Mina

You can here it on the streets, in the dining halls, while walking to class. It seems like an unconscious utterance, passing freely through the lips of strangers and friends alike. A beat was pulsing through the streets of Iowa City last Saturday, with the effect of a near-religious fervor that can be summed up by three words: it’s game day.

Iowans take their football very seriously. Sure, make jokes about how there’s nothing better to do in Iowa, but, come Saturday, there is no escaping the black and gold fever. The only buses that run are the ones that go to and from Kinnick Stadium. 99% of the student body is wearing Hawkeye gear, and while I wouldn’t know for certain, I’m pretty sure the dorms are empty by 2pm. You literally had to be unconscious if you were an Iowa student and didn’t know that our first game was on Saturday. We won, by the way, 45-21 against Miami of Ohio. Of course, our victory was something you probably expected.

If you attended/are attending a high school that was big on football, I want you to take a moment to conjure up that image of the first football game of the year. It was a Friday night, the stands were packed, the marching band was sitting in the bleachers, the cheerleaders were on the sidelines, and the student section was right in front of the action, sporting painted faces and those weird pinstripe overalls. Everyone looked so alive and so proud to be there. It was one of those moments that brought your town together.

Now take that image and multiply it by a thousand, and you’ve got a vague idea of what an Iowa football game looks like. When I saw all of those people, I couldn’t help but feel amazed that this was the student body that I was a part of. The energy at a Big Ten football game is electric, so even if you aren’t a huge football fan it has to be on your bucket list to attend at least one of the games.

That being said, there are some things you should know before attending your first game. Do for instance, bring a sealed plastic water bottle or plan on buying one, because it gets very hot in Kinnick, especially during a 2:30 game in early September. Also, don’t worry if you bought a general admission ticket instead of a student one, because seating is open. I got there about 25 minutes early and there were still places to sit, so you don’t need to worry about getting there an hour and a half early unless you want front row seats or are planning on tailgating. Not that you’ll be sitting very much anyway, but while we’re on the subject of seating, if you’re planning on going to all of the games then buy student tickets immediately because they tend to sell out pretty fast. If not, then buy Iowa State tickets ASAP because that’s the one game you’ll really want to go to, even if you don’t love football. I’ve been talking up some serious smack about ISU to someone I went to high school with, so if we don’t win on Saturday then I might be too busy burying my head in shame to blog anymore. Other than that, just prepare yourself for victory. There’s a reason why you still see people on the streets wearing “never too old for black and gold” after enduring a three hour game in the late summer heat. Iowa may be the land of corn and football, but that’s actually not as boring as it sounds, and that’s coming from a Chicago suburbs kid. We’re proud of our football, our marching band, our cheerleaders, and our veteran athletes and soldiers that are highlighted in between plays. What makes Iowa football so great isn’t just the amazing players, but the shared sense of pride that our community holds for each other that is more prevalent than ever during the games. There’s never been a better time to bleed black and gold, and I hope that if you ever find yourself in Iowa City, you can experience that magical game day spirit for yourself.

-Mina

This entry was posted on Monday, September 5th, 2016 at 1:05 pm and is filed under General, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.