For the last 32 years, my brain has been programmed with tradition. In 1980, after the tornadoes ripped Grand Island apart, one of the few things that survived was my Nebrsaka Cornhusker’s cowboy hat… I was 2, so a cowboy hat was acceptable and that has to be a sign of some sorts. In Nebraska, the day after Thanksgiving is not Black Friday, it is the Nebraska versus Colorado game and we are not wearing black. No matter what the polls say, any time Nebraska and Oklahoma take the field together you can bet it is going to be a good game. Iowa State may never seem like much of a threat but in recent years it has been pretty exciting to see if we could still pull off the win while our team was “rebuilding.” The last minute of the 1997 Nebraska and Missouri game pretty much created an instant rivalry in the eye’s of Missouri fans. Missouri wanted their win and their losing streak to Nebraska broken; six years later they finally got that win. Texas… Texas Tech… Kansas… Kansas State… I don’t care what you say, the Big XII was an exciting conference.

Looking past traditions, the move to the Big Ten will likely be beneficial to the University. Hopefully we have better recruiting options and based on the 10 million dollar figure form last year in the Big XII, 20 million sounds pretty good. Well, it did sound good. After Beebe’s attempt to save the Big XII conference included a 17 million dollar figure and more TV time, our move to the Big Ten doesn’t seem so sweet. So… Nebraska was upset because we weren’t getting enough TV time, enough money and deep down we despise Texas. Well, not to be rude, but did everyone just decide to forget what has happened during the last 12 years, because it has not been pretty. Don’t get me wrong, our stats still show we have been one of the strongest football teams throughout the years but the money goes where the action is and there just has not been much action since Osborne retired as head coach. We are not the powerhouse we once were and we need to accept that. That is the reason contracts do not last for ever. Who wants to give all your money and TV slots to an average team? It kind of seems we are expecting a lot more than we deserve right now. It takes time to recover. Everything was finally turning around but we will never get to find out how well things have turned around. Starting in 2011, we’re going to have a new hurdle. We will have a new conference schedule and we will be the new kid on the block.

I am not a sports analyst by any means. I watch for the enjoyment of the game. I do not have time to devote my life to sports and would never want to. My opinion is simply an opinion. When it sounded like the Big XII was breaking up and everyone was going their separate ways, I thought us moving to the Big Ten was alright. Now that the Big XII is moving forward with 10 teams, I feel like our move was made in haste. It is going to be tough to just pretend those Big XII teams do not exist and follow all the Big Ten teams throughout the season. Really, it is unfortunate the politics and money that is involved. It seems we traded away our traditions in favor for our greed… and that is never what Nebraska Football should be about.