A prelude to this week's "Between Two Seas"
You know, I had something actually quite special planned for this week’s BTS. It was a subject I had wanted to write about since day one, but was really unsure how to go about doing so. It was a story of love and loss, the mightiest of victories by an underdog, and then a quick and painful fall back into mediocrity. The crazy part about it, was that it all sat about four seconds away from being an incredibly plausible scenario for the rest of the Huskers football season. But then, lo and behold Ron Kellogg III pulled the miracle of miracles out of nowhere, and connected on that faithful Hail Mary to Jordan wild-wild-Westerkamp, and wouldn’t you know the Miracle in Memorial was born, saving the Husker’s season, probably a couple of coaching jobs, and possibly several livers in the greater metro area of Nebraska.
So now, instead of another week of griping about what doesn’t work, what our team really needs to do to win, and swearing that the guy repeatedly posting “dicks” on the Big Red online message boards could actually be a better coach than Bo Pelini, we get to bask in the glow of a (potential) season-saving miracle.
Damn it feels good to be on the winning side of these things every now and again.
But of course, this now means my well thought out and researched topic that I slaved and lost sleep over now gets tucked away at the bottom of the pile…for now. While I could still write about it, it all just seems silly to bring down the collective euphoria of this last weekend by bringing up the fact that our team hasn’t shown us much in big moments (seriously, Northwestern really isn’t that good you guys). Also, I’d really rather not end every comparison of my story to the Husker season with, “But thanks to that Hail Mary play this is all moot now”.
No, why kick a fan base that finally got something to celebrate about, after being down for so long. Seriously, until Saturday we’ve just been on a collective downhill slope since the Big Ten title game last season in terms of fan and program perception, and now with something everyone can be happy about for once, it’d be nice just to revel in it for a while.
So I’ll bite the bullet and change gears for the greater good of everyone. Am I hero? Well no, because I’m neither Ron Kellogg III nor Jordan Westerkamp, but you can thank me nonetheless. And thanks to them, this year's Husker squad will have another chance to change the stigma by holding its own destiny.
What does this all mean for my column, that's supposed to be based on my adventures in London? It means you get a full immersion experience this week. O
Once Husker soccer's semifinal matchup has run its course, look for the newest BTS in the prelude to the opening night for #Nebrasketball in Pinnacle Bank Arena. It's going to be a busy day, but you won't want to miss what we have in store.
- Brian Hall
(@CR3EPS on Twitter)
