Thursday December 29, 2011

I suppose its been long enough, so I better add to this blog. I wanted to work on this yesterday since the kids are at my parents and I had the whole day to myself! Turns out what was in store for me was not what I had planned. Sore throat, chills, fever, all fun stuff to have on a free day. Today isn't much better, but at least I can sit here and throw some words onto the interwebs.

Bri had her very first Christmas concert at school. It was pretty cute, long but cute. When her grade was on stage and ready to perform, once she found us, she wanted to wave really bad. A few others in her class would wave to their family, but Bri wouldn't. We asked why she didn't wave she said they were told not to wave. It looked like it was killing her to not wave or smile at us. Here is a couple picture of the little singer.

Brianna hit another milestone this month too. She lost her first tooth! Its crazy how old she is getting. She was at my parents for the weekend and found out it was loose. She then became scared she would swallow it while eating. When she got home, she spent a lot of time in the bathroom looking at it and wiggling it. Then all of a sudden she runs down stairs because she pulled it out! She was pretty excited and I think the Tooth Fairy went a little overboard. I guess we will see what happens when Emily loses her first tooth.

Christmas came and went again about as fast as can be. This year was a little different. Kristy had to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after Christmas. Not a fun schedule. So we stayed in Omaha for Christmas. My parents came over in the morning and the girls were spoiled once again! Bri was very excited this year. On Christmas Eve she was hyper and I told her, "the faster you go to sleep, the faster morning will get here". I was shocked because she wanted to go to bed as early as 7:00 PM when Emily went to bed. That's rare for this monster. Just after 8:00 PM, she went to bed and after a few minutes, she was out. I could not believe it.

Now our game plan was to have the girls stay in bed until Kristy got home from work. Well at 6:00 AM, Emily must have rolled over and activated one of her talking dogs. She played that thing for over an hour. That woke Bri up and she was bouncing off the walls in my room to go downstairs. Finally Kristy got home and they got to see their gifts from Santa Claus. They continued to bounce off the walls the remainder of the day, but I guess that is too be expected on Christmas Day!

So a couple nights ago, Emily woke up after a couple hours screaming. I would put her blankets back on her and she would say "thank you" and I would leave. This continued every 10 minutes for a while, so I got her up. She was sitting with me on the floor and she was giving me her left foot. I took her sock off and noticed they may have been a little tight, but nothing major. I kept trying to put her to bed and she would cry. I had her in my bed and I was rubbing her foot and that would help for just a little bit, but not enough. I ended up putting her back in her bed where she eventually fell asleep. In the morning Kristy looked at her foot when she got home from work. On the bottom of her foot in between her toes was a cut that had swollen up. Not a surprise she cut her foot on something, but the kicker was a dog hair was stuck in it. We tried to pull it out and it hurt her so we ended up taking her to Urgent Care where the doctor just pulled it out but gave her some antibiotics just in case it got infected. We have no idea when or how this happened. I didn't look under her toes because I thought she was having a problem with the bone or something like that was hurting her. Just another odd ball thing to be thrown our way!

Tomorrow is the final football game of the year for Iowa State. Its hard to believe the season has come to an end. They will take on Rutgers in the Pinestripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in New York City. There was no way we were going to go to a bowl game this year, but when ISU was selected for NYC, I thought, this would be awfully cold and not a lot of fun. Turns out global warming hit us for the month of December and it could be close to 50 degrees tomorrow. NYC would have been a fun place to go to a bowl game, but it wasn't going to work this year.

I do not know a lot about Rutgers, other than they have a really good coach that a few years ago a lot of schools wanted. Rutgers locked him up and they had a decent 8 win season this year. They did have one common opponent, Connecticut. ISU won a sloppy game at UCONN 24-20 and Rutgers lost at UCONN 40-22. Rutgers had a chance to be in a tie for the Big East Conference championship if it wasnt for laying an egg at UCONN.

Prediction: (6-6 on the season)

I saw ISU wins this one, but it will be fairly close. ISU will have had close to a month to prepare a redshirt Freshman quarterback for this game, and if the defense plays like it did the last half of the season, they pull out the second bowl win in three years.

