Featured, The Hlog by Mike Hlas
Hlas column: What a weekend for joy-coated state of Iowa
Posted on Oct 25, 2009 by Mike Hlas.
(I’ll bet a lot of you have a lot of stories about where you were and what you felt after watching a certain college football game on Saturday. Feel free to use the comments section to join the conversation.)
While in the Michigan State press box late Saturday night, I got a four-word text-message from a Cedar Rapids friend.
“My dad can’t talk.”
It wasn’t a health problem, unless there is such a thing as feeling too good.
Surely thousands of other Hawkeye fans were momentarily rendered speechless by their team’s 15-13, last-play win over the Spartans.
Quarterback Ricky Stanzi and Iowa fans after the Hawkeyes' 15-13 win at Michigan State (Mike Hlas photo)
While in the van taking the Gazette/KCRG-TV crew from Spartan Stadium to Lansing’s Capital City Airport early Sunday morning, I got a phone call.
A good friend, a transplanted Iowan who has lived in Las Vegas almost a quarter-century, was a little tipsy and a lot giddy. He had watched the Iowa-MSU game in an off-Strip Vegas establishment called McMullen’s Irish Pub with 100 or so people, about two-thirds of them Iowans. There were a few Cedar Rapidians in the joint.
“I jumped on the bar after that touchdown,” he said. “I’m 49 years old. I have no idea how I did it.
“I’ve never been married and never had a kid. This might be the greatest night of my life.”
I heard a vaguely similar story — though not involving bar-leaping — about an Iowa State grad who watched the tail end of the Cyclones’ 9-7 win at Nebraska Saturday afternoon in a Cedar Rapids drinkery after attending a wedding.
Isn’t it something how a last-second catch here or a defensive stand there can give people memories for, well, a lifetime?
Young-adult Iowa fans have repeatedly heard about Iowa’s 12-10, last-second win over Michigan in 1985 from their elders. It’s someone else’s history.
Those of the Hawkeye persuasion who are old enough to have cared about such things 24 years ago can and do tell you where they were when Rob Houghtlin made the field goal that kept Iowa unbeaten and No. 1 in the rankings.
Twenty-four years from now, current fans will probably be telling the next generation about that October night at East Lansing in 2009.
No Cyclone fan under 32 was alive the last time Iowa State won at Nebraska. Oh, there have been a lot of bad beatings there for ISU since its last win in Lincoln, in 1977.
Not Saturday. It will be a long, long time before the images of Paul Rhoads and his players celebrating with Cyclone fans in Memorial Stadium fade.
By the way, if Iowa State wins two of its final four games (and maybe just one), Rhoads has to be the Big 12’s Coach of the Year.
Football days like Saturday come along about once a decade and maybe longer in our state. When Iowa State and Iowa both have victories that make their fans tingly on the same day, how do you quantify a thing like that?
I’m guessing a lot of people in this state slept less than they normally would on Saturday night and woke up happier than they normally would on Sunday morning.
Dare one ask what’s next?
TK4HAWKS
26. Oct, 2009
I remember what I was doing: I was running to the Internet to check the score…'cause my lovely DVR ran out with 5 seconds left in the game! Wasn't quite the same seeing the play later on wrap-up shows, already knowing the final score! Oh well, what can ya do?!
LoiDana
26. Oct, 2009
I remember where I was when Rob Houghtlin kicked that field goal. Our daughter was born 7 years after that and is now a freshman at Iowa sitting in the Hawks nest as history unfolds for her. What a wonderful thing and so many fun filled memories of the student section unloading onto the field at homecoming this year. She will always remember them long after she graduates from pharmacy college.
mdkarr
26. Oct, 2009
The memory I will take away? How excited Eddie was after the game. I'm so glad he's back.
chargerz
26. Oct, 2009
I picked up my wife and ran around our basement yelling "Oh My God"…. while my 4 year old repeatedly yelled "TOUCHDOWN HAWKEYES" at the top of his lungs. Just awesome!
