My first trip to Lincoln

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Wellll...obviously the outcome of the game was not one we hoped for however, we still enjoyed ourselves.

 

We started the weekend Friday morning. Leaving the house at 6:50a.m., we had about an 8 hour drive ahead us. Despite a couple of construction zones in Oklahoma, the drive was fairly uneventful. The only "eventful" item to speak of was when we drove into Nebraska my wife made a comment about "there's nothing but cornfields" Well duh!!! Oh well...she laid the seat back and went to sleep.

 

We arrived in Lincoln around 3 in the afternoon and found the hotel with not much trouble. After checking in, we quickly changed, freshened up and headed to Bellevue to visit family. Had a nice visit with the grandparents and one of my uncles. Around 7 that evening, my wife and I along with my grandparents headed to Catfish Lake for some dinner where we met up with another uncle, his wife and daughter (who happens to attend UNL). After talking to them for a few minutes, they told us to never buy tickets online again and that if we want to go to another game, we need to let them know because they can find us some good tickets considerably cheaper. This isn't a knock on Tickethippo or anyone else since this was the only avenue we knew of that we felt confident in. On top of all of this, my aunt proceeds to tell me they tailgate at least once a year with a good friend of theirs (in fact, they're going this weekend to the ISU game). AND! Tommy Frazier always hangs out at this guys tailgate! I could have been tailgating with Tommy Frazuhhhhh!!!! Oh well, there's always next year.

 

Saturday morning we woke up around 7:30 and after a quick breakfast and what not, we found our way to the stadium around 9:30'ish. Geez is parking a pain in the ass over there!! We ended up parking in the NW corner area of the stadium by the covered parking lot. Had a little bit of a walk but it wasn't bad. And despite my cousins warning not to shop in Huskers Authentic, we gravitated (ok....I gravitated and forced my wife) to the Bookstore. One huge complaint: the prices! A hooded sweatshirt for $75??? Are you f'ing kidding me?????? Nevertheless, my wife bought a red fleece jacket and I the hat you see in the picture of Suh's mom. When your hair is as short as mine is, you need a hat when it gets a little chilly outside. My wife on the other hand, was reluctant to buy the red fleece jacket not because of the price but because it's red!! She thinks she doesn't look good in red. She asked if she could wear white or black or even pink. Uhhh.....NO!!! It's not the Sea of Pink/White/Black/Burgundy/Camoflauge (she actually brought her camo jacket to wear)....it's the Sea of RED!!!!! After a few minutes of arguing, I finally relented and told her "Fine...buy the black one...I don't care....but you'll suffer the consequences of your actions and I cannot be held liable for any damage, real or implied, you encounter for not wearing red!" Actually I didn't say that but I should have By the way this all transpired AFTER we walked away from the bookstore with a considerably lighter wallet. By the time we returned to the bookstore, it was too crowded and she didn't want to hassle with exchanging it. There was great joy!

 

We finally found our way to the other side of the stadium near the Cook Pavillion and indoor practice facility. Wanting to try to get a picture of the field, I leisurely walked up to an older gentlemen standing guard at the gate. Does anyone not know that one swift kick in the shin and this guy would go down in a heaping pile of ass-kicked flesh? Guess not...and I didn't try either. I politely asked him if I could sneak out to the field to a take a quick picture. Shaking his head, he said "No" "But had you been here when the band was practicing, I could have let you out there". I didn't want a picture of the band practicing! I wanted a picture of the field from ground level you ass-hat! Dejected we walked back up the ramp where we happened to stumble onto the guy selling the "Suh for Heisman" signs. I told my wife I wanted one. She refused. I threw a temper tantrum the likes a 3 year old would be jealous of. Well actually no...not really. I just looked her square in the eye and said "I'm buying one of those signs woman and there's nothing you can do to stop me....dear...please?" It was then I realized who this guy was talking to...Suh's mom! That and the player/family pass she was wearing around her neck. Like I said before, she's an absolute joy. She was so happy for the fans and the support. After taking our picture, Mrs Suh (not gonna call her "momma" or anything else cuz I'm scare of Suh), said "Here they come!" And with that, the band started and low and behold, the players walked by! I saw not only Suh, but Hickman, Helu, Henery, P. Allen and many others I couldn't quite recognize. That was cool!!

