Get To Know the CornNation Staff: Andy Ketterson

I am a person that tends to skirt around the edges of bothersome situations. I want everyone to be happy and unscathed at the end. My way rarely works. Andy on the other hand, has the ability to cut through the crap and state the unvarnished truth without being a jerk about it. Not a bad thing for someone whom I suspect has Cobby living in his basement...

Follow Andy on twitter @andykett20

How did you become a Husker fan?

Andy: Moved here from NC in 77 then decided to actually attend Lincoln. My father and uncle went to Georgia, so I grew up all about the Bulldogs. It took a little while to flip - the stadium experience for college students in the 80's was best described as "inmates getting their hour in the yard". If you were under 30, security and the State Patrol regarded you as a felony waiting to happen while escorting the gray hairs and their coolers to their seats. "Down in front!" was chanted more than "Go Big Red!" But somewhere along the line, Big Red won me over and I never looked back.

If you traveled forward in time and learned that the Huskers never win a Big Ten title or a national title ever again - would you still cheer for them?

Andy: Wait. Couldn't I just stay there and wait to see what happened in the next 30 years or so?

What is your favorite Husker-related memory?

The drunken living dogpile after Miami was vanquished. That beautiful night in the desert watching Florida get beaten every which way. Waking up the morning after the Tennessee game hungover and having to have it explained to me that the reason there was a road cone in my bedroom was that I had apparently wanted a souvenir from the casino parking lot to remember that split national title by.

None of those held a candle to the 52-7 Colorado beatdown in Lincoln Tommie Frazier's freshman year. You had to be there to understand just how galling several years of losing to Colorado had been. They had not just been beating the Huskers, but they had been doing it while running their mouths non-stop with their fans behaving even more insufferably. The fact that they stuffed a national title in the midst of all that was beyond painful.

However, in 1992, that all came to an end. To be there and witness what an utter beatdown that was provided as much elation as I ever experienced as a Husker fan. The sense that a page had turned was written on everyone's faces. Koy Detmer ran for his life and the Kordell replaced him and began his string of Husker fold-o's. When Deon Figures came up to lay Frazier out with a big hit and Tommie jumped to his feet and got in his face, he spoke for a Husker Nation that was done taking crap from a bunch of convicted felons, doucheknuckle loudmouths and their pious jackass of a coach. Yes, I still get fired up thinking about it.

When the gun sounded, there was no polite clapping for the visitor. In the midst of the field being stormed, there was a human tunnel formed that verbally assaulted the Buffaloes as they walked back to their locker room. The veneer of the gracious hosts from Lincoln fell away in a celebration of glorious fury. (I will credit the Buffaloes for not starting what would have been the most awful incident in Husker history. Some yelled back, but no punches were thrown.)

52-7  You had to be there and I was.

Do you have any "superstitions" or routines that you have to do on game day?  How or why did that particular routine/superstition evolve?

I hit the can while reading the paper for a half hour or so when I wake up. It developed because I started drinking on Friday nights and making dinner decisions based on said drinking.

What is something non-Husker related about you that people here at CornNation would be surprised or interested to know?

That I actually have a son who's about to be a freshman at UNL and a daughter entering her sophomore year in high school and they're both relatively normal. Relatively. The same people are not shocked in the least to learn that I'm divorced. No horrible stories there, she's remarried to a good guy and everyone gets along. OK, there's something else surprising.

You’re on an island with the CN Staff. Who do you kill and eat first?

I'm gonna wait till I see the pictures from these articles and obviously go for the fattest. OK, I just failed a test. You didn't say anything about it being a deserted island with no hope of rescue. Dammit, man.

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ICYMI: Andy recently produced this year's installment in his five-decade series on the top 50 sports movies of all time. His choice? #46 Bloodsport

He was also granted special dispensation to write about a non-Husker team on CN as he extolled the virtues of UNO hockey before their recent Frozen Four appearance.