Motun: Football. I am not a fan of it, at least not American football. Back in Nigeria the term “football” referred to what I now call soccer. Back home, soccer is the sport, not basketball, not American football, but soccer.

I know for one thing that the only time you see me glued to the screen during an American football game is when my Cyclones are playing. You ask me about any famous NFL players and – I could bet my life on it – I know not one. However, during the game, when our famous Cyclone Seneca Wallace scores a touchdown, I scream out loud and feel my lungs in my throat, but to explain what a touchdown is, or what a play is, I am totally lost.

This weekend, the Iowa State Cyclones beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers, after a long streak of losses to Nebraska. I joined all the Cyclone fans in celebration of our win over Nebraska. The interesting thing is that, in my lifetime, I have only been to one football game, and have never gone tailgating. I just don’t get the game.

However when it comes to soccer, I know it all. At least I think I do. During the World Cup this past summer, I did not miss a single game. Even when Nigeria was out, I was still watching. I can tell you who is who in the soccer world, including famous players like Diego Maradona, Roberto Carlos and Austin Okocha.

I know what it means to have a yellow card pulled on your player and what a red card can do to your team; or the penalty kicks, which usually keep me at the edge of my seat.

On Saturday, I rejoiced with my fellow Cyclones. I may not have understood three-fourths of what was going on during the game, I may not have appreciated the plays as much as people who follow American football with their hearts and souls like I do soccer, but one thing I know is we won! And that is all that is important to me, just as when Americans play in the World Cup, citizens who couldn’t care less about soccer root for their American team, the only important thing is the win. Thanks Seneca, thanks Cyclone football – you have given Cyclone country something to celebrate this week. We have upset the powerhouse; the Cornhuskers fell to the Cyclones.

Rishab: “What a game!” “Awesome… I belong to the Cyclone country!” Those were the words on the lips of many after Iowa State registered their second win in almost a decade against arch-rivals, the powerhouse Nebraska. It is amazing how this game of “American football” has caught on to me, a total stranger to the game once upon a time.

Coming to a foreign land was to experience the diversity and get accustomed to a new culture. It is hard to find a place such as the United States where sports is a culture within itself. Some of the world best athletes have come from this land such as Muhammud Ali, Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis and Johnny Unitas, just to name a few.

I still remember this game of American football when I first viewed it. It seemed totally bizarre! A bunch of men running after each other and literally smashing each other to death.

It was amazing to see the man on the ground get up after just being hit by 20 men totaling ten times his weight if not more. It once seemed crazy. The worst I had experienced and seen was cricket, where the scoring is done by a bat and a ball – nothing even close to this miraculous sport.

The effect of the game could be experienced in Ames’ every corner. The roads were empty, the bars were full of enthusiasts who wouldn’t even miss the commercials during the game and I was one of them to glued in front of my television set and scrutinizing Seneca’s each and every throw.

It was astonishing to see myself so involved in a game that I had not even heard about before coming to Iowa State University. I guess that’s what they call “The Power of Football” often described by my friends when I asked how one can sit in front of the TV watching people crush each other for hours on end.

Saturday’s game must have made history in a lot of people’s minds.

It certainly did in mine. The experience would be best described by one word: Great. This experience would be cherished and remembered by me in the future as one of the best occurrences during my stay here at Iowa State University and would always make me proud that I belonged to the Cyclone country.

Motun Fasehunis a senior in family and

consumer sciences from Ibadan, Nigeria.

Rishab

Chandra

is a junior in managment information systems from New Delhi, India.