iToo-hip Huskers force trinket fanatics into extinction
II you ve lived in this state for
most of your life, like I have, you
know that they just don’t make Big
Red paraphernalia like they used
to.
I’m talking about the trinkets,
the knickknacks, the odds and ends
that people buy for no other reason
than to show their devotion to our
football team.
With shops specializing in preppy
Cornhusker sweaters, I Iusker rain
gear and Husker seat cushions, it’s
getting harder and harder to find
the really cheesy stuff. I’m talking
about the Husker toilet seats, the
corncob lamps and the giant foarn
rubber hands that you slip over
your own to let people know that
we’re “number one.’’
They just don’t make that stuff
anymore, so if you want to find it
you have to either comb the pawn
shops and garage sales, or do what
I do — vibit your parents.
When it comes to the Huskers,
my parents might be the biggest
trinket collectors around They’ve
got everything. What they don’t
nave, they want. They need. It’s a
trinket fixation, I guess, but 1 don’t
worry about it anymore. 1 just go
with it.
My mom is usually a woman of
impeccable taste. She’ll fuss over
the littlest things to make sure her
house is nicely decorated. When
football season rolls around, though,
that all goes out the window.
Every Saturday morning in the
fall, she’ll call me on her red and
white I lerbie Husker phone to ask
me the same question: “Johnny,
are you coming out to listen to the
Big Red with us?”
“Of course mom, I always do,
don’t I?,” I’ll usually whine.
When I get there, she a lways has
chips and dip ready in her favorite
serving bowl — a Nebraska foot
ball helmet converted into a snack
server. This is far and away her
favorite Husker trinket and is dis
played prominently.
“Have you seen this?” she al
ways asks. “Isn’t it cute?”
On football Saturdays, my dad
has a special tray he uses to make
ice cubes in. The ice cubes come
out in a nifty little football shape,
and we use these cubes exclusively
when Nebraska plays on TV. When
my dad or I need more cubes to ice
down our bourbon and cokes, we
go to the big ice bin, which from a
distance looks like an ordinary
football. That’s the beauty of it,
because we can pass it back and
forth if need be, all the while yell
ing about how the refs are “really
giving us a screw job.”
Maybe Husker fans are just get
ting too hip, or too young or too
something, but the days of trinket
collectors like my parents are
numbered. That’s sad in a way,
because in the process they’ve also
lost something that was uniquely
theirs. So if you run across an old
ashtray or a set of NU commemora
tive shot glasses at the five and
dime store, you might consider
picking them up. Or make sure
you’re in your parents’ will.
Payne h a junior broadcasting major
and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter
INU student season ticket sales decline,
but Memorial Stadium still sells out
By Dionne searcey
Staff Reporter
Although Cornhusker football
may have a “broad cross section of
ticket customers,” students are los
ing interest, an official said.
Joe Selig, athletic ticket man
ager, said Husker football has
experienced a gradual drop in the
sale of student season tickets. In
1982, 16,(XX) students requested and
purchased season tickets. This year
only 8,500 purchased season tick
ets.
Student season ticketsare priced
at $49. This price averages out to be
$7 a game which is less than half
Irate, he said. Selig said the decline
of student season ticket sales led to
a surplus of tickets at the beginning
oi mis year s season. I he excess
tickets were made available to the
public.
The price of football tickets for
the general public rose to from
$15.00 per game in 1987 to where it
now stands at $18.50. The three
dollar surcharge was added to fund
the Sapp Recreation Center.
He said more tickets were avail
able this year, but sales have been
constant for a number of years.
“The bottom line is even if we
had tickets to sell the first week of
games, we still have been sold
out,” he said.
The last time Memorial Stadium
did not sell out was Oct. 20, 1962,
when Nebraska played Kaasas State.
The following game against Mis
souri was the first sell out
Selig said 1 Iusker football is not
in jeopardy of losing its sell-out
streak.
He said next year’s more com
petitive schedule will contribute to
attendance of Husker football
games. Nebraska will bring in more
teams of higher quality and teams
which have a better following of
fans.
The allotment of visiting team
tickets plays a role in the amount of
tickets available Contracts are made
in advance with visiting teams to
reserve a maximum amount of 4,000
tickets for their fans.
