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Fans Of Hawkeyes, Gamecocks Chill Out Before Game

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Dave Krejchi drove 28 hours from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to watch his Hawkeyes play in the Outback Bowl on Thursday.

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By MARILYN BROWN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 1, 2009

Updated: 01/01/2009 01:49 pm

TAMPA - The early morning chill delighted University of Iowa fans as they rallied at Raymond James Stadium shortly after sunrise Thursday to celebrate football, sunshine and their football team.

"Good party. Beautiful day. Glad to be here," was how Dave Krejchi summed up the morning, a few hours before his Hawkeyes took on the University of South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

Krejchi was one of three drivers on the 28-hour trip that started Saturday afternoon in Cedar Falls. His Navigator pulled a 4-by-6-foot trailer packed with a gold and black tent, tables, grills and speakers through an ice storm on a journey that usually takes 21 hours, he said.

Many fans from Iowa wore shorts while locals bundled up in fleece for pregame breakfast, brunch or lunch often washed down with beer, screwdrivers and mimosas. The temperature was in the low 60s and a bit windy.

Krejchi barbecued blue-cheeseburgers, kebobs and hot dogs he bought at a local Publix while a combined group of Florida drive-ins and Iowa fly-ins boasted "real Iowa corn-fed" beef used in their marinated bulgogi on the grill.

University of South Carolina fans sprinkled among the rows of Hawkeyes were surprised at the early morning turnout for Iowa, some speculating maybe there were parking lots somewhere else for fans of their team.

"I'm shocked," said Martha Ginn, a South Carolina alumnus who drove from North Augusta, S.C., and was enjoying scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and fruit before the game.

Ginn blamed the economy and a late-season loss to Clemson for "lack of follow-through" in getting Gamecocks fans to the game.

Another South Carolina fan, Thomas Hagan, who flew in from Atlanta, said, 'We really do feel like we landed in Ames. The theme of the week is we're surrounded by buzzard eyes."

Among the faithful was Jim Hockenberry, who flew from Rhode Island to support the Gamecocks. Puzzled at the lack of red and black shirts, he said, "It doesn't matter if the fans show up; the team needs to show up."

It was a prediction of sorts. The Gamecocks lost, 31-10.

Among Iowa fans was a group of six guys who said they were all "around 35" in a 20-year-old van they bought a week before and named "Brownie." Various groups of college students who said they drove from Iowa with up to seven people in a car said they needed some sleep.

"This is the only game I haven't woken up at 5 a.m.," said Nate Love, 23, a senior at Iowa who rented a van with friends to do "an ironman" drive-through to Tampa that took 21 hours

Wearing a yellow dress jacket, white sunglasses and a black tie, Love said Thursday was another game day.

"Everyone in Iowa gets up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. on the day of a game," he said. "We don't have any pro sports teams. This is the New York Yankees for Iowa people."

The New Year's Day crowd was tame, security staff said.

"The scalpers are doing pretty good," said Bill Law, a security worker outside the stadium.

"Iowa is pretty docile," said Chuck Konya, another member of the security staff. "They're just happy at the good weather. The two groups aren't getting into tussles. … Sometimes, with USF, it's a brawl."

Rick Lucas, a Gamecocks fan from Columbia, S.C., backed that up.

"They got a good turnout," Lucas said of the Iowa fans as he carried his 4-year-old daughter, Laura, on his shoulders so she could kiss the South Carolina mascot. "That's good for them. It is."

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069.

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