Chatelain column

[Hercules]

It's a nice article, and makes me hope that Turner somehow finds his way back home to Lincoln someday...

 

However, between this article and the one he wrote earlier this year after the Texas game (where he noted each of Martinez's facial expressions and body language signals after being benched), I'm starting to think Mr. Chatelain has a stalking problem.

 

 

My link

 

Turner Gill never broke stride. Never looked back. He walked briskly off Tom Osborne Field and entered the southwest tunnel.

 

All around him, Nebraska fans shouted his name.

 

“Turner!”

 

“Love you, Turner!”

 

“Nice game, Turner.”

 

Through a doorway and into a long, quiet hallway, the same path he walked daily as a player and as an assistant coach.

 

On the walls, 42 red plaques document the greatest run in college football history — 1962-2003. The last one on the east wall shows every score from 1983.

Gill, dressed in blue sweatshirt and tan slacks, didn’t notice.

 

A private man made a very public homecoming Saturday night. He led a bad football team to a respectable defeat.

 

His quarterback threw for 15 yards. His defense dropped a few interceptions. But all in all, it went about as well as he could’ve hoped.

 

Chances are, he’ll remember things other than those 60 minutes between the white lines.

 

Like chatting up old Nebraska colleagues an hour before kickoff. Or jogging onto the field during the Husker tunnel walk — If fans were cheering him, he couldn’t hear them.

 

Gill downplayed the Nebraska homecoming all week with the media and with his players. Just another football game, he said.

 

“I think we all realized the type of legacy he left at Nebraska and how people think of him here,” defensive end Toben Opurum said. “I don’t think he wanted to bring his past life or personal life into this ball game. He just wanted us to come out and execute.”

 

Osborne, who picked Bo Pelini over Gill three years ago, stopped by the Kansas hotel Friday night; Gill wasn’t there. Gill brought his team to the stadium late Saturday morning; Osborne wasn’t there.

 

“We kinda missed each other,” Gill said.

 

They talked briefly on the phone. Osborne wished him good luck.

 

Still, the trip was “awkward,” according to Gill. Awkward standing on the east sideline. Awkward being around the old stomping grounds.

 

The actual game flew by, and maybe that’s a good thing for the man everyone was watching.

 

Seven years have changed Gill’s appearance. A little less hair. A little more gray. But it’s still the guy who led the Scoring Explosion, still the guy who coached up Frazier and Frost. Still a family member.

 

As the seconds ticked away, a Husker fan behind the KU bench held a sign: “We love Turner, but we love the Huskers more!”

 

Gill fielded questions from reporters.

 

Asked about Nebraska throwing the ball downfield in the final minute, Gill took the high road: “That’s their football team. They have to do what they have to do.”

 

He walked back down the red hallway to the old Husker locker room and changed out of his blue.

 

His family met him outside the stadium. His wife, blue scarf wrapped around her neck, gave him a long embrace, then a quick kiss.

 

They were talking when a 71-year-old event staffer interrupted and asked Gill for a photo. Turner’s daughter asked if the man in the red ear muffs would like her to snap it — that way, he could stand next to Turner.

 

The old man threw an arm around Gill and the camera clicked. No flash.

 

The old man and the young girl searched for the problem as Gill stood there waiting. And waiting. Two minutes passed. He said nothing.

 

Finally, Gill and the old man walked over to a streetlight and got a better picture.

 

“That’ll work?” Gill said.

 

He returned to his wife, gave her another hug and headed to the bus, briefcase in his left hand, postgame meal in his right.

 

He boarded the third charter bus and took the first seat without saying a word. He leaned back and rested his head for a moment before unfolding a napkin, laying it across his lap and opening his Styrofoam container.

 

He took a bite.

 

He might be the greatest Nebraska quarterback ever. Might be one of the program’s greatest assistant coaches. Might know just as much football — Nebraska football — as any man in this business.

 

But he’s got a long way to go before winning like Bo Pelini. And he may never again set foot inside this stadium on a fall Saturday.

 

Gill didn’t say it. He didn’t have to.