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And lastly, a life changing event s in store for us. We have had our house on the market for a while now because we have decided to move back to central Iowa from Omaha. This has not been an easy decision because of our great friends we have out here, but we think it will be best for the kids to grow up in a small town like we did. I will work my last day in Omaha next Tuesday then I will be moving to Ankeny and start work on Thursday in Des Moines. Kristy and the girls will stay put in Omaha until she either finds a job or the house sells. I will be commuting every Friday night to see the girls the head back to Des Moines Monday morning.

It was a bittersweet month when I got the job because living in Omaha has been a great time. Thankfully this new age of Facebook, blogs, etc, it will be a lot easier to stay in contact with friends than it would have been even ten years ago. I am sure we will continue to make plenty of trips out here, especially if Kristy finds a job where she is off weekends.

Overall, we are excited. Its just going to be pretty stressful, especially entering a time where houses do not sell well. Thankfully we have friends and family able to help us in a number of ways for the next few months!

Thursday December 1, 2011 - The View From Section EE

In my opinion, if there is ever such a thing called a moral victory, Iowa State had one last week in Norman, OK. ISU was once again a four touchdown underdog and they only lost by three touchdowns. That sounds pretty bad, but for a team that lost in Norman 52-0 last year, a 26-6 loss is nothing to be ashamed of. The defense once again played as well as any team in the Big 12, only giving up 3 points in the entire second half. If the offense showed any signs of life, they very well could have won the game, or at the very least, made it a one possession game. One more game to go, until the bowl game.

Last weekend Kristy went out and bought the girls an Elf on a Shelf. I had never heard of it before, but its a really good idea. It is a book that comes with our very own Elf. A few of the rules are that we have to name it and kids can not touch him, or he will lose his Christmas magic. Each night, the Elf, reports back to Santa Claus and comes back each morning to watch the kids. As luck would have it, the show was on the same night we opened the book. Brianna decided to name ours Fred. She wants to touch or pick him up pretty bad and its funny. The first night he slept in her room, then bright and early the next morning, she was up searching all over for him. This trend has continued, ALL week. Today he was in her room on her bookshelf and when she found him, she said "finding Fred was easy-peasy!". Its been pretty cute and a very good idea. I am just waiting for her to be naughty some day and he doesn't re-appear some morning. She will be devastated, therefore, it may be a bad idea on my part to traumatize her at age 5. I may wait on that plan.

Here is what Fred looks like. A little creepy? Yes. But a really good idea. This is not exactly Fred, but I currently do not have a picture of him. I am sure we will get a few in the next 25 days.

Here is a pretty funny story that happened today. Bri gets home from school today and she has a note from one of the neighbor girls. Here is a picture of the front and back.

The note reads (In the best way I can decipher it.):
to bree

from Eden

Stop the mean stuf pea

Dear Bree

Rillie your bing mean on the 1 day of schol to the 1 day of school could stop you please i dont like it

So, we talked to Brianna today and asked her what she did to this Eden girl that may have made her upset. Bri said she did not do anything and went to her room and cried. Later on I spoke to her and Bri said she told Eden "secretes dont make friends", so I am guessing that is the trigger for this whole ordeal. Bri said she wanted to give her a letter that said she will never talk to her again and that letter hurt her feelings. So the girls fighting on the bus continues. Who knows what will happen next.

On a little side note, Brianna is not ours at all. Tonight Kristy took the girls to Bri's school for an Christmas Tree event. Kristy said some of the kids there had the opportunity to go up front and sing some songs. Who is front and center with the microphone in her face? Brianna. Next Thursday will be interesting at her concert! Here is Bri right next to the piano and I assume the music teacher:

My prediction: (6-5 on the season.)

Now back to the final game of the regular season for Iowa State. Its hard to believe that the last game is here. Most thought this team would be lucky to win three games. They have doubled that and being a Cyclone fan, six wins is a good season! The last two seasons, ISU played Kansas State in Kansas City. Now the games have been moved back to campuses and ISU makes the trip to Manhattan. K-State has surprised almost everyone this year. They sit at 9-2 and with a win over ISU Saturday and an Oklahoma win over Oklahoma State, K-State will have a share of the Big 12 title with the Oklahoma schools. Old man Bill Snyder, in his second term coaching at K-State, can work some miracles. There is definitely a level of jealousy from me on the success that program has had.

