It's Great To Be An Iowan

 It's NCAA basketball week and I'm ready for it big time. Why, you might ask? Well, you shouldn't because once I get started writing about my home state it's like eating M & M's. I won't stop

First off, the Iowa Hawkeye logo is pretty much recognized across the nation. I was in a park adjacent to our Dublin, Ohio home yesterday with my jacket zipper half way up. A portion of the logo was showing and a fella noticed it. One thing I've learned is to never tilt the logo from left to right. I mean, Barney Rubble doesn't do much for Iowa being a bastion of educational excellence, does it?

I think, and I might be wrong, but the coach, Hayden Fry, came up with this in the 80's. Regardless, it's national in recognition these days. 

I happen to be a fan of the entire state, There are four Division I basketball teams in Hawkeyeland. This is pretty good for a state that has less than 3 million hearty souls. In no order, Drake, Univ of Northern Iowa, Iowa State and the Univ. of Iowa. One would think I attended one of these fine universities but, no, I opted for a D-III school, Coe College in Cedar Rapids, up the road by 40 miles from the Univ of Iowa. Our rivals at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa always said about us, "If you can't go to college go to Coe." The heck with them. They never beat us in anything except guys who flunked out.

I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you there's another school, Iowa State, who qualified for the NCAA tourney and that is the Cyclones out of Ames. They're a member of the Big 12. Last year they won two games--total. This year they've been victorious in 21 games. That's heady stuff.

Many people in this country, especially those in the eastern time zone, think Iowa is a state loaded with nothing but women wearing sun bonnets and guys in bib overalls who drive into town on a Friday night on their John Deere. Folks, it ain't so. However, I do recall, in some of the smaller towns, hearing the word 'schucks' on occasion. 

Her Majesty, still a looker, and one with a doctorate in caring for a dufus of 53 years came out of Des Moines and matriculated at Iowa State. Truth be told I tricked her into liking me. I wore a suit and tie on our first date and left my tractor in our barn.

Iowa and Iowa State have an intense rivalry and oftentimes the fans make it almost intolerable to even carry on a discussion about which school is best but, at this time of year, the entire state bands together to support both teams.(until they play each other) And that's a good thing. The most common refrains you'll hear this week are 'Go Clones' and 'How 'bout them Hawks'.

Two things about Iowa when I left for Ohio in 1989: (1)The IQ levels of both states rose dramatically and (2) You can take the boy out of Iowa but you can never take Iowa out of the boy.

Now, if you'll excuse me I need to get my chores done and work on getting my game face on. It's an Iowa thing.