On the street

Iowa City Ped Mall after Iowa beat Iowa State

Yeah, I know. I told you last week I'd be at the Saturday Night Free Movie Series tonight. The movie was "Pirates of the Caribbean," and my plan was to ask people what their pirate name would be. That didn't work out so well because when I arrived at the University of Iowa Pentacrest a half-hour before the movie series festivities were supposed to kick off, only about nine people were there. I waited around until almost 7, and the crowd was still slim - probably because everyone was busy celebrating after the big football game. It was getting dark and I had to get my On the Street photos taken before it was pitch black out, so I went with Plan B: Ask fans how they think the Hawks played.

As I wandered through the Ped Mall doing interviews, I wished I had video camera to capture drunk moments. I probably could've won big bucks on "America's Funniest Home Videos." Here's what happened:

While I talked with a fan in front of the Sheraton, a drunk guy galloped through the "Weatherdance Fountain." Apparently his pants were a little too loose, and the water made them a little too heavy, because they fell down, causing him to moon everyone. Oops. Bet he wishes he would have worn a belt. Also at the fountain, another fan decided to lay down on the ground so part of the fountain spurted up between his legs, so it looked like he was urinating. He got about two laughs from his friends, but mostly people just stared and shook their heads. Hopefully he had a change of clothes stashed somewhere so he didn't have to spend the night milling around in drawers that were soaked in all the wrong places.

I wrapped up my interviews and decided to grab a gyro on my way back to the office. As I waited in line, a guy with a glazed-over look in his eyes stepped around me and walked behind the vendor's cart. At first I thought he worked there, because walked straight behind the cart and appeared to be helping himself to the pita bread. Well, he didn't work there, and the cook gave him a light push to keep him from getting burned by the hot cart. The guy was so tipsy that the light push caused him to topple over a stack of boxes, into a tree planter. The cook apologized because he didn't mean to knock the guy down, and reiterated that customers couldn't be back there. The would-be pita thief didn't seem a bit phased. I'm willing to bet he won't even remember it tomorrow.

It was a challenge, but luckily I found enough sober, or close-to-sober people to give their take on the Hawks' performance. You can read what they had to say in Monday's Gazette.

Carly Weber will be your host next week. You'll have to wait and see what the event is - we're still debating between a few options.

  |    Login or Join to Post Comments