Husker Fans Need to Rise Above Profanity

Best message to send to Callahan, Pederson, is the silence of your money clip

Let's keep this short, sweet and simple: If you don't like what you're seeing out of the Nebraska football team, there's one effective (and respectful) way to scream it.

Close your wallet.

Turn off the television. Don't go to the Big Red Breakfast. Stop trying to win the auction for the signed football. Resist the urge to buy this weekend's pay-per-view option for the Oklahoma State game. Give your tickets to poor kids who have never been to Memorial Stadium.

In short: Stop tithing 10 percent of your take-home pay to Athletic Director Steve Pederson and the NU football program. Shut off the money supply and force Pederson to make some tough choices. Your absence will speak much louder than your curses, threats and idiotic "fireanybody.com" Web sites.

Are you embarrassed by the Huskers? Did it bother you that Missouri looked like the Harlem Globetrotters on Saturday night, with Chase Daniel running the weave? Were you appalled that the Tigers actually had the time to run a double-reverse, flea-flicker pass? Are you confused about why a smart man like Bill Callahan is seemingly unable to design more than three running plays?

Fair enough. Log off the message boards, get a grip, read a book and drink some wine. See a movie. Pray. Whatever. Just wait out the storm. If enough fans are really that angry, it won't be long.

You know, I considered devoting 2,000 words to the extraordinary collapse of this talented, troubled football team. Wrote it, too. It was not a glowing assessment.

The Blackshirts look like they're trying to locate the kidney on a dissected frog. They lead the nation in "aw, shoot!" gestures following missed tackles, mental gaffes and surrendered yards. It's hard to watch. They've been lobotomized by God knows what.

The offensive line regresses weekly. Can't create a two-yard hole.

Quarterback Sam Keller blames himself for the offense's performance Saturday night, when his coach ought to let Keller off the hook and point the finger everywhere else.

The problems go much deeper than a group film session can solve. NU has no identity, definitive leader or excitement.

But I'm choir-preaching, right? You already know this.

And yet NU's response has been woefully inadequate. Callahan continues to be vague and undeterred aboard the Husker Hindenberg. The team follows his lead. As for Cosgrove? Well, he's a quiet, private man going through the worst season of his professional career. There is no great pleasure in watching him struggle.

Either way, they both make a lot of money to be the masters of their profession. Let them earn their paycheck in peace.

Just don't lower yourself with gross, profane metaphors about Missouri's treatment of the Huskers. Don't get boozed up and boo your heart out when Nebraska takes the field against OSU. Don't rip the team all week, then stand on Stadium Drive and demand face value for your end zone ticket. Don't cheapen your citizenship as a fan. Express your dissent appropriately and rise above it. 

Catch a Nebraska Wesleyan game. Check out UNO's football team. Take the kids to the playground. Watch Kansas and Missouri pursue once-in-a-lifetime seasons.

By doing so, you'll be sending the loudest message any athletic director is hired to hear: We don't like your product. Makes changes, or recall it entirely.

 

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