i’m gonna disagree a bit. You definitely got it for your individual play and could lose it just as easily. Every week you had to earn it as a starter. It was tied to you as a player and your depth chart position.
I never said you couldn't lose them. Yes, someone else could be named the starter and then they would get the blackshirt. It's not that hard. THAT'S how you motivate. Take away the starting position and give it to someone else. Not take away the practice jersey. You earn the the starting position. The jersey just comes along with it.
You forgot red balloons after the first score of the game for NU.. That tradition been around longer then handing out the Blackshirts..
Damn helium shortage! (Oh and crazy college dorks that complained about turtles or birds...losers)
So at this point I think it’s safe to say these guys have some provin to do. Good decision
That's how I'd do it if I was the coach. Starter? Blackshirt. Sucking lately and you get benched? Next man up gets your Blackshirt. Prove me wrong, earn it back and nab it from the guy.
Million dollar question... WHO made this a tradition. The coaches started it as the starters on defenses because all the gold pullovers were sold out. During the defensive hay day, the media picked up on it and ran with it. Did the coaches make this a status symbol and create the myth or was it the fans and media? The Silver Bullets of tOSU Buckeyes are no more as well.
I think that is the wrong approach. If you are going to have blackshirts, they should be what they have always been: 1st team practice jerseys. The tradition exists because the Blackshirts used to beat the snot out of the opposition every Saturday, win or lose, for 30ish years, not because we want them to be some kind of faux participation trophy. After you played Nebraska, you felt it.
I think you are comparing apples to oranges. The horseshoe represents good luck, the tunnel walk is way to get the crowd pumped up and to celebrate the start of the game and the N is a symbol of the university and state. A Blackshirt denotes excellence. It originally was just the color of the shirt the defensive starters wore in practice. It evolved into a symbol of excellence. Blackshirts at one time had a standard of greatness. The last several years I think they have been handed out like candy. I think many, certainly not all players, had a sense of entitlement that was undeserved.
I know it when I see it. A half against a crappy team isn’t enough. 4 quarters every game then let’s talk.
Didn’t he run down to Kip’s Sporting Goods and all he had enough of was black? Otherwise all of our practice jerseys were the same color.
Apparently Corgan was a bargain shopper, the store had a lot of black ones cause they didn't sell well and they cut him a deal.
Sure...but then when do you give them? at the end of the season, after EVERY game?
It wasn’t Mike Corgan it was George Kelly who bought them because the owner said he couldn’t get any takers for these black jerseys and George said I’ll take them..
I would think Bob would say what the hell you thinking, You’re fired if he had..
I'm not sure it was Kelly got them cheaper, I think it may have been because the black mesh wasn't selling well it was the only color they had 11 of in stock.
You may be right, but I know the seller couldn’t get rid of them…Remember George Kelly telling the story and it might be on the DVD Coach Devaney..
The hell…I guess “ long standing” Is a relative termWhen I first started going to home games from the late 70s through the early 90s I don’t remember tunnel walks or blackshirts.
I moved away 93-94 and back in ‘98 (yes, I missed all those title runs). Blackshirts are what the 1st team starters used to wear at practice and I don’t remember people talking about them all that much.
I think most of the traditions we know now started in the mid-90s. I think Callahan was the coach when they turned it into a hand out thing.
Why would this make you question Mickey? You were a an over the top Frost supporter even with all the losing and embarrassing management of the program he provided. But you question this? You might need to reevaluate what is actually important to get this program out of the cellar.
Two totally different circumstances, Mickey played for Nebraska, Riley didn’t.. Now if you would have posted what if Scott Frost decided to do away with the blackshirts for the majority of the season would it have been met with widespread condemnation..
Why does who a head coach played for have any bearing on whether a decision made decades removed from their playing days has any merit?
For one thing before you go there, just because their not returning for this season doesn’t not mean if he is the head coach next year he won’t be using the tradition next season..
Surely you jest. If this is all it takes to “question Mickey” I think you should probably find a new sport to follow. I suggest Omaha hockey.
