Are Divided Loyalties OK?
4 comments so far
March 12, 2007 by
As we approach March Madness (a.k.a. the most magical time of the year) many die hard Husker fans may have mixed emotions. Once again the only team from Nebraska in the tournament will be the Creighton Bluejays. It’s natural to want to see a team from your home state win against the best teams in the country. But does this violate some kind of code?
First of all, you have to throw out the fact that Nebraska beat Creighton. Of course, you like to see teams that your favorite team beat have success in the tournament. This is something different. It’s about rooting for Creighton because they’re a Nebraska team.
Here’s an example. The Big Red Network hosted some back and forth recently with some Wake Forest fans that took issue with my evaluation of their 2007 recruiting class. One of the more outspoken Wake fans had clearly grown up rooting for the Sooners. Is that wrong? You can hardly call it a “bandwagon” effect to jump from OU to Wake. And the two teams almost never play each other. So is it OK to have an ACC favorite as well as a Big 12 team?
You think about how it all begins. You might start rooting for the home team or perhaps a team your Mom or Dad likes. But generally, it’s not until that team has had some success that you really get sucked in. Anyone who grew up in Nebraska in the last forty or fifty years could easily have gotten sucked into being a fan of Husker football.
But then it gets personal. Not only do you enjoy the wins, but you suffer each loss. That suffering to me is a barometer of your passion for a team. When the Huskers lose a game, I’m down for days and sometimes weeks. When the NFL’s Redskins lose (as they often do), I’m usually over it within hours. Why? Because I’m a much more casual Redskins fan than I am a Husker fan.
Translate that to two teams in the same sport. When the Huskers grabbed a three-seed in the NCAA tournament years ago under Danny Nee, I remember being ecstatic for days (right up until they got upset by a 14-seed). When the Maryland Terrapins (a school I attended) won the national championship, I was pleased but not ecstatic. When I was in the arena as the Terps upset #1 North Carolina several years back, I didn’t rush the court like so many Maryland fans did. I was pleased, but it was like, “how nice for them”.
“Divided loyalty” is an oxymoron. If the Bluejays went on a George Mason-esque run, I’d be pleased but not ecstatic. Only one team can truly grab your heart in a way that makes every big win a cause for celebration and every loss a painful memory. So I wish good luck to the Bluejays and Terrapins but my heart will forever belong to the Huskers.
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darren Mar 12 07
Great thoughts, Steve. Personally, I feel it is the very definition of "bandwagon" for NU football fans to be CU basketball fans (rather than red loyalists), just because CU is winning. That isn't true for Jay fans backing NU football, because they don't have a football team.
Living in Omaha the last 5 years, I've realized how much more important the Jays are in Omaha than the rest of the state. CU does not get much of any coverage west of Omaha, for good reason. It is a small, private school located more "in Omaha" than "in Nebraska". And, NE natives know what I mean by that.
Since I have a lot of friends and co-workers who root for CU, and CU qualifying and winning is good for my local community, I have some interest in their doing well.
It is sort of like pulling for my cousins that I only see at the holidays. I am happy for them, but not too emotionally invested.
Husker Mike Mar 12 07
I have a great deal of respect for Dana Altman and what he's done at Creighton. But at the same time, the hype machine for the "BrieJays" has almost become intolerable the last few years. There are a good number of fans that stayed supportive of the team during the Johnson days, and I give those fans the credit. But the number of Brie fans that bash Nebraska, yet couldn't identify Chad Gallagher out of a lineup unless it was at a convention of midgets astounds me.
Personally, until the schedule is firmed up on Friday, I'm not even sure that the Creighton/Nevada game is going to be the most interesting game to me at that time. I know it will be the only game on TV and probably radio, so it's not like I have a choice.
I do have a secondary attachment in college sports: my alma mater UNO. I follow the Nebraska-Omaha hockey program almost as much as the Husker football program anymore.
Land of Os(borne) Mar 12 07
As a Creighton alum and Nebraska native, I find some of what Husker Mike says disingenuous. Plenty of blue-collar and farm kids from Western Nebraska and east-central Iowa end up on the Hilltop. The implication (via the clever name BrieJays) that CU is a bunch of stuck-up, rich Catholic kids is inaccurate and unfair.
I remember Nebrasketball back in the Piatkowski days. There were plenty of bandwagon jumpers back then, too. The idea that Creighton has a monopoly on next-big-thing fans is simply wrong. Moreover, the idea that the 12,000 or so Omahans who own season tickets are of the fairweather variety is difficult to swallow. (by the way, Chad Gallagher? Really? Dude played 20 years ago. how many Husker fans know Nebraska players from those days?)
There's no reason folks like me can't get equally excited about Husker football and Bluejay basketball.
Go Big Red! Go Jays!
Brandon Mar 15 07
Land of Os(borne): Well put. As a western-Nebraska farm kid who ended up on the Hilltop, I've found that route to be conflict free. (And this is the sort of matter I obsess about so that's saying something.)
I grew up in Nebraska so, of course, I followed the Cornhuskers. Then I went to Creighton and reveled in CU-NU match-ups in basketball and baseball, but didn't have to make that choice because, almost through divine intervention, CU has no team!
I'm not sure I could live with myself if I had to choose.