…is that black represents the color of the Iowa soil and the gold represents the color of the Iowa corn. I heard that somewhere while I was in school. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, though.

Two other things that I think are pretty interesting/cool about Iowa: the first is that the Hawkeye Marching Band plays “In Heaven There Is No Beer” after every Iowa victory. The second is that Iowa and Minnesota play a trophy game for a large bronze pig called Floyd of Rosedale. I think the story behind Floyd is kind of interesting, what with the governor of the state of Iowa offering a thinly veiled threat to the Minnesota football team and all. Wikipedia sums it up nicely:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_of_rosedale

I also think the Nile Kinnick story is interesting as well, but I’ll leave it to someone else to describe that.

At the end of our games, we sing “In Heaven There is No Beer,” also known officialy to the University as the “Hawkeye Victory Polka.”

The lyrics, and accompanying song:

“In Heaven, there is no beer…
That’s why we drink it here…
And when we’re gone from here…
Our friends will be drinking all the beer.”

After winning, and signing the song, we head to the bar and drink more than any Tech fan can comprehend. Trust me, I’ve had several of my fellow fraternity brothers from Tech inform me that they cannot fathom keeping up with the pace of drinking that Iowa fans do. I was one of a few guys still willing to hit the bars in Wrigleyville after sitting on top of a rooftop for a Cubs vs. Cardinals game this past summer with several Tech alums.

comes from my hometown newspaper. They changed the name of the newspaper to “the Hawk-Eye” in honor of a deposed Indian war chief. (Though I can’t explain why they decided to honor him by referencing Last of the Mohicans.) The name was eventually adopted statewide as a state nickname and the University of Iowa mascot.

I have a buddy that used to manage George Brett’s on the Plaza in KC. He’s not an Iowa fan, but I am such a big one and sing the fight song so much that he actually memorized the words.

Long story short…drunken bar patron claims he’s a big Iowa fan, but can’t sing the fight song. My buddy says, “I will bet you whatever your bar tab is right now (the guy had been drinking for several hours) that I can sing the Iowa Fight Song.”

The guy stupidly agrees.

My buddy stands up on a chair and sings the entire song, clapping all the way. Bastard still owes me the $100 dollars he won in that bet.

Where did you find that picture of Herky? By the appearance of the football uniforms in the background (and the red in Herky’s eyes), it’s got to be from the mid/late 80s. Bravo, sir!

following touchdowns.

That crazy drunken guy in the student section that dances during halftime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JH3nsD8gt4

Meredith Wilson wrote it he also wrote The Music Man and State Fair, I’m told they are musicals. They are probably better than Cats or Rent. I must profess ignorance to your fight song, I assume it says something about pollen and hopefully hive collapse. I also guess that a song about Yellow Jackets and by Yellow Jackets is either inaudible to human ears or is a droning buzz.
   On the topic of the pink locker room, Hayden Fry did that because he was a psych major, which I would assume being a soft science would be the equivalent of weight lifting as a major in the SEC

Iowa City, Iowa City, ow you make me shake and shiver
With your big tall hills and the Iowa River
Oh … I love you with my heart,
and I love you with my liver
Iowa City … on the river.

[Let me hear your love song to Atlanta.]

to remove the goal posts from the home field of our unfortunate cousins to the north:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnUoQZUAdvA

It’s a beat-the-crap-out-of-them thing, then remove-their-living-room-furniture-and-carry-it-out-to-the-street, kinda thing.

They weren’t really expecting that, but, you know, we’re Nordic marauders and berserkers at heart.

I guess the thing to remember is that we will lose with class, but winning, hey, stirs ancient memories of pillage, lust, and humiliation. Y’all got anything like that down there?

Spoiling big time wins for teams:

In 1979, Hayden Fry helped to create the Tigerhawk, the logo seen on Iowa’s football helmets. Since both teams shared the colors of black and gold, Fry gained permission from the Pittsburgh Steelers, the dominant NFL program of the 1970s, to overhaul Iowa’s uniforms in the Steelers’ image. Fry’s idea was that if the team were going to act like winners, they first needed to dress like winners. Fry had originally asked Steelers Defensive Tackle “Mean” Joe Greene for a replica helmet and home jersey; Greene was able to send Fry to one of the team owners, and three days later, the owners sent Fry reproduction copies of the home and away uniform of Steeler Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, making Iowa one of only a few schools to use the uniform scheme of an NFL team.

also
Kinnick Stadium is the only college football stadium named for a Heisman Trophy winner.

Kinnick Stadium is well-known for its pink visitors’ locker rooms, a tradition started by emeritus Iowa coach Hayden Fry. Believing that pink would put opponents in a “passive mood”, and because he thought that some believed pink was a “sissy color”, Fry had the visiting locker rooms decorated completely in the color pink.

