Who are you?

Ok, so this post will probably get me called a Cyclone or something worse, if there is something worse?  But I’ve heard it from friends and read it and well it is getting under my skin.  Now I’m not directing this at Hawk fans directly but all fans, mostly college football fans since the NFL is a different breed.  But I’m an Iowa fan, bleed black and gold, and well this is what I see being in Iowa and being around Hawkeye fans, so here we go.

Iowa lost.  We got beat.  The sun rose Sunday morning, there is a game on Saturday.  The season ISN’T OVER!

Under Coach Ferentz we’ve risen to levels not seen before, no offense to Hayden Fry, but we’ve been super consistent, in the top tier in Big Ten standings, January Bowl games, but we are not Ohio State.  We are not Oklahoma.  We are not Texas or USC or Alabama.  Those schools, yea 1 loss, season over.  But please wake up, realize we are Iowa.  We aren’t competing for National Titles every year.  We come close once every maybe 10-15 years (see 1985, 2002). 

But fans are crying for coaches heads to roll, they think the season is over and screw going to the games.  Are you serious?  WAKE UP!  Get your head out of the sand, and realize who you are.  You waited like 200 some days for the season to start and your ready to end it?

Now, I will say when I was in High School I was probably more like this, I’d pick Iowa Big Ten Champs yearly, the Cubs and Bears winning championships every year too.  I’ve woken up.  My expectations yearly are 8-4 and get me to the Alamo Bowl (now Gator Bowl since the Big Ten lost the Alamo)  and anything else is just icing.  The seasons actually have come to be more enjoyable sincee 2000 when I’ve done that.  The win over Penn State was sweeter in 2000.  The 2001 season was great.  The 2002 -2004 seasons were like a huge cake for me.  We lost games but it was AMAZING for me being a fan.  Were 05-07 sucky, yes, but I loved seeing the Hawks run out there though we struggled.  Then came 2008, your damn right I enjoyed every minute of that year, even the losses.  2009, the same. 

Now it’s 2010.  Did I expect big things from the Hawks?  Yes, I picked them to go to the Fiesta Bowl.  Did the loss sting?  Yes, just like the loss to Arizona State in 2004.  But don’t let it ruin your season.  Don’t let it ruin your week.  The loss to Arizona showed me a couple things.  1-Our special teams suck.  2-We can’t dig a hole and try to come back.  3-I liked what I saw in the whole game, especially the 2^nd half.  We will be ok.  It’s a non-conference loss.  We are still 0-0 in the Big Ten, 8 games left.  We’ll be ok.  Have faith in Coach Ferentz.

My basketball coach in high school never worried about the rankings or State when practice started.  The goal, win the conference.  With that good things will come. 

Ok fellow Hawks, you can rip me now.  I’m going to enjoy the rest of the season as much as I enjoyed  it when we were 2-0 and #9.