Washington Game
Husker Salute
South Dakota State Game
Commentary by David Max - 9/27/10
The Washington game was a coming out party of sorts in the fact that we dominated a team that may be in the lower tier of the Pac-10. We did it on the road and an estimated 20-25,000 Husker fans made the trip. I didn't make the trip, opting to stay in Lincoln for the Husker Salute to the Troops. It was a stellar performance by the team and the Husker fan base. The Washington Cornhuskers were gracious hosts and I heard a lot of compliments from people at our SDSU tailgate about how they made the migration to Seattle more enjoyable.
The Third Annual Husker Salute to the Troops was a big success with over 400 current and former military members and their families in attendance. This event was the brain child of Gary McGirr and other members of the Northeast Kansans for Nebraska. Through their efforts and the generous donations of many individuals and companies it has grown every year. The purpose of the event is to say thank you to active and retired military by putting them up in a hotel room at the Cornhusker Marriott, a stadium and other athletic facility tour, a watch party for the game, and a Sunday brunch the next day. This is a 100% volunteer organization and they work year round to raise the $30,000 needed to provide this fun weekend to our troops and their families. Please consider being a part of this great event in 2011 by making a donation, being a sponsor or purchasing one of their commemorative coins.
A special guest of this year's Salute was Christian Berkshire and his family. Christian is a seven year old Husker fan with a rare form of cancer that requires extensive treatment and chemotherapy. He has been a real trooper through the whole ordeal and through the generosity of the Grant Wistrom Foundation Christian and his family were able to attend. He got to meet current and former players and Coach Ron Brown, tour the facilities, play on Tom Osborne field, watch the Huskers beat the Huskies, get inducted as a member of the Husker Elvis family and received several autographed Husker items. We are working on making arrangements for Christian and his family to come back for a game in Memorial Stadium this season.
The South Dakota State game was our Jekyll and Hyde game of this season. We played at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Washington game. It was definitely a wake up call for the team not to read the press reports about how good they are. SDSU should be commended for coming into Memorial Stadium and playing toe to toe with the Huskers. It will be interesting to see how they do the rest of the season. If we have to have a bad game every season this better be the only one. The rest of our schedule won't permit a performance like last Saturday and produce another win. I believe the players and coaching staff will step it up a notch or two during the bye week leading up to the Thursday night game against Kansas State. I believe they will rebound nicely and win by 10 points or more in front of a national audience. I will be watching from one of the Californians for Nebraska watch sites.
The SDSU HuskerMax tailgate was attended by over 500 people including a lot of SDSU Jackrabbit fans, Californians for Nebraska migration group, Kearney Rotary, and other alumni chapter leaders from around the country attending the annual Nebraska Alumni Association leadership conference. Notables in attendance were Larry Tomlinson from Bob Devaney's first team, Johnny Rodgers, Calvin Jones, Garth Glissman, and Paul Rea, author of The Story of Lil Red. A new sponsor is M&M Locker in Bristow, Nebraska. They served their delicious weiners to over 1000 people at the Larry the Cable Guy documentary in Monowi, Nebraska on September 9th. The only negative about the tailgate for me was that they ran out of Skunkman's famous corn before I got any. Other generous sponsors of our tailgates are Republic National Distributing Company, Bacardi, Schroeder's Smoked Foods, Ron French of the Conoco Fast Mart at 27th and I-80 and DirecTV. We expect another large crowd for the Texas game and if you would like to attend please respond to [email protected] with the names of everyone attending in the message. Attendance is limited to those that RSVP only.
Related links
Video of Christian Berkshire's induction into the Husker Elvis family
Nebraska Alumni Association Football Fridays
Upcoming events
Jason Peter Golf Tournament for Junevile Arthritis
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GO BIG RED!!!