Calm Before the Storm
One of the many questions I often get, both here and in real life is something to the effect of, "Why are you so angry? What's your problem with Husker fans? Everybody knows they're the class of college football. Why don't you get it."
There are lots of answers to that question. The best way I can explain it is to paraphrase a story that Joe Queenan told in his book True Believers. Queenan was in Paris working as a writer and he decided to hit the town and see some sights. He had traveled a lot, and had a lot of various t-shirts and hats. On that particular day, he decided to stroll through the city of light with a faded retro Cubs hat on. On his way back to the hotel, he became lost, and as many idiot Americans do (especially those from the east coast), he decided that NONE of the locals would help him with directions.
After some futile attempts to get directions from locals, he located two rather large guys walking down the street wearing Chicago White Sox jackets. He was relieved, because as any of you who travel overseas know...it's always comforting to run into one of your countrymen when dealing with the riff-raff that is the rest of the world. Anyhow, as the men approached, he started to speak as one of them glanced at his hat. Before Queenan could complete his sentence, one of the men belted out, "Fuck you" as he walked right past him.
Only true hatred brought fourth by sports could cause two men from the same city to treat another that way..especially in a place 4,500 miles away. They say sports can bring cities together. They say sports can draw people from all walks of life to cheer as one. Of course this is true. But at the same time, a team, a rivalry or in my case an entire fan base can push you the other way. The constant, inscencent, 24/7 barrage of self-proclaimed greatness is enough to drive anybody into the depths of madness. To prove my point, for those of you in Omaha...can you name me ONE person (Besides Omaha World Herald Columnist Tom Shatel) who has transplanted to Omaha that BECAME a Husker fan? I don't mean a casual go-to-the-occasional-watch-party fan. I'm talking HARD CORE Husker fan. (The kind that only wear red on Fridays, stick flags and decals all over their giant Red Tahoe and named their son "Osborne") I have lived here over 20 years, and aside from Benedict Tom...I can't name one.
That's why I feel it's important to let those of you outside these prison walls know what it's
actually like on the inside. I'm sure many of you Colorado or Kansas State or Missouri fans have heard what it's like here, but without confirmation, it would remain just outside your worst nightmares. Need another example? Think North Korea with Steve Pederson as Kim Jung Il. It's not that far off trust me.* I have so much to add here, but in light of the week of hell that starts Saturday afternoon. "How can you get even MORE hateful" you ask? Trust me...this is how I am when I just have to deal with this crap on an everyday basis. The game next weekend...despite what happens on Saturday, is the biggest Missouri vs. Nebraska game in my lifetime. Never has so much been on the line. Never have the worlds of my fandom crashed with my white-hot boiling hatred for all things Husker.
All I can do is prepare you and apologize for those of you who might be offended over the next 10 days or so. It's going to be vile. It's going to be foul. It's going to be hatred on a scale very few ever reach in their lifetime.
I hope you're ready for it.
posted by A J at 11:37 AM
29 Comments:
The comparison between Steve Pederson and Kim Jong-Il is eerie. Fortunately, it is optional in this state to refer to Smiley Jones as "Dearest Leader".
I can totally see him singing the "I'm so..ronrey..." song from Team America. :)
AJ,
Ive noticed your bloggings have become less frequent. Any correlation to Husker success and this? Hmmm... I know you will come up with some pathetic excuse... but I enjoy laughing at your excuses.
He is too busy posting on tigerboard.com counting down the days of the NU/Mizzou game.
I have a question. What success? Didn't you lose last week? Aren't you 6-2?
I had back to back posts that weren't immediately followed up with another post. Quick, somebody get a mortician.
I promise you win or lose this weekend..Sunday through 11/4 will be more to your liking. Not my fault no Husker idiot has guaranteed victory, punched a woman or ditched you for another team.
The #1 story this week is alcohol in the skybox.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"He is too busy posting on tigerboard.com counting down the days of the NU/Mizzou game. "
Pretty big game regardless...is it not?
