Ah, Labor Day… the joys of three day weekends that are just perfect for little road trips. For example, you could take a little road trip to catch a football game. Oh, if you’re confused why Ault, CO is on that route, well, it might help if you knew who Nevada’s head coach is.

If you’ve never been to a big time college football game, go to one. UNR home games are fun and interesting, don’t get me wrong. Hearing 25,000 drunk people do their best to turn the aluminum architectural albatross known as Mackay Stadium into something closely approximating the Black Hole, only minus the face makeup, is quite interesting and enjoyable. It’s not terribly family friendly, mind you, but where else can you start a “The ref beats his wife!” chant and actually have people go along with it? That said, there’s something to be said for the big time - the pageantry of the marching band, the cheerleaders working together, the fans all going along with it and getting pumped up by insane amounts of school pride… seeing it in action is a very different experience.

It doesn’t get much more different than Nebraska.

To start with, Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium is a bit bigger - about 3-4 times bigger, to be exact. That, however, is the least interesting aspect of a Nebraska football game. First off, Nebraska fans are much friendlier than your common household UNR fan. They’re gracious to visitors to a fault - before my friend and I took our seats, we were repeatedly asked if we enjoyed our trip, if we were enjoying the stadium, how we thought the game would go, whether we were enjoying Nebraska’s hospitality, and so on. This extended in just about every aspect of the game, as it turned out, except for what happened on the field.

The differences didn’t end there, though.

They opened the stands an hour and a half before the game. Immediately, fans began to fill into the stadium. An hour before the game, the stands were at least a third full. Their team took to the field for warm-ups. Immediately, the fans cheered - the acoustics proved to be quite excellent. After a little longer, they announced the starting lineups. During this time, fans continued to fill the stadium, filling the stands with red. Meanwhile, the band began to filter in with significant pomp, firing up the fans even further. Finally, with half an hour to go before the game, the stands were full, the marching band took to the field, and played the first of many Nebraska-themed marches and fight songs. What they did next, though, still amazes me.

They pointed to the visitor’s section and played our fight song.

It didn’t just end there, though. As the game passed, I realized that their visitor’s section was the first area in the stadium to receive shade. Their refreshments were priced reasonably. There was virtually no hostility pointed towards our team. Also, the fans were incredibly well educated - when their offense took the field, you could hear a pin drop. When our offense took the field, though, the fans immediately ignited into a cacophony, making it almost impossible for anyone to hear themselves think. This went on throughout the first half - by the beginning of the second half, the game was under control well enough where the Nebraska fans were content to sit, watch the game, and just take it easy. Then, finally, at the end, before our team left the field, several dozen Nebraska fans lined up to give our team a standing ovation.

After leaving the game, it didn’t take long to learn that the politeness of Nebraskan fans didn’t end at the gates of Memorial Stadium. Everyone in Lincoln was so polite, it was scary. My friend consistently remarked that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night, lest the pod people claim him. While walking the streets that night, a couple of incidents immediately showed us how different Lincoln and Reno were. To understand these examples, it’s important to note that my friend was wearing a costume designed to resemble a Union officer’s uniform, something which would be met with extreme confusion and derision back home. The point of the outfit was to celebrate Nevada’s history in the Civil War, which was interesting since Nevada’s only contribution to the Civil War was in giving Lincoln enough Congressional votes to keep the war going. So, with that in mind…

- After we left a local sports bar, having refreshed our whistle and our bellies, we began to walk back to my truck (yes, I was sober - just drank tea). On the way back, a group of people stopped us and asked us what was up with the uniform. Years of conditioning taught us to be on our guard, but my friend answered truthfully. Instead of being difficult, the group of people said that they found his explanation interesting, that they originally thought he was about to act in a play, and that they hoped we enjoyed the game. They then left us on our way.
- On the way to the truck, a girl screamed at us, in the top of her lungs, “Your outfit looks HOT!” Now, we both knew she was being sarcastic, but the sarcasm was NICE. In Reno, we’re quite certain we would’ve been showered with warm beer, he would’ve been called all kinds of unsavory names, and we’d probably be missing a limb or two by the time we got to our truck, which would’ve been missing two tires and the radio.

Okay, now I’m exaggerating - Reno isn’t that bad. But, it’s definitely not that nice. Nobody is anywhere near that friendly there. Most people would’ve just ignored my friend back home, figuring that he was at least as dangerous as he would’ve thought they were.

No matter how you slice it, Nebraska is a very different place from home… and, crazy as it sounds, it’s good to be home. That level of niceness and politeness is just weird.