I crossed the Rawhide Creek yesterday on the way to Hooper, a small town of about 800 people on the Elkhorn River about 50 miles north-west of Omaha. The first thing I thought of was the 1960s TV show called “Rawhide” which had Clint Eastwood among its cast members as well as a memorable theme song …
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Turning the Corner in Oklahoma
"You'll have to go around the corner" said the voice on the phone. My wife and I were searching for the Thunder Alley Grill in Oklahoma City and after driving fruitlessly around the parking lot of a large strip mall for about 10 minutes I finally gave up and called the number listed for the establis…
Democracy in Action
While it hasn’t been an easy week for Huskers fans, my wife and I managed to cheer ourselves up by demonstrating our faith in the Big Red by getting our curb-side house number repainted. The paint had faded over the past few years, perhaps symbolic of the fortunes of the team during that period, but…
Let's Make the 4th Quarter 1 Minute Shorter
On a beautiful day in Nebraska, 89,886 people (including this party of 4 from Colorado) gathered at Memorial Stadium to w
atch the Huskers lose the game on a 49-yard field goal with 4 seconds remaining on the clock. Considered in isolation, this last minute loss would be simply one of those things th…
Aurora Australis
Aurora is a town of around 4,500 people, located among farmlands some 20 miles east of Grand Island and 75 miles west of Lincoln, the state capital. But that’s not Aurora’s only claim to fame because according to reliable meteorological sources, the largest hailstone ever recorded in the U.S. landed…
Not the Victory but the Action
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory” These are the noble words inscribed on the southwest side of Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. No such words were inscribed on the walls of Vitty’s Sports Bar and Grill last Saturday in Lewisville, TX but the red-clad patr…
You Can't Hide Your Illini
The Huskers are apparently 7-point favorites to win this week’s game on the road against the Illini, and I’m sure that the Walmart in Beatrice will be deserted for a few hours after 3pm while the game is underway. Judging by the three nail-biting finishes out of the four games played so far, there m…
Loyal in Lincoln
A number of the many Nebraskans that I have met during the past few weeks have told me about their loyalty to the Big Red football team. During the past couple of days I have seen and heard that loyalty expressed in different forms.
Everyone who walks into Memorial Stadium passes beneath a sign tha…
Building in Beatrice
It has long been my personal philosophy that every day offers the opportunity to learn. I knew there would be much learning involved when I took on this project of writing a book about Nebraska and its rich football heritage. However it was not until I went to school today that I began to realize th…
Musical Notes from Beatrice
It’s Homecoming this week in Lincoln, and if my wife had been able to join me today in Beatrice it would have been a homecoming of sorts for her too. My wife’s mother was born and raised in Beatrice where she attended Centenary United Methodist Church and played trombone in the high school band.…
Less Than A Minute Away
To characterize my experience of Saturday’s game against Miami as a roller coaster would be an enormous understatement. I had called Flip’s Patio Grill the day before the game just to make sure that I was not relying on outdated information and that they were indeed expecting a group of Nebraska fan…
Let's Hear it for the Dee-fense!
Tomorrow brings the Huskers’ first away game for the season, against Miami in the Sunshine State. It also brings a change to my routine in following the progress of the Big Red, as I will go to one of the numerous “watch sites” to follow the game. Many people living in Nebraska are aware that there …
How Do You Spell Relief?
This used to be a slogan for a commercial, but on Saturday I saw three very relieved faces - only one of whom may still need antacid tablets.
Nebraska played a much-improved game compared to last week's narrow loss against BYU and ended up winning 48-9 over a game South Alabama team who never stopp…
Perfect Days in Kearney
“When a perfect stranger smiles at you and says hello, it means they are either insane or American”. This was a semi-humorous quote I heard when I lived in Stockholm during the 1990s among the very private and often emotionally-distant Swedes. On the other hand, Kearney, NE represents the complete o…
1 Second Left and 42 Yards To Go: What could Possibly Go Wrong?
The score was 28-27 in favor of Nebraska. The back-up quarterback of the visiting BYU team had moved the ball to Nebraska’s 42 yard line but there was only 1 second left in the game. I could see clearly from my vantage point that three of Nebraska’s blackshirts were lined up in the south end zone wa…
Omaha: City of Reuben Sandwiches and Red Beer
Although Omaha may have had a population of more than 400,000 people at the time of the passing of my father-in-law, I would wager that there were very few of his fellow residents who were more proud of the city than Tom Hauser. Every time my wife and I visited from Texas, Tom would be happy to gree…
Why is an Aussie Guy Living in Texas Writing About Nebraska?
I have been lucky enough to have lived in a number of different countries and cultures around the world but I see something unique in the way that Nebraskans are proud of both their 37th State in the Union and the college football team that bears its name.
I was first exposed to Nebraska footba…
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