Enough about that, I think Saturdays game will be an entertaining one. ISU's defense has played outstanding the past five weeks and I see that trend continuing. The offense, once again, needs to step up and hold onto the ball. Early turnovers hurt last week at Oklahoma, and with the K-State running game, they will eat a lot of clock and make it difficult to overcome turnovers. Sounds like the weather may not be very cooperative in Kansas, so it could be a low scoring game. I think the defense plays very well again and the offense corrects some mistakes from last week and puts some points on the board. Vegas has this game as K-State favored by 11.5 points. I say ISU pulls out the win and finishes the season beating three Top 25 teams this season!

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Tuesday November 22, 2011 - The View From Section EE

This weeks view is a little different. The south endzone has great seats, but this times its from somewhere on the 20 yard line near the ISU sideline!

The best game to be played in the history of Jack Trice Stadium took place last Friday. Iowa State did about everything they could have done to beat one of the best teams in the country this year. ISU gained more yardage on offense than OSU. ISU had more first downs than OSU. ISU had a greater time of possession than OSU. And most importantly, ISU scored six more points than ISU. When the second overtime started and Jake Knott tipped the ball to Te'Ran Benton the feeling was the game was over, but we are Iowa State fans and a millions things that can go wrong, usually will. This time Paul Rhoads decides to take the Achilles Heel out of play, the kicking game, and give the ball to Jeff Woody who rumbles into the endzone for the touchdown on the third straight run of the second overtime. The whole place went crazy, much like the Iowa game earlier this year, but this win put ISU into a bowl game for the second time in three years, gave ISU their third straight Big 12 win, and knocked OSU out of the National Championship picture, temporarily. Nothing beats an underdog story, and this was definitely it.

Now off of football for a second, today was Brianna's Grandparent's Day at school. She has been so excited for this since her Grandpa Chris was going to be able to go. She had been practicing songs for the longest time that they were going to sing at a program. When I called her today to see how things went, she was very excited, but it was not very easy to understand her. Something about a house full of girls that made the phone call not so pleasant to listen to. Lots of yelling and screaming. Just another sign of things to come in the future.

One other huge note, unless the doctors take forever with their discharge papers, they seemed to take HOURS when Kristy and the kids were being released from the hospital, our good friend Brooke is getting released from the hospital today from her bone marrow transplant. We are so excited for them, but I bet they are a million times more excited to actually see a real bed and be in their own home! It has only been close to a month.

My prediction (5-5 for the season):

I have said this before, I have no problem being wrong on my predictions when I pick ISU to lose. This week Vegas has again decided to put the Cyclones at a four touchdown favorite, that's 28 points to the non football fans. Oklahoma is one of the most talented teams in the country, much like Oklahoma State. But OU is missing two key persons due to injuries on the offensive side of the ball. The ISU defense is playing lights out right now and I believe they can keep games close against a lot of schools right now. With this being on the road and OU coming off a last second loss at Baylor, they will not be too happy. If the ISU defense plays like they did against OSU, they have a shot. ISU needs to minimize turnovers and win the time of possession stat by running the ball well and getting first downs. ISU ran 106 plays against OSU. If the offense can continue that pace, anything can happen.

With that being said, I still have to go with OU. Its on the road, ISU has to recover form a monumental win, and OU is going to be playing very unhappy due to coming off the loss at Baylor. I say OU wins, but Vegas has it wrong again. I think ISU can keep it within 10 points, but lets hope I am wrong and they pull off the upset two weeks in a row.

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Thursday November 17, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Two weeks ago ISU played a bad Kansas team. ISU let Kansas look pretty good, especially running the ball. Luckily, Kansas made just enough mistakes late in the game, including an odd punt call by the Kansas coach down late in the game. A win is a win, and we will take it.

