There is no place like Nebraska. My oldest son, then age four,
had just witnessed the second of three national championships that the Nebraska Cornhusker football would win over the course of four seasons (1994, 1995, and 1997). In my son’s first five years of life, the Huskers went 60-3. That is, sixty wins against three losses. (In case you’re wondering, that’s one of my favorite stats to quote). A couple of other interesting things to note. From 1961 through 2001 (a forty year stretch) Nebraska had more wins than any other team in college football. And on game days, the stadium becomes the third largest city in the state (approx 90,000 seats).
Now, I won’t say that Memorial Stadium’s seats were built for comfort. You’re basically sitting on a wooden bench with a number that is located very near to the numbers on either side of it. And the rows are close enough together that your knees are gently nestled into the back of the person directly in front of you, as is your back massaged (more or less) by the knees of the person behind you). I mean, these seats were built for comfort (wink).
I had the good fortune of being able to go to two games this fall. The alum association was trying to sell tickets so that we (the unversity) could continue its streak of consecutive sellouts. We’ve had sold out games every game since 1961. Pretty amazing. (That’s also the year I was born, and I tell ya, I’m old). The ticket office put together three game packages at greatly reduced prices … and my youngest son and I will be going to the third game later this fall. Looking forward to it!
The city of Lincoln is still lovely as ever. Downtown is downtown, complete with Val’s pizza. There are some new buildings, some upgraded buildings, and some old buildings that just aren’t there any more. Most of the hotels really jack up their rates on game weekends, but I found one (won’t tell you which) out on N. 27th that kept its regular pricing on game weekends. It was a new hotel, though, and I suspect that the owners hadn’t learned yet that they can triple their room rates on game weekends and still have no vacancies.
My wifei and I (we have four tickets per game (of the three games we picked)) found a new and tiny Ethiopian restaurant that serves amazing food. I can’t remember the name, but it’s nowhere near campus. It’s out near 26th and Orchard. Or Orchid. Or something. Anyway, give it a try.
Huskers are at 3-3. Last year at this time of the season we were also 3-3. Then we lost all but the last game, finishing 4-and-something. This year I think we’ll finish higher than that. Gosh, I hope so anyway. I’d like to get back into the winning mode. I think the new coach, Matt Rhule, has done a great job of getting some playing time, some game experience, for the younger players, and that will serve us well in the long run.
Oh, so back to my original story. I had been given a Husker key chain from a friend at work, and it played “There is No Place Like Nebraska” when you pushed a button on the key fob. Once, during church, my four-year-old son was getting restless, and he climbed up onto my lap. As he did so, he accidentally pushed the button on the key fob (which was in my pocket), and the congregation was treated to a vigorous rendition of “No Place.”
My son was mortified. He sat on my lap, frozen, hoping that nobody would notice what he had done. It happened to be during prayer time, so yeaH, people did notice. Two full verses of the song played in its entirety. There was a lot of quiet (and polite) snickering. And on the way home from church, he asked me, “Daddy, is it really true that there’s not a place like Nebraska?”