Friday, November 9th, 2018

Tonight I took Nolan with me to Hilton Coliseum, where we watched the Iowa State Cyclones defeat the Missouri Tigers, 76-59.  Earlier today news broke that the Cyclones would be without one of their key players, Lindell Wigginton, due to an injury.  That combined with the suspensions of Lard and Talley, plus Solomon Young being injured, had me a little nervous.  Thankfully, the newcomers for ISU stepped up in a big way.

The player of the game for Iowa State was Marial Shayok, who led the team with 20 points.  He was joined in double figures by Nick Weiler-Babb (16), Michael Jacobson (15), and Talen Horton-Tucker (12).  Tyrese Haliburton also had a good game for Iowa State, as he played all 40 minutes, which is a lot to ask from a freshman.  He had 8 points and 4 steals.  One thing that stood out about tonight's game was Missouri's turnovers.  They played sloppy and ended up with 25 turnovers (compared to ISU's 7). 

Nolan seemed to enjoy the game quite a bit.  He was paying attention to most of it, at least in the first half.  He would ask me over and over how many points each team had, and occasionally he would yell out encouragement for ISU like "Score 500 points!".  Later he would yell "Score a TRILLION points!".  It made a few people around us laugh.  I believe that this was Nolan's 15th basketball game that he has been to.  The previous game I took him to was against Baylor last season. 

Clone cone!!

A view of the game action vs Missouri.

Nolan is such a cute turkey.  Go State!

Tuesday, November 6th, 2018

Tonight I went with Jeremy Seago to watch Iowa State's home opening basketball game vs. the Hornets of Alabama State.  The Cyclones were victorious, 79-53.  In case you are wondering, Alabama State plays in the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference), and they are located in Montgomery, Alabama.

There are a ton of newcomers on the team this year, and it will take me a while to get used to all of them.  I would say that the player of the game today for Iowa State was Michael Jacobson, who scored a team high 17 points and collected 7 rebounds.  His play was important tonight as the team was down two starting post players.  Solomon Young is out for a while with an injury, and Cameron Lard did not play because he is still in the coach's doghouse.  Jacobson is a transfer from Nebraska.

The other double digit scorers for the Cyclones tonight were Marial Shayok (14), Lindell Wigginton (13), and Tyrese Haliburton (12).  Speaking of newcomers, Shayok is a transfer from Virginia, and Haliburton is one of four freshman on the team. 

Today is also election day 2018.  You can barely see it in the photo below, but I'm wearing an "I voted" sticker on the right side of my chest. 

A view of the game action...

GO STATE!

Saturday, October 27th 2018

Happy Homecoming Cyclone Nation!  What makes today's homecoming especially happy was ISU's victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 40-31. 

Since this was the homecoming game, I was an honorary alumni band member for the day and pushed my aunt LaVonne during the halftime show.  Today marks the 5th straight year that I have helped with the homecoming halftime show.  Last year's win vs #4 TCU, the Cyclones' 2016 loss to Kansas State, the 2015 win vs Texas, and the 2014 win vs Toledo were the previous homecoming games that I helped with.  Today's band performance was pretty easy for me.  All we had to do was march onto the field at the south 35 yard line, wait for the band to play a couple of songs, and then march off on the 35.  In years past I would have to move 5 yards here or there, but today there was no choreography to remember. 

As for the game, the Red Raiders got off to a fast start and led 10-0 after the first quarter thanks in part to a blocked punt that they recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.  Texas Tech would also score another defensive TD late in the game.  Despite this adversity, the Cyclones were able to make enough big plays to come away with the victory.  Hakeem Butler hauled in a 48-yard TD pass from Brock Purdy to seal the win for Iowa State. 

This marks just the third time that I have seen ISU play Texas Tech in football.  The last time that I was in attendance for an ISU victory vs Texas Tech was in 2002, which is best known for Seneca Wallace's "The Run".  Of course, I also saw the Cyclones lose to the Red Raiders back in 2012. 

Eben brought Linda down for the game, and then afterwards he took us all out to eat at Hickory Park.  I had a 1/4 chicken dinner with fries and buttered corn.  Nom nom nom. 

My view of the field during the first half.  I normally sit with LaVonne at field level right by the corner of the end zone!

Nolan being silly at Hickory Park.

Maxwell posing with Cy.

Saturday, October 13th, 2018

Tonight I'm pumped up after the ISU Cyclones dominated the #6 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, 30-14!  I enjoyed a fun day of tailgating with Tim & Lydia Nevins, Dan Becker, Kyle Perkins, Ryan Butler, and the rest of the usual crew.  I'm a little drunk at the moment, but mainly I'm in awe after the Cyclones held the #6 team in the country to 152 yards of total offense (100 yards passing and 52 yards rushing).  For comparison, David Montgomery ran for 189 yards BY HIMSELF tonight. 

Defeating the #6 team in the country is the 2nd highest ranked team that I have seen our football team defeat in person (last year beating #4 TCU was the best).  This was also the first time that I have seen Iowa State defeat West Virginia.  So as of tonight the only Big 12 football teams that I have not seen ISU defeat in person are Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State.  Hopefully I can watch us beat the peasky Wildcats later this year...

The crowd rushes the field after the Cyclones defeat #6 West Virginia, 30-14.  

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.

Friday, August 24th, 2018

Well a lot has changed around Ames recently as the students are back, and classes for the fall semester started this week.  We're looking forward to having Nolan start his first day of kindergarten this coming Monday.  The great thing about back to school time is that it also means the fall sports season is here :)

Today Elizabeth and I were able to take to boys to our first ISU sporting event of the season - Iowa State's home opening volleyball game vs. Ole Miss.  The 21st ranked Cyclones swept the Rebels in 3 sets (25-21, 25-11, 25-19).  The kids seemed to have fun at the game... even if they didn't exactly watch the game itself.  Of course we split a clone cone so the boys could have their ice cream fix.  Then they spent most of the time just being silly and playing in the aisles where we sat.  Cy the mascot did come up and sit by us, which was cool.  I tried to take Maxwell over to him at one point for a picture, but Maxwell was too scared when we got up close to Cy.

I believe that this is the third year in a row that we've seen the home opening volleyball game for the Cyclones.  Last year we saw the game against Kent State, and in 2016 we saw the Cyclones play Wichita State.

Our first clone cone of the season!  

Cy sat by us at the game for a bit!

A view of the action between ISU and Ole Miss.