Thursday November 22, 2012 - The View From Section EE

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm sure everyone has tons to be thankful for and so do we. Today started a mini vacation! Not a live get away to Vegas or anything but the two monsters, I mean kids, went to my parents in Harlan! I love them to death but this past week has been brutal. Full of whining kids who have lost their ability to sleep through the night, in their own beds! We have all been a little cranky so hopefully a couple days away will do us all some good.

Emily is talking a ton and she is now starting to use words she has no clue what the really mean. My case in point is the word hate. A lot of it started when she must have hear Bri or someone say they dislike Emily's favorite show on Netflix, Pingu. I recommend checking it out. A show about this penguin family and there are no real words spoken. She loved it. Now back to the point, the kids were over at Marty as Liz's house. Emily must not have had her way at something and she said she "hates grandpa". I had to laugh but its definitely a word we need to get her to stop using.

I'm back to using my phone and posting this on the go, so we will see if I can get a picture to post. Emily and Reagan had a little snuggle time the other morning.

A little about Brianna. She was the star student this week. Basically a week all about her. Just what she needs, more attention. As we for ready for school the other day she walks out of her room and said "I think I look like a star today!" I had no response. Just let her think what she wants.

Prediction:

Last week Iowa State went to Kansas and did something no one saw coming, they destroyed Kansas. Kansas is a bad team but they have played most of the conference games close. The big surprise was the then third string quarterback coming into the game and had an outstanding debut. The kid is a freshman so there is a lot of hope in the coming years.

Tomorrows finale is against one of the Big 12 newcomers, West Virginia. West Virginia started the season really fast and was labeled the team to beat in the conference. Then Big 12 play started and the harsh reality hit that they weren't playing a Big East schedule anymore. West Virginia sits at 5 wins, not even bowl eligible yet. Their wheels have basically fallen off their bus but they found a new glimmer of home. Last week against Oklahoma they moved their star wide receiver to running back. In his first game at running back he only ran for over 300 yards and racked up over 500 yards of total offense. Amazing numbers that look to be a tough task for the Cyclones.

West Virginia may be able to score a lot of points but they have one of the worst defenses in the country. Similar to Baylor. ISU has held every Big 12 team well under their scoring average. They must keep West Virginia under 35 points of they want to win. Im sticking with the Cyclones and saying they pick up their 7th win of the year!

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Friday November 16, 2012 - The View From Section EE

This week will be a short one. Its been a long week with Emily throwing up two mornings in a row all over herself and the floor and Brianna being a bear at night. Not sure what her deal is but sharks are once again invading her room at night. Once of these days she may get over this.

Prediction:

Last week was not good for the Cyclones. It took Marty and I most of the first half to install the over the air antenna on his garage. See below. Funny thing is that now we have it figured it out nicely and its now attached to our deck. Some TV is a lot better than no TV!

This week Iowa State goes to Kansas. Kansas has won one game all year. They have lost close to 20 straight Big 12 games. Kansas has played well recently and took a decent Texas Tech team to overtime last week. I was really hoping Kansas would get their first conference win before ISU travels to Lawrence. It would look very bad if ISU was the team to burst their losing stream. 

With that said, there is no way I can pick Kansas to win. ISU showed some life in the running game last week, but after two good runs six bad passing plays would be called next. A trend that has to be eliminated in order to beat Kansas. Kansas will also run the ball a lot and throw out a trick play or two. In the past 4 years ISU has only lost twice when favored. Another sad fact, in the last 48 games, ISU has only been favored in about 14 of them. I think the defense stops Kansas' running game and ISU wins earning bowl eligibility for the third time in four years. (I am feeling a road trip is in our future!)

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Friday November 9, 2012 - The View From Section EE

At the beginning of last week the weather forecast was calling for a warm Saturday. We decided that Morgan and Brianna would go tailgate with us, especially since it was not a night game. The downfall was, it was an 11 am kick off. That means a very early wake up call. Bri knew I would be waking her up really early and she was ready, but its a different story when 5 am actually happened. I went in and woke Bri up and it looked easy, for about 10 seconds. She sat up then immediately laid back down. After some convincing she was up and ready to go. Then here comes a story she will hate me for in years. Once we get on the bus to Ames, there isn't a bathroom break until we get there. And when we get there, they are the nasty portable restrooms. In preparation I told Bri to go to the bathroom at the house. She agreed. After a minute or two its all quiet. I go into the bathroom and Bri had fallen asleep on the toilet. I am kicking myself for not getting the camera out!

Once we got to Ames we luckily had a pretty good spot in our lot, right at the edge of the lot next to the hills that separate the lots. After about five minutes in the lot while setting up, Bri was a maniac and rolling down the hills. I thought for sure she would turn grumpy and sit in the RV, but she did a good job all day. We left the tailgate early to get into the stadium to beat the crowds. Typically when the weather turns cold the lines for hot chocolate are huge, so we went early to beat those crowds. Turns out I over estimated potential lines. We walked right in and had no lines to wait for.

