Dear Abby: How important are the Huskers?

The famed gossip columnist Dear Abby has learned a lot about Husker fans over the last month or so. Back on January 6th, she published a letter from a new bride who's father skipped the reception to catch a college football game. At the time, Abby thought it was just her father showing disapproval of the marriage.

Of course, she never took into consideration the devotion of Husker fans. And thus, has devoted an entire column to the responses to that letter. Of course, you'll see similar responses from folks in Texas, Oklahoma, and other states where football is akin to a state religion.

I can speak firsthand to this situation. When my wife-to-be and I were planning our wedding, we were faced with a dilemma. Do we wait until after football season or not? We chose a bye week instead, as we knew what would happen. My parents even told me that if I needed to schedule it on a game day, they would understand. Our decision was clear... we weren't going to schedule it on a Husker game day because (a) we wouldn't want to skip the game either and (b) it would be a huge distraction for most folks. Another couple we know had set their wedding for the last Saturday in August after carefully checking the football schedules, only to have the Huskers schedule one of those "Pigskin Classic" extra games after the deposits were down and the date was already set.