 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
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My No. 6 — 2002 Minnesota
(PUBLISHED: Iowa fans hang from the goal post after the Hawkeyes' win over Minnesota Saturday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Thousands of Iowa fans stormed the field, tearing down a goal post and nearly carting one of the uprights out of the stadium. (Gazette file)
The gentlemen at the fine and funny Black Heart Gold Pants website sell a hoodie in honor of this game.
It’s black and the front of it says “All your goalposts are belong to us.”
Yes, it slaughters grammar, but that’s the bit.
I also think it perfectly captures the wild groupthink that Iowa fans were clearly swept up in here. Yes, alcohol probably figured in a little bit, but I believe 8-0 in the Big Ten and prospect of the first Rose Bowl since 1990 crumpled fans’ thinking.
Iowa fans grew a Grinch heart and Hulk strength that day and really, truly believed they could get that goalpost through the revolving door at the Metrodome.
There were more poignant games in the Kirk Ferentz era. This game bumped two great candidates from 2000, Michigan State and Penn State.
But c’mon, fans. This one’s for you.
This . . . will . . . never . . . happen . . . again.
Don’t try it, boyos.
I guarantee Tazering.
Yes, you were thinking “All your goalposts are belong to us” and you know it.
Made perfect sense at the time.
_________
Headline: A rose and a great ride for Ferentz
MINNEAPOLIS – They paused to touch the trophy, the Big Ten championship trophy, there in the winning locker room. It was real.
It was theirs. The season of dreams was now indelible. And there was the hardware, golden and shiny and permanent, to confirm it.
From doormat to winner. In one implausible leap. Iowa. Yes, Iowa.
“I stood with my arms around that thing (the trophy),” senior free safety Derek Pagel said. “I had my picture taken with it. A lot of us did that. It was beautiful.
“I just wish I could hit pause right now and run over this about 100 times.”
The Hawkeyes rushed for 365 yards and converted three Minnesota turnovers into touchdowns in a 45-21 victory before a sellout crowd of 65,184 at the Metrodome.
Or was that Kinnick Stadium? Iowa City?
Some 32,000 Iowa fans gave the Hawkeyes (11-1, 8-0 Big Ten) what must have felt like a homefield advantage over the Golden Gophers (7-4, 3-4).
“This place today was Kinnick with a roof on it,” tight end Dallas Clark said.
First Big Ten championship since 1990. First undefeated Big Ten season since 1922. First Big Ten commissioner giving a speech and giving a trophy in the Iowa locker room maybe ever.
“I think you can argue that the Big Ten is the strongest conference in the country,” Conference commissioner Jim Delany said. “Iowa is the undefeated champion of the strongest conference in the country.
“But we’ll see what happens with Ohio State. They may be the undefeated champion of the strongest conference in the country.”
No one within an arm’s length of a rose or a Hawkeye seemed to care this is a shared championship, for another few weeks anyway. Ohio State controls the BCS and Rose Bowl by virtue of a better overall record.
Iowa can win the Big Ten title outright and qualify for the Rose Bowl if No. 2 Ohio State (12-0, 7-0 Big Ten) loses to Michigan next at Columbus. Iowa doesn’t play Ohio State this season.
“No one cares a bit,” said center Bruce Nelson, with the tag from his “Big Ten championship” ballcap dangling over his left ear and the tag from his “Big Ten championship” T-shirt dangling over his collar. “Rose Bowl, shared title, no one cares.”
And no one seemed to care.
A Metrodome maintenance crew worked long after the game trying to piece together the south end zone goal posts. They had no idea.
This doesn’t happen with the Gophers or Vikings.
Seriously, they were flummoxed, trying three times before finally figuring it out for Saturday night’s game between Concordia-St. Paul and Southwest State.
Yes, Iowa fans, after years of never touching the collapsible goal posts at Kinnick, made quick work of the Metrodome goal posts.
Minnesota also Gopher-izes the Metrodome with banners hanging on the upper deck facade for every Big Ten team. The Iowa banners were conspicuous by their absence after the game, long gone, in Cedar Rapids, Epworth or Des Moines by now.
Metrodome security tried about everything. The P.A. announcer issued two “final warnings.” They also tried blasting a high-pitched squeal from the loudspeakers. The Minneapolis police arrested a handful of fans on the field.
“We’re getting used to Hawkeyes fans running out on the field,” said defensive end Howard Hodges, whose sack and fumble recovery turned into a 14-7 Iowa lead in the first quarter. “We know the fans are just as happy as us. They’ve been waiting for something big to happen for Iowa and it did today. They (Iowa fans) can drop in with us at the bowl game, I don’t care. They can drop in at my house, it doesn’t matter.”
The fans took their bounty, an upright, for a couple of laps around the field, finally dropping it in the stadium concourse.
Negotiating the revolving doors might have been a bit too much.
“Someone said they got the goal posts,” guard Eric Steinbach said. “I knew they (security) had their hands full when our fans started lifting the O-line and carrying us around.”