The past two weeks went pretty fast, but not a whole lot happened. Since we have Paige with us for a while now, we tend to barricade the dogs in the basement with us so they do not get into things throughout the house. Both dog kennels are set up side by side and Bri and Emma have been playing "dogs". It works perfect for me. They are quiet and surprisingly do not fight. So Reagan has been going into his kennel just to hang out. His door is left open and he just walks in and lays down. While doing this, Emily decides to crawl in with him. I had to remove both Bri and Emma out of the kennel over the weekend because I did not know if Reagan would freak out and start kicking and scratching his way out. He just laid there and let Emma sit with him. Here is the picture.

My Prediction: (5-4 on the season)

Tomorrows game could be an interesting. The second ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys come into Ames for a Friday night game on national television. This OSU team has been destroying everyone. There are about eight million stars that have to align for this upset to happen. The ISU offense is set to be a fast pace offence that runs a lot of plays and runs them very quickly. In order for ISU to even compete in this game, they have to take care of the ball, and continue to get first downs and keep offensive drives alive. Even if they do not score, they need to get to mid field, and if forced to punt, punt it deep into OSU territory and make them have to use the whole field to score. On the defensive side of the ball they need to keep the key wide receivers in front of them and hold OSU to field goals. They will score, there is no doubt about it, but if they hold them to field goals or make them gamble on fourth down conversions, then there could be a chance. Vegas has this game pegged as a four touchdown blow out in the Cowboy favor. It very well could happen. ISU has nothing to lose, so why not throw out every trick, unconventional play possible to shock a Cowboy team looking at a potential National Championship.

I will say that Vegas knows what they are talking about with these spreads, but I think ISU covers. I still think they will lose, but I think they hang early but OSU pulls away late and wins by 17.

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Wednesday November 2, 2011 - The View From Section EE

So last Saturday I was sitting in the basement with Bri and Emma and a couple boxer dogs preparing for what I thought was going to be another ugly Iowa State football game. Turns out, me and a ton of other people were completely wrong. Iowa State completely dominated a ranked Texas Tech team that won at Oklahoma the previous week. The Oklahoma that is considered one of the best in the country. This goes to prove what we at our tailgate have been talking about all year. When the offense is not turning the ball over so much, the defense is on the sidelines resting and preparing for the next drive, rather than running back on the field. Its a team game, and when both sides of the ball are working together, good things can happen.

With our different work schedules, this year both Kristy and I had to work on Halloween. Thankfully, Trick or Treating in Harlan was on Sunday, a day we were both off, so we took the girls, and Paige to Harlan for the night. It was a lot of fun minus a little cold. Emma was dressed as a cow in a warm costume. Bri was a Fairy, in a not so good costume. She has since decided she would like to be a dog next year in a warm costume like Emilys. Here are a couple pictures of them our and about. We took Paige, because Reagan is a jerk around others, if not everyone. Paige was funny because she was shaking scared as we walked into my parents house and she even more frightened when she saw a Frankenstein walking toward her. She definitely is lacking in the guard dog department.

Bri really enjoyed it this year. She was pretty helpful with Emily too. She would help her up some steps and even ask for a piece of candy for her when Emma was left behind. But things can change quickly. Our arrangement was going to be she was going to pass out candy in Omaha since we both had to work and my Dad was going to be watching them. Once she saw her friends going out, she had a meltdown. Since things tend to go in her favor, her friends' mothers said they would take her around our neighborhood. About an hour and a half later, she is back with her Hello Kitty bag pictured above almost completely full. She will be on a sugar high for a very long time.

Beginning last Friday, we have a new member to our family for a while, Paige, Tim and Brooke's boxer dog. Brooke is in the process of going through a bone marrow transplant, so we will be looking after Paige for the time being. So far, her and Reagan have behaved very well. The initial excitement wore off in roughly 30 minutes. Now they are content with sleeping on separate couches in between short bouts of fighting over a bone or being picked on by two kids. All of our thoughts and prayers are headed Brooke's way as she begins her bone marrow treatment this evening.

Here is a picture of Paige and Reagan I submitted to Iowa State to hopefully be featured on Cy's Pets of the Week on the video board at Jack Trice Stadium this weekend. It took a some Pupperroni treats and a few smacks to the face, yes that's you Paige, but it worked. Kristy thinks Reagan looks tough in the too tight jersey, but I think he looks like he needs a few less scoops of food a day. Anyway, these two have to be chosen for this Saturday. I guess we will wait and see.