 

The driver shut off the interior light and the bus lurched forward, rolling past the South Stadium door Turner Gill opened thousands of times on his way to work.

 

Gill lifted his arm and turned on the dome light above him.

 

Standing outside in the cold, I couldn’t see his face.

 

Only a silhouette.

[mmmtodd]

yeah, dirk is making a mountain out of a molehill here. doubt this was as dramatic as he made it out to be in turners, or any member of the huskers staff's eyes. real men move on with their lives, pursue other goals.

[huskerstuckinmichigan]

Even though he would never say it, this had to be hard for Turner. Potentially, this was his last time in Memorial Stadium, unless he visits for personally reasons. The final chapter on this part of his life and it was a huge part of his life. We love you Turner and know you will turn KU around. I might even have to be a KU fan just for you. Hopefully we meet in a Bowl game or have a home and away with you some day down the road (Huskers win of course).

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Weird article............

[Husker_x]

Wow. All it was missing was Bogie narrating and a point.

 

Sometimes McKewon is guilty of the same thing, milking the drama for all it's worth. I'm guessing Dirk has to write these things in one night. That's a shame. If you can sleep on it, you might be less willing to blow a column on what amounts to essentially nothing of interest surrounded by too much pomp and ceremony.

 

Here's the Hemingway shortened version of the article.

 

"Turner lost the game and was very sad. Turner also played and coached at Nebraska and was very sad that he didn't anymore."

[Nebula]

Well...I like Turner Gill and I respect him a whole bunch.

 

He is, however, the head coach of a Division 1 BCS conference school so I think it's safe to say that he is doing pretty well for himself. The whole melodramatic bent of this article annoys me. Tom and Turner just kinda missed each other, huh? Heavy stuff, man.

 

I'm a Dirk Chatelain fan, though. I just don't feel sorry for coach Gill in any way shape or form. I'm desperately trying to get more hours at work over here, I'm supposed to get all weepy because Turner ended up at an awesome college town instead of back at Lincoln? Whatever.

[TripleOption]

Yah, the article was pretty annoying. I found the comparison to Bo at the end particularly strange, "He's got a long way to go before winning like Bo..." Was that really necessary?

 

I vastly prefer your Hemingway version, Husker_X.

[zoogs]

Wow. All it was missing was Bogie narrating and a point.

 

Sometimes McKewon is guilty of the same thing, milking the drama for all it's worth. I'm guessing Dirk has to write these things in one night. That's a shame. If you can sleep on it, you might be less willing to blow a column on what amounts to essentially nothing of interest surrounded by too much pomp and ceremony.

 

Here's the Hemingway shortened version of the article.

 

"Turner lost the game and was very sad. Turner also played and coached at Nebraska and was very sad that he didn't anymore."

 

I agree completely. Not so much milking the drama perhaps, but just getting caught up in the lyrical prose of the article they are creating out of nothing.

 

Dirk, and Sam, are still both quality writers and Husker reporters. I knocked one of Sam's pre-season articles a long while back, and I feel pretty lousy about that now, since I've really come to respect Sam and his work.

[mnhusker]

Had the Drama ......... but it needed the "It was a dark and stormy night" opening line.

[bball_backer]

may be a weird article, but guess who's article is getting talked about and read by hundreds on a message board... critical readers are still readers.

[dixie normous]

after reading the last two lines of that article...

 

...I got chills throughout my bodeh

 

[walksalone]

That article was like watching the discovery channel, when they show the old lion dying, and being left behind by the pride...

[bball_backer]

after reading the last two lines of that article...

 

...I got chills throughout my bodeh

 

 

i was so weirded out i didn't know what to do, so... i spat

[JOEY]

after reading the last two lines of that article...

 

...I got chills throughout my bodeh

 

 

i was so weirded out i didn't know what to do, so... i spat

I kinda liked the article.

[bball_backer]

after reading the last two lines of that article...

 

...I got chills throughout my bodeh

 

 

i was so weirded out i didn't know what to do, so... i spat

I kinda liked the article.

Personally, I like the article also... I just happen to like Taylor Martinez drops and didn't know how else to drop one in response to dixie normous' drop