Mud was flying. Bodies slipped about in the muck. Obscenities were thrown about in the direction of rivals.

And that was just on the northeast hillside.

Stepping out of the press box, I took in the ISU/Nebraska contest among the presence of those who pay for their seats.

It wasn’t pretty.

And I’m not just referring to the weather. There were some rather disturbing things going on during that rainy afternoon in Lincoln.

Did Isay Lincoln?I’m sorry, I meant Ames … although it sure did sound like we were in Lincoln.

It’s only natural to assume that when a huge roar goes up from the crowd, it is because the home team has done something good.

Right?

Alas, it seemed that the loudest waves of cheering occurred when a Nebraska player broke into the end zone.

That being the case, the stadium was not often quiet.

But I’m not getting down on the Cyclones here. Let’s face it, they were severely overmatched in this one.

I think the anti-Nebraska crowd got a bit ahead of themselves when they saw Arizona State decimate the Huskers early in the season.

After the 19-0 defeat, we heard about how bad Nebraska is this year. We thought Nebraska had lost to a collection of chumps from Tempe.

As the season progressed, we learned two things.

— Arizona State, led by Jake “The Snake” Plummer, is an outstanding team, a team that could play Nebraska again and likely come out with the same result.

— Nebraska heard the wake-up call that ASUprovided, and hasn’t looked back since.

The Huskers still got it. Which their fans are quick to point out.

And there were plenty of Husker fans in Ames to do just that, as I mentioned earlier. I would hate to guess how many of the 47,850 people that were in attendance Saturday were faithful to “Big Red.”

As far as the hillside population, it might not be too far-fetched to say that ISU fans were outnumbered by a 10:1 ratio.

With this team being so good, the fans tend to seem a bit … oh, I don’t know … arrogant, maybe?

Chants of Davis’ lack of ability (brilliant) and Nebraska’s dominance over ISU (no kidding?) got a bit old and soon turned to ignorance.

I think I’m a good fan. I cheer (not jeer) when the Cyclones do good things (unless Colorado is in town), I respect the good things that the opponents do and I feel bad when ISU loses.

Even the objectivity of journalism can’t stop that.

All in all, I think this is an example of being supportive and intelligent at the same time.

These two can co-exist!

After watching the Nebraska crowd, Irealized I’d much rather cheer for a team that ends up on the short end of the stick than to become a pompous jerk pumping up my own ego by riding the coattails of my favorite football team’s success.

I think I realized long ago that wearing the jacket of a good football team doesn’t make me God.

---

Christopher Clair is a senior in journalism from Waukon. He is the sports editor at the Daily.