Are you in prison or something? If you hate living in Nebraska then move. If you aren't willing to get yourself out of a situation you don't like then you're a pussy. How much time do you spend on this website? I think of you as a lifelike version of the "Calvin Pissing On" stickers here in Colorado with interchangable logos of the Huskers, Redwings, Raiders, etc. You make yourself look stupid in the same way. Nebraska fans don't care to prove you wrong because you don't matter. Whoever it is, your team sucks so bad that you spend all of your time ranting hatred on somebody elses team. Husker Nation is so strong it makes you waste your life. Pathetic! I'm ashamed I just wasted my time writing this to you.
- if you don't approve my comment it's no surprise as your obviously compensating for a lack of something and take it out in your little "internet world"
Why would I not approve that? That's the best whine I've gotten all week.
Thanks for stopping by.
Whine? I don't have anything to whine about. It's funny to me, yet sad, how all this hatred in your heart will lead to a long crappy life of bitterness for you. My comment was about you're pathetic website...and existence.
Yet you came back to see what I'd say.
Thanks for stopping by...again.
PS - I "approve" stuff like that because I get 2,000 hits a day from fans all over the big 12 and beyond. What better way to show them what complete frauds you guys really are than by printing your little hissy fit so the rest of us can laugh at you.
"Whoever it is, your team sucks so bad that you spend all of your time ranting hatred on somebody elses team."
Wow, in 21 short words, derek in denver summed up all that is nu fans. Arrogance (your team surely is not as good as NU) and (k)nowledge (ranting hatred? what's that?).
Note derek, his team is Mizzou, a team I would hardly say sucks this year.
The best part of reading your blog about Husker Fans is that with me living in Kansas, I have to deal with KU Basketball fans. The same ones who haven't seen a national championship since 1988....the same ones who think Roy Williams is still a god...the same ones who believe that Jayhawk players can do no wrong. The same fans who claim that Allen Fieldhouse is God's gift to Basketball--I've been there, honestly, just like Memorial Stadium..it is OLD! I am a proud Husker fan, but the best thing about this season, the Chiefs are at least .500! Thanks for the blog. Todd Francis
AJ:
How dare you not celebrate the accomplishments of your State University. :-)
Memo to Derrick in Denver:
Too funny. Please keep writing.
'96
JP replied to one of my posts on Christmas Eve once. Need I say more?
PS - Spell check took a word off. Thank you for your eagle eye.
PPS - Matt...word.
Meh...all the same. (I can go through the IP records and see if you were on that night..but I really don't care that much.) Plus, I didn't "comment" on Michigan's performance because it was the holidays and I had a bit more to do than talk to you.
PS - Either way, it is still refered to as one of the worst officiated games in recent memory. Hope you made a t-shirt to commemorate it.
section96, I believe that by writing more I'm playing the part of enabler. "aj" figured out how to make a blog and the illusion of power must be overwhelming indeed. Sad how much he must hate his life, but you did say please...
2,ooo hits per day on your very own blog "aj"!? Wow that's like a lot. And there's such a shortage of people looking over the internet for ridiculous banter like we're having here. Does each and every single hit make you forget, just a little, how bad it must suck to root for mizzou while living in NE (amongst your other problems)? You can't even boast outright, that you love MU. I heard about this special place to waste my time from a hardcore CU fan friend of mine. He told me to check out how pathetic you were.
How many hits per day would you get with a fan website, sorry blog, for mizzou? Are they good enough for you to put this much time into such a thing? You embody the epitome of bad sportsmanship.
As for Nebraska's sportsmanship, I'll leave those comments to the overwhelming majority of fans, players, and coaches who've had the pleasure of visiting Memorial Stadium on a fall Saturday. Nebraska fans are just fine with long stretches of successful seasons, we know that next national championship will happen eventually. For you, it must feel really, really desperate.
The Texas result sucked, but man Bill sure does have the lads playing hard again! I'll say a prayer that you begin to overcome your deficiencies, whatever they are, as we all watch the Huskers take the Big XII North and get ready for a Longhorn rematch. If they don't it matters not, they're mostly sophmores and juniors anyway.
