Category Archives: Basketball

Basketball, Candid Portrait, Christianity, Derrick

Prayer, Reflection, Horseradish & Jumpshot

April 10, 2009 Christopher D. Bennett

Last night my church had a fairly unique service. A woman from Jews for Jesus came and gave a presentation on the traditional Jewish Passover feast.

She explained the meaning of each cup, prayer, tradition and food item. The presentation was interactive, so we sampled many of the foods. Most of them were not tasty, including dipping parsley in salt water. But the worst by far was the horseradish.

I only had a small amount of the horseradish, but it was more than enough. This is followed by something sweet. We had an apple to represent the sweet. I can tell you that this was by far the best apple I have ever had in my life.

It was very educational. I learned a ton.

After the service I headed over to the Gorshe home to shoot some hoops on their new basketball hoop.

Derrick’s Perfect Form.

I don’t know, I just like this picture.

I look forward to many a game of basketball on their new hoop and court.

Baier, Basketball, Faust, Frank, Jesse, Lowell, Mark, Music, Nader, Robert, Russell, Toby

Big Empty

April 7, 2009 Christopher D. Bennett

Too much walkin’, shoes worn thin
Too much trippin’ and my soul’s worn thin
Time to catch a ride it leaves today
Her name is what it means

I’d say that there is a fair chance that when the Stone Temple Pilots recorded the song Big Empty, they were not thinking about how I feel the day after college basketball season ends. But it will pass as a close approximation.

The end of the season means the coronation of a new King of the Brackets in my pool of friends. This year the person that displayed the most prescience was again Mark Wolfram.

Roundball Oracles 2009 Final Standings
1. Mark Wolfram – Taiwan Hoops – 135 Points
2. Jason Baier – Mcdermite – 133 Points
3. Frank Meiners – Frank Meiners – 131 Points
4. Russell Kennerly – thefightingmattfortes – 128 Points
5. Dan Dill – dandydanl – 126 Points
6. Christopher D. Bennett – The Future – 124 Points
7. Nate Buckingham – Wade Lookingbill Allstar picks – 91 Points
8. Corey Faust – Tubbyville – 82 Points
9. Toby Sebring – Car Ramrod – 79 Points
10. Jesse Howard – Goldies Dance Card – 73 Points
11. Robert Henning – Fill It Up – 69 Points
12. Nader Parsaei – Charlie Chaplin – 45 Points
13. Lowell Davis – Waiting For Baseball Season – 0 Points

Past Champions
2005 – William McAlpine
2006 – William McAlpine
2007 – Tim Peterson
2008 – Mark Wolfram

It is admittedly slightly embarrassing that a dude living in Taiwan has won our NCAA tourney pool back to back years.

Baier, Basketball, Carla, Dawn, Derrick, Family, FNSC, Jason, Monica, Movies, Music, Scottie D., Shannon, Willy, Writing

Saturday the 14th

March 14, 2009 Christopher D. Bennett

I have one loyal subscriber that incessantly complains whenever I post too many posts without pictures. He often sends me an email that in essence “boos” me.

I usually tell him that he is a big boy now and that he needs to use his words. But I’m quite certain that even he will be happy that this entry does not include any imagery, except whatever your imagination puts into your mind.

This story transpired on Saturday, March 14, 2009. The day after FNSC was victimized by the hype surrounding Black Market Pizza.

I am not saying that Black Market Pizza is to blame for my Saturday, but there was a series of low grade slasher movies that were popular in my youth that centered around Friday the 13th. Invariably, the person that survived the brutal onslaught of Jason Voorhees would wake up on Saturday the 14th thinking that the worst was behind them. They had survived the night. Then Jason or his mom or Tommy Jarvis would jump out of the lake and the nightmare would continue.

I woke up on Saturday the 14th feeling like the horror of Black Market Pizza was behind me. I had big plans for the day. Big plans! I didn’t know that something was still stalking me. Waiting to pounce and ruin my weekend.

