Nebraska Gameday Experience

Submitted by andrewG on

There's enough negative threads on the board right now, so how about one that's a little less depressing?

We've all heard about the legendary Husker hospitality, but it actually exceeds any expectations. Here are the 3 worst Nebraska fans I met this weekend in Lincoln, in increasing order of hostility:

3. The guy next to me on the plane to Omaha chatted with me pleasantly for most of the flight, but only wished me a good time in Nebraska, not good luck for the game.

2. A drunk guy at the bar on Friday may have talked some vague trash as he passed. It was loud, so I can't actually confirm he said something negative, but I highly suspect it.

1. An even drunker girl at the same bar poked the block M on my t-shirt fairly roughly and would not let me walk past her for a solid 5 seconds.

How was everyone else's experience in Lincoln? Did anyone manage to find a rude Husker fan???

HBTV

October 28th, 2012 at 9:05 AM ^

I heard many racist comments in the crowd directed toward UM players. Granted, it was mostly from about 2 really vocal people, but no one said anything. It was pretty stunning. Really a shame since in general the fan base of Nebraska seemed very welcoming.

mGrowOld

October 28th, 2012 at 9:42 AM ^

Are you serious?   The vast majority of the Nebraska team isnt caucasian but you're claiming you were hearing people yelling racial epithets out loud in the stands?

Really?  What exactly did you hear?

ghof

October 28th, 2012 at 1:43 PM ^

But maybe it was where we were sitting (sec 10 row 86), other than an occasional go big red or husker nation. We thought they were quiet, especially toward the end. Their band never took the field after the game. The team didn't go to the student section. Just a few things I noticed. A good experience and we will go back. 99% of fans were great

mGrowOld

October 28th, 2012 at 11:47 AM ^

I'm having a bit of a hard time believing it too.  I asked specifically what he heard and so far he's avoided  answering that question.  I have a hard believing that in 2012 people would yell racist comments out in a racially mixed crowd knowing full well that by doing so you are placing a "somebody please punch me and punch me hard" sign on your head.

Not saying it can't happen but I can say that ive never heard racist comments yelled out loud in any sporting event I've ever attended and I've attended a LOT *underline & capitalize the word "lot") of college and pro games in Detroit, Salt Lake City, San Fransisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Cleveland in every major sport since 1977.

HBTV

October 28th, 2012 at 12:05 PM ^

I really don't think I need to repeat. It's fine not to believe me, but why would I lie about it? I went with Nebraska fans from AA and met a ton of nice people there who were very generous, and it's a couple out of 85K that said some bad things; a few bad ones could be found almost anywhere, as has been said. I'll chalk it up to "oh well" and forget it. I didn't mean to cause commotion...

ziggolfer

October 29th, 2012 at 12:15 AM ^

I am not stunned to hear that 2 people were racist in the stadium of X thousand. There are people who could have made racist commments that live down the street from me in Ann Arbor, but it is almost ignorant to chastise or comment on the environment of the stadium by referencing two people.

I remember being at St. Paul for the hockey national championship game a few yrs ago. Every Minnesota or Minnesota Deluth made a rude comment towards me. Every single person. Some people went to get the usher to try and kick out a row of our fans becase we stood too much during the game. If I referenced just that guy, it wouldn't represent their fan base. However, every Minnesota fan treated me in a similar respect, so it provides a clear example to the overall experience. 

Did you find every Nebraska fan to be racist? 

Moreoever, the people around the 2 could have quitely told them to refrain from making comments, which is what I would have done instead of getting in a shouting match had I been a Nebraska fan. 

ak47

October 28th, 2012 at 10:58 PM ^

I heard a racial slur last week in the student section (i'm a current student too) a couple people looked back nobody said anything.  There are tons of studies that show people do not step up to say anything back in those situations.  Bad things happen in every fanbase, racism is still alive and well and most people will not say much about it, i'm sorry to burst your bubble but a noose was hung outside one of my friends rooms this year in a dorm, doesn't mean michigan is a bad place, but this thing can and does still happen and i'm not sure why this surprises so many people.

M-Dog

October 28th, 2012 at 9:09 AM ^

The Nebraska turf was very rude to Denard's elbow.

It walks around saying it's the Best Turf in the Nation, but after that cheap shot, I'm not seeing it.

 

UMgradMSUdad

October 28th, 2012 at 9:27 AM ^

My experience with Nebraska fans was overwhelmingly positive as well.  I'll start with the positives, As we were walking around before and after the game a few people, just walking past, said "welcome to Nebraska" and "Thanks for coming."  I had a pleasant conversation with a Husker fan sitting at the table next to me at Dickey's BBQ.  Even the drunk guy sitting next to me at the game was only slightly obnoxious, and even that was just of a general and occasional drunken boorishness--nothing negative aimed at Michigan or Michigan fans.  I can only think of two negatives (aside from the game, that is).  One was a drunken sorority girl type who made some comment about "observing the wildlife" when fans in the section started doing the Blues Brothers song. The other affected Husker and Wolverine fans alike, so it was more just general lack of common courtesy.  We were sitting in the upper rows of section 40, and in the last minutes of the game, when Nebraska had the ball fans started heading down the stairs.  But things came to a complete standstill because there were fans standing in the exit row watching the game.  It did allow one last moment of bonding between Michigan and Nebraska fans though, talking about the selfishness and idiocy of those blocking the exits.  

