Rise again

Gather 'round people. Today is about rebirth and resurrections and renewal.

Saturday was the ending of the Bill Callahan Era in Nebraska football, a black plague upon the followers of Lincoln, a pox that nearly sucked the life out of that congregation.

But this place is not the spot of absolution, or forgiveness. In fact, it is where we celebrate the cleansing of football souls across North America whose instincts tell them to yell "POWER" when someone else yells "HUSKER." They know the holiest of days — Game Day Saturday — is the time to drape themselves in red and they know their benediction is "Go Big Red."

And so it is that when Callahan got the axe after four relatively fruitless seasons — just one bowl win, no victories over the top 10 — that surging crescendo of joy you heard was coming from the Big Red Bretheren around the continent who celebrated this "loss" because of the perceived impending bigger gain. For it was Callahan who smudged so many historical items of a program that has been standing for 118 years. It was on his watch that the most embarrassing defeats ever witnessed in Lincoln came to fruition. So much of what made Husker fans proud was tarnished by a man who seemed wholly unaware of the team's importance to its followers and, worse yet, seemed uncaring of that history as well.

But there's bright lights to be seen. This story even has its saviour(s). One comes from Palos Heights, Ill., in the form of soon-to-be-senior quarterback Joe Ganz who, as a late-season replacement to the injured Sam Keller, tempted Husker fans in that what-might-have-been way by leading his offence with confidence and swagger, and even hanging a seven-TD effort on Kansas State.

And, you heard it here first (maybe): Let it ring out across the land that a man named Bo, a prodigal son, will return to Lincoln to help restore the luster to this program, and restore faith among its flock. Bo Pelini a former assistant under Tom Osborne, in my humble prediction, will be the next head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

And there will be cheers and relief and happiness in the corn-fed land of Lincoln. Men named Bo and Joe will send out their words and heal the Huskers, delivering them from their destruction. They will restore health and heal our wounds. They will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ... they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.

This, my friends, is called believing. And I am a believer.

Amen.

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