My Prediction: (4-4 on the season)

This week, on paper, looks like it should be a gimme for ISU, but Cyclone fans only need to look a few hours east to realize there are no gimmes in college sports. See Minnesota's win over Iowa last weekend. Kansas will be coming in to Ames looking really bad. They have arguably the worst defense in FBS football and last week the offense only notched three first downs and less than 50 yards of total offense. Stats like that will not go very far for the Jayhawks. I think ISU runs away with this one and wins by more than 20 points.

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Friday October 28, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Last week saw an ISU quarterback throw an interception on the very first play of the game. Not long after, he was pulled, and a new quarterback is now in place. Barnett looked pretty good, but some crucial dropped passes stalled a few drives and Texas A&M was able to do just enough to maintain a solid lead. Even though A&M won easy, it seemed ISU had some new life with a new quarterback into place.

Last Wednesday, my sister Teresa and her husband Juan Luis, and my brother Paddy flew in from Seattle. It was a real good time filled with way too much food, as usual. We got to watch a couple World Series games, showed Paddy what keeps people returning to casinos (A $50 plus winnings on the strangest slot machine I have ever seen).

Bri and Emma had an outstanding time! Teresa and Juan Luis spoiled Brianna with another awesome pair of shoes, her Sketcher Twinkle Toes. Last summer Bri got a Twinkle Toes toy from a happy meal somewhere. She had been asking us for them, and we just blew her off hoping she would forget. To all of our surprise, Teresa came to the rescue for Bri's new fancy shoes! Emma got a pair of cowboy boots and she look hilarious trying to walk. It was a good relaxing few days with them. It was unfortunate that their trip was not very long, since Kristy and I went to Ames for some football a day before they had to leave.

Tomorrow Iowa State travels to beautiful Lubbock, TX to take on Texas Tech. Before the season started, Texas Tech looked like a winnable road game. Then Texas Tech won at Oklahoma last week. With a new quarterback starting for the Cyclones, its hard to tell what is going to happen. Last year ISU beat Texas Tech 52-38 in a wild game in Ames that included an onside kick that ISU returned for a touchdown. The second time that happened to Texas Tech last year. Vegas has Texas Tech somewhere near a two touchdown favorite. My guess is that is pretty accurate and Tech wins easily.

My Prediction: (4-2 This Season)

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Thursday October 20, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Last week ISU's game at Missouri was a disaster. I believe Iowa State either forgot to get on the bus to Columbia or just gave up. Halfway through the season and they sit at 3 wins and 3 losses. Most did not think 3 wins were possible and now they are 3 wins away from a bowl game. With 6 games to go, 3 more wins are looking like a huge obstacle the way they are playing.

If this blog seems a little disorganized, its because I am writing on my phone. I do have to say, the mobile blogspot is a lot better than a year ago.

We are currently sitting at my parents because my brother Paddy and my sister Teresa and her husband Juan Luis flew in from Seattle. Last night we moved the basement couch so we could make some room for a bed. What do we find that is pictured below, some blonde locks of hair. Today when we got to my parents I asked Brianna about it. She immediately asked "how did you find that?" Turns out, she cut her hair on purpose because I would not let her play on the computer or watch her shows on TV.

We also just got back from Bri's first parent/teacher conference. We had to reaffirm with her teacher that we are talking about the same girl. They said how good she is and how she is the girl who likes to answer questions in class. She even told her teacher how she was going to make it a point to talk to Bo in school. The teachers said he is the really shy kid in class and it was really nice that Bri was going to make it a point to talk to him. Makes us proud, but I still think they had the notes of another girl.

The second picture is one of Emily at the airport. She game a warm Omaha welcome to everyone on 3 different planes as exited their plane and walked through the terminal. She had a lot of people wave and smile!

