It’s genuinely hard to find the right words to describe the array of emotions an Iowa team makes you feel throughout a season.
Trying to portray exactly the thoughts that ran through my head, the words that left my mouth, or the way I felt post-games is somewhat of an impossible task. Maybe it’s because a single game can stretch my emotions from elation, to devastation. From jumping up and down screaming with excitement, to silent headshakes riddled with neasuating disappointment. It would be impossible to pick just one, or even two, thoughts and emotions that surge through an Iowa fan on game day, but there is something Iowa does. It makes you feel.
There’s no doubt that being a fan of a consistent team would be a good time. You’d never have to worry about the outcome of a game, or whether or not they could step it up for the next gameafter a shocking upset. But if we’re being honest, where’s the fun in that? Where’s the adventure, the excitement, the angst that comes with being a fan of a surprising team? I’m not saying it’s ever fun watching your team hit a wall, but what makes it interesting, and admittedly frustrating, is that you never know what type of game you’re going to see. Iowa drags you in, riles you up, and sometimes spits you right back out. By then though, it becomes somewhat of an addiction. As a fan, especially an Iowa athletics fan, that means you’re in it for better or worse, in sickness and in health, and once you’ve had a taste of success, you’ll do almost anything to get back into the winning cycles.
We’re not a bandwagon team. You can’t just like us one day, and disregard us the next—you’re stuck with the team from the day you first put on an Iowa shirt. Isn’t that something to be proud of though? I knew from the womb what it meant to be a Hawkeye fan, and I knew I was in for the long haul. From the very first football game at Kinnick Stadium, to the first time I entered Carver’s descending staircase… there was no turning back. Maybe that’s just something you’ll have to experience for yourself, the first time seeing something that magical. There’s nowhere else in the world I would rather be than Carver Hawkeye Arena after the Hawkeyes strike up a heatwave of a comeback, or surrounded by 70,000 Iowa football fans after a game winning field goal. There’s nothing, not one single thing that can compare to the energy or the emotions surging through the entire fandom in those moments. I’m not kidding when I say that Carver can shake after a Hawkeye run, and the roars of Kinnick can be heard from miles down the road. It’s those moments that keep bringing you back. It’s the fact that you’ve seen it before, and you know you’ll see it again. The fun is when the unexpected happens, and you win all your regular season football games, or when you knock out the #1 team in the nation not once, but twice in basketball. It’s magical, it’s thrilling, and it’s a high you never want to come down from. But just as quickly as the high sets in, the fun sizzles out as soon as the unexpected becomes the expected.
This basketball season we shocked the nation when we defeated #1 Michigan State, twice. We battled the toughest teams in the B1G, came home with some W’s and a few losses, but pretty soon the fans started expecting the unbelievable shots from Jarrod Uthoff that only Step Curry could challenge. We got used to Jok nailing every single three point shot he took, and we became accustom to our bench adding some fairy dust to the court. I’m not saying these things should be unexpected, because we did see them happen. But somewhere along the season fans started heating up at missed shots taken from the Curry range.We got mad when the ally-oop didn’t oop. Maybe the end-season slump we’ve found ourselves in is, in some-part, on the fan’s shoulders. We forgot to be excited about the basics of the game, and got so caught up in the dramatics and the showy shots, passes, and dunks that we forgot to appreciate the value of a classic layup, or jump shot. Last night, in the heartbreaking loss to Indiana, I noticed something. The Hawks were down by 14, and with a couple steals and some three-point swishes later, we were right back in the game. The crazy thing though, was that the fans did not sit for the last nine minutes of the game. Carver was roaring, people were jumping, things were happening! It’s as if we began to believe in our team again. But there lies the problem, why weren’t we believing the second half of the season, after we dropped our first game? Not just the last nine minutes of the last home game? The energy was indescribable, fans were out of their seats, arms up in the air, jumping, screaming, **almost crying**; but then it faded. The second Indiana took the lead again, the fans turned their back and left with one minute remaining on the clock. Games are won in the last minute of college basketball, legends are made, and faith is restored in those last 60 seconds. By the time the Hawkeyes had a chance at redemption, the crowed had lost its luster, its unity, and its fandom, leaving nothing but a few cheers and applause to echo in the empty seats. Fans turned their backs when the seniors needed them most. They needed the energy to fuel their exhausted legs, and drown out their doubts—but instead, the Hawkeyes ended their senior night, with a loss to Indiana and their chance at a share of the B1G title; But worst of all, they left their senior night without a full crowd of fans to cheer them on one last time through that tunnel.
I never said being a Hawkeye fan was easy. It’s not for the faint-hearted, fair-weather, or bandwagon type of person. It’s tough to cheer on a team with a Jekyll and Hyde persona, but like I said before- they never fail to make you feel. And it’s the feelings that keep bringing you back, year after year, loss after loss.
With that, the season is far from over for these seniors and this team. We face Michigan on Saturday, and before we know it, its tournament time. It’s not called March Madness for nothing, so I say it’s about damn time the fans, the team, and the staff pick up their energy and passion and fight for the magic, and the unexpected.
As always, Go Hawks.
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