Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022

 WOW.  That was one heck of a finish that Nolan and I just witnessed at Hilton Coliseum.  The Cyclones overcame a 12-point second half deficit to defeat West Virginia, 84-81.

Izaiah Brockington was the hero for Iowa State, as he poured in a career high 35 points.  He also made the biggest play of the game.  Iowa State was down one point, and it looked like they would be forced to foul.  Instead, Brockington stole the inbound pass and immediately scored a short jumper with 22 seconds left to give Iowa State the lead.  West Virginia would miss a shot, and Gabe Kalscher secured the rebound.  He went on to make two free throws to help seal the game.  

Brockington was joined in double figures scoring for Iowa State by Kalscher (17) and Tyrese Hunter (10).  This was a big win for the Cyclones, as it greatly helped their NCAA tournament hopes.  The Cyclones now own a 19-9 record with three regular season games left to play.

Today's game was the 26th game that I have taken Nolan to, and it was his tenth conference game.  After today's game, the only Big 12 teams that Nolan has not seen Iowa State defeat are Kansas and Oklahoma State.  As for myself, this was the sixth time that I have seen ISU play the Mountaineers.  The Cyclones have won four of those meetings: tonight, 2019, 2018, and back in 2013.  West Virginia came out on top in 2020 and in 2017.

This game was a good lesson for Nolan that you should never give up.  At halftime he was pretty bummed that Iowa State was trailing by 10 points.  There was also a time late in the game where he declared "Iowa State is going to lose". 

Way to go STATE!

Saturday, February 19th, 2022

 Today I brought Nolan with me to Hilton Coliseum, where we attended Iowa State's convincing victory over the Oklahoma Sooners, 75-54.  Both teams came into today's game somewhere close to the NCAA tournament "bubble", so this was an important step for the Cyclones to help play their way into the tournament.

The game did not start out very well for Iowa State, as Oklahoma jumped out to an early 8-0 lead behind a pair of three-pointers from Jacob Groves.  However, Iowa State found a hot shooting touch in the first half, and managed to lead 40-25 at halftime.  In the second half, the Sooners would get as close as 5 points, but Iowa State managed to go on a 15-0 run down the stretch to put the game away.

Izaiah Brockington was the player of the game for Iowa State, as he led the team with 22 points. He was joined in double figures scoring by Tyrese Hunter (14) and Aljaz Kunc (11). 

Today's game was the 25th men's basketball game that I have taken Nolan to, and it was his ninth conference game.  Eventually, I would like to take both kids to see Iowa State defeat every conference foe in basketball.  I'm not sure if that's possible with the current make-up of the Big 12, as Texas and Oklahoma will likely be leaving soon for the SEC.  Anyways, as of today, Nolan has attended victories against Oklahoma, Texas (2020), Baylor (2018), Texas Tech (2017), Kansas State (2016), and TCU (2014). 

As for myself, today was the eighth time that I have seen the Cyclones play Oklahoma in basketball (and the seventh victory).  Those victories include today, 2020, 2019, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.  The lone win for Oklahoma came back in 2003.  

Go Cyclones!

I wore a white shirt for today's game, as the crowd was supposed to be a "white out". 

Saturday, February 12th, 2022

 This afternoon I took Maxwell with me to Hilton Coliseum, where we watched the Cyclones lose a heartbreaker to the Kansas State wildcats, 75-69 in overtime.  Iowa State started off hot and led 13-0 early on, which included 11 points from Aljaz Kunc.  The Cyclones led by as many as 15 points early in the second half, only to watch their lead slip away due to costly turnovers and hot shooting from K-State in the second half.  In overtime, Markquis Nowell made a big three pointer to put the Wildcats up 5 with about a minute to play, which was the dagger for ISU.

Izaiah Brockington was the player of the game for Iowa State, as he scored a game-high 27 points.  Aljaz Kunc was the only other Cyclone in double figures, with 19.  

I believe that today's game was the 17th ISU basketball game that I have taken Maxwell to, and it was the third time that he has seen ISU play K-State.  The last game I took Maxwell to was against Southeastern Louisiana.  Tonight was the eighth time that I have seen the Cyclones play Kansas State.  That includes victories in 2020, 2017, 2016, 2013, 2012, and 2003.  Kansas State won in 2019 and today.  

Friday, February 11th, 2022

 Today we are all a little worn out, as we flew back from our family vacation to Orlando this morning.  We spent a week down in Orlando (from Friday the 4th until today), where we spent the whole time exploring Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  I'm not sure where to start in describing all of the fun.  So I'll sum up:

Last Friday we were able to pick up an interactive wand for Maxwell (of course he wanted a Harry Potter wand, the same as Nolan's).  After a brief trip to the parks that day, we enjoyed dinner reservations at Cowfish.  This was probably my favorite restraunt that we dined at for the entire trip.  I ordered the calamari for an appetizer, a spicy tuna roll for my entree, and a "Buffalos and bacon" drink (an old fashioned made with Buffalo Trace bourbon and garnished with a piece of candied bacon).  It was all delicious.