This Saturday is Homecoming in Ames and Texas A&M comes into town. My gut feeling says it will be a lot smaller crowd than the three almost sellouts the first 3 games, and that will reflect on the score too. The Cyclone Defense has disappeared and the Offense, well, is this same offense that has looked awful for 3 straight games. There could be an upset special brewing for the Cyclones, but I don't see it this Saturday.

Texas A&M: 42

Iowa State: 17

Thursday October 13, 2011 - The View From Section EE

I take no comfort in having a pretty close score in last weeks Iowa State at Baylor game. ISU kept it close early, but a horrible fumble call, reversed for Baylor was the game changer and the game was over at that point in the second quarter.

This week has been pretty uneventful. It is getting comical watching Bri in the bus line. She definitely has no issues sticking up for herself. Today she was third in line. Then as the other girls lined up, she left the line for some reason and the next girl in line took her spot. She did not like that! She basically forced her way back to her spot. When I talked to her about it, she believes that once you leave your spot in line, it cant be taken away. I told her she shouldn't have left or she should place her backpack in her spot. She doesn't like those rules.

Em has taken up hitting as a hobby recently. Both Kristy and I, and I imagine her Grandpa too, have been the victims of this. Oh yeah, cant forget Reagan, more on him later. Today we were getting her ready to leave and she loses her patience after her first shoe is put on. After she rolls over, we turn her back around, and she hits us. This will be interesting to see how long this trend will go.

Now back to Reagan. He continues to eat socks. On Monday I found a pair of Emily's socks. They were still rolled up! He has made our house a disaster. It took him a couple days to clear whatever else he had in his system, but he is very fortunate he was not kicked to the curb.

My Prediction (Season: 3-2):

Something has to give. Both Iowa State and Missouri are 0-2 in Big 12 play. If ISU is going to get the three more needed wins to qualify for a bowl game, this one seems to be a road win they must have, along with the one at Texas Tech. If the last two years trend is going to continue with a solid road win, this may be the last chance. (Missouri's record does not show it, but I believe they are a better team than Texas Tech.) I say something gives, and ISU finally plays a near complete game, minus the kicking game, and pulls off the win and reclaims the Telephone Trophy for quite possibly the last time.

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Wednesday October 5, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Thankfully, last weekends game is over. Leave it up to Iowa State to come into a big game, undefeated at home, on national television, and lay an egg as bad as they did. First half turnovers and unexcused penalties did them in against a slightly above average Texas team. Nothing is more frustrating then seeing ISU players taunting and yelling after a play. That has been a common theme the past three years, especially for the Defensive Backs. Football is suppose to be a team game with a lot of discipline. The prime example was at the beginning of the second quarter. ISU was already down 13-0 but had a huge stop to force a Texas punt. Instead of getting off the ground and running back to the sideline, Leonard Johnson decides to headbutt the Texas receiver. Subsequently, Johnson is pulled and on the very next play, his replacement was burned for a 50 some yard touchdown pass. That was the ball game right there. The first three games they flirted with disaster with penalties and turnovers, but now that conference play has begun, they will not win another game again if they continue to walk that tight rope all year.

Its a good thing ISU football fans have adapted to this tailgating thing that happens before, during, and after Cyclone football games. There is no better way to get over a football game then good food and cold beverages! This weekend was Family Weekend and the Lil' Cyclone Members could go onto the field before the game, so I decided to take Bri. Kristy's sister, Morgan also went to the game, but did not go on the field with us. To my surprise, they were really good. That probably had to do with the game being so bad we left early. While tailgating, Bri got to take another picture with Cy! She continues to be over her fear of mascots. Here is the picture of Bri and Morgan with Cy while the adults were at the Lottery tent.

The first two games of the year it took us forever to get into the Stadium. Those crowds were just as large, so we decided to leave a little earlier to get lined up. We walked in with absolutely no issue and were were about 50 minutes early. So after that lengthy wait, Bri and I walked onto the field. Here is a picture of Bri and I on the midfield log and the view of the massive video board.

Here is a picture of Bri and Morgan as they wait, very patiently, as we sat before they would let us onto the field.

And finally, one of the big highlights for Brianna, a dog that walked by our tailgate. A huge Saint Bernard walked by that was available for adoption. He was a very good looking dog. The conversation the ensued after this was about the difference between adopting and buying. Bri kept associating how you can adopt toys from a store and buy a dog. I still have a headache from trying to explain that.

