Buffalo for Thanksgiving?
At 32, I am just old enough to be included in the group of fans who were raised in the era when the day after Thanksgiving meant Huskers vs. Sooners. Sadly, folks my age are the last of the kind. We are now in the 12th year of the Big 12 conference. And, the powers that be in our little Texas-run conference did away with Husker-Sooners on Thanksgiving, and replace my turkey and stuffing sandwich with buffalo.
Nostalgia
I'm typically not one for nostalgia. I think tradition for tradition's sake alone is usually the sign of an unhealthy culture. But, not playing the Sooners on Thanksgiving weekend really, really pisses me off. I'm nostalgic for it.
This is the game that meant the Big 8 crown was on the line. It meant Osborne vs. Switzer. It evoked images of the Game the Century and Johnny Rodgers, of Keith Jackson and Sooner magic. NU vs. OU was right up there with the great college rivalries like Ohio State vs. Michigan or Auburn vs. Alabama. It was a full-on feud. And, the Big 12 did away with it in one stroke of a pen.
Buffalo Just Tastes Bad
Now, NU plays Colorado on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Buffalo doesn't taste as good to me. CU isn't nearly the opponent that OU is. And the “rivalry� lacks the respect that NU-OU had. Somehow, OU always felt like the Crimson Cousin that you tried to beat but always respected. CU feels like the annoying neighbor always trying to one-up you on everything…the neighbor lets his children egg houses….you know, THAT guy.
The New Rivalries
The “balanced� schedule makers at the Big 12 didn't take NU-OU in to proper consideration, and now the Sooners are part of the Huskers south-division slate every two years. It's an important game against a powerhouse team, but no longer a season hallmark.
The Big 12, in all of its Texas-centric wisdom, has decided that the Red River Shootout, (or Rivalry or whatever) is the Big Game in the South division. I think they are hogging Oklahoma for themselves. And, worse, placing CU on NU's regular end-of-season game validates CU's want to be NU's official “rival�. This was a game NU and its fans did not recognize as a rivalry, or desire to have as a rival.
But, right now there is a 22 year old NU fan who started really watching football when he was 10. For him, NU-OU is just a series of nice stories told by grandpa, dad, uncles and older cousins. The only Thanksgiving rivalry he's ever really known is NU vs. CU. That is how the fan generation wheel turns, folks.
I suppose we'll all just have to learn to like the taste of Buffalo with our turkey.
11/20/2007
I could have sworn this article was going to be about Osborne’s Thanksgiving Day trip to Buffalo to see Turner Gill. I thought you had some inside info. Since the article wasn’t about Gill, I guess that means Pelini is still our next head coach. After all, he’s been spotted everywhere in Lincoln except my workplace.
11/20/2007
Darren,
I agree. If there is one thing that the Big XII has destroyed, it’s this. Last week watching Michigan and OSU made myself as a Husker fan feel left out in the cold. There isn’t one program right now that I can honestly say is our rival. I think if NU played Iowa each season, it would at least begin a conference vs. conference rivalry and could be even bigger than anything we were forced to try to enjoy with anything in the Big XII. When the Big XII was in its inception, I figured great, at least we don’t have to play OU every year and let them spoil our post-season.
I’ve never tried it, but I’ve heard Buffalo smothered in gravy tastes a lot like…
Who am I kidding, I can’t bring myself to consume it, let alone like it.
11/20/2007
Wow, was that ever a “get off my lawn” post if I ever saw one. NU vs. CU is annoying because I dislike Buff fans so much. The three Buffs fans that I personally know are the only people who have talked trash about a game after Colorado had a mudhole stomped in them. The difference between Big 8 and now is that I could have actually sat down and watched a game with a Sooners fan, but if I were forced to watch a game with a CU fan, there would be a physical altercation within 15 minutes.
11/20/2007
Yep, Doombob, that is as crusty as I get these days. I can’t imagine what another 20 or 30 years will do to my attitude…improve it, I hope. ;-)
And, you just hit the nail on the head with CU fans. Like I said. They tend to be “THAT GUY”. And, nobody really likes “THAT GUY”, do they?
11/20/2007
Anyone that has been to a CU game knows what doombob and Darren are talking about. I was there for the 62-36 shellacking and was never treated so poorly in my life. I saw 7 and 8 year old NU fans getting swore at by the CU pothead errr…I mean students like no other. We had items thrown at us, we were spit at, and we were swore at.
You would have thought they had won the National Championship….until you saw Barnett on the sideline and realized that would never be the case. I know I was loving every minute of the 52-7 thrashing we put on them in the 90’s so I know where they were coming from in being happy. But those fans take it to another level.
I’ll be watching it from the comfort of my own home. And I’m sure I’ll be having flashbacks of Jamelle Holieway on the oh-so-pretty option that guy used to run. The good old days….....
11/21/2007
What rivalry I ask of Colorado fans? We’re 46-17-2 lifetime against them and 20-8-2 in Boulder. Darren, you were spot on with this article. I’m 30 and spent a good part of my childhood waiting for the season-ending showdown between The War of the Titans. Dr. Tom vs Switzer, wishbone vs power-I, Jamelle vs Steve, and so on. Nothing, but nothing but respect for Oklahoma. That’s why I like it when I see OU7Times on here because deep down inside he shares the EXACT same viewpoint. He hates Texas, but I’m willing to bet that he has a good bit of respect for our Huskers. One of the first books I ever read as a kid was “Bootlegger’s Boy” and Coach Switzer spoke very highly of and with profound respect for Nebraska. Always loved to see that OU helmet clash with the N. Colorado will never be the measuring stick for anyone in the conference. Not Nebraska, not Oklahoma, not Texas, not anyone. Can’t see a scenario where Colorado goes on the road and someone tears down a goalpoast because they beat CU. Even this year, at Missouri and Kansas people were elated that they beat NEBRASKA, even though we’re down. Colorado will never be in the penthouse. If felt so right two years ago when we met with Oklahoma in the conference championship game for the crown. And now the higher powers that be have deemed Texas and Oklahoma the showcase game for the conference? I want Oklahoma, every year for with my first round of cold turkey sandwiches and apple pie with half a tub of cool whip, not Colorado.
11/22/2007
The Big Pinkshirt defense is going to give up about 600 yards to the Buffs on Friday and give Bill the proper goodbye he deserves. The classless husker fans who keyed my entire car and ruined my paint job in addition to celebrating the death of a CU qb will have to wait another year until they can try to get pounded in by the Buffs again. And by the way, nobody liked watching NU/OU because it sucks to watch a lopsided OU victory every year. GO BUFFS. Oh by the way, I like to see the cornheads continue to be classless and put up an unnecessary 70+ points on k-state. Go Wildcats and every other team in the country that gets to play you, because everyone not from your state loves to see you lose. And if Nebraska is so great, how come everybody leaves? How about all those professional sports teams in Nebraska? And all the great outdoor sports y’all have there—you know like skiing?
11/22/2007
Ok Darren, Starting a flamewar is not the way to drive traffic to your site. Quit posting as a Buffs fan to bait us into it! ;)