MjbHawk
27. Oct, 2009
There have been a lifetime of "oh my god" moments in this one season already! I was in the stands for the '85 game going ga ga slaphappy with every fan around me. In history that still ranks as the best!
freese2008
26. Oct, 2009
In my apartment in Iowa City, I ran outside in my socks jumping up and down screaming, looked up and saw everyone else in complex doing the same. After a minute or so I calmed down enough to stop screaming and listen. What I heard were roars from downtown, a solid 6-7 blocks away, and fireworks going off.
LiferinCR
26. Oct, 2009
I remember watching it on TV. I believe Brent Musberger did the play by play on CBS at that time.
floodvictim101
26. Oct, 2009
My 3- year old son was talking and jumping around all the way up to the time out call then my wife got up off the couch because she was a bundle of nerves (especially after that almost interception) and I think my 3 year old knew something was going on because he got real quite and watch the t.v. that his mom was glued to (Daddy too) when McNutt caught that pass and got in the end zone my wife was jumping up and down and my son was yelling TOUCH DOWN ( I think more because his mommy was). I do believe I will always remember this moment, not because of the Hawkeye's history making moment, but more for the family memory, Oh and I will always remember the looks on those spartan fans faces of sheer shock and quite…
Chris_Edwards
26. Oct, 2009
Two great moments: The first was sitting at the 50 yard line in the middle of all the big Husker boosters when Smith picked off the pass to seal the game and being the only one in an entire section jumping up and down. The second was being on the cell phone with my wife at the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs when Iowa scored the touchdown. The entire casino went crazy and my wife asks, "What in the heck is going on over there?". She couldn't hear me over the crowd for probably 10 full seconds.
IAguy
26. Oct, 2009
We were standing outside at a pavilion at Pinicon Ridge park during a highschool reunion. About twenty people trying to stay dry and reasonably warm under the overhang while listening to a static filled broadcast. Faith in the team was evident as only one person went inside after Michigan St scored in the 4th quarter. A few seconds after Iowa scored, people stopped screaming enough to be able to hear the announcers again to make sure there were no penalties on the play.
MikeHlas
26. Oct, 2009
Great stories!. Keep 'em coming.
skaerbaekhawk
26. Oct, 2009
As a regular poster here, some of you have probably read my life story already…..I'm 48 (and can totally relate to Mike's Vegas friend and dancing on the bar at that age!!) grew up just north of Mt. Vernon and now live in Europe (since 1990), and remember about every game Iowa has ever played that I've either listened to/watched, or seen live.
3) Mich State in '85, a week or two before the Mich game. I was in Battle Creek, MI watching on TV in the living room of a friend. Very similar feelings to those I had on Saturday. 4) MSU again, last Saturday. I had been to a 50th b'day party of a good friend (not an American FB fan or he never would have planned a party on a Sat in October, but i-phones are great for sneaking in scores or radio broadcasts – I went to the bathroom alot during that party) and got home at 3am Danish time to catch the end of the 3rd and 4th qtrs. I'm all alone in my living room, watching the game live on my Slingbox, and went absolutely nuts when we scored. I went upstairs, woke up my wife to tell her (not that she couldn't hear me!) and give her a high-5 (which didn't amuse her, but she did stick her hand up!), and came back downstairs and talked to my 70 yr old father and best buddy in Kansas City (who's married to an ISU grad and a big K-State fan, so he was happy too!) while walking around outside in the rain, in my suit pants, dress socks, and the Iowa t-shirt that I've worn every Saturday so far this season, without washing it. I wore it to the party under my dress shirt (no comment on what the wife said about that), and if that t-shirt gets washed, it'll be grounds for divorce. It's same one I wore during the '02 Orange Bowl season, where it also went unwashed all year until after returning from Miami.
