Tales from the Heart of Huskerland

Husker nation. Take a bow. 89,272 for an 0-6 team. No one else does that. Being a part of a community is what I love most about being a Nebraska fan. When the darkness of a 10 game losing streak became suffocating it's what kept me sane. It's why I always make an effort to wear Nebraska shirts when I travel because chances are I will run into at least one another Husker fan during the trip and spark a short conversation. Alright, so story time. By far my favorite Husker interaction away from home though came just outside the Alamo in San Antonio during the summer of 2013. I was there as a high schooler with a church group for the LCMS Youth Gathering, an event attracting around 30,000 young Lutherans from around the country. All the groups from around Nebraska created a common shirt so we would recognize each other. As it turned out, when we made our way to visit the Alamo there was already a few large groups of Nebraskans hanging around the square, probably betw...

All I wanted was those damn nachos. My parents, worn down by my crying, worn down by the throat stomping the Miami Hurricanes had given us, finally relented at halftime. As the final 30 minutes of Nebraska’s most recent National Championship appearance kicked off, I was happily crunching on crispy round tortilla chips dipped in gooey industrial strength nacho cheese while the rest of Husker nation was foaming at the mouth on that night of January 3 rd , 2002.  At the time, Nebraska had only ever lost 10 games in my 7 years of life. Yeah, they were about to suffer loss #11, but I wasn't worried. Nebraska was going to be elite as long as the Pope remained Catholic, right? Turns out I grew up in that brief nexus of time in which I could faintly remember Nebraska’s glory years, just enough to get me hooked, but was then forced by the ATHLETIC DIRECTOR WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED to grow up watching the Callahan Era. I just barely missed the bus and it hurts all the more bec...