"BIG READ (RED) PRAYER"

Copyrighted 1996 by Merlin M. Wright with all rights reserved

Osborne be thy name,

Thy champions come, thy plays be done,

On turf as they are in practice.

Give us this year our weekly wins,

And forgive our dropped passes, as we

forgive those who completed passes against us.

Lead us not into easy scores, but deliver us from defeat,

For thine is the stadium, the power, and the glory forever."

PARODYING THE PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION:

"We the people of the Big Red State, in order to form a more perfect union, rank as Number One, insure domestic happiness, provide for the team's defense, promote our general welfare, and secure the blessings of winning, for ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Big Red Team of Nebraska."

SPOOFING WITH THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS:

"Four scores plus seven plays ago our Big Red brought forth in this state a new frenzy conceived in desire and dedicated to the proposition that all teams are created unequal. Now we are engaged in a great ratings war testing whether that team, or any team so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battlefield of national competition. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, Memorial Stadium, to those who here played their best, creating champions like Big Red."

USING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE PHRASING:

"Big Red holds these truths to be self evident, that all teams are created unequal, that they are endowed by their fans with certain unalienable rights, that among these are fun, ratings, and a national championship."

After two consecutive, back-to-back championships, please play it again Sam! GO BIG RED!