One thing we didn’t paint black and gold was the stadium’s visitors locker room, which we painted pink. It’s a passive color, and we hoped it would put our opponents in a passive mood. Also, pink is often found in girls’ bedrooms, and because of that some consider it a sissy color.
—Hayden Fry, Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic

I dont know but having nile kinnick on the BIG TEN coin hat is tossed before every big ten game MORE THAN JUST a big tradition…thats pretty rich in my opinion.

nile kinnick’s heisman speech may very well be remembered as the best there ever was

“If you’ll permit me,” he said, “I’d like to make a comment which, in my mind, is indicative perhaps of the greater significance of football and sports emphasis in general in this country. And that is I thank God I was warring on the gridirons of the Midwest and not on the battlefields of Europe. I can speak confidently and positively that the players of this country would much more, much rather struggle and fight to win the Heisman award than the Croix de Guerre.”

Following his speech, Bill Cunningham of The Boston Globe wrote: “The country is OK as long as it produces Nile Kinnicks. The football part is incidental.”

one thing you failed to mention too was iowa has one of the best traveling fan base in the country. Time and time again hawk fans has proven that it deserves to be at the top of the list as far as having fans who are willing to pay up and travel a long ways to see their team play

playing for a pig….top that. floyd of rosedale was voted the top trophy game in college football in 2008. seriously top playing for a pig! and I really dont think you can top the pink lockerrooms.

Pink locker rooms, prize pigs, the most literate Heisman winner in the history of football, the hokey-pokey: they thought they were playing some numbnuts team from the frozen north, and we’re bringing an entire 100 year-old culture to the game. Plus our DC would rather cut off body appendages than miss a game. Well, see them in Miami, I guess.

who the hell is william alexander and bobby dodd whoop de do… we know the south is totally ignorant of the teams and their traditions UP north and if you want to start throwing more players out there we can still beat you. I give you john heisman. but too bad his name is now known as a joke. the heisman NOW is a joke and has been the last 20 or so years.

georgia tech will always be known as that other school in in georgia football to most college fans. I dare say most people in georgia had no clue of anything iowa other than its state is covered in corn. the fact that iowa is in the top 5 in traveling to watch their team tells you more than you will ever need about tradition, minus the pink lockerrooms, steelerlike unis, floyd, the swarm, only stadium named after a heisman winner, the speech that followed as the most touching of all, is this heaven, no its iowa….the beer, the hokey pokey, the big ten coin with AN IOWA PLAYER ON IT, i-o-w-a- spell it

you also forgot one other thing about the HAWKEYE STATE

we hate our instate rivals more. every state has a hated in state rivalry but most are clueless on our. the only thing the media portrays this as…a lose lose situation for iowa. if we win we should kill them. if we lose, its embarrassing but its much much more than that if YOU ARE A HAWKEYE

this was a bitter rivalry. Even early on and I mean early ON, Iowa and Iowa State hated each other’s guts.

Early on coaches would scream at refs, one game Iowa lost they even chose to forfeit in protest. Both sides were caught using ineligble players, and eventually when Iowa State tried to keep the rivalry going, the Iowa AD simply refused. He would not talk to the ISU AD, never returned calls, and even refused to answer the state legislature when they were involved.

A series rich in tradition, the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry has belonged to Iowa over the years, as they lead the all-time series 33-13.

The teams first met each other back in 1894 when Iowa State won 16-8. The 1897 game saw the first real glimpse of what we know Iowa-Iowa State football to be today.

The game was played at Iowa, and emotions ran high for the entire game. In the second half, Iowa State’s Parker ran for a 40-yard touchdown that the Iowa players claimed shouldn’t have counted because of an illegal block by an Iowa State player.

Even the Cyclone who committed the foul said he was guilty, but the referees claimed they had not seen anything, so there was no foul to be called. The Iowa players were furious and walked off the field, forfeiting the game by a final score of 6-0.

Between the years of 1935-1977, the Cyclones and Hawkeyes didn’t play each other. It was in 1934 that the Cyclones had the “most astonishing upset in the annals of Iowa football.” One witness stated that Iowa was “on the verge of demoralization.”

Many Cyclone fans claim that it was because of that loss in 1934 that the two teams didn’t play for 43 years. Regardless, the series did resume in 1977 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Iowa was a huge underdog but beat the cyclones and the hate was back ON!

and thats not even our biggest rival. Minnesota is. Floyd of rosedale.

you really cant get much more tradition than your college football team named after your state nickname. THE HAWKEYE STATE

People who live in Iowa or who come from Iowa are called Iowans. But many Iowans are referred to as Hawkeyes.

Thats one of my favorites!

Though, winning 220-0 is a pretty decent tradition, too. Would love to see someone do that to USC or Florida and watch their coach cry.

A timeline of Iowa Football