Jason was picking me up at 7:30 in the morning so we could head to Best Buy to buy a dishwasher. Afterward, I was going over to my Aunt Lori’s to do my taxes. Then I was meeting Baier at King Buffet for lunch to celebrate the anniversary of his birth. Then I was heading to Rieman Music to see the remodeling work Derrick had done on the store. Then I was hoping to get the dishwasher installed. Then spend the afternoon watching the Cyclone women advance to the Big 12 title game. Then I was going to rest and relax for a bit. Then I was going to go to Shenanigans (yes, regrettably, I was planning on going to a Boone bar) for the birthday party of a friend from high school. The bonus of this party was that Willy was going to be there and he was allegedly going to be in full Dance Machine mode. I have never seen Willy dance, but I have garnered sworn testimony from his friend Kristy over the phone that he does indeed dance. But in the back of my mind, I still believe that he only talks about dancing. I was going to make a brief appearance at this party and then meet Shannon at DG’s to see Otter play. I’m not at liberty to say, but Otter just might be one of the bands that is playing Ames on the Half Shell this summer. I repeat, it was going to be a full day.

It started out well. Jason picked me up and we headed over to Best Buy. I had talked to Scottie D. on Thursday night, when he did expert work running cable to my office and living room, about coming over on Saturday to buy a dishwasher.

I had done some dishwasher research and new that I wanted both a stainless steel outside and a stainless steel inside. The outside is to match the rest of my appliances. The inside is because allegedly polymer tubs wear out rather quickly.

I swear that Scott said to meet him at Best Buy at 8.

At 8:05, we arrived in the Best Buy parking lot. We were greeted by a sign telling us that Best Buy didn’t open until 9. Since we had an hour to kill, I suggested we get some breakfast. I had heard great things about a little breakfast joint in Campustown called Angie’s Kitchen.

We killed an hour there with their food that can be best described as perfectly adequate.

We returned to Best Buy where Scott and I went over all of their dishwashers in stock. As it turned out, they had one dishwasher in stock, but it happened to be the dishwasher that I wanted.

Today was my lucky day.

We loaded the dishwasher up into the back of Carla’s van and headed to Lowe’s to pick up a few plumbing supplies.

When we got back to Boone we unloaded the dishwasher and Jason went to work on installing it. I went over to Lori’s to do my taxes.

It turns out I will be getting a healthy return back. Enough to pay off my electrician, buy a new fridge and perhaps even buy a new camera. One of the great tragedies of 2008 is the fact that I did not buy a new camera all year. I know, brings a tear to the eye.

Today was my lucky day.

I returned home to pick up some stuff I might have needed for the trip to Ames. Jason had already finished installing the dishwasher.

I met Baier at King Buffet. Inexplicably, King Buffet is his favorite restaurant. The food was perfectly adequate and we had a splendid conversation about many of the days hot topic issues.

At the conclusion of our meal I bid Baier a fond aideu and then headed downtown to Rieman Music. Derrick and his minions have done an impressive job of remodeling the store. He has made coves for individual types of products. Plus he painted the place and took down the old town and country border that used to spoil the place. It is very nice, but don’t take my word for it. Head on down and check it out. Buy a trombone or two.

I left Rieman Music and headed for my couch. I didn’t want to miss a moment of the Cyclone women playing the Baylor Bears.

As I sat on my couch I started to feel sick. Although the women were not playing well and would ultimately lose, this was not the type of sickness I feel when I watch the Greg McDermott men play. With the obvious exception of when they played UNI. I felt pretty darn good that night.

After the game concluded, I felt worse. Eventually I got to feeling so bad that I didn’t even want to move from the couch. I sat there watching whatever was on the History Channel.

I had the sensation that I wanted to vomit, but I couldn’t. I checked the time and I sadly realized that I wasn’t going to be leaving this couch on this night. I texted Shannon to let her know that I was shafting out. She texted me back to relay hopes that I feel better at some point in the future.

I put the phone down and laid my head back down on the pillows. At 9:37, I got a text message. Admittedly, I did not know it was 9:37. I thought it was well after 10. I struggled to get up and read my text message.

My expectations were that the text was from Willy saying that he was “setting the dance floor on fire” and wondering if I was making an appearance. The other possibility was that the message was from Shannon letting me know how much fun I was missing.

But the message was from neither. It was from Monica Henning:

Jeff proposed to me tonight on our trip. I said YES. (Then she included an emoticon, but even when I am quoting somebody I can’t bring myself to use an emoticon. But use your imagination. It was a happy emoticon. It probably involved a colon.)

