Upset!

Tonight, Iowa beat Michigan State, 43-36.

That is not a football score.

Andrew and I are in shock.

Michigan State entered the game ranked Number Six in the country, with an eleven-game winning streak. Iowa’s squad this year is the worst team in Iowa City since before Andrew and I (or Andrew’s brothers) were born.

Richard Nixon was President the last time Iowa was this bad. Howard Hughes was still alive, and believed to be the richest man in the world, the last time Iowa was this bad. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was in its third season--Betty White had not yet even joined the cast--the last time Iowa was this bad. John Wooden was still an active coach, with one more national title to win, the last time Iowa was this bad. Maria Callas was still talking about making a comeback the last time Iowa was this bad.

And yet Iowa won. Iowa held a lead through the whole second half, and accomplished what must be the biggest upset of the year in college basketball.

Iowa held Michigan State to its lowest point total since 1952.

And Andrew and I missed the game.

We don’t have a television.

At halftime, Andrew’s Dad, a diehard Hawkeye fan, called us, and told us that Iowa had a 20-18 halftime lead. He asked us whether we wanted to come over and watch the second half.

We declined. We assumed that Michigan State would get its act together and blow out the Hawkeyes in the second half.

They didn’t.

And we missed it.

We are idiots.