JCAM from NE brings us this week's SCT. Enjoy^
This is the B1G response to ZJW’s SEC weekend. I am a long time Iowa Hawkeye fan (insert
joke here) and also went there for a few years.
I usually attend at least 1 game a year and ever since I left Iowa I
have been an enormous jinx every time I happen to go to a game. To shed some light on how legitimate this jinx
is I will give some examples:
1.
The last
time I saw Iowa win live was Northern Illinois 2006. (Those of you that
remember that was when Garrett Wolf was running for 250 yards a game.) Iowa went on to lose out at home that year.
2.
In 2007 (Iowa’s worst season in a decade) I had
tickets for the Michigan State game and at the last minute while I was in Iowa
City I had to miss the game. (I was giving a police report…but that’s another
story.) It was Iowa’s one good win that
season as they beat Michigan Stage in double overtime.
3.
The following year in 2008 there were 7 home
games, and I happened to attend the only one they lost to against Northwestern
(I hate Pat Fitzgerald).
4.
Iowa’s
2009 season happened to be one of their best ever, capped off by them winning
the Orange Bowl. Of course that was the
1st season in 7 years I didn’t attend at least 1 game.
5.
In 2010 I
went to the Ohio State-Iowa game. Iowa
ended up losing late in the 4th quarter on an insane scramble by
Terelle Pryor. After that loss I knew I
had to break the jinx so I decided to visit some friends up in Minneapolis and
go to the Iowa-Minnesota game. This should have been a sure win as Minnesota
was playing with an interim coach and was already 2-9 with a loss to the
University of South Dakota (sorry ES in Las Vegas.) As I am freezing my arse
off in Minnesota’s stadium watching this melt down unfold before my eyes I
realize that I have a legitimate jinx that may need divine intervention to
snap.
Bringing this up to date, I had been offered tickets to the
Iowa-Pitt game a few weeks ago and originally said yes, but after the
heartbreaking loss at Iowa State the week prior, I decided against it. One of my best friends who we will refer to
as “Beast” ended up getting a few tickets for dirt cheap a few days before the
game and pretty much forced me to go against my will.
I leave Omaha and head to Des Moines Friday night so we can
get an early start on Saturday since it was an 11am game. We leave from Des Moines at 4:30am on
Saturday morning to get a parking spot and pick up some gear (editor’s note: in
case you didn’t grow up in LeMars, IA or haven’t conversated with a person from
that area, the term “gear” is typically reserved for items usually purchased at
a gas station). Our normal tailgating
spot known as “the hill” had been shut down for the first time ever, and I
figured this had something to do with my jinx. Luckily, another one of my
friends had gotten a spot to tailgate out at Finkbine Golf Course which is
about a 10 minute walk to the stadium.
As I get to the golf course I realize it’s not in the parking lot, but
in the middle of the driving range (strange I know but it was actually pretty
cool). I was self conscious about my jinx all day,
and the entire time we were out at the golf course I was half expecting some
tailgater, a few beers deep, to tee up a golf ball and drive it straight into
my forehead .
After surviving the tailgate for a few hours, I made the
trek to the game. I was sitting in my seat
well before the game. I got split up
from beast earlier and was wondering where he was because I had never seen him
late to a game before. Beast had gone to
another tailgate to give his brother an extra ticket. While there, he and his brother decided to do
lineman drills in the middle of the tailgate. (Of course, Why wouldn’t they?) While
showing the group a proper blocking drill, Beast ended up dislocating his
middle finger at a 90 degree angle 15 minutes before game time. (This must have been my jinx rubbing off on
him for forcing me to come along.) Those of you that have never met Beast need
to know that he is definitely a performer.
Not wanting to miss an opportunity to show off, he proceeded to show
other tailgaters what he had done. He proceeds
to walk up to a group of girls to show them what happened and two of them
instantly start vomiting in public (no exaggeration). Luckily for Beast, there was a doctor nearby
that snapped his finger back into place and taped it up for him before he
headed off to the game. (This in itself
was an over the top performance.)
Finally
about 5 minutes before the game starts, Beast finally shows up at the game
where I’ve been waiting for at least 20 minutes already. He
tells me the whole story as we settle in to watch what I hope will be the game
to break the jinx. It is slightly
overcast and pretty chilly (perfect football weather) and we are sitting about
30 rows up right next to the student section.
As the game starts, I realize my jinx is starting to kick into high
gear. Iowa came out completely flat and
couldn’t move the ball offensively running or passing. If there could possibly be anything worse
than their offense, it would be their defense.
Pitt was putting on a clinic through three quarter and brought the score
up to 24-3 with no ending in sight. It
is about this time that I begin to get text messages from others who knew of my
jinx. I will give some examples word for
word: “U suck…why would u ever go to a
game” and, “Please go home” and, ”I hope
you’re happy…leave the stadium and walk as far as you can” and my personal
favorite: “Leave.”
It is
about this time that my luck begins to change, Iowa finally starts driving the
ball and scoring. With 16:16 left in the
game they are down 27-10 and proceed to finally put something together. A quick touchdown drive followed by a 3 and
out, followed by another touchdown drive to bring the score to 27-24. Not once up until the middle of the 4th
quarter did I truly believe that Iowa had a chance to win, but now I was
beginning to think that they just might pull something out in spite of me being
there. It is about this time that ESPN
has a screen shot on the crowd for about 10 seconds. Right in the middle of this is Beast and
I. I watched this on DVR later and can
distinctly read Beast’s lips screaming at me “We are going to win this F’ing
game.” (Unfortunately he is not waving
his taped up dummy finger around.) Iowa proceeds to get another touchdown to
put them up for the first time 31-27 with a few minutes left in the game and
Kinnick is absolutely erupting. Pitt
begins to drive the ball down the field but ended up throwing the game deciding
interception a few plays later sealing the first victory I’d seen live in 5
years.
GO HAWKS!!
I look forward to this Sunday's post in which I'll be revisiting the Tampa Bay Brewing Company which should make for a good post. Enjoy the weekend!
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