My Prediction: (2-2 This Season)

Whatever happened to the Baylor Bears of the past where it was a shoe-in for win every year? This is not quite the case anymore, especially with one of the best quarterbacks in college football this year, Robert Griffin III. Baylor was also undefeated until they lost at Kansas State last week. I am sure they are looking for a huge win, and with a banged up Iowa State team coming to Waco, it very well could happen. In each of the last two years, ISU has had a huge road win, at Texas in 2010 and at Nebraska in 2009. Between Baylor, Missouri, and Oklahoma, the three biggest conference road games this season, I find it hard to believe this is the one they win. I say Baylor wins this one easy by going ahead early and ISU scores some late garbage points. I would not put it past Paul Rhoads to get this team ready to play and ISU pulls off a shocker, but I am not going to predict it.

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Wednesday September 28, 2011 - The View From Section EE

In the past couple weeks, I have learned that Brianna and her friends at the bus stop are an interesting group. They are all girls from Kindergarten to probably fourth grade. They play line tag in some guys driveway, but I still have no idea what the rules are. For the most part, they get along well, but a couple weeks ago there was drama between them all. Someone may have had their feelings hurt for some odd reason or another and they may be going to the Principal. Every other day someone didn't like what another girl did or something to that effect. All I know is if this stuff is going on in Kindergarten, I can only imagine what the next 13 years will be like. It doesn't help that two of the girls are sisters and are one grade apart. It sounds like they argue like all siblings do on about everything imaginable on a school bus, and somehow Bri is there in the middle of it.

Last weekend we finally attended Vala's Pumpkin Patch southwest of Omaha. For the past five years, we have been too cheap to go and opted out for the more realistically priced pumpkin patches. We figured out what we were missing the past five years. That place may be work the $13 or so it cost per individual, including kids. Kristy's cousin Ashley and her husband Rick came out that weekend with their daughter Luci. Kristy had purchased a couple discounted passes, so we made the trip. That place has so many things for kids to do, it could very well take two trips to see it all. Bri and Luci had a great time running around feeding animals, riding the ponies, etc. I suppose that means the other patches are now obsolete. Go figure, kids like the more expensive attractions. Here is a picture from Vala's of the girls and one of Bri at the zoo. I will post more pictures of Vala's at another time. (Too lazy to get them off the camera.) Oh, and a sad picture of Reagan and his new Halloween costume. Poor dog.

Back on the 16th, I thought ISU would win fairly easily at Connecticut. Turns out they can not play a first quarter for the life of them. Once the quarter ended, I thought it was over, but somehow this team continues to surprise us all. A 3-0 start by a combined 8 points. If they keep this up, there will be a lot of fans having heart attacks each week, if there havent been a couple already.

Last year ISU went to Texas a week after getting destroyed at Oklahoma. Last year Texas hosted ISU after winning at Nebraska. I thought It was going to be a disaster in Austin that turned out to be the complete opposite. ISU handled Texas well into the fourth quarter before Texas made a game out of it. This year, that gives ISU fans hope that a win against Texas is a realistic opportunity. These first quarter starts need to be cleaned up now that Big 12 play has started. These fourth quarter comebacks look good on the highlights, but they be hard to come by when they dig themselves a deep hole.

My Prediction: (2-1 This Season)

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Thursday September 15, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Its Thursday and its still hard to believe Iowa State pulled out the 44-41 overtime win against Iowa last weekend. The first drive of the game, ISU looked good and we had the feeling it could be a good day. Then all of a sudden, they fumbled the ball inside Iowa's 10 yard line. Once the first quarter ended, Iowa was up 10-0. At that point, we thought it was going to be as ugly as the last two years. At the end of the second quarter, it was tied at 10 and things started to look promising.

Things became very interesting toward the end of the regulation and overtime. The kicking game has been the most nerve wrecking part of ISU football for years. In the first overtime, ISU was down to a fourth and goal play to either tie the game or Iowa wins the game. ISU completed the pass and made the touchdown, but it was harder to watch the ISU kicking game kick an extra point to extend the game. Thankfully, no issues on the extra point this time around. It felt pretty good being on this side of the nail bitter of a game than the time of games ISU tends to be apart of. See last years Nebraska game and a thousand other games.

