Hlas: Hawkeyes visit their “fans” at Disneyland

DISNEYLAND — 'Let's Go Hawks!' was a chant that died a quick and quiet death here Saturday.

This entertainment resort, which bills itself as 'The Happiest Place on Earth,' did what it does so well Saturday afternoon and staged an event. With 'staged' being the operative word.

As it has done every year since 1959, Disneyland hosted the kickoff to Rose Bowl week by having the two teams visit this siphon of tourists' money amid the southern California sprawl.

The number of Iowa and Stanford fans who attended the welcoming ceremony may have reached double-digits, but it was a long way from exceeding it. However, Disney had a couple dozen youthful planted humans representing both teams. They wore the colors of Stanford and Iowa, and cheered on cue for them.

It was as authentic as the mouse ears you saw worn here by actual humans.

Those in black and gold were thinner, younger, and more diverse than a lot of the thousands of Iowa fans who will jam the Los Angeles Convention Center Wednesday for the Hawkeye Huddle.

Somehow, three real Hawkeye fans got to stand near the Disney Hawkeye 'fans.' They launched into a 'Let's Go Hawks!' after the really, really, really peppy props gave a generic cheer for Iowa.

It went nowhere. Give the genuine Iowa supporters credit for trying to bring something organic to something that was anything but, but this home turf is Disney's and no one else's.

The head coaches and five players from each side were introduced, and were greeted by Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Donald Duck. Donald didn't say anything, but I could tell he was gloating about the Oregon Ducks' 38-36 win at Stanford on Nov. 14.

You could see it in Donald's grotesquely oversized eyeballs. You could sense in the way he danced all too giddily with Pluto.

Coaches David Shaw of Stanford and Kirk Ferentz of Iowa gave brief remarks of gratitude and praise for the Rose Bowl and Disney itself, then posed with Mickey for photos.

Ferentz found himself shaking hands — or paws — with a fellow face of a large and powerful entertainment empire.

'Not your everyday picture, for sure,' Ferentz said. 'But it's great. It's just great to be here.'

Hawkeyes at Disneyland, 12.26.15 I've seen the odd, strange and curious. Then there's this. The Hawkeyes go to Disneyland.Mike Hlas - The Gazette on Saturday, December 26, 2015

I've seen the odd, strange and curious. Then there's this. The Hawkeyes go to Disneyland.

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That is the gist of it. The bigger the game, the more the bowl site's nonsensical hoopla in the days leading up to it. The demands made of the Hawkeyes' time in Jacksonville last year at the TaxSlayer Bowl were fewer and less time-filling.

'That's something we wanted to fix,' said Iowa center Austin Blythe, one of the five Hawkeyes who shared a stage with cartoon mice and their associates.

The players stayed in the park for a while, but Ferentz quickly departed without riding a ride. Which may have been prescient on his part, since the California Screamin' roller coaster and humongous Mickey's Fun Wheel (160 feet tall with a huge and terrifying face of the mouse) were victims of a power-outage shortly after the Rose Bowl ceremony. That stranded customers who surely waited a long time to pursue a happier kind of thrill.

'That's where we're bringing the Stanford players for the game,' Tournament of Roses vice chair Rob Woolley joked to some Iowa media while pointing at the stuck roller coaster cars atop the tracks.

It didn't seem like a very Disney-ish remark.

Hey, even the Happiest Place on Earth has its setbacks. By the way, about that self-description … really?

Is Disneyland happier than a wedding, or the birth of a baby, or a soldier returning home, or a homeowner successfully installing a garage door opener?

In a Nebraska town far less plastic than this on a frigid Black Friday last month, you saw a lot of Hawkeye fans who were really, really, really enthusiastic after that game. And they weren't pretending.

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