the remaking of a kitchen

i'm not sure where the time has gone since our quick trip to california. i guess it has something to do with being in nebraska twice since then, once for the funeral of my cousin who was way too young to die, and this weekend for nebraska sports.
we made plans some months ago to meet patrick at the spring game and he brought his friend adam whom we haven't seen for some years. it was a great game....really just a scrimmage, but still dear to the hearts of the rabid fans. they said over 77,000 were in attendance. truly amazing!
as i have to say, we won! we had to as it was the red team playing the white team and they were both nebraska. it's always fun and it was just a beautiful day.....clear and sunny and warm. it was warmer than we expected but who's to complain about that?!
after the game we met up with kari and brian and their 3 kids as well as brian's dad. he was the photographer for the shots of all of us together. (i think i have to explain my lumpiness in the photo. that is the result of being told i could NOT bring my backpack into the stadium. i stuffed field glasses, camera, etc etc into every pocket available and wore my coat which was not what i intended.) after photos, brian took the boys on the bus and on to his sister's house, and kari and kelsey came with don and i to wander around lincoln until brian reappeared to have dinner with us. we ate more than necessary at old chicago pizza and then on to the coliseum to watch the volleyball team play university of illinois. the latter team seemed to be very good. it was announced that it was agreed that the teams would play 5 sets no matter what the score. in other words, if one team won the first 3, still 2 more sets would ensue. so, nebraska ended up winning, but it was anything but easy. quite a struggle in fact by seemingly well matched teams. lots of mistakes on nebraska's side, and quick reactions by illinois. our coach said he still has concerns, but it's just exhibition season, and one player is still recovering from shoulder surgery, and one has mono and another didn't play for some reason. the season looks hopeful.

Labels: football, patrick, spring game, volleyball, wrightsmans

i'm so slow getting this written, but finally here it is. we were among the 77,000+ fans watching the spring game in lincoln last weekend. the weather report was dire, rain, possible thunder and lightning....just a mess at game time. then they showed bob devaney on the jumbo tron and the sun came out! really. :) it was so warm i had to remove a couple of layers of clothing and in jeans and a red t-neck i was still very warm but just couldn't go any further. there are limits.
patrick joined us at the game and kari and her family were in the next section up about 10+ rows, but we were both on the edge of our sections with a couple of fences inbetween, but we could actually touch hands across the wires! it was fun.....warm, active, loud and all the rest. the players seemed to have come a long way since the scrimmage last year. they knew what they were doing and where they were supposed to be. last year coaches were on the field behind them calling out directions. not so this time! some nice passes, nice runs, good tackles and blocks. i liked it a lot.
a field load of kids with parents were out at half time to take their pledges, ron brown to the parents and joey ganz to the kids. it was an enthusiastic group who had to be reminded and then coaxed off the field when play was to begin.
i always feel pride at how many attend, and the whole presentation: the kids, and parents and the players themselves. pretty cool. there were a lot of possible recruits in attendance too, so we will see what happens with them. i think there was one oral commitment given for 2010, hopefully more to come.
we were to meet dave and lea at the players statue on the east side of the stadium and were surprised to find kari and fam there too with brian's parents. good to see them again and exchange some hugs. we bid them good bye and headed off to yia yia's for pizza and beer. it was good to finally be able to get together with dave and lea...one of always seems to have a conflict, so this was a treat. the pizza, beer and conversation was great. when we parted, they returned home to cb, patrick went off to meet his friends and we went back to our motel for the night.
our plans to meet up with david and kyla on sunday fell through, so we headed to omaha and got a bit of lunch. i was able to meet up with kay lynn and we took a walk through our old neighborhood and caught up on family news. that was really lovely. we met dick and judy for dinner later that day and we wisely declined their invite to "gone with the wind". they had forgotten how l-o-n-g the movie lasted. :)
it was great to see them and get to visit without the movie.
the next morning we were up early and out to see the eye doctor. 8:20 and 8:40 appts! egads! we were there early if you can believe it. all was well. we checked out of the motel and were home before 6 that evening. a good weekend for sure!!

Labels: eye docs, judy and dick, kay lynn, pizza, spring game

we just returned from the spring game weekend in lincoln. it was a full and busy weekend, with the game a highlight! there were amazing lines of people with general admission tickets waiting to be admitted to the stadium. the attendance was flashed up on the big display sign as 80,149 - that would be for a scrimage. amazing. it felt good to actually want to be there again, to want to be a part of the whole thing after four depressing years. there were a lot of symbolic things, the one being a triple option on the first play of the game, in honor of tom osborne. that was wrecked by a defensive player blocking the pass, but hey, after last years' defensive play it was a bit of a celebration!
it was hard to say what the situation will be next year. in general, i just have to say that it FEELS better. the defense was running to the ball, and looked like they knew what they were doing, and felt good about it. they looked like a team. there were mistakes and that's to be expected. it's a new system, and there are a lot of guys who haven't played previously. sadly, some of them have been around for 4 years, and their main problem may have been the lack of stars bestowed on them by the rating gurus. one of those guys was the one making the fantastic block on the first play! they are so glad to finally have a chance. this group of coaches made it clear that every one was starting out fresh. it didn't make any difference what they'd done in the past, they had to perform now and would be graded on that.
one thing that i'd not seen previously was the presence of several coaches on the field during the game. they were in the backfield, obviously observing, and some times calling out directions to players. they always seem to be teaching. this group seems to realize that these are student athletes and they need to be taught how to play the game.....it's a lot different than playing in high school!

Labels: new system, spring game