That was a pretty cool development, but I was in so much pain I couldn’t even think straight. I decided to send the congratulations on the morrow. I frequently use the phrase “on the morrow” when I am sick.

I laid my head back down and continued to inbibe what the History Channel was dishing out. What seemed like hours passed. Then something magical happened.

I had spent my free time on Saturday organizing 3 tubs. 1 tub for audio visual cables. 1 tub for computer cables. 1 tub for phone stuff.

The magic happened 4 times into the phone stuff tub. I instantly felt, not so bad. I picked up my cell phone to check the time: 1:45. Too late to drive to Ames or go to Shenanigans. I laid my head back down on the pillow. I was asleep almost instantly. I didn’t wake up for 12 hours.

I talked to Jason the next day. He had also been sick. We both agreed that we wouldn’t be going back to Angie’s Kitchen. I decided that next time I needed to get breakfast in Ames, I would stick with The Grove Cafe.

But I don’t want the tale of Monica’s engagement to be just a footnote to a tale of vomiting on a caller id box. It is pretty exciting that Monica is tying the knot. I heard a poem once and although I definitely didn’t write it, it is what I hope Jeff feels in 50 years.

Anniversary: One Fine Day
by Walter McDonald

Who would sit through a plot as preposterous as ours,
married after years apart? Chance meetings may work
early in stories, but at operas, darling, in Texas?
A bachelor pilot, I fled Laredo for the weekend,
stopping at the opera from boredom, music I least expected.
Of all the zoos and honky-tonks south of Dallas,
who would believe I would find you there on the stairs,

Madame Butterfly about to start? When you moved
four years before, I lost all hope of dying happy,
dogfighting my way through pilot training, reckless,
in terror only when I saw the man beside you.
I had pictured him rich and splendid in my mind
a thousand times, thinking you married with babies
somewhere in Tahiti, Spain, the south of France.

When I saw the lucky devil I hated—only your date,
but I didn’t know—he stopped gloating, watching you wave,
turned old and bitter like the crone in Shangri La.
Destiny happens only in plays and cheap movies—
but here, here on my desk is your photo, decades later,
and I hear sounds from another room of our house,
and when I rise amazed and follow, you are there.

Basketball, Formal Portrait, Shannon

Burying the Lead

December 11, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Sometimes I will bury the lead in an entry. Most of this time it is done on purpose because I want people to figure out what the most important part of the story is for themselves. However, I’m sure there are times where it is just another example of sloppy writing like the kind that Dan Brown foists upon us.

Yesterday I spent my morning wandering the aisles of Wal-Mart with Shannon and a couple representatives of Dr. Pepper photographing them purchasing toys for Toys for Tots.

The pictures are to be used in The United Way of Story County’s press release on Toys for Tots.

That sounds like a pretty important story. It certainly sounds like an interesting story, but it was not the most important part of the event for me. I want to make sure that when I start on this narrative, the most important part of the story is in the front and center, so I’m taking what I consider to be the lead part of the story out and making it into its own entry, so it doesn’t get buried under the rest of the Toys for Tots narrative.

I wrote before about how I didn’t need to share the terms of my wager with Shannon with the world. I am not a person who needs to gloat. The victory itself is usually more than enough for me.

I shared with you that one of the end results of the wager was that I ended up with a sweet UNI beanie that Shannon made and she ended up with an ISU hoodie.

If UNI would have beat ISU, I would have been forced to put on the beanie immediately following the game and worn it around and through the McLeod Center and to the car.

Furthermore, I would have had to wear the beanie to the ISU-UNI tailgate in 2010.

ISU won the game and so Shannon was subject to the terms of my wager. She simply has to wear the hoodie on to the Iowa State campus and have the experience photo-documented. This trip will of course include a stop at the Jack Trice statue outside of Jack Trice Stadium.

Shannon has requested that this trip be put off for a couple of months because of the severe cold weather and her low tolerance for extreme cold weather. I have agreed to wait.

Because of this, I was not expecting to see the Iowa State hoodie until March or April.

So yesterday was Jesse’s birthday. As far as I know the only thing he got for his birthday was the Big Juan and churros that I bought him at Taco Time and the dessert that Jay baked him. So maybe I got one of his birthday presents.

