RonzNotes Husker Ramblings

A Fairy Tale Ending

So, once upon a time there was this team that played football in Nebraska and they played in a great and old castle that had been overrun by barbarians.  The worst of barbarians, the invited ones.  One day, the leader of the barbarians was banished from the castle and there was much rejoicing.  Along came an old wise man and he said "I don't recognize this mess".  And he put up pictures of the great ones, and he sent messengers with scrolls to the former inhabitants of the castle and he reminded them that they will always be welcome.  And things got better.  The old wise man cast out the barbarians from the castle and things became more as they should be.

The old wise man called his throng together and told stories of the old days and how he grew strong from the battles.  The throng was grateful to have it's leader back.  Grown men wept.  The throng knew things would be as they should be.  The throng heard of how the wise man almost left and the throng felt ashamed for being unloyal to one who is true.  The throng learned (or better have) to be patient with young leaders who are brave and true.

The old wise man grew younger before his clan and he said "we shall need to defend our castle" and he added a new member of royalty to the clan.  The old wise man introduces the new royalty with much grandeur and pomp and circumstance with a proclamations that will resonate forever as "Here's Bo".  This man was brave and true and yet, oddly familiar.

The new leader assemble his court and it was wise and true and yet, oddly familiar.  The new leader thanked his ancestors and it was good.

The royalty has taught it's soldiers the ways of the old wise man.  How it is good to be fleet of foot, and good to tackle and good to steal (under special circumstances) and very very good to make the others fear.  The throng of loyalists visited the castle in the spring and it was very pleasing.

The throng is eager.  They will be patient, fore they know the new royalty are good and true and has much mess to straighten out from the ways of the barbarians.  But those days are gone and banished, never to return or to be spoken of again.

The throng takes the pledge each day 
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory"

And they will live happily ever after.

Insider from the Backsider on Huskers 202

In a nutshell - we have no idea how deep of a hole NU is in and how much deeper the hole would have been in 2-3 years.

First the schedule - crack it open on http://www.huskerpedia.com/2010s.html and notice how empty future years are.  Because our boy Adolf Pederson was giving away the store.  Jamrog spoke about how shocked he and Osborne were about some of the deals in the works and the expectations that were being set.  Wake Forest isn't a great example, but a real one -- why did we play a home and home with them?  No team of their caliber and puny stadium gets to dictate terms to a program like NU, but Jamrog is saying that little teams are expecting $800,000 pay-days to come to Lincoln.  Others, teams with road trips to other BCS teams were given the impression that NU would do home and away contracts with them.  Osborne says (via Jamrog) these are teams that might deserve a 1 or 4 game visit.  We are going to struggle to fill future slots because so many teams that AP spoke to now have unrealistic expectations.

The Walk-on program.  Jamrog went through the scholarship history and as we know, but forget, only about half of scholarship athletes see a Sr season.  So of your 24 recruits, you're lucky to get 12 to even be on the team 4 years later, let alone be starting.  NU filled that void with walk-ons.  It worked over and over and over again - walk-on to starter to All-American.  Yet AP and three-dollar Bill Callahan eliminated the walk-on program.  Okay, wanna argue with eliminated?  40-50 kids per year was the usual recruited walk-ons under Osborne.  Do the math, you only need a 10% hit rate (one-fifth that of scholarship hit rates) and you've suddenly got 5 more contributing Seniors.  To get those 5 with scholarships, the NCAA would have to allow us to give out 35 scholarships a year. Think about it, if you heard OU was giving away 35 scholarships a year and the NCAA said it was okay, you'd have a FIT.  Osborne did it every year by letting 50 kids walk on.  Three Dollar Bill and Adolf cut the numbers to about 12 - a 10% hit rate nets one Senior contributor per season.

The weight program - four players talked about the difference this year under the leadership of Dobson  http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=1378647 they are all breaking records left and right.  Jumping, lifting, agility, etc.  Dobson said simply that he is not dogging the old system, but his goal is to generate football players not guys trying out for "the worlds strongest man".  Cody Glenn and Lucky were two of the speakers said it was night and day how much they felt the new system was making them football players - every drill is building football speed and explosiveness.  Dobson really likes free weights because machines don't replicate the complexity of football moves and therefore don't produce usable strength.  Overall Dobson was viewed by my friend as the most interesting presenter.

The Staff - they know football, they know football, they know football, and they are relentless at teaching kids how to be successful on the field.  The systems are simple reads and aggressive moves - both on offense and defense.

GIVE THIS Group a Chance.  Keep expectations in check.  We don't know how screwed up the program was and these guys have sooooo much to overcome.  They are in a deeper hole than we imagine.  Every aspect --- attitudes, conditioning, strength, practice habits, fan relations, former players, scheduling, it ALL has to be fixed and there is only so much time for so many items.  And by the way - not a single coach is intimidated in the least by the magnitude of the task.

If you really think you're a husker fan - take the vow now

Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory"

Never have those words been more true for this program.  Osborne and Bo's staff are trying to give us our team back - don't be greedy and expect it all at once.

So you Want to Go to a Game?

I've attended a lot of husker games in the last 30 plus years - my first game was NU - Wisconsin in 1973.  For that game I had a ticket.  The next few for games with tickets in hand.  Then it was the 80s and I lived in Lincoln and was poor.

I wanted to go to games and couldn't spend the money to be a donor.  At one time, and I made it in for a few games this way, the ticket takers would disappear in the second half and you could walk in.  That didn't last long and I only saw a game or two (half if you will) that way.

I soon discovered that you could buy tickets outside the stadium.  I guess I always knew it, but I was under the impression it was always way over face value.  But I wandered down for a game and for about $10 got myself a seat.  This was cooool.