Except for the loss, I had a great time, and they announced the crowd as the second biggest crowd ever, so I guess that says something about Husker fans regarding Michigan, because the Michigan fans were not a huge contingent.

 

HBTV

October 28th, 2012 at 9:43 AM ^

Unfortunately, there were at least 5 people within earshot that yelled "Hurt him! Hurt him!" every time Denard had the ball. When he got hurt, that's actually when they broke out a lot of the racist comments. It was ugly, and I was genuinely disappointed. It kind of ruined the whole experience for me.



It's possible that I was in the only section of awful people in the whole place though I guess...

willywill9

October 28th, 2012 at 9:54 AM ^

Chances are those 5 people rode in together.  You always have bad apples.  That is unfortunate and annoying.  I can't go to road games anymore until I can learn to control myself... at ND i flipped out on some d-tool who started yelling "Get up, it's FOOTBALL" at Devin Gardner when he dove and slid into the wall in the endzone.

He did apologize though.

UofM-I-Hart

October 28th, 2012 at 9:38 AM ^

"I totally just wanna butt fuck all Nebraska fans they are just such sweet hearts i love them all they were so nice and sensitive to me"



Get over it. Football is supposed to be about fans talking smack to each other, within reason.

Engin77

October 28th, 2012 at 9:40 AM ^

before the game, we heard:
"Welcome to Lincoln."
"Hi folks, nice to see you."
"We're glad you came this far, good luck."
Walking to the stadium, we may have heard someone in a car a block away yell something derogatory, but could have been an Oregon fan listening to satellite radio yelling "TD again, ducks!"

pbmd

October 28th, 2012 at 10:20 AM ^

vast majority of people are crazy nice and polite.  like well trained customer serivce-but still very pleasant

stadium is old and poorly designed but kind of works. not dirty, not crumbling . concesions are old but lines flow and food is basic but actually high quality.

few drunk people who want to talk trash. 

a lot of people who are unknowledgeable complaining about each and evey call aganist braska.

hotel way over priced. good food in lincoln seems hard to come by.

 

BrewMich

October 28th, 2012 at 11:04 AM ^

I managed to be surrounded by the drunk belligerent Husker fans despite being in the visitors section. Outside of the game people were really nice. Poor cell service, crappy beer, nothing to do outside of football, I don't think we'll bother driving through 8hrs of corn again.

mvp

October 28th, 2012 at 11:15 AM ^

It was borderline disconcerting. Almost like a cult, but a football loving cult.

We had some friends and connections. As we moved between a couple of tailgates, people insisted on getting us more beers and food!

We had several encounters with fans eager to discuss their trips to Ann Arbor last year. Seems that everyone looks forward to many more games to come.

We passed a painted bus that had a couple of Michigan dummies made up to look like Denard and Gallon. When we went to take a picture, they flipped us off. That was about the most negative thing that happened.

A the game we had a very loud, engaged female fan who apologized in advance that she would be loud and into the game. I tend to be the same way, and my buddy turned to her and said, "YOU are apologizing to HIM???" The banter and conversation during the game was really friendly. I was disappointed with the result, but the experience was great.

Bryan

October 28th, 2012 at 11:44 AM ^

Was the guy in the bar in Thursday that wanted to fight us. Still not entirely sure why. When he shoved a friend the bouncers exited him promptly and the owner if the bar bought us a round because hey wanted to assure us a good time.



As far as the game experience goes,worst thing was the guy behind me that insulted Detroit because 'they shoot people there.' Same guy said Denard 'sucks d***'



They also cheered when one of their own players went down, but I was in the student section and we know how students are



Also, so many ads on the scoreboards.

snarling wolverine

October 28th, 2012 at 12:05 PM ^

I was just watching on TV, but I did notice the ads - and also the #HUSKERS thing on the field.

We give Brandon grief for floating those ideas, but a lot of other ADs will simply adopt them without even consulting the fan base.  Brandon does at least give us a chance to issue our veto (most of the time anyway).

 

Wolverine Devotee

October 28th, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^

Was in a bar Thursday night in my Michigan gear of course. Some (I'm guessing drunk) girl came up and hugged me and said "welcome to nebraska." Which was nice of her. Until the girlfriend came back from the bathroom and saw. Then she judo kicked told her to back off and well I got a stern talking to that night.

 

ghof

October 28th, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^

With a few minutes to go the place was almost silent, thought it would be crazy loud, not even close. All the fans were great except the 2 guys behind us that did not shut up the whole game and were clueless, taunting fans.

FrankMurphy

October 28th, 2012 at 1:40 PM ^

This is the absolute worst thing I heard during the entire trip: at the end of the flight into Omaha, the stewardess wished both of our teams luck, to which the guy sitting next to me replied, "That's wrong! Husker Power!" And that guy was actually pretty cool, because earlier in the flight, he invited me to his buddy's tailgate.

Classiest fans in the Big Ten, hands down. Respect.

Engin77

October 28th, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^

The people in front of us said it changed the game completely, and two different fans today told me the same thing and asked about his prognosis I overheard the barista at the coffee shop say Denard looked so sad standing on the sideline, it made her sad. Very nice people here in Lincoln.