Best fans in the nation? That’s you!

Let’s take a moment to veer from all this glorification of the games and their participants to give it up for you, the best fans in the nation!

We know you are all that, because the people you cheer for say so. Not that they can quantify it, of course. Who doesn’t like being told they’re the best, at anything?

I start by mentioning Iowa only because this is, well, Iowa. On Sept. 4, Iowa football’s Twitter account stated “Best fans in the nation!”

It offered no detailed analysis comparing Iowa fans to those of Alabama or Oklahoma or East Stroudsburg State, but neither have spokespersons at those schools when they claimed the same thing about their fans.

Oddly, it appears the best fans in the country are everywhere. Penn State cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields said his team has the best fans in the country.

Virginia Tech’s athletics website said it has the best fans in the nation. Southern Mississippi Athletics Director Jeremy McClain said his school has the best fans in the country.

Ohio State punter Jesse Mirco said one of his reasons for coming from Australia to Ohio was the Buckeyes having the best fans in the country. Montana Grizzlies safety Robby Hauck said two weeks ago that “Griz Nation is the best fans in the country.”

Kansas State football’s Twitter account called its fans the best in the country. West Virginia assistant coach Travis Trickett tweeted “No question! Best fans in the country!” about the Mountaineers’ supporters.

It isn’t just a football thing. Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly says Cyclone fans are the best in the country.

Also recently tweeting that they have the best fans in the country are representatives of North Dakota State volleyball, Creighton men’s soccer, LSU gymnastics, and probably every other team including the night crew at Domino’s Pizza in Pascagoula, Miss.

OK, let’s bring this back to Iowa football. Can you have the best fans in the nation if you had over 7,000 unsold tickets for a game when your team is ranked No. 5 in the nation and the weather was good, as Iowa did last Saturday when it played Kent State?

For that matter, can Ohio State claim the best fans in the nation when it is coming off its smallest home crowd in 50 years, the 76,540 it had for Tulsa last Saturday?

Maybe they were doing what great fans do, trying to motivate their team by showing their disgust with the Buckeyes for losing at home to Oregon the week before.

A gent named Ken Huss offered a pretty good reply last week when I noted the unsold seats at Kinnick.

“Cost, Covid, TV convenience, parking 1-2 miles away, 63,000 more than last year, expectation of a second class opponent, minimal opponent ticket sales, alternatives available on one of very few weekends before summer weather is gone and cold sets in … need I say more?”

My usual reaction when anyone says “Need I say more?” is “No. In fact, you should have said less.” But Huss made a pretty strong case for skipping the game. In fact, it made me wish I were communing with bald eagles and bears in Alaska before the cold sets in there.

As of Wednesday, 4,000 tickets to Saturday’s Colorado State-Iowa game were unsold. The Hawkeyes’ Oct. 9 home game against Penn State, however, has been sold out for a few weeks. That game could be a scene, my babies.

College sports fans being judicious about which games they attend is a good thing. It speaks well of them.

University mission statements talk about educating global citizens, preparing students to be connected and inclusive, promoting a culture of broad inquiry. None say “We will urge our future graduates to show blind loyalty to our football team for the rest of their lives.”

Hey, getting 64,000 people in a market this size to buy tickets for a football game against Colorado State is doing mighty well, actually.

That Penn State game in two weeks, though? If the ball bounces the Hawkeyes’ way in that one, there could be about 500,000 people who eventually claim they were there.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com