Better Fanbases than Nebraska

[JJ Husker]

I was really impressed with the Tennessee fan base back in 1997 at the Orange Bowl. They were some classy fans. Love those guys/gals.

[Excel]

1. Sell outs don't mean much. Any rich family, corporation or chamber of commerce can pull those off in down years.

2. Nebraska does travel pretty well, probably the best in the country.

3. Nicest? That's all anecdotal. They're certainly better than most though.

 

As far as it goes I'd say that, speaking generally, no state in the country is more supportive of their Flag Ship University's football program than Nebraska. Alabama would be up there if not for Auburn.

 

The test is how they do after a decade of bad football. I mean we-didn't-go-bowling bad football. Will they be like South Carolina, still filling the stadium after an 0-11 season?

[Husker_x]

Damnit, are you guys still butthurt about those comments he made?

 

Get over it. It was two years ago.

More concerned about his head coaching ability (or lack thereof), FWIW.

 

This, this, THIS.

 

It seems to me the people making the biggest deal about the comments are those assuming most of us actually care. I have two responses.

 

1. The comments are a problem, and no, there's no whitewashing it. Pelini said some stupid stuff in the heat of the moment that will come back to bite him in the ass if a real coaching change movement gets started. In and of themselves they are pretty tame, but spun into a larger narrative they add weight to the case against Pelini.

 

2. Most of us only care about the on-field results. Count me among them. I think Bo Pelini is a wonderful human being; very passionate, but he loves his players and he goes out of his way to do good in the community. For that he is to be respected no matter what happens on the field. However, as a coach he has set an extremely low bar for this program and little seems to be improving year to year. His team management and personnel decisions (players and coaches alike) invite heavy criticism. And worse, his teams do not seem to play with much intensity/toughness, and the very fact that we have to stop to wonder what the "identity" of this team is in year six, offense or defense, is damning.

 

It's point number two, not one, that will judge Bo Pelini. If he can turn things around, I'd be thrilled. Thrilled. Trouble is, I have no reason whatsoever to believe this is the case, and many perfectly obvious reasons not to.

[admo]

I don't know who has the best fan base, or if there is one better than Nebraska. But piggy back riding off of Bucky, we do travel extremely well to support the Huskers. And the local hospitality to visitors is always pleasant. But I've met my share of jerkwads. And it has always amazed me how much hate goes towards some teams because they beat us more often than not. Specifically USC, UT, Texas Tech. With Texas there are other reasons, but the deep down hate goes towards them beating us. And pretty soon there is going to be a bunch of new hate towards Ohio State and Wisconsin. I don't find a lot of common ground of humility from Husker fans. Unless we win, fans be all gracious towards opponents.

[Kiyoat Husker]

Not sure how they treat visitors, but LSU fans are pretty awesome.

http://www.kadn.com/lsu-fans/lsu-fans-considered-tenth-worst-sports-fans

 

I agree that LSU baseball fans at the college world series are pretty cool with their crawfish tailgating, but on their home turf it's a different story.

 

LSU fans have been named the tenth worst sports fans in America.

That ranking comes from GQ Magazine's April issue.

The writers actually called the purple and gold faithful, "deep fried lunatics!"

They said the ranking comes from the hostility showed towards opposing fans.

Pointing out that 2005 incident, when tiger fans pelted a Tennessee team bus with beer bottles and busting windows.

They said LSU fans drink too much and claim the "tiger bait" chant is obnoxious.

[Alamo City Husker]

Being that I have lived in San Antonio in the post/pre-young era. I haven't heard one thing from a Longhorn fan since the season has started. But, like the infestation of UT fans that crawled outta of the woodwork during their Vince Young anomoly; The only college football fans I can have a meaningful college football conversation with is Texas A&M Aggies or as I used to call it Nebraska South. So they would be right behind us in football IQ!

[fro daddy]

The test is how they do after a decade of bad football. I mean we-didn't-go-bowling bad football. Will they be like South Carolina, still filling the stadium after an 0-11 season?

 

That is the question. But there is no rock hard answer. What I have seen in my 8 years here. ..that answer would be no. Seeing the reactions and sulking during 9 & 10 win seasons is pathetic. Try 18 years of crappy football. Watching areas or damn near the entire stadium clear out during different games tells a lot about certain fans.

 

The majority of nu fans are good fans who love their team no matter what. Put there is still a good size chunk who are in to fit in or for the wins. Maybe a few bad seasons would weed out the husker fans that real husker fans hate

[Glendower]

Thoughts? I can't really think of any. Our sellout records, our traveling fans, the commentary from fans of opposing teams, etc. seem to indicate that we are second to none.

