Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

Well, crap.  I guess all good things must come to an end.  Tonight I watched as Iowa State's 21-game home court winning streak came to an end at the hand of the Baylor Bears, 79-70.  It was two years ago to the day, 2/25/13, that I last saw Iowa State lose a basketball game in person.  I believe that includes 23 straight games that Iowa State had won in which I had attended during that span.  Going into tonight's game, Iowa State was ranked #12, and Baylor was ranked #19.  This was the sixth time that I have witnessed a top-25 showdown in Hilton Coliseum, and Iowa State is now 5-1 in those games.  This was also the second game that I have seen the Cyclones play against Baylor (2013 was the other).

Iowa State played pretty well tonight, but there was a stretch in the second half where it just seemed like Baylor could not miss.  Baylor finished the game going 14-26 from 3-point range, but there was a decisive stretch where they made 5 or 6 threes in a row.  I couldn't believe it.  This overshadowed a good performance for Jameel McKay for Iowa State, who scored 21 points for the Cyclones.  Joining McKay in double figures for Iowa State was Georges Niang (14) and Matt Thomas (13).  Even though they lost, Iowa State should still have a decent seed in the NCAA tournament in March.

Here is the view from my seats in section 216.

Saturday, February 7th, 2015

Today I took Eben along with me to watch the Iowa State men completely dismantle the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 75-38.  The 37-point margin of victory was the third largest in Iowa State's history against a conference opponent (and it was the biggest I had ever seen in person against a conference foe).  It's still hard to believe that Iowa State lost to this terrible team two weeks ago on the road... oh well, at least the natural order of things was restored today!

Jameel McKay led Iowa State in scoring 17 points, and this was his first career start for the Cyclones.  Naz Long added 15 points for ISU, including three 3-pointers.  It was fun to see a lot of the bench players get some quality playing time during the blowout win... my favorite part of today was watching our 7-1 Freshman, Georgios Tsalmpouris, play for 5 minutes.  He scored 3 points including a driving hook shot along with going 1-2 from the free throw line.

This was the third time that I have seen the Cyclones play against Texas Tech.  The other two games were victories for Iowa State in 2013 and 2012.

Texas Tech won the tip-off, but that was about their only bright spot...

Here I am with my usual scoreboard pose.  Good guys win, 75-38.

Here is dad posing with the scoreboard.  This was the first game he has been to in about 3 years.  

Friday, February 6th, 2015

Well, today officially marks my last day of work at SportsPlus Physical Therapy in Marshalltown, IA.  I've spent over three years working here while commuting back and forth between Ames and Marshalltown.  I eventually got used to the drive, but I will definitely NOT miss the drive.  With good roads it took me about 45 minutes one way, and at times in the winter the trips were much longer.  I can't wait to start working for McFarland at the West Clinic in Ames!!

There were plenty of good... and interesting moments for myself here at SportsPlus.  The staff was always very friendly, and I will miss them.  There was a time when a sparrow got inside the building and flew around all afternoon, there were a couple of different days when the lights went out and we treated patients in the dark, and there was even a tornado warning once where we had to take everyone down and hide in the basement.  There was also one time where the back of my pants split open when I was showing a patient how to do a lunge :)  I'm sure my form was good for the lunge, but my pants were just not going to cooperate...

Today for lunch I bought everyone a sandwich from Sub City which is just down the street here.  It's a pretty good place to eat, and they give you big portions for the price.

Tonight Eben & Lynn are coming down to visit us in Ames, and we'll all have to go out to celebrate my last day of work!