First Hawkeye Game

Zach got to go to his first Hawkeye football game today.  He had so much fun.  We drove to Mike's grandpa's house in North English last night (Pa's house) and stayed there so we could celebrate Pa's 85th birthday.  This morning Grandpa Curt, Grandma Linda, Mike, Zach, Drew, and I went down to the historical center with Pa for coffee.  Zach seemed to enjoy chatting up all the old men there.  

Zach, Mike, and I left from there to head to Kinnick.  Traffic on I-80 wasn't as bad as we expected.  For those of you who are not from Iowa or aren't Hawkeye fans, here's a little info for you- I've heard it said that on Saturdays during football season, "All roads lead to Iowa City."  I'm sure ISU fans say that with Ames in place of Iowa City, but really, I think it's more fitting to use Iowa City because there are so many Hawkeye fans in this state.  It's really fun to drive to a game along I-80 and see all the cars with Hawkeye stickers, license plates, etc., and all the people in their cars with their Hawkeye gear, especially when it's a really old couple in their embroidered sweatshirts and whatnot.  Anyway, thankfully today traffic wasn't bad.

We got inside the stadium around 10:30.  After checking to see if Uncle Will was there at his seat (he wasn't, and we found out later he was not going to the game), we headed over to our seats.  The people around us thought Zach looked pretty cute all decked out in his new Hawkeye shirt (thanks, Grandpa Kevin & Grandma Cynthia!) and hat.  

The teams were out warming up, so already Zach was excited.

Then the band came out, and that made him really excited. 

He was ready to sing the Hawkeye fight song.  He remained very excited throughout the national ansem (that's what he calls it) and the introduction of the teams.  

The whole atmosphere  was great, but nothing topped the sparkle in Zach's eyes at seeing everything, or the joy in Mike's eyes at watching Zach.  Just before kickoff our neighbors got there, so of course that made Zach that much more excited.  The Hawks had a good game, winning 46-3. Zach quickly got the hang of yelling out the O when Iowa scored (more info for you non-Hawkeye fans- whenever Iowa scores a TD the cheerleaders have the big I-O-W-A flags- one letter at each corner of the stadium, and they wave them in order as the crowd in that area yells that letter, thus spelling out Iowa multiple times).

  

When we were on defense he'd put his hands up by his mouth and yell, "Get 'em!  Get 'em!!!  Get the bad guys!!"  It was all pretty cute.  We left at the beginning of the 4th quarter, because at that point Zach was getting quite tired.  He fell asleep before we ever got to I-80.  Too much excitement for one day!