Brothers in arms, rivals in red

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Called together to serve in Iraq, Nebraskans and Oklahomans unite — save for three hours this weekend. Related: Husker Extra

By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON | Lincoln Journal Star

For three hours, the boys will come closer to home.

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Two units -- one from Nebraska and one from Oklahoma -- stationed together in Iraq are up for some friendly rivalry before Saturday's Big XII championship game. They are, from left, Sgt. 1st Class Joel A. Bean, Command Sgt. Maj. Schulz, Master Sgt. West, Capt. Scott Page and Master Sgt. Harpst. All are from Nebraska except Capt. Page, who is a graduate of OU. (Courtesy of Joel Bean)

Two units -- one from Nebraska and one from Oklahoma -- stationed together in Iraq are up for some friendly rivalry before Saturday's Big XII championship game. They are, from left, Sgt. 1st Class Joel A. Bean, Command Sgt. Maj. Schulz, Master Sgt. West, Capt. Scott Page and Master Sgt. Harpst. All are from Nebraska except Capt. Page, who is a graduate of OU. (Courtesy of Joel Bean)

There will be popcorn and chips and beer — non-alcoholic, but still cold like yours.

And there will be screaming and 37-inch TVs blaring and goofy bets — loser owes winner a bag of Tostitos and five pushups for every point his team loses by.

And there will be men in the middle of a war who care how many yards Zac Taylor throws for, how many trick plays Bob Stoops has, whether a football game nine time zones away is tinted scarlet or crimson.

And there will be a strict wakeup call: Kickoff is at 4 a.m.

Lord knows that’s early, but this is Nebraska-Oklahoma. Sleep is no option when it comes to watching your team play football.

“It almost seems like you are home watching the game and can forget about things for the three glorious hours of watching Husker football,” writes Sgt. 1st Class Joel Bean, Husker fan.

“We work seven days a week, but being able to watch the games really helps make it feel like a weekend,” writes Capt. Scott Page, Sooner fan.

A funny thing happened at Camp Anaconda in Iraq. They put Bean’s 734th transportation battalion from Kearney alongside Page’s unit from Fort Sill, Okla.

Men who grew up revering Osborne, Tagge and Frazier became brothers with those who spent their youth in the corner of Switzer, Mildren and Bosworth.

Husker Power and Boomer Sooner on the same team?

“It was really cool,” writes the 26-year-old Page in an e-mail. “One of the things I’ve always loved about the OU-Nebraska  rivalry is that it’s different from the rest. It doesn’t have the animosity of an OU-Texas game or a Nebraska-Colorado game. It’s a tradition founded in respect.”

Ah, but even brothers must squabble sometimes.

Just like the old Big Eight days, Nebraska and Oklahoma are playing for a conference championship during the wee hours of an Iraqi Sunday morning. Someone’s pride is about to get hurt.

“We don’t trash-talk too much. Of course I probably will a little more after we beat them on Saturday,” the 40-year-old Bean writes.

It’s interesting how a few hundred miles alter a person’s football perception.

Just look Bean’s way. Born and raised in Aurora. Mom graduated from Lexington with Monte Kiffin. First game he attended was in 1977 when the Huskers upset Bear Bryant’s Alabama team.

And you want a snapshot to cling to on the toughest days of war? How about that time he took his 6-year-old son, the oldest of two boys, to his first Husker game last year. Nebraska beat Iowa State in two overtimes. “That was special,” he writes.

Then there’s Page. Born on Jan. 1, 1980, he made his father miss OU’s 24-7 Orange Bowl win over Florida State. Dad still gives him heck for that. Went to school in Norman. Was a student in 2000 when the Sooners won the national title.

“If I could only watch one sport for the rest of my life, it would definitely be Sooner football,” Page writes.

Should’ve seen Page last weekend. A Saturday became a Sunday in Iraq as he followed the Internet play-by-play of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game.

The Sooners had to win to get into the Big 12 Championship to play Bean’s Huskers. Went down to the last play. Sooner magic prevailed, 27-21.

“(I) ended up running quite a few laps through the building while screaming my head off after that one went final.”

It was 2 in the morning.

Both men admit it’s weird watching football in a war zone. With all that’s going on around you, why would a football game mean anything?

Maybe because of that “N” on the helmet? That “Sooners” on the jersey? That’s home.

“It gives a lot of the guys something else to talk about for a few days besides everything that’s going on over here,” Page writes.

And so he’s spent many a late night tracking Sooner scores on the Internet, or yelling like a lunatic after seeing an Oklahoma score on the Armed Forces TV Network.

“It can take a toll on you by the end of the day,” he writes. “But it’s worth every sleep-deprived minute.”

And so the alarm will sound early on Sunday morning in Iraq. Sooners and Huskers will wipe sleep from their eyes.

You probably won’t be able to tell an Oklahoma boy from a Nebraska boy until someone puts the ball into the end zone.

“Brothers in arms,” Page writes. “Except for a few hours this Saturday.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.