For Some Husker Fans, Moving to the Big 10 Won't Be Easy
by Jon Johnston on Jun 29, 2010 8:00 AM CDT
in Cobby - Humor
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PrintIt's a good thing Husker fans have a full year before Nebraska begins playing in the Big 10. It's a good thing because it'll take a full year to make that transition. I'm not talking about dealing with a new schedule, or figuring out how you're going to get the Big Ten Network, nor am I talking about what the new Big 10 divisions will look like. Dealing with these changes will be relatively easy.
For some of us the conference move cuts to the core of who we are as fans. It's a complete shift (A paradigm shift? Well, yes, but i hate that phrase) in how we've approached college football season since we've been cognizant of our fanaticism. I really can't explain that right now.... but perhaps I can illustrate the problem better (after the jump).
(banging head on table) WAaaaahhhh WAAAHHHHHH wwaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!
What the hell is wrong..... Oh! Ha! That whole "Nebraska Joins the Big 10" thing is just now hitting you, isn't it?
What have we DONE? Why did this happen? Who's done this to me?
Tom Osborne, Jim Delany, maybe that Dodds guy from Texas.
I hate them! I HATE THEM ALL!
Calm down. No one hates Tom Osborne.
I do.
No you don't. The only people who hate Tom Osborne are people who like Satan. You don't like Satan, do you?
No, but someone must pay.
Dan Beebe was in on it too.
Is that that guy with the giant forehead?
Yes.
I'll blame him then.
Good choice. Great choice, actually, a lot of other people blame him too. Okay, you're calm, right?
I'm okay.
So what's really bothering you about all this? You'll miss playing Iowa State, Kansas State, or the Missouri Tigers? Is that what's gotten you so upset?
NO. I don't care about that.
So what is it?
I suppose you'll want me to like these Big 10 people.
Well, yeah. They've been pretty nice to us so far. It's been pretty amazing.
So.... I have to like Iowa now?
Let's not get crazy.
There's one other good thing I can think about all this.
What's that?
At least I've only been around a couple years. It's not that big a transition for me. But for you, wow! What are you, 60?
I turned 48 in June, for crying out loud. I'm not that old.
48!!!! You're ancient! You have a lot of memories, a lot of past to deal with!
What do you mean, "to deal with"?
Oh, come on. You've been making fun of the Big 10 for years. You've hated them. You've been mean to them.
That's not true.
It is. Remember that time you said the Rose Bowl was overrated and that you were tired of hearing about it?
Well...
In fact, you guys have been calling their conference overrated for a long time. Remember the bit about the "Big Mac"?
That was Mike.
Nice try, buddy, but you attacked them for being mediocre, too! I can see it - in just a couple months, you'll be making excuses for the same conference you've spent the last 60 years bashing! You'll be a Big 10 apologist! I'll bet you'll need counseling!
I never really thought of it that way.....
You're one of those "root for the conference guys", aren't you!???
Yeah, I guess I am.
That means you might end up having to root for Iowa!
Oh.... good lord.....
What if it comes down to Iowa versus Oklahoma for a national title?
...
Well???
(banging head on table) WAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh WAAHHHHHHHHHH
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Oklahoma
could play almost anyone and I’d easily root for the other team to win. It just so happened they played USC that one time that I was rooting for a scoreless draw.
I think even die-hard Big Ten supporters would admit there have been recent dark periods in their history. Heck, how many times did we go down to the Orange Bowl, only to come back to more criticism of our slow teams from the mediocre Big 8 conference? Sounds familiar. Steel sharpens steel though, and with NU the Big Ten swords are about to get a lot sharper. (Wow, how’s that for some hyperbole?)
Oklahoma v Iowa
Had Oklahoma (the administration) shown some backbone, any spine at all, instead of kowtowing to The Almighty Texas (“Wherever Texas goes, we’ll go”), I would have gone with Oklahoma over Iowa. But now, Go Haw….Go Haw…uh…yay Iowa?
(banging head on table) WAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh WAAHHHHHHHHHH
tOSU will be the one I will have a hard time rooting for...
They are a freaking nut for gods sake!
When this all started I prayed to the football gods the Huskers would make the jump, but I never really thought it would happen. WOW!
So I tried the Barbasol and Rotel dip and I was very dissapointed!
:((
That’s harsh.
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by Ian_InsideTheShoe on Jun 29, 2010 5:33 PM CDT up reply actions
About that whole root for the confernce thing...
if there’s one thing the conference has, it’s a lot of bitter rivalries. You are under no obligation in the conference to ever support anyone you hate. If Michigan makes a bowl game in no way will I be rooting for them to win.
Light a man a fire, he'll stay warm for a day.
Light a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
I get that, but I don't get that
Ok, you’re under no obligation, and I understand the visceral hatred some fans have for certain other teams. But particularly in Bowl Games, the relative strength of your team and conference ends up defined by how well everyone does against other conference competition.
In the hypothetical used above, let’s speculate that Nebraska beat Iowa during the conference season (’cause…I can just make stuff up in this hypothetical). If Iowa goes on to beat Oklahoma, Nebraska (and the conference as a whole) looks better in the eyes of the nation.
