One day this will all make a good story. I promise.
The Big Ten will soon join in on a college football season that no living person had ever previously encountered. That's kind of cool in a super messed-up way, right?
One day we'll be telling our children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren about that crazy season when Nebraska played a full season in an empty stadium surrounded by an army of lifeless, unmoving cardboard cutouts of grandma and dogs. Lots and lots of human-sized dogs.
At the very least Northwestern players will get to tell their kids about that time they actually got to play home games with crowd noise, even if it was just artificially piped in.
Isn't that worth something?
I've found in my ancient life-experience of 26 years, the hard times, the weird times, and the unorthodox times are often the most interesting to look back on and tell stories about. Life's all about finding the silver lining. Strictly speaking football here, some of my favorite Nebraska football memories to reminisce on aren't the standard, run off the mill Saturdays when I went to Lincoln to tailgate and watch the game.
No, I like to remember times like my high school football team played a Thursday game at the same time Nebraska was playing Kansas State in 2010. It royally pissed me off in the moment, but now, with some tongue-in-cheek fondness, I remember scrambling to get changed after our game so I could get home to watch the recording of the Nebraska game on the DVR before some idiot blabbered about the score.
Unfortunately for me, the allure of the marinara covered cardboard that passed as post-game pizza served in the cafeteria was too great to overcome. So I cautiously wandered upstairs only to find, to my horror, that the Nebraska game was still going and was on every TV in the cafeteria. Thankfully, I was able to shield my eyes with a shirt before I could see the score, thus allowing me to grab a slice and make a break for the door before the game was spoiled. A teammate and I then drove home with our phones turned off and we were able to successfully catch the game about three hours after everyone else.
Would I ever want to experience a game like that ever again?
Hell no.
But was there something strangely cool about screaming Taylor Martinez on as he gashed K-State for an 80 yard touchdown at 1:00 AM?
Absolutely.
So will I ever want another Nebraska football season quite like this one?
I'd ask that you please light me on fire before I ever asked for that. But will I be laughing at the Kevin Warren memes? Will I chuckle when I remember the sports journalists who spent over a month endlessly praising the Big Ten's decision to cancel only to be forced to do a sudden, spineless 180 when the Big Ten announced its return? Will I annoy the crap out of some unsuspecting child of mine someday with stories of some weird-ass season that happened too long ago for them to care?
Absolutely.
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