It's really a crying shame that some former players and many fans don't understand the black shirt tradition, what it really means, and how/when/why they were distributed,
While I agree with you about how the Blackshirts should be handed out, I disagree that others are "wrong". Especially the former players who actually were Blackshirts. I don't see how you can possibly call them "wrong". It's all opinion, and the guys who actually wore the jerseys count WAY more heavily in my book.
I tried, unsuccessfully apparently, to give some leeway to the Pelini players who did it a different way. Bo did not do it the traditional way and from that point of view it was wrong, traditionally wrong. But I will cut those guys some slack because it was managed differently under Bo and they never had the opportunity to do it the traditional way. It was just a completely different animal the way Bo did it. So, that may not be the "wrong" way for those guys but it most definitely was not the traditional way. And IMO a tradition isn't much of a tradition if you don't do it in a traditional manner. Pretty self explanatory if you think about it. I don't blame those guys for not understanding the tradition, but let's be clear, they don't understand it. How could they?
By that logic, there shouldn't be "Blackshirts" since the traditional (aka older) way was not having black practice jerseys. And having video of the guys receiving their Blackshirts is something that's brand new. Is that traditional? Are the jerseys following the tradition if they've got stripes and logos on them instead of the original pain black? Is it less of a tradition if they change some part of it?
Regardless of how we want to couch the argument, it's still just an opinion over which way of handing out the Blackshirts is best.
No, the problem is you are ignoring the "tradition" part of the deal. Personally, I no longer care about the blackshirt tradition. I've seen too many poor defenses to really care one way or the other. I realize that is not what it means but my personal preferencell would be that we field a dominate defense, I don't care what nickname that unit may have. But my whole point has been how the Blackshirts were treated traditionally. I don't think some of you know the meaning of the word so here;
Tradition: a way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular group, family, society, etc., for a long time
: the stories, beliefs, etc., that have been part of the culture of a group of people for a long time.
a :an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom)
To my understanding traditions don't morph or change over time. Things sure can change but then they are no longer traditional. That has been my point all along. The way Pelini treated the blackshirts was not the traditional way. We can have all kinds of opinions if that is good or bad but it is not debatable that his way was not the traditional way.
BTW, the blackshirts started when they picked up black practice jerseys. Not sure what your point is about older times, before they had black jerseys.... Seems like you're just trying to be argumentative.
