Dear Old Nebraska U. (Cont'd)

with diners and those on the waiting list - in the lobby and the bar - while the band played on.

Herbie tries to calm rowdy fans

Herbie circulated continuously - posing for photos, delivering high-fives - then a sing-song chant arose: "Barry Switzer... Barry Switzer...” and there he stood, leaning on the rail above.  Switzer came down, joined Johnny Rodgers - former Husker Heisman Trophy winner - and they moved through the restaurant, greeting friends and admirers.

Cap finished off a huge piece of chocolate mousse cake, paid his check, and surrendered his table to the next ravenous, lucky soul on the list.

He worked his way into the bar area, wall-to-wall now, as the band played "There is No Place Like Nebraska." The Cornhusker cheerleaders were standing on the oval bar, leading chants and cheers, during the brief respite between songs. “Go Big Red! Go Big Red!”

In the midst of the revelry, TC found a chair in the corner of the bar, as a tape of the 1971 Nebraska-Oklahoma “Game of the Century,” ran on a TV above. The band finished and climbed the stairs. They would be back at 8:30, when they would descend once more on a new crop of diners, and it would continue into the night.

Over 40 years of Friday nights, Saturdays and Saturday nights – to the enlightened fan, Misty’s in Lincoln is as much a part of a Husker football weekend as the N on the helmet.

As Cap eased out the door, he noticed Switzer’s ride – a bus-size motor home with Dallas Cowboys on the side – waiting at the curb. He headed back downtown. The streets were alive with Husker Faithful seeking food and fun, while Memorial Stadium glowed in the northern sky.

He stopped in at the bar on the Cornhusker second level for a nightcap and to receive the wisdom of the experts on hand. He wasn’t disappointed. The Huskers would roll tomorrow, "if they don’t beat themselves!” 

Back in his room, he closed his eyes, still dizzy from the merriment of Misty’s, and floated to sleep humming softly, "There is no place like Nebraska, Dear old Nebraska U..."

Out of the blackness, the wake-up call brought him back. He stumbled out of bed and opened the curtains. Switzer’s bus was parked below. And down the street, beaming in the sun atop the State Capitol Building Tower - the Sower shouted the proclamation: it’s gameday!

On the west side of the stadium, he bought his first gameday brat of the day - hot off the grill - and it warmed him all the way down. The crowd grew quickly, coming from all directions - south from downtown, across the pedestrian skyway on N.E. 10th, across the campus from the lots on the east side - all destined for Memorial and their beloved Huskers.

NU fans roll across the skyway

Cap moved through the crowd around the south end to the east side lawn, where tailgaters had gotten an early start, along with those in the lots northeast of the stadium and in virtually every open spot available.

He bought a delicious bowl of chili from the Alumni Association tent, and continued on around, back to the west side, as the Cornhusker Marching Band came down Stadium Blvd., blaring "Hail Varsity."

One couldn’t help but note that most Cornhusker fans wore a jacket - red, white, and black - in a seemingly endless variety of patterns. He counted 18 different jackets in a minute’s time - and was just getting started. It seemed the jackets were styled for the individual. Is that possible? Cap wondered. Hmmm...

The throng pressed forward and into Memorial Stadium - 78,000 eager and hopeful.

Inside, following warmups, the Cornhusker Marching Band took the field, circled up, facing out, with "March Grandioso,” then "No Place Like Nebraska."

Cap had just settled in to his seat, when the opening bass line of the Alan Parsons’ instrumental "Sirius" thundered over the PA speakers - announcing the build-up to the team run-out.

The two HuskerVision screens flashed scenes designed to excite and inspire the crowd. It worked, as all of a sudden, the screens were filled with the players in the “Tunnel Walk.”  Then, out from 

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