Trip to KU

I apologize, I haven't had a new post in a while. But I have a good excuse for being busy-last weekend I took a road trip with my buddies Andy and JT to Kansas (the Sunflower State) to visit my younger sister at KU. It was my fourth trip to the Lawrence campus, and I went to my third Jayhawk football game. Going into the game, I had a 2-0 record but unfortunately Oklahoma got the best of the boys in blue last Saturday.

Anyway, I had the luck and privilege of meeting KU center Cole Aldrich. We ran into each other at the same tailgate party, and he had just gotten done with an early morning prac

tice and was chowing some food. Feeling like a stalker or something, I walked over to the 6-11, 245 junior to chat him up and tell him I was a big from Iowa. I mean, you're not not going to meet the Big 12 Co-Preseason Player of the Year when you randomly see him at a party, right?

The Bloomington, Minnesota native nearly crushed my hand when he shook it. I didn't want to bother him too much, so I kept it short. He said practice was going well, and that he was glad the football team was having such a good season. I also asked him if he knew much about the Iowa basketball team, but he said he usually follows the Gophers. I wished him luck and was on my way, but not before getting a picture with the big fella. Too bad he's sitting down because you can't tell how much he towers over me.

Last year, Aldrich averaged a double-double of 14.9 points and 11.1 rebounds, while leading the Big 12 in blocks with 2.7 a game (12th nationally). He compiled 21 double-dou

bles in all in 2008-09, and even recorded a triple-double against Dayton in the NCAA Tournament with 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.

Not that I'm complaining, but I wish KU guard Sherron Collins was with Aldrich. I

would've enjoyed meeting the other half of the preseason player of the year honor. The final unfortunate thing about the trip was that we were so busy with the football game and all, I never made it to Allen Fieldhouse. I've been inside it before, but no one that goes to Lawrence should ever leave without setting sights on this legendary facility. It's named in honor of 39-year head coach Forrest "Phog" Allen. It seats 16, 300 (4,000 reserved for students alone) and is the second largest arena in the Big 12 after Texas (16,775).

It was pretty crazy over the course of the weekend how many Iowa fans we met, or at least people that had heard of the university now that the Hawkeye football team is currently undefeated and ranked No. 7 in the country and No. 4 in the BCS standings. People would come up to us at the bars wanting to talk about Iowa. We even requested the Iowa fight song and the deejay played it while we screamed our lungs out to it. I'll never forget that.