Hawkeye football is arguably one of the greatest parts of the University of Iowa. Win or lose, through thick and thin, the student body, staff, alumni and Iowans all over the state show unwavering support towards the team and coaches.
Iowa football has given me countless memories, many laughs and lots of tears, and I am so excited for the new Hawkeyes to experience this one of a kind tradition. A lot of my former classmates have asked me about Iowa football, but each time I’ve tried to explain it to them, it never quite comes out right. It’s so hard to try and put everything that Iowa football is into words, so instead I’m going to try to explain it through the sensations I’ve experienced instead.
1. Hearing
There are many sounds you’ll hear during a football game, and the one that starts it all off is “Back and Black” playing as the team walks out of the tunnel. It gets everyone excited, the blood pumping and builds up the anticipation of the crowd. The other memorable thing you’ll hear is the “I-O-W-A” cheer echo through the stadium. This has to be one of the most fun moments of a Hawkeye Football game because it not only signals that we’ve scored, but it encourages the stadium to come together and celebrate. As the student section starts the whole cheer off by yelling “I,” the chant begins and goes around and around, sometimes lasting for several minutes. Hearing “IOWA” spelled out corner by corner never fails to ring in my ears even after it finishes and is easily one of the most unique things about Iowa football.
2. Sight
I have never seen more black and gold in one place than in Kinnick Stadium. It’s a sea of school pride as 70,000 die hard fans squeeze in, all dressed in up and ready for the swarm. One of the coolest things to see is when we get fancy and stripe the stadium or have black outs or gold outs. The other thing you’ll notice is sometimes it is nearly impossible to see the field after we make a good play due to the thousands of arms raised, cheering and high-fiving. Speaking of hands, one of my favorite parts of the game is when the team walks out of the tunnel together, all holding each others hands. That little detail sets our team apart from all the others, and shows people watching all over the country that they are a united front who truly supports each other.
3. Touch
If anyone ever tells you that they’ve never cried when a Kid Captain leads the team onto the field, they’re lying. More than one time during the season you will feel tears streaming down your cheeks as an amazing Kid Captain from the the Iowa Children’s Hospital waves and smiles up at you. It’s a humbling and absolutely inspiring moment for the fans and is also highly respected by schools all over the country. Other less emotional things you’ll touch are a plethora of other people’s sweaty bodies, the koozie saving your hands from freezing off, and the occasional person who has had one too many fall into you, cheering and smiling all the way.
4. Smell
As someone who is a great lover of food, the smell of grilled hotdogs when I pass by the tailgates on Melrose and the freshly popped popcorn in the stadium is welcoming and familiar. Another, less welcoming, scent during the first few hot games of the season is the stench of intense B.O. that wafts around the tightly packed stadium, slowly filling your lungs and choking you from the inside. Fortunately, during the fall, the temperature cools down, and the smell of delicious hot chocolate takes the place of sticky sweat and bad decisions.
5. Taste
The Big A** Turkey leg tent on Melrose Avenue is a famous site for all Hawkeye fans to visit. Tasting a big, juicy, perfectly cooked turkey leg is one of a kind experience that every Hawkeye needs to partake in. Oh, and remember those tears from watching the Kid Captain on the field? Yeah, you’ll be tasting their saltiness of those, too.
6. The Sixth Sense
This sixth sense is created by the collective feelings that each Hawkeye experiences during the season. It’s the intense pride we feel when our team walks out on the field. The joy that sweeps the crowd during the last game of the season when we solidified a record of 12-0, and the excitement when Desmond makes another interception. It’s also the crushing disappointment when Michigan State wins the championship, and the extreme embarrassment when Stanford humiliated us at the Rose Bowl, but the sixth sense is what makes Hawkeyes more connected than any other school and one of the most powerful fan-forces in the country.
I am so excited to share Hawkeye Football with all the new members of our family, because some of my best moments at Iowa have happened at Kinnick. Whether it’s been walking to the games with my friends, shaking my keys at every kickoff, or watching Koehn kick a 57-yard field goal against Penn under the lights, Iowa Football is the reason I feel like a true part of the University of Iowa. So to all the new Hawkeyes, enjoy everything that Iowa Football is going to give you. Enjoy the highs and the lows of the team, the sweltering hot and freezing cold games, and most of all, enjoy the indescribable memories that you too will someday struggle to explain to your friends.