The Battle for Iowa and Spreading Despair

 In one of the biggest games in the Iowa / Iowa State rivalry over the weekend, the Hawkeyes beat the Cyclones on Saturday to take the unofficial crown of Best in Iowa.  The game was a battle of two teams ranked in the top 10 and was featured on College Football Countdown as Reece and the gang came to Ames and welcomed Ashton Kutcher who rode in on a John Deere to declare his support of the Hawkeyes.

The week prior Iowa State beat UNI in a close game.  UNI doesn't often get to claim Best in Iowa, but it has happened in the past.  Three times I have counted, which is pretty good considering every game is on the road for them and they are FCS.  The three times were:

1992: UNI beats ISU 27-10 (+17) at Ames, and Iowa only beats ISU 14-7 (+7) in Iowa City.

2007: UNI beats ISU 24-13 at Ames, and Iowa State beats Iowa 15-13, so the Transitive property is in effect.

2013: UNI beats ISU 28-20 (+8) at Ames, and Iowa only ISU 27-21 (+6) in Ames.

In 2009 UNI lost to Iowa 17-16, the closest UNI has ever come to beating Iowa (2 blocked FGs sealed it for Iowa.)  That Iowa team might have played for a National Championship that year had Ricky Stanzi not got injured in the Northwestern game (10-0 when he left, lost 17-10).  The next game was at Ohio State, and they lost that in overtime with a Freshman QB making his first start.  

Congrats to the Iowa Hawkeyes!

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Due to Iowa not having any professional teams in the major sports, my pro teams reside in other states.  Well, mostly just Minnesota.  My dad grew up in Minnesota, so I suppose you could say that I inherited that from him, but like a genetic disease I wonder if he wished he hadn't passed it on.  The life of a Minnesota fan tends to be wrought with despair and the belief that everything will go wrong in the end but unable to control the optimism that it might not.  

My personal worst was the 2009 NFC Championship game against the New Orleans Saints, where I told myself before and during the game "They are going to lose, Saints are better, and have Katrina Karma that will carry them through." Brett Favre completed a pass to put the Vikings in field goal position late in the 4th in a tie game, and I thought "The Vikings are going to the Super Bowl!" Of course this immediately jinxed the team into a penalty and an interception, and not seeing the ball in overtime and the Vikings losing.

Every Minnesota fan has this story for this moment or a hundred others, and everyone has there own ways of dealing with it.  It has made me a pessimist.  Iowa is now up to #5 in the polls, and I can't seem to get past how they are going to lose to Northwestern.  

Aaron Gleeman is a writer for the Athletic who posts a bunch on Twitter.  He is a Twins fan, and genuinely loves the game.  He is a big supporter of two recent Twins; Joe Mauer and Byron Buxton.  Mauer is a potentially Hall of Fame catcher who was born and raised in Minnesota, played his entire career there, and generally a likeable guy.  Buxton is the former #1 overall pick who flashes tons of talent, but does have unfortunate injury luck.

Any franchise would be lucky to have these guys.  But there is a certain segment of Twins fandom that just can't stand either of them.  Aaron address those fans over the weekend, showing some of the comments that he had muted.  If anyone dare say something nice about Buxton, the wave of fans jump on to dunk on Buxton's injury history.  If anyone says something nice about Mauer, its comments about how much money he was paid.  Yes, some of the comments are incredibly rude, but even the well thought out, nice comments that bring these things up are just as damaging.

It's the inability to accept something good, or let someone else enjoy that good when you can't.  Imagine Twitter was real life. "My son got an A on his math test today!"  First comment would be "Yeah, but has he calculated how much money he has cost you so far?!"   "My daughter scored a goal today! " "yeah, but in a couple of years she'll leave you and probably blame all her problems on you in therapy!"

I find myself bothered by this, yet find myself falling into the same trap.  "Yes, the Hawkeyes are 5th in the polls, but they'll probably blow it." goes through my head, when I should just enjoy the ride.  Iowa St. lost, but still has a solid chance at the Big 12 this year.  UNI played their hearts out against ISU, and had a resounding road win in week 2.  Enjoy the ride.  Don't spread despair.

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I don't want to go without posting about one card at least.  I talked about the Iowa Hawkeyes a bunch, but I don't have a Ferentz card and everyone else is a college student and shouldn't have any cards..

Hold on...

I do have a card I picked up from the National.  It's Tyler Lindebaum's Leaf card from pre-college!