"Wait. What are you Doing with that Hedge Trimmer?" A Newcomer's Guide to Tales From the Heart of Huskerland

Hi I'm Jason and I'm a Husker football addict.

I travel to road games, re-watch games from before I was born, follow recruiting, study schemes and have proudly brandished pitchforks and torches when the occasion demanded it.

And I know I'm not alone. The crazed glint I see in my neighbor's eyes as he sharpens an old pair of hedge trimmers after every loss tells me so.

This obsession we all call Nebraska football seems perfectly rational until you have to explain it to someone outside of the culture looking in.

"What? You drove HOW many hours just to watch a football game?"

I work in a small office in Omaha. We have another office location in Chicago. People in Chicago give you nervous, open-mouthed looks when you tell them the number one thing you want to do in their beautiful city is go to a Northwestern vs. Nebraska game. They then smile at you while aggressively pressing the panic button located under their desk when they find out you blog about Nebraska football.

College football is a weird, zany and irrational thing. In the words of British comedian Stephen Fry: "I don't know if anything sums up America better. It's simultaneously preposterous, incredibly laughable, impressive, charming, ridiculous, expensive, overpopulated, wonderful, American."

And in no place is that more true than in Nebraska. And that's why I decided to create this blog two years ago.

Well actually I had to create it for a college class two years ago in which my professor wanted me to track a bunch of analytics like views, clicks, bounce rates and other generally useful crap that I should probably care more about. But the truth is I had a blast blogging about Husker football. There was something immensely satisfying about telling personal anecdotes about my life as a Husker fan and trying to put words to emotion tied to those memories.

This blog is not about game analysis. There's so much of that on the internet already and it's all great. No, this blog is about the fan experience and the sense of community that turns thousands of strangers into best friends when we ride together in our convoy down I-80 headed for Lincoln or when we invade an overwhelmed opposing team's stadium, filling the air of some faraway land with the sacred chant of "Go Big Red!"

And it's about laughing at ourselves along the way. Laughing at the ridiculousness of all of this while simultaneously appreciating how awesome it is.

It's also about crappy Photoshop. So much crappy Photoshop.

Just like our Glorious Supreme Leader Scott Frost, this blog is back and brings with it a new energy. I mean the Frost Effect is powerful enough to bring Tunnel Walk of Shame out of a long hibernation. All this energy and excitement made me realize over the summer that this blog is something I genuinely want to grow. I have many untold stories and many further adventures to take with my wife as we travel to every Big Ten stadium and take in the Frost Era. And I'd love to hear stories from you, my readers, and feature them on the blog in some capacity.

Nebraska football fandom is a community. It's by far the most magnetic shared interest I've ever encountered. We all have stories to tell, moments in our lives woven together by the fabric of Husker football and it's those stories that really make me feel apart of something bigger. So I'd love to hear yours and in the meantime I'll continue to tell my own.

Follow me on twitter if you like. I'm always down to talk about Nebraska sports. See you all next week as we kick off the Scott Frost Era!