Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

Today I ate bison for supper, and so did the basketball team.  You see, I ordered a bison and mushroom pizza from Jeff's Pizza (along with some smotharella sticks).  Nolan even ate about a half slice of pizza.  He didn't mind the bison, but he picked off the mushrooms.  Of course when I say the basketball team ate bison it was because they defeated the North Dakota State Bison by 20 points..,

#5 Iowa State 84, North Dakota State 64.

I would say that the player of the game for the Cyclones was Jameel McKay, who scored 15 points, pulled down a career best 19 rebounds, and blocked 3 shots.  He was joined in double figures by the other four Cyclone starters: Nader (21), Morris (18), Niang (15), and Naz Long (11).  There was one scary moment in the first half when Niang fell to the floor holding his leg and appeared to be injured.  This was before he had even scored a point in the game.  After going to the locker room to get checked out, he came back into the game after a few minutes and played well the rest of the night.

Go Cyclones!!

 
I also wanted to mention that Elizabeth, Nolan, and I traveled back to the farm this past weekend for Thanksgiving.  Amy and Brandon also came over from Omaha for the weekend.  It was fun to see everyone, and we even managed to see Terry, Deb, and great-grandpa Dick for lunch on Saturday.  We all went out for a pizza buffet at Godfather's in Spencer (I guess that we love pizza).  It was nice to have Dick get to see his great grandson for a little while because it's not very often that they are together.

My grandpa Dick, Nolan, and Elizabeth.

Monday, November 23rd, 2015

Well, I'm glad to say that basketball season is finally in full swing.  I'm ready for football to be over, especially now that news broke yesterday that Paul Rhoads will be fired at the end of the season.  But, anyways...

#4 IOWA STATE 83, CHATTANOOGA 63

Yes, that's right.  Iowa State is now ranked #4 in the nation in college basketball!  It's kind of crazy to me that they are so highly ranked. This is the highest that they have been ranked since the 1996-97 season, and as far as I know it's tied for the highest that they have ever been ranked.  I know they have a pretty good team this year (I would safely say top 15), but it's hard to say if they deserve that high of a ranking quite yet.

Naz Long was the player of the game for Iowa State tonight as he led the team with 24 points, including 6 three-pointers.  He was joined in double figures for Iowa State by Georges Niang (19), and Monte Morris (14).  As a team, the Cyclones connected on 14 of 29 three point attempts for a very good 48%.

Eben joined me again today for the game.  It's always nice to watch the game with family :)

Cyclones win, 83-63!

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Normally I try to blog about basketball games that I went to on the same night as the actual game to fit with the theme of my blog "note-o-the day".  I am making an exception now for yesterday's game between the Iowa State Cyclones and Chicago State Cougars.  I ended up taking Nolan to the game with me, along with Eben.  It was fun having three generations of Saltons in attendance for the same basketball game.  The game didn't start until 7:00, and we ended up staying for the whole thing.  By the time we got back home, I brushed Nolan's teeth, changed him, and read him a book, it was 10:00 (two hours past his normal bedtime).  The little man did pretty well considering I kept him up so late.  This marks the fifth men's basketball game that Nolan has witnessed at Hilton Coliseum, and it was the second consecutive game.

As for the game itself, it was a blowout win for the seventh-ranked Cyclones.  Jameel McKay was the player of the game for Iowa State as he scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.  Included in his 25 points were a total of 10 dunks, mostly on alley-oops.  He was joined in double figures by teammates Abdel Nader (17), Monte Morris (14), Naz Long (14), Georges Niang (11), and Hallice Cooke (10).  This was the home opener for the Cyclones, and it was coach Steve Prohm's first regular season game in Ames.

One thing that I will remember about this game was the two technical fouls that Chicago State had.  Both happened immediately after they had made a three point basket... apparently for taunting or swearing at Iowa State.  I would have thought that they would learn their lesson after it happened once, but apparently not.

