Aside from it being the last home game of the season/Senior Day it was also Tom Osborne's 500th game in official capacity for the University of Nebraska, and his last home game before retiring at the end of the year. For those not in the know, Tom Osborne is basically the definition of college football in the state of Nebraska. He was an assistant coach before he was the head coach for 25 years and led his team to a bowl game in every single season. He never won fewer than 9 games in 25 years. He led the Huskers to 3 national championships and one of the most dominating stretches in college football history. During the 1995-1996 season, for example, Nebraska won every game with the closest one being decided by a margin of 14 points and the national championship by a margin of 38. After retiring in 1997, he went on to be a 3-term U.S. Congressman, lost a gubernatorial race, and then became the interim-turned-full-time Athletic Director in 2007. There's hard to find one bad thing to say about the man. I think it's best summed up by this story: a state legislator for Nebraska wanted to make the point that the general populace is a bit sue-happy so he tried to bring a lawsuit against God. When the courts said he couldn't sue God because he couldn't be served, the legislator sued Tom Osborne instead, stating that he was as revered as God by the people of Nebraska. Needless to say, we take our football seriously here. But Tom Osborne really was and is something else.
I'm sure he was absolutely mortified when they told him this game was going to be a tribute to him and his career, but for everything he's done, he deserved it. They changed the tunnel walk video to focus on his achievements, had him lead the team out onto the field (!!!), had several "Thanks Coach" videos recorded by various individuals, and had a halftime video full of highlights and people talking about how he impacted them. One of my favorite clips they showed was this one - especially the part where Lee Corso talks about his record vs. Tom Osborne.
Aside from that, it was also just a hugely dominant effort from everyone on the Husker team. The game was a fun one to watch, a nice break from the cardiac kids in the last 5 weeks - there's only so much coming from behind to win on the final play a person (or fan-base) can take. To see all the seniors step up was great. Only way it could have been better was to have Rex Burkhead back. It was at least nice to see him suited up for the game as opposed to in street clothes. Even Matt had a great time. I think he was hoping I wouldn't notice him cheering and clapping and jumping up and down every time something good happened. :P
Things got interesting after the game though - as we were walking back to our car from the stadium, we were crossing one of the major streets when we had a walk signal when Matt almost got hit by a car. I mean, this car came probably within two feet of us. When I turned to look at the car and say some not-so-nice words, he honked at us. Because it is definitely our fault that we got in the way of his car when he was trying to make a right hand turn even though a) we were pedestrians (who always have the right of way as it is) and b) had a walk signal. After that super exciting experience of practically seeing my husband run over by a car (not an experience I recommend, by the way) I noticed a random cell phone sitting in the grass halfway down the next block. Naturally, I picked it up and called the kid's mom (thank goodness there was no lock on the phone!) who got me in touch with her son. He was a nice kid, but blissfully unaware of any streets/locales outside of Bellevue. After getting off the phone with him, Matt and I were crossing another street with another walk signal when we almost got run over again. Apparently no one in the city of Lincoln knows how to follow traffic laws. I guess I missed the memo where making a left hand turn when there are pedestrians in the cross walk is totally legitimate - no big deal if you almost run them over.
Anyway, so we got back to our car and went to the gas station where I suggested that we meet the kid who's cell phone we had. I called his girlfriend to let them know we were there and he apparently thought we were meeting in Omaha. I guess my saying 84th and Cornhusker wasn't clear enough even though I said, "It's on the way out of Lincoln, about halfway to Waverly." We ended up having to double back because the on-ramp we tried to take was closed and go seriously out of our way to get the kid his phone. We were a little aggravated the whole time because we were just trying to do the right thing and it was causing way more drama and stress than it was worth. Of course, when we finally got to where we were meeting in Bellevue and gave the kid his phone back, the look on his face made it all worth it. Knowing how much he appreciated it and the fact that he had some really treasured pictures and things on there he hadn't gotten a chance to transfer off the phone yet made me glad that I was the person who found the phone. It made all the hassle completely worth it. It just felt good.
I got to spend a fantastic day with my wonderful husband (who I appreciate so much more after the way-too-scary traffic fiasco) celebrating a college football legend and watching the Huskers put up a great win in addition to really helping someone out. Plus, I was wearing my skinny-day jeans today and they were loose. I'm just going to add 16 points to the Win column for today. I don't think I can find anything to complain about.
And just for fun, a few pictures:
Post first-score balloons floating into the sky
The view from our seats - surprisingly good!
Husker game number 3 together!
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