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PhilBleenor
Member Posts: 54
We were having lunch at Highland Park Golf Course in Birmingham, Ala., eating hot dogs, sipping sweet tea and remembering. Three years ago, Bobby Bowden and I were discussing his legendary coaching career when the subject suddenly turned to Nebraska football fans.
I mentioned to Bowden that I grew up in Lincoln. Immediately, Bowden's mind flashed back to the fall of 1980. He had taken his Seminoles into Memorial Stadium and, with less than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, Florida State clung to an 18-14 lead. I was nine-years-old and sitting in the West stadium stands that afternoon, and three decades later Bowden and I replayed how Nebraska quarterback Jeff Quinn proceeded to fumble the ball at the Seminoles' three-yard line. Game over.
Then something stunning happened -- something Bowden remembered all those years later with the vivid detail of a firstborn's wedding. The crowd in Lincoln rose to its feet in appreciation of the underdog 'Noles. At first it was a polite clap, but then the noise swelled into one of the loudest roars of the day. As Bowden recalled the moment at lunch that afternoon in Birmingham, he got goosebumps.
"What a moment," Bowden said, a smile lighting his face. "Wow. The classiest thing I ever experienced."
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130917/bo-pelini-nebraska-fans/#ixzz2fG0SFfZV
I thought we were their first
I mentioned to Bowden that I grew up in Lincoln. Immediately, Bowden's mind flashed back to the fall of 1980. He had taken his Seminoles into Memorial Stadium and, with less than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, Florida State clung to an 18-14 lead. I was nine-years-old and sitting in the West stadium stands that afternoon, and three decades later Bowden and I replayed how Nebraska quarterback Jeff Quinn proceeded to fumble the ball at the Seminoles' three-yard line. Game over.
Then something stunning happened -- something Bowden remembered all those years later with the vivid detail of a firstborn's wedding. The crowd in Lincoln rose to its feet in appreciation of the underdog 'Noles. At first it was a polite clap, but then the noise swelled into one of the loudest roars of the day. As Bowden recalled the moment at lunch that afternoon in Birmingham, he got goosebumps.
"What a moment," Bowden said, a smile lighting his face. "Wow. The classiest thing I ever experienced."
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130917/bo-pelini-nebraska-fans/#ixzz2fG0SFfZV
I thought we were their first
Comments
As the article points out, every fan base has their share of idiots, I think the classy NU fans will let this one blow over.
I was at that game in Lincoln in 1991 when BJH led the Huskies to a 36-21 come from behind win on NU turf. I was there with 10 Cornhusker fans from my extended Nebraska family for whom I had bought tickets and can recall NO postgame applause from the stands for the visiting victors. I was totally shunned afterwards on the long walk back to the hotel while subjected to a roundhouse condemnation of NU's coaching staff. No praise or congrads for the Huskies, only the question: "What took you guys so long?".
I still hear bitching from the Nebraska branch of my family about how we "homered" them with Pac-10 officiating the next year in Husky Stadium. It's been my experience while growing up in a NU alumni family that Cornhusker fans are polite about football, stay away from smack toward their opponents, and are highly reluctant if not poor losers in the sense that they always blame their own football program when they don't or can't win rather than ever give their opponents, especially rivals, any credit.
In other words, Cornhusker fans are a lot like us........ or how we used to be in our glory days and hope to be again some day. The myths about over-the-top NU sportsmanship are total bullshit.