The extend of Hawkeye fandom never ceases to amaze me. Not that all of the people I have met that recognized my Iowa hoodie are necessarily fans, and not that the people I see wearing Iowa clothing are necessarily fans. The case is probably more that they have no idea what they are wearing, they just want to wear this cool American sporting gear they saw in the shops. In fact, if you talk to many of the people wearing clothing with American sports on them, they probably have no idea what they are wearing except that it is American and has something to do with sports. So I have two stories:
When I was in Chile, there were several stores around that sold second hand clothes, and, I am not at all kidding, LSU and Drake (yes, Drake*) t-shirts were about $15. Second hand. But never would I have thought a young Chilean man would come up to me, of all the people that club, and ask me to dance when he was wearing an.... Iowa State t-shirt. I had to explain to him (in terms of Chilean soccer rivals) that I couldn't dance with an Iowa State fan like that. I couldn't dance with the enemy. He kept insisting that he had no idea what this "Iowa State" was on his t-shirt, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and danced with him. Here we are before I finally gave in and danced with him:
Let's cross the Atlantic, to Africa. While I was in Tanzania, I got the opportunity to go out to the middle of nowhere to a legit Maasai market. You can read more about the Maasai people on the Wikipedia page. But out in the middle of this market, in the middle of nothing, Tanzania, I found a young girl wearing a... Hawkeye t-shirt. I was so excited. I wanted to take her picture, but since the Maasai believe taking photos of people also takes their soul, she literally ran away when I asked if I could take her picture. However, I was sneeky and pretended to take a picture of something else when really I was taking a picture of her. I really hope I didn't steal her soul.
I know it is kind of hard to see, but there is deffinately a tiger hawk on her shirt. Amazing.
Hopefully, this will inspire Iowa to play well and not make me fret so much.
*As a side note, I think Drake clothing is the American clothing for a university I have seen the most when abroad. I have seen t-shirts and sweatshirts at least in Chile, Argentina, and Tanzania. I also haven't seen any professional sporting teams so well represented either.
When I was in Chile, there were several stores around that sold second hand clothes, and, I am not at all kidding, LSU and Drake (yes, Drake*) t-shirts were about $15. Second hand. But never would I have thought a young Chilean man would come up to me, of all the people that club, and ask me to dance when he was wearing an.... Iowa State t-shirt. I had to explain to him (in terms of Chilean soccer rivals) that I couldn't dance with an Iowa State fan like that. I couldn't dance with the enemy. He kept insisting that he had no idea what this "Iowa State" was on his t-shirt, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and danced with him. Here we are before I finally gave in and danced with him:
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| Chilean Iowa State Fan |
Let's cross the Atlantic, to Africa. While I was in Tanzania, I got the opportunity to go out to the middle of nowhere to a legit Maasai market. You can read more about the Maasai people on the Wikipedia page. But out in the middle of this market, in the middle of nothing, Tanzania, I found a young girl wearing a... Hawkeye t-shirt. I was so excited. I wanted to take her picture, but since the Maasai believe taking photos of people also takes their soul, she literally ran away when I asked if I could take her picture. However, I was sneeky and pretended to take a picture of something else when really I was taking a picture of her. I really hope I didn't steal her soul.
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| Maasai Hawk Fan |
Hopefully, this will inspire Iowa to play well and not make me fret so much.
*As a side note, I think Drake clothing is the American clothing for a university I have seen the most when abroad. I have seen t-shirts and sweatshirts at least in Chile, Argentina, and Tanzania. I also haven't seen any professional sporting teams so well represented either.
Go Bulldogs!
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