Kinnick

Ya know the saying, "It's not WHAT you know... it's WHO you know..." well we must know all the right people, because we get to do some pretty cool things: )  This past weekend we had an incredible day at Kinnick with our neighbors Frank, Lynnette, Alivea, and Austen.  Lynnette had won some tickets for an "Ultimate Hawkeye Experience" day with the Hawkeye football team, and they were awesome enough to take their FAVORITE neighbors along: )  Joel and I tend to love the cookies and brownies Lynnette is always sending over for us, but our day with the Hawks totally trumped the sweets!!!  And oh what a memorable day it was!  We started off with a tour of the Hayden Fry Football complex.  Our tour guide for the day was LeVar Woods... former Hawkeye and NFL player... and he was awesome.  He gave us the run-down on all of the trophys, awards, bowl games, coaches, players, etc.  Here are all of the bowl banners hanging high above the lobby area...

And a picture of Joel and I in the lobby with Herky....

Then it was on to the weightroom... it was enormous and quite the set-up!  I will let the pictures do the talking....

From there we headed to the lower level of the building where we saw the training room, various classrooms, etc.  In one of the rooms, we watched gamefilm just as the players do.  Theater-like seats, projector, screen, the whole bit.... it was crazy to be in the shoes of an actual player.  Then we headed out into the bubble.  Man it was HOT in there!  I don't know how they can actually play in there... since it uses outside air, it was steamy hot and humid.  I can't imagine having to practice in there.  In the near future it will actually become a parking lot, as they are in the process of building a new permanent structure to replace it. 

Once we were done at the fb complex, we headed over to Kinnick Stadium for our tour. Joel and I obviously have season tickets, but we got to see and experience things we have never gotten to see before. We got a tour of the pressboxes... my favorite "seat" was right in front of the press-boxes underneath an overhang. Joel and I agreed that someday when we're older and rich, we'd sit there (LOL: ) We saw all the media boxes, suites, etc.  Very impressive!!

 Just a window I thought was really cool... it overlooks a lot of the tailgating lots, and the practice fields are visible out this window as well.

 Joel and I in one of the suites...

 The view from the pressbox

 I just thought this picture of all the players stretching before practice looked cool: )

Our awesome neighbors that took us along (Alivea on the far left...Austen, Lynnette, and Frank on the far right)  We owe them BIG TIME!

From there we headed to the locker rooms.  The Hawkeye's locker room was sweet!  Here are a few pictures...

The visitor's locker room was hilarious.  I'm sure all of you have heard that Hayden Fry had the visitor's locker room painted pink in an effort to put a calming effect on the opposing team and distract them from football.  But it was more than just the walls that were pink... in fact, EVERYTHING was pink.  From the carpet, to the lockers, to the bathroom stalls, to the urinals even: )  The pictures sort of distort the color a bit.  LeVar pointed out something else hilarious in the visitor's locker room.... here is a picture of the sticker on the bottom of all of the flimsy black chairs they give the opposing team's players to sit on.... 

how many of the players on a D-1 football team do you really think are less than 220 pounds?!  HAHA!  And that's what we give the opponents to sit on:o)

From there we headed out onto the field... Hawkeye style: )  For anybody that has ever been to a game, I'm sure you experienced the adrenaline rush as the jumbo-tron shows the team exiting the locker room and making their way down the hallways to the tunnel.  The crowd gets louder and louder with excitement, and then the team emerges from the tunnel and runs out onto the field holding hands.  Well that is always an awesome thing to see, but Sunday we actually got to FEEL it... we got to walk out that same tunnel onto the field!  But instead of 70,000+ people screaming in the stands, we emerged right into the middle of their practice! 

We got to be right on the field during their entire practice!  And wow, some of those guys are MONSTERS!  I've always known they were big, but standing right next to them actually made me feel small for once: )   They didn't look the best in practice that day... in fact the coaches were using lots of words not suitable for young ears: )  The only downfall was that once we were on the field, we were not allowed to take pictures or video, or I would have had some sweet pics!  Norm Parker was zipping along the field in his golf cart... Coach Ferentz was right out in the middle of it all... it was really neat seeing everything close-up like that.  Here is a picture with our guide, LeVar!

As if all of this wasn't enough, after practice and conditioning were over, we ventured over to the University Athletic Club to have dinner with the players and coaches.  Joel and I got our football signed by a ton of the guys on the team, (although very few of the signatures are legible: )  I think the hi-light of my day though was meeting Coach Ferentz.  I must say that he is one of the most genuine people I have ever met.  He is such a nice guy, and such a pleasure to talk to.  He took the time to visit with us, sign some autographs, and of course get his picture taken with us.  If I were a football player, there is no coach I would rather play for.  He really is an awesome guy / coach!  His wife, Mary, is really an awesome lady too!!

Although there is still so much I could tell you about our day, I think I had better stop before I write a book: )  But I will leave you with this... hope you're as pumped up about it as we are: )  GO HAWKS!!!

Malea and I took Joel to the airport at 5:30 this morning to catch a flight to Nashville to visit his brother and sister-in-law.  I was so glad Malea was awake at the airport, because I don't think there could have been anything better to send him off for a fun weekend better than Malea's smiles and giggles.  It really made his day I think: )  We hope you have a fun time with Ryan & Amanda, Daddy!!  Meanwhile, Malea and I have a busy weekend of our own.... Laura & Josh's wedding tomorrow, and another family reunion on Sunday.