I never win raffles, yet here I had won two tickets to see NE squash the hopes of the Baylor Bears in Waco, courtesy of the Californians for Nebraskans raffle, raising money for scholarships. I figured my luck had changed, and even thought about getting a lotto ticket. As we drove the 233 miles to Waco, we saw storm clouds brewing and tried to locate the Academy store in Temple to procure some rain gear, but due to a owl fan's directions we were headed nowhere fast. Getting back on I-35, we made it to Baylor in time for a quick bite with some old students, who misguided us to the traffic jam of my life, which caused us to listen to most of the first quarter on the radio while stuck in traffic. Upon entering the stadium it was drizzling lightly, but turning quickly to a gentle soaking rain. The seats we had won were great, but near the aisle where indecisive fans kept coming by, carrying soggy nachos and rain drenched Cokes and cranky wet children.
There were breaks in the traffic flow, (always in-between plays) when we could see, up close and personal, our red-clad heroes down on the field, already leading 7-0.
Then the rain really got going.
As our heroes slid around on a soggy field, coughing up the slick ball at every turn, my wife commented that this was a memory we wouldn't soon forget. As I was at this point drenched through 3 layers of clothing, I figured I didn't have much time left for memory-making anyway. We knew if they would figure out how to hold on to the ball, the game would be ours for sure.
The Bear punt was downed inside the 2, even though the defender had slid through the back of the end zone. Then lightning hit. Close by. It nailed a suburban just outside the stadium... The Bears ran off the field faster than roaches when the lights come on. (I guess all that medical training pays off.) When the announcer signaled the delay, all 10 of the Baylor fans were running for the cover of their vehicles or their stadium's insides, leaving the packed red section to slowly filter down.
It took more time to squeeze the tightly packed die-hard NE fans into the belly of the stadium, and as most NE fans would consider being struck by lightning while supporting their team analogous to a Taliban official dying for jihad, about 1/3 of the NE fans didn't even bother trying to get below deck. As we couldn't get any wetter or colder, we stuck it out through the 40 minutes, cheering each other on with "Husker-Power" cheers.
When the boys returned, Eric bobbled the snap and Baylor was officially on the board. Frankly, it was more fun watching a close first half, as we knew the outcome was certain. In our minds, the good hands would return just as the clouds were beginning to thin, and we knew that as the field dried, Thunder would do some magic. We were right on both counts.
We loved the whole experience, seeing big gainers that on a dry field would have gone the distance "only" get 40 yards, getting to explain football terms to a wife that was actually paying attention, finally seeing the sun appear at the end of the game.
I was worried at the end of the 3rd - not that we'd lose, but I had made a few wagers that we'd score at least 40 points... and at 21-7, I was a long way off, but the boys didn't let me down, and we saw a scoring explosion not seen by me since '83...
Leaving Waco behind for drier quarters, we listened in on the incredible stats compiled in our presence, and knew that we had stored up a lifetime of memories.... and assuming the pneumonia doesn't last long, that should be a while!