Saturday, September 22nd, 2018

Today Eben joined me for an Iowa State football game, as we watched the Cyclones defeat the Akron Zips, 26-13.  It has been quite a while since dad has gone to a football game with me... I believe the 2011 Kansas game was the last time we went to a game together.  Normally, he is busy combining around this time, but this week he has had quite a bit of rain and flooding at home which has prevented him from starting the harvest yet.

Anyways, prior to the 11:00 kickoff, I took dad over to the Vet Med lot for tailgating.  Our normal spot at G7 was closed due to being too wet.  We met up with the usual group of friends for a few drinks, well I was drinking but Eben didn't care to.  Elizabeth loaded the boys up and brought them over with her bicycle and trailer, so they had a chance to enjoy tailgating as well.  Nolan had fun playing with Bash again.

As for the game, Iowa State took care of business, but it was not the blowout that some had expected.  Hakeem Butler did have a nice 24-yard touchdown reception for the Cyclones.  As he was nearing the goal line, Butler was up-ended by a defender, but he was able to stretch the ball out and knock over the pylon at the goal line while completely upside-down.  It was very athletic and impressive. 

There was a pretty somber mood in the stadium to start the game.  The crowd was all wearing yellow to honor Celia Barquin Arozamena, who was tragically murdered in Ames earlier in the week.  Before the game there was a short video tribute for her and a moment of silence.  It was hard not to get teared-up a little.

Eben posing with Nolan and Maxwell at the tailgate lot.

The band formed a "CBA" to honor Celia Barquin Arozamena.

Go Cyclones!

Saturday, September 15th, 2018

This morning I took Nolan with me to watch the Iowa State Cyclones football game vs the fifth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.  Unfortunately, the Sooners would go on to win 37-27, but the Cyclones at least played tough against one of the top teams in the country. 

Kickoff was at 11:00, so the plan was to get out to the tailgate lots early.  Having a 5 year old makes it difficult to get there super early, but we managed to show up around 7:30 or so.  Dan Becker had his son, Bash, at the tailgate as well, so at least Nolan had a friend his age to play with.  Dan made everyone some yummy breakfast burritos, and the boys played Frisbee.  The usual crowd was at the tailgate, including Tim Nevins, Ryan Butler, and even Kyle Perkins for a little while.  Kyle and his wife just had a baby, Dorothy, earlier this month, so I wasn't sure if he would make it out or not.

As for the game, the Oklahoma offense looked quite impressive as would be expected for a top-5 team.  Still, the Cyclones held tough thanks to a pair of long Zeb Noland to Hakeem Butler touchdown passes (51 and 57 yards).  Butler's first touchdown of the game (the 51-yard TD) was especially impressive given the way he broke multiple tackles after catching the ball en-route to the end zone. I believe that this was the third time that I have been to an OU-ISU football game, the others being in 2014 and 2012.  I dream of the day that I can actually witness the Cyclones upsetting the Sooners, as they did in Norman last year. 

This was the third time that I have taken Nolan to an ISU football game, and the first game that we were actually able to make it through the whole game.  The previous games he has witnessed were 2017 vs UNI and 2015 vs UNI. 

Nolan posing before kickoff.  Out seats were in section H row 13.

There was a pretty good crowd on hand for the game today... officially 58,479.