Soccer Matches In Omaha and The Ho Ho Guy
More royalist than the king
The trip to Omaha was fantastic and gave me memories that will remain with me my whole life. One of the best attractions was the University of Nebraska (Omaha) Soccer games. The Soccer stadium was beautiful and comparable to international stadiums. Usually, when hanging around we used to see the youngsters practicing there. One attraction towards the game was I love Soccer but another big reason for attending and watching these games was to get the free meal.
The first game I witnessed was on 1st September 2024, between the University of Nebraska Omaha women's Soccer team vs. Drake University women's Soccer team. It was a Sunday evening, and the weather was beautiful, in the evening the Caniglia Field stadium looked awesome, with Lush green grass, a beautiful environment, a nice place for the audience to sit, A big screen, Cheer Girls, a loud audience it was really a vibrant environment. There were some students with drums and vuvuzela, and both teams came to the field then there was the national anthem of the USA, and we all stood up in respect of the National anthem as we do for the Pakistani national anthem, as the game started we all were cheering for the UNO team as it is our own team. One of our mates went too far; he joined the group with drum and vuvuzela and started shouting and chanting UNOOOOOO, UNO, HO HO, UNOOOOOOO, UNO, HO HO, it was fun, we all enjoyed his energy, at the half time of the game we all received some meals which were one of our goals, in the next half the team added to our joy and the UNO team won the game 2–0.
After the exciting match between UNO and Drake, we were eager to witness the next one, this time between UNO’s men’s team and Houston Christian. Again the stunning views of Caniglia Field the electric environment, The rhythmic beats of drums and vuvuzelas, cheer girls, and again we were there for some free meals and the football game, this time we were more emotional during the US national anthem as we spent some more time in the US, we were not only standing in respect but our hands were on our hearts, the UNO team scored early and we all were jumping and dancing with the joy, our mate the HO HO guy again left us and joined the cheering team, but this time his voice and chanting outclassed everyone, even there was a time when all the students of UNO were quiet and watching the HO HO guy as he was shouting and chanting again the same words UNOOOOO, UNO, HO HO, UNOOOOOO, UNO, HO HO, for the first time we enjoyed it but this time it looked he was more royalist than the king, his shouts and chants were surrounded in all the ground all the audience was looking at him, the game drawn as the Huskies fought back.
The next game was between the UNO men’s team vs. Drake University men’s team, The more games I witnessed at Caniglia Field, the more I was impressed by the place. It was beautiful, clean, and had a fantastic atmosphere. On the big screen, you can watch the game, can see the replays, and to my amazement, the decisions were reviewed by the VAR system, it was just a game between two universities but equipped with all the facilities of international games, if I consider it with Pakistan, the most popular sport here is cricket, I am sure if two universities are playing a cricket match there wouldn’t be Third umpire system or decision review system (DRS), available there. The HO HO guy was even more enthusiastic this time, last time, the audience and the students of UNO were in awe of the ‘Ho Ho’ guy, but this time they welcomed him gave him the key spot, and added their voices to his and chanted along with him. But it was embarrassing, I think he went too far, he just became a joke but didn’t care. After the game on our way back home, we met our mentor, Mr. Sherjan, he started chanting on the way, Sherjaaan, sherjan, HO HO, meri jan, teri jan, Sherjan Sherjan, all the pedestrians were looking at us but Sherjan smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.
We had our final presentations at UNO, I don’t know how. But the HO HO guy ended up in my group. I made the whole presentation, I conceived the whole idea, the other members of the group did their input and I changed things accordingly, but the HO HO guy took the first letter of all the group members’ names and made an acronym “WARIS”, and emphasized on us to add this as a slide, it looked childish to us but on his insistence we did it. When the presentation was completed, I thought I would present the first part as I conceived the whole idea, I knew better than all, and all the others agreed but the HO HO guy said he would take the first part, I didn’t want any confrontation so I agreed. We all decided that we would speak for 3 mins each, on the day of the presentation the HO HO guy started speaking when the 3 mins were over I signaled him that time was over but he kept on speaking and he took 5 mins, as I was the last person of the group for me only 1 min was remaining and I wind up my things in that 1 min.
After the presentation, he appreciated me, praised me for my hard work on the presentation, and acclaimed my behavior, tolerance, and cooperation. He was undoubtedly an interesting guy. He was immensely talented, but he always wanted to be in the limelight, which, in my opinion, is not very bad. He could do it with his talents, not alone through his chantings and slogans.