First 11-win season in Iowa history. First nine-game winning streak in one season. First mosh pit for Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, who was carried off the field by linebacker Tony Burrier and Clark.
“I’m kind of wondering how I got up there. I was a little bit embarrassed,” Ferentz said. “That was a pretty good view, pretty good, I can say that.”
Quarterback Brad Banks threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more, and running back Fred Russell rushed for 194 yards to spur the Hawkeyes, whose nine-game conference winning streak since is their longest since stretching a nine-game streak over the 1956-57 seasons.
Banks started his college career at Central Florida. He was a red-shirt freshman and No.3 on the depth chart behind Daunte Culpepper, now the Minnesota Vikings QB. They met up Friday night in Minneapolis.
“He was watching today,” Banks said. “I hope he liked what he saw.”
Banks completed 9 of 17 for 100 yards and two TDs, including a 31-yarder to Mo Brown. He rushed seven times for 39 yards and two TDs.
For the second straight week, he left the field in the fourth quarter to chants of “Heisman, Heisman, Heisman.”
Russell left in the third quarter with a bruised left shoulder. Sophomore Jermelle Lewis carried the rest of the way, rushing for 101 yards and a TD.
The bowl reps were there, and there was bowl talk.
“You win the Big Ten, you want to go to the Rose Bowl,” Iowa Athletics Director Bob Bowlsby said. “But like coach has said, it’s going to be pretty hard to disappoint us.”
After the final gun they were swallowed. The young men who made magic couldn’t find their way out of the madness.
The Big Ten championship trophy was theirs. And they had the pictures to prove it.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz is carried off the field after his team defeated Minnesota on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2002, at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn. (Gazette file)
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It's actually "all your goalpost are belong to us". Goalpost is singular. You know, 'cause we only took the one goalpost. I'm not even sure anyone realized there was a second goalpost, or that one might have been grabbed too.
It's a popular hoodie in MN…
If I remember correctly, once the mob finished with the one goalpost, it started heading to the other, but the police and security had it surrounded.
So, the mob happily took the goalpost to the revolving doors.
Whoops, I wrote this very late last Friday and now feel kinda stupid about blowing grammar that was meant to be blown.
I'm sure you mean "unblowing" the grammar, at least partially.
This was my first Iowa away game, and is definitely my favorite (excluding bowls). The sight of the upright off that goalpost going out the Metrodome door (or, trying to) is one of my favorite in the world. Thank goodness TCF Bank Stadium is open-ended. The designers foresaw our needs.
I'm picturing an operation of Tom Cruise "Mission Impossible" fashion.
Or at least Wile E. Coyote.
"All your goalpost" comes from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItugh-fFgg
That was a great day. I remember hesitating to jump on the field afterwards, as some lady cop was spraying mace in the direction of everyone who did … so I followed some other kids a few yards down the sideline and we just jumped down and ran like hell. You can really fly on that astroturf!
Got to touch floyd of rosedale, dallas clark, brad banks, and the uprights. A very good day.
I do remember a few Iowa fans getting pummeled. Police were in no mood.
I think there was some genuine fear when the g-posts went down.
I distinctly remember a skinny, 5'8" rent-a-cop getting run over by a 6'5" (he was taller than my dad, who is 6'4"), 275-ish Hawkeye fan and promptly getting tackled and arrested. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think I remember the Iowans around me (who by that point had descended from the upper decks) yelling some unprintable remarks at the officers responsible for the more….enthusiastic…arrests. It was a wild, yet very enjoyable, experience, just to take in the scene from the front row of seats.
Also, Marc, I can see this happening again. There're enough drunken Iowans at every game that this remains a distinct possibility (although not at Kinnick, of course).
I remember after the game they started blaring an annoying siren to get people out of the dome. I can't remember if it was before or after the goalpost heist, but it was high-pitched and drove everyone crazy. Rowdy things were bound to happen.
Marc;
Thanks for this set of stories, makes the summer sports scene come alive. I like reading Mike's and Doc's choices also. I don't know if I can last another 45-50 days for the first game.
Second, we are very lucky to have Kirk as our coach. He has lead us to many memorable days.
I have a hat I picked up which came from one of the first guys on the field…. and one of the few who got arrested.
As I recall, things didn't get crazy until that Prince inspired crowd control tune started to play.
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I heard a rumor the yesterday that she uses the the rider waite tarot cards to find words for her songs. I understand that she is an intuitive and it just came naturally.
However bear in mind that, I had some disappointing sessions with tarot cards until this spring when two things occurred.
First, I was given the rider waite tarot cards. I am not sure how to describe it but the pictures rang true with me like no other deck had before.
Second, I bought a book by Gerd Ziegler. Wow. what a book! His words genuinely helped me unpack the cards and get a sense of what i might learn from them. I like to sit with the cards I draw and think about them on my own first, but there are some images that just are not as understandable as others and that is where notes from the book come in.
Sorry, but I don’t agree with you here. I don’t like that approach. But it’s a good start off. Perhaps with some increased information I could manage to understand it better?
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