Three generations of Saltons with the scoreboard :)

It's nice to see dad smiling.

Go STATE!

Friday, November 6th, 2015

A little while ago Nolan and I just went to watch the Iowa State exhibition game vs. Grand Valley State at Hilton Coliseum.  We ended up leaving part way through the second half because it was getting past Nolan's bed time, but the game wasn't exactly close anyways... the Cyclones ended up winning by a score of 106-60.  Nolan was able to behave himself pretty well in the stadium.  Every time the ISU fight song came on he would clap along with everyone else.  He mainly just sat on my lap and looked at the crowd and all of the stimulating things to see.  He would point out Cy the mascot to me every once in a while.

I believe that this is the fourth ISU men's basketball game that Nolan has seen in person.  The first was vs. UMKC in 2013, his second game was the Melvin Ejim game vs. TCU, and his third game was the UMKC game in 2014.

Naz Long scored 20 points for Iowa State which included 6 for 7 from three point range.  He led a group of seven Cyclones that each scored in double figures.  I've been looking forward to Cyclone basketball all year as they should be a good team this season with seniors Georges Niang, Abdel Nader, Jameel McKay, and Naz Long to lead the way.  Iowa State enters the year ranked #7 by the AP and the USA today coache's polls.

Nolan sitting like a good boy in his seat waiting for the game to start,

Our view from section 216.

Saturday, October 31st, 2015

Happy Halloween, and HAPPY VICTORY VS TEXAS!! 

Tonight I witnessed a huge homecoming victory for the Iowa State football team as they shutout the Longhorns, 24-0.  This was the first time ever that the Cyclones have beaten Texas in Ames, and it was also the first career start for Iowa State's quarterback, Joel Lanning.  

I watched the game from the sideline since I was part of the ISU alumni band that played on the field at halftime.  I pushed my aunt, Lavonne, in a wheelchair as she played her clarinet.  It was actually quite a bit of work pushing her up and down the hills around the stadium and then onto the field.  We also spent quite a bit of time before the game practicing our formations that we would go through for the halftime show.  It was all worth it though to be able to see this great game from the Cyclones tonight!  Maybe I am a good luck charm as part of the alumni band.  I also pushed Lavonne for the homecoming game last year when ISU defeated Toledo.  

This was the first time that Texas has been shutout by an unranked team since 1961.  

Friday, October 30th, 2015

Today was beggar's night in Ames, so it was also the first time that Nolan has actually gone trick or treating!  Elizabeth took him to do daytime trick or treating on main street, and then tonight they went around to a few of the neighborhood houses to collect candy.  I stayed at the house and handed out candy (M&Ms, Reese's peanut butter cups, and Hershey's cookies & cream bars) to about 34 kids.

Here is Nolan trick or treating in his Buzz costume on main street.

Elizabeth and Nolan getting ready to head out to the houses on our street.

Buzz Lightyear!!

Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

Happy back to the future day!  Yeah, it's kind of funny that in the 1989 film, Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly and the Doc travel in their time machine to October 21st, 2015... today.  When I was a kid growing up, I always wanted one of the hover boards from that film.  Alas, they are not something that people use today :(

What I really wanted to blog about tonight was the volleyball game that we went to see.  The Iowa State women defeated West Virginia in straight sets, (25-20, 25-11, 25-16).  Elizabeth and I took Nolan to the game, and we stayed for the first two sets before it was time to come home and put the little guy to bed.  He still has a hard time sitting still to watch a game.  He mainly wants to run around the concourse of the stadium or climb over seats.  The best part of the game for us tonight was having Nolan meet Cy before the game.  Nolan gave Cy a big high five and posed for a picture.

It's CY!!!

Nolan was so happy getting to meet Cy, and he wasn't super shy or scared like some other times when he has met him.

We watched the match from the end of the stadium where there was plenty of empty seating for Nolan to run around and not get in people's way.  It's not as good of a view, but it's better to have some free space with Nolan.