I’m a Hawkeye — plain and simple. For those Cyclone fans in our readership, I respect you but I will never be able to understand your affinity for a red bird that looks like a cardinal, goes by the name “Cy” but has nothing to do with a tornado. Alas, to each their own.
This weekend I returned to my alma mater to relive my days as an Iowa City townie. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a townie is a resident — someone who personifies the culture of a city and not one there for a simple extended stay. Following my years at the University of Iowa, I hung my hat in Iowa City immersing myself in literature, craft beers and football.
But this weekend’s trip there was a welcome surprise. When we took the long hike past the Pentacrest, through the English/philosophy building parking lot up to Kinnick Stadium, I found a subdued atmosphere. Tailgaters were still participating in call and response as they walked by, super-fans still sported facepaint and black and gold overalls but everyone seemed relaxed.
To put it in perspective, my first UI tailgate was a much different scene. As a naive 18-year-old, I walked past the tailgating hotspot Olive Court in sheer horror. Solo cups and empty cases of Budlight littered the ground. A young man — presumably a student — stood atop a car with a funnel and hose spraying the crowd with an amber pilsner causing a frenzy. It was a parent’s and a petrified college freshman’s worse nightmare.
But 11 years later — to the university’s and city’s credit — the scene was much more peaceful and family-friendly. Students still held their can of beer and played bagtoss, but there was no littering, no fiendish behavior and no party atmosphere.
In recent years, the UI Police Department and City of Iowa City have put in place new regulations on tailgating areas and acceptable zones for open containers. Downtown, there was a similar scene. Students and fans were still indulging, but not to the same level of debauchery. The 21-only ordinance upheld by Iowa City voters in 2013, appears to be doing its job — keeping more of the underage drinking out of the downtown area, closing problem spots and enticing new businesses into the pedestrian mall.
This year, UI officially and unceremoniously lost its number one spot on Princeton Review’s top U.S. party schools. If this trend progresses, perhaps UI football will once again become the family-friendly event promoting healthy competition and camaraderie it originally set out to be.