in the fall of the Husker program has been the fan response.
The fan base, as represented here and elsewhere has embarrassed the state of Nebraska far worse than has the football team. The response to the fall of the football team has been far, far worse than has the fall itself. The fan base needs to get a life. Losing in a football game happens 1/2 the time, by definition. Fans should expect that over time your team will eventually struggle. Our teams struggles have been few and very, very far between. That the program is down is, in and of itself, not a big issue --- nothing to get worked up over. We'll be back, in due course. We have no right to expect excellence all the time. Why are we so special?
So, really the worst thing that has come from the fall of the program is that many Nebraska fans have been shown to be terrible losers, expressing an arrogant sense of entitlement and a childish sense of being poor sports. Of course this indictment does not include everyone or perhaps even most fans --- but enough fans have been unsportsmanlike and ridiculous in their behavior that the fan base at Nebraska is rightly viewed now as no different than any other collective fan base. We are great if we win and not when we lose.
The team will likely get better and recover. Will the fans?
What do you come to this board to do...find out what the score was last week and leave? Fans have the right to express their opinions, as long as they don't make personal attacks or threats to anyone.
I may not agree with you, but I will allow you to express yourself, but expect to be able to do the same. You say that the response of the fans have been bad? Wrong...these are fans that are expressing their displeasure at a system that has been terrible. Bad fans would keep their mouths shut and just accept it as par for the course. The fans in Nebraska know what it is to win...and expect to be competitive, which this team has been neither. They have watched one of the top defenses be run into the ground literally....damn right we are going to have something to say about it, no matter what you or anyone else thinks. What would you do...sit on your butt and take the attitude that it was okay to be at the bottom, because someone has to be? That is not good enough for me....and I WILL express my feelings about it...you just go ahead and sit on your butt, and choose to criticize the fans...what are you going to do...hire new ones? You better learn to live with them...or better yet, become one.
No one is advocating that we should "think it is OK to be at the bottom." Instead it is an issue of expressing ourselves in a way that is civil, non-inflammatory and far more important than the expression of the concern is the underlying attitude --- we as Husker fans are not entitled to winning teams any more than are any other fans (Baylor fans, SMU fans, USC fans, or fans of any other program). We should now, especially now, appreciate the good old days. I went to NU as a student in 1983 and have ever since been a dedicated fan. Many, many good and many great years in that time span. And now some bad ones. They go together. So we root for, support and hope for better But the entitlement is really something that is arrogant. The NU football team owes us nothing. We should appreciate what we had and hope to see it again. In the intervening period of time we still need to enjoy and support the program.
Now, I have myself denounced this staff --- I was one of the earliest to state my displeasure with Callahan. I am myself guilty of some of what I have pointed out as being problematic with the fan base.
But, like the team, we have a chance to improve as well. Lets let this staff walk out with some dignity and actually thank them. Honestly, I feel sorry for these coaches (and their families). All they did was work their hearts out and do their best. The results were not there and the time is now to go elsewhere for leadership. But the bitterness and rancor against these guys is just wrong. And the arrogant notion that just because we root for the Big Red we DESERVE a winning team every year is unrealistic, wrong and as well needs to change.