From Big Ten Network commentators - Against the Michigan State Spartans, Nebraska came out and took charge and dominated the entire game.
WOW! I didn’t see this one coming. Maybe the desire did weigh more heavily on the Nebraska side of the field. Two talented and hard working teams, yet the outcome was unpredicted and one-sided.
Going to a Husker Football game is truly an exciting experience, no matter the outcome. It is an unique and amazing experience, every time! Games have been being played in Memorial Stadium for almost 90 years (in the U.S. that’s a fairly significant period of history....). For the past 49 years, every game has been sold out, packed attendance. Today that means that more than 85,000 people are in the same place at the same time for the same reason doing the same things. Every time I am in the stadium, I am in awe of these great truths! And so it was again for this Michigan State game.
The number of people and their efforts that are dedicated to this same purpose and desired outcome and involved in this “experience” is staggering and mind boggling! Think about it for a minute, players and their families, coaches and their families and acquaintances, the athletic department employees, the facilities staff, the event staff members, Red Cross volunteers, the concessions workers, the cheerleaders, the student involvement, the band and their practices and uniforms and equipment, the pilots for the flyovers.... the list goes on and on and still we haven’t touched on the majority of the 85,000 people in the stands and parking lots and all of their stories and relationships to this tradition! What about all the cooks preparing all the tailgate foods? So many people, at so many levels, involved in the same tradition! Overwhelming!
Yes, college football is a huge American tradition! There were at least 60 stadiums for Division One games yesterday just like in Lincoln participating in this same ritual! Then the other division games.....etc! What a huge tradition and connection throughout our culture.
I pause and wonder about the traditions in other cultures and their involvements as well.
Today in Macedonia, Jen is taking part in a family custom. She is in a home baking for their preparation for their Saint’s Celebration. I am eager to learn more about the family saint tradition of Orthodox Macedonians. The baking ritual sounds similar to some of our family baking traditions! I don’t expect they are baking our family’s tradition of runzas.... but maybe baklava. Even though we have had no Macedonian connection prior to this year, baklava has been a part of our family traditions for more than a generation (and baklava originated in Macedonia - small world!)
Knowing and participating in each other’s traditions is a great way to make the world a smaller place and maybe a more peaceful one as well. And that can be true across our regions in the U.S. as well. Visit another stadium in another university and you learn new rituals and traditions! Maybe we can grow together as well. I hope Nebraskans are good hosts to their visitors. And I hope Americans are good hosts to the international students who come to learn in our midst as well.
I hope this coming year, Vesna can make runzas and baklava in our home; just as Jen is sharing with her family today in Tetovo!
Here’s to peace among nations, respect among rivals, and the joy of shared traditions!
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