I arrived at 9 am at Wal-Mart. In the entry to Wal-Mart there were several shopping carts filled with toys, presumably for tots. I introduced myself to one of the guys from Dr. Pepper and waited for Shannon to show up.

After a few minutes she arrived and said something like, “See what I’m wearing.”

Out of the top of the black coat I could see the distinctive color of a cardinal hoodie.

“So it is starting to grow on you?” I said while trying to cover my feeling of victory.

Shannon said that I’d get a chance to some “bonus pictures”, then she quickly made up some excuses for why she was wearing the hoodie. Something about it being the only clean one that she had and she wasn’t allowed to wear her UNI hoodies to work. Then she revealed that this was just a cover story by admitting that she had worn it this past weekend, but then quickly tried to cover up the reason why behind “liking new clothes”.

Regardless of the motivations that she tells herself and the motivations that she tells the world, I was able to get some bonus images of Shannon in her new cardinal and gold.

So before getting into the whole Toys for Tots experience, I would like to share a couple of those images that her dad (the truck driver for the day) was talked into taking.

In a related note, Toys for Tots received thousands of dollars in toy donations on that day, but that isn’t the lead story.

Basketball, Iowa State

Beavers

December 7, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

I was offered Angie’s ticket to the Oregon State game on Saturday. I then forgot it at work. I was then offered Kelly’s ticket. I took it.

I took a few photos of Hilton. As you can tell, the tickets aren’t quite as good as the football tickets.

The next picture is kind of an optical illusion. Don’t stare at it. It might make you sick.

The Cyclone did win on this day, defeating Barack Obama’s brother-in-law.

Basketball, Blogging, Formal Portrait, History, Schmidt, Shannon

Plus Five

December 3, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

About a year ago I posted a comment on Shannon’s MySpace page where I was apologizing in advance for what Iowa State was going to do to her UNI Panthers IF Wesley Johnson played in the game.

Wesley Johnson did indeed play in the game and he played well, but UNI came into what was once the toughest building in the nation to play in and beat Iowa State rather soundly. Most disappointing about the game was the fact that ISU seemed to quit in the second half.

It was McDermott’s second team and for the second straight season he had to completely rebuild the roster in the offseason. It was a disappointment, but in retrospect it was to be expected.

Then in early January I was at the Jaycees Year End Banquet. I believe on that same night Michael Beasley was personally destroying the Cyclones.

I believe that it was at this point that Shannon made a rather snide remark about the Cyclones. I had to stand up for the Cyclones and we agreed to attend next season’s game with a friendly wager to boot.

It is a little known fact that I rarely lose wagers. In fact it has been about 5 years since I last lost a wager. I knew that I had, 11 months in advance, secured a victory for the Iowa State Cyclones. Don’t believe me?

Check the archives: I guarantee an ISU victory over UNI! (You will have to scroll past the pictures)

Or I can repost the pertinent part of the blog:

The first event occurred while I was talking to Shannon. Somebody came back from the bar side of the American Legion to announce that my beloved Cyclones were losing by 25 to Kansas State. Although it was sad news, it was to be expected. The simple fact of the matter is that they have Beasley and we do not. That fact alone will decide quite a number of games in Kansas State’s favor this season.

At this point Peggy (the 2008 Jaycees President with questionable taste in college sports teams) came over to point out that her Kansas Jayhawks also thumped Iowa State earlier in the week.

I responded that I wasn’t so sure that wasn’t to be expected. Right now Iowa State is held together by spit, baling wire and a walk-on point guard.

Shannon added that “He will defend Iowa State under any circumstances.”

What she said is undeniably true, but the way she said it indicated that she thinks that there was another way that it is acceptable to be.

Then she took it too far. She wandered down a road that is going to end poorly for her. Even though that road won’t officially end for several months.

She brought up that UNI had beaten ISU this season.

It is a fact. I can’t deny it, but I can make bold proclamations.

I made this bold proclamation:

“I guarantee that we beat UNI next year.”

There I said it. I got it out there. I might have went into some details about how next year’s Cyclone team would be essentially the first team in 3 years that wasn’t going to be built from scratch that offseason.

Then she made the mistake.

