Editor's Note | 10/11

Story by Jacob Zlomke 

| Published Oct 11, 2011

And so we begin another week under the sun-soaked optimism of a home field football victory, with not even just a “W” for the records, but a damn impressive comeback from a team that has been nothing short of underwhelming this season in a pretty historical game. And even that game was played with the gusto of a deflated trash bag until the third quarter when all the equations finally balanced and the Huskers played like results were expected, even demanded of them. And they are.

An entire University, an entire state, plus the additional legions of Nebraska transplants and accidental Cornhusker faithfuls living scattered across the country: they watch like the Eye of Sauron at all times--in between games, at half time, in the off season--finding something to scrutinize, a criticism here or there, lurking in the forums of Huskerpedia, in the next day’s newspaper, at the office on a coffee break that’s taking a little longer than one might have their boss know, or driving down the highway in a delivery truck. Every day, the collective Husker Nation demands the excellence of the ‘95 Huskers.

I’ve never lived in another state, never spent considerable time at another school, and don’t really care either way for football games, so I have no idea if the atmosphere surrounding, say, the Tennessee Volunteers is burning with a similar blind passion, but I assume that it can’t be exactly the same, exactly as uniquely and definitively “us.”

Husker fans will force 18-24 year olds to demi-god status when whims are met and spend a week trashing those same college students when a blunder like Wisconsin happens, yet never falter as faithful fans. Husker fans are manic and rabid but also loving and quick to forget. They criticize and abuse because they don’t know how else to show their love. There’s something about it.

Maybe it’s that, at least for those that live in Nebraska, Husker fans don’t have anything else. What else does the state offer in the way of non-occupational cultural identity? Not much. The hipsters have Bright Eyes, but the band’s reach is far from encompassing. So Nebraska fans are left to identify with a bunch of college kids and a coach that maybe yells too much. Nebraskans have little else in which to invest interest, so you see the Cornhuskers shooting to the front of any fan-voted poll, for instance.

That’s fantastic. It’s made living in Nebraska a remarkably rare experience. It’s made going to school here quite probably more enriching. It’s made me feel as though no matter where and when I end up, I’ll always have some kind of community through the Huskers. And I don’t even like sports.

So congratulations are in order to the Huskers for stepping up in a pretty big way and a tip of the hat to Husker fans. Despite the sometimes searing and often frenzied criticisms levied unfairly onto football players, at the end of the day, you’re a great fan base to be a part of--even if you love yourself a little too much.