In closing "aj"....just let it go. Find your enjoyment through more positive spending of your time, like exercise, getting lucky, or therapy.
Ya know. You're right. Here's I've been doing this and I never realize what a bad sport I am. I can't believe I actually had the audacity to question the integrity of the greatest fans in college football. What the hell was I thinking? So classy...so reverant. So tradition laden and smart. I have no idea what came over me. My sincerest apologies to you and anybody else I've made have a stroke over the past 2 years. I never knew MY words could cut so deep. I'm so very sorry.
Idiot.
At least JP is creative. I can respect his snide grumpy ways because he's pretty funny actually. I can actually see the tears run down your face as you type angrily. This is why I bash you people so much. This is why I'm right about everything I've thrown out on these pages. This is why I'm right yet again. You cannot STAND the fact that somebody doesn't see you as great as you see yourself. Boo hoo..bring a fucking hanky.
As for Missouri..it's completely irrlelivant. I don't care if you dislike them, hate them or have never heard of them. Unlike you and your fellow fans, I don't demand that you recognize me as a "great fan". I could give a flying shit less. Hell, most Missouri fans hate other Missouri fans..so why the fuck do I care if some assclown with an inferiority complex cares? Hopefully they'll get your streets cleared so you can go back to school and stop worrying so much about mean people who don't see the world as you do.
I can't believe I wasted the last 30 seconds writing that. I'm never coming back. (Until 5 minutes later when I log in to see what you said.)
Thanks for visiting. Tell all your fellow insecure friends too.
C'mon, who takes these blog sites as serious objective opinion.
Cripes, I was on a blog site and the retard wrote an article on why ethanol was bad. Reading about two sentences proved that the author had no legitimate information on the subject, rather offered subjective conjecture as hard facts.
This is similiar to what Buffenstein and others do. They'll talk about how something evil happened at the hands of a Husker fan, and then say, ALL Husker fans are that way. Someone defends the Husker program, some name calling is generally exchanged. Then AJ and a cast of others will generally jump in and rationalize by saying, "at least we don't say that we are the greatest college football fans", at which time the next blog is posted and we start the cycle anew.
Does AJ have any special insight into college football and the dynamics that surround it? No, he just happens to give some of us a vehicle by which to post comments. If indeed AJ does have the great insight into all things college football, do you think he'd be babysitting this site.
Cripes, I can make a bunch of vague predictions that allow me to be right no matter the outcome. Generally this type of spine is found in two species, lawyers and politicians, neither a profession held in high regard. (Not that my profession is much better.)
Why do I comment if I think it's so silly? 1.) I was told to go here because I don't believe Callahan and Pederson have enough sense to turn on a light switch, much less lead a program back to it's glory days, and I could get some honesty regarding the program. 2.) I like to listen to some of the outrageous claims that some of these people make, and the lamenting that do about a football game. 3.) I can't stand Jim Rose, and the Husker media that have their heads so far up Stinky P's backside. (Pederson lives a couple blocks from my parents, and evidently his nickname in the neighborhood is Stinky P.) 4.) I can't stand kool-aid Husker drinking fans, who make excuses for incompetence, and turn a blind eye to reality of the situation. (For instance, this is not a good Husker team, Huskers are knee deep is mediocricy (sp?), which when firing Solich was what Pederson said he was trying to avoid.)
AJ
The thing that is by far the most amusing about this site is that Husker fans who come on and attack you for being an idiot in this comment section don't realize they are proving your point with their posts. It's humor people, just roll with it. These people that insist on taking you to task with every typo or missed predicition seem to be missing the point that it is their fervor, not the games themselves, that are what we are making fun of here.
Or maybe I am missing the point.
Either way, your page is my homepage for the next week now. Cannot wait till next Saturday, this is the most interested I have been in a Big 12 game not involving my buffs in a long while.
JG
Fair enough, I'll leave my opinion on the value and meaning of sportsmanship to myself, even though it goes hand in hand with being a fan of any sport or team. I seriously just feel sad for you aj. I really do.
