Unusual NCAA football experience
 

I just read this on CNN...

In Ames, football fans gathering for the Iowa State-Colorado game were cleared from the stands and told to take shelter in the nearby basketball arena as the tornado sirens sounded. The storm hit on the edge of the city, where city spokeswoman Susan Gwiasda said the damage was mostly broken windows and downed power lines.



Hope all are ok.

Dee

When I was televising Colorado Football, we had the strangest times in Ames, from equipment problems to blizzards. Nice to see nothing has changed.

Re: Unusual NCAA football experience
 

One tornado touched down in NW Ames, about 4-5 miles from the stadium/Campus area. At least one house was completely destroyed, but I don't believe there were any injuries. The game was delayed 40 minutes until after the storm system passed, and the Cyclones went on to win 30-16!

Damage was much worse in some of the smaller towns west of Ames -- one town had about 25 homes destroyed and the residents evacuated due to a breach in a major natural gas line and another having at least 40 homes destroyed. Thankfully, out of the 9 towns where tornadoes touched down, only two people were injured. There was, unfortunately, one fatality.

ETA: when you realize some of these towns are only 700 or 1500 people, that's a good chunk of the town to be gone.

Iowa State's not called the "Cyclones" for nothin'!

:D GO 'CLONES!!!

It was a little bit freaky to come that close to a tornado. I've lived in Iowa my whole life (for a few more weeks anyway) and I don't think I've ever gotten that close where I've actually seen a funnel cloud.
There was a lot of people in Hilton, a lot of people just went into the arena and grabbed seats. The band kept the crowd entertained while we were waiting for it to blow over.

It wasnt necessary to bring the real mascot to the game, was it?

My schools mascot was a roadrunner, and we didnt bring a real roadrunner to any of our games. You didnt need to bring a real cyclone to your game.

Part of me is glad I stayed home (my dad had called and wanted to know if I wanted his extra ticket) and part of me wishes I could have gone just to see the win.

It was a big game, we needed to bring down the thunder. As much as I love Cy (our regular mascot--who's technically a Cardinal), he's just not quite as intimidating as the real thing.