Spirit Fall 2020 Edition 11
WHY YOU — THE HUSKER FANATIC — LOVE THE BIG RED
Lincoln and the rest of the state as nearly anything else. Parents name their children after players. High school teams copy what the Huskers do on offense and defense. Vacations and weddings are planned around each fall's schedule. Any number of lower-level professional sports teams have come and gone in this state. But the Huskers have endured. And they likely always will. The sellout streak In all kinds of weather, Nebraska fans have shown up. Whether the opponent was Pacific or Oklahoma, Louisiana-Lafayette or Colorado, the Huskers have played in front of a full house for every home game since Nov. 3, 1962, against Missouri. OK, so sometimes it hasn't exactly been a full house. The leanest times of the past 20 or so years have seen pockets of gray bleachers mixed in with the thousands of red-clad fans. But every ticket for every single one of the past 375 home games has been sold, whether the buyer actually showed up or not. While it may elicit chuckles from other corners of the college football world, the streak remains a point of pride among a large portion of the NU fan base. And while there can be some sleepy Saturdays from time to time, Memorial Stadium can rock with the best of them with the right combination of circumstances. The Miami and Oregon home games of the past few seasons are proof of that. If NU is in a big game, at home, the old girl will be rocking.
By CHRIS BASNETT Lincoln Journal Star
Whenever it ends — if it ever ends — Nebraska's streak will almost certainly stand untouched for as long as college football is played. Only Notre Dame, which saw its sellout streak end at 273 games in November 2019, could even come within shouting distance of the Huskers. There are too many other ways to watch a game, too many conveniences coming into homes, and now, real, live health concerns every person thinking of entering Memorial Stadium will have to deal with. It's too hard and getting harder to keep streaks like Nebraska's going. Which makes it, in the end, impressive that it still exists at all. The uniforms We don't need to talk about the gusset era. The fact that we can mention the gusset era, and pretty much everyone knows what we're talking about, says plenty about the iconic threads Nebraska dons every weekend. Most every list of best college football uniforms will include the scarlet and cream. There have been changes here and there over the years, but the overall look has pretty much stayed the same: red jerseys with white pants, or white jerseys with red pants, topped by one of the most recognizable helmets in the game. The simple red N on the side of the helmet might stand for "Nowledge," according to a few opposing fan bases, but it's also instantly recognizable. The lid has remained mostly unchanged since 1970, with the move from a gray to red facemask in 1980 the only major difference.
How is Husker football unique? Let us count the ways.
Every program in the country likes to talk about what sets it apart, but Nebraska is in rare air when it comes to defining features. From location to nickname to fan loyalty, few can match NU when it comes to defining features. Chris Basnett kicks us off with 10 traits, most of which race to the top of the minds of Husker fans when beckoned to explain their love for Nebraska football. It's the only show in town At the end of the day, this is the only one that matters, right? Everything about Nebraska football — every idiosyncrasy, every great story, every fun fact — starts and ends with the Huskers being the all-encompassing, all-consuming monolith that dominates that state from the Missouri River to the far reaches of the Sandhills. In the fall, there is nothing else. For the rest of the year, there are only a couple of other things. With the closest Major League Baseball team and National Football League team 200 miles away and the closest NBA and NHL teams more than 400 miles from Lincoln, the Huskers have control of their sports market like few teams, college or professional. We all know the statistic. When Memorial Stadium fills up, it becomes the third- largest "city" in Nebraska. The football team, as has become painfully clear over the past few weeks and months, is as important to driving the economy in
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