A New Season Begins

It's that season again. The season when all of Nebraska turns red, literally. The season when all the focus is on Husker Football. This past Friday, I was asked if I knew what today was. Um, Friday? Nope. Someone's birthday? Nope, It's Husker Eve, which is a bigger holiday than even Christmas Eve! Apparently, the day before a game is Husker Eve, and the only thing anyone can focus on is game day the next day.


Although there is no way to 'forget' about Husker football around here, it does loose the center-stage-attention for half the year. It goes into a sort of hibernation. It's a cycle. At the end of the season, the State is riding on a high, and literally start the countdown until the next season. The high starts teetering off with each passing month. The talk then turns to new recruits, new strategies, who's going to play which position, and how many points we are going to win each game by! Then about half way through the 'off-season', the anticipation starts building again, slowly. 2 or 3 months out, people have a mental countdown to game day. New players names are memorized, along with their stats, history, and performance. Fans are speculating who is going to play what, and giving their two-cents on who should play what! Radio stations turn into soapboxes and sounding boards, and the state turns into little kids on Christmas morning, staring at those presents for weeks, about to explode.

Then before you know it, it's Husker Eve! The office is abuzz all day. Who is coach going to put in as QB? How will the defense hold up? Where are you watching the game? Thousands of people make the trek to Lincoln, even if they only tailgate in the parking lot or near the stadium. And the scene is just a sea of red for as far as you can see. Inside the massive stadium, the only color allowed is red. It's actually impressive. But if you can't make it down there and want to watch the game on T.V., be prepared to drop $40 on the pay-per-view fee!! I made the mistake of going in public on game day, in a non-red shirt. I was stared at, and judged I'm sure, by everyone else in color appropriate attire! I felt like an outsider, because the whole town was wearing red, not even kidding! I don't know how many little girls I saw in mini Husker cheerleader outfits, like it was no big deal and totally normal! Note to self, sport the red Husker shirt on game day from now on!

Oh Riggins...

The whole scene reminds me of the show 'Friday Night Lights'. For those of you who haven't seen it, start today! It is an exact replica of the Husker frenzy I just described, only it's about a high school team in Texas. There is just something about small towns bonding together on the one thing they have, football. Nothing much else is going on, and this one sport is something to rally behind and unify everyone. It's a precious situation, and I just love to sit back and smile at the whole thing!