To celebrate our nation's independence yesterday, many of us took a moment to reflect upon why we're fortunate to be Americans and the people and things that make this country great. Or we stumbled up to Tahoe with copious amounts of sunscreen and booze worrying if we'd be ticketed for parking on the side of a two-lane highway near Sand Harbor. Not that I would have any experience with that.
But where the Fourth of July affords the opportunity to stop and consider why being American kicks ass, what do we as Wolf Pack fans have to remind ourselves how lucky we are? Me, of course! So sit down and shut up for the next few minutes as I explain -- in bullet point form, no less -- why being a Nevada fan is awesome.
~ Nevada is neither a "football school" nor a "basketball school" -- we've been fortunate to witness the kind of recent national success in both sports that many athletic programs at other levels would kill for.
~ Because of this, our off-season only stretches from early April to the end of August. If we were Rebel fans, football would just be a sucky distraction to mock and/or placate us until basketball starts.
~ On that note, our fans can actually recall the last time the football team won a conference championship.
~ We spell "Wolf Pack" the right way.
~ Our rivalry trophy is a cannon -- not a pig, platypus, wagon wheel, milk can, beer stein or whatever the hell an Illibuck is, but an ACTUAL FRIGGIN' CANNON! Seriously, how many debates amongst other college football fans can be ended by saying "Well, we have a cannon...so there"?
~ Our football team's head coach has more loyalty for his alma mater than Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino and Rich Rodriguez have for themselves. And that's a lot of loyalty.
~ The fact that it's pretty much impossible to overstate the previous sentence.
~ Having a head coach willing to put his reputation on the line in the relative twilight of his career for the sake of creating something called the "pistol offense."
~ Also having a staff of assistant coaches who didn't commit him to an insane asylum when he first explained it to them.
~ Having that same coach pass on a pay raise not because the state ordered him to, but because he felt it was the right thing to do.
~ In addition to cheering for the Pack, we've had the privilege of witnessing nationally ranked competition come to Reno to challenge Nevada -- Texas Tech and Boise State in football and Kansas and North Carolina in basketball, with even more on the horizon.
~ The fact that Nevada's actually beaten a few of those teams.
~ Seeing our last quarterback garner almost as much national attention for his work ethic and personality as he gets for his skills with a football.
~ This video. 'Nuff said.
~ Cheering for a basketball team who's had actual success in the NCAA Tournament in the last decade.
~ Being invited to a conference with bowl destinations in Las Vegas and San Diego.
~ Being invited to a conference where at-large NCAA bids are the norm and not the exception.
~ Being invited to a conference that believes in the importance of playing college football on Saturdays and not in whoring its teams out to the programming whims of an implacable, uncaring monolith.
~ Being invited to the only FBS football conference that can boast of having a service academy as one of its members.
~ Being invited to a conference whose commissioner gives the impression -- at least, most of the time -- that he actually knows what he's doing.
~ And last but far from least...being invited to a conference with a future to look forward to.
So those are some of my reasons for why we've got it made -- what are yours?
5 comments:
I'm a Nevada and an Oregon grad with strong ties to both schools. How do you suppose Nevada will do in Autzen stadium this fall with the loss of Kaepernick. Will the line hold up? How does Lantrip do? How do they handle the loudest stadium in the country? I'm really looking forward to the matchup...part of me wishes it had happened last year. Would have loved to have seen what the 2010 team could do in that situation.
"Getting invited to a conference that actually has a future." Love these comments guys! No really, keep trying to convince yourselves that the MWC would have invited UNR if Utah and BYU had stayed. Ohh snap... "You mean to tell us Pack fans that we really shouldn't be getting into the MWC and that the said conference is desperate so they chose us?(annoying Pack fan voice!!!)"YES, you got it- you are exactly RIGHT!!!! You shouldn't be in the MWC (next year), but because Utah and BYU left, the MWC begrudgingly chose to invite the lowly UNR! It's really kind of sad when you start to think about it isn't it? I mean UNR was a PLAN B! Wow, that's gotta hurt! Ohh well, you can't change who you are right!! P.S. I hate your uniforms!! P.S.S. I look forward to BSU beating that crap out of you guys on the Blue turf this year!! Look at the bright side- you can go home and brag to all of your friends that you got your butt's kicked by a REAL Mountain West team!!!! Enjoy the WAC!
Wolf Quack,
Thanks for posting here. I think the potential is there to at least keep things interesting, but there's definitely a lot stacked against them. I did an interview with OBNUG recently where I outlined some of my expectations for how Lantrip will run the pistol: http://www.obnug.com/2011/6/24/2239282/on-nevadas-rebuilt-offense-and-pack-fan-excitement-five-questions
Realbronco,
Thanks for coming here. With all due respect, I think you should re-read my entry and respond with something more relevant to the topic at hand. Have a nice day all the same.
Pack Backer,
Thanks for your reply. I'm really looking forward to the game and to see Lantrip give it a go. We are still unsure if Cliff Harris will play in that game because of the suspension/off the field issues that he has been having; however, I think that they have some gifted backups with Terrence Mitchell and Troy Hill. The Oregon defense is losing some really crucial players in Bair and Casey Mathews. Kiko Alonso was expected to step into Mathews role...but he, too, has been a huge bonehead off the field. So Nevada could have an opportunity to do some damage on offense, especially if they catch Oregon sleeping after the big road trip to open the season against LSU. I'm not sure how they will do against Nevada's pistol...they've seen it against UCLA and Portland State, but that's not saying much. I do think Ault's system isn't all that different from the run-based spread that Chip Kelly runs. The option plays look very similar...but I'm no offensive guru, by any means. I think that if they can use the run to set up the pass, they are in a good place, but if Oregon shut's down the run it could be a long night.
It's hard to describe the effect that Autzen has on opposing teams. It's not the largest stadium I've ever been in, but it absolutely the loudest. You can see it when it starts to effect the other team.
Keep up the good work!
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