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I posted this on my Facebook page last night. Even though I’m not on here as much anymore, I thought y’all would like to read it.
Now that I THINK I can breathe normally again (along with many other Jackrabbits). . .
I remember going to my first South Dakota State University football game back in 1989. I was an 8th-grader, and I got the chance to march with the Dell Rapids High School band in the Hobo Day Parade. I remembered two things about that day: 1) I had nasty blisters from marching the three-mile route, 2) Going to a college football game was pretty cool!
When I enrolled as a freshman in the fall of 1994, there was no question I was going to march in the "Pride of the Dakotas". Not only could I have a lot of fun playing music (and hopefully NOT get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty), but also to catch all the SDSU home football games.
Those years were years of.... mediocrity. SDSU usually had a winning record, but could never seem to win the big games against North Dakota State, North Dakota, or Augie. A 7-4 record was a reason to celebrate... even if we never made the playoffs.
As South Dakota State made the decision to transition into Division I athletics in 2004, I was a bit skeptical about how the Jacks would do against tougher competition. Historically, the times we played Division 1 teams usually ended in blowout losses. But I was willing to give it a shot. The first few years were rough, as the team had to play in a makeshift conference (no legitimate conference would take SDSU as a member since it was ineligible for playoffs for five years). But through the 2-for-1 series (many of which were cancelled when it was time for the other team to play in Brookings), joining the Gateway Conference (now the Missouri Valley Football Conference), and making that first playoff game in 2009, the team showed improvement.
But a national championship... seemed like a pipe dream reserved only for the likes of teams like Northern Iowa and North Dakota State.
Yet the team improved... getting wins against major programs, consistently making the playoffs. Yet we usually had our season end at the hands of "Big Brother" Bison, with the hope of, "There's always next year."
When SDSU fell short against Sam Houston State in the 2021 (Spring) Championship, I was crushed. Just making the Big Natty was tough enough. But how would my Jackrabbits react? Do they build from this or is this the peak? Would SDSU be condemned to always being on the outside looking in?
And then today happened.
I heard it from some of my NDSU friends.... NDSU is 9-0 in the Big Natty... Frisco, Texas is "Fargo South"... There's no way in heck that the "Little Brother" would stand a chance against the Bison Juggernaut.
I was scared that the Juggernaut would wake up at any minute. Think of the U.S. and the Soviets playing hockey in the 1980 Olympics. That's my method of thinking. But SDSU didn't just hold their ground, they DOMINATED! And when NDSU scored, the Jackrabbits responded!
But I still couldn't relax until the last minute of the game. NDSU had broken our hearts before... it was only a matter of time.
And then...
0:00 on the clock.
End of Game.
National Championship.
South Dakota State... Jackrabbits?!?
What... The... Hell?
...
WE DID IT!!!
All the years of disappointment, of frustration, of the "Coulda, Woulda, Shouldas" and "There's always next year"... all melted away in a sea of confetti and the sounds of "Ring the Bell" from The Pride. We made it! We reached the mountain top! We beat the Russians! Little Brother finally beat Big Brother in the backyard game!
I may have ugly cried in my living room while Tallulah stared at me. I didn't care then, and I don't care now.
I know. In the larger scheme of things, it's only a game. My life and career never depended on the outcome. But coming from "flyover land"... having people from other parts of the country call us "hicks, inbreeds, and backwards"... and being enmeshed in our own sense of self-doom and self-depreciation... winning this game feels like.
Redemption.
I am proud to be from South Dakota. I am proud to be a South Dakota State University Jackrabbit. No matter where I live in the world, I will ALWAYS ring my cowbell with pride and I will always stand with pride in my home.
Now... for the love of GOD, can we PLEASE get ESPN/ABC to stop calling us "San Diego State"?
Now that I THINK I can breathe normally again (along with many other Jackrabbits). . .
I remember going to my first South Dakota State University football game back in 1989. I was an 8th-grader, and I got the chance to march with the Dell Rapids High School band in the Hobo Day Parade. I remembered two things about that day: 1) I had nasty blisters from marching the three-mile route, 2) Going to a college football game was pretty cool!
When I enrolled as a freshman in the fall of 1994, there was no question I was going to march in the "Pride of the Dakotas". Not only could I have a lot of fun playing music (and hopefully NOT get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty), but also to catch all the SDSU home football games.
Those years were years of.... mediocrity. SDSU usually had a winning record, but could never seem to win the big games against North Dakota State, North Dakota, or Augie. A 7-4 record was a reason to celebrate... even if we never made the playoffs.
As South Dakota State made the decision to transition into Division I athletics in 2004, I was a bit skeptical about how the Jacks would do against tougher competition. Historically, the times we played Division 1 teams usually ended in blowout losses. But I was willing to give it a shot. The first few years were rough, as the team had to play in a makeshift conference (no legitimate conference would take SDSU as a member since it was ineligible for playoffs for five years). But through the 2-for-1 series (many of which were cancelled when it was time for the other team to play in Brookings), joining the Gateway Conference (now the Missouri Valley Football Conference), and making that first playoff game in 2009, the team showed improvement.
But a national championship... seemed like a pipe dream reserved only for the likes of teams like Northern Iowa and North Dakota State.
Yet the team improved... getting wins against major programs, consistently making the playoffs. Yet we usually had our season end at the hands of "Big Brother" Bison, with the hope of, "There's always next year."
When SDSU fell short against Sam Houston State in the 2021 (Spring) Championship, I was crushed. Just making the Big Natty was tough enough. But how would my Jackrabbits react? Do they build from this or is this the peak? Would SDSU be condemned to always being on the outside looking in?
And then today happened.
I heard it from some of my NDSU friends.... NDSU is 9-0 in the Big Natty... Frisco, Texas is "Fargo South"... There's no way in heck that the "Little Brother" would stand a chance against the Bison Juggernaut.
I was scared that the Juggernaut would wake up at any minute. Think of the U.S. and the Soviets playing hockey in the 1980 Olympics. That's my method of thinking. But SDSU didn't just hold their ground, they DOMINATED! And when NDSU scored, the Jackrabbits responded!
But I still couldn't relax until the last minute of the game. NDSU had broken our hearts before... it was only a matter of time.
And then...
0:00 on the clock.
End of Game.
National Championship.
South Dakota State... Jackrabbits?!?
What... The... Hell?
...
WE DID IT!!!
All the years of disappointment, of frustration, of the "Coulda, Woulda, Shouldas" and "There's always next year"... all melted away in a sea of confetti and the sounds of "Ring the Bell" from The Pride. We made it! We reached the mountain top! We beat the Russians! Little Brother finally beat Big Brother in the backyard game!
I may have ugly cried in my living room while Tallulah stared at me. I didn't care then, and I don't care now.
I know. In the larger scheme of things, it's only a game. My life and career never depended on the outcome. But coming from "flyover land"... having people from other parts of the country call us "hicks, inbreeds, and backwards"... and being enmeshed in our own sense of self-doom and self-depreciation... winning this game feels like.
Redemption.
I am proud to be from South Dakota. I am proud to be a South Dakota State University Jackrabbit. No matter where I live in the world, I will ALWAYS ring my cowbell with pride and I will always stand with pride in my home.
Now... for the love of GOD, can we PLEASE get ESPN/ABC to stop calling us "San Diego State"?
) Unfortunately, whether one reads fan message boards, pays attention to modern trends in electronic advertising (notably radio and TV*) or tries to make sense ouf ot some of the political discourse, there are some who have seized upon the idea that to continually repeat a falsehood causes some to accept the lie as fact.
), but almost every time I do, there is crap talked about us that is much worse than that.
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