“Thanks for coming,” said an Iowa fan, as Vicki and I walked out of Kinnick Stadium near the end of Iowa’s 40-16 dismantling of Washington on Saturday. “I hope our fans here treated you well.”
They certainly did. Better than the visiting team was treated, for sure. We came a long way to watch the visitors from the Pacific Northwest bullied by the always-physical, corn-fed team in America’s Heartland. But while I was expecting the Huskies to be more competitive against slightly-favored Iowa, I’d have to characterize our experience on an unseasonably warm, mid-October afternoon in Iowa City to be a worthwhile experience.
The primary reason for the trip was to visit our daughter Greta and family in their new home in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Illinois. But I also am keenly aware that there are eight Big Ten schools within a four-hour drive of Chicago.
I’d circled the UW-Iowa game on October 12 to visit historic Kinnick Stadium before the temperatures dropped too low for comfort. We made the three-hour drive on Friday to Davenport, Iowa, putting us within an hour’s drive of Iowa City for the 11 a.m. local time kickoff the following day.
This quaint college town off Interstate-80 in eastern Iowa was a paradigm shift
for me. I was expecting a non-descript town surrounded by corn fields and
flat plains. To my surprise, Iowa City is nestled amidst rolling hills. The Iowa River
runs through campus.
The smell of barbecue and big-time college football were in the Midwest air as we walked past Hawkeye tailgaters toward the stadium, named after the school’s lone Heisman Trophy winner, Nile Kinnick. A 20-foot-tall bronze statue of Kinnick resides outside one end of that stadium. The stadium, built in 1929, is wedged between Carver-Hawkeye basketball arena, the university’s children’s hospital and other campus buildings.
Seating capacity is 69,250, slightly smaller than Husky Stadium. Walking down the concourses under the grandstands on each side of the field, the stadium shows its age. It’s obvious the original stadium was much smaller until the first of two major renovations, beginning in 2004, brought the capacity to its current 10th largest in the 18-team, Big Ten.
Some thoughts on the Iowa football experience:
The Hawkeye Wave: A few Iowa fans told me it’s the best tradition in college football. Not sure I can argue. It does tug on the heart strings. Started in 2017, when the clock hits zero at the end of the first quarter, fans, players and even the game officials turn their attention to the children’s hospital just behind the east grandstand. In unison, they wave to the pediatric patients and their families watching the game.
Striping Kinnick black and gold: The “Stripeout,” as they call it, was on display for this particular game. Fans in alternating sections wore black and gold. Not sure UW fans – perhaps more independent and less inclined to cooperate? – would comply to stripe Husky Stadium purple and gold.
Back in Black: The AC/DC song is blared in the stadium as the black-clad Hawkeyes in their Pittsburgh Steeler-look-alike jerseys make their way out of the locker room toward the tunnel. Not sure if this is a tradition, but on this day anyway, the team formed a large “V formation” and trotted out together holding hands as the band played “Fight, Fight, Fight for Iowa!”
I-O-W-A Kinnick chant: A flag for each letter is placed in each corner of the field. In wave-like fashion, fans in each corner of the stadium stand up and yell as that flag is raised for those fans. It goes around the stadium several times. Ironically, the “W” flag happened to be in the corner of the stadium where most UW fans were, so we were happy to stand and salute the “W.”
“Iowa Nice:” This is not a tradition, just my observation of Hawkeye football fans in general. I’ve heard of “Minnesota Nice,” not necessarily the Iowa version. But I actually saw an Iowa fan wearing those words on his shirt. It’s true. From the tailgaters in pregame who offered Vicki and I food, to the Iowa fan seated next to me who handed me some me peanuts – well, at least that was after the Hawkeyes had built a comfortable lead – they couldn’t have been more friendly and welcoming.
The Inside Scoop 