Sunday, December 5, 2010

Unforeseen disappointment

- Keith

When I accepted this internship in Des Moines I was giving up something I look forward to every year - Iowa City during football season. I bought season tickets because I knew I would still make my way over for the home games, but I knew I would be somewhat disconnected. Since I work in an office full of ISU alumni there really isn’t much for Hawkeye football chatter. They really don’t seem to get that excited for games like hawk fans do, I wonder why. Sitting in the office staring at a computer screen for 9 hours a day really didn’t build too much excitement. Nonetheless, I tried to read up on the matchup during lunch breaks to mentally prepare so I could be on the same level as everyone else on Saturday morning.



The Iowa City atmosphere in the fall is electric because everyone has Saturday games to look forward to. This season brought high expectations due to the success we had last year and the return of so many key players. I figured I would be asking my supervisor for time off in early January for a mini vacation to California for the Rose Bowl. Since I have to stay and train the next intern after the Holidays I figured this would be a difficult task.

As the season progressed I started to get a little worried about the direction the team was headed. Losing to Arizona before the Big Ten schedule was bad enough, but after the Wisconsin loss I was in serious doubt. I was actually happy I to be away from all the students whining about the loss and acting like they know how to coach the team.



After the season ended last weekend and I stood in the freezing cold stadium listening to the “We hate Iowa!” chants I realized that I picked a pretty good season to skip town. I had such a good outlook coming into the season but was let down once again. I guess I should never assume the Hawks will ever live up to their expectations because the only time they DO have a good season is when they aren’t supposed to. In the end I didn’t have to ask for time off and am now saving around $500 by not going to the Insight.com Bowl. And since I set my graduation back six months I’ll have my last semester to try it all once again, maybe I’ll set my expectations a little lower next time.

3 comments:

Doug said...

You and me both. It was evident, but when Clayborn said, "we lost the will to win," that is never good.

Lauren said...

I'll second that. And GD DJK!

Images said...

I think as Iowa students we can all relate. Every week my office-mate and I would talk about the game and why Iowa just couldn't pull it together sometimes. I struggled with leaving Iowa City for the fall semester too. There is something so special about Iowa City in the fall, there is no other place like it. Better luck next year, I guess!

Tamra G.