Four totally standout: 1) Michigan 1985. I was in a Super 8 hotel in Hannibal, MO, working. I had tickets (airplane and game), and on Friday night the boss said I needed to stay in Hannibal for the weekend (long story, and no, I haven't ever forgiven him). So I'm all alone in this hotel room watching Houghtlin kick the FG, yelling and high-fiving myself, and calling my dad 3 hrs later after he GOT HOME from the game! 2) PSU 2008. I was there live in Kinnick, with my 16 yr old daughter, and we hit the field afterwards with all the other fans. That moment was my redemption for having missed the Mich. game in '85. It still might be the greatest day of my life in terms of being a Hawkeye fan. Maybe period!
I don't even want to think about what could be….all I want to think about is beating Indiana on Saturday. But for now, let's all enjoy the surreality (is that a word?) that this season is giving us, remembering where we were for every game and how we felt, and connecting with every eastern Iowa Hawk fan on these gazetteonline chats. Thanks for creating this environment Mike/Marc/Scott. Go Hawks – one game at a time!!
AlohaCheri
26. Oct, 2009
I was sitting on my couch in Honolulu with my family and brother who was in town on a layover. We added the Big 10 Network to our cable service so we could follow the Hawkeyes this year. We were a bit frustrated witht the whole way the game had been going. It wasn't such an exciting game to watch although the Hawks were winning near the end. AND THEN the MSU touchdown took the wind out of our sails. We all went around the room saying whether we thought the Hawks could pull it off. Of course I said. The power of positive thinking but with a bit of hesitation too that they could actually pull it off. Well, we all know what happened. We too were jumpng up and down screaming. My dog thought someone was being murdered inside the house and was diggin up the yard trying to get back into the house. We were all so proud of that fighting spirit, that Can Do attititude, not giving up. Way to go again Hawkeyes! You make us proud! My 10 year old son now wants to come back to Iowa and play for the Hawkeyes!
Shebs
26. Oct, 2009
I'm an Iowa City transplant living in Milwaukee, and I've been watching all the Hawks games on our neighbor's big screen TV upstairs with them and with my roommate. Although none of them are from Iowa, they still cheer wholeheartedly for the Hawkeyes and we've had a blast watching this season unfold. On Saturday, my roommate and I were planted on the couch, and our neighbors left during the first quarter for a meeting. This game wasn't pretty, and I watched with despair as Mich State made two fantastic plays to take the lead. Both of us sat in shock, and I said that maybe it wouldn't be bad for us to have one loss, it would fire us up…or something. I didn't expect our offense to make a game-winning drive after being stifled all night. But the team advanced down the field, to the point where they were toeing the end zone for the third time. I couldn't bear to watch as they failed three times to get the winning six points. Just as the whistle blew for the fourth down play, our neighbors returned — at the last possible second. We motioned wildly to the TV as they ran inside and stared in disbelief, and no sooner had the door shut than the ball was snapped. Of course, the rest was history, and we all went nuts as McNutt dragged it in. They couldn't believe they had timed their arrival for the final play of the game, and I was just happy to have more people to celebrate an amazing win with! Let's go Hawks!
VegasHawkeye
27. Oct, 2009
Thank you for mentioning McMullan's – Home of the Vegas Hawkeyes! I am President of the Las Vegas Iowa Club, and wow what a crowd I had. There were easily 150 Hawkeyes crammed in there, and unfortunately our regular room that holds 7-+ had a wedding reception. As Iowan's do – we made it work. The noise in that place after that final TD was insane, and I wish I would have seen your friend jump on the bar.
Thank you to all of the Iowa tourists who take the time to come and watch the games with us Vegas Hawkeyes. The more the merrier, and hopefully creates great memories for you as well. Just a note to everyone that there are Iowa Clubs all aross the country… check out iowalum.com for a list of US Clubs. All I can say is I was literally crying of joy at the history that was made, and being surrounded by 150 Hawkeyes… thanks, and GO HAWKS!