“That sounds like a wager.” Those words escaped her lips. I think she knew that she had a mistake as soon as the words had finished reverberating around the American Legion. Yet she gamely continued on and did not back down.

The terms of the wager have not been set, but I can hint at what I’m leaning towards. Let me just say that I think Shannon is going to look good in Cardinal and Gold.

Wednesday was indeed the night that we made our way up to Cedar Falls to witness the game.

I don’t think I need to go into details about the game. UNI fought their hearts out. They were able to force overtime, before the Cyclones were able to finally secure the victory by 5 points.

My impressions of the night are that McLeod Center is an impressive building. It gets surprisingly loud in there. UNI’s program is way better than Iowa State’s program, for the same price. It has pages. Iowa State’s program is a page. Their scoreboard is a little strange. It is split into two separate scoreboards, so it is a little difficult to find the score of the game. It was quite an experience.

I don’t want to go into the details of the wager, because I am not somebody that needs to gloat… but I would like to share that one of the outcomes of the wager was my acquisition of this sweet beanie that Shannon made.

On a related but unrelated note (that might have been the equivalent of using the nonword irregardless)a fellow miner by the name of Schmidt (I have too many friends with the first name Cory) has designed the ISU Basketball equivalent of an Advent Calendar. We figure that Iowa State needs 20 wins to make it to a tournament this year.

He has placed 20 post-it notes next to his desk in the Mine. Every time ISU wins we take down a post-it note and celebrate with some candy.

Shannon probably won’t be happy that I share this fact, but when we were looking around the UNI Book Store for a food item that would be Panther related for the Cyclone Advent Calendar we failed. Then she noticed that there was a purple package of M&Ms (dark chocolate) and a gold package of M&Ms (peanut) she suggested we use those. In fairness she also said it would be a moot point.

Well, it was not a moot point…

… it was an excellent idea. Panther candy was tasty!

We are planning on celebrating our victory Saturday over the Oregon State Beavers with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Mmmmm…. I wonder what Jayhawk is going to taste like.

Andree, Baier, Basketball, Faust, Football, Iowa State, Russell, Willy

Spring Game

April 19, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

I started my Saturday by stepping on the basketball court at Beyer Hall for the first time in over a year. To be more direct, it was the first time I have stepped on any basketball court in over a year.

On the court with me was Andree, Russell and Baier. We had been planning this game for over a month. Through a series of e-mails I might have built my basketball skills up to them based on the baller that I was in my youth. I was not the only one though. Russell gave himself the nickname The Open Flame. I believe he also gave himself the nickname the Big HuHot. He also gave himself the nickname The Big Nome de Plume. However, he decided to rely mostly on the nickname The Open Flame. I tried to get him to wear a head band with flame design, but he only indicated that he would “work on it”.

I did not want to be outnicknamed, so in the tradition of some of my friends, I chose to give myself the nickname The Almighty. This was mostly based on the fact that Andree claims that the only thing that could make him cower is being in the presence of The Almighty.

There was doubt that I would be able to live up to the nickname, but through our first three contests I lived up to the nickname and more. I opened up the outside game early, then I showed off my post up moves. Then I cracked out the dribble penetration. Finally I showed off the passing game.

After three games, I was The Almighty. I was undefeated and everybody else had felt the bitter taste of defeat. Then my years of eating bad food and not exercising caught up to me. I ran out of steam. I didn’t fare so well in the last couple of games, but no need to dwell on that.

After the basketball game, Baier and I met up with Willy, Faust and Bret in lot B6 for a little tailgating. I had brought my grill over, but I was a bit concerned that it would not fire up. That fear was not necessary. The grill fired up and we knocked down a wide assortment of meats and a pasta salad that Baier had made. A couple other gents joined us and we made our way to the spring game. I posted some pictures from the Spring Game in the Snapshots Gallery. You can get there via the picture of the link below:

IOWA STATE FOOTBALL – 2008

I have some observations from the Spring Game, but I don’t really put any stock in the Spring Game, so I won’t bore you with any of that information.

