ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, October 29, 2004 7:00 pm
Steadfast Missouri fan Al Roever wasn't there physically Saturday, but his family felt his presence.
"We are missing one person although he is here," grandson Rich Borman said as he joined family members from the St. Louis suburbs for a tailgate party outside Memorial Stadium.
"I think he's in that stadium somewhere."
Al Roever died in February at age 76. That was eight months before Borman, a Gordon native and ardent Cornhusker fan, returned from California with wife Kristin to witness a 24-3 Nebraska victory.
"I've been a Nebraska fan my whole life, and this is actually Kristin's and my first home game," he said. "It's great. I love it."
Last season, Roever, ill for the first time with what turned out to be terminal cancer, sat in the parking lot in Columbia and watched jubilant Tiger fans carry the goal posts past his camper as they celebrated a 41-24 win over the Huskers.
"The second half was probably the best half of Missouri football ever, and he didn't see it," Borman said.
Borman's grandmother, tears streaming down her face one minute and laughing the next, joined in reliving those memories and others of her late husband as she waited for Saturday's kickoff.
One of the memories that brought a smile to Hazel Roever's face was of what friends watching Tiger games on television used to say when things weren't going well for Al's team.
"At home, they'd say Al's at the bus now."
Going back to the camper and having a bloody Mary by himself was often a more attractive option than watching to the end for him and for those who had been sitting next to him.
"It was better that way," Hazel Roever said.
Keith Roever, Borman's uncle, was trying to sound gracious about the outcome of last year's Tiger-Husker game before he headed to his seat for Saturday's contest.
"We just want to see a good game. That means Missouri wins, but it's close."
Confidence, of course, required the family's Missouri fans to look past last weekend's loss at home to Oklahoma State, which happened after Missouri blew a 17-0 lead.
Hazel Roever said that turn-around wasn't really so hard to take.
"We're so used to it," she said. "That's the bad news."
Before watching the Huskers take Missouri 24-3, Borman tried to sound upbeat about the ups and downs of what already has been a long season for his favorite team.
"We need to make the next transition," he said of Nebraska's switch to a more wide-open offense. "Oklahoma went through it. They brought in Stoops, and look what he's done with that program."
But Kristen Borman said she hasn't always looked that content with the rate of progress back home in California.
"The TV remote can't take much more abuse."
Her husband sounded a bit apologetic about showing up Saturday for his first home game ever in a gray Nebraska pullover, rather than red. But he pointed quickly to his wife's red pants.
"She's got red on, so I'm just going to hold her up upside down," he said.
Reach Art Hovey at (402) 523-4949 or ahovey@alltel.net.