Zach Helms

Somewhere amongst the 86,097 people in attendance tonight, a young fan went to his first Nebraska game. His parents work 8-5 and saved up the money to buy the tickets, buy the special black Husker clothing, put gas in the car and drive to Lincoln. They paid good money to scream and holler and yell to support their beloved team—all in the pursuit of making a memory with their child. While driving to the game, they sat in horrible traffic and construction all over Lincoln. While waiting to get to their seat, they stood in the concourse of Memorial Stadium attempting to pile through a gate section for 20 minutes. This all within a mass of fans that seemingly did not move. Mid-game, when they wanted to use the restroom, they waited in line for another 20 minutes to piss in a running water trough that’s now auctioning for $3500 to help rebuild the stadium. Indeed, they’re paying hard-earned and finite family resources for this experience. At game’s end, and for the third game in a row, the experience was mired by a complete team collapse, brought to life by visibly terrified leadership and players dancing while losing on the sideline. As fans exited, they launched garbage onto the field while storming out. This leaves the kid wondering, “is this all normal?” This is not an experience to be proud of. And if this program and all of the tradition that *is worth being proud of* is to survive, there needs to be significant and immediate changes. This is all totally unacceptable.