Over the weekend, I realized something about one of my favorite passions that I’ve never stopped to appreciate before.
I’m a huge sports junkie. I’m not the kind that can quote you a bunch of statistics, or remember all of my favorite players numbers, what years they played, or what high schools they attended.
I just love the games. Basketball, football, tennis, golf, soccer, even baseball … which I’m starting to enjoy again.
Last week I started to realize what a huge impact the games I’ve watched has had on me as a person.
I am a NEBRASKA CORNHUSKER college football fan. And over the weekend, we got to renew an old rivalry that Big XII expansion has all but destroyed.
Nebraska vs. Oklahoma.
I wasn’t even aware of the Huskers until we moved to Nebraska when I was in the seventh grade. But Omaha is a city that isn’t distracted by many things. Bluntly, there isn’t a lot to do there. It’s a place where people raise families, and work their asses off. We speak to strangers, but respect their space. It’s not a town famous for its nightclubs, or tourist attractions. But in those days, at least … the streets were clean and the cost of living affordable. Omaha is cold and windy enough to kill you in the winter, and hot enough to fry an egg in your hand between July and early September. It’s a city with a lot of money, mostly from insurance and commercial food production.
We eat beef.
But every fall, the city BELONGS to the Cornhuskers. Among other things, to be a Nebraskan IS to be a Husker fan. In my youth, a big game meant no homework on the weekend. It meant bars opened early, and other businesses shut down before their usual closing time. It meant fewer chores and a later curfew. And the entire city, hell … the entire state was focused on one gigantic structure. And on Saturday afternoon during football season, a line of cars starts at the Colorado border, runs the entire length of Nebraska west to east on I-80, and ends at Memorial Stadium, by population the third largest city in the state on game day. Football is life. A big game is a good day. I’ve seen an entire row of traffic miss a green light and no horns blow because of a big play in a big game on the radio.
And no game was bigger than Oklahoma.
I’ve had the privilege of watching football games in stadiums around the country. I realize that there are fans of every stripe; they love their teams as much as I love mine. I have no debate with that love.
But there are a few traditions I learned as a young Husker fan that in the legends of my mind are different than some of the rivalries I’ve witness in stadiums, bars, and living rooms dedicated to other teams. We lost the “big game” to Oklahoma this year. But I thought a bit about what this meant Saturday as I sat in a bar full of Sooners and Huskers fans. I wish opposition in the rest of the world were as cordial and honest as the tradition of rivalry between those two schools. I tried to figure out what makes it work. I still don’t know, but I have a few thoughts.
1. YOU ALWAYS RESPECT YOUR OPPONENT. I’ve seen old men with toddlers on their shoulders swathed in red seek out fans of the opposing team to teach the young how to properly shake hands and say “good game” after wins AND losses. I’ve watched as 60,000 people stood to cheer a severely overmatched opponent who had enough heart to drive the ball and score late in a losing effort. Nobody left the stands early in those days. There were football players on the field, still playing their hearts out, and if they loved the game enough to keep playing—we could love the game enough to stay until the clock read 4 00:00.
2. GAME PLAN TO YOUR STRENGTHS AND STICK TO THE PLAN. Until
very recently, there was never any question about what Nebraska’s next play was going to be. We were going to line up two men behind the quarterback, probably in an “I” formation, and run either left or right, then pitch it to one or both of them in sequence. There was going to be a cloud of dust, as our gigantic O-line dug in and tried to knock down every obstacle in the way, and if you were going to stop us, you were going to have to be stronger than us. Even after “the pass was invented” we still played ball like to ‘air’ was somehow human, and we were the Gods of Mount Olympus. We recruited fast running quarterbacks from SEC country, and troubled young men from California to play running back. We lined them up behind corn and beef-fed 350-pound men who learned to run by tipping cows and dodging bulls. And on defense, we weren’t going to bother worrying about your receivers. Our plan didn’t include giving YOU enough time to see them, much less throw them a pass. How many guys we got? 11? Great. See the man under center? Smash him into the ground. Last one there is a rotten egg. Ready? Break.
