I was listening to "Sharpe and Benning" on the way to work this morning and Damon Benning and Matt Vrzal were including snippets about their playing days in the conversation about the intensity level of the current players rising compared to the past few years. This lead to me getting more excited for the season to start.
But any excitement for the new season by me is tempered by the memory of my best friend since high school, who passed away on April 18th. One thing he said during his last few weeks was that he was disappointed that he won't be around to see games this year and the expected improvement. We are both nearly 60 years old, so we were spoiled during the good years of 1970 thru 2000. So we've both (as have many others) endured disappointment through the last 19 years of mediocrity and have SO, SO, SO been looking forward to a return to some semblance of the Nebraska football of the past.
As Christians, we both believe, with certainty, that he's in Heaven now. This leads to the question "Will he be aware and enjoy Nebraska football this season"? I don't know the answer to that question.
But I do expect that the enthusiasm for this season and the enjoyment throughout the year will be tempered because he won't be here to share the season with me. We've watched games together since college days and over the past few years if we didn't watch together we would text each other throughout the game.
I'm going to miss that. I guess that I'll just have to appreciate the season more in his honor.
But any excitement for the new season by me is tempered by the memory of my best friend since high school, who passed away on April 18th. One thing he said during his last few weeks was that he was disappointed that he won't be around to see games this year and the expected improvement. We are both nearly 60 years old, so we were spoiled during the good years of 1970 thru 2000. So we've both (as have many others) endured disappointment through the last 19 years of mediocrity and have SO, SO, SO been looking forward to a return to some semblance of the Nebraska football of the past.
As Christians, we both believe, with certainty, that he's in Heaven now. This leads to the question "Will he be aware and enjoy Nebraska football this season"? I don't know the answer to that question.
But I do expect that the enthusiasm for this season and the enjoyment throughout the year will be tempered because he won't be here to share the season with me. We've watched games together since college days and over the past few years if we didn't watch together we would text each other throughout the game.
I'm going to miss that. I guess that I'll just have to appreciate the season more in his honor.
