At left - home sweet home at Cyclone games is this RV. Above - I'm slicin' deer sausage for after the game.
The Big Game - turned out to be torture for anyone in cardinal and gold. Yuck!! Hope our team puts that one in the rear view mirror. Besides the game, twas a good time though! But if you're me (and I am) that butt ugly loss just digs away in the back of your psyche for a few days. Until the next game that is.
Why do I care so much? I don't know. It's stupid, really. And I know it, really. I've given myself all the talks. I've said (inside my mind as I don't talk out loud to myself except for brief profanity based bursts when I've done something stupid), "Self, it's just a stupid f'in game, in the grand scheme of life it's not much really!" But self refuses to listen to the voice of reason.
Why don't I listen to my inner wise person? I think it's my ego, and my eternal underdog feeling. After 15 straight years of being pummeled by the Hawkeyes (the 80's and partway through the 90's), who enjoy a much greater fanbase made up largely of what we call Tavern Hawks - those who are fair weather fans with no real attachment to the school except for tee shirts.
The Hawks have a larger fan base with good reason as they have routinely been to bowl game in the last decade or two. I've become very spiteful towards spouting Hawkeye fans. I've had to listen to their pompous shit for all these years - Ames is Lame, ISU teams are clowns, we're only weak sisters. I had to hear school kids tease my kids about their ISU leanings - even though those leanings were forced upon them by Pablo and me.
True and loyal U of I fans aren't the culprits. Hey my parents and grandparents were Hawk fans. I grew up a lil Hawk - when they were really bad in the 70's. But it's the people like a couple guys in our group saw in the men's bathroom before the game. Spouting off to total strangers about how great their team is (after nearly losing at home to UNI last weekend) while spouting into a urinal!
It takes great fortitude to be a Cyclone fan. I've got it! But days like yesterday sorely test me - and make me glad I can lick my wounds with other like-minded folk at the tailgate. Two years ago, when ISU surprised the ranked Hawkeyes by winning, only 1 lonely Iowa fan returned to our tailgate after the game. Yesterday, all of them showed back up - singing the Iowa fight song and razzing us. And those were people we fed and liquored up! Thank God that game is only 1 time per year. As Popeye says "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!"
Cyclones - eat your spinach in find a way to beat Kent State. Please! Iowa - lose all the rest of your games.
Why do I care so much? I don't know. It's stupid, really. And I know it, really. I've given myself all the talks. I've said (inside my mind as I don't talk out loud to myself except for brief profanity based bursts when I've done something stupid), "Self, it's just a stupid f'in game, in the grand scheme of life it's not much really!" But self refuses to listen to the voice of reason.
Why don't I listen to my inner wise person? I think it's my ego, and my eternal underdog feeling. After 15 straight years of being pummeled by the Hawkeyes (the 80's and partway through the 90's), who enjoy a much greater fanbase made up largely of what we call Tavern Hawks - those who are fair weather fans with no real attachment to the school except for tee shirts.
The Hawks have a larger fan base with good reason as they have routinely been to bowl game in the last decade or two. I've become very spiteful towards spouting Hawkeye fans. I've had to listen to their pompous shit for all these years - Ames is Lame, ISU teams are clowns, we're only weak sisters. I had to hear school kids tease my kids about their ISU leanings - even though those leanings were forced upon them by Pablo and me.
True and loyal U of I fans aren't the culprits. Hey my parents and grandparents were Hawk fans. I grew up a lil Hawk - when they were really bad in the 70's. But it's the people like a couple guys in our group saw in the men's bathroom before the game. Spouting off to total strangers about how great their team is (after nearly losing at home to UNI last weekend) while spouting into a urinal!
It takes great fortitude to be a Cyclone fan. I've got it! But days like yesterday sorely test me - and make me glad I can lick my wounds with other like-minded folk at the tailgate. Two years ago, when ISU surprised the ranked Hawkeyes by winning, only 1 lonely Iowa fan returned to our tailgate after the game. Yesterday, all of them showed back up - singing the Iowa fight song and razzing us. And those were people we fed and liquored up! Thank God that game is only 1 time per year. As Popeye says "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!"
Cyclones - eat your spinach in find a way to beat Kent State. Please! Iowa - lose all the rest of your games.
6 comments:
There is a lot to be said for loyalty.
I'll take loyalty over popularity anyday!
As somone who has watched the Hawkeyes relentlessly since graduating from Iowa in '95, I sure didn't expect yesterday's game to go as smoothly for Iowa as it did. I think ISU has a good coach in Paul Rhodes and I look forward to seeing the Cyclones win some conference games this year. Good luck!
Gee if all Hawk fans were like you...I might not have such a low opinion of most of ya'll. Thanks for helping see that there are some decent fans out there - I do know a few here where we live, but those on message boards in cyberspace can be jerks. I do like Paul Rhodes, and I hope he coaches at ISU for a long time - because that will mean we're a happy fan base!
Well...we (imposter Paul and I) are both Iowa grads with other strong ties to the Hawks, too. We were thrilled to win that game after attending Iowa's previous week's game when we decided we should book a real vacay over winter break rather than depend on an Iowa bowl game. We always cheer for ISU except when they play Iowa--good luck for the rest of the season! We loved McCarney and hope Rhodes is great for your team.
wow, lots of comments on this post. i still don't understand team spirit. i don't know any of the players personally and football bores me. maybe if it were an isu vs. iowa cookie baking contest or top model face-off, i'd care.
you know, i'm a Cyclone, too. i also have a degree from U of I, but I forget that when it's game time. In SW Iowa, I especially dislike Big Red!!
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