Edward experienced his first Iowa Hawkeye basketball game today, and while it wasn't a memorable game, I hope he had a good enough time to remember it and want to go again some day.

We decided today would be the best chance we'd have to do this for quite some time. Tickets were only $10 because the team isn't very good, it was a 5 p.m. game which puts it right between nap time and bed time, and it was warm enough that we wouldn't be fighting stiff, cold winds to trek to the arena.

We got there early and went down to courtside to see how tall the players really are. We also got to hear the band. Ed's one word review: "Loud!" My dad and his neighbor also were at the game, and even though their seats were much better than ours, we were able to sit with them for the entire time we were there (note I didn't say the entire game). It was really too long for Edward's short attention span, but he did enjoy parts of it, and actually seemed to pay attention to the game itself for a moment here or there. His favorite part was the male cheerleaders walking on their hands for the length of the court, something he told Mary about tonight after doing a somersault after we got home.

I was worried that we wouldn't make it very long. About mid-way through the first half, he turned to me and said, "I'm done, I want to leave." A well-timed hot dog dinner kept his interest through the end of the half. I had promised popcorn, too, but in the middle of halftime, he declared again that he wanted to go, putting his head down on my lap for emphasis. We grabbed our coats, said our goodbyes and walked up the 20 or so rows worth of stairs to the top. I tried to get him to put on his coat, but he refused, saying he wanted popcorn. I said we could get some to eat on the trip home, but he said, "No, I want to eat it down there," pointing back down to where we had been sitting. So, we got the popcorn and he sat on my lap, eating it happily for the first part of the second half. We finally called Mary for our ride and left with about five minutes left. It was great to have chauffeur service, and nice that the Hawks pulled off a win, 56-51, in Ed's first live game experience.