Blackshirts: The Tradition Going Forward....

[HuskerShark]

What's with all of these glass-half-empty threads getting started on this board these days, not to mention on Husker Gameday?! It's seriously annoying. Let's see how the defense performs the next few weeks and then we can start picking them apart.

You've clearly missed the point of the thread....

To be honest with you, I didn't finish reading the OP, because the thread title seems so pessimistic. If it's not, then my bad.

If you want my opinion on the blackshirt tradition, I think it means something when the defense is stout like in 2009 and 2010, but when the defense plays like crap like last year and so far this year, the blackshirts become a little bit of a joke in terms of national perception.

Great defense + winning football games = respect

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

What's with all of these glass-half-empty threads getting started on this board these days, not to mention on Husker Gameday?! It's seriously annoying. Let's see how the defense performs the next few weeks and then we can start picking them apart.

You've clearly missed the point of the thread....

To be honest with you, I didn't finish reading the OP, because the thread title seems so pessimistic. If it's not, then my bad.

If you want my opinion on the blackshirt tradition, I think it means something when the defense is stout like in 2009 and 2010, but when the defense plays like crap like last year and so far this year, the blackshirts become a little bit of a joke in terms of national perception.

Great defense + winning football games = respect

\

Give me a chance man!

 

[The Red & White Knight]

as ssomeone who actually read things, I agree generally with OP

It is something that Nebraska should tout a bit more on the 'marketing' aspect. IT is badass. And if I were a recruit, I'd want to hear it and see it a lot. - I'd want to have a lot of hype built around the eliteness of what Nebraska defense is really about - and to be a part of that specialness.

Communicating and developing that even in the 'marketing' sense is cool, and really translating that over into the game is also important. It would be a way to stand out.

The problem is, yes, this years defense is not the teams strong point. But when Stafford smacks someone, or Martin gets another sack, yeah, I'd like to hear some reference to Blackshirts being made.

I don' tknow how to connect the sense of elite-ness, reverence, and respect about the blackshirts with what is going on today, but it is something powerful.

 

[Fuzzy]

You know, i thought about the Blackshirts the other day. I wondered to myself, if tradition clouds the mind of fans.

Now, i hope this never happens. I would be completely content with our defense never getting the Blackshirts during a season if they did not earn them. What i don't want is coaches giving out Blackshirts to a defense that doesn't deserve them, because they have to. You do that, and you have spoiled the tradition.

On that note, i don't think the Blackshirts should be a group tradition. You give it to the guys who deserve them. If it means only one guy on your defense gets a Blackshirt, so be it. He met the expectations of the coaching staff and earned the Blackshirt. It shouldn't be regulated to the entire starting defense if you have to wait for the entire starting defense to earn it. If Eric Martin is playing at the Blackshirt level at week 4 and Baker Steinkuhler isn't. Give Eric Martin his Blackshirt and Baker is just going to have to keep improving to earn his. That is the way I would do it.

I wouldn't hand them out until at the earilest, the 3rd game. Even if they played fantastic during the 1st and/or 2nd game, your looking for consistency on defense. You want shining stars on defense, not flashing ones.

 

[Count 'Bility]

This staff wanted to make something you earn, not something you could learn. Trust me, they appreciate this tradition, theyre just doing it a bit different. It's not that big a deal. We have far more important things to worry about.

 

[C N Red]

I for one hope they get back to handing these out the beginning of week 1, so the players don't want to lose them.
They don't know what they can lose unless they have it.

I'm leaning towards this also. If you prove yourself during the summer and fall and get to start I think they should get them. It doesnt mean they cant be taken away. If theres one thing that can be more motivating than getting a blackshirt its keeping it. Just like anything in life, it takes work and pain to get something, but it takes even more to make sure you keep that something once you've had it in you hands.

 

[I am I]

I think the players have to buy into it fully.

As long as they're throwing bones after big plays and such, I think theyre buying in. Also, the announcers talk about it a lot

 

[Nobody]

I may have gotten off track in the beginning of the OP, but I was originally trying to point out the appeal the tradition could have to young kids if we use (or market) the tradition effectively. The tradition could enhance our image, and appeal to talented young athletes.... For instance, I would have loved to have seen the blackshirt logo involved in the Wisky uniforms in some way....

Don't even go there!

That horse has died, been beaten, buried, and decomposed.

just sayin.. i agree.