Nebraska Cornhuskers Banish Keystone XL Pipeline Ads from Hallowed Memorial Stadium
Posted September 15, 2011 in Curbing Pollution, Solving Global Warming
I’ve never liked the University of Nebraska football program. Years of watching them run up scores against my beloved Missouri Tigers in the Big 12 filled me with jealous disdain. And the sea of red in Faurot Field created by their masses of traveling fans was daunting. But something has happened to roll back some of that ill will. It migh just have me cheering for the Cornhuskers. And it started with a boo.
To most Husker fans, football is something akin to religion. And Memorial Stadium in Lincoln is their church. It is a place to go with single-minded fervor. A place to focus on football. And to many, it was a place defiled at a game earlier this month. Here is how the Lincoln Journal Star describes it:
“A highlights video for the Huskers' 1978 conference championship football team appeared on the giant HuskerVision screen inside the stadium. When the logo for the video's sponsor appeared at the beginning and end, people in the stands began booing.
"To me, that was just a real strong gut punch as a Nebraskan," [Nebraska fan Allen] Schreiber said.
To him and others who saw the video titled the "Husker Pipeline," it appeared to be an advertisement for sponsor TransCanada.”
Schreiber, who had earlier protested the controversial Keystone XL pipeline being promoted by the video, wasn’t alone in his disdain for the advertisement. University of Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne---himself one of the most revered figures in Cornhusker football history---had this to say:
"We have certain principles regarding advertising in the stadium such as no alcohol, tobacco or gambling advertisements. We also avoid ads of a political nature," he said. "Over the last two or three months, the pipeline issue has been increasingly politicized. Our athletic events are intended to entertain and unify our fan base by providing an experience that is not divisive."
Ouch. Well, the pipeline is indeed controversial in Nebraska (and everywhere else) due to very real concerns about the impact it could have on the state.
The Huskers shifted into the Big 10 conference this year, where they will play against schools like Illinois and Michigan which represent states that have been dirtied up by tar sands pipeline spills in recent years (heck, a pretty big chunk of the conference has suffered some ugly spill history when you toss Wisconsin and Minnesota in too). Given the strong statement made about TransCanada’s oily Keystone XL ads, I think I might have to start rooting for Nebraska…
...Well, OK, that is a stretch. But I certainly see their football progam in a much more positive light now.
