Nebraska

I saw my first live UFC fights in Omaha last night, and the headliner was Nebraska's very own Jake Ellenberger! You know how in football they sometimes call the crowd "the twelfth man" because they can affect the game with their noise? Well, last night the crowd was trying to be Jake's right hand man! The intensity of the crowd cheering for him was off the charts. I was not fond of them booing his opponent, Diego Sanchez, but I'm sure if Diego had not been fighting against our hometown boy, they probably would have cheered for him.

Neither fighter disappointed, it was a fantastic match! They were on their feet for most of it, and Jake took the first two rounds. Towards the end of the last round they went to the ground, and Diego started raining down punches. It looked like Jake's hopes for a win might be ending right there, with only about forty seconds left in the fight. The crowd went insane, yelling at Jake to get out of there before the ref called it. At that moment, I think the sound level might have even rivaled Memorial Stadium on a Husker game day (although our crowd was much smaller).  Now, I don't really know if the crowd noise had anything to do with it, but Jake mustered up the energy to escape just before the bell rung. And the winner by unanimous decision is  Jake "Juggernaut" Ellenberger!

Jake's win last night, coupled with the fact that last Sunday's "Walking Dead" was titled "Nebraska", leads me to conclude that Nebraska's time has finally come. All other states shall now fear and praise us!

Fun fact: "Nebraska" is a Native American word that means "nothing of value here". 

Ha, I just totally made that up! It really means "flat water".