We Were There

And that, my friends, is why they play the game. Because on paper, Iowa State is a 27-point underdog to #2, undefeated Oklahoma State. But paper doesn’t account for a Friday night game on ESPN. Paper doesn’t account for needing that sixth win to become bowl eligible. Paper doesn’t account for a stadium filled with fans armed with gold “terrible” towels.

Rob’s towel picture.

My attempt at a towel picture, just as Rob bumped my arm and my phone almost went flying.

Going into Friday night’s game, I thought the setting just might be wacky enough for a Cyclone victory. Sometimes you just have that feeling. It’s one of confidence in your team and being an Iowa State football fan, it’s not exactly a familiar feeling I get at Jack Trice.

Rob, Lukey and I had a good feeling. Summer – not so much.

If you saw the game, Iowa State dug themselves a hole of 17 points. But it never felt like 17 points and slowly but surely, the Cyclones stormed back to tie the game. Credit “Sandstorm” for about half of those points. It made the crowd go nuts and by that I mean Rob Lindquist broke out his air glowsticks.

(Damn me for not taking a picture of this).

By now you probably heard Iowa State won in double OT.

In case you can’t read it, it says 37 – 31. Cyclones Win! Let me repeat, CYCLONES WIN!

Let me put that in perspective for you.

Earlier this year we took Faith to the Texas game in Ames. Let’s just say our corndogs were the highlight of her first time in section 18.

Seriously, the Longhorns just scored again?! says Faith.

 We left at halftime because even if the Longhorns had left for Austin, the Cyclones could not have scored enough points to win. It was fugly, as it sometimes is for our beloved cardinal and gold.

The game was ugly but Faith is always cute.

Despite being on the losing end of many an Iowa State football game, Rob and I still chose to get season tickets every year. We enjoy tailgating with our crew whether it be a game of bags, giant Jenga or the occasional Flip  Cup that we are too old for never gets old.

And the food. Beer bread and fruit salsa. Summer’s famous Monster cookies not pictured 🙂

Guys and horseballs.

You do not want to cross this angry bird at horseballs.

Me, Luke, Summer, Eric and Kaylee! Diehard Cyclone peeps.

Nick and Brooke. They missed the victory, but stayed warm in Jamaica!

But it’s not all about what happens in the parking lots. As the loud dude on the big screen always says during a third quarter timeout, “We love Ames, Iowa and WE. LOVE. THE CYCLONES!”

 We went to school for four years at Iowa State. It holds a special place in our hearts. Hell, even my license plate says 05CLONE. Not only do we owe our family to that place, but most of our best friends in the world graduated from there too, so they understand how big of a deal Friday’s win is for us. There is NOTHING like cheering for your alma mater. Especially when they upset a team they weren’t supposed to and especially when something like that happens for the FIRST TIME IN SCHOOL HISTORY. I liken it to the UNI victory over Kansas during March Madness in 2010.

The pride in our team was so overwhelming that when the clock struck 0:00 fans young and old, short (me) and tall (Luke) bounded down the bleachers, hopped over the wall and ran onto the field to celebrate and scream our hearts out.

 The chorus of “Sweet Caroline” echoed around the place. It was 11 o’clock at night, but no one cared about sleep right then. The smiles from the crowd on the field could’ve been featured in one giant Delta Dental ad. Eyes were glued to the screen waiting for a Paul Rhoads speech. No one wanted to leave. It was definitely a “life on pause” moment for me.

Warning: REALLY bad, annoying singing by yours truly. And that’s being nice.

The victory is one I won’t ever forget. I can’t wait to tell Faith the story of the time the Cyclones beat Oklahoma State on a crazy Friday night in my favorite college town. Hopefully she’ll realize that I’m SO PROUD to be a Cyclone.

I wanna close by acknowledging the most important thing about the game on Friday: the moment of silence for the two women’s basketball coaches killed in an airplane crash. When I heard the news, it made me sick to my stomach. How awful for those families, their players and the rest of the Okie State community. I know how much it would have affected our football team if we lost one of my favorite coaches of all time, Bill Fennely, the Cyclone women’s b-ball coach. While I am happy my Cyclones won, when I was watching the game the next night on our DVR, it made me want to cheer for the other team, so they could have something to smile about. It sucks their national title hopes were dashed, but that is insignificant compared to the difficulty Oklahoma State faces as the other coaches and players of the women’s basketball team pick up the pieces. An Iowa State fan’s sign said it well, “Our Thoughts Are With Stillwater.” And our hearts go out to the Cowboys as well.