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William Jennings Bryan's title is safe. Bo Pelini, while certainly young for his position, will likely never inspire any title as grandiose as the "Boy Orator of the Platte" but I think that's sort of the point.
We had a guy not too long ago who had perfected the art of saying something without saying anything at all. A smooth, slick and ultimately meaningless answer was always at the ready. Few men can talk football better than Bill Callahan, which made Pelini's press conference, where he was visibly nervous and even bought himself some time on a few questions with a "how do you mean" or two, that much more refreshing.
This isn't a coach who likes talking about football, this is a coach who loves coaching football. It's possible that this worried a few Nebraskan's as they tuned in Sunday and it's possible that it will worry a few more down the road but if I had to characterize Pelini's persona today there's a word that comes immediately to mind: Nebraskan.
Chuck Klosterman wrote perhaps my favorite passage regarding the Midwestern ethos while describing his upbringing in North Dakota in Fargo Rock City:
"...what this culture lacked (and still lacks) is an emphasis on ideas--especially ideas that don't serve a practical, tangible purpose. In North Dakota, life is about work. Everything is based on working hard, regardless of what it earns you. If you're spending a lot of time mulling over the state of the universe (or even the state of your own life), you're obviously not working. You probably need to get back to work."
Swap Nebraska for North Dakota in that passage and you have the perfect description of where I grew up and I couldn't help but think of it while watching Pelini undergo his first Q&A session as Nebraska's head coach. For some people, most of the people I knew back in Nebraska, talking about working is a lot more difficult than actually working. Pelini seems to be one of those people and those people are typically the ones you want working beside you.
In my mind, Bo left that press conference, immediately removed his tie like a young boy after Christmas Eve mass, put on a grey sweatshirt and started calling recruits. More likely, he probably had a nice dinner with his family, watched to see where LSU would land and then went to bed but the important thing here is perception and in the end it came down to this: Pelini may not be polished behind a mike but he already feels like one of us.
My favorite part of the press conference came after it was officially over. Dr. Tom had already stepped in and delivered the "one more question" decree and then there was Pelini, sort of looking around wondering if it was actually over. Somebody suggested a family photo and then a employee of the athletic department walked in front of the podium and asked Bo if he'd like a hat.
"Yeah, the white one," the 28th head football coach at Nebraska said before exiting stage left.
Good choice. The good guys always wear white hats.