THE BUGMUNCH -- Opinion

Coming just 117 points from perfection 
is such a gosh-darned heartbreaker

Howdy, Korner gang! Spring has finally sprung here in Wahoo. The grass is green in our front yard, the town crews have swept away all the sand and gravel off of main street, and the kids from Wahoo High and Bishop Neumann are in their track sweats after school each night working off that "winter 15." Down at the Dairy Queen, they're selling more cones than hot chocolate these days. And, at long last, the tears have stopped over last fall's Husker football season.

All you loyal Katholics out there know how upset I get when our Cornhuskers lose, like the time in 1990 when they got beat by Oklahoma, and I was so upset by the middle of the third quarter that I turned it off and went to bed early, even though it was only about 2 p.m. at the time. So, you can imagine what it was like for me to suffer through the most recent football season. Simply put, it hurts bad to climb so high and go so far, only to come up just short in the end. I mean, coming just 117 points from going 14-0 is such a gosh-darned heartbreaker! 

You'd think by now, we Nebraskans would be used to such close-but-no-cigar disappointments. After all, we've had our fair share them over the years. Missing the national championship on Dr. Tom's failed two-point try, that wide-left field goal try against Florida State in the Orange Bowl ten years ago, and about a half-dozen last-second losses to Oklahoma are just a few of the times we came within a hair of the glory of a national title, only to have the cruel hand of fate step in and snatch it away from us.

Boy, I haven't had the postseason mopeys this bad since the dark days following the 1984 Orange Bowl loss to Miami. That year, the Huskers scored a school record 654 points, and as it turns out 655 would have given them the national title. Sigh. In 1993, they came up just 1:16 short and a missed field goal of being crowned champions, too. "Sooner Magic" has broken our hearts more times than I want to count. And now, you can add 2002's near-miss to that infamous list. Just to think that our Cornhuskers were a mere 17 touchdowns away from perfection ... well, need I say more? It's enough to keep a Husker fan awake at night, staring at the ceiling, wondering "what if."

As in, what if Texas' Nathan Vasher wouldn't have nabbed poor Jammal Lord's pass at the end of regulation on Nov. 2? Or, what if that mean Ole Miss cornerback would have gotten called for defensive holding for mugging Wilson Thomas in the Independence Bowl, and NU would have gotten seven points instead of three on that drive? Or what if poor Jammal's first-half fumble against Oklahoma State hadn't led to three Cowboy points, which turned out to be the difference in the game in Stillwater? Heck, that's three easy wins right there.

Likewise, if the Huskers would have gotten a couple of quick scores early in the fourth quarter against Penn State, and then a couple more quick scores just right after that, and then maybe just one more quick score immediately following those two scores, that would've put us over the top on the Nittany Lions. It was that close. And all we would've had to really change in the loss to Iowa State was our complete inability to run the ball. Add a running game in Ames, and our Huskers most certainly would've gotten an extra three touchdowns plus a last-second field goal to pull out a victory at Jack Trice Stadium. The same goes for the losses at Kansas State and Colorado. Pretty soon, you see just how darned close those boys in red were to hoisting yet another shiny crystal trophy above their heads.

Now, all you fans of other schools, I know that some of you don't really "get it," and think I'm just rationalizing things away and playing "would've-could've-should've" to make myself feel better. But let me ask you this: Gee whiz, wouldn't you do the exact same thing if you were in my shoes? If you were looking back on an entire season that came down to only one or two or in this case 64 defining plays? I think the answer would be yes. So excuse me for being human.

We Nebraskans are an optimistic bunch, you know. I think it was our great coach Dr. Tom Osborne, or maybe it was that new baseball guy Mike Anderson, who said that sometimes, "L" doesn't stand for "loss," it stands for "learning." And while it's true that for most of us in Nebraska this spring, it has meant "Lingering depression," we still carry on. It's a painful fact of life to be reminded of the Huskers came within a heartbeat of 14-0 in 2002, but hopefully our team can take solace in the fact that they were without a doubt the best seven-loss team in the country. Perhaps they'll use that heartbreak as a motivator for the upcoming season.

In the meantime, let's do our part to help the team get over that last hurdle. By the time August rolls around, let's all come up with some nifty slogans to write on a piece of poster board, which we can use to put out in our yards to show support for the Big Red. Personally, I'm thinking about "Finished Business Part II," or something clever like that. My other idea, "March to REDemptioN," isn't as good. Everyone might not get that one, and besides, I don't want to confuse folks into thinking that I'm referring to the Cornhusker Marching Band, or something. Those kids don't need redemption -- they're always champs in my book!

Regardless of what the 2003 season is called, the team can take pride and honor in the fact that, even though it hurts bad to come so close, they were within a whisker of winning it all last year. And not many other schools can say that, you know. Onward and upward, I always say! Go Big Red!

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Kathi Jo Prochaska is a homemaker and expert kolache maker who also works part time at the Wahoo Pizza Hut. Her column appears monthly.

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