RU really from Iowa?

I knew that the Pinstripe Bowl was going to be a home game for the Rutger's Scarlet Knights, but I had to go to my first Iowa State football game in nine years. It was only 250 miles away, and Michelle said "you should go." I bought tickets before she had time to think about it and possibly change her mind. Were we really going to try and take Olivia and her uber-pregnant momma to NYC and possibly have baby Valentino in the back of a NYC cab, or even worse, a subway car? Not a chance.

Thankfully my friend was an honorary Cyclone for a day and joined me for our adventure to NYC. What kind of great friend would leave his house at 4am to be at yours by 6am, only to jump in a car and drive for 3.5 hours to catch a train and subway and be ridiculed by Rutgers fans for the next 90 minutes? Jeremy (after receiving permission from his better half).

Was it as easy for Jeremy to get permission to go? When I first asked Jeremy's better half (Andrea) if Jeremy could go, she answered with "Jeremy is not allowed to go." Thankfully she was only joking and started laughing after my jaw hit the floor in disappointment with a look that said "What did you do?" Andrea wished she had her camera to catch my reaction, I'm just glad she was only joking.

Back to the train. I knew it was going to be a long day when I walked on the train wearing my yellow Iowa State hat and was booed immediately, like a false start call before the train even departed. Thankfully these RU fans were good natured, and our conversation went something like this:
RU fans: RU really from Iowa?
Benny: No, I'm from Minnesota.
RU fans: Did you come all the way from Iowa?
Benny: No, I came from Frederick.
RU fans: Where is Frederick?
Benny: Maryland, but he (Jeremy) came from DC.
RU fans: Wow, we won't bust your balls so much. What time did you leave?
Benny: 6am for me, but 4am for him (and he's not even a Cyclone, now that's dedication).

The next fans on the subway had tailgated and had consumed more libations, and were doing the Rutgers chants all the way to the Stadium. Their chants were like a remix of being with Seabees. They somehow combined "RU" with "Ooh Rah" - it was impressive. On the subway, I was a classic picture of "Some of these things belong together, one of these things doesn't belong at all" with my yellow hat in a sea of red and white.

After the "RU, RU, something, something, Ooh Rah, Ooh Rah, something, something, Rutgers, Rutgers, something, something" chants faded on the train, my second conversation with a Rutgers fan went something like this:

Excited RU fan: We say RU, what RU?
Benny: a Cyclone
Excited RU fan: I know that. But we say RU, what are RU?
Benny: an Iowa State Cyclone?
Excited RU fan: No, no, no. We say RU, what do you say?
Benny: Oh, ISU.
Excited RU fan: whatta U?
Benny: I. S. U. - as in Iowa State University
Excited RU fan: shaking his head
Benny: Or we say Let's Go State!
Excited RU fan: Whatever
Benny: Is this the train for Des Moines?

Walking from the subway to Amy's B&B to drop off our bags, we passed a nice gentlemen who admired my yellow Iowa State hat and Iowa State pullover and let me know by saying "DAMN CYCLONES!" as we passed by him. I know he was nice because he followed it up by saying "Enjoy the game."

The Game: you need to score touchdowns to win. We didn't score one until the fourth quarter. A rough game to watch, but a fun one to be around other ISU fans in the bleachers... not so fun to watch the floozies spill beer behind us, all over the back of Jeremy's jacket.

Saturday morning we headed out and grabbed some grub at the Paradise Cafe (the breakfast burritos on the sign outside caught my eye). There was a smell that seemed to be everywhere. We determined that smell to be the beer on J's jacket or the subway. We later learned that most Midwesterners still appreciate a cheap lunch while observing the line of ISU fans that extended way out of Subway (or they were not going to be caught at Paradise Cafe).

We did visit the 9/11 memorial and are grateful to the memorial employee who hooked us up with tickets although we didn't have a reservation. It got me thinking about the events of ten years ago and how our lives have been changed since (as a result of 9/11 and events unrelated).

Other observations:
- The mumbling subway conductor "Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be arriv...., mumble, mumble, mumble."
- All the rules that apply to boarding a school bus in kindergarten do not apply at Newark Penn Station. Rather, they play a game of seeing if if all the people can make it off the train before all the people boarding are able to get on the train. I missed the orderly lines of the subway and train stations of Japan.
- I felt for the poor guy who was with his wife who apparently didn't realize that her poor husband had to experience the joys of boarding a train at Newark Penn Station every day for the last ten years. "OMG, this is retarded" she said. His response "This is nothing, I've been doing this every day for the last ten years."

All in all our adventure to NYC was well worth it, and I look forward to going again with Michelle, O, and Valentino/a. Hopefully the Cyclones can beat the Scarlett Johansson's next time.

(I forgot to post pictures, they'll come eventually... or maybe I'll forget)