 

With about an hour or so to kill, we meandered around the stadium aimlessly. Finally at 1 o'clock, the gates opened. The moment of truth was about here. I was about to lay eyes on the field for the first time. I, HuskerfaninOkieland, was about to lose my Home Game virginity. The excitement was intense. The anxiety almost to much. I quickly made my way thru the gate, up the stairs and ran to the field. And there it was! The Holy Land! Mecca! The Promised Land! My wife, breathing heavily cuz she had to run to keep up, looked at me with a look that said "You a-hole! You left me behind!" I must've had a funny look on my face cuz she asked me what was wrong. I replied "I think I just jizzed myself". She just rolled her eyes and said "Come on...lets find our seats before you embarrass me even more".

 

I sat there in utter silence taking in the sights and sounds of it all: the players warming up, fans lost because they couldn't find their seats, music playing to loud (and not good music either like Disturbed, Five Finger Death punch, etc) and whatever odd noises came up, both bodily and non-bodily. Finally kick-off was here. It was time!! I won't go into too much detail about the game since everyone watched it apparently and has their own $.02 worth about the outcome but suffice it to say I was disappointed with the lack of crowd noise. Seemed like the only noise was from the east and west sides of the stadium. Our area, north endzone, was relatively quiet except for the old guy behind me who felt it necessary to give his wife and indirectly, myself, a play by play about how we should have done this or that. The couple to our right was an older couple as well. The guy, listening to the game on the radio, was reading the roster from the newspaper instead of the game itself. Hey hotshot! If you want to listen to the game, fine but stay home or stand-up and get loud! His wife fortunately, didn't follow his attitude and actually stood up and got loud. As for the officiating, it was obvious to me and about 80 plus thousand other fans, the refs were f'ing stuck on stupid all afternoon There were a few questionable calls that us officiating fans tried to overrule but to no avail. Another big disappointment was the boo'ing. Not to impressed with that. Cody Green however received a loud ovation when he trotted out onto the field. Then when Zac showed back up...the boo'ing started back up. Not going to debate the whole "Lee vs "Green" deal but I will say this...Green appeared more relaxed than Zac. There were a couple of instances where Zac could have run the ball and picked up several yards and in some cases, the 1st down. Instead he tried to pass it. The lateral to Paul...smart heads up play by the TTU player.

 

At the end of it all, my throat was hoarse and our backs hurt namely because of the aerobic workout we had from having to stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down...Either sit down or stand up but people need to make up their freaking minds! I would have rather stood up but when the people in front sit down, it's like a ripple effect that makes its way up the rows. Oh...I did have the pleasure of hearing the distinctive "war cry" of one fan who yelled "Sit down or move!" at this lady and her apparent daughter. I probably would've smacked the blue-hair for talking to my wife that way but since it wasn't my wife, who cares. In his defense, the lady and her daughter were standing right smack in the middle of the aisle as people were trying to make their way to their seats or concession stands.

 

All in all, it was a great time despite the anemic offense we showed on national tv. I have to only assume it looked just as bad if not worse than in person but we can debate that another time. Bo got a case of the ass with the refs a few times and rightfully so until the latter stages of the game when he seemed to go non-stop at any zebra stripe he could find. We finally agreed we weren't gonna win this game with about :50 seconds left in the game so we decided to join the mass exodus. It was as if Moses himself showed up and hollered "Let my people go!" because everyone was leaving by this time...for obvious reasons. Some left early in the 3rd quarter. I have a few comments about that but it would be best served if I kept those comments to myself

 

We finally got to our car a little after 6 and after getting lost in the maze that surrounds the stadium, we were finally able to get back to the hotel around 7. As the crow flies, it's only about 2 miles. Round trip, post-game, 10 miles. We avoided O Street and Haymarket and instead hit the Shogun restaurant for dinner followed by a trip to Shopko to get some Motrin. As soon as we walked in I instantly gravitated to the Husker stuff on clearance racks. We should have gone here first to get our Husker stuff. Way way cheaper than the bookstore. I could have bought two or three sweatshirts for the price of one at the bookstore

 

Sunday we left town and drove home in silence partly because my voice was partly gone and partly because of the disappointment I felt for having gone to a game where we lost. The upside, the next game will be one we win: Spring game. After all is said and done, we still enjoyed ourselves and my wife, despite her resistance, is slowly converting over to a Husker fan. Resistance is futile!!

[NoLongerN]

Enjoyed the read ... thanks for taking the time to put your experience into words.

 

SheepdogMark

[arkiehusker]

Great read! Sounds like you had a great time too. (except the "anemic" offense). Glad you got to go, I have been 10 times and enjoy it very much!

[I See Red People]

Glad to hear you had a safe trip. What a terrible first game to go to. I always tell people, your first Husker game should be against a patsy. Great experience followed up with a win!