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Fall is a time of beautiful changing leaves, the smell of harvested corn and beans, and the ever-present anticipation of football season. Some of my favorite memories as a child were of high school football games, where it seemed like my entire hometown would be in attendance each Friday night, ready to cheer our team to victory. Unfortunately, my high school struggled to give the home crowd much to celebrate, but luckily, my studies brought me to the University of Northern Iowa. To say that the UNI Panther football program has been successful is an understatement.
To call myself a Panther fan is an understatement as well. Over my nine years in the Cedar Valley, my loyalty to this program only has grown, and it pleases me to heckle my friends who are Iowa and Iowa State fans. Most of them have felt the sting of a Panther victory over their respected team and I have to say, it feels good knowing that almost every “Game Day” my Panthers come out on top with the win!
Last year, it was no surprise how close the Panthers came to the championship game. Ranked as the no. 1 team in the nation for most of the year, UNI recorded the first-ever perfect regular season in the 23-year history of the Gateway Football, now Missouri Valley Football Conference. I even gained “bragging rights” over all my Hawkeye, Cyclone and Bulldog friends after the Panthers became the only team to finish with a perfect in-state record in 2007.
Our Panthers don’t let the fact that other teams might be blessed with more financial support, have a larger locker room, a better practice field, or even more full-ride scholarships. The student-athletes on the UNI team came to Cedar Falls to do one thing -- to play football and to play it well.
If you were part of the exciting ride during football season last year, you witnessed first-hand the support the Cedar Valley provided to our dear team. For the first time in school history the UNI-Dome was sold out three straight contests and averaged over 16,000 fans for the seven home games. I can’t help but think we fans had a hand in the team’s success, showing up each week at our large tailgate parties in the Dome parking lot, our Panther flags waving proudly in the wind, and with purple and gold painted on our chests. It’s fun and it’s the least we can do for our team.
We are quite fortunate to have this awesome collegiate football program here in the Cedar Valley. We need to continue to show the UNI Athletic Department our support. By doing something as simple as buying a ticket to a game, you can do your part to help keep Panther football one of the elite FCS (Football Championship Series) programs in the country.
The price for your ticket into the Dome on game day is considerably less expensive than what it costs to see a game in Iowa City or Ames. Just a quick comparison of what the three programs charge for their season tickets shows how much money Panther fans are saving during football season each year.
Iowa State six-game pack = $350
Iowa seven-game package = $339
UNI six-game pack = $120
I encourage you to join me and the thousands of other Panther fans who make a day-long event out of a UNI football game. Two things that go together as well as chips and dip are -- football and tailgating. You simply cannot have one without the other! There are activities and social gatherings outside the Dome for people of all ages, and it’s the perfect pre-game ritual to get everyone excited and ready for kickoff.
Football season is here, and I know the UNI football team once again has dedicated countless hours to prepare for another run at the conference title. Not just for them and the success they hope to achieve, but for us, the super fans. Coach Mark Farley is counting on his team to bring the intensity and the fight. We should count on ourselves to bring the spirit and the noise.
Eric Braley is host and producer of “Panther Sports
Talk,” a weekly UNI Sports TV show airing Sunday
nights on KWWL after the 10:00 news, Monday and
Wednesday nights on Cedar Falls Utilities Cable TV
and Thursday nights on Cedar Falls Community Television.
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