I have to admit that I am not the biggest lover of football. There are many sports fans who are far more ardent about the sport than I am.
One of those fans was my grandmother. She loved football, especially Nebraska football. For those of you who do not know anything about Nebraska football, which is hard to believe, the colors are red and white. Grandma dressed in red and white from head to toe on game days until she bought a short-sleeved Nebraska sweatshirt that happened to be pink. The she wore that shirt for good luck every time the team played.
Grandma Brunk lived in Lincoln for many years and this was a good thing for a Nebraska football fan. It was sort of a claim to fame to live in the same city where the boys played on a regular basis.
If you were foolish enough to call Grandma during a game she would answer the phone but then inform you that Nebraska was on T.V. or the radio and what the — did you think you were doing calling during a game? Then she would hang up on you.
She knew the players by name and all kinds of things about them. She also seemed to know an awful lot about the coaches, some of this information was used against them when she was mad about their losses or poor coaching.
There were certain football teams that Grandma really disliked. When Nebraska played those teams we were in for a lot of inappropriate language.
The family was greatly influenced by Grandma Brunk’s love of football. Our son watches and tapes every game and he lives in Maryland. He comes back to Lincoln each year for a game and his new daughter has three Nebraska outfits and she is only one month old. A piece of Grandma’s pink sweatshirt made it into a quilt for our son. Our daughter who lives in Indiana has Nebraska clothing for all three children and one year their Christmas card featured the children decked out in Nebraska-wear.
Football is a sport loved by many and for a vast array of reasons.