For some reason, Kristy has found numerous ways to do this, so I wasn't surprised when Bri was able to this as well. Just very different circumstances on the sleep.

The third largest crowd to watch a game (another loss) at Jack Trice Stadium and this kid fell asleep. It was a long day for this first grader so a little nap was needed. It only took this little cat nap and she was ready to go once we got back to the tailgate. It could have been the candy, but nothing conclusive yet. 

Last weeks game against Oklahoma is the definition of the haves vs the have nots. Oklahoma has so many more talented players and it showed. When ISU was dropping crucial passes in the first half, Oklahoma was making amazing catches. The defense gave up a ton of yards, but was able to keep the score reasonable. A few less drops in the first half and this very easily could have been a close one to the very end. But a 15 point loss to Oklahoma is definitely progress. 

Prediction:

Tomorrows game is at Texas. Once again its the haves vs the have nots, but Texas hasn't been the Texas it should be with the billion dollar budget. Texas is 7-2 so far this year, but a couple weeks ago they squeaked by a horrible Kansas team and a lot of fans in Texas were calling for their coach to get fired. Now they are riding a three game winning streak and could be a dangerous game for the Cyclones. 

Last week I picked ISU banking on the fact that Oklahoma would have been a nice upset special of the year, and that didnt turn out so well. Two years ago ISU won at Texas, but that Texas team turned out to be awful. This year I dont have a good feeling as they travel to Austin. I obviously hope I am wrong, but I think Texas wins this one easily. 

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Friday November 2, 2012 - The View From Section EE

A couple weeks ago we were driving out to Omaha to get the final touches done on the old house. We took the kids and were dropping them off at my parents. In the middle of that car ride we were lectured on about everything anyone would ever want to know about bats from Brianna. She must have had a weeks worth of lessons at school on bats, because she knew probably everything about them. I honestly think she talked about bats for a good 30 - 45 minutes. There was no way around it, we were going to learn about bats. For the next week or so, that is about all Bri and Emily played was bats. Emily was Stellaluna, the name of a fruit bat in a kids book for the next week. It was pretty funny watching Emily walk around and flap her arms, all because Bri told her too.

So Bri all excited about bats, she wanted to build a bat house. Since I thought it was cute seeing her excited about something she was learning about in school, I agreed. Its only been a week, but I am guessing there is no way a bat will find her bat house, so this early in the game I am not too worried about them showing up anytime soon. Now I may regret that in the Spring, but we have a few months for that. Last Sunday Bri and I went out to find a bat house. I took the easy way out and just took her to Menard's to buy a small bat house. According to the label, this thing can house up to 12 bats. Once again, we will see about that. Here is Bri and her bat house hung up in the tree.

Prediction time:

Last week ISU got what they needed, a solid offensive performance against a bad Baylor defense. Steele Jantz was named the starting quarterback the day before the game and he looked good. There is good Steele and there is bad Steele. Lets just hope the good Steele decides to stay the course the remainder of the season. If he stays calm and doesn't panic and start running the ball 20 times a game, they have a good chance of winning some game. 

5-69-2. That is the all time record of Iowa State against Oklahoma, the Cyclones foe tomorrow. The last time Iowa State beat Oklahoma in Ames, Jack Trice Stadium wasn't built and the 1960's was only 10 months old. This has to be one of the most lopsided series in the county with schools that have been in the same conference for as long as these two have. 

On another note, Oklahoma is coming off a loss to Notre Dame at home, their second loss at home this year.  I don't believe Oklahoma has lost consecutive games in a very long time, probably 13 years. Nothing like an angry Oklahoma coming to Ames on a cold November day to be reminded of how bad the Cyclones have played against the Sooners in 76 games. 

During last weeks game, ISU senior Jake Knott played his last game as a Cyclone. It was rumored all week he had shoulder issues and wasn't going to play. I heard him on the radio this week and it turns out the guy was suppose to have surgery before the Baylor game but it got delays until Monday after the game. The doctor told him he could play but he would have to do so with no medications due to the surgery only being two days away. He played anyway, recorded 11 tackles and forced a fumble as Baylor was about to score. All that earned him Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, with a useless shoulder, and no meds. Most people, me, would have sat out with a hangnail, let alone a torn muscle in the shoulder. 

With Knott out for the rest of the year it could be a rough time for the defense loosing their leader, but I think they will make it work out. This coaching staff has had some solid production from their linebackers and the other guys will make the most of it and continue the solid defensive performances. 

I think its crazy to once again pick Iowa State to win, as I have done every game this year, but if they are every due to beat an Oklahoma team, now is the time. The game is at home, it will be cold, and the Oklahoma offense is facing another tough defense for the second week in a row. I think this one could be ugly with turnovers, but if ISU commits less turnovers and keeps the ball moving, they have a shot for the upset.

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