Dirk Chatelain already took the snappy name. In his recent column, he referred to the generation born after the Osborne Era as "Generation Hex." He wrote about about how he was struck by what diehard fans this generation is despite growing up on such terrible football.
I'm not sure if I completely belong to that generation as I have a few wispy memories of Nebraska greatness. My first Nebraska game ever was the 1998 Orange Bowl. My family also went to the 2002 Rose Bowl. I was seven years old at the time and took it all for granted. But hey, I know a lot of 40-70 year olds who took it all for granted too.
To put it bluntly, I was given the tiniest taste of greatness before being spoon-fed the Callahan Era. For me, that makes it easy to explain my diehardness, if that's even a word. I was given a taste, got addicted, and now there's no going back. I never really thought about people younger than me. I mean, yeah, I feel terrible for my 12 year old young nephew who has only really witnessed the last 5 years, but I kind of assumed anyone older than him was in the same boat as me; that is having some memory of being a pretty good program.
But then I managed an intern last year at work, a college kid of about 22. And he talked about the 2013 Northwestern Hail Mary game as if it were a distant, early Husker memory. The whole Pelini Era in general, was a long, long time ago to him. I was dumbstruck. To me it was just yesterday. And then I was dumbstruck by how old I sounded, and I'm not even old!
But then I did the math, and sure enough, he would have been about 14 or 15 for that Northwestern game. Even younger for most of the Pelini years. No memory at all of the Callahan or Solich years. Forget about Osborne.
And this guy is only 4 years younger than me. He graduated college just this May and even he only really remembers bad football. What a world of difference just 4 years can make in a young person's perception of Nebraska football. I also volunteer for my church's high school Youth Group. To one of those high schoolers, the thought of Nebraska even winning 9-10 games and playing conference title game is completely unfathomable.
A lot of that is depressing, and rightfully so. That next generation of fans losing that crazed passion for Nebraska football is what many of us worry about. But then I read columns like Dirk's, see college-aged Nebraska fans going nuts on Twitter, and think back to the die-hard high school to college aged Nebraska fans I do know. And I too am blown away by their passion. I certainly haven't been spoiled in my own personal Husker fandom, but at least my experience isn't a complete, bone-dry desert. At least I had hope of one day soon getting over the hump.
Enough is enough. We all need to see a winner, but what we really need is to put a good product on the field for them. No diehard Nebraskan deserves this miserable of a Husker childhood. I want to see the light that goes on in their eyes when they see just how fun Nebraska football can be.
Everyone deserves that.
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