Dirk Stirring the Pot again with "Blackshirts" Article

[Chaddyboxer]

Go ahead and stick me with the other "Dirk Haters." My point is...he writes to create controversy and I believe some of his articles are outright unnecessary b/c they don't hold weight.

[Chaddyboxer]

He has the right to publish articles such as this....I just find them to be craptacular.

[JJ Husker]

I didn't take what Dirk wrote as having a problem with how or how many blackshirts Pelini hands out. The only thing in the article that hints at that is what Carlos Polk said. Like many ex-players recently, Carlos should probably learn to keep his mouth shut. The defense that Pelini runs tends to regularly use more personnel in different packages than when Polk played so Carlos's comments are ill advised. I have no problem with Pelini determining when or how many blackshirts to hand out. My preference would be that the starters (in every package-which may be as many as 19) get them prior to the first game but, last time I checked, I was not the coach and Pelini is. It is his job to administer the blackshirt tradition however he sees fit and to choose how to motivate the players. I am not sure why Dirk felt the need to include Polk's inflammatory opinion. If Dirk has ulterior motives, he sure didn't speak out loudly one way or the other.

[Chaddyboxer]

i read that article this morning - i think some of you just see Dirk's name at the top and automatically go of the cliff. Did you read the whole thing? Like how he defends the decision at the bottom?

Bo broke with tradition, no doubt.

 

But the greatest Nebraska tradition is dominance. And last Saturday — for the first time all season — these guys played like a Pelini defense. They played like Blackshirts. They earned the jerseys.

He tried to save-face at the end....tried to soften his intentions so that we wouldn't think so wrongly of him. I don't care for the dude. He just wants to create some controversy so his articles get more hits. Screw him. Pelini has earned the right to evolve the tradition a bit. It is quite evident that Pelini is a straight traditionalist and holds HIGH respect for the NEB program. If he didn't, Osborne wouldn't have hired him.

 

Time to put on the big boy pants... we all don't see through the same set of eyes.

K....................................................................................

[Doctor Tom]

Good article.

[gratefullred]

I don't get it. I think Dirk is a fine writer, and feel he writes about what everyone else is talking about. Not an issue.

[scarletNcream]

Well from a "blue hair" view, when I told my wife that Bo handed out some 20 "Blackshirts" she said "WHAT!?". And then I had to remind her that defenses have changed. We have "packages" now. You can't give 11 shirts without recognizing the other 9-10 players that come in on your nickle now can you. I neither agree or disagree with Dirk, but it is obvious he is writing to include older and younger readers, trying to rile the old folks by saying he's breaking with tradition and rile the younger ones with the same statement. Looks like it worked. We have one rag in this town and unfortunately it is tOWH.

[Jason Sitoke]

Go ahead and stick me with the other "Dirk Haters." My point is...he writes to create controversy and I believe some of his articles are outright unnecessary b/c they don't hold weight.

 

This article is about as controversial as Carlos Mencia.

[Jason Sitoke]

I didn't take what Dirk wrote as having a problem with how or how many blackshirts Pelini hands out. The only thing in the article that hints at that is what Carlos Polk said. Like many ex-players recently, Carlos should probably learn to keep his mouth shut. The defense that Pelini runs tends to regularly use more personnel in different packages than when Polk played so Carlos's comments are ill advised. I have no problem with Pelini determining when or how many blackshirts to hand out. My preference would be that the starters (in every package-which may be as many as 19) get them prior to the first game but, last time I checked, I was not the coach and Pelini is. It is his job to administer the blackshirt tradition however he sees fit and to choose how to motivate the players. I am not sure why Dirk felt the need to include Polk's inflammatory opinion. If Dirk has ulterior motives, he sure didn't speak out loudly one way or the other.

 

Look, these guys come from a different period in Husker history. They were taught that a blackshirt, more than anything, meant you were a starter on what was likely an outstanding defense at a major program. The blackshirt tradition was started by simply picking out a color of jersey to differentiate the starters from everyone else. Pelini created this concept of 'earning' your blackshirt, which I guess is okay. Although I gotta say, when they're being given out, then taken away, then awarded again....it brinks on gimmicky.

 

It's his program right now, and he's putting his stamp on it. That doesn't mean that ex-players don't have a right to take some issue with it, and being an ex-player who still cares about the program, it certainly doesn't mean that he has to 'shut his mouth' when someone wants his opinion on something NU football related.

 

So apparently we've got people who think that everyone but them needs to keep their opinion to themselves, even writers whose job it is to share their perspective. Odd that so many people who joined a message board to share their, and presumably hear others', opinion, are the first ones to shush a dissenting one.

[Joe_5700]

I didn't take what Dirk wrote as having a problem with how or how many blackshirts Pelini hands out. The only thing in the article that hints at that is what Carlos Polk said. Like many ex-players recently, Carlos should probably learn to keep his mouth shut. The defense that Pelini runs tends to regularly use more personnel in different packages than when Polk played so Carlos's comments are ill advised. I have no problem with Pelini determining when or how many blackshirts to hand out. My preference would be that the starters (in every package-which may be as many as 19) get them prior to the first game but, last time I checked, I was not the coach and Pelini is. It is his job to administer the blackshirt tradition however he sees fit and to choose how to motivate the players. I am not sure why Dirk felt the need to include Polk's inflammatory opinion. If Dirk has ulterior motives, he sure didn't speak out loudly one way or the other.

 

Odd that so many people who joined a message board to share their, and presumably hear others', opinion, are the first ones to shush a dissenting one.

 

Yes, it is VERY odd. My main quarrel is that one of the guys who got a blackshirt has one more tackle than our starting RB.

[deedsker]

I didn't take what Dirk wrote as having a problem with how or how many blackshirts Pelini hands out. The only thing in the article that hints at that is what Carlos Polk said. Like many ex-players recently, Carlos should probably learn to keep his mouth shut. The defense that Pelini runs tends to regularly use more personnel in different packages than when Polk played so Carlos's comments are ill advised. I have no problem with Pelini determining when or how many blackshirts to hand out. My preference would be that the starters (in every package-which may be as many as 19) get them prior to the first game but, last time I checked, I was not the coach and Pelini is. It is his job to administer the blackshirt tradition however he sees fit and to choose how to motivate the players. I am not sure why Dirk felt the need to include Polk's inflammatory opinion. If Dirk has ulterior motives, he sure didn't speak out loudly one way or the other.

Thats why I have no problem with 19. It is a large number but think about how many times we shuffle linebackers and secondary people. A starting linebacker may not even see most of the game when we play teams like Michigan. When Nebraska does its' starting line up for the game they always have 14 or 15 guys because who knows who is going to be needed right off the bat.

[Landlord]

Thought it was a fine editorial article. States the facts, doesn't state conclusions. Nothing to see here.

[Malth]

This is a garbage article. Lambasting Bo for "breaking tradition", and downplaying his reasoning for doing so. And of course, only including one quote from one player who predictably disapproves.

 

Bo is upholding tradition in his own way. The blackshirts still mean something. They probably mean more now than at almost any point in the 2000's

[bshirt]

Dirk is a worthless & irrelevant nimrod.

 

There are lots of posters right here on HB that know wayyyyyy more about NU cfb than him, imo. I really don't care what he writes as with every day the internet gets more powerful and the fish wraps less. I almost feel sorry for him.

 

GBR!!

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

whats the alternative to giving out 19? only giving out 4, to the guys who play every down, every game? im sure us interneters would freak out even more about that. i see no problems with this article.