I was pretty upset that Wan'Dale Robinson decided to transfer. He was a huge contributor, but it was even more than that for me. I loved his heart, and I thought he was all in. He seemed like the kind of guy that Frost could re-build the program around. And then he left. And now I hear that Luke McCaffrey may be leaving. Those are two guys I really enjoyed watching play and was proud to have on "my" team. In short, I'm pretty distraught about this.
And the Huskers aren't alone in this situation. There are many other teams with several players leaving. The attitude seems to be that, if everything doesn't go my way, I'm going to take my ball and go home.
There has long ceased to be any reason for an NFL fan to have team loyalty. The players are essentially mercenaries who go to the highest bidder. Moreover, with the exception of a team like the Packers, the team owner can simply pick up and move to a new city if he gets a better stadium deal. The St. Louis Rams fans found that out the hard way. They rooted for the team that had "St. Louis" on the jersey but found out that the Rams weren't "their" team in any real sense. And the team doesn't belong to the residents of LA, either. It belongs to Stan Kroenke, and I'm sure he'd move it to Mars if he could make more money doing so. So why should the residents of any city root for the NFL team that happens to play 50% of its games in their city? As Seinfeld once insightfully put it, you're just rooting for the laundry.
I thought college football was different. I frankly thought there was more team loyalty. Admittedly, we don't have to worry about the Huskers moving from Lincoln for a better stadium deal, but apparently we do need to worry about losing several players every year through the transfer portal. As the transfer portal grows, the team will cease to have much of its continuity from year to year as more and more players are only around for a couple of years. And if I am not following players over a multi-year career, I'm going to stop caring about them as much.
I suppose you could argue that it isn't so much that the players have less team loyalty now as it is that they can now do something about it if they are unhappy. Maybe all that's happened is that the myth of team loyalty has been destroyed. Either way, though, it makes the sport less appealing.
And the Huskers aren't alone in this situation. There are many other teams with several players leaving. The attitude seems to be that, if everything doesn't go my way, I'm going to take my ball and go home.
There has long ceased to be any reason for an NFL fan to have team loyalty. The players are essentially mercenaries who go to the highest bidder. Moreover, with the exception of a team like the Packers, the team owner can simply pick up and move to a new city if he gets a better stadium deal. The St. Louis Rams fans found that out the hard way. They rooted for the team that had "St. Louis" on the jersey but found out that the Rams weren't "their" team in any real sense. And the team doesn't belong to the residents of LA, either. It belongs to Stan Kroenke, and I'm sure he'd move it to Mars if he could make more money doing so. So why should the residents of any city root for the NFL team that happens to play 50% of its games in their city? As Seinfeld once insightfully put it, you're just rooting for the laundry.
I thought college football was different. I frankly thought there was more team loyalty. Admittedly, we don't have to worry about the Huskers moving from Lincoln for a better stadium deal, but apparently we do need to worry about losing several players every year through the transfer portal. As the transfer portal grows, the team will cease to have much of its continuity from year to year as more and more players are only around for a couple of years. And if I am not following players over a multi-year career, I'm going to stop caring about them as much.
I suppose you could argue that it isn't so much that the players have less team loyalty now as it is that they can now do something about it if they are unhappy. Maybe all that's happened is that the myth of team loyalty has been destroyed. Either way, though, it makes the sport less appealing.
Last edited: