I’m not a professional sports writer, but I did play one for about a decade with a Husker blog. It’s been dead for a few years, but it was popular enough that I was once interviewed by the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and The Austin American Statesman.
I’m a Husker fan through and through. I started my Husker blog when we were in the dark days of Frank Solich, Bill Callahan and then Bo Pelini. I thought Solich was fired (a 9 win coach) prematurely and I knew of some the strife between the staff and the AD Steve Pederson that has never made the press.
I was a critic of Callahan, but in retrospect, I think he would have benefited from another year or two, but the press had already made their mark and the staff ended their stint not caring about Nebraska football.
Bo Pelini, love him or hate him, brought fire and competition to the team. He wore out his welcome with the administration and Nebraska needed to move on. Cue the arguments about firing a 9 win coach.
Then the Mike Riley era. He was nice.
Today we started the 4th season under the tutelage of Scott Frost. The homegrown kid who came back to restore the pride of Nebraska Football.
Man I was looking forward to this season. 2020 and Covid sucked, getting a little bit of football last fall was great under the conditions and I’ll give everyone a pass for 2020 personally and professionally.
But 8/28/21 has been circled on my calendar for quite a while. Frost’s fourth season, his first with all Scott-Frost-Recruited players. This was the year that funk would be cleaned out and the return to prominence begins.
And they promptly shit the bed against Illinois. Against the backup quarterback after knocking out the starter on vicious sack. A backup quarterback who left Rutgers after losing the starting spot to a Husker transfer, Noah Vedral. That Husker transfer was beat out by the starting Nebraska QB, Adrian Martinez.
Here’s the thing, I’m not a super fan. I don’t live and die by how well my team does. But I’ll be there rooting in person, watching on TV or listening on the radio every single football game. I’m also a lifelong Royals fan, so I know the drill about rebuilding – even if it takes 30 years.
Losses don’t kill me, wins are awesome, but they don’t define me. But I am the lifeblood of fandom. I’m there through the good times and bad.
I watched the game today. I saw where it was going right before halftime. It is the same situation Nebraska has been in for four years under Scott Frost. When Martinez rolled off a 75 yard touchdown run that will make the highlight shows, I was flat. I am numb. Apathy.
If anything should worry the University of Nebraska, it is apathy. And apathy has set in with this fan base. Over the last few weeks, lots of rumors have emerged about Scott Frost and the coaching staff. Whether they are true or not, I don’t care. I certainly hope they are not, but apathy.
I’m not out to say Nebraska needs to fire Scott Frost because at this point, I don’t care. Apathy.
Sellout streak broken. I don’t care. And frankly it has been broken since at least the late-80s/early-90s when companies would buy up unsold tickets to keep the streak alive. So let’s be honest and good riddance to the sell out streak. Apathy.
All I know is that I can find other things to do on Saturdays. Because apathy is a difficult thing to cure if you can’t provide results.
I just booked a tee time for next week. 3 minutes after scheduled kickoff. Apathy.