Big Ten Primer

Rick Reilly (ESPN) has composed a primer for Nebraska.

Your new rival -- Forget Oklahoma. Now it's Iowa, like it or not. You close out your regular season with the Hawkeyes on the day after Thanksgiving at home. Iowa's a natural for you. Both your states are so flat you can watch a train pull out for three days. . . . Got a name for it, too. The Cornfrontation.

Dress code -- Now that Jim Tressel and The Vest are gone from Ohio State, there is no dress code. Your lunatic screamer of a head coach, Bo Pelini -- the man who could be an entire season of "What Not to Wear" -- is going to fit in nicely. Your fans aren't exactly ripped from the Armani catalog, either. Oy, that Sea of Red some of you wear: red socks, red overalls, red cowboy hats. Goes nice with your necks, though.

There is a thing you'll discover called The Michigan Man. The Michigan Man believes he is above Normal Man. The Michigan Man is certain he invented the Big Ten, along with intellect, cocktails and sex. The Michigan Man is full of pride in himself and his Michigan degree -- so much so that you're going to want to bring a throw-up bowl along with you.

Sadly, the Michigan Man has had to reduce the volume a little lately, having not beaten The Ohio State Man since the debut of the Edsel.

Michigan has arguably the grandest stadium in college football. The Big House is the largest in the United States -- holding 109,901 -- and yet they still sell out 102 percent of the seats. Can you imagine? They have very cool helmets that have nothing to do with their nickname, the Wolverines, which is about as indigenous to Michigan as the fairy penguin. They're talking about having a mascot, though, which is going to ruin everything.

Anyway, Michigan runs things. It's the Dean Wormer of the Big Ten. It's fun to mess with Michigan.

I'm afraid Wisconsin is you, Nebraska, only with much better parties and more wins.

Q: How is the health of the 84-year-old Paterno?
A: His ears still hurt a little from The Big Bang.

If you want to get under their skin, just go up to Michigan State fans wearing Spartans jerseys and say, "Oh, couldn't get into Michigan, huh?"

 Them's the highlights there.  A few other gems I might have missed, but that's the essence.  He nailed the THEM Man spot on.  Not so sure about the Wisconsin is you with MORE wins, but hey, pretty funny article all things considered.

Now, they need a primer on the referines.