[Husker] Cut/Age

[Don Rietsch]

I've been a member of this forum for 6 or 7 years and this is my first post.
I'm a 62 year old, with a 30ish mind, trapped in a 90 year olds body.  I
grew up on a farm in SW NE.  I was at NU from 1963 thru 1969.  With super
human effort, I managed to squeeze a 5 year ME course into 6 1/2 years.     

I have SO many memories of the NU football games I attended and not a one of
them has anything to do with football.  As a fraternity pledge in 1963, our
house would team up with a sorority; we'd pair up, and go to the game.  Our
seats were on the 50 yard line in the card section.  They were the best
seats in the house. I really had little interest in football.  My priorities
at the game were, consuming the contents of the flasks we smuggled in,
talking to the girls, watching the people, and oh yeah, cheering when
everyone else did.   In '64 I found out I could sell my ticket for $15.
That was enough beer money to last a full week.  We would still attend the
games either by crawling over the fence and disappearing into the crowd,
creating a disturbance so the gatekeepers were distracted and then sneak
through the gate, or my favorite, wrap a bed sheet around a broom stick and
tell the gatekeeper we had a banner that we were going to display on the
sidelines during half time informing of our frats post game open house.  As
soon as we got inside, the sheet and broom sticks were discarded.  We'd
watch the game from the sidelines, aisles or wherever.  IN '68 and '69 I
worked as a Bartender at Der Loaf Und Stein.  A good friend of mine was a
waiter there; you all know him.  He is the Steve the "Hot Dog Slinger", an
Attorney from Gothenburg, who has the best arm in the stadium.  There was a
special about him on "On the Road with Charles Kuralt" a couple of years
ago. I sold hot dogs with him.  He threw the dog up into the stadium and I
attempted to catch the cash thrown back.  My arm was strong but my accuracy
was +/- 10 yards. not unlike some of the quarterbacks we've had at NU.  One
game we decided we'd make allot more money if we brought our own dogs into
the stadium.  I had a job from 5:00 to 8:00 AM on game day stocking the
concession stands.  It was very easy to smuggle in the hot dogs.  We made
allot of money but had to give it up after only one game because the
concessions manager wondered why Steve only sold one "hot box" of dogs.  He
told them he had a sore arm.  Since I worked at the concessions, I got in
free and was allowed to stand on the sideline between the 30 and the goal
line.  They were the worst seats in the house.  How coaches can tell what is
going on during a game is a mystery to me.  

I'm now a rabid Big Red football fan, stuck in Big 11 country where natives
can only count to ten, where a mean game of football is talked, and where
the whining over the UM/NU split national championship continues unabated.

Don Rietsch