Tuesdays with Torbee

Objectively, it had been an outstanding weekend for Hawkeye fans everywhere. Not only had the football teams reversed a too-long curse against the Badgers, but basketball made major positive headlines the week prior – with Luka Garza looking other-worldly in dispatching North Carolina and Iowa State. Sprinkle in Nebraska getting embarrassed by a Covid-racked Minnesota team, and you had all the ingredients for a joyous celebration.

Don’t get me wrong, it felt good. But it just wasn’t quite joyous.

And that’s when I realized that one of the most insidious downsides of the current pandemic is how it is a sneaky thief of joy. Even if you are spared something horrible – like the death of a loved one to the disease or loss of a job or business – you still can’t avoid the little cuts of disappointment.

It’s been a rough year, no doubt. I was laid off from my editing job along with dozens of other Gannet news directors in April, as pandemic-fueled revenue losses swamped an already shaky industry. I was able to find a new job, with better hours and the same pay in early summer, just in time to be forced to work from home and never really meet my new colleagues. The day before Thanksgiving, both of my parents had to be admitted to the hospital with worsening Covid symptoms, putting a further damper on an already subdued holiday. They have both returned home, and are making slow-but-steady progress, thankfully.

Through all these serious, life-altering crises, watching and cheering on the Hawks has been a real lifeline, providing a sense of normalcy along with escape. And the fact the basketball team may be one of the greatest in program history and the football team managed to climb up off the mat and run off six straight wins, including dispatching each and every border state rival has made it even better.

But still. It’s just not the same.

There’s no getting around the fact it stinks none of us could be inside Carver screaming our heads off as Luka drained three after three after three on the outgunned Cyclones.

This is also the first Iowa-Wisconsin game I haven’t seen in person since 2005. Whether in Iowa City or Madison, we have a hard-partying crew of mixed Hawkeye and Badger fans that never lets a loss get in the way of a raucous good time. But not in 2020. Instead of draining Spotted Cows back at the tailgate while gently ribbing the stinkin’ Badger fans who sorely, sorely needed humbling after the recent streak against our Hawkeyes, I instead quietly celebrated alone in the basement, sending out pithy texts and tweets.

That’s what I mean when I call Covid a thief of small joys. It isn’t like I wasn’t happy and excited and relieved to see Herky finally get the best of Bucky after too long. I most definitely was. But it’s just not the same celebrating in social isolation. This is what we all miss and what we want so desperately to come back: the little, simple pleasures of celebrating along with your friends.

I’m sure the bowl game will be much the same. Ordinarily, I’d be researching flight costs and hotels at possible bowl locations. Heck, we’ve been to Tampa so many times for Outback Bowls, I have actual acquaintances among some of the hospitality folks down there! Again, it will be nice to watch the Hawks get a chance to play somewhere warm against a non-conference opponent. But it would be better to be there with them.

If there’s one lesson to be learned from sports in 2020, it’s that as fans, we shouldn’t take the little joys for granted. Sure, we all want to see our team win every game. But I might have traded a loss in the Wisconsin game for a chance to tailgate, hang out and hug my friends – Badger and Hawkeye alike – last Saturday.

When most of us are vaccinated, life returns to some sense of normalcy and we are allowed back into stadiums and arenas again, take a minute to savor the simple pleasures. That hot, sweet smell of popcorn and ice cream at Carver. The boozy and raucous pre-game buzz of Kinnick. The swell of anticipation and nervousness before kickoff when visiting an opponent’s field. These are things I didn’t realize I’d miss so badly until they were taken away. I vow to pay better attention in the future.

I think it’s also important to tip your cap at the players, coaches and yes, even administrators, who have navigated Iowa’s flagship sports teams through a season like no other. The fact Iowa has dodged major Covid cancellations like few other teams must be commended, even if, as Coach Ferentz suggested, some of it is due to simple luck.

The end of 2020 is in sight, thank God. Here’s hoping for a more joyous 2021.

Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and @12Saturdays