Before a ball was snapped, a hit was made or a point was scored, thousands of fans converged in the parking lots and grass fields surrounding Jack Trice Stadium for a game of their own.

A game that knows no winners or losers. A game that doesn’t keep score. A game that has no time clock.

The game is tailgating. And on Saturday, it was played hard and played well.

Late start, early start

Saturday night’s game was the first showdown under the lights between Iowa State and Iowa in the 47-game history of the series. The 6 p.m. kickoff insured an extended visit for most tailgaters.

Barry Svec, a dentist and University of Iowa alumnus, was among the first to pull into the outskirts of the stadium on Saturday morning. He and his cohorts, or “posse” as he affectionately referred to them, rolled into Ames shortly after 8 a.m.

“We’ve been going strong all day,” he said about an hour before game time. “We had breakfast burritos first thing this morning, meatball sandwiches for lunch, and it’ll probably be pork for dinner.”

In a sea of fan camps marked by team flags and painted motor vehicles, Svec’s literally stood out as “The King.” Propped against his vehicle were Elvis Presley-related memorabilia, with a life-size cutout of Presley at the helm.

When asked about the significance of the collection, Svec shrugged his shoulders and offered a smile.

“Well,” he said, pausing, “I tell ya, no one in our group really is a [Presley] fan. The collection just sort of started one year, and people keep giving me more stuff to add to it. I’ve been tailgating at these games for 18 years now.”

A varied crowd

Under the shade of an awning, an 83 year-old Cyclone fan leisurely sipped his iced tea while listening to game day insight on the radio. Meanwhile, just a few yards down, a budding four year-old ‘Clone fan mimicked the moves of his favorite player in a 28 jersey twice his size.

The National Cyclone Club was there. And the Cattleman’s Association, too. There was a retired CyRide bus painted in the cardinal and gold of the Cyclones and an 18-wheeler painted in support of the Hawks.

The media mingled amongst the crowd as well. There was KGGO, KCCQ and a number of other call letters with crews on hand. Let’s not forget the television folk with their satellite trucks and cameras. Oh, and newspaper reporters. Lots of newspaper reporters, jotting down notes, names and numbers.

And the players weren’t the only ones uniformed for the day. Officials from the Department of Public Safety and the Ames Police Department strolled the stadium grounds, patrolling crowds and keeping things in check.

A costly venture

A school bus artfully decorated with ISU insignia displayed one group’s tailgating slogan across its side in bold lettering: “You can’t put a price on a good time.”

That may be, but tailgating does indeed have its price. All those burgers, brats and various other munchies add up. And, of course, there’s the beer.

Brian Martin, a 1999 graduate of ISU in construction engineering, did put a price on his good time.

“We went to Hy-Vee this morning to gear up for today, and we spent $156,” he said.

What’d they get for their hard-earned dollars?

“Well, we bought three packages of brats,” Martin said. “And beer. The rest was beer.”

Two in a row

While most of the tailgaters took a break to watch the game among the 50,402 fans in attendance, a number of them were back in swing afterwards to celebrate the Cyclones’ 17-10 victory over the Hawks.

And with ISU earning their second victory over Iowa in as many years, two words are certain to be in Cyclone fans’ vocabulary around this time next year.

Road trip.