There's a tradition that occurs in this state every fall....
the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game. It's a deep hatred...rivalry between the two largest state universities. The rivalry started way back in 1894 and has largely been one sided...meaning Iowa has won most of the games.....until recently. Since 1998, Iowa State has been favored winning 8 games to Iowa's 6.
I was fortunate to be on the ISU dance team in '98 when we went to Kinnick stadium in Iowa City (home of the Hawkeyes) and watched the Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes 27-9....after 15 straight years of Iowa winning the Cy- Hawk Trophy. I'll never forget it...and the score helps me remember my friend Laura's birthday every year...:)
My Dad and I after the game in 1998....
This game is always important to me because I grew up about 30 miles from the University of Iowa while being the child of two parents that graduated from Iowa State University. We always caught flack...and there is nothing cockier than a Hawk fan. They are completely delusional when it comes to their football team.
Now, I have no problem with a good rivalry...it's healthy. What I do have a problem with is cocky, obnoxious, trash talking Hawkeye fans....that have NEVER gone to school there!...or have ever stepped a toe on the Iowa campus...or who probably weren't smart enough to get into Iowa in the first place. If you are an alum from Iowa...more power to you...trash talk all you want...you have the right to. But if you don't have a degree from Iowa then don't email me or write on my facebook page about how 'your team' is going to crush Iowa State this weekend.
So the annual game was this weekend....I hate this game....it was in Ames and Nathan wanted to go. I was grumpy and irritable the whole way to the game...have I mentioned that I hate this game? That was part of the beauty of Texas...I could watch the game without being surrounded by Hawks and if we lost I didn't have to hear about it all the time...and if we won, then great!! The distance was good. I can't stand watching us lose to the Hawkeyes.
But we headed up to Ames and into Jack Trice Stadium...
We only had hillside tickets and I watched with gritted teeth the entire game. ISU has this nasty little habit of completely screwing ourselves over whenever we have a good chance to score.
Surprisingly, we were tied up at halftime, so I was breathing a little easier. But then Iowa scored in the second half and we were behind again....
During the second half I found myself standing next to the student section. The students are awesome and are usually pretty pumped up. One particular reason I like standing next to them is that they have this one particular chant....that includes some profanity....that they like to chant specifically at the Iowa game. I may or may not have joined in this profanity laced chant a few times at the top of my lungs...I won't divulge such information.
We were behind up until the last few minutes of the game....when we scored and tied it up sending us into overtime.
Three overtimes to be exact and ISU wins!!! 44-41....it was AWESOME!!! The entire stadium went crazy and the students rushed the field...
A sea of cardinal and gold.....
The coveted Cy-Hawk Trophy was ours once again....
What an awesome game to return 'home' to...
The game had an early kickoff so we stuck around and tailgated after the game rather than sit and fight traffic....and one can't really tailgate without your rolling cooler of beer and hard lemonade...
As we were heading out of town we drove through campus...we gnashed our teeth at Gilman hall...home of the dreaded chemistry department...and fondly remembered the campanile on central campus....ISU really has one of the prettiest college campuses ever...it's on a list somewhere....
My suppressed ISU football fan has been awakened....now I can get excited about the season...now that the Hawk fans have been silenced!
No comments:
Post a Comment