Turned out to be the second largest crowd to witness a game at Jack Trice Stadium, and it turned out to be one of the best games ever played there, in my opinion. I even would admit, if Iowa won the game, it was still a very good game to watch. Unfortunately, there are no good stories involving the Rhodes tank or anything like that. When the game last four hours and there are no beverages inside the stadium, it tends to calm things down. But, things definitely picked up after the game. Had to celebrate somehow! Below is a picture of us and the crowd rushing the field after the game.

Before I make my prediction for tomorrow, we went to Bri's open house at school. She was so excited to show us all the rooms she goes to at school. We finally got to take a picture of her at her desk. She was so excited to show us everything, we didn't even get a chance talk to her teacher. I guess that is what conferences are for in a couple weeks.

This week ISU is breaking out an all white uniform for the Friday night showdown at Connecticut. There are pictures floating around the internet of a white ISU helmet, but the reports are saying they will stick with the standard cardinal helmet. I guess we will find out on ESPN tomorrow night. After last weeks performance, I feel this is a very winnable game. ISU's spread offense finally showed the progress the coaches talked about three years ago. The wide receivers are making plays, the running backs are picking up the needed yards, and Jantz at quarterback is completing the throws ISU fans have been desperately waiting to see.

My prediction:

My record this season: 1-1

38

17

Thursday September 8, 2011 - The View From Section EE

Here is the view from our seats of the new video board. I do have to say, it is pretty impressive, even when watching an awful game for the first 55 minutes. The quote of the night was Kristy's dad getting up to leave with about 10 minutes to go. "Well, at least we can watch them suck in HD!". That was shortly after an ISU turnover I believe. Turns out he missed the best part of the game!

UNI gave Iowa State all they could handle, and really should have won the game. UNI forced three turnovers and only scored three points off of them. That was the difference. UNI is a very good team and my guess is they have a very good shot at winning most of the games remaining on their schedule. I would have to say the two games that could trip them up is Southern Illinois at home, followed by a road game at North Dakota State. Those are back to back weeks in late October, but they very easily should win them both and march toward the playoffs. The good thing about Saturdays game is, it does not affect the outcome of UNI's season. If they win, that's great, they beat a school a level above them. If they lose close like they did, they jump up in the rankings. FCS football has it right, playoff football is a good things.

Now ISU looked awful until the fourth quarter. Their offense finally fell into place and they looked like a team that could move the ball. It very well could be the fact that the lack of depth for UNI caught up to them. But, that was the slight view of hope for the remainder of the season for the Cyclones. I am still a believer that since this game was so close, the rest of the year could be rough. If for some reason ISU comes out and keeps up with Iowa and makes some big plays and pulls off a win, then its a whole new ball game for the rest of the year and a bowl game is back in the picture.

This year we have the luxury of being in a paved donor lot for our RV, so we do not have to be in Ames by 4 AM. Two years ago it was brutal, but we managed to make it to roughly midnight, I think. To be honest, we have no idea when everything ended, but in the middle there was a tank involved.

Unfortunately, our seats are near the Hillside and Section that houses the visiting teams. Two years ago we had some real jerks that were Iowa fans and that did not make things pleasant, especially since the game was ugly. I understand that this is a big game, and for the most part, the fans do not like the other school. Why cant we all just agree to have a few drinks and enjoy the game and revel in the fact that we both dislike Nebraska? That may be the saving grace this weekend. If we get some guy being a jerk, all we have to do is tell him to tone it down and save it for Nebraska.

Its been a rough few years in this rivalry, but I have to say Iowa continues the trend. There was nothing last week to show that ISU can make a game of it, even though before the season started, I thought they had a chance. For some reason the point spread is around 7.5 in favor of Iowa, and I will have to say this is a safe bet.

My prediction:

My record his season: 1-0

38

17

But my off the record prediction: (I suppose I can do what I want here, right?)

ISU: 24 Iowa: 17