Great Moments in 2000's Iowa Football -- No.8: "Two Words: Iowa Hawkeye Pride"

by RossWB on Jan 13, 2010 3:03 PM CST in Iowa Hawkeyes Football

With the 2009 season complete, BHGP looks back at the ten most sublimely absurd moments of the past decade for this sublimely absurd team, counting them down over the next two weeks.

Matt Roth, wordsmith.

Travel back in time to the wild, heady fall of 2004, when a running back-depleted Iowa football team was riding a seven-game winning streak and Big Ten Championship into the Capital One Bowl... and some plucky rookie quarterback from the other Miami by the name of Ben Roethlisberger was taking the NFL by storm, going undefeated in his first nine starts. In fact, young Rothelisberger (looking about 50 lbs. lighter in those days, back when he only had one chin) was riding a personal winning streak of twenty-two games, having piloted arguably the best MAC team ever (damning with faint praise, but hey) to a 13-1 record the previous year. That one blemish? Why, the 2003 Iowa Hawkeyes, of course.

So NFL Countdown dispatched Kenny Mayne to Iowa to discover the secrets of the last team to hand Big Ben a loss... and what he found was two minutes and change of comedy gold. From Chad Greenway's nostalgic reminisces about the arrival of cable television in Iowa to Sean Considine's annoyance at football pre-empting BassMasters to Scott Chandler using his brother's legacy as a pick-up line, it was the the most intentionally funny moment of the 00s for Iowa football. But what put the segment over the top and seared it into the brainmeats of anyone who saw it was, of course, Matt Roth: "Two words: Iowa Hawkeye pride." Hey, we didn't give him a scholarship for his counting skills.

Tweet Comment 20 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Beautiful

I still have this video on my computer from that year (ah to be a freshmen again). What a hell of a year that was.

They took the bar, the whole fucking bar!

by recoveringfratguy on Jan 13, 2010 3:28 PM CST reply actions

I burn with jealousy for you, young man

Oh to be a freshman in 2004:

Iowa football’s record during my 4 years:
7-5
3-8
1-10
3-9

by Internet Legend on Jan 13, 2010 4:28 PM CST up reply actions

1997-2000 for your years in school I take it?

The “decent” record at the beginning followed by that valley gave it away that we were at the end of Fry, and the beginning of KF.

To be fair, I took the victory lap, so I saw 2004-2008 as my five years of college (graduated in 2009 for the non-math folks who see that as only four years of football, count it out: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 – yes, that’s five).

My football record during those five years:
10-2 (Cap One Bowl win)
7-5 (Outback Bowl loss to FL)
6-7 (Alamo Bowl loss to TX)
6-6 (Western Michigan debacle at the end of the season)
9-4 (Outback Bowl win against the Cocks)

They took the bar, the whole fucking bar!

by recoveringfratguy on Jan 13, 2010 5:10 PM CST up reply actions

I had the pleasure of enduring '98-'01

That’s 14 wins in 4 years. Then I moved out of state just in time for 2002-2004.

Probably best if I stay away.

No self-respecting man from Iowa goes anywhere without beer

by Hayden Fry's Moustache Ride on Jan 13, 2010 5:15 PM CST up reply actions

I went from '03-07

The Roethlisberger game was my first game in the band.

Like Greenway said, those were exciting times.

by fossilhawk on Jan 13, 2010 6:51 PM CST up reply actions

At least you got an Alamo Bowl win

I got a hot cup of fail in the Sun Bowl.

by Internet Legend on Jan 13, 2010 7:36 PM CST up reply actions

You just didn't

stay in school long enough. I was there from 89-96 and stayed in IC until 99.

Something good was bound to happen eventually.

In 100 years, we'll all be dead.

by Flakbait on Jan 13, 2010 11:20 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Gotcha' beat...

1974, under Coach FXL, I sat in the stands for two of the 0-11 season.

by Zulu on Jan 14, 2010 12:58 AM CST up reply actions

Sounds like the torture fans are enduring at basketball games this season

They took the bar, the whole fucking bar!

by recoveringfratguy on Jan 14, 2010 8:52 AM CST up reply actions

Ouch, at least I got to see the turnaround

1-10
3-9 (Fav Iowa game ever: home win over sparty, heckled their kickers the ENTIRE game from the 1st row behind their bench, missed FG and shanked punt sealed the game)
7-5
11-2

by ocu-master on Jan 14, 2010 11:12 AM CST up reply actions

That may have been the most

I’ve ever laughed at NFL programing. The league may be no fun, but Mayne could make some pure gold

It never gets to be easy

by chitownhawkeye on Jan 13, 2010 5:34 PM CST reply actions

There was once a show called Cheap Seats.

I think some liked it, but me, I thought a) cheap imitation of Mystery Science Theater 300, and b) Sklar Brothers. Thanks but no thanks.

Anyway, I watched about 3 or 4 episdoes. Generally not funny at all. But they had Mayne do some bit, and it was funny. So kudos to you, Kenny Mayne.

"We've gotta execute! We've gotta have fun out there!" - Ed DeChellis

by ReadingRambler on Jan 13, 2010 8:03 PM CST up reply actions

Oh Man

Dude i thought Cheap Seats was pure gold. I died a little when it went off the air.

"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
-Joe Theismann

by HawkCub on Jan 13, 2010 9:23 PM CST up reply actions

I liked it too.

It was a bit of an MST3K ripoff, but I think it just needed a little more time to grow and develop. Like so many quality shows, it was pulled too soon because it wasn’t an immediate overnight smash-hit success ratings bonanza of advertising dollars avalanche.

Bully football is winning football.

by Bucketochicken on Jan 13, 2010 10:56 PM CST up reply actions

Uggh. Sklar brothers.

One Sklar might be funny, but the other one doing an Ed McMahon during the joke just ruins it. Just when I’m starting to enjoy the bit, Sklar 2 interrupts the flow and makes me wish one had been aborted.

by YouCanPutYourEddsInIt on Jan 13, 2010 11:16 PM CST up reply actions