Just kidding. Here are some pictures of the yard after the Iowa/Iowa State weekend. The wheels are in motion to lay down some drainage lines and drains in the back yard. I'm going to try to get it done by the Northwestern game but if not, the yard will still be available for parking, just a little more rutty. I'm planning on getting the work done this season and maybe reseeding next spring.

Below is an account of the great Hawkeye couch that resides ever so lovingly in my living room. It has seen many owners, traveled many miles, swallowed a lot of loose change (among other things) and seen many Hawkeye victories. Let's hope we see one this weekend, GO HAWKS beat the Clowns.


The History of the Hawkeye Couch (as of September 10, 2008)

1977 purchased at Mick’s furniture in Albia, IA by the Shehan family (pronounced Shinn) and stays in Albia for
9 years.
Number 1 song for 10 weeks during football season is “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone.

Iowa defeats ISU 12-10

1986 couch moves to Centerville, IA and stays there for two years owned by Bob “call me Seger” Shehan.
Number 1 song for 5 weeks in fall is “Walk Like an Egyptian” by the Bangles.

Iowa defeats ISU 43-7

1988 couch moved back to Albia, IA and stays for one year owned by Bob Shehan.
Number 1 song for 2 weeks in the fall is “Sweet Child O Mine” by Guns N Roses.

Iowa defeats ISU 10-3

1989 couch moves back to Centerville and stays for two years owned by Bob Shehan.

Number 1 song for 4 weeks in fall is “Miss You Much” by Janet Jackson.

Iowa defeats ISU 31-21

1991 couch moves to Cedar Falls and stays for two years owned by Courtney Porter (Blake’s sister).
Number 1 song for 7 weeks in the fall is “Black or White” by Michael Jackson.

Iowa defeats ISU 29-10

1993 couch moves to Iowa City and stays for two years owned by Courtney Porter.
Number 1 song for 5 weeks in the fall is “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) by Meatloaf.

Iowa defeats ISU 31-28

1997 couch moves to Cedar Rapids and stays for two years owned by Blake Porter.
Number 1 song for 14 weeks in fall is “Candle In the Wind” by Elton John. I guess this must be when Princess Diana died?

Iowa defeats ISU 63-20. Yikes!

1999 couch moves to Iowa City and is donated to Norm’s Tailgating on October 23 where it has survived for nearly
10 years! Iowa lost to Indiana 38-31 on Homecoming that day. The couch had painted Hawkeye logos applied by Blake in his Cedar Rapids garage the Friday night before the Indiana game. Logos are still visible!

Number 1 song for 12 weeks in the fall is “Smooth” by Santana and Rob Thomas.

ISU somehow defeats Iowa 17-10. Rumor is it was probably just an error by the scoreboard operator so Iowa officials count it as a win anyway.


Norm says recently the couch broke in half and he put it back together. Smart guy. Knows a quality piece of furniture when he sees it.

Total miles the couch travelled…335 (I looked that up too)

Number of beers spilled on couch…340 (conservative figure right?) (Just waiting for someone to make a comment about how many women on the couch, etc)

Total points Iowa scored against ISU from 1977 - present…a lot.

The only thing I don’t agree with above is that Sweet Child O Mine should have been number one far more than 2 weeks! Guns N F’n Roses man!


Go Hawks!
Blake Porter

My family in Williamsburg is trying to send all the local WWII veterans to Washington DC to see the WWII monument and all the other things that our nations capital has to offer. On Saturday, August 2 they held an auction and spaghetti supper and raffled off 2 sets of my dummy boards, among other things. Both sets are new this year, one is a Chicago Cubs themed set and the other is a Hawkeye set that uses a nice oak wood grain background. Combined they brought in almost $500. I think my mom said the auction/supper brought in almost $7,000! Hopefully they get to their goal and are able to send everyone that wants to go.

This is after a rain a couple of weeks ago. Although it's nothing compared to what is happening now (the floods in IC/Coralville, CR), I just thought I would upload these pictures. This is the view from my basement door, It was raining so hard, I didn't want to go up to the deck and take more pictures.

I have been down to the flooded areas in Iowa City and Coralville, but probably won't take/post any pictures because the less people that are down there gawking, the better.

Looked out the window this afternoon and saw a couple of ducks that seemed to think the pond in the back yard was a good spot to rest a while. With all this rain, I guess you can see it from the air. Hopefully this all dries out before next weekend.

Not really anything important to report, just wanted to let you all know that.

"A Festivus for the rest of us." Finally got the pole out of the crawlspace and set up this year. Although tradition dictates that the pole not be decorated, as I also find tinsel distracting, I decided to wrap the pole in lights so it's easier to see on the camera at night. Go check out the Jody Cam to see the "Festivus miracle".

So I hope you all have a Happy Festivus and use the comment section to air your grievances for the year.

Hey all, just wanted to let everyone know I've started to add some of my old tailgating photos. I'll be adding more to the site as soon as I have the time. If anyone else has any older photos go ahead and add them.

For those of you that don't already know, Jody George and Corey Jones are coming back from Hawaii to join us for the final Iowa Hawkeye football game of the year. Both of them being a familiar face in years previous, have missed this seasons festivities because they both took jobs working for Monsanto in Hawaii. Here is the website link (if you belong to the Facebook):

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=5328154042&ref=mf

If you can't see the invite, all that is going on is tailgating at my place and going out to the bars afterwards. So come one, come all and enjoy the last game of the year.

As some of you might already know, we had a near fatality Saturday after the come from behind win against Michigan State. When the coveted Hawkeye Couch was broken in a overzealous celebration of Iowa's victory. But with some nails and a 2x4 or two I should have it back to being the favorite location for even the most demanding Iowa tailgater's ass.

Ever wonder what goes on at Norm's on a game day when you can't make it, or are stuck in Hawaii? (poor bastards)

Well, I've installed a web cam in the living room for all to see and we're calling it "the Jody Cam". I still haven't decided where to permanently place the camera as it has to be somewhere close to electricity and can't totally mess up my beautiful green walls . I'm now currently trying to get a visitor counter set up on the cam page so I can tell how many people are actually watching. And if there's anything else I can do to improve it, let me know by commenting on this thread or email me. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the link is at the top of the page.

This is my first game blog entry so, go easy on me. What a day, I couldn't have asked for better weather and the pond in the backyard dried up just in time for Saturday. People started showing up at 7:30-8:00 that morning, which surprised the hell out of me (not). Although it took a while for more people to start showing up, once they did it seemed like they all started to show up at once. Then at about 11:00 I got a call I had been waiting for all morning, a call from Dale Blue.
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