Nebraska fans - first class treatment in Lincoln

[dsmbuck]

This is really beating a dead horse but for my first post I feel obligated to share my experience. I live in Des Moines and made the short drive over the Lincoln with a Nebraska fan and stayed with the entire Nebraska family. When we got out of the car I prepared myself for the worst and as we walked into the tailgate, the first Nebraska fan I ran into stopped me.

I was thinking "here we go", he leaned over, grabbed my arm and said "repeat after me, F*** Michigan". From that moment on everys single UN fan said nothing but pleasent things and were very hospitable. They also kept asking me what it will be like when they come to Ohio State. I kind of felt bad telling them that they were probably not going to receive the exact same experience but also guarenteed it would be nothing like going to Michigan or Wisconsin.

It was almost like I was in Pleasentville or something! It was a great experience and I will go back when we play there again.

 

[ant80]

This is really beating a dead horse but for my first post I feel obligated to share my experience. I live in Des Moines and made the short drive over the Lincoln with a Nebraska fan and stayed with the entire Nebraska family. When we got out of the car I prepared myself for the worst and as we walked into the tailgate, the first Nebraska fan I ran into stopped me.

I was thinking "here we go", he leaned over, grabbed my arm and said "repeat after me, F*** Michigan". From that moment on everys single UN fan said nothing but pleasent things and were very hospitable. They also kept asking me what it will be like when they come to Ohio State. I kind of felt bad telling them that they were probably not going to receive the exact same experience but also guarenteed it would be nothing like going to Michigan or Wisconsin.

It was almost like I was in Pleasentville or something! It was a great experience and I will go back when we play there again.

Never been to either, but I'm surprised scUM is on your list with Wisconsin. Haven't been there either, but Penn State might be more of a school to be tagged with Wisconsin. Again, everything I am writing is hearsay and what other posters have posted. My 2c.

 

[Zurp]

Not to hijack the thread, or change the subject too much... (Mods, it won't hurt my feelings if you split this post from the thread)... but did anyone notice the classy Wisconsin fans doing some chant during Ohio State's Carmen Ohio before the game? Ohio State was celebrating Homecoming the way they typically do - they got all the homecoming king and queen hopefuls on the field next to the band, etc. Then they played Carmen Ohio. Wisconsin fans decided that was a great time to do their little chant, or maybe a song. (I couldn't hear the words.)

 

[Wadcutter]

Not to hijack the thread, or change the subject too much... (Mods, it won't hurt my feelings if you split this post from the thread)... but did anyone notice the classy Wisconsin fans doing some chant during Ohio State's Carmen Ohio before the game? Ohio State was celebrating Homecoming the way they typically do - they got all the homecoming king and queen hopefuls on the field next to the band, etc. Then they played Carmen Ohio. Wisconsin fans decided that was a great time to do their little chant, or maybe a song. (I couldn't hear the words.)

Yea I was in 16C a couple of sections over from them and they were chanting something, raising hell and carrying on. They did the same thing when the Stephanie Spielman cancer center promo was playing on the jumbrotron. Douches.

 

[kinch]

I have heard nothing but amazing things from my friends who went to Lincoln. They are now truly the class act of the B1G.

I have never had a bad time at the few away games I've been to. At the same time, I am ashamed to say that my last home game (it has been a while and was against Wisconsin, maybe 6 years ago?) I had to walk an elderly couple and their granddaughter to the Shoe because local frat type boys were giving them a hard time. We can and hopefully will do better.

This is really a cultural thing. Nebraska is proud of being inviting and considerate. We won't get there soon, but we need to police ourselves. We need to have the pride to silence all the idiots.

 

[DallasHusker]

I have heard nothing but amazing things from my friends who went to Lincoln. They are now truly the class act of the B1G.

I have never had a bad time at the few away games I've been to. At the same time, I am ashamed to say that my last home game (it has been a while and was against Wisconsin, maybe 6 years ago?) I had to walk an elderly couple and their granddaughter to the Shoe because local frat type boys were giving them a hard time. We can and hopefully will do better.

This is really a cultural thing. Nebraska is proud of being inviting and considerate. We won't get there soon, but we need to police ourselves. We need to have the pride to silence all the idiots.

I think that's the key, to get o that point - as you say, its a cultural thing. That's what I think is most significant about the Nebraska fanbase that I marvel at - any fanbase will have the minority of douches, but the normally "silent majority" needs to feel the pride and have the motivation to self-police and silence the idiots. That's easy to do when the ones willing to stand proud and do so far-outnumber those few idiots.

