"You drove all the way to Nebraska?" he asked. "For a football game?"
Gregg looked at him like he'd lost his marbles.
"Yes," he replied. "Yeah . . . it's only 8 hours."
His cousin continued. "Let me get this straight . . . you leave on a Friday morning . . . you D-R-I-V-E all that way, go to the game the next day and drive all that way back on Sunday?" he asked, shaking his head. He muttered, "I wouldn't even do that for Purdue" (which happens to be his alma mater).
I waited for my husband's response.
"Then you," he sniffed, "are not a true fan."
I stifled my laughter. It wasn't the first time we've been called crazy for driving 16 hours within the span of 48 hours for the Huskers. A lot of people don't "get it" and think that we're crazy-truly crazy. The funny thing is that there are a lot more people out there who are even crazier than us.
So, we went crazy again last weekend . . . Friday morning out, Sunday afternoon in. Midway into the eight hours, we started noticing a problem with one of the tires on the car. Undeterred, we got back into the car, drove a little slower than normal and discussed our game plan. As Gregg drove, I got the laptop out and researched tire businesses located in Omaha. As only the dear Lord could do, a quick search of "get-you-in-and-out-quickly" types of places revealed a location right across the street from Husker Hounds. Want to buy a shower curtain or use grilling tools emblazoned with the Husker logo? Husker Hounds is your place! Want to kill some time while waiting for tire service? Husker Hounds is your place! I'm pretty convinced that as I yelled out a "woooooohoooooooooo" of glee, I heard Him laughing at me.
I hate to brag, but I'm pretty sure that our conversation with the nice man at the tire place led to a nice discount for the service portion of the bill. When we gave him our address and it quite obviously revealed that we were out-of-towners, he motioned toward the red attire we were both wearing and asked if we were fans. (ahem) "Yes sir, we most definitely are fans AND we drove all this way to attend the game tomorrow."
He high-fived us both and I'm happy to report that we were on our way again within 45 minutes of our new tire purchase. (clapping hands)
Game day arrived and we headed to Lincoln-confident of a Husker win. Sadly, things didn't turn out that way and by the end of the game, fans were quiet. That's never a good thing-especially in a stadium that seats 80,000+. Nebraska lost to Iowa State (7-6) and actually had more turnovers than points. Ugh! But, we remain faithful. True fans take the good and the bad with the ugly. That much was ingrained into my upbringing by D.K. Meyer himself (aka Poppop) and I went a step further and congratulated a young Iowa State fan as we headed back to our car. He gave me a thumb's up, after which Gregg tried to convince me I'd traumatized him by approaching him with congratulations. I'd like to think otherwise. Hopefully someday he'll remember that encounter and that at least one Nebraska fan in his path played nice and was a good sport in light of the defeat that day.
On a brighter note, I have one more autograph on my Husker jersey. Pre-game, Gregg and I visited the Nebraska bookstore, where former Husker player Zach Potter was signing autographs. I was reminded again of just how big some of these guys are. Wow!
And while I'd like to think I'm not superstitious, I have to say that I'm still a little "wigged-out" by the new culmination of Nebraska's famous "tunnel walk." Rather than tear out onto the field in a full-out run from the tunnel, they now w-a-l-k four across, linking arms. It was too low-energy for my liking. I'd like to see them eat raw meat or something as they attack the field but that's just me and for some reason, none of the coaching staff saw fit to consult me about this new phenomenon. (shrugging)
Sunday found us driving home-still shaking our heads in disbelief. Crazy. 7-6, 8 turnovers. Just crazy. Onward and upward.
Cassidy celebrated spirit week at her school. Wednesday was "Crazy Hair Day." I think she hit the mark pretty well. Even funnier is that the once-orange hair spray had turned nearly hot pink by day's end.
And have I mentioned Thing 2 and preschool lately? They're doing SCIENCE!! Seriously. I don't think I did science until I was 12. Last week she greeted me with "Mommy! Today we learned that magnets attract iron, metal and steel AND it even works through a glass of water!" I looked at her in amazement.
"Do you know what steel is?" I asked.
"Nope," she replied.
Science. In preschool. Now THAT's crazy. But fun too-just look at what they did yesterday during the Halloween party . . .
Gigantic bubbles result from building up pressure with a mixture of dry ice, warm water and soap. Pop them and you get smoke. Cool stuff. I want to go back to preschool.
And last on my blog update is Halloween . . . below is Hermione and her little cat Crookshanks.
And here's a look at Trio-Times-Three of Alaina (as Word girl), Chloe (as Captain Huggyface) and Mackenzie.
They're cute AND crazy . . . about each other!
Happy Fall, Happy Harvest, Happy Halloween and everything in between!
And as always, Go Big Red!
