AMES — The Observant Reader will recall that I have been granted a season-long sideline pass for all Iowa State home football games. Included, of course, was Saturday’s Cy-Hawk battle between the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes.
College football is my favorite sport, and as much as I enjoy the NFL, the pro game cannot come close, in my opinion to the atmosphere and passion present at the collegiate level.
Saturday was my fourth time to be present for a Cy-Hawk game, all of which I have seen at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. I was in the press tower (err, press ‘box’) for ISU wins of 17-10 in 1999 and of 17-14 in 2001, as well as for Iowa’s 40-21 triumph in 2003.
Saturday I was on the sidelines, from where I can attest the rivalry has lost none of its fervor.
The crowd was electric from the beginning and the game was, for the most part, well-played, as both squads had several big moments.
I, of course, agree with Sports Illustrated, who called the Iron Bowl (that is Alabama vs. Auburn for those who have been in a cave) “the single most hate-filled rivalry, in any sport, anywhere on the planet.” I have been to two, both Bama wins (Roll Tide!). I have also been in both Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa when the Tide rolled hated LSU.
Saturday’s game in way came near to rising to the level of those games, if for no other fact that it was not played in front of 100,000 football-mad Southerners.
That said, the experience was a grand one. I have many friends on both sides of the rivalry and know quite well how thrilling winning “the big game” was for some as well as the devastation being experienced by those who were on the other side (I did not recover from the twin crimes of the 2010 and 2013 Iron Bowls for months).
Yes, Iowa State vs. Nebraska was heated. I have heard Iowa vs. Wisconsin can be the same way, but when the Cyclones and Hawkeyes meet … well, it IS the “big game” in Iowa.
And I was happy to have been there one more time.
