In heaven there is no beer

"In heaven there is no beer. That's why we drink it here. And we when are gone from here, our friends will be drinkin all our beer." *cheers* Go Hawks!

I went to the Iowa Homecoming game today against Michigan State. We kicked butt!! My friend, Jennifer, was able to get a pair of tickets (on the 30-yard line -- yeah!) for free, so aside from paying for our train ticket to get to the Stadium and food....it was a fantastic and cheap day!

We left Jennifer's at 8:50 am to head toward the train depot, caught the 9:20 departing train and got to the Stadium by 9:30 am. Kickoff wasn't until 11:00 so we wandered around the vendor and tailgating areas until 10:30. I'm glad I watched the weather before selecting clothes for the day (wool sweater with a sweatshirt over it) because it was only 35 degrees outside this morning. Brrrrrr! I had to dig out my mittens! We walked the length of the vendor area to skope out the offerings before selecting Old Chicago pizza. As we passed a booth selling giant drum legs (turkey, etc), the salesman yelled out to me "Don't we look good in pink today! Wooo-eee!" Jennifer was laughing and I managed to get out a thank you while laughing. He had said it so loudly I bet everyone on that block heard him. When we had gotten out of earshot, she turned to me and said "You're right. You do attract the weird ones." Thanks. LOL

We also laughed at the drunks and sports fanatics around us. What were the drunks doing? Getting really lost and being completely goofy, which was pretty entertaining. What were the sports fanatics doing? I'll tell you.

We discovered our seats were directly behind a group of guys who can definitely claim to be among Iowa's biggest fans. At every good pass, yard gainage or general good referree call, they would jump up, yell, and high-five anyone within reach. What a hoot! By the end of the game, they were turning to us at every touchdown and exclaiming "Gimme some skin!" or "Gimme some love!" I think my hands are still stinging from the hand slaps. Something else I noticed was that every man in the vicinity thought he was qualified to be a referree. One guy (he had to have been drunk, or at least I hope he was) was even doing the hand signals refs use to communicate the penalties. If the man wasn't drunk, I'd be a little worried for his state of mind because he was VERY serious about the signal thing. I have to say that being present at a game with very verbal fans is infectious. There were many times I discovered myself yelling at the players just as often as the guys in front of us. I also found myself standing and cheering when I hadn't planned to do so. Although I wouldn't call myself a sports fan per se, I did enjoy the game and hope to go again. But I still refuse to wear the corn cob hat. You can't make me!

At the end of the day, the Hawks had won, we sang our victory beer song, and Jennifer and I snoozed while riding the train back to the parking area. Back at her place, we ordered delivery and collapsed in her living room. We had to laugh at the sight we made. Because the sun was always to our left, we managed to sunburn only half of our faces. *sigh* At least we didn't put the Herky face tattoos on. It would not have been very attractive to have a white spot among a red cheek!