Holy smokes, look at this. It's Iowa week and most of B1G country doesn't care.
Seems reasonable.
It's almost like some kind of utopia for a guy like me... a Gopher fan. Everyone only wants to talk about what's going on at OSU. In reality, it's pretty perfect.
I mean, let's be honest, of all the teams in the B1G who has a bigger inferiority complex than Iowa? Every Hawkeye fan is constantly preoccupied with wondering what fan of some other B1G team is going to figure out a way to make them feel inferior. Don't tell me I'm wrong: I work with these people. And once they feel inferior they will venomously scream and shout about it.
It's quite apropos. Here we are with Iowa week being preempted by something else more important in the conference... one more piece of the inferiority puzzle.
What's fantastic about this week... or wait, I guess the same could be said about last week, because LAST week was really supposed to be Iowa week here at OTE... is that somehow, inexplicably, the B1G figured out another way to preempt the Hawkeyes. Even in the off-season.
There we were, ready to jump into Hawkeye week, and then suddenly Ohio State was the center of attention.
What a shame.
For a Gopher fan it was an amazing dose of poetic justice. For a Hawkeye fan... more realization that you're playing second fiddle to the flavor-of-the-week.
Iowa fans are going to sit back and say "yeah, but we're still better than Minnesota." And that's fine, except, oh... wait, where is Floyd of Rosedale right now? Guess what Iowa... yep, we're going to rub it it in while we can. Floyd is in Minneapolis. What is he doing? Duh, WINNING.
And what are YOU doing? Hating us.
And honestly, this isn't about Minnesota vs. Iowa. This is about how Hawkeye fans hate everyone because they literally have no idea what else to do in life.
Did anyone happen to notice that in yesterday's OTE Potluck there was a course missing? Each week there has been 5 courses: Appetizer, Salad, Potato/Rice, Hot Dish, and Dessert. Did anyone make notice of the fact that there was no Potato/Rice dish? Did anyone find that concerning? Weird. Why would that happen?
Here was the question that was posed to the writers of OTE... a question that nobody answered:
In Hilary's B1G Social Network poll we learned that Iowa fans harbor ill-will toward 9 of the other 11 B1G schools. Only Michigan State and Penn State were immune from Hawk-ire. For such a small population state, that's quite a bit of hatred to throw around (not to mention the ADD of no concentration of hatred). Why does Iowa have such poor feelings toward pretty much everybody else? - or - To put it another way... why are Iowa fans such pricks?
Nobody was willing to discuss why Iowa fans harbor so much hate. Nobody was willing to say why Hawkeye fans spew venom and hatred at almost everyone else in the conference.
Do you know why?
Because there is no rational explanation. The only response is that you are hated because you are not Iowa. You are hated because you have something, anything, (fill in the blank), that Iowa doesn't have. Iowa fans hate you because you have more national titles. Iowa fans hate you because you have beaten them consistently. Iowa fans hate you because you have a larger population to draw fans from. Iowa fans hate you because... they have nothing better to do.
And there it is. At the end of the day, Hawkeye fans are fantastic when it comes to the loyalty they show their team.
But when it comes to how they react to everyone else, they have nothing to do but scramble because the inferiority complex that they have toward the rest of the B1G absolutely exists.
So here you go Hawkeye fans... bring the venom. Tell me how horrible I am. Tell me how bad Minnesota sucks. Tell me about how the Metrodome was "Kinnick North." Bring every piece of hatred you have for Minnesota, for Northwestern, for Wisconsin... for everyone else in the B1G.
But let's remember something. When it's all said and done... we're still talking about Iowa.