For a weekend, downtown Chicago looked like Iowa City.

Everywhere I looked there was gold and black. At the Cubs game, in my old stomping grounds of the South Loop, and up and down Lake Shore Drive.

The press box announcer might have called it Huskie Stadium East, but make no mistake about it; Soldier Field was more like Kinnick Stadium East.

The drive east on Roosevelt Road was like walking down Melrose St. during an Iowa home game.

Gold and Black clad fans everywhere toting coolers full of pre-game fun.

The festive atmosphere even had a mascot, a man who identified himself as “Super Herky,” an obvious homage to the Iowa mascot. Super Herky ran from the Roosevelt ‘L’ stop to the Stadium in full triathlon gear, an Iowa cape and a yellow wig.
Random chants of “Let’s go Hawks,” erupted upon his passage.

Once the saucer-shaped stadium appeared, the parking lots of Soldier Field were more like Olive Court, the preferred location to tailgate for many Iowa home games.

My entourage and I (which also included an Iowa grad) approached South Lot D-2, our tailgating destination, some four hours before kick off.

John David, a recent NIU graduate, said to look for the two NIU flags.
As our eyes scanned the horizon and flying amidst a sea of black and gold were the two NIU flags. It was like finding a needle in the haystack.

Which troubled me; why were NIU fans were so drastically outnumbered?
Let’s dig further, because the stats never lie.

Below is the total population according to each school’s web page.

Iowa has 29,000 students and NIU has 25,000 students. That’s called a push in the betting world.

Proximity to the venue. Iowa is some 3 ½ hours away, with the ever perilous traffic dilemma making that number a bit sketchy.

NIU is roughly an hour away.

Edge: NIU.

So where was the Cardinal and Black fan horde?

Here is the deal NIU kids: Get out and support your team.

It was embarrassing that Iowa had a home field crowd on hand.

When I asked Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz if it felt like a home game, his answer was a basic yes.

“Yeah it did,” Ferentz said. “We were looking at the sun though and that didn’t feel like home, but that was OK. The bus ride yesterday and tonight won’t feel like home either. Your traffic is a bit different– more prominent here in Chicago.”

So there you have it. The major difference Saturday was the sun and traffic.

At the real Kinnick Stadium, Hawkeye students have to pay for their season tickets, but are still rabidly in attendance.

At Huskie Stadium, where tickets are free for students, games don’t always sell out.

With the electric Garrett Wolfe, a once-in-a-lifetime player on the field last year, I was baffled that I could look up and still see silver bleachers.

This year I hope home games are different.

I hope that our fans show up in full force, even if it just for the socialization. Of roughly 20 interviewed Iowa fans, half said that football games feature some of the best socialization they have all week.

So this may sound like a public service announcement, but come out and support your team.

Whip up some homemade hamburgers. I know the ones that I had, replete with fresh green onions and A1 sauce mixed in for a tasty zing, were stellar creations. Make some chili. Grill some hotdogs.

Support your team, but most importantly spend quality time with friends and family.

Hopefully our team learned from the tough 16-3 loss, and hopefully our fans learned from the Iowa tailgaters on how to show up.

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