No anger here, no tears, and certainly no inferiority complex brought on by you or anyone. I don't complain about my life. I don't care that you think of Nebraska Cornhusker fans. My main point is how you waste your life with negativity. It's disgusting. You hate the people who surround you every day because they love their team in ways you don't understand. You hate them enough to devote your life entirely to talking shit on them.
I think you hate yourself, and I hope the day comes when you can move out of Nebraska because your wife(?) lets you, your shitty job transfers you, or you can finally leave your sick uncle who you've been taking care of because he died...whatever the case may be. Maybe that change will help.
It's a very sad story for you, and I feel horrible about how bad your life must suck. My comments have obviously fueled this bizarre anger, especially in your last comment, so I should really stop.
Good luck to you, I hope you get your life together. I mean it.
Derreck...come on man, lighten up. You don't know me. You don't know my motives. Stop taking yourself so seriously and you'll enjoy your visits here a lot more.
PS - thanks for being a perfect stereotype as well.
http://www.misteriowa.blogspot.com/
READ IT
AJ,
I'm with Derrick...after reading your blog entries & comments, I too think that you are a sad, pathetic figure.
This obsession of yours is just not healthy.
Obsession/hobby....whatever you want to make it out to be. Frankly, I'm with everybody else who hopes you, Derrick and all of your red overall wearing friends can come back over and over.
Not only do I like a good chuckle, but the best way I can explain to teh rest of the world what arrogant jagoffs you guys are...is to let you post here.
Seriously..thanks for stopping by and don't hesitate to reply in a snide and condesending manner.
I'd wish you and your team good luck today, but I wouldn't mean it..so who are we kidding?
I know some Bronco fans who live in Kansas City...and yes..this situation is not unique. The problem with living in Nebraska and being a fan of another team is the fact that they actually have something to brag about. (Unlike Chiefs fan)
It's that success in the 90's that fuels the Husker monster. And Buff is right...not all Husker fans are the way I describe. Husker Mike gets it. BHG gets it. There are various other Husker fans who get it..who take it for what it is and don't have a stroke about it.
Meanwhile..other's cannot possibly understand how ANYONE would POSSIBLY dare question the greatness of not just their team (that would be fine) but of Husker fans as a whole. THAT is what makes this different. Many Husker fans think they are above everybody else because of what their team has done. And somehow..because you were born in, lived in, found a keychain once or whatever...you're somehow care more than somebody else who's favorite team hasn't had success.
That is what this site is all about. If you get it...thanks. I appreciate it. If you don't? Sucks for you. Keep on complaining and making my point for me.
Methinks "derrick of denver" is the one with issues.
But please, Derrick. Continue to respond. You make me chuckle.
'96
I think that BHG really summed up the essence of this site. I've been checking in for a few weeks now and I find the banter to be quite funny. I'm an NU alum who went to school in the glory days ('95 grad) supported Solich while he was coach, but wholeheartedly supported the reasons behind his firing, as I never thought he should've been named the HC in the first place...I supported Pellini to be promoted to head coach...I support Callahan now as he continues to rebuild the program. I do so because they represent my team, my school and my state and I choose to always root for them to do well.
I think that AJ's boasts of "2000 hits a day" can be largely attributed to the fact that there is this continued pissing contest going on between the "Solichistas" and "Callafans"...one group of which can not let go of the past and therefore nitpicks the present to death...the other who take every nitpick as a personal affront and defend the present at every possible turn, no matter how wrong the defense may seem to the logical person. (Then there are those 90% of us sane people who are stuck in the middle.) I suspect that AJ's site is clearly cashing in on hits from the Solich crowd and their well-established tendancy to bitch about everything to the point where they're no longer even recognizable as being actual current Nebraska fans. The only reason that I found this blog is because of an NU website...I suspect that the reason for the numbers that he brags on about is moreso due to NU fans (or former fans), rather than any sort of huge following on the part of the fans of other teams. I could be wrong...just a hunch.
