stanzi the manzi

last month i blogged about some of my favorite hawkeyes, and if you'll remember ricky stanzi made the list.  well this weekend, he may have moved up in the rankings.

on saturday we headed to iowa city for iowa game.  before the football game, basketball scrimmage and tailgating we decided to have lunch at wig and pen.  jared's family, my sister and i were in a room to ourselves at a big table when i see the servers setting up another table for a big group behind us.  i didn't think much of it and just went talking about the movie contagion (yes i'm still talking about it.)  a few minutes later in walk a group of people and then ricky stanzi himself.

i quickly turned into a twelve-year-old girl and can't finish my sentences, turn red and became extremely giddy.  ridiculous.

turns out, the chiefs have a bye week and he was in town having lunch with princess jenna.  doesn't that just melt your heart?  this twenty-something who no longer has an obligation to the university of iowa or any formal responsibility to this young little girl yet he spends his weekend off in iowa city with her.

i heart him. love it or leave it. 

on side note, iowa touchdowns for kids is a great cause that jared and i like to support.  it is super easy, kind of fun and the money goes to the university of iowa children's hospital.  for every touchdown that the iowa football team scores, you can select a dollar amount to donate. it provides a little more excitement when cheering on the hawks.

hook 'em

as you know i love the hawkeyes and have grown up my entire life cheering for the black and gold.  you could count the number of cyclone families in our town on one hand. i was raised to cheer for the hawkeyes to win and cyclones to lose.  the hawks were all i knew. i know there are several people who cheer for the hawkeyes when the two teams play each other and then root for the the cyclones to win the rest of the season or vice versa. that's fine, to each their own.

last week in a meeting at work we were chatting about the weekend and the cyclone game.  half kidding i said "go longhorns." and what a response i got. gasps, oohs and aahs along with "whoa, hardcore hawkeye fan."  wow.  i instantly wish i could have redone that conversation.where is that zack morris remote when you need it? i felt terrible because the last thing i wanted to do was offend anyone.

i then spent the rest of the week joking with jared about what a moron i am for saying that out loud. along with practicing my best hook 'em horns, knowing i couldn't say anything to anyone else for fear i'd get the same response as i had earlier.

friday evening we went to a movie and in walk 25 or so texas football players in town before the big game on saturday.  i got so excited ,i thought this is perfect finally someone who wants to hear "go texas." 

unfortunately they had to leave with 20 minutes left in the movie in order to make their curfew so i didn't get the chance to flash them the horns or say "good luck."  but apparently it wasn't needed. ;)

to all my cyclone fan friends, i still love you.

hawkeye love

 j-rod was telling me about a question on hawkeyereport this evening, who is your all-time favorite hawkeye?  well this took me all of .5 seconds to answer.  i have grown up wearing black and gold my entire life and my love for the hawkeyes goes back to as long as i can remember. for years all i wanted to be for halloween was an iowa cheerleader or batgirl...both involved black and gold i guess.

here is the breakdown of my answer:


1. jess settles -- jess grew up super close to mp, so i was a fan even before he was a hawkeye. he was the keynote speaker at our D.A.R.E. graduation, a picture of him, j-rod and i ended up in our local paper. we even shared the same chiropractor for quite some time, i know...you're jealous.  but my favorite jess story involves the best gift i have ever received. one year for christmas my parents saved a gift for me to open last.  i opened it up and there was a nike shoebox, talk about a letdown. but when i opened it up inside was a teddy bear called a "jess bear."   not sure why this particular bear was named jess but i was ecstatic to have it because at the time i was obsessed with jess settles.  my parents said, you might want to look at the tag a little closer and inside it was autographed "to: stacy from: jess settles #4." i first asked "is this for real?" and after it was confirmed i started crying, then went to screaming and jumping around like a crazy person. my parents had arranged with his mom to get jess the bear to sign and get it back to me all before christmas morning. best. gift. ever.

2. b.j. armstrong -- i was super young when b.j. played for the hawks, but he is the first memory of iowa athletics i have. when i was in 4th grade we had to make a list of things we wanted to accomplish in our lifetime and one of mine was to meet b.j. armstrong. i got the opportunity to meet b.j. when coral ridge mall opened back in 1998.  scheel's hosted him as the guest of honor at the grand opening.  i stood in line for which seemed like days and when i finally met him i was shaking like a leaf and could barely get "hello" out of my mouth. i was happy to check that one off the list, phew. it was also fun following his NBA career.  i was also secretly pulling for him to get the iowa basketball coach job a couple of years ago, but i am happy with how fran is working out so far.

3. ricky stanzi -- "if you don't love it, leave it. USA #1"  does it get any better?  i actually was a huge fan of ricky before his famous orange bowl quote. he understood that as an iowa athlete he represented more than just football. remember the princess jenna and just try and ruin my day stories?  he was mature beyond his years.  i might even have to watch a few kc chiefs games this year.

4. jeff horner -- talk about a CRUSH. yes, it is true i called him at his house, just to chitchat. jeff was a good basketball player but i'm pretty sure the only reason i liked him was because he was super cute.  the day he got the job at valley hs as the basketball coach, my dad called and asked me if i was getting a season ticket?  the answer was no but i wouldn't mind running into him at the grocery store.

win or lose, i will always love the hawkeyes, even if they occasionally break my heart. go hawks!

make it rain

and i'm not talking about throwing bills in the club.

we went to the iowa game on saturday and it rained and poured and then rained and poured and then the wind came through, now push repeat. on friday i watched jeriann on the morning news like i always do and she said rain before the game not during not after, so i left my poncho at home.  when we were getting ready at j-rod's parent's house that morning, his dad recommended we pack a couple garbage bags just in case.  thankfully we took him up on his offer. i had the opportunity to get a poncho one more time when we pulled into iowa city.  at the time it wasn't raining and the poncho was $1.19 and i was thinking $1.19, nah i am not going to need that.  if i only knew what was to come. the rest of the day i found myself thinking, really i couldn't spend a $1.19, ugh.

about fifteen minutes prior to kickoff, the rain came and didn't go away.  so the garbage bag came on and didn't come off.  at one point it was raining so hard i thought i was going to lose my contact.  i was trying to block the rain so i could adjust it and next thing you know a stranger put his hat on my head.  in most circumstances i would cringe but i decided i needed to just go with it.  who knew a baseball cap could provide so much relief?  very thankful for that stranger and his hat.
 
 thankfully the hawks won which made standing in the rain a little easier.

looks like a lady gaga outfit of sorts

working those garbage bags

j-rod ringing out his socks

rach and i smiling in the rain even with a stranger's hat on my head