Friday - KC Tourists and the Big Game

In Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament, Paul and I played tourist on Friday. First things first - we shopped! We headed to the Legends Outlet Mall after a quick visit to the mecca - Cabelas where we scored a stainless steel tabletop grill for football tailgating. We'd been scoping it out for several months and it was on sale. Score!

Pablo checks out the cannons

Then - lunch at the Yard House. We like that place, and I must admit it. I needed a nice juicy burger to combat a bit of a hangover. I'm no longer built to withstand sipping adult bevvies all day. That hit the spot! Then we headed to the federal World War 1 Museum. What an interesting place. I learned a lot about a devastating war that I must admit I'd forgotten the much of the history of.

Belgian women embroidered flour bags as a way to thank Americans for sending food - so many starved during this war

The museum veranda overlooks the city - on a beautiful spring day - but as you can see from Paul's hair, it was a bit windy

Jud and Kara has to work Friday until mid-afternoon. I arranged to meet my college roomie Jane at Cyclone fave bar Kelly's in Westport to watch the game. We secured seats by 4 p.m. for the 6 p.m. game. The place was filling up fast! Jud and Paul headed to the Power and Light for the pep rally. They parked and chatted with our Athletic Director Jamie Pollard as they walked to the venue. Nice guy.

The game lined up like this - ISU vs. those other hawks - the Kansas Jayhawks. The Sprint Center was filled with a lot of bright blue, but ISU represented well. Plus all those other fans? Cheering for the underdog - the Clones. All day long - around Kansas City (wearing our ISU clothes) people wished our team good luck beating the Jayhawks. Either they like 'em down there...or not really. People like us in KC...they really like us. And our cash.

Jane and Barb (Iowa fan) - and a few of our friends in the background

Kelly's was filled with Cyclone fans. Enjoying beverages. I did a much better job of sipping my beverages - and drinking water alongside that night. I wanted to savor the game with my wits fully about me! There were several TVs visible. And some interesting Clone fans...we had fun bonding with them. There was:

Hauser Clone

• Cute UNI grad Clone fan (I know...and we thought they were all Hawkeye fans...) with his band of merry men that meet every year to watch the game at Kelly's
• Hauser Junior - the guy who was the "action clone" of my college buddy (and present friend) Steve Hauser. The guy even stood like him.
• Brokefoot Girl - she started out okay but got progressively drunker and shrieked. Sometimes for no reason. Irritating.
• High Five chick - I thought she might break my hand at one point. Then I could be Broke Hand girl. But we did have a lot to cheer about!  

The game. ISU started out hot. Then KU made a run and CFH (Coach Fred Hoiberg) received his second technical ever for doing very little. The game was fantastic - a dogfight early, but I was uncharacteristically confident. The crowd at Kelly's cheered wildly at every ISU basket. There were a lot of them. We made free throws down the stretch. One player left bleeding - but fist pumping.

Cute guy - yellow shirt, shrieker - far right

Paul joined us at Kelly's after the game - big hugs were shared. That was damn fun! I was exhausted and we headed back to our hotel by 11 p.m.  #old Winners. I love this team!

Guess who ran into the cheerleaders after the game....#happyboy