Thursday, December 02, 2010

Nebraska-Oklahoma

Being a 44-year-old football fan from Nebraska, there is no sports rivalry that has been bigger in my life than the college football pairing of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Oklahoma Sooners. They have played each other in 85 games and the winner almost always won their conference. Since 1950, these two programs have earned 53 conference titles in the Big 8 and now the Big 12. All other teams in these conferences combined have earned 15. I grew up hating Billy Sims and the wishbone and Boomer Sooners. And Barry Switzer's swagger was polar opposite to Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne's class. I never liked the Big 12, and lately, they and their officials clearly don't like Nebraska. But what a perfect way to end Nebraska's tenure in the conference, with a final staging of the greatest rivalry in college athletics. I can't wait for Saturday night. I hope someone throws an orange on the field for old time's sake.

1 comment:

David said...

I'm sure Tom Osborne had class interests in mind when he became a Republican congressman.