Robert NelsonWorld-Herald Columnist
LINCOLN — A couple of minutes into a press conference after Saturday's three-touchdown Husker victory, Coach Bo Pelini was already biting at reporters:
“That's pretty obvious,” he snapped back after a question. “I think I just covered that.”
Pelini was mad at his offense, an anger that lapped over onto reporters. When asked about the eight Husker fumbles, Pelini's retort, “We'll get that fixed,” was borderline demonic, a slow, deep growl that ended with an extended, snakelike hiss in “fixxxxthxxxed.”
So, I thought it would be fun to head down to Lincoln for one of Pelini's famously uncomfortable Tuesday morning press conferences.
And, of course, like that noise in your car that suddenly goes away when the mechanic listens, Pelini was, as one sports reporter said afterward, “the nicest I've ever seen him.”
Calm, answering questions with long, revealing, thoughtful responses instead of barks, laughing a bit, smiling quite a bit, and never once resorting to what I believe has become his favorite answer to reporters' questions:
“You saw the same game I did. What do you think? I think it's pretty obvious.”
No. On Tuesday, Husker Coach Bo Pelini was, well, just a normal, helpful, thoughtful guy, much like volleyball coach John Cook is at every one of his Tuesday morning press conferences.
For Pelini's press conference, which follows Cook's, I was lucky enough to sit on the far right side of the press room at Memorial Stadium.
From there, I could see the full length of Pelini's body behind the desk.
A body, interestingly enough, that was always aggressively in motion.
I began to take notes not on what he was saying, but about what his body was doing:
“Left leg bouncing continuously.” “Left leg continues to bounce.”
“Leans forward with feet back under chair. Both feet bouncing.”
“As feet bounce, hips rolling side to side in chair.”
“Leans back. Grabs chair frame hard. Can see white in knuckles.”
“Leans forward. Arms crossed. Right thumb digging at bicep of left arm.”
“Now hands clasped. Right thumb digging into knuckle of left index finger. Now left index finger digging right middle finger. Rolls hands. Hands raise to head. Scratches bald spot. Hands back down, arms crossed, fingers digging into arms again.”
I have never seen anything like it.
This while Pelini spoke with a peacefulness and openness absolutely at odds with the language of his body.
Which made me realize something:
These press conferences must be really hard for this guy.
We have heard he is ill at ease in the spotlight.
That he does not suffer fools well.
That he just hates media types.
That he just can't fully control his emotions.
That he feels press conferences are a waste of time.
I think it's a mix, and at times a different mix, of all of the above.
But there, on Tuesday, was a man fighting everything in his being to play his part in the circle of life of big-time football.
Coach feeds media. Media feeds fans. Fans feed program. Program feeds coach.
If this circle of life is impressively large, top athletes want to be a part of it.
But Pelini is an emotional guy. A fiery guy. A high-energy guy. A football guy.
I'm guessing from his body language that these press conferences are the toughest part of his job because it is the part of his job most at odds with his nature.
As for our end of the food chain, I spoke with several sportswriters before and after the press conference to get their take.
They're not at all offended that Pelini doesn't show them love.
In fact, as one of our sportswriters noted, “It keeps things interesting because you never know what you're going to get.”
And as far as I'm concerned, as a fan, I couldn't care less if he's a little gruff, or a lot gruff, or just not at ease when dealing with the media.
Because he seems to be really good at another part of his job:
Winning.
