Growing up in one of the top sports markets in the country, there were plenty of teams to root for. Two NFL teams, two major league baseball teams and by the time I'd move away two basketball and two hockey teams. The enthusiasm was spread around a bit. Nebraska had no major league professional teams in any sport, with a AAA baseball team in Omaha and the nearest major league franchise 3 hours south in Kansas City. UNL fielded several sports, but the football team, which had a couple of national titles only a decade in the past, and still very competitive, was the big dog in town. I would probably have jumped on the bandwagon and become at least a casual fan...if the majority of fans that I came in contact with weren't such assholes.
A feature of sports fans everywhere, but especially in places where there's only one viable game in town is the expectation that one will always be a fan of the home team, even if you move away from home. Nebraskans who move out of state will always find a way to watch their team play no matter what corner of the country they move to. They remain as devoted to their team as when they were able to attend every home game in person. I'm sure this is true everywhere else. The paradoxical side of this tendency is the belief that if someone moves into your state or city, they must automatically and immediately become fans of your home team. So while Husker fans expect to remain Husker fans wherever they make their homes, they also expect those who move here from elsewhere to shed their previous allegiance and become Husker fans. (Again - you can undoubtedly find this phenomenon everywhere in the country).
Early in my residency in Lincoln, friends and coworkers were amazed that I simply was indifferent to the Huskers' game day performance and usually had no idea what bowl they were going to or who the quarterback was. Oftentimes the reaction was even hostile. In one of my mid-eighties management positions, I had the nerve to turn off the game because my employees were standing around listening to the game rather than working. Shortly thereafter I received an angry phone call from an alleged customer who told me "I wasn't in New York any more" and threatened to take his business elsewhere if I wasn't going to have the game blasting over the store intercom system. He finished up with some nasty things to say about New Yorkers in general.
At another job some years later another co-worker and I would place a friendly bet on the game, early in the season it might be a doughnut or a candy bar, but for more important games it became what we referred to as "public humiliation". Most of the time, since the Cornhuskers regularly posted winning seasons, I lost most of the bets. One year, when the Huskers won their bowl game, I had to wear a string of red and white beads, a Husker jersey and a button that played the fight song to the company Christmas party - all in good fun. But one year, when Colorado beat Nebraska, my betting opponent had to wear a Colorado Buffaloes sweatshirt for one whole shift. She accepted her loss in good humor, but some of our co-workers were aghast and were outraged at someone wearing the "enemy" colors and at me for "cruelly" requiring it.
For many years I managed businesses where the busiest day of the week was Saturday. Although business usually slacked off during game time, it required a full staff before and after. The number of people who wanted every home game off was always too many to honor, eventually I had to refuse to schedule anyone off on a game day, but allowed anyone who could find a substitute to take the day off. And of course I was considered the asshole, as a New Yorker not understanding true Husker fandom.
The seriousness with which so many fans seemed to take the game always befuddled me. Harsh words against the players and coaches when they lost and an almost pathological tendency to blame bad officiating for every loss was background noise that I just wasn't interested in hearing. While it still goes on, the fall from college football's pinnacle in recent years has tempered the expectations of many (though not all) fans. More and more people seem to be able to simply enjoy the game and rejoice in the wins, even when they're few and far between.
Over the last decade or so I have become indifferent, not only to Nebraska sports, but to sports in general, so my lack of enthusiasm, or even interest in, college football, is not ever remarked upon. Most of the people whom I associate with or am in regular contact with are on a pretty even keel when it comes to their fandom and I haven't had anyone be rude to me about my own non-fandom in years.
Although I still pronounce GBR in my head as "goober".
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