My wife and I hope to be at the Shoe next year for the Nebraska game if we can obtain tickets. We'll (both) be wearing a mix of tOSU and Nebraska gear, which hopefully will help in our reception & experience.

 

[Buckeye Maniac]

Not to hijack the thread, or change the subject too much... (Mods, it won't hurt my feelings if you split this post from the thread)... but did anyone notice the classy Wisconsin fans doing some chant during Ohio State's Carmen Ohio before the game? Ohio State was celebrating Homecoming the way they typically do - they got all the homecoming king and queen hopefuls on the field next to the band, etc. Then they played Carmen Ohio. Wisconsin fans decided that was a great time to do their little chant, or maybe a song. (I couldn't hear the words.)

I was in 20 B and there were some OSU fans near me that started yelling OH during Carmen before the game. (I suppose it could have been Wiscy fans being dicks)

 

[colobuck79]

They did the same thing when the Stephanie Spielman cancer center promo was playing on the jumbrotron. Douches.

 

[kinch]

I think that's the key, to get o that point - as you say, its a cultural thing. That's what I think is most significant about the Nebraska fanbase that I marvel at - any fanbase will have the minority of douches, but the normally "silent majority" needs to feel the pride and have the motivation to self-police and silence the idiots. That's easy to do when the ones willing to stand proud and do so far-outnumber those few idiots.

My wife and I hope to be at the Shoe next year for the Nebraska game if we can obtain tickets. We'll (both) be wearing a mix of tOSU and Nebraska gear, which hopefully will help in our reception & experience.

The problem is the way to and from the game. As tickets are hard to come by at tOSU, we have a lot of older folks, and good ones, at the Shoe. They will tell you to shut up when your offense is at 3rd down and will make you behave if you have anything to say about the opposing team. Way back when NC State visited their fans wanted to be like us: knowing when to be silent and when to yell, and behaving.

The problem is the drunk young testosterone boys on the walk in and the walk out. It can be bad. We love to hate on Wisconsin (who takes pride in being belligerent) and Penn State (just stupid), but we have ours, and it only takes one.

Edit: Random note: Living in the East Village I stopped by Croxley Ales for games. The bartender was a Wisconsin grad with many stories. He made me appreciate bloody maries, he put Guiness in them and brewed them for a day. Anyway, he said that Wisconsin had its "identity," and that others had theirs. He was proud of drinking and throwing things at children. Very weird.

 

[sepia5]

Not to hijack the thread, or change the subject too much... (Mods, it won't hurt my feelings if you split this post from the thread)... but did anyone notice the classy Wisconsin fans doing some chant during Ohio State's Carmen Ohio before the game? Ohio State was celebrating Homecoming the way they typically do - they got all the homecoming king and queen hopefuls on the field next to the band, etc. Then they played Carmen Ohio. Wisconsin fans decided that was a great time to do their little chant, or maybe a song. (I couldn't hear the words.)

I was in 23C and there were only a couple Wisconsin fans in our general area. One was in row one and wearing the ridiculous candy striper bibs. He didn't even make it through the first quarter before the police escourted him out for a chat. He was basically taunting everyone around him from kick off on and was obviously warned to knock it off. He was a bit more reserved the rest of the game, but it was clear a few times that he was about to get tossed. Every experience I have with that fanbase seems to be negative. TIP: When you're at somene else's stadium, cool it.

This particular Wisconsin fan was very, very quiet at the end of the game.

 

[Zurp]

I was in 23C and there were only a couple Wisconsin fans in our general area. One was in row one and wearing the ridiculous candy striper bibs. He didn't even make it through the first quarter before the police escourted him out for a chat. He was basically taunting everyone around him from kick off on and was obviously warned to knock it off. He was a bit more reserved the rest of the game, but it was clear a few times that he was about to get tossed. Every experience I have with that fanbase seems to be negative. TIP: When you're at somene else's stadium, cool it.

This particular Wisconsin fan was very, very quiet at the end of the game.

Even though I started this game, I think it's only fair to mention 2 of the Wisconsin fans we ran in to before the game started. Due to a mistake on "someone's" part (he shall remain nameless), but I should have caught it, anyway, we were sitting in 10C, instead of where we should have been - 12C. These two guys walked up and said we were in their seats. One was wearing a red 33 jersey (I thought at first it was a Buckeye jersey). The other was in a cow costume. This is how it went down:

Them: You're in our seats.
Us: No. Your seats are that way.
Them: You're in our seats. We're in 10C.
Us: This is 12C.
Them: This is 10C.
Us: Oh, crap - you're right. We're sorry.
Them: It's cool.

