Football “Husker” Style….

Our friend, Paula, took us to downtown Lincoln yesterday to experience a college football day in Lincoln. As Linda and I drove the bike to Lincoln, we could tell that the massive amount of cars on 80 were headed to the game cause Linda could see them dressed in red and white. We parked at Paula’s house and she drove her  car down past the stadium where 90,000 people were converging. She said that the stadium, with all those people becomes the 3rd largest “city” in the state on game days…wow ! From blocks away, the trickle of red began and the closer to the stadium we got, it turned into a sea of red. We parked near the state capitol and walked to get to the stadium and onto campus. There were tailgating parties going on all over the place. On campus the alumni band was playing…they were awesome!

 

After walking around outside the stadium to check things out, we decided to go to the Haymarket area to get something to eat and watch the game. That meant we had to walk against the incoming crowd, which was no small feat…felt sort of like Moses parting the red sea as we got in the middle of the crowd, fighting our way up the street.

 

The Haymarket area is the oldest part of the city…my, what character it has. I love to see that these areas have been revitalized in a city…gives so much more warmth to austere and sterile city buildings. Got a table on the patio of Buzzard Billy’s Armadillo Bar, where we watched the tail end of the Penn State game (truly disappointing game against Alabama) and the first half of the Nebraska game against Fresno State. When the jets did the “fly over”, man they were screaming as they went by us. Every time Nebraska would score a touchdown and the crowd released the red balloons in the air, the crowd at the bar would turn and look for the balloons over the stadium a couple blocks away. Fun stuff !! Since it takes three hours for traffic to get out of the city after a game, we left at half time to get ahead of the crowd. The first half of the game was a little controversial, with some of the ref calls, but the final outcome was to Nebraska’s liking. They won 42 – 29.

Our meal consisted of Spinach Artichoke Dip, made with beer, Ostrich Eggs (jalapeno, cheese, chicken in a crunchy batter, wrapped with bacon and deep fried (yum!), Quesadillas and an assortment of legal beverages. Paula and I were hoping to go across the street and get some yummy licorice choices, at the International Licorice store but sadly, they were closed.

We had a great time….these Nebraskans sure love their football team (and their volleyball team). It was fun to be a part of it on a sunny day in September !