Simers, USC Fans Mingle With Sea Of Red Before Big Game

LA Times Columnist discovers Nebraskans aren't quite so stuck on Huskers, Callahan

Squeezing around servers and fat guys and people clad in all shades of red, T.J. Simers made his way through the crowd, shaking a lot more hands than you might expect.

The Los Angeles Times sports columnist who provoked so much anger and state pride in Nebraskans was having a pretty easy time of it Friday night at Misty's in Lincoln's Havelock neighborhood.

Nebraska football fans patted him on the back after Southern California fans, no doubt recognizing his mugshot, spotted the man of short, flip, deliberately harsh observations and immediately hit him up for a score prediction. USC 42-17, by the way.

"Nice as could be," said one Husker fan. Another questioned whether it really was Simers, one of America's best-known sportswriters, and surely one of its most polarizing.

Oh, it was him. Wearing a gray pullover with a cardinal "SC" logo and jeans. He looked like a guy you know from Fairbury, Hartington or Central City: A little weathered by the prairie winds, dry hands, a Midwestern belly and an easygoing, why-the-hell-not demeanor, about as far from preening as can be imagined. He even knew to park his beer by a public telephone for a short interview outside the restaurant.

"I'm exhausted," he said. "I've been from one end of the state to the other."

This week, Simers has been sending dispatches back to the home paper from "Middle of Nowhere, Neb." He's writing about the "corn cobs" he first ridiculed in a July 31 piece entitled "Nebraska fans - lend him your ears, and more." Well, actually, he took aim at Nebraskans before the 2002 Rose Bowl, too.

As a result, Simers said, some Nebraskans have tried to undermine his expedition.

"They call ahead of time and warn people, 'Don't do anything with that jerk,'" he said. "People have taken grief."

The ones "who have actually hung in there," he said, have been terrific hosts.

"I warn them," Simers said. "'Nice to meet you, love what you're doing, gonna’ make fun of you now.' Everybody would prefer me to say 'Oh, what a nice time I had.' But no one's gonna read that story. I have great respect for them, but I'm just tweaking them."

His columns this week have been playful, but gentler than some anticipated. He thinks Nebraskans are "hard-working." He seemed just the tiniest bit surprised that the families he'd visited this week didn't worship at a red altar in their outhouse.

"While I expected them all to say 'Huskers, Huskers, Huskers,'" Simers said, "they want you to know where they live is a great place, but they're not really crazy yet about what they're doing with the football program."

And why's that? 

One name, Simers said.

"Across the land, I've found no one likes Steve Pederson," he said. "I've never met him, don't know anything about him. They think he's arrogant. They want him to have that smirk wiped off his face. Someone suggested plastic surgery."

And the prairie jury, he said, is still out on Coach Bill Callahan, whose coaching in NU's 28-10 loss to USC last year so bothered Simers that the columnist did something unusual: He covered the visitor's post-game interview, instead of USC.

It was Simers who challenged Callahan that night for what he now calls a "gutless" offensive gameplan. And he hasn't forgotten about it. Just last week, he roasted former Husker/current UCLA Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell for the same thing after the Bruins' 27-17 win over Brigham Young.

"Those coaches rolled over and died (last year)," Simers said. "That was unbelievable - the mighty Nebraska program playing for a moral victory. A moral defeat is what it was."

He still doesn't think much of the Huskers. Hence the margin of victory for the Trojans Saturday.

"I don't know how good USC is," Simers said. "but I don't think Nebraska's any good."

He'll spend the first half watching from the stands, decked out in USC garb. He'll write in the press box at halftime. He said he won't be covering Nebraska's post-game this year.

And if USC loses?

Simple.

"I'll put on a UCLA shirt."

***

Simers was one of hundreds of people standing around in Misty's Friday. It's usually packed like that before home games, and even more so for the once-in-a-decade deals like this.

The waits for a table were up to three hours by early evening. But a lot of USC fans were more than willing to wait it out.

Trojans and Huskers got along terrifically in the bar and the restaurant. USC fans would start their chant of "We are SC." Inevitably, "Go Big Red" or "Dear Old Nebraska U" would ring even louder.

USC fans asked questions. The right ones - the kind Nebraska fans appreciate.

"You think Tommie Frazier should have won the Heisman in 1995 over Eddie George?" asked Don Senaha, a Los Angeles native who works in ad sales for the Discovery Networks.

Sure. Probably. Does anyone remember a definitive run from George's entire career at Ohio State, much less that 1995 season?

"What did you guys expect from Sam Keller?" asked Anthony Zuniga, a high school athletic director in the LA area.

Oh, too much. Like any Nebraska quarterback.

Senaha was there for Keller's last performance against the Trojans at Arizona State. He's made it 92 games in a row, in fact. You think he was going to miss this one? Not a chance.

He liked NU's Heisman room at Memorial Stadium.

"I've never seen a Heisman room," he said.

"I wanted to take a finger off of one of those Heismans," Zuniga joked.

Zuniga said it was cool to meet Mike Rozier, the 1983 winner.

"He's still in great shape," Zuniga said. "He looks like he could play now."

Elaine Kan, who was with the group, and volunteers for a Los Angeles-area homeless shelter, said she goes to most of USC's away games. NU's special, though, because of its history.

"Auburn has great fans," she said. "I didn't know about the fans here, but I wanted to come for the football tradition."

Said Zuniga: "Nebraska is synonymous with college football. When I hear Nebraska, I think college football."

Zuniga rattled off the five national championship seasons. Not as many as USC, but respectable. Plus, he said, NU's starting running back, Marlon Lucky, was from North Hollywood.

Since he'd been to so many consecutive games, it was natural to ask Senaha which was the toughest venue. (Other than the Los Angeles Coliseum, of course.)

Surprisingly, it was at Arizona State's Sun Devil Stadium during that 1996, triple-overtime loss.

:"Unbelievable," Senaha said.

"Jake The Snake (Plummer)," Zuniga said.

Other than that, Senaha said, the loudest was Auburn.

For score predictions, it was clear: A win for USC. Probably easy.

"I just hope it's a lot for us and a little for them," Kan said.

***

It's game day...so if you want to read any of the NU-USC stories you might have missed, here's some highlights: 

The Myth of USC

Just Another Game?

Pete Carroll Speaks

Trojan Defense - Fast and In Your Face

Five Keys To The Game 

 

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