As I left I saw that the red jersey had the W for Wisconsin on it. I don't know if the fact that they were surrounded by Buckeyes fans tempered them, or if they really were cool about our mistake. They easily could have bitched us out for being retards. (We really were retards.)

 

[DallasHusker]

The problem is the way to and from the game. As tickets are hard to come by at tOSU, we have a lot of older folks, and good ones, at the Shoe. They will tell you to shut up when your offense is at 3rd down and will make you behave if you have anything to say about the opposing team. Way back when NC State visited their fans wanted to be like us: knowing when to be silent and when to yell, and behaving.

The problem is the drunk young testosterone boys on the walk in and the walk out. It can be bad. We love to hate on Wisconsin (who takes pride in being belligerent) and Penn State (just stupid), but we have ours, and it only takes one.

Yep, you're right, it only takes one. Can't say for sure, but my guess is we likely have more or less the same minority of "drunk young testosterone boys" that you have. The difference is the culture developed over decades where when that ONE starts to make an ass of himself, half a dozen or more will immediately confront him and let him know that its not acceptable, AND he quickly sees that he's clearly outnumbered by the confronters.

Witnessed that before the OSU game, actually. One of those "drunk young testosterone boys" had a shirt that said "Buck the F***eyes" and thought he was hot s***. Several BIG guys surrounded him and let him know that was not acceptable in OUR stadium. Told him to take it off and turn it inside out, or they'd be happy to ALL show him the way out. Only took him a few seconds to survey the group of guys around him before he removed the shirt and put it back on inside out before very quietly slinking away - to applause from at least a couple dozen bystanders.

You'll never get rid of those few "drunk young testosterone boys", after all, we're talking about a University filled with 20-ish half-boy/half-men. What you need is the large majority of fans with the culture and pride willing to step in and put those boys in their places.

 

[BuckTwenty]

Went to the Wiscy game and witnessed their fans that they brought with them. Their football culture is so much different than either Ohio State or Nebraksa's football culture. What I've observed is that football is almost seen as being second to drinking or getting drunk before and after the game. That doesn't lend itself to having a sportsmanlike attitude. My best guess is that its due to their football teams being bad for SO long before Barry Alvarez showed up on the scene... but who knows really.

I won't post the details, but I ended up being involved in breaking up a skirmish in the stands after a drunk Wiscy fan went after another Ohio State fan after the game. The Ohio State fan was trying to be nice to the guy and the Wiscy fan took it the wrong way and went after him. I'm sure there are some decent Wiscy fans out there, but I haven't met one yet.

I've yet to make a trip to Happy Valley, but after witnessing Wiscy fans last year in Madison and this year in Columbus, Wisconsin fans are by far THE WORST fans in the Big Ten. I would put money on them being in the top 5-10 worst fans in college football too. They are the antithesis of Nebraksa fans. Just night and day difference between what I experienced in Lincoln and what I experienced in Madison.

 

[Bucky32]

Went to the Wiscy game and witnessed their fans that they brought with them. Their football culture is so much different than either Ohio State or Nebraksa's football culture. What I've observed is that football is almost seen as being second to drinking or getting drunk before and after the game. That doesn't lend itself to having a sportsmanlike attitude. My best guess is that its due to their football teams being bad for SO long before Barry Alvarez showed up on the scene... but who knows really.

I won't post the details, but I ended up being involved in breaking up a skirmish in the stands after a drunk Wiscy fan went after another Ohio State fan after the game. The Ohio State fan was trying to be nice to the guy and the Wiscy fan took it the wrong way and went after him. I'm sure there are some decent Wiscy fans out there, but I haven't met one yet.

I've yet to make a trip to Happy Valley, but after witnessing Wiscy fans last year in Madison and this year in Columbus, Wisconsin fans are by far THE WORST fans in the Big Ten. I would put money on them being in the top 5-10 worst fans in college football too. They are the antithesis of Nebraksa fans. Just night and day difference between what I experienced in Lincoln and what I experienced in Madison.

This is true, especially in down years. It really has to do with the drinking environment in Wisconsin as a whole.

 

[sepia5]

This is true, especially in down years. It really has to do with the drinking environment in Wisconsin as a whole.

You seem like a decent Wisconsin fan. But since I haven't met you, I can't be sure you're real.