igo4uni
September 18th, 2005, 12:05 PM
Well, igo4uni made the trip south to Iowa City, Iowa yesterday. And I thought I would give you guys my thoughts and impressions of the game and the Iowa City game day experience.
The experience:
It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with temperatures around 80 and bright sunshine. My buddy and I arrived in Iowa City around 11:00 am. As we got close to the stadium area, it was obvious that it was gameday in Iowa City. Excitement was in the air (along with smoke from many grills!). We parked about 1/2 mile from the stadium and hauled our beer cooler closer to the action. My buddy knew someone who knew someone who lived in a house just off of Melrose Ave. very close to Kinnick stadium. We set up shop there and enjoyed the generosity of the host who insisted that we eat and drink until bursting. I was feeling very good after a few beers and was really soaking in the atmosphere. Everywhere I looked I saw people partying and having fun. I had my UNI jersey on, and was treated with kindness and respect. Not even the drunk Iowa students had anything bad to say. After a while it was time to grab a few beers and walk around and check out the scene. What a scene it was: People tailgating, music blaring, beer & brats being consumed, and more beer being consumed. :) I was impressed with the sheer number of big motor homes in one of the tailgating lots. When I hit the lotto, I am going to buy a big a** motor home and travel to all of the UNI games and tailgate in style!! We saw a guy on a bike pulling a trailer behind him: in the trailer a music system powered by a lawn mower battery blasting out tunes. After a while we were running low on beer and it was a long trek back to our cooler, so we found some UNI folks who were tailgating with some Iowa fans and asked them if we could purchase a few beers. They would have nothing of it and insisted that we take their ice cold beer without charge. Very nice of them, I thought. I found myself wondering what kind of financial donation it took to be able to park those big RVs so close to the stadium. I am guessing many thousands of dollars. After walking around some more we headed back to the house, ate some more, drank some more, and got ready to head over to the game. It was sold out and many people were offering to buy and sell tickets near the entrance gates. As we took our seats I looked around and thought to myself, 70,000 people doesn't look like that many, really.
The game:
Iowa took the first drive and ran it down UNIs throat. UNI could not stop the run. Drew Tate looked really good. It was 14-0 before I knew it. UNI had a tipped pass picked off and Iowa ran it in for a TD. UNI also lost a fumble deep in their own territory. The UNI QB, sophomore Eric Sanders, looked really good I thought. He had a nice TD pass in the 2nd quarter to make it 21-7. He scrambled well and had quite a few nice runs. The UNI receivers were able to get open on a regular basis. UNI put together 2 nice drives in the 2nd half when most of the Iowa starters were still in the game. I was encouraged that were were able to put up 21 points vs. a Big 10 defense.
All in all, a fun day in Iowa City.
peace
igo4uni
The experience:
It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with temperatures around 80 and bright sunshine. My buddy and I arrived in Iowa City around 11:00 am. As we got close to the stadium area, it was obvious that it was gameday in Iowa City. Excitement was in the air (along with smoke from many grills!). We parked about 1/2 mile from the stadium and hauled our beer cooler closer to the action. My buddy knew someone who knew someone who lived in a house just off of Melrose Ave. very close to Kinnick stadium. We set up shop there and enjoyed the generosity of the host who insisted that we eat and drink until bursting. I was feeling very good after a few beers and was really soaking in the atmosphere. Everywhere I looked I saw people partying and having fun. I had my UNI jersey on, and was treated with kindness and respect. Not even the drunk Iowa students had anything bad to say. After a while it was time to grab a few beers and walk around and check out the scene. What a scene it was: People tailgating, music blaring, beer & brats being consumed, and more beer being consumed. :) I was impressed with the sheer number of big motor homes in one of the tailgating lots. When I hit the lotto, I am going to buy a big a** motor home and travel to all of the UNI games and tailgate in style!! We saw a guy on a bike pulling a trailer behind him: in the trailer a music system powered by a lawn mower battery blasting out tunes. After a while we were running low on beer and it was a long trek back to our cooler, so we found some UNI folks who were tailgating with some Iowa fans and asked them if we could purchase a few beers. They would have nothing of it and insisted that we take their ice cold beer without charge. Very nice of them, I thought. I found myself wondering what kind of financial donation it took to be able to park those big RVs so close to the stadium. I am guessing many thousands of dollars. After walking around some more we headed back to the house, ate some more, drank some more, and got ready to head over to the game. It was sold out and many people were offering to buy and sell tickets near the entrance gates. As we took our seats I looked around and thought to myself, 70,000 people doesn't look like that many, really.
The game:
Iowa took the first drive and ran it down UNIs throat. UNI could not stop the run. Drew Tate looked really good. It was 14-0 before I knew it. UNI had a tipped pass picked off and Iowa ran it in for a TD. UNI also lost a fumble deep in their own territory. The UNI QB, sophomore Eric Sanders, looked really good I thought. He had a nice TD pass in the 2nd quarter to make it 21-7. He scrambled well and had quite a few nice runs. The UNI receivers were able to get open on a regular basis. UNI put together 2 nice drives in the 2nd half when most of the Iowa starters were still in the game. I was encouraged that were were able to put up 21 points vs. a Big 10 defense.
All in all, a fun day in Iowa City.
peace
igo4uni