 

But I'm sure that Pelini will find a fanbase more to his liking at his next coaching stop.

He wants a fan base that doesn't pay attention or react, I guess. We can make him happy by not being upset when the team gets embarrassed again (though, I suppose, the other side of that coin is a fan base that doesn't really care either way).

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Kansas State and Colorado come to mind........................... Seriously though what about Clemson? Don't know much about them, but they appear to have pretty good fans.

[I am I]

The test is how they do after a decade of bad football. I mean we-didn't-go-bowling bad football. Will they be like South Carolina, still filling the stadium after an 0-11 season?

 

That is the question. But there is no rock hard answer. What I have seen in my 8 years here. ..that answer would be no. Seeing the reactions and sulking during 9 & 10 win seasons is pathetic. Try 18 years of crappy football. Watching areas or damn near the entire stadium clear out during different games tells a lot about certain fans.

 

The majority of nu fans are good fans who love their team no matter what. Put there is still a good size chunk who are in to fit in or for the wins. Maybe a few bad seasons would weed out the husker fans that real husker fans hate

 

I disagree. Not only do fans travel for away games, they travel for home games too. I personally know people who SCALP tickets cuz they can't get season tickets who live more than 600 miles away and will go to 6 of the 8 home games. Hell I live in Denver and make it to home games and back in less than 26 hours if I can.

 

Okay, suckers who give up season tickets now only to wait 25 years to get them back.

 

I'm not so foolish to say our sellout will last forever, that's stupid. But just by proxy, the 25,000 people who quit going--25,000 more will gladly take their place (at lower prices no doubt)

[Excel]

Kansas State and Colorado come to mind........................... Seriously though what about Clemson? Don't know much about them, but they appear to have pretty good fans.

 

Decent sized fan base. Top 3 in ACC. Commiserate travel rates and behavior to UGA and South Carolina. Nebraska is better though.

[MLB 51]

Thoughts? I can't really think of any. Our sellout records, our traveling fans, the commentary from fans of opposing teams, etc. seem to indicate that we are second to none.

Maybe Oklahoma? Never really heard anything bad about them during the rivalry days. I think we earn that label more for the hospitality we show on gameday towards opposing fans. I've never been to an an away game that is better. Kinda like going to a NASCAR race, doesn't matter who your driver is, everyone will offer you a beer.

Disagree - living here in Okla I saw it first hand- when OU was down - so was their fan base. They are vocal and boastful when things go well but the 1990s showed how much of the fan base is fair weather. Our fan base is much more loyal. I talked to an OU and a A/M fan here today and they couldn't believe that on big games we'd get well over 200 fans at the Ok Cornhusker Club in Tulsa (not to mention those in the Bartlesville and OKC clubs). While the BC years were hard, our fans were loyal and the sell out streak continued - not so at OU. Also, wt the evolution of mid-game Stoops, the OKla Thunder has grabbed a lot of loyalty - the sooners are no longer the only game in town. OSU lite is also more competitive so many marginal OU fans have turned towards the cowboys.

Now I will agree that OU fans always had respect for NU (vs hatred towards texass) even if we fans weren't always treated that way in the stadium.

They are pretty bad about being fiaweather fans. Kind of remind of the Dallas Cowboys fan base.

[zoogs]

We've never, ever been tested like OU has I would say.

 

2002 was a bad year, the first after a long run. BC's first year in 2004 was a struggle of a transition; most understood it as such. 2007 was a meltdown of a season and we saw the fanbase get tested then. That's it. In between we had pretty solid seasons and a lot of reason to get our hopes up. I don't think we have ever seen sustained status like OU or USC in the 90s.

[carlfense]

Well, let me ammend that. He's not going anywhere if he's willing to make changes on defense, specifically getting an experienced D coordinator and letting him do his job. If he's not willing to do that, the chances of him leaving go up. His comments are a non factor.

Well, then. That's quite the hedge from "he's not going anywhere."

Not at all. Because my original comment was regarding your OP in starting this thread...which was entirely based on his comments. As I said, his comments will be a non factor, and he's not going anywhere because of them.

Again . . . we'll see. I suspect that they will actually be a factor.

[Mavric]

This is a false dilemma. Generally speaking, It's hard to argue with Nebraska fans supporting their team the best. From the sellout streak to how we travel, it's pretty obvious the support is there.

 

But that doesn't mean all the fans are great all the time, and particularly not that night. Leaving early is poor but not terrible in and of itself. But booing the team like that was terrible.