During our trip we stayed at the Loews Royal Pacific resort.  One of the perks about staying there is that it gave us an express pass that we could use for shorter lines for all of the rides.  There is no way that I would go down there without the express pass.  It saved us a ton of time waiting in lines (which we still did plenty of anyways).  I can't remember which rides we did each day, but over the course of the week we ended up riding pretty much everything (usually multiple times).  Maxwell loved the Spiderman ride.  Of course he was too small to go on some of the bigger rides.  Nolan was very brave and actually went on the Velocicoaster (which was almost too scary for me to be honest).  I would say that my favorite ride was Hagrid's.  The first time that I rode Hagrid's motorbike ride, I sat with Nolan in the very front row.  It was amazing.

In general, we enjoyed the Harry Potter areas the most.  It was so much fun being immersed in the Harry Potter wizarding world.  Drinking butter beer, doing "magic" with interactive wands, riding the Hogwarts Express, walking around Diagon Alley (and seeing the dragon breathe fire).  It was so much fun.  

One funny moment that I wanted to mention came at the Cat in the Hat ride.  Now, this ride was pretty lame, but we thought that maybe the kids would enjoy it.  Not the case.  While we were still seated in the ride towards the end of it, Maxwell commented that the ride "was not even exciting", and then he started to loudly boo the ride!  Lol.  He was just saying BOO, BOO!!  It was so funny.

Anyways, we are back in Iowa now, and it is back to reality for us.  

Elizabeth and the boys at the Universal Studios globe.

Nolan and Maxwell in front of the Spiderman ride.

Cool kids don't look at explosions.  Lol.  This was my favorite picture that I took of the trip.

I was impressed at how well Nolan did on the Velocicoaster ride!

Tuesday, February 1st, 2022

It's crazy to think that our little boy is now a SIX year old.  It's not every day that you turn six!  I think that he had a good birthday.  Elizabeth brought him a happy meal at school for lunch.  After school, I picked up a giant sugar cookie from Cookies, etc.  The boys each had a happy meal for supper... so yeah, Maxwell had two happy meals today!  

Maxwell got to open birthday cards from quite a few people that he received in the mail, and he proclaimed that he is now "rich" from all the birthday $$.  We got him a cool Spiderman costume and some Lego blind bags that had Jack Skellington, Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas, and some Ninjago characters.  Then he was able to Facetime with Grandma Becky and Amy & Brandon.  He was excited to show them all how fast he was now that he is 6.  

We didn't go out of the house to do anything fun for his birthday because we are trying to lay low and minimize our chances for catching Covid prior to our big trip coming up.  In just a few days we will be leaving for Orlando, Florida!  It is going to be so much fun to take the boys to Universal Studios and to Harry Potter World!

Here Maxwell propbably thinks he is Spiderman, while he poses with his giant cookie.

Happy birthday Maxwell!

Wednesday, January 5th, 2022

 Woof.  I guess they say a win is a win, but tonight's game between #11 Iowa State and #25 Texas Tech sure did not look like a battle of top-25 teams.  At least not on offense.  The Cyclones managed to claw out a 51-47 win over the Red Raiders, mostly with defense.  The Cyclones shot only 15 percent from the field in the second half, but Izaiah Brockington made a huge four point play with just a couple of minutes remaining to regain the lead for ISU.  The Cyclones then managed to make their free throws to eek out the win.  The second half tonight is one of the ugliest halves of basketball that I have seen at Hilton.

Brockington (14) and Aljaz Kunc (13) were the only Cyclones that scored in double figures today.  I would say that Brockington was the player of the game for Iowa State, as he led the team in scoring, rebounds (9), and he made the big shot at the end.  

Tonight was the seventh time that I have seen Iowa State play Texas Tech in basketball, and I am happy to say that Iowa State has won all seven of those meetings.  The previous games were in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, and 2012.  

Saturday, January 1st, 2022

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today I took Nolan with me to Hilton Coliseum, where we watched the #8 ranked Cyclones fight hard but eventually fall to the #1 ranked Baylor Bears, 77-72.  The Cyclones held their own and kept the game close, in spite of the fact that Iowa State shot only 1-14 from three point land.  Tristan Enaruna was the player of the game for Iowa State, as he led the team with 23 points and collected 8 rebounds.  He was joined in double figures scoring by Izaiah Brockington (18) and Tyrese Hunter (12).  Despite their loss, I still feel good about the prospects of this team for the rest of the season.

The crowd today was roudy, and it was fun to be back in that type of atmosphere in Hilton, since the past couple of years that has been lacking.  The last time I attended a game against the #1 ranked team in the country, the Cyclones defeated Oklahoma in 2016.  

Today's game was the 24th that Nolan has been to.  The last game I took him to was against Jackson State.  This was also the second time that Nolan has seen Iowa State play Baylor (2018 was the first).

As for myself, this was the sixth time that I have watched ISU play Baylor in basketball.  The previous times were losses in 2019 and 2015, and victories in 2018, 2017, and 2013.