Now it all makes sense.
Up to this point, the Nebraska football team’s losing records over the past four years really hasn’t bothered me that much.
But then I read Facebook.
My son-in-law, Jason, age 26, who resides in Omaha, posted on his page that he was getting impatient and reaching his breaking point as a Husker football fan.
Here is his quote:
“1999 was the last time Nebraska won a conference championship and I was much too young to remember that. For over 15 years, I’ve dreamed of seeing Nebraska win a conference championship, but all I’ve ever lived to see is mediocre football at best. That’s right. This generation of Cornhusker fans has never seen Nebraska win a championship of any kind. I’ve had much older fans tell me to have patience. What they don’t understand is that with each passing year Nebraska becomes further and further away from chasing championships. I’ve been patient. I’ve waited my entire life and I really believe I have witnessed Nebraska hit rock bottom. It’s easy for older fans to say, ‘Be patient.’ They’ve had their glory years. They’ve seen Nebraska win more championships than they can count. I’m dying just to see one.”
His analogy hit me squarely between the eyes. As a 61-year-old Nebraska fan, I’m blessed to have lived through the Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne eras. I’ve enjoyed five national championships as well as numerous conference crowns. I witnessed the great Jerry Tagge football-held-over-the-goal-line plunge to claim the 1970 national title; Johnny Rodgers immortal punt return in the Game of the Century vs. Oklahoma in 1971; NU linebacker Clete Pillen tackling Oklahoma State ball carriers 30 times in 1976; the Huskers beating Bear Bryant’s Alabama Crimson Tide in 1977; NU upsetting top-rated Oklahoma and its Heisman Trophy recipient Billy Simms in 1978; the Big Red winning 27 consecutive Big 8 games from 1981 to 1984; Gerri Gdowski tossing four TD passes while spanking Oklahoma, 42-25, in 1989; the Huskers winning 50 of 53 conference games between 1991 and 1997, and many more thrills.
I’ve told Jason that his day is coming. Husker fans waited from 1941 to 1963 before a conference championship trophy found its way back to Lincoln on the day after our 35th president practically had his head blown off. Fans celebrated (the NU victory) by trampling Memorial Stadium’s grass and flinging oranges. In not so dramatic form, other storied programs like Alabama, USC, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame all had their drought years but regained championship form.
I may not be alive by the time Nebraska wins its next football championship. However, it is my hope that today’s young Big Red fans will hang in there and experience the exhilaration I once enjoyed.
Jason’s Facebook post truly gives me pause to feel some pain with any future Big Red loss. It will serve as a reminder that the young fans are still absent of what I had been so fortunate to experience year in and year out: Husker football championships.
Thanks Bob and Tom. You too, Frank. Keep after it, Scott.
Hang in there, Jason. And, yes, be patient. May the back to prominence ride for NU begin on August 28, 2021 with a victory at Illinois. He is too young to remember that. For over a decade I’ve dreamed of seeing Nebraska win a conference championship, but all I’ve ever lived to see is mediocre football at best.
For now, let’s focus on Nebraska’s recently claimed Big 10 baseball championship and the upcoming weekend celebration on the diamond at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park in Lincoln!