Game Report

As far as the Iowa v. MSU game that Megan and I saw?

In the past I have ranted on Facebook about two things that drive me nuts at Carver-Hawkeye Arena (CHA): fans leaving before there are all zeroes on the clock and fans telling other fans to "sit down."

Well, both happened last night. How can you leave a basketball game with 1:30 in overtime? How can you tell another fan to sit down in a sold out arena? I don't get it.

Look, traffic around CHA is bad. It will always be bad. There wasn't a parking spot so I parked behind another vehicle that wasn't in a spot. I am happy I wasn't towed. It is what it is. It's the same thing with Kinnick Stadium. If you really think leaving the game with 1:30 left in OT is going to get you that far ahead of the traffic, then you are stupid. Blunt, but true. If you are that concerned about traffic, stay home. The game was sold out and also on television. Stay home & give your tickets away.

And sit down? Really? You want to go to a sold out basketball game against a ranked top 5 team and instead of cheering and making my presence known, you want me to sit down? Do you really think this is an opera? You sit down at an opera. Do you think MSU fans *sit* at their basketball games? Do you think Wisconsin fans *sit* at their basketball games? What about North Carolina, Arizona, Duke, and Syracuse? What about Michigan, Indiana, and Kansas State? Do their fans *sit* when they go to a basketball game? Am I comparing apples and oranges, that Iowa men's basketball will never be mentioned in the same breath as those other teams? How can fans complain about being excluded from being mentioned with those great programs and, in the same breath, tell fellow fans to sit down?

Change will not happen until there is a culture shift. Move the fans down next to the court if the fans want to sit and watch. Fran McCafery's freshman class are now seniors. This is a team of talented players. They have an 11 man rotation. Any of those 11 could start - the talent is on that team. This is a new era. Dismiss the being outplayed history that has happened in CHA. I've been there.

Unless Kinnick and/or CHA are relocated to another part of campus, there will always be traffic issues on game days. Deal with it. No one would consider moving Kinnick to another part of campus even though it is now shoehorned into its current location by UIHC. Looking down the road at the future of Iowa athletics, I don't see a lot of good times coming. Recruits are going to see arenas and stadiums where the capacity crowd doesn't leave a game that has 1:30 left in OT.