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.
What is so wrong about thinking that you can have a winning team every year? If you don't believe that there is that possibility, then you are accepting mediocrity... Every season I believe that we will have a winning program...this year we weren't even competitive. That is a problem.
There is no sense of entitlement. We know it takes talent and hard work to win. We recruit players that we believe have the talent and are willing to work towards the goal of winning a National Championship. In return we offer the opportunity to play in a quality program with quality coaching. It isn't so much that we DESERVE anything, we try and take the right steps to be at least competitive, hopefully more, by hiring quality coaches, recruiting top players that are willing to work towards winning, and provide some of the best facilities, if not the best, in the country. We do EXPECT some return...and for the money that BC and company was paid, we should have done better than being ranked at the bottom in defense. We have never in the history of Husker football sunk to that level, and have maintained a better team for far less money over the years. These coaches were supposed to be good...and they were far from it. There has been no leadership on this team, and that starts with the coaches.
There are other threads, where I have stated that their families and they do not deserve the treatment that some have given them. The some is a very small minority. But there is no reason that these coaches cannot be criticized for not producing. Anyone that says otherwise should be living out in CA where there are no winners and there are no losers....everyone feels good. Football is all about competition...there are winners, there are losers. The losers should be the teams that are not taking the steps that are needed to win. The University has taken the steps that should have made us competitive, but because these coaches have a philosophy that doesn't work in Nebraska...we aren't. When you have a tumor, you cut it out. These coaches have become a tumor, they need to be removed to save the rest of the program. And any fan that sees this has the right to say so...
So, if your so worried about their feelings being hurt because of the criticism of their job performance, too bad...move to California with the liberals. If your argument is with the people that are taking personal attacks...I am with you brother...nobody deserves that. They are paid the big bucks to come up with a program that wins, or at least is competitive...they haven't done it. It has gone down hill since they arrived on scene. The people that are here they recruited for the most part...they have run out of excuses. It is time for them to go.