I also think that his mantra of complaining incessantly about NU fans' reputation of being "classy" "informed" "sportsmanlike" and what not, further feeds this furor. Never have I encountered an NU fan "demanding" to be respected or thought of as the "best" as he so often has claimed. The fact is, like most teams in our region/conference, NU has traditionally received less respect on a national scale, than many teams with lesser accomplishments/resumes (i.e.: The entire big ten, notre dame, etc.)
But I suspect that the greatest proof of whatever success he is willing to ascribe to his blog is very similar to the reason that many of the teams that he often mentions as "rivals" of NU (Mizzou, ksu, cu, ku) are only able to sell out their cute little 50,000-seat stadiums about once every other year...when the Huskers come to town! Mind you, not because those teams respective fanbases take such an occasion to rally around the prospects of rooting on the home team against Nebraska...but rather because Husker fans come in droves and buy up half the tickets to the stadium in question. So there's a pretty good indicator that, like it or not, NU fans actually ARE BETTER than the fans of other teams in question. The proof is right there...other schools and teams sell out their stadiums to NU fans (who take the place of fans/students who could otherwise care less about their team) in the stands who come to root for the visiting team.
Now, AJ would probably prefer to excuse this away with the same type of lame logic that he applies to any proof of Husker success (The weather was too cold for texas to beat the Huskers as they rightfully should have...the Alamo bowl was the "worst officiated game in history"...et al.) But tidbits like "the third matchup ever of teams with 800+ wins" (which would seem to ensure NU as among the pantheon of college football greatness) are lost on him. He delights in tossing in the word "mediocre" in all manner of discussion regarding the Huskers. It always strikes me that there's a reason that fans of opposing teams always seem to come off as experts in mediocrity.
As far as the dead horse that is the signs above the Memorial Stadium gates...personally, I think those signs are silly too, but that's just some feel-good PR...and more likely a tribute and testament to the fans that have bought more tickets and passed through those gates with more consistency than any other group of fans in history (you can argue with the NCAA record book on that one.) The fans themselves didn't put those signs above the gates...the athletic department was responsible for that. Now blaming the fans for something that they have no control over is crazy. I can see harping on it if they had a sign at the stadium saying "You are now about to enter the main facility of the greatest athletic department in all the land"...but that's not what they say, so your logic is flawed in blaming the fans on what the AD chooses to write on their building's signage.
In other words...I'm in the restaurant business and it'd be like if I choose to put a sign on the front door of my restaurants saying "through this door passes the greatest customers in the world". The validity of this can be debated, but never proven. It might make some of my customers feel good...it might make some of them feel skeptical...it might go unnoticed by others as well. But what you're trying to do is credit the customers for something that I did...blame them, more like. You're saying..."look at how great these customers think they are." When, actually, I'm the one that put up the sign!
But I wholeheartedly support your efforts if it helps you cope with living in the land of fervent Husker fans. I hate neocons...sometimes I find that it helps to rant a little on the internet, in order to reduce the chance of a homicidal outburst. But I think that most knowledgable football fans would recognize AJ's acumen (being about on par with many female Husker fans that I've known) and take his commentary with a grain of salt & leave it at that. As BHG hinted, if it encourages discourse...I'm all for it.
It's a shame, however, that AJ:
1) will never cop to being put into check by a well-reasoned argument
2) often allows the discourse to devolve into namecalling and the same old lame Nebraska put-downs. (Calling people hicks, farmers, etc...when he's obviously no better for choosing to make this state his home...a fact obviously lost on him as this is often a tactic in his employ. "At least he's a hick by choice" would seem to be his logic, I suppose.)
Thanks TWZ. NO WAY can you make that many mistakes (and bad breaks like the "roughing" the punter) and beat OU. Without a running game, they're completely screwed in Lincoln next week.
Good news is..there is still talent there. We shall see.
That's what I'm sayin. No matter what Mizzou did and no matter what NU does today...the winner of next week will most likely take it.
(assuming an NU win in Stillwater), Mizzou would be tied with NU, but have the tiebreaker. (With two cupcakes to go.) NU would have 2 games up and the tiebreaker and may (have to check the math) be able to clinch next week.
Needless to say..next week is large.
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