Vote Here and Help Bring ESPN to Lincoln
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Randy
York’s N-Sider
Since this an election
year, the
N-Sider is asking Husker fans to turn your eyes to Nebraska’s real primary date
– Thursday, May 10 – when voting ends at 11:59 p.m. ET, and a
winner will be declared. Please consider this your official invitation to vote
red, as in Big Red. This is your chance to win over all your friends and
influence others to stuff the digital ballot box, so ESPN’s GameDay crew will
visit Lincoln this summer and film a commercial to promote college football.
This 10-day nationwide voting process has become a two-horse race
between Texas A&M and Nebraska and frankly, the Aggies are
finishing with a kick, transforming a 2,000-vote lead over your Huskers at
mid-day yesterday into an 8,000-vote cushion over the Huskers at mid-day today.
So sound the trumpets, beat the drums and get off your duffs to vote today,
tomorrow and Thursday.
With a little help from our friends, Nebraska can close the gap
and leapfrog A&M in this social media arms race. The Aggie voting total was
114,076 during today’s noon hour, and Big Red’s total was 106,120. It’s a
two-horse race because Washington State ranks third with just 44,595 votes.
Try Tweeting on Twitter, Posting
on Facebook
So how does a school that has produced the most wins in college
football over the last 50 years and has sold out every seat in the process
galvanize its fan base when Nebraska needs you most? Well, one idea is to
recruit a small army of Husker fans to do something they said they’d never do –
start a Twitter or a Facebook account.
I know there are countless Big Red fans out there with that
mindset because dozens of you have sent me emails, complaining why you won’t
use social media to vote for your favorite team in this highly visible voting
process. Time’s flying, so all I’m asking is for you to have some fun and
reconsider joining this brave new world.
In an attempt to change
your mind, I offer three simple statements:
1) ESPN had to suspend this voting
process once because of widespread Internet fraud.
2) The mega sports network
was
forced to go the Facebook/Twitter route because both are more secure sites than
anything else and therefore became the only way to assure personal
authentication and voter integrity.
3) The N-Sider is asking Twitter/Facebook
account holders to ask others to take a long-overdue test drive in social
media. Encourage them to become the reinforcements that help the Huskers get
back up on our feet and head for the end zone.
It’s All
Coming Down to Joe Fan, Jane Fan
Here’s the deal. A&M
almost doubles Nebraska’s student enrolment, and the well-organized Aggies have
been actively supporting their SEC-bound maroon-and-white. A&M's Collie mascot is the one named Reveille, but Herbie Husker and ‘Lil Red are blowing the military bugles today, asking Big Red fans to wake up and get
going.
We need a rousing start
from some and a finishing kick from others to win this one. Remember six years
ago when Maurice Purify caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Zac
Taylor with 29 seconds left to give Nebraska a 28-27 win in College Station? Well, we need
fourth-quarter heroics from our fans this time. The good news is both A&M’s
and Nebraska’s student bodies are finished with spring semester classes and
finals. That means this competition most likely will be decided by Joe Fan and
Jane Fan.
No doubt Nebraska is counting
on our social media nucleus to rise to the challenge and deliver in the
clutch ... one vote at a time. That’s why we’re asking all of you to
lobby your Facebook friends, your fringe friends and even your wannabe friends.
Please don’t panic. Just be calm and ask your friends to execute one day at a
time. We have simple instructions for non-socials to go social and strongly
believe that now is the best time in the world to do it. Who knows? You just
might “like” it and end up connecting with your kids and grandkids more often
than you ever dreamed.
N-Sider Helps Make Twitter, Facebook Easy
Please use this N-Sider
primer to pump yourself up and get going.
For Twitter: 1) Visit Twitter.com; 2) Sign up for Twitter
by entering your full name, email, and creating a password in the box in the
bottom right; 3) Create a Twitter Handle of 15 characters or less (e.g.
a nickname for yourself); 4) Go through the rest of the steps…e.g.
suggested followers; and 5) Visit Twitter.com/Huskers
and click the “FOLLOW” button in the upper right hand corner.
For Facebook: 1) Visit Facebook.com;
2) Fill out the information on the front page and click “SIGN-UP”;
3) Go through the rest of the steps…e.g. suggested followers, upload a
profile photo, etc.; and 4) Visit Facebook.com/Huskers and click the
“LIKE” button right under the main photo at the top of the page.
Good luck
to all, and for anyone who tries this and likes it, please feel free to contact
me, so we can help encourage others. Remember that every “fan” who “likes”
Nebraska gets all kinds of chances to show your love throughout the year on Nebraska’s
Official Athletic Website. We need you, and we need you now! GBR!!
Send
a comment to ryork@huskers.com
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