What makes you like Husker football?

[Big Red Corneater79]

_{I was 09 years old living in New Orleans and watching the Orange bowl for the NC against Louisiana State. I started as a full blood LSU fan, and by Half-time I was RED! I loved the fight in that team, and the physical run game. It was love at first sight. From those two NCs under Devaney, and all through the Osborne years, the calendar and the players changed , but the style of play changed as much as the culture in Nebraska, the Huskers' uniforms , and the expressions on Tom's face! ! I loved that continuity and consistancy. By the time that I got to High School , there was no doubt where I wanted to go to college. I love and cherish all of those memories, as much as every blade of grass on the campus. And there are lots of great memories too! Especially that classy and special rivalry with the Sooners. I miss that so much. My favorite memories? Number one had to be my senior year in high school that fall in 1978 when Tom Osborne got his first win and Conference Championship against The Sooners. What a game !.. Two of the most Explosive offenses ever in CFB were on that field in Memorial Stadium that day. The no 1 Sooners had he no 2 offense, and the no 4 huskers had the top rated offense in the country . Both ahead of Alabama's vaunted offense! The NFL talent on both of those teams was RIDICULOUS. Many still think as I do that that 78 squad was Barry Switzer's best team at Oklahoma. But it was a final score of 17-14. as the goal posts came down in Lincoln. Physical and hard hitting. The Huskers caused 10 fumbles and forced 06 turnovers in the frigid November plains. The most brutal hit I have ever seen was John Ruud's hit that caused Kelly Phelps to fumble the ball: which was ruled incorrectly down by contact. That team was one of Tom's better teams. His best certainly up to that point . The 82 OU game, Tom Going for 2 with the greatest CFB team not to win an NC! What an awesome team! What a Game! The pipeline Champs of 94, The Destruction of Steve Spurrier's fun n gun....62-24 for the second straight NC in 95, to the 97 Champs! From the Mat Davison Catch, Eric Heisman's run against Missouri and his TD against OU, the Jordan Westerkamp catches, to the Comeback and OT win on black Friday in Iowa in Bo's Swan Song. What a journey it has been! I am so excited about Coach Riley!}

[dergibog]

Husker football connects generations in my family.

My grandfather fought in WWII, and went to college on the GI bill. Became an accountant, and bought season tickets in the East Stadium in the early 50's.

My dad went to NU on the GI bill in the late 50's. He got his own season tickets in the North Stadium when it opened.

I went to my first game before I was born. I started going to games before they were the "Big Red" before Bob Devaney and the sell-out streak and NC's.

Sitting with my grandparents in the East Stadium is one of my most treasured memories. I remember taking a nap on the wooden ramp cover above our seats.

The first game I clearly remember is South Dakota in 1964, 56-0 Huskers.

I also have a degree from NU.

I now sit in the same East Stadium seats my grandfather used 60 years ago. My wife and I go to games and sometimes take my son and his wife, or my daughter and her husband.

I look forward to taking my granddaughter and grandson to their first game in the next few years.

[beorach]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y_XdwLtHiU

 

Also, to steal a line from The Big Lebowski, it ties the whole state together (and I'm proud to be a Nebraskan).

[huskrinmissouri]

Good thread and I've enjoyed reading the stories. I guess I'll add mine to the pot for what it's worth.

 

1982 was the year of my "conversion." I was 10 years old and growing up in Minnesota. I liked the Vikings but they were pathetic at best and I defaced and colored all my Walter Payton cards (which would be worth a nice penny today) since he typically had career days against my Vikes. I was impressionable and looking for somebody to root for that could actually win because I wasn't going to find it at that time in Minnesota. My grade school teacher happened to be a Nebraska fan. He was a nice guy.

 

It just so happened that my older brother was going to be visiting colleges down in Nebraska and around the Lincoln area. Still too young to stay home alone, my parents took me with. When my teacher found out about it, he just said, "I hope you get to be in Lincoln on a game day." We took the drive down and after a couple of days of visits, we ended up in Lincoln on a Saturday to grab a bite to eat and then head home. Little did I or my parents know what happens in Lincoln on a game day. We inched along in traffic and I saw red everywhere–flags, motor homes, banners, etc. We get downtown and everyone is wearing red. I was overwhelmed. We listened to the game on the radio and all I could think was "this is where some of the greatest players in the country are at right now!" We finally got to a restaurant to eat and by the time we were done, the game was over.

 

I begged my parents to take me by the stadium and maybe even pick up a t-shirt from a "Big Red" store. They obliged and I would have 30 minutes to explore the premises. I took pictures of the stadium from the outside. I walked around until I could see into the stadium through a gate. I took pictures through the fence and then noticed that one of the gates was open. I asked my dad if I could go in and he says "I don't see why not." So now I'm in the stadium taking pictures of the bleachers underneath and making my way toward THE FIELD. And then it happened, a custodian who was cleaning up says, "You know you can go on the field if you want." Did he just say that? Go on the field where Turner Gill and Mike Rozier had just set foot? Me, on THE FIELD?

 

With camera in hand I stepped onto the turf. My first picture was one of proof as I took a picture straight down–a 3 x 4 inch picture of green turf. But not just turf–Memorial Stadium turf in Lincoln, NE. I was now a Husker. I ran out to the "N" in the middle and I could hear the crowd of empty bleachers cheering me on.

 

After making it back to Minnesota, my pictures (from my little disc camera–remember those?) were developed after about a week. I showed my friends, I showed my teacher the proof. They all thought it was cool.

 

I asked for Nebraska gear that Christmas and have been asking for it ever since. I watched them on TV whenever I had the chance or listened to the games on the radio. In the years to quickly come I boasted to the folks at church about what the the Huskers would do to the Gophers. I went to bed with tear filled eyes after the infamous Miami game.

 

A couple of years later I went on my first recruiting journey. Our high school basketball team hosted John Marshall from Rochester for which Darrell Thompson played. He had already destroyed us in football and was an all-state everything with offers from Minnesota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. They destroyed us in basketball as well and Darrell had a dunk or two but I was determined to talk to him after the game. He was a specimen and simply looked like a man among boys. I couldn't believe that I was only 4-5 years younger than him. He wasn't the least bit cocky and was an incredible athlete and sportsman. I waited outside of the locker room and when he came out I asked him if he knew where he was going to college yet. He said that he didn't know. I told him, "You really need to go to Nebraska." He thanked me and shook my hand and said, "that would be a great school." He ended up going to the Gophers the following year and set all kinds of rushing records without hardly anybody blocking for him. To this day, I still believe (and if you remember Darrell Thompson you might agree) that he would be talked about as the greatest back to ever play for Nebraska had he come our way.

 

I ended up going to the same college in Seward some years later that my older brother attended and I eventually married a Nebraska girl. A long time has passed since then and I'm in Missouri now. I've managed to get to a game now and then and have already begun to indoctrinate my own kids. I was able to attend the Missouri game with "the catch" to Davison (although we couldn't really tell what happened since we were seated in the opposite end zone and a long ways away–we just knew we scored). I tell my kids about Gill and Rozier and Fryar. They've seen the recorded games with Frazier and Farley and Mackovicka and Philips and Green and Frost. My nine year old son attended his first game this year and I was able to experience everything again through his eyes because after the game I made sure that we got to walk on THE FIELD.

 

Under the tree this year gifts will once again be opened that have Nebraska gear in them. I just can't wait to see which one is mine.