throughthesegatesHail Mary Isn't Always A Religious Term
Through These Gates
Football Documentary
 
Interviewed Include: Tom Osborne, Charlie McBride, Gordon Wilson, Al Larson, Tommy Frazier, Johnny Rodgers, Jerry Tagge, Andy Hoffman, Gordon Wilson, Eric Crouch, Clayton Anderson, Kent Pavelka, Roger Lindstrom, Larry The Cable Guy, Tom Rathman and Barry Switzer
Director: Ryan Tweedy
Scriptwriter: Nate Holbrook
FIC Productions
Rating: PG
Running Length: 86 Minutes
www.huskerfilm.com
Screened at the Kansas International Film Festival (KIFF) Oct. 12, 2014
 
“Through These Gates” (Pass The Greatest Fans In College Football) is on the entry to Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska, the home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and, also, the only unicameral state government. Here it is sports…and football as seen through the eyes of Nebraska Cornhusker fans. You could film this documentary in any sport from basketball  to baseball (currently, the Kansas City Royals) to hockey to soccer to rugby, and still find the camaraderie of people loving the physicality of the human body in motion. There is just something about the Midwest and sports. I learned a long time ago that a "Hail Mary" wasn't always a religious term and that the kicker is one of the most important players on the team.
 
Director Ryan Tweedy took to the road in Nebraska and received comments from past Nebraska football players such as Johnny Rodgers, Eric Crouch and Tommy Frazier, then on to famed Nebraska coach Tom Osborne. The word are  the same---these fans are some of the politest in college football. For example, in California, “California Fans for Nebraska” are familiar groupings in  California Nebraska football-friendly restaurants. When a California high school student was being scouted for Nebraska, the local Nebraska fans came in red shirts to his games to cheer him on. A second-home welcome.
 
Tailgaters, sometimes the flavor of sports, are equally polite and fathers proudly say they tell their sons to say. “Yes, Ma’am,” “No Ma’am” or “Thank you, Ma’am.”  Former Oklahoma coach, Barry Switzer said that Nebraska fans are one of the few college football schools to applaud the opposing players as they leave the field, whether Nebraska won or not. For a state that has less than 2,000,000 population, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, has sold out consistently since 1962.
 
The documentary has a bit of tongue-in-cheek with Larry The Cable Guy (from Nebraska) making an appearance, a lesson in actual corn husking, views of rolling Nebraska prairie and beautiful vista scenes to Cornhusker memorabilia, and a tribute to the late Nebraska player, Brook Berringer, who died in a plane crash. There is not as much game playing as one would like.
 
Tom Osborne states, “Winning is up there with oxygen.” No need to say, “Game on,” it is always on throughout the state. Go Big Red.

 
Copyright 2014 Marie Asner