You may not like it, you may not celebrate it, but it’s justified in a selfish “if those bastards win, MY team looks better overall” way.
Besides, if you need Michigan to win in order for you to win the Big 10 Title (under existing non-divisional rules), you wouldn’t root for them? See, there ARE some situations you root for those you hate, so long as your team benefits.
No.
Welcome to the Big Ten. We don’t ever root for our bitter rivals. I don’t care if it helps the conference. We don’t want help. With our conference’s strength, even in down years, if we win out, we will be rewarded with the Rose Bowl. It’s about taking care of your own business.
If anything, you always root for a giant meteor strike to eliminate your rival and the team that you want to lose.
by formerlyanonymous on Jun 29, 2010 4:22 PM CDT up reply actions
Second'd
By the way, when you’re the best in your conference and you take care of business in the post season, you start to care less what other people think about the conference. Did it annoy me in 2009 when people were riding the Big East’s nuts and shatting on the Big Ten in basketball? Yeah it did, but then MSU ran through defending champs Kansas, Overall #1 and Big East team Louisville and then another #1 Big East team in UConn. And looking back, remembering Durrell Summer’s dunk on Stanley Robinson means so much more to me than what the idiots at the four letter say about the conference. (BTW one benefit of having a conference network is that you don’t get bothered with inane crap like conference comparisons)
Light a man a fire, he'll stay warm for a day.
Light a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Only fans of shitty teams root for the "conference"
I don’t care who Michigan plays. I will never root for Michigan. Fuck ’em.
And then fuck them again.
It doesn’t matter how many football games the SEC wins. We will always look down on you.
Seeing as most NU fans don't feel this way about ANY team
proves that we have not had a true rival since the Big 8 OU games. Ask some people that suffered from vintage Sooner Magic, and they will probably tell you they could never root for OU.
Any “hate” we have for Texas is nothing compared to visceral hatred that tOSU and Michigan share.
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
Besides, if you need Michigan to win in order for you to win the Big 10 Title (under existing non-divisional rules), you wouldn’t root for them?
This exact situation presented itself in 2008 where if Michigan beat Ohio State in the early game, a win over PSU would’ve sent MSU to the Rose Bowl. Our coach himself said he couldn’t stand to root for Michigan.
Light a man a fire, he'll stay warm for a day.
Light a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Agree to disagree
I’m about my team, and if I need my rival to win in order for MY team to be in a better position…go to a championship…etc, then I’ll root for them. I might secretly be wishing for a 2-0 crapfest where both starting quarterbacks, their backups, and even the waterboy get taken out the rest of the year. But I’ll still cheer so that MY team advances.
GO BIG RED
by which I mean Nebr. I have been rooting for the HUSKERS for 5 decades. I bleed scarlet and cream. I want whatever makes the Big Red look good. I have rooted for other conference teams to win. Even Okla but they were playing Miami. I’ve felt “dirty” ever since.
PS
All good things come to an end. I’m happy for UNL to be in the Big 10.
Yes, I can, but no, I won't.
I, too, understand the “root for your conference” argument. I just don’t agree with it at all. I will admit with no reservation whatsoever that I want Texas to lose in everything for the rest of recorded time. I want their band to suck as badly as their uniforms already do. I hope their chess team gets a freaking donut this season. I hope their dance team falls victim to a… um, well, the dance team can stay, but everything else about Texas can go straight into the shitter and I’ll be as happy as a pig in slop.
Now, Oklahoma? I want Oklahoma to win. Ditto for Iowa State, Kansas and Texas A&M, and to a limited extent Texas Tech and T. Boone Pickens State. Why? One word: respect. All those years Oklahoma was crushing our dreams the day after Thanksgiving, they did it with respect. It was always an honorable rivalry, or at least what was honorable about it far outweighed what could have been better, and the same was true for most of our conference brethren.
Something you Big Integer fans should know about Nebraska sports: it’s always bigger than the game. There’s an inscription on the stadium (seen below in a previous incarnation) that reads “Not the victory but the action. Not the goal but the game. In the deed the glory.” That pretty much sums up everything we love about sports, and it goes for rivalries, too.
"...when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to."
— Martin Luther
Y'all moving to the Big 10 frees me up to root for you again, I guess
One thing I’ve never liked about the Big XII was that I couldn’t comfortably root for Nebraska, at least not all the time. Used to be a big fan, especially when NU played OU. So I guess the one upside to your school choosing to move to a more upscale neighborhood is that I can now, in theory, return to wishing you well. Mixed feelings, though, you know.
I've tried to root for the conference, but
…I must admit I always grin when I see Ohio State exposed in their BCS Bowl games.
…I must admit I relish the opportunity to see Wolverine players with hangdog faces late the 4th quarter of a bowl game. Well… assuming they’re in a bowl game.
…I must admit I roll my eyes when I see Minnesota losing to yet another mediocre BigXII team in the Insight Bowl.
…I must admit I hate Wisconsin.
…I must admit before people started giving such credence to conference bowl play as an indicator of your team’s quality I couldn’t care less if Michigan State or Purdue won their games—not that I have much against them.
Real fans root for their teams. Conference foes are either rivals or roadbumps.
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