Fans at last week’s Husker football game were appalled when what should have been a fun and family-friendly event turned into a nightmare.

Every man and woman in the stands screamed with excitement as the Husker hype men prepared to start the most anticipated portion of the night: firing the t-shirt cannon into the ecstatic crowd.

The smiles of delight turned into expressions of shock and disappointment, however, as the crowd realized that the cannon was not firing t-shirts as usual. Instead, they fired quarter zip Husker jackets.

Sam Roberts, the hype manager on staff that night, denied that the workers operating the cannons had any knowledge of the impending quarter zips. Roberts went on to say that the fashion fake-out was likely a result of a freak mechanical failure.

“We don’t know what happened at this time,” Roberts said. “This tragedy was completely unforeseeable by all involved.”

Anderson Preston, head of Husker merchandising and marketing, issued a harsh condemnation yesterday of the hype staff’s failure to prevent Saturday’s events.

“This is a shocking and unacceptable turn of events,” Preston said. “People have a certain expectation of what kind of experience they’re going to have when they’re standing in a crowd and being fired upon.”

“Quarter zips are certainly not a part of that experience,” he added.

The community and fans of Husker football will be forced to move on from this unfortunate turn of events in the coming weeks. But Will Brush, a spectator at the event, was quick to remind DailyER reporters of the long-lasting repercussions of Friday’s events.

“I don’t really wear quarter zips,” Brush said. “They just kind of remind me of my dad.”