Baier, Basketball, Bill, Faust, Frank, Jesse, Lowell, Mark, Robert, Russell, Tim, Toby, Willy

The Roundball Oracles: Year 4

April 7, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

2005-William McAlpine
2006-William McAlpine
2007-Tim Peterson

Now the name Mark Wolfram will sit proudly next to theirs. The miracle comeback of Kansas made them champions. It also made Mark the third champion of The Roundball Oracles (An NCAA tournament pool).

The Final Standings:

Mark Wolfram (Taiwan Hoops) 136 points
Lowell Davis (Davis) 114 points
Jesse Howard (Goldie’s Bracket Brilliance) 108 points
Dan Dill (dandydan) 92 points
Corey Faust (UCLA Love) 90 points
Jason Baier (Baier’s Winning Bracket) 90 points
Tim Peterson (Dominate Monkey) 87 points
Toby Sebring (esgefhg) 85 points
Me (The Zechariah of the Hardwood) 85 points
Willy McAlpine (william) 84 points
Bill Wentworth (Bill’s) 84 points
Frank Meiners (FHM) 75 points
Nate Buckingham (Wade Lookingbill allstars) 73 points
Robert Henning (Drake Bandwagon) 64 points
Russell Kennerly (Fighting Grossmans) 61 points

A trophy has been ordered and will be given to Mark when he returns from Taiwan. I miss college basketball already.

Animals, Basketball, Candid Portrait, Flowers, Jay, Jesse, Nader, Nature, Night, Schmidt, Self-Portrait, Vest, Willy

Test Camera

February 26, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

A few months ago Nader gave me a camera to test for his trip to London. I put in a roll of film and took some test shots. Then I put the camera away and forgot about it. I finally finished off the roll and got it developed. I thought I would share some of the images, not because of any of them are particularly interesting, but because maybe they are interesting as a whole. A study of intermittent shots taking over time from a forgotten camera.

Computer Mine Basketball Hoop

Flowers

Self Portrait

Fat Jake

Jay Snuggly

Fat Jake

Willy: Keeper of Fat Jake

Fat Jake

Experiment

Vest

Frame

Party in Jesse’s Office

Cory

Deer

Deer through Windows of “The Quad”

Computer Mine Basketball Hoop

Baier, Basketball, Black & White, Jay, Jaycees, Politics, Russell, Schmidt, Shannon

My Saturday

January 28, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Most of my Saturday was devoted to Jaycee activities. It started out with the Super Shooters competition. This is only the second Jaycees activity that I have had a chance to work. I was planning on taking a few pictures there, but as it turns out, I left my memory card sitting at home in my memory card reader. I did have my film camera, so I took a few B&W photos. This wasn’t the ideal situation, but I made do.

It had been awhile since I have had REAL B&W film developed. I went to a local camera shop that I haven’t visited in some time to get prints made. I would like to say that I was impressed by their work, but the prints that came out are filled with a myriad of scratches and dust spots. I don’t know what to make of that, I surely don’t.

Here are some of the images from Super Shooters:

Ames has their own electric car?

I dig this dragon sculpture.

The Ames City Hall Gym

Same Gym, Different Angle

Keeping Score

More Keeping Score

Gym Window

Super Shooters

More Super Shooters

More Windows

The Youngest Super Shooter

Center Court

Ribbons

Year End Banquet

Before I discuss the Year End Banquet, I should point out that I have excellent news for Cyclone fans. I can pretty much guarantee a Cyclone victory over the UNI Panthers next basketball season. You will understand in a moment, but it is important for you to understand my reasoning for making this claim. You see lately I have been hotter than a firecracker when it comes to wagering. I have been so unstoppable that I have had to turn down my friends’ offers of wagers because I fear them going so deeply into debt with me at which time I will have to swear out a warrant for their arrest and they will rot away in debtors prison.

For example, just this Saturday I have won yet another wager with Russell. It was so obvious I was going to win this wager that I almost turned down his wager. He bet me that Hillary Clinton would defeat Barack Obama in the South Carolina Primary. Not only did he defeat her, it was something of a woodshed beating. His vote total more than doubled her vote total.

I could have won a second wager this weekend with Jason Baier. He wanted to bet me that Rambo would make more than 40 million at the box office this weekend. Even though he pursued this wager aggressively, I had to turn him down. I don’t like to make wagers with people when they can’t win. Even if they don’t know they can’t win. Well almost never as it turns out.

