OK, sports fans, let’s take a deep breath and use our heads a little on this recent flare-up of the Nebraska vs. Texas bad blood, apparently brought on by the one-year anniversary of NU’s decision to join the Big Ten.
First, Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne and Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe need to stop lobbing rocks at each other.
Osborne complained again last week that it had been ”a strange year” for Nebraska and about how he hadn’t felt welcome in Big 12 meetings. Some Big 12 people and conference A.D.s I know who were in those meetings dispute the lack-of-welcome talk, but that’s not the point.
What did Osborne expect moving forward? A king’s reception? Nebraska sure wasn’t going to get a vote or be part of policy changes in a league in which it would no longer be a member. Maybe the best path would have been to do like Colorado and not take part in meetings at all.
As for Beebe, he went on talk radio in Austin, Texas, last week and pouted that “Tom Osborne never really liked the Big 12.”
How’s that for a nanny-nanny-boo-boo?
C’mon, Dan. I’ve written in support of you several times. But that was as childish a remark as when you said you didn’t come to Nebraska to present the Big 12 North football trophy because of fears from death threats.
Heck, I get four or five threats a year. So does every coach and A.D. at a school in which the fans are invested in success. You smeared the entire Husker fan base over the actions of a couple of bozos with a keyboard and an anonymous email handle.
The time to stop bickering is now, especially with the College World Series about to begin and Texas making its first appearance in Omaha since the most recent conference realignment shuffle.
Please, don’t boo the Longhorns or coach Augie Garrido. They didn’t set any policies or make any decisions on this.
Texas has been a longtime friend and supporter of the College World Series, and deserves treatment in line with that.
As for everyone else with a Nebraska or Texas connection, let’s end this jilted lover routine. It’s time to play ball, have fun and move on.
