[Written by Ryan] During our vacation in Arizona, Roo and I went to the Insight Bowl at Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. The Insight Bowl featured the Iowa Hawkeyes against the University of Missouri Tigers (aka Mizzou). I have to confess I had never heard of the term “Mizzou”, but based upon the number of Mizzou fans staying at our hotel I was quickly educated. Given my natural leaning towards supporting a fellow Big Ten team, we felt as though we were behind enemy lines - - even having the opportunity to see from a distance the Tiger pep rally in a roped off section of the hotel parking lot, complete with a speech by the Missouri governor. There were no Hawks fans to be found. While at the hotel, Roo would whisper that he was a Hawks fan for this game, but we kept it our little secret.
This was Roo’s first football game; Darla and I spent several days before the game answering many, many questions about all things football. I’m afraid this game may have skewed his perspectives of what a typical college football game entails. Before the start of the game, three people parachuted into the stadium out of the dark sky and fireworks lit up the sky. For a 6 year-old, he was relatively engaged in following the game, particularly given the view from our cheap seats, which were about 5 rows from the top of the upper deck. A friend from Roo’s school was also at the game, and Roo was frustrated that he could not find him in the crowd of ~53,000 people.
The game started at 8PM so we headed back to the hotel at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Roo fell asleep in the car and I listened to the game on the radio. A turnover late in the game brought the Hawks a victory, which we enjoyed as our little secret.
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