I have been blessed with an Iowa Hawkeye superfan as a roommate — or should I say cursed? I have been forced to endure almost a full school year of his Hawkeye banter.

Take two weekends ago, for example. I was at a friends’ house watching TV on Saturday night when I got a call from Hawk Boy. I answered my phone and heard an excited voice on the other end.

“Grant!” he exclaimed. “Do you have a drink handy? We have to make a toast!”

Being the trusting person I am, I raised the can of Coke in my hand high and asked Hawkeye Guy what we were toasting.

“Today is the eight-week anniversary of Tate to Holloway,” he replied. “The greatest play in football history! To Drew Tate.”

I don’t remember exactly what I said in response to him, but I certainly wasn’t in the mood to share his glory. He tried the same trick last weekend, but I saw it coming a mile away. I stuffed his attempt to mock me at the proverbial line of scrimmage. He even lost yardage.

Chad Greenway would have missed the tackle.

Although that story is only an example of what I have to deal with every day, there is a greater point I’m trying to make.

Ever since the opening tip of Iowa’s basketball season, I have sat and watched my roommate cheer against his beloved team. He is the first person I have ever encountered who actually wants his favorite team to lose.

For once, we can sit and watch an Iowa-Northwestern game and want the same team to win. Go Wildcats!

The entire reason he has been happy to add a tally to the Hawkeye loss column is simple. The more Steve Alford loses, the easier it will be for Iowa fans to get rid of him.

Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby all but said earlier this year that anything short of a bid in the NCAA tournament was unacceptable.

This hits the basic problem I see with Iowa fans. They have a false sense of entitlement. They think that by being Hawkeye fans, it is their God-given right to have exceptional athletic teams.

In 1999 Iowa fans rode a legend out of town by firing head basketball coach Tom Davis. Their rationale? We’re tired of making the Big Dance every year, winning a game or two and sometimes hitting the Sweet 16.

But this is the University of Iowa, and because it’s Iowa they deserve better than that. I mean, they have reached the Final Four three times in their history. The Hawkeye program makes John Wooden look like a hack.

Iowa shouldn’t fire Alford because he can’t produce championship teams — the university should fire him because he can’t put people in the seats.

Illinois brought 4,000 people to Iowa City for the Hawkeye-Illini game earlier this season. No one in Iowa City, much less the rest of the state, wants to travel to an Iowa basketball game. So sit down Iowa fans, get off your high horses. You are not an athletic superpower.