Brilliant news courtesy of Corn Nation: the overalls might be back!
Based on an EA Sports screenshot from NCAA Football 2009 for the Wii, it looks like there might be a chance the old-overalled Herbie could be making a return. Past editions of the game have featured the new, phone-holster Herbie. (So named by me because he would look exactly like a modern farmer/rancher if he only had a cell phone clipped to his belt. Conveniently, for my purposes, phone holsters are admittedly handy but undeniably lame.)
But if this new development from EA Sports' game designers--they must have received a communique to change it from somewhere--has any truth behind it, we could be one step closer to cream-washing the memories of the Steve Pederson era from our collective minds.
That'll be enough for some, but it's of secondary importance to me. While Jon makes a valid point in his defense of phone-holster Herbie--it does better reflect the attire of a modern Nebraskan--I'm not really interested in realism or veracity. I want idealism.
As best I can remember, my maternal grandfather wore overalls every day of his life minus weddings and funerals. Nobody does that now but that's the point. Overalls are a functional garment. The opposite of fashion. They represent a disregard for things not directly related to work and, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't that the ideal that we used to define the great Cornhusker teams of the past?
It wasn't change itself that caused the Pederson Empire to crumble it was that the changes went all the way to the bedrock of Nebraska football. I'll admit that the new, forearmtastic Herbie was better than no Herbie at all but modern updates are a very difficult thing when you're dealing with a source of passion for so many people. Yes, phone-holster Herbie is a more-palatable, less-hokey edition of our beloved mascot and he achieves that without putting on airs. It's not like we put him in a three-piece suit.
But those overalls--and the ear of corn they carried--still have meaning. While a simple red shirt and jeans better represent the way Nebraskans look now, the overalls better represent the way we view ourselves as industrious, simple people.
There are some who like to poke fun at that notion but I say let them poke. At this point, using Simers-like disregard to fuel our collective identity is probably Nebraska's second favorite sport.
The first, of course, is football and in the end the addition of blonde hair or a corn cob isn't going to result in one more win out on the field, but it does make me feel a lot better about myself.
Is that such a bad thing?
7 comments:
You make an excellent counter point. I guess I wasn't thinking so much maybe about the stereotypes as much as I was thinking about all the guys I know who are still farming. I don't know any of them... well, any under 65, who are still wearing overalls.
I did that poll on my post, I was surprised at how many favor the older Herbie. I thought it would be much more lop-sided in favor of the newer one.
Jon,
And I thought it would be much more lopsided in favor of the pre-Steve Herbie.
Let it be known that in my overall-induced excitement, I actually chose the new Herbie thinking it meant the new Herbie as seen in EA Sports (i.e. overalled) by mistake so the count's off by one.
I never was all that bothered by the "overall" Herbie...the drawn version.
Most of the sideline mascot versions of the "Overalls" Herbie from the Bill Byrne era were horrible. I used to call him "Raggedy Ann" Herbie because all his clothes were baggy and he looked like a 6 foot tall somewhat androgynous rag doll. In that respect, the Steve Pederson version at least fixed that era; he's a strong, powerful guy again. If not a little yuppie...
I think the latest rendition looks a little too much like a guy who might be in the ag industry, but not really a "cornhusker" per se...more like a center pivot salesman or something.
Gotta go with the overalls...(that version and a Dead dancing bear are the only bumper stickers on my car...If I ever sell it I have no idea where I'd find a replacement and I'd be heartbroken.) Something about embracing one's own stereotypes and cultural idiosyncrasies was what made overall herbie my fave. The photo of the guy at the tailgate is proof that that cartoon Herbie exists for a reason...the dude looks exactly like the caricature in question! I agree with the notion that something about overalls seems unique to farmers and the farming lifestyle. And by the looks of the stock on the Carhartt rack at the local Murdoch's, at least a few current farmers are still wearing them...maybe not in denim, but overalls nonetheless. If you want true authenticity, I'd suggest changing Herbie's hat to a mesh ball cap with NC+ on it. But I can live with the cowboy hat, so long as the coveralls are included to distinguish "farmer" from "cowboy". So I think it'd be cool if they returned to the one on the EA site...He got my vote in the Corn Nation poll.
As it stands right now, Herbie just looks like "urban cowboy" Herbie...more like an Agmen pledge I might have had in Ufound class--all gussied up in brand new bluejeans and button down, for his first day on city campus! The current incarnation is really pretty indistinguishable from about a dozen other cowboy-esque mascots of other schools.
And I remember for sure that at some point during the Dollar Bill era (during the championship run of the mid-90 for certain) sideline herbie wore a cowboy hat and Husker football uniform, with the jersey number of the year in question...so maybe we should just go back to that one. Either way, I'm fine as long as they don't return to the days of Harry Husker...remember him--a ten-gallon hat and three-piece suit...like the Baron of the Cattlemen's ball?! Yeah...I know a lot of farmers who put on a tie before they go out to the field!
Mike,
Indeed there is a lot of photographic evidence out there of those sad sack Herbies. Frightening really.
DT,
I have to say I'm not in favor of Herbie head/jersey combo. Ole Miss did that in the last few years of their Colonel Reb days and it never meshed for me.
The head of a Southern Gentleman/Bigot (depending on your POV) with the body of a kicker? Nah.
You bring a good point here...did he still use the cane? That be funny. But our uni-clad Herbie was still youthful and stacked. I swear, one year he was a dead ringer for Jared Tomich!
But at any rate, your "Bigot" remark brought to mind another (tongue-in-cheek) change that I do think we need to go back to...a blonde-haired/blue-eyed "Aryan race" Herbie. I feel that this better represents the slight, unspoken glint of racism that embodies the rural Nebraska community.
Maybe you don't agree...after all, you've probably have as much experience in the matter as I do. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they're lobbying to fly the rebel flag or anything...but there are plenty of old Nebraska farmers who still harbor a bit of that "good ole boy" spirit (I speak with some authority here...as embarrassingly enough, I'm related to a few.) I brace myself to bite my tongue whenever I'm watching the local news with my wife's grandfather and Ernie Chambers comes on. It's not like my in-laws are the only culprits...my own grandfather (God rest his soul) took racism to a whole other level: he would expound for hours on the inherent differences between German Russians, Irish, Bohunks, Polacks, etc. When you're white and you're racist against certain varieties of white people...well I can't even start to wrap my head around that one!
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