Osborne Amazed at How Far Flung and Loyal Nebraska Fans Really Are
If you're excited about Nebraska's long awaited Red Out Around the World website complementing Huskers.com, you're in good company.
Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne Tuesday night admitted that he, too, was eagerly anticipating the collaborative website sponsored by Nebraska Athletics, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Nebraska Alumni Association and the Omaha World-Herald, which published a story Tuesday about how the webset will bring Big Red fans closer together through a wide variety of social networking.
When Husker Sports Nightly Host Lane Grindle told Osborne Tuesday night on the Tom Osborne Radio Show that he liked the interactive map and the website's ability to communicate with Husker fans around the world, Osborne credited Nebraska's Marketing Department for pulling together the aggressive project.
"I've always been amazed at how far flung Nebraska fans are and how loyal they really are," Osborne said, adding that the popularity of Nebraska football watch sites across the country and around the world helped fuel the desire to showcase Big Red fans for the Nebraska-Texas game Oct. 16 in Memorial Stadium.
Osborne said NU's Marketing Department selected the Texas game last winter because it was the most likely game to be on national television, not because there was any intention "to put Texas in a bulls-eye."
The Red Out game asks fans to wear red and be loud, and the website is designed for two main reasons: 1) to connect Big Red fans everywhere; and 2) to celebrate tradition (Nebraska's first national championship team in 1970 will be honored at the Nebraska-Texas game).
One American soldier got a jump-start on the Red Out action, sending a photo that a buddy took of him holding a Big Red flag on an airstrip "somewhere in Iraq."
"This flag has been with me all over the world," Michael Slagle wrote in an email to Huskers.com. "It was bought by my grandfather in Arizona and went with me everywhere while on deployments."
Slagle says the flag that carries a soft spot in his heart "is now hanging on the wall in my sister's bar in Central Nebraska."
Nebraska fans worldwide are encouraged to put themselves on the map, to share photos and to register to win prizes on Red Out Around the World.com.
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