Does your college town suck? University of Nebraska

STOP LETTING GO OF THOSE DAMN BALLOONS!!!

New to the line up this season: we will be examining the various college towns of Wisconsin’s opponents. We’ll be answering all of the important questions – Is it a state capital? What is the population? Does it have a Culver’s?

Facts:

City: Lincoln, Neb.

Size: 97.59 square miles

Location: 40°48′32″N 96°40′44″W

Population: 291,082 (2020)

State Capital? Yes

Time zone: Central

Landmarks: Nebraska State Capitol, Haymarket District, Sunken Gardens, International Quilt Study Center & Museum

About:

Lincoln is the second largest city in Nebraska, behind only Omaha.

Lincoln was founded in 1856 as the village of Lancaster and became the county seat for the newly created Lancaster County. Lancaster was located on the east bank of Salt Creek, which is what attracted early settlers to the area, due to the abundance of salt, which was used primarily in the preservation of meat.

Basically, the salt was like the spice in Dune. They even had the enormous worms that ate everything that caused a commotion on the surface.

Or not, I dunno.

Lancaster was chosen as the new state capital in 1867 and two months later, it changed its named to Lincoln. By 1868 the city grew from 30 to 500 residents. A year later in 1869, the University of Nebraska was established by the state with a land grant of about 130,000 acres. 1869 was also the year that Lincoln became incorporated.

If you’re a fan of patchwork, applique, or English Paper Piecing, hold on to your forking hat…Lincoln is home to the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. Now, you would expect this type of museum to be in your grandma’s basement, but it’s actually in a very modern looking building.

The International Quilt Study Center & Museum showcases 400 years of quilting with 3,500 items from more than 30 countries. Cross stitch your way from exhibit to exhibit and lose your shit over the patterns and fabric.

The museum hosts many traveling exhibits as well.

Bars:

Barry’s Bar and Grill, which is undoubtedly named after the Don himself, Barry Alvarez, who played linebacker at Nebraska and spent a couple of years coaching high school football in Lincoln. Barry’s is located in downtown Lincoln with a large outdoor patio and an assortment of televisions. It is a staple for students that are of age on gamedays.

The Railyard, which actually sounds like a cool place, isn’t one bar or restaurant, it is an entertainment district located within Lincoln’s historic Haymarket District. The Railyard is a collection of 13 bars and restaurants, with picnic tables and a mega screen to watch the game. It is located across the street from Nebraska’s basketball arena.

Lincoln, while it is a hellscape, likely covered in corn, does have multiple Culver’s restaurants.

Stadium:

Memorial Stadium is considered one of the “Cathedrals of College Football,” according to The Sporting News (and no one else) and one of the most intimidating locations to play in all sports, per the Huskers’ website. But Wisconsin is 3-1 there since Nebraska joined the Big Ten.

Checking in at a capacity of 85,458, Memorial Stadium is quite the massive stadium regularly filled with upset Huskers, due to the team’s recent troubles. However, the stadium usually has closer to 90,000 fans in attendance.

Memorial Stadium is home to one of the dumbest traditions in sports. Following Nebraska’s first touchdown of the game, fans release red balloons into the atmosphere. As you can imagine, plenty of people have been against this tradition which started in the 1960s. Not surprising because that CANNOT be good for the environment.

In 2018, one of the balloons was even found in New York, by a biologist that was cleaning up an area of the beach in East Hampton, NY.

Good news for Earth though, the Nebraska student government voted to end the tradition just this month. They unanimously supported a resolution, authored by Kat Woerner to encourage stopping the balloon release.

“The damage to wildlife such as turtles, birds, and deer who mistake the balloons for food is why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a statement urging people to stop releasing balloons and also why numerous states, cities, and even countries have passed laws to ban and enforce penalties for balloons releases including Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia,” Woerner said.

Nebraska is the ONLY school in the nation that is still tone deaf when it comes to environmental issues and releasing balloons into the atmosphere.

Does your college town suck?

Unless you love corn, quilts and have a general disregard for the environment, Lincoln sucks.

Not to mention, Nebraska has a dry campus, meaning that it does not permit alcohol possession or consumption anywhere on campus.

ANYWHERE.

Of any of the places that needs alcohol on campus, it’s Lincoln.

Those poor students… may a tornado take them far far away from that awful place.

But, safely… ya know.