For the record, Rambo grossed 18.1 million at the box office this weekend.

I don’t really need to go into much detail about the banquet. I think that I can break the event down to the two core events that left the deepest impression on me. I can say that before I went to the banquet, I could place a name and a face together for about 6 or 7 Jaycees. After the banquet I think I can up that number to about 12 or 14, but sadly for me, that number should be much higher, but I think I’m starting to suffer from Jay Janson’s Disease. (The inability to put names with faces)

The first event occurred while I was talking to Shannon. Somebody came back from the bar side of the American Legion to announce that my beloved Cyclones were losing by 25 to Kansas State. Although it was sad news, it was to be expected. The simple fact of the matter is that they have Beasley and we do not. That fact alone will decide quite a number of games in Kansas State’s favor this season.

At this point Peggy (the 2008 Jaycees President with questionable taste in college sports teams) came over to point out that her Kansas Jayhawks also thumped Iowa State earlier in the week.

I responded that I wasn’t so sure that wasn’t to be expected. Right now Iowa State is held together by spit, baling wire and a walk-on point guard.

Shannon added that “He will defend Iowa State under any circumstances.”

What she said is undeniably true, but the way she said it indicated that she thinks that there was another way that it is acceptable to be.

Then she took it too far. She wandered down a road that is going to end poorly for her. Even though that road won’t officially end for several months.

She brought up that UNI had beaten ISU this season.

It is a fact. I can’t deny it, but I can make bold proclamations.

I made this bold proclamation:

“I guarantee that we beat UNI next year.”

There I said it. I got it out there. I might have went into some details about how next year’s Cyclone team would be essentially the first team in 3 years that wasn’t going to be built from scratch that offseason.

Then she made the mistake.

“That sounds like a wager.” Those words escaped her lips. I think she knew that she had a mistake as soon as the words had finished reverberating around the American Legion. Yet she gamely continued on and did not back down.

The terms of the wager have not been set, but I can hint at what I’m leaning towards. Let me just say that I think Shannon is going to look good in Cardinal and Gold.

The other event that left an impression on me at the banquet also involved Shannon. I think it was the previous weekend that Shannon won an award at a Jaycees convention known as All-State. She won a pretty major award. She was declared to be the Secretary of the Year in the entire state of Iowa.

Part of the banquet was devoted to handing out awards and re-presenting the awards that various chapter members had won the previous weekend.

Something interesting happened when Shannon got her award. Everybody else got a “clap”. Just one clap. It was confusing to me, but I learned this morning that “the clap” is known as “Rally Applause” or something like that. Everybody got that. However, when Shannon got her award, the room spontaneously broke out in the wave.

I’m not making that up. I’ve been in several crowds where the wave has broken out. Almost all of them have been at sporting events. A couple times it has been at political rally. Sometimes I’ve seen it forced upon a crowd at a corporate brainwashing seminar. I’ve never seen this happen at a formal banquet before. I can only say that this turn of events was very impressive to me. I still can’t quite get my head around it.

This isn’t to say that she doesn’t deserve it. From what I know, she is hyper-organized and put in tons of hard work at that position. The wave was an interesting way of showing admiration for her hard work and skills.

After the banquet, several Jaycees retired to a bar down the street. The name currently escapes me, but my best stab at it is DG’s Tap House. It is in a commercial space that was formally known as The Zone. This makes me wonder where all the women that have graduated from Club Element go now.

This was my first appearance at a bar in 2008. I made 3 bar appearances all of 2007. Cory, a co-worker from the Computer Mine, has made it one of his goals this year to get me to the bar 4 times this year. We’ll see how that turns out.

The most interesting thing to transpire at the bar was running into Julie. I haven’t seen or talked to Julie in several months and it was awesome getting a chance to talk to her and catch up with her. Although I think she was quite shocked to actually see me at a bar. In fact, I know that she was surprised. It took her a little while to actually convince herself that she was seeing me. Of course Julie also thinks that her house is haunted, so I’m not sure why seeing me at a bar would be so hard for her to believe.

I think I was at the bar listening to some band until about midnight. Then I took off to get some sleep. I had a big day ahead of me on Monday. Rambo and There Will Be Blood weren’t going to see themselves.