By Brett Baker
There is a player during every generation that grabs Nebraska fans’ hearts. In the 1950s, it was Bobby Reynolds. In the 1960s, Bob Brown and the 1970s, Johnny Rodgers. Turner Gill and Mike Rozier laid claim to the 1980s.
Tommie Frazier ran away with the 1990s. Heading into the 2009 season, it seemed like Eric Crouch would own "the aughts." That was until Ndamukong Suh wrested the decade away from the Heisman Trophy winner like it was an over-matched Texas offensive lineman.
On the field, Suh played with ferocity that old school football fans loved. Off the field, he carried himself in a manner that made every Nebraskan proud - thoughtful, articulate and inspiring. He was as we Nebraskans would like to see ourselves. Suh was tough enough to get the dirty work done and personable enough to charm even the most cynical and jaded media member.
When he was drafted by the Detroit Lions, I'm sure I wasn't the only one pricing Ndamukong Suh gear at NFL.com. That's how big his impact was. It wasn’t about whether we liked the Lions or not, we were going to follow an entire team because of him.
That's what has made the last few weeks as difficult to digest as they are to understand.
It was Thanksgiving Day and I was where I've been every other for the last 11 years, the sports edit suite at the television station where I work. I was preparing the 5 PM sportscast and I had the Lions-Packers game on, paying about half-attention to it as I went about prepping my show.
The Packers were well in control when all of a sudden I heard Joe Buck say that Suh had been kicked out of the game. My attention was grabbed and I watched along with the rest of the nation to see what Ndamukong had done to merit an ejection. Upon further review, it was clear that he had to go.
I'll be honest. I wasn't offended or upset with his actions. From a competitor's point of view, I thought I could size up what had transpired. The Packers had owned the line of scrimmage for the better part of the contest and the Lions had been backed down to their own goal line.
On the play in question, Suh was tangled up with Packers lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith who wrestled him to the ground. At this point, the second year All-Pro snapped, shoving Dietrich-Smith's head into the turf several times before getting up and stomping on his arm.
Suh has always played with an edge. That's one of the reasons why fans like him and he was always accountable for his actions. That's what made his postgame comments so bizarre. I expected him to be honest, to say that as the game wore on and the Packers took control he began to lose his cool. I expected him to say that on the play in question he just lost it, that he regretted it and that he would accept whatever punishment the league seemed fit.
That did not happen.
Not only was he defiant and oblivious, but he was also playing the media and the fans for fools. To suggest that the stomp was him simply trying to regain his balance as he extricated himself from the pile was the height of idiocy. I saw it, you saw, the nation saw it.
The only one who apparently didn't see it was the man who had committed the actions in question. As I listened to the rest of the interview, I was astounded. Where was the young man that we had grown to know as the face of the new era Cornhuskers? Who was this delusional imposter?
I think the part that bothered me the most was when he said that his "true fans" would back him. This is to suggest that if you were able enough to form a cognitive thought of your own and it somehow differed from his, then you were not among his "true fans.” I am an Ndamukong Suh fan. That doesn't mean I blindly fall in line with the bunk that he was shoveling out that Thursday afternoon.
I wasn't upset with Ndamukong. I was embarrassed for him.
In the days that followed, he was chastised, ridiculed and mocked by the talking heads that are paid to have an opinion on such things. I didn't disagree with any of them.
Suh had gotten wrong which was why I was looking forward to his return. I wanted to see if his stint away from the Lions during his two-game suspension had done him any good. Had he taken time to adjust his ego and set aside his pride to give an honest and forthright take on his absence from the game and what had led to it in the first place?
He did not. With his suspension over, he addressed the media and took turns at being dismissive and somewhat condescending. I was stunned.
So now I'm left to wonder, who is Ndamukong Suh? The truth is he's still all of the things that made me and thousands of others become unabashed Suh fans, but he's also callow, arrogant and naive. At the tender age of 24 these traits can be forgiven, but at 34, not so much. Hopefully between now and then his emotional range and sense of accountability will catch up to his immense physical talent.
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