3. WE PLAY THE GAME TO WIN. I remember Coach Tom Osborne coaching against Miami in one of a half dozen bowl games with national championship implications. We’d managed to pull within one point with virtually no time left on the clock. Decision Time. Go for the extra point, and tie? Or go for two, and win? He barely hesitated to send the boys out there to go for two. Miami, who was our nemesis for years stopped us cold. But I can’t imagine that the parade for the team was any smaller than if they’d chosen to play for the tie, instead of putting an entire season, and tradition on the line for the win.
4. ANYTHING WORTH BRAGGING ABOUT IS WORTH WORKING YOUR ASS OFF FOR. I don’t know how many consecutive years we had our championship hopes dashed by Miami, or eventually Florida State. Over and over and over and over again. But when we came back and beat each of them in bowl games, and then went back for Florida, who we … well, let’s just say “beat” (you’re welcome Becky, that’s called respect for your opponent) it made me ok with being proud of my Huskerdom even when I lived tens of thousands of miles away from any Nebraska border.
5. NO EXCUSES. Ever. As long as you play hard, you’re going to win some on good days, and lose some on bad ones. But there are no excuses for losing. When you lose, it’s because the other team is better than you. Period.
We’ve played Oklahoma about 80 times over the years. I believe they have the edge these days, by a game or two. It’s ok with me. We’ve played them when they were headed to championships, and we’ve played them when we were the powerhouse team of the nation. We’ve won some spectacular games against them, and lost some heartbreakers. In some ways, those games define a piece of me as a sports fan, as a Husker fan, and as a fan of the beautiful game of college football.
I hope you are lucky enough to have a team in your life that is a part of you. Whether you cheer for Ohio State, or Florida in this year’s championship, or whether your team is going to some no-name bowl, I hope they bring you as much joy as my Huskers have brought me over a lifetime.
It’s not politics, or religion, or even “important” in the overall scheme of things, but in a lot of ways, football has some things to teach us.
Good Luck whatever your team is doing this post-season. If you're playing in a bowl, have a good game. If you're not, work hard this off-season, and show the rest of us why we should share the love.
Most importantly, GO BIG RED. Beat Auburn in the ... Cotton Bowl?
Who's your team? Are they bowling this year??
I’m a huge sports junkie. I’m not the kind that can quote you a bunch of statistics, or remember all of my favorite players numbers, what years they played, or what high schools they attended.
I just love the games. Basketball, football, tennis, golf, soccer, even baseball … which I’m starting to enjoy again.
Last week I started to realize what a huge impact the games I’ve watched has had on me as a person.
I am a NEBRASKA CORNHUSKER college football fan. And over the weekend, we got to renew an old rivalry that Big XII expansion has all but destroyed.
Nebraska vs. Oklahoma.
I wasn’t even aware of the Huskers until we moved to Nebraska when I was in the seventh grade. But Omaha is a city that isn’t distracted by many things. Bluntly, there isn’t a lot to do there. It’s a place where people raise families, and work their asses off. We speak to strangers, but respect their space. It’s not a town famous for its nightclubs, or tourist attractions. But in those days, at least … the streets were clean and the cost of living affordable. Omaha is cold and windy enough to kill you in the winter, and hot enough to fry an egg in your hand between July and early September. It’s a city with a lot of money, mostly from insurance and commercial food production.
We eat beef.
But every fall, the city BELONGS to the Cornhuskers. Among other things, to be a Nebraskan IS to be a Husker fan. In my youth, a big game meant no homework on the weekend. It meant bars opened early, and other businesses shut down before their usual closing time. It meant fewer chores and a later curfew. And the entire city, hell … the entire state was focused on one gigantic structure. And on Saturday afternoon during football season, a line of cars starts at the Colorado border, runs the entire length of Nebraska west to east on I-80, and ends at Memorial Stadium, by population the third largest city in the state on game day. Football is life. A big game is a good day. I’ve seen an entire row of traffic miss a green light and no horns blow because of a big play in a big game on the radio.
And no game was bigger than Oklahoma.
I’ve had the privilege of watching football games in stadiums around the country. I realize that there are fans of every stripe; they love their teams as much as I love mine. I have no debate with that love.
