I’m not a Nebraskan. But, as a Texan, I’ve had my “Ich bein ein Cornhusker” moments over the years while attending “away” Nebraska football games, which turned out to be virtual “home” games awash in a sea of Cornhusker red.
While spending my undergraduate days at a small Division III school without any nationally visible football teams to support, I quickly became captivated by the magic of the option and the vaunted Blackshirts defense.
Captured by the same last year, Texas Tech would like to save some face tomorrow against the No. 3-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers after being handed the worst loss in school history last October.
Few Tech faithful may want to make the trip to Lincoln considering the odds against the Red Raiders.
However, there is something all Techsans and Texans across the state can take home by making the 800-mile trek to America’s heartland.
And, it’s not just for fans in this state. Fans across the nation have something to learn during every Cornhusker home game.
College sports fans around the nation have become poster boys for bad behavior and apathy, following the standards of looting, fire-starting and vandalism set by professional sports fans.
Real fans with class don’t trash streets and riot after a loss, as University of Maryland students did this April after losing to Duke in the Final Four.
Real fans don’t trash streets and riot after a win, as has become commonplace with Ohio State fans.
And, real fans do not leave in the third quarter of their own Homecoming game.
College students providing lessons in boorishness off the field may remain the norm at select campuses across the country.
While much has been made of the pleasantries shown by Cornhusker fans toward losing opponents in Lincoln, the same treatment greets victorious visitors, as few as they are in Memorial Stadium.
In 1998 Texas broke Nebraska’s streak of 47 straight home wins. Husker fans provided the exiting Longhorns with their characteristic standing ovation for the opponent to cap the game.
The sportsmanship off the field hasn’t gone unrecognized by visiting athletic directors and coaches who routinely mention the graciousness of Nebraska and its fans in the campus student paper, The Daily Nebraskan.
The niceties, though noticed, are rarely reciprocated.
The following season, the Huskers met the Longhorns twice in Texas. As anyone who attended either of games can attest, wearing Cornhusker paraphernalia was taboo and, in isolated instances, greeted with violence.
Whether its cheering the opposition or helping them by honoring them with their fight song, as the Cornhusker Band did for a visiting band-less Texas Tech team in 1993, Husker fans demonstrate that rivalries and fans can be loud, but don’t have to be filled with vitriol and violence.
Amongst Cornhuskers, there exists a deep-seated recognition that it is encouraged and acceptable to respect and applaud your opponent and his efforts, despite the outcome.
Isn’t that what sports, especially on the collegiate level, is meant to be about - the celebration of athleticism and competition?
Nebraska enters this weekend’s game with an NCAA record 244th consecutive home sell-out. Even on the road, few fans follow their teams quite like the 30,000 Cornhuskers who trekked to South Bend, Ind., last year and made the visit to Notre Dame as close to a home game as possible, much to the ire of Golden Domers.
Team loyalty is an area in which Husker fans certainly have no monopoly.
“The Swamp” or the home of “the Twelfth Man” in this state also serve as wonderful examples of fan intensity across the country, in contrast to some of the milquetoasts that frequent Texas games or Tech fans who leave games early to get enough drinks in before last call.
Absent the possibility of a miracle, Tech, which enters the game tomorrow a 25-point underdog, will have many lessons to learn coming back to Lubbock.
But, the greatest lesson Techsans should take home from Lincoln don’t involve understanding how to contain quarterback Eric Crouch and the option or counter a running attack which previously had three 100-plus yard rushers per game.
The lessons to be had are in the stands.
Sandeep Rao is a second year MD/MBA student in the School of Medicine. He can be contacted at srao@ttu.edu.
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