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Wisconsin decommitment a lesson for message-board miscreants


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The real story of the article has nothing to do with message boards, either. You are aware that a good 50% of the things discussed on this board, and probably more before the OWH and Co got their panties in a wad about posting full, linked, and sourced articles, is driven by newspaper content. These discussions were happening back in the day, too, just not on the internet, and not on message boards, which incidentally are the last place in the world players or potential players should be spending their time.

 

You want to play big league ball? You want to represent a university or a state? You want to have people scream your name when you sink a three with the horn blowing or rush for that game winning touchdown? You want the attention then? Well, there's a dark side, and it's always been there, and it's not going away. Not now. Not ever.

 

I've been around our board a few years now. Coaches are praised and cursed. Players are loved and hated. Recruits are scrutinized left and right. Most of it is civil, but occasionally it crosses the line. Are you telling me that the conversations that happen on this board can or should be the determining factor of how a recruit goes about choosing whether or not to play for Nebraska, or is even an adequate snapshot of the fanbase as a whole, or that fans who participate in heated discussions about these people should somehow be worrying about what a recruit MIGHT think if he ever bothers to read them?

 

I guess my longwinded point is this: I see where the article is coming from, because when someone like Charles Jackson has an academic problem, Husker Nation is behind him 100%, asking about him, supporting him in what distant way we can. I could see how if we reversed that it might be a problem. But part of wanting to do something that makes you quazi-famous is that you have to accept the baggage that comes with that choice. The only difference between now and twenty years ago is that the information is out there faster, wider, and more often. The conversations haven't changed.

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I guess my longwinded point is this: I see where the article is coming from, because when someone like Charles Jackson has an academic problem, Husker Nation is behind him 100%, asking about him, supporting him in what distant way we can. I could see how if we reversed that it might be a problem. But part of wanting to do something that makes you quazi-famous is that you have to accept the baggage that comes with that choice. The only difference between now and twenty years ago is that the information is out there faster, wider, and more often. The conversations haven't changed.

 

That's all very true, and we'd like to think that the guys who are interested in playing college football, especially at a program like Nebraska, are willing to take the BS that sometimes comes their way. But every athlete is not wired that way, and we can't expect them to be.

 

I see the problem here as inevitable. I think over the course of time it'll happen with pretty much every school. There will always be this kind of water-cooler conversation, it has now migrated to the webz, and it's going to get louder and louder. The basic human trait of curiosity will compel players to see what people are saying about them, and some of it will affect some of them. There's just no way around it.

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I guess my longwinded point is this: I see where the article is coming from, because when someone like Charles Jackson has an academic problem, Husker Nation is behind him 100%, asking about him, supporting him in what distant way we can. I could see how if we reversed that it might be a problem. But part of wanting to do something that makes you quazi-famous is that you have to accept the baggage that comes with that choice. The only difference between now and twenty years ago is that the information is out there faster, wider, and more often. The conversations haven't changed.

 

That's all very true, and we'd like to think that the guys who are interested in playing college football, especially at a program like Nebraska, are willing to take the BS that sometimes comes their way. But every athlete is not wired that way, and we can't expect them to be.

 

I see the problem here as inevitable. I think over the course of time it'll happen with pretty much every school. There will always be this kind of water-cooler conversation, it has now migrated to the webz, and it's going to get louder and louder. The basic human trait of curiosity will compel players to see what people are saying about them, and some of it will affect some of them. There's just no way around it.

 

I agree completely, which makes the article something of a triviality--there is really nothing that can be done about players being criticized. The ones who can hack it will be better fit for a life playing ball on TV, where the scrutiny never dies. The ones who can't, sorry. Either be smart enough to not read it or find another profession.

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I've been around our board a few years now. Coaches are praised and cursed. Players are loved and hated. Recruits are scrutinized left and right. Most of it is civil, but occasionally it crosses the line. Are you telling me that the conversations that happen on this board can or should be the determining factor of how a recruit goes about choosing whether or not to play for Nebraska, or is even an adequate snapshot of the fanbase as a whole, or that fans who participate in heated discussions about these people should somehow be worrying about what a recruit MIGHT think if he ever bothers to read them?

 

I do believe shaggy bevo is actually a pretty close snapshot of the longhorn fanbase.

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