Time for your spring fix
It was 30 to zip. The bad guys were winning.
And there was rain — a relentless spitting as annoying as that Sooner band.
It was the time for a father to shelter his cub.
Dad to boy: Do you want to pack it in and go back to the room?
Boy to dad: If we came all this way to watch a football game, we’re going to finish it.
See Dad smiling. If you’re going to watch your Huskers lose in the rain, better to do it sitting next to your boy.
There’s just something about dads and sons and Husker football. It makes conversation out of quiet men.
Brian Downs and his 14-year-old son, Brennan, live in Indiana. It’s 614 miles from their front porch in Evansville to Memorial Stadium.
They haven’t missed a Husker football game the past three years. That includes every road game and, yes, every spring game.
They’ll be here today. You can bet your Rozier jersey.
On Friday, they drove 170 miles from Evansville to St. Louis. At 8:30 this morning, a one-hour flight to Omaha. An Olympic sprint to a rental car. The good people at Hertz have assured a car will be waiting in the first stall.
That car better come with wings because they need to be at Misty’s by 11.
They always eat there before games, the same way they always high-five after touchdowns, the same way they always buy Husker hats before every spring game.
The hats they pick today better be good ones, because they’re their headware for the year.
People back in Indiana see their Husker pride and try to tell them about Notre Dame.
“My son and I go, ‘Notre Who?’”
Funny thing is Brian never went to school here and didn’t grow up here. There was just something about the way Nebraska played that football.
The son bit the Husker hook, and now every football trip is as much about bonding as winning and losing.
“I know that’s something that 30 years from now when he has a son he’ll be talking about,” Dad says.
If Husker football is their addiction, the spring game is their fix. January to August are awful months, you know.
The weatherman in Denver knows. Brian Gray grew up in Omaha. Strange how the best memories of childhood revolved around yardwork with Dad.
Raking came with a blaring radio. The job didn’t seem so bad when the Huskers were driving for six.
Snow was being predicted out west, but not much could keep him from today’s game.
“They’d have to close the road.”
No wonder the determination. His dad and 6-year-old son will be alongside. Not much could be better.
He hopes to take Mason onto the field at some point and fulfill the duty of any responsible father.
A boy must know the difference between good (Herbie) and bad (Ralphie).
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
And there was rain — a relentless spitting as annoying as that Sooner band.
It was the time for a father to shelter his cub.
Dad to boy: Do you want to pack it in and go back to the room?
Boy to dad: If we came all this way to watch a football game, we’re going to finish it.
See Dad smiling. If you’re going to watch your Huskers lose in the rain, better to do it sitting next to your boy.
There’s just something about dads and sons and Husker football. It makes conversation out of quiet men.
Brian Downs and his 14-year-old son, Brennan, live in Indiana. It’s 614 miles from their front porch in Evansville to Memorial Stadium.
They haven’t missed a Husker football game the past three years. That includes every road game and, yes, every spring game.
They’ll be here today. You can bet your Rozier jersey.
On Friday, they drove 170 miles from Evansville to St. Louis. At 8:30 this morning, a one-hour flight to Omaha. An Olympic sprint to a rental car. The good people at Hertz have assured a car will be waiting in the first stall.
That car better come with wings because they need to be at Misty’s by 11.
They always eat there before games, the same way they always high-five after touchdowns, the same way they always buy Husker hats before every spring game.
The hats they pick today better be good ones, because they’re their headware for the year.
People back in Indiana see their Husker pride and try to tell them about Notre Dame.
“My son and I go, ‘Notre Who?’”
Funny thing is Brian never went to school here and didn’t grow up here. There was just something about the way Nebraska played that football.
The son bit the Husker hook, and now every football trip is as much about bonding as winning and losing.
“I know that’s something that 30 years from now when he has a son he’ll be talking about,” Dad says.
If Husker football is their addiction, the spring game is their fix. January to August are awful months, you know.
The weatherman in Denver knows. Brian Gray grew up in Omaha. Strange how the best memories of childhood revolved around yardwork with Dad.
Raking came with a blaring radio. The job didn’t seem so bad when the Huskers were driving for six.
Snow was being predicted out west, but not much could keep him from today’s game.
“They’d have to close the road.”
No wonder the determination. His dad and 6-year-old son will be alongside. Not much could be better.
He hopes to take Mason onto the field at some point and fulfill the duty of any responsible father.
A boy must know the difference between good (Herbie) and bad (Ralphie).
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
Copyright © 2002-2008 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.