Jayskers!

 Allow me to be provincial here. There's a creature here in Nebraska called a Jaysker. What's a Jaysker you may ask? Well, a Jaysker is generally a fan who in the fall supports Nebraska football with a fervor and once that is over, generally on Black Friday, they turn their attention to basketball. Nebraska basketball? Oh hell no. It's all Creighton basketball. Why? Well to a certain degree it's because Nebrasketball is a lifelong frustration of mediocrity at best and Creighton is a national power and Jays fans are the type of people who think paying $40K a year for a private Catholic college somehow makes it better than a state school you can attend for half that. Jays fans tend to be wealthier (lots of doctors and lawyers) than us unclean state school grads who weren't egotistical enough to bankrupt our parents because we are so special. I don't like Jayskers at all. They are disloyal and without any sports fan ethics. They are the type of fans who state they are Lakers fans, Yankees fans, Cowboys fans and Manchester United fans. In other words, they admire money, religion and phoniness. I would bet most Jays fans are MAGA, not because they are stupid like most MAGA but because they, as white wealthy people, they know whatever happens, they will be just fine. Its selfishness. It's being a Jaysker.

I first encountered Creighton basketball when my Dad had season tickets in the late 60's and early 70's and would take me to games at the old Civic Auditorium. Sitting in the seats that now would cost hundreds of dollars right behind the bench, I witnessed a Creighton student section that was in a constant frenzy. Not supporting their team but hating the other team, the referees and anybody else that that didn't act like an asshole. The sight of an entire section of young people constantly swearing and flipping the bird at refs and other teams (keep in mind this is a Catholic University) was appalling to me. This continued year after year until my Dad gave up his tickets somewhat due to the craziness and somewhat due to the fact money became tight in the 70's. He used to say how lawyers he knew acting like nutjobs was kind of embarrassing and he really didn't want to think of his acquaintances that way.

Nebrasketball never played Creighton when I was a kid for some reason but resumed the rivalry in the mid 1970's. The first game was in 1977 and it came in Lincoln, Creighton was better than Nebraska at the time. Friends of mine from Creighton came down to see the game. They trashed my apartment, got drunk and we went to the game. Nebraska won that game somehow and many of those Creighton fans were in tears. I never felt better. The arrogance was kicked in the nuts.

Then came 1978 and the 2nd game in Omaha. Creighton students dressed in overalls, chewed on straw, and danced around like the assholes they are. Again, the arrogance. Creighton won that game because the officiating decided that Nebraska was unworthy, threw out the Husker Coach, a Nebraska player and sent the Jays to the free throw line constantly. Yeah, they may have been better but at least give us a chance.

Throughout the years, the Nebraska-Creighton series became kind of mundane because Creighton sucked and lost year after year. The "crowds" at Creighton games dwindled to the hundreds because after all, bandwagon jumpers jump off as often as on. Nebraska was actually better for 15 years and then like all Nebrasketball mojo, it ended because of a firing of a coach. Then Creighton got a brand-new arena, and the Jaysker fan felt important again. Creighton got better, Nebraska got worse and the Jaysker fan sat in their luxury boxes feeling like the big shots they perceive themselves to be.

Yesterday the annual battle occurred in Lincoln and was supposed to be competitive. It wasn't. As a long-time Husker season ticket holder (loyalty, man), we were there surrounded by Jayskers in blue. The asshole-ness was still in full force. As Creighton continued to kick our ass, like KC Chiefs fan, they became even nastier. The very people who sat in the freezing cold the prior week watching Nebraska football, now became Nebraska haters. Taunting us about lack of football success, the perceived better education they received, the long hairs and foreigners who play for Nebraska, and the arrogance of yelling at the end of the national anthem "home of the FUCKIN JAYS". Infuriating to the point when we left the blowout and a Jaysker sarcastically yelled at me where I was headed, he got two birds from me. I despise them. They make me lose my mind. Like the time at a St Johns-Creighton game, we were in the top row of the upper deck. Being a St Johns fan since the heyday of the 1980's Big East, clad in a St Johns t shirt, after the Johhnies lost after missing a last second shot, an old Creighton fan, stuck in the nosebleeds same as me, growled in a not nice way, "enjoy the flight back to Newwwwwww York" like it was beyond his comprehension anyone from Omaha could hate Creighton, to which I replied "see ya next fall in Lincoln, Jaysker". Baffled.

It's just a game, right? Nope, it's a war against disloyalty and arrogance. Fuck Creighton1