Tales of the Ordinary Days

A ride for Lucy, post-walk My morning musings while walking my granddog centered on an article I had just read in the Omaha World-Herald. It was written by a long-time sports columnist, Tom Shatel. Generally, a fan of column features, but not always those in the sports section, I was doubly skeptical as I have never been a big fan of Shatel. I met him once. About four years ago. After a big playoff win for my son's high school team, I found myself sitting next to Mr. Shatel at a local bar. I struck up a conversation. To say that he was visibly annoyed would be a gracious description. Knowing he was likely bothered many times by people who wanted to talk sports and share their opinions, I gave him the benefit of the doubt in his response to me. So instead I scrolled through my phone as I waited for my order. And that was about it. "That one time I met Tom Shatel at the bar." Fast forward to today. As I have perused the OWH headlines in my news feed, I ofte...

Split alliances Saturday was a good day. Better for the Lane's than the Brucker boys. The Lane's were part of the Big Red contingent. Garrett and Jake were pulling for the Boilermakers. Lily was neutral. It was definitely a day in the red. We will give Garrett a bye since he is a Purdue alum. Jake gets the bye simply because he belongs to Garrett. But regardless of the score, it was fun to take in an away game. Purdue and Nebraska had last played each other in 1958. The Purdue fans were very nice and the campus was beautiful. Garrett played a great tour guide. Although we packed rain ponchos and were slightly overdressed, we welcomed the sunny skies and warm temperature. As expected we ran into familiar faces among the Husker fans. A running joke continued as I eyed my neighbors sitting five rows in front of us. We live in the same circle, but see each other more often outside of Omaha. Within the last year, we have randomly ran into each other at the Iowa game, skiing ...

Watching a Husker win with my furry friends I really like my seats at Memorial Stadium. We sit on the east side between the band and team parents. About sixteen seats up, the boys like the great view to the field. Although I enjoy this as well, I also like to watch the players on the sideline and all the hoopla that happens near the field. Late in the week we chose to sell our tickets and watch from home. Between Grant's morning football game and Ben's homecoming, it felt like a good decision. But there is always some reservation about missing out in the live venue of Memorial Stadium. Watching Kenny Bell's one-handed catch was an after-the-fact reminder of this. But all is good. No regrets. Based on the picture above, you can conclude that the comforts of my home were enjoyed by all. Kenny Bell looked just as good on my big screen. And nap time between the great plays was divine. My furry friends were happy and the Husker win; just as good. We started our day wit...

Ben went on the injured list last night. After a trip to Lakeside Hospital and an x-ray, it was determined that he had an AC separation. Although Ben's explanation assured me that it wasn't serious, it didn't give me the pictorial or explanation of body parts affected. So I have since Googled it. For those interested, Wikipedia came through with the explanation below. It sounds like Ben will be out one game, but back on the field in a couple of weeks. Last night I received a number of texts inquiring on Ben's well-being. One friend commented that this was "part of the footballing badge of honor". True story. For Ben this badge was first earned many years ago. This wasn't his first rodeo. In 2008, Ben was playing football in the University of Nebraska Pavilion before the Kansas game. This was the standard pre-game venue for my boys and their friends. It was a pick-up football game before the big "real" game. On this occasion Zach and his ...