"Nebraska football is a history
and tradition of fun and is an excit
ing event that’s captivated the en
tire state,” he said.
A trip through the inner realm
Victim learns telepathic togetherness in government acid
A few moments'silence, mind in
I a whir. This is unreal. I find her,
someone else in my own head. 1 sit
* up and look to the fence on the far
side of the green. Maybe she’ll be
over there. Heart pounding, I try to
see this other person. And I lose
her.
Close the eyes, try, try. "Where’d
you go? I just had you. I fell you,
know you’re there.” Nothing. An
ant tickles my hand. I flick it off and
watch it scramble out of sight, the
feeling totally gone.
• t • • t
Dammit! Where did he go? So
long, and 1 finally reached one of
them, and then blank. Lying here
with a book in the trees. 1 put it
down, drift a little and find him.
He’s got to be out there, waiting
somehow.
• t • • t
OK, 1 was lying down. There.
Like this Wondering where to get
some money, cash. I don’t want to
use my Card, but that’s all anyone
wants. 1 started at the base of the
tree, worked up the trunk inch by
inch.
By the first branch, money is
gone. I’m inthe tree. Yes, there was
the squirrel. Munching away like
there’s no one else in the world
And I wanted Dad to see it, to share
with someone. And there she w as
Wight there with me
t ♦ ♦ t #
Drake? What 1 Iappened? \\ e were
just there, then nothing
Stay in the trees. You’re by trees,
right?
Yes, and I wanted to show it to
someone, the way the leaves were.
We never . . . I’m Mary.
The trees, don’t lose the trees.
Okay. Where are you, what are you
doing?
The Muni Park, over on 100th.
You?
Downtown Green, close to the
river.
Have you been waiting for this?
1 mean all the other peoples’ im
ages and ideas, absolutely wild
stuff.
Sometimes. When I'm like this,
relaxed, letlinggo. 1’vebeen trying
Thi^was the first time I got through
to anyone.
Hut we weren’t trying to, that’s
the thing. Only when we quit,
closed our eyes and forgot —
We’ve got to meet. Can 1 seeyou
today?
’ ♦ * ♦ ♦ ♦
It’s kind of weird, being inside
someone’s head and then meeting
them.
She smiled a quick one and
answered, "Yeah, it started to bother
me, but now ! know it’s real, there
is a real person.” j
I think there are others. It seemed I
like a lot of people, intruders. I "
don’t know if they were trying
"When did it start?”
Two months ago maybe. 1 dis
appeared like you, only I didn’t
know it then. Felt like 1 slept awhile
is all. See, I thought my father’s
company wanted me back and was
just holding me.
“But they found you after some
one else did whatever?”
Right. They finally let me go, but
can come back for me any time.
“I’ve never I iked the mullis. They
have too much of everything."
There’s ups and downs. I wanted
to try some comp work on my own,
they wanted me. Then all this
happened.
"Why don’t we just go there?”
To LLT?
“No, 1 mean 2IC. You said you
think it’s them.”
What would we say? ‘Hi, we
think you, a respected 21st century
multinational corporation, kidnap
ped us and implanted telepathic
devices in our brains.’ Or maybe it
was a new government acid?Come
on, we don't stand a chance.
“Well, you sleep on it The extra
bed is over there It folds out of the
wall. 1 could never live in a sleeper
pod like you.”
You'd learn, if you had to.
Bryan Peterson is a senior psyehol
ojjy and philosophy major. This is the
fifth story in a eontinuinn series.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE'
Spring Semester
AGRICULTURAL CONCERNS
SEMINAR
WEDNESDAYS 3:00-5:00
East Campus Union
389 is recognized by most departments at UNL.
It can be used in most majors as an elective in
your major, towards your degree.
The call number may be obtained from
^_ Agricultural Hall, 472-2201, j
If you don't smoke, |
but still crave
100's, Join a
Harris study.
If you've broken away from
the pack, Harris has specific,
non-smoker studies just for
you. You can earn extra money
simply by participating in
studies that test consumer
products and medications.
If you're 19 or older and need
the cash, give Harris a call. It's
a good habit to get into.
I HARRIS
_I LABORATORIES, INC. 474-0627
See study listing ad in the Sunday Journal-Star