So I did it over and over again.  It found it added to the game experience to meet so many people and negotiate for a ticket.  I, due to lack of funds, never paid over face value.  Since I was almost always buying single tickets, it worked (more on the formula later).  Even for big games I could generally find a ticket.

I got some less important games for $5 in the mid eighties - the Middle Tennessee State game would be an example of not exactly being a sellers market.  I got a few free over the years.  One such experience was a free OU game ticket in the mid-80s.  An older gentleman sees me working the crowd and I'm growing concerned that I'm only getting offers on singles of 75 to 100$.  He came up to me and asked if I wanted a ticket.  I said yes and he hands it to me and says his wife is not feeling well and I appeared to be a nice young man.  I asked how much and he looked at me like I was dense.  He says do you want it or not.  I laughed and asked if was going to be drinking hot chocolate or coffee on me.  It was a great experience - he was a retired Postal Worker from around Tecumseh ( the town I was born in - Sterling you see, didn't have a hospital) and we talked the entire game about the Huskers and Nebraska.

Another strange experience was buying a ticket from a gentleman and then getting to the seats and realizing I had sat in that EXACT seat before.  I waited for a bit and when the guy, wife and daughter appeared, I asked if he often sells his ticket and he said yes.  I told him he had sold me a ticket to a certain game about 2 seasons earlier.  He said I was familiar looking.  His daughter was familiar looking too.  Despite the great seats (west stadium, about 25 south yard line under the overhang) she was just too ugly to date.

I have paid over face a few times - My wife really wanted to go to the Notre Dame game in Lincoln so that one was about double face.  My wife has gotten got at the ticket process too, she snagged a pair at face value for the OU-NU game in 2001.  She had better seats than the single I had - she had a friend in town so they sat together.

The formula as I have experienced it:

Singles are by far the easiest to obtain.  Bad weather has some impact, but not as much as you think.  Pairs are reasonable to get, but the most desired.  Any odd number 3, 5, 7 is the worst.  People buy pairs of tickets and the chances that 3 out of 4 people in a foursome aren't going to a game is about nil.  Having a kid along can help - but not that much.  The state fair/labor day weekend is always a total hit or miss -- either tickets are plentiful or very scarce.  TV is a mixed impact - makes some people want to stay home, but it's on TV for a reason - it's a good game so people want to attend.  A good sign is any time a visiting team returns tickets - reduces demand on game day.

One game that I really worked to get tickets was the OSU game in 2003 when they had the huge player reunion (players went down on the field) and then went to seats in the stadium.  I was facing about $300 for a pair when I stumbled across a tail-gating group with a pair at face.  So my wife and I go up and sit - next to us is an attractive 40-something lady and an empty seat.  I ask about the game, she mentions that it's her first game and that she'd just gotten married.  I asked her husband played for the huskers.  A simple yes is the reply.  When and who I ask?  She says I won't remember, it had been a long time.  I am polite and let it sit for a bit, then mention that I had followed the team a lot in my younger years and I bet I might know him.  She leans over and mentions his name to me. 

I assured her that a few people will recognize him.  And that is how I sat next to this guy.

She seemed bored and they left at halftime.

Senior Newcomer of the Year

Every year, well almost, there is an out of no where emergence of a Husker for a glorious senior year.  Sometimes it's a QB - Keithen McCant or Gerry G...ski, or LB like Hollowell.  Guys that turned it on for their senior years.  Here are a couple candidates:

Wortman - total unknown and frankly a guy you probably always hoped would never see the line-up (nothing against him, just the same way you know you're in trouble if the 4th string QB is suddenly starting because of injury)

O'Hanlon at safety.  Admit it, did you know he was a safety?

Dixon or Barfield at DT/NT.  Plenty of name, no game.

Steinkuhler at DT - know the name, but limited impact.

Cody Glenn - okay, we know who he is, but not at LB.

Beau Davis - okay, not gunna happen

And a couple guys that we know 'em, but haven't really done dittle:

Murtha = was sooo highly rated, but can't keep a starting job.

Lucky = okay, we know his name, etc.  but wouldn't you shake your head if this guy pulls off 1500 rushing yards or how about a double 1000 (rush/receiving)?

Potter -- all the tools, but so far, he's Bernard Thomas - looks great in a T-shirt, but you can't recall a single game changing play - maybe a blocked FG !

Dillard isn't a senior, but did he really play behind McKeon?  Really? 

So WHO do YOU think will be the SR newcomer of the year?  Of the freshman, it's even money on BAker and Compton.

Is it better to be Lucky than Good?

Lucky is our only Big Xii first teamer (according to the media) and the depth chart came out today.  He's co-#1 with Helu.  Interesting development that is.  Is this a motivator for Lucky or a motivator for Helu or maybe, it's just the way it is.  It certainly says a ton about how Helu developed in the spring - especially on his ability to pick up blocking assignments.

Lucky, as I've ranted before, is the quietest 1000 yard rusher in NU history.  I can barely name a rushing attempt I can remember from his entire career and especially if you eliminate last years Nevada game.  Admittedly I can remember some cool catch and runs, but I can remember about 5 times are many runs by Cory Ross.

Will Lucky springboard in his senior year or is he destined to be Thunder Collins?  A guy with a great name and no meaningful stats.  I know Calvin Jones won us games, Phillips beat KSU with one arm missing, Ahman Green won us big games.  Will we look back in December and think "wow - Lucky beat KU by himself".  I hope so, because we'll need it and that is what an all-Big Xii back does.

Is it better to be Lucky than good?  I hope we're good and lucky.