Iowa City, IA

My friends and I decided back in August that attending an Iowa Hawkeyes football game was something of interest to us. So, this past weekend was our only opportunity to catch a home game, the last one of the season. We drove east at about 4:30 Friday afternoon for a great weekend of fun.


The trip started out on a good note thanks to a friendly challenge. This challenge was much along the lines of many of the ones I partake in or force upon others - "I bet you won't ..." Ours: I bet you won't finish a six-pack before we get out of the car in Iowa City. To add insult to eventual injury, the cans we used were 16 oz. Keystone Lights. Big moves.

After a loss (5/6 finished), we hopped out of the car to meet up with our Univ. of Iowa cronies. After our initial interaction with Mook, Chad's good friend from high school, Jonathan and I took off running to the convenience store. Why not? Seemed like a good idea at the time. After buying Beer 30 we decided that meeting people was necessary. We wandered down to the lowest floor of the first apartment on our way back. Our quick deliberation ended in deciding to knock on the door to the right as opposed to the left. The door opened to a girl wearing an Iowa soccer sweatshirt and a confusing look on her face. She looked at her roommates without saying a word, simply implying that we were friends with one her roommates. We obviously were not.

Another girl came to the door and we politely introduced ourselves. Turns out, we knew an ex -Iowa women's soccer player, having gone to Grinnell with her brother. This knowledge legitimized us and we were lucky enough to catch an episode of Dexter while drinking some beers. Our adventure paid off - we successfully met 8 of the Univ. of Iowa women's soccer team!

The next day we woke up around 8 AM and got to Kinnick Stadium around 9 AM. Thanks to the generosity of Wes Finch (who owns the car dealership in Grinnell) we had an additional 2 tickets plus a parking pass right near Gate B. It was prime real estate. The Hawks won 22-17. Shonn Greene (see pic below) was filthy - he put #3 of Purdue on two ESPN highlights on his way to 211 yards and 2 TDs.

Photo courtesy of ESPN.com

After the game and a small Grinnell reunion at miss Julia Veltri's apartment, Maury and I ended up a bar downtown with our friend Franklin, who is an extremely good salsa dancer. Upon leaving the bar Maury was hungry. We stopped in a sub shop and Maury started talking to a guy carrying a 24-pack of Miller Lite. He told us that he is a blackbelt. As he is explaining some key moves, the worker asks, "Who had the #5?" I looked around, as did others, and zero claims were made. I said, "The vito?" The worker corrected me, "No, that is Jimmy John's. This is the Godfather." I agreed and took the sub. Another guy looks at me and says, "Where the f-ck is my sub, this guy didn't even order!"

Yes, it was a great weekend in Iowa City. Americans were in attendance and various American moves were made.