An Open Letter

Before we start, yes, I made this collage with my rudimentary art skills.

I’ve been perusing sports websites today reading up on the start of college football for this season. I’m astonished at the lack of press Nebraska is receiving. Not that I didn’t expect it, I just don’t like not reading about them as much as I used to. It’s cool to have your team talked about.

I’m frustrated when I watch and read polls regarding the elements of college football. When you don’t list Lincoln, Nebraska in the top 10 of college gameday environments, it’s like a slap in the face to the self-proclaimed “best fans in college football.” I’m biased, of course I’m biased. This is a fan blog about the Nebraska Cornhuskers, however if were I not a fan I would honestly have to say Nebraska is one of the best environments based on this. I’ve been to South Bend, Indiana to see a football game at Notre Dame. To me, there is virtually no difference in the pre-game fervor leading up to kickoff and the excitement during the game. Notre Dame will always make a top 10 or five list of best places to be on Saturday afternoons in the fall. It’s just how it is, they are America’s Team when it comes to college football. They say the Huskers haven’t done anything in the past decade or so. Talk about a team that hasn’t done anything in as much time or a longer amount of time. Notre Dame right now is the most overrated college football program in the country. I’ve been to Iowa City, Iowa. It’s not the same. Of course they love their team, however the winning tradition is not there. Sorry, it’s just not.

Just because a team has not played on the level they have in the past does not automatically diminish the merits of said past success. These fans are some of the most loyal in the country. This team does not represent just one state, it represents an entire region of the country. It’s fan base even reaches beyond the world of the upper Midwest. The lack of respect for the program sucks. I’m sorry, it just flat out does. Could the team do more to establish this? Have they had opportunities to put their own team back on the map? Of course they have. However, when I don’t see the Huskers even considered for even the most irrelevant of polls on ESPN or wherever, I don’t like it. When I see people picking Missouri to win the Big 12 North, or Kansas State as a sleeper? Come on, I don’t even want it to be a question. I’m not sure what Bill Callahan is waiting for, but the time to take this team and this program over the edge back into national prominence is now. I sat through the decline of the Osborne Huskers during Frank Slouch’s tenure (just a note, Osborne probably should still have been coaching and or should be still, he basically stepped down to hand the reigns to Solich so he wouldn’t leave and he basically just messed it up anyway), the lowest of the lows most people still alive have ever seen in 2004 and up until now with the rebuilding of a national contender. This will be Callahan’s fourth year at the helm. He has some of “his guys” in the program now, probably more than guys that aren’t. On the other hand, there aren’t a majority of players that were recruited out of high school and are cultivated in the system. The tide should be turning fairly soon though. How will this team fair this time around in 2007? Will it be another step forward, another step back or just a stagnant season where virtually no progress is made?

In my opinion Nebraska should be the Oklahoma and Texas of the North. It’s as simple as that. If this sounds like a sense of entitlement then I think you’re wrong. This is Nebraska, not Kansas State, Missouri or Kansas. We are Nebraska. We have won five national championships in the past 40 years. We are in the top five of all time winningest college football programs. We graduate more academic All-American’s than any other school in Division I-A. We’ve won a truckload of conference championships. We have had three Heisman winners. We’ve sold out our home stadium more than any other school in the country. We aren’t Kansas State, Kansas or Iowa State. We are Nebraska. All the players, the students, the fans, the residents are included and when you step on and question our capacity to create on of the best atmospheres and fan bases in all of college football you are not only insulting a school , you are insulting an entire region of the country. People give me all sorts of crap because when I refer to this team I say “we.” I say “we” not because I attended Nebraska or because I played there, because I didn’t really want to attend for my own personal reasons. That’s not the issue however. I say “we” because my parents were born there, my family is rooted deep into the state and I even had an uncle play there. I have that right because of these things, also because I care enough to spend my own free time maintaining a blog about this team for nothing. I live and die on every Saturday afternoon or night, with every signee and recruit that comes to play in Lincoln. That gives me the right to say “we.” This gives you the right to say “we.” Be proud, you’re a part of something special.