But there are a few traditions I learned as a young Husker fan that in the legends of my mind are different than some of the rivalries I’ve witness in stadiums, bars, and living rooms dedicated to other teams. We lost the “big game” to Oklahoma this year. But I thought a bit about what this meant Saturday as I sat in a bar full of Sooners and Huskers fans. I wish opposition in the rest of the world were as cordial and honest as the tradition of rivalry between those two schools. I tried to figure out what makes it work. I still don’t know, but I have a few thoughts.
1. YOU ALWAYS RESPECT YOUR OPPONENT. I’ve seen old men with toddlers on their shoulders swathed in red seek out fans of the opposing team to teach the young how to properly shake hands and say “good game” after wins AND losses. I’ve watched as 60,000 people stood to cheer a severely overmatched opponent who had enough heart to drive the ball and score late in a losing effort. Nobody left the stands early in those days. There were football players on the field, still playing their hearts out, and if they loved the game enough to keep playing—we could love the game enough to stay until the clock read 4 00:00.
2. GAME PLAN TO YOUR STRENGTHS AND STICK TO THE PLAN. Until
very recently, there was never any question about what Nebraska’s next play was going to be. We were going to line up two men behind the quarterback, probably in an “I” formation, and run either left or right, then pitch it to one or both of them in sequence. There was going to be a cloud of dust, as our gigantic O-line dug in and tried to knock down every obstacle in the way, and if you were going to stop us, you were going to have to be stronger than us. Even after “the pass was invented” we still played ball like to ‘air’ was somehow human, and we were the Gods of Mount Olympus. We recruited fast running quarterbacks from SEC country, and troubled young men from California to play running back. We lined them up behind corn and beef-fed 350-pound men who learned to run by tipping cows and dodging bulls. And on defense, we weren’t going to bother worrying about your receivers. Our plan didn’t include giving YOU enough time to see them, much less throw them a pass. How many guys we got? 11? Great. See the man under center? Smash him into the ground. Last one there is a rotten egg. Ready? Break.
3. WE PLAY THE GAME TO WIN. I remember Coach Tom Osborne coaching against Miami in one of a half dozen bowl games with national championship implications. We’d managed to pull within one point with virtually no time left on the clock. Decision Time. Go for the extra point, and tie? Or go for two, and win? He barely hesitated to send the boys out there to go for two. Miami, who was our nemesis for years stopped us cold. But I can’t imagine that the parade for the team was any smaller than if they’d chosen to play for the tie, instead of putting an entire season, and tradition on the line for the win.
4. ANYTHING WORTH BRAGGING ABOUT IS WORTH WORKING YOUR ASS OFF FOR. I don’t know how many consecutive years we had our championship hopes dashed by Miami, or eventually Florida State. Over and over and over and over again. But when we came back and beat each of them in bowl games, and then went back for Florida, who we … well, let’s just say “beat” (you’re welcome Becky, that’s called respect for your opponent) it made me ok with being proud of my Huskerdom even when I lived tens of thousands of miles away from any Nebraska border.
5. NO EXCUSES. Ever. As long as you play hard, you’re going to win some on good days, and lose some on bad ones. But there are no excuses for losing. When you lose, it’s because the other team is better than you. Period.
We’ve played Oklahoma about 80 times over the years. I believe they have the edge these days, by a game or two. It’s ok with me. We’ve played them when they were headed to championships, and we’ve played them when we were the powerhouse team of the nation. We’ve won some spectacular games against them, and lost some heartbreakers. In some ways, those games define a piece of me as a sports fan, as a Husker fan, and as a fan of the beautiful game of college football.
I hope you are lucky enough to have a team in your life that is a part of you. Whether you cheer for Ohio State, or Florida in this year’s championship, or whether your team is going to some no-name bowl, I hope they bring you as much joy as my Huskers have brought me over a lifetime.
It’s not politics, or religion, or even “important” in the overall scheme of things, but in a lot of ways, football has some things to teach us.
Good Luck whatever your team is doing this post-season. If you're playing in a bowl, have a good game. If you're not, work hard this off-season, and show the rest of us why we should share the love.
Most importantly, GO BIG RED. Beat Auburn in the ... Cotton Bowl?
Who's your team? Are they bowling this year??
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