A couple of weeks ago the Omaha Beef had a little get together before their game against the Sioux City Bandits. A sort of indoor tailgate party. Sounds a bit silly, but hey, why not have an indoor tailgate for an indoor football game? Twenty five cent wings and meatballs, live music, a raffle, plenty of people watching; not a bad way to spend some time pre-game. Not to mention the fact that Sioux City came into the game riding a thirty one game win streak. So, a big game was looming.
As the aging guitar player/lead singer read and re-read the latest raffle winner, while looking down through his librarian style reading glasses, something caught my eye. The merchandise table had very nice looking black Nebraska Legends division champions shirts.
I can hear Nebraska fans everywhere sighing, “How LAME!” and continue with, “We’re NEBRASKA! We’re above celebrating something so trivial as a measly divisional championship!”
Before I make my case against my fellow Nebraska fans (as it seems I so often do here) let me explain a few things about myself.
First of all, I own way more shirts than any heterosexual male should, and I collect them at an alarming rate. Want me to go to your lame charity function? I’m there, as long as there is a free t-shirt involved, and you have it in extra large. Also, the shirt can’t be lame. But I’ve turned down so few t-shirts in my life that that is a very unlikely mathematical possibility.
Secondly, I wouldn’t say I’ve had a tough life, I’ve been very blessed in fact. But I’ve overcome more than my fair share of obstacles. I’ve had to fight for everything I’ve ever gotten, and in doing so I’ve learned to appreciate every small victory that comes my way. So when Nebraska grabs their division title, yeah, I’m proud of them for that.
Lastly, I had just finished off another round of wings and the band started playing another Elvis song, so why not check the shirts out?
Turns out they were only $5. I’m guessing they needed unloaded, because my fellow Nebraska fans aren’t as enthused about a division title as I am.
Seems like I hear the announcers lament the same thing in every Nebraska game. “Nebraska hasn’t won a conference championship since NINE-TEEN-NINTY-NINE!”
They say it like they’ve discovered some astonishing stat that no one has ever heard before; the kind of discovery that will make football fans heads explode.
First of all, if it wasn’t repeated every time Nebraska football was brought up, yeah, that statement might carry some weight. But just like saying a word over and over again that word weirdly starts losing all meaning. (try it, it’s fun, only works if you say the word out loud though)
Repetition aside the first thing that comes to mind is all those Big Eight championships Nebraska won as I was growing up as a child in the 80s and early 90s. The conference name tells part of the story.
From a purely probability standpoint Nebraska only had to be better than 7 other teams. If you add twenty five percent more teams to a conference you are that much more likely to not win the conference crown. It also doesn’t help if two of those added teams are Texas and Texas A&M.
Speaking of quality of conference, in the Big Eight days all that stood between Nebraska and a conference crown was Oklahoma........and the sad versions of Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Colorado, Missouri, and Okie State.......
I remember getting a college football preview magazine when I was a wee little Smitty. On the cover in big bold letters: “The Big Eight no longer the Big Three”. I was very confused by this, but looking back, what they meant was that Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado were typically viewed as the big boys and the remainder of the conference tended to fight it out for a distant fourth.
As I recall, that statement turned out to be completely false for that season. Nebraska was good; as was Oklahoma and Colorado, in true Monty Python style, was “getting better”, but still a distant third; and everyone else still sucked,...very very badly.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to diminish the accomplishment of all those Big Eight titles. Like I said, I love to celebrate every victory in life. I’m just trying to put things into proper perspective.
The next thing to keep in mind is that in addition to adding more teams to our conference, a conference championship was also introduced. Think about this. How many Big Eight titles do you think we would have won if we had to beat Oklahoma twice in the same season? I’d guess about as many we’ve won since being in conferences with a title game. 1979 Orange Bowl anyone?
Next, I’d like to point out that the divisions Nebraska has been in since this conference championship drought began have had six teams; only two less than the entire conference Nebraska was in when championships came in bunches. This was also the time when it was socially acceptable to throw oranges onto the field while beating Oklahoma. A ritual signifying a conference crown and a corresponding trip to the Orange Bowl.
So, is it so wrong of me to celebrate a division title? Especially, when the only difference between heaving tropical produce at the field, coupled with tearing down goal posts, versus poo-pooing a similar accomplishment; is a step down in team arrangement nomenclature and two fewer teams?
And hell, starting in 2014 there will be seven teams in our division, only one away from having a big eight DIVISION of our own.
Look at the NFL, a total of thirty two teams, two conferences with four divisions in each conference. If you win your conference......YOU’RE IN THE SUPER BOWL.
I know, I know the Super Bowl is a much bigger accomplishment, much more parody in the NFL etc etc. But the Big Ten is only one more round of expansion away from having sixteen teams and they may not even stop there. The same number of teams in both NFL conferences.
Now that I’ve made my case for pride in our team’s divisional accomplishment let me break down how I view each level of achievement analogy style.
Nebraska accomplishment / NFL equivalent
1. Winning Record and a bowl game / Made the playoffs as a wild card
I could see an argument here but the Seahawks made the playoffs a few years back with a very impressive 7-9 regular season record
2. Winning our division / First round bye and a berth in the NFC or AFC title game
3. Winning the conference title / Birth in the Super Bowl ( i.e the Rose Bowl or some other BCS equivalent)
4. Rose Bowl or some other BCS win / Winning the Super Bowl
5. National Championship / To me that’s a set above winning the Super Bowl, hard to fathom but that’s how awesome it would feel to me. No real NFL equivalent here.
Therefore, since I graduated from high school, by my logic Nebraska has been the Buffalo Bills of conference title games. I can live with that. Especially, if a neat, inexpensive shirt is involved.
