by contrast--if you didn't have this
background, your opinion didn't seem to count. Then Solich was fired and
the vitriol went up several notches.

To be truthful, I wasn't always the most attentive fan the past two
seasons, for many reasons, but the Alamo Bowl certainly seemed to
indicate the team might be recovering some of its past reputation. It was
frustrating at times to see all the mistakes, yet the team NEVER gave up.
It got me honestly looking forward to this year.

I've watched most of the games this season, and started reading the List
again. It's been OK, but I guess I just don't have the same rock-solid
confidence in the staff that I used to, years ago. So much has changed
over the years: increased parity, revolving turnstiles in the coaching
ranks between college & pro, the obsession with bowls, BCS and playoff
systems, etc. I'd just like to see a return to focusing on the basics of
the season, and let the post-season "take care of itself," like Devaney &
Osborne used to preach.

I lose patience with 100% apologists for the coaches or the players. It
seems at times "PC-thinking" has gotten so bad here  that anytime you
comment on something, you have to water it down or you risk "offending
someone." What happened to energetic and spirited discourse where it was
UNDERSTOOD that even if you called someone an "idiot" you weren't
advocating that his house be burned to the ground ? (I'll grant the fact
that the printed word can be taken wrong in so many ways, as you can't
see the person's facial expression, hear the tone of his voice, etc. But
let's not get so distraught !)

I have some final thoughts from Cousin Rich, who cares more deeply and
follows NU more intensely than I can--living in Lincoln, single, fan for
40+ seasons, and who knows far more than I will (ever). He and I started
a discussion post-OU because we both had high hopes that maybe, somehow,
all the little things that hurt the team in the preceding games this year
might finally be eliminated, and they'd triumph, signaling things were
really progressing well. I think the results during the game instead sum
up the season---still too many problems, and maybe, as the national press
kept repeating, the North wasn't as strong as we secretly hoped. Those
thoughts of his will follow in another post.

I'll retreat back into the background again. Thanks for reading
this---longer than I'd planned on, by far. For the most part I do enjoy
the List: Skylar and Steve R. have made some good points lately....

Bill Laughlin

Just a perspective from Wichita, deep in the heart of Kansas--the polar
opposite of Lincoln--where you have nearly equal percentages of KU, KSU,
OU, NU fans when it comes to pigskin talk. (And the locals occasionally
"stir the pot" to re-start WSU football.)