Finally! Blackshirt Talk

Didn't Chinader basically say this was what he was going to do months ago? 



To say “Before I made any public comments about it I wanted to make sure I understood (the tradition),” Chinander said to the crowd. “Hearing the story about how the Blackshirts were created is not enough." and then just end up back on what he wanted to do 4 months ago seems to me more like he's blowing smoke at the fans than anything.   :dunno

 
RedDenver said:
I will remain tied to tradition that whoever the starters are on defense are the Blackshirts. Having a vague standard for giving them out or taking them away was a disaster under Bo and will likely be so again.
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Thats great but during the time that this was the tradition, Nebraska was at the top of the game.  If you started for Nebraska that meant you might have put another guy out of playing that could be the 3rd best in the country at that position. The hate on Bo for trying to make players accountable for a scared tradition of excellent play is ludicrous.  If you didn’t like his demeanor, that’s whatever, but thought was correct.  The thinking of the current coaches is similar.  Coaches wanting accountability for a prestigious position.  Call my silly but it is the right thing to do until we see them start to resemble what the coaches want, that may take years to accomplish but I think at some point it will go back to starters every year.  It will take a monumental effort to start here after a couple years.

 
KingBlank said:
Thats great but during the time that this was the tradition, Nebraska was at the top of the game.  If you started for Nebraska that meant you might have put another guy out of playing that could be the 3rd best in the country at that position. The hate on Bo for trying to make players accountable for a scared tradition of excellent play is ludicrous.  If you didn’t like his demeanor, that’s whatever, but thought was correct.  The thinking of the current coaches is similar.  Coaches wanting accountability for a prestigious position.  Call my silly but it is the right thing to do until we see them start to resemble what the coaches want, that may take years to accomplish but I think at some point it will go back to starters every year.  It will take a monumental effort to start here after a couple years.
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To be clear, I didn't hate Bo for his way of handing out the Blackshirts, I just thought it was stupid. And there's an infinite number of ways to make players accountable for a sacred tradition (although your slip of "scared tradition" is funny). And if you tie their performance to having or not having the Blackshirts, then there's going to be calls after every freaking game for the Blackshirts to be handed out or taken back. And there's going to be fans arguing over who "really" deserves a Blackshirt and who doesn't, no matter how well or poorly the team is playing. It's just dumb.

The starters are the Blackshirts. We can argue over where they fit in the pantheon of Blackshirts, but they're all Blackshirts.

 
I

Toe said:
Kevin Ramaekers was taking it pretty hard from Charlie McBride in a Nebraska defensive film room the Tuesday after a Husker football game in 1991. McBride kept rewinding a play over and over. It always turned out the same. Ramaekers couldn't do anything about it but sink down in his chair.

"He called me the Dancing Bear," Ramaekers said. "He said, 'I can't believe I have a starting Dancing Bear on my squad."'

 
That was nothing compared to what would happen a few hours later to the defensive tackle from Norfolk, Neb. Ramaekers repeated the same mistake in practice and McBride, the Huskers' long-time defensive coordinator, was coming with something way more damaging than a cutesy nick-name. Ramaekers was about to forfeit his "Blackshirt" practice jersey. Words could not describe what that meant to a 20-year-old sophomore who had wept only months before when he first found it hanging in his locker.

"Coach McBride grabbed me by the neck and said, 'Take that off right now and give it to Jamie (Liewer),"' Ramaekers said. "If you were going to mess up, he wanted you going about 120 mph and I was going about 50. Talk about humbling. I walked down to the scout team and people were standing around thinking, 'This guy was a Blackshirt, and he just gave it away."'

http://www.kearneyhub.com/huskersnews/past-players-say-defense-lacks-the-old-swagger/article_dc951890-57f3-5432-9d7c-6e10f0091c8e.html
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in college, where I played ball...we were in film room watching PRACTICE film (practice??!?) We had this 6’7” tackle who was pretty good but he was LAAAZY at practice.  

We were doing drills and this guy got beat like 3 times in a row. The final one we watched (over and over and over), I was on defense, he got pushed back a little, side stepped off balance, and then just worked underneath his pads straight to the dummy QB. It took all of 2.5 seconds. 

the O-line coach slams the controller on the floor breaking it, and screams, “goddammit son, you just got tossed like a used rubber!!!” 

greatest day of film and locker room jargon I ever heard in my whole life. Man...I miss football sometimes. 

 
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Mavric said:
it just so happened to be that those guys were doing everything the right way. And that was just the whole team at Nebraska at that time.
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This quote from Chinander highlights a great reason why the Blackshirt tradition needs to evolve slightly from the concept that Blackshirts are for the 11 starters and issued and the end of fall camp. If you have a squad that proves it day after day, then by all means hand them out as before. Right now, it sounds like the Blackshirt mentality is not there in everyone, so the approach of handing them out might look different (e.g., waiting until after a game or so; taking them away), but in actuality, it's not. They go to those that deserve them (i.e., starters/significant contributors that embody the Blackshirt mentality).

 
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StPaulHusker said:
Remember when you could talk about the Blackshirts as just being the starting 11?  

Every year we have a new DC, the "tradition" just keeps getting more convoluted.
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Traditions evolve as each coach and team contribute to it, in some cases drastically. I guess I don't see the harm here.

 
I'm hoping in 2 years our D will be set with the mindset that the starters intend on keeping their positions all season long and play like it.  Then giving the BS to the starters at the end of camp will make sense.  Right now, everything is in flux - we have to flush a lot of bad habits and attitudes down the drain and the guys need to earn it and keep it. 

 
StPaulHusker said:
We've "evolved" into having to ask when and how many shirts will be handed out.  And what the criteria is.  And did they check with McBride.

Simpler was better regarding this area of Husker football.
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I believe they have talked with McBride on the subject. However considering your strict views on the tradition it would have been better that they speak with monte kiffin, as he is the traditions founding defensive coordinator. For the purest form of the tradition you must consult him.

 
husker98 said:
I believe they have talked with McBride on the subject. However considering your strict views on the tradition it would have been better that they speak with monte kiffin, as he is the traditions founding defensive coordinator. For the purest form of the tradition you must consult him.
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Again.  Just stating my opinion that the simpler time of just handing them out to the 11 starters was good enough.  The only question used to be, "Who are the starters?"  Now there is a checklist that has to be completed before we know.  If you don't have anything better to do than to make snarky posts on my comments, I suggest moving on.  

 
StPaulHusker said:
Again.  Just stating my opinion that the simpler time of just handing them out to the 11 starters was good enough.  The only question used to be, "Who are the starters?"  Now there is a checklist that has to be completed before we know.  If you don't have anything better to do than to make snarky posts on my comments, I suggest moving on.  
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I think it seems more complex than it did 25 years ago because football is more complex than it was 25 years ago.  You give the 11 starters argument, but the defense may not start the same 11 players from game to game, given the opponent.  I don't have an issue with more than 11 guys getting Blackshirts, but I would limit it to the nickel back, dime back, or even extra d-lineman.

 
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