Rate Your Best Iowa Bowl Trip

ChosenChildren

ChosenChildren

Well-Known Member
In order to rate your best bowl, you must have attended the game (or at least made the trip if you didn't actually walk into the stadium).

My number 1 was the Rose Bowl January 1, 2016, even though we lost. That was a special day.
A close second is the 2010 Orange Bowl....great venue and a terrific victory, but a very cold night!

I've only attended 4 bowls. Please rate your favorite and then, if you so desire, the total number of Iowa bowl games that you have attended.

I also have a question: Does Iowa need to win the bowl game to make it memorable, or a favorite? I don't think a victory is necessary to make it a great trip.....
 
1. Capitol 1 Bowl,great time nye at city walk at universal studios.
2. Alamo Bowl,river walk is amazing,lots to do and don't need a car,walk to the game
3. Outback Bowl 2009,Two Grandaughters were on tv just before game started and wished everyone Happy New Year, great stadium
4. Rose Bowl 2016,enjoyed parade and prime sports tailgate but stadium is Outdated,fans deserved a better game left in 3rd quarter.Wont go back
This year staying home,just bought 65in Sony 930d 4K tv to watch all the games on.:):)
 
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1. 2004 Outback Bowl - Fun game despite the puking from previous night's activities, great stadium, great beach, great city, my favorite Iowa team
2. 2010 Orange Bowl - Cold but had great seats, always something to do in Miami, drank a lot of "Shark" beer or whatever that stadium was serving
3. 2005 Capital One - Stadium and area around it are garbage but LSU fans were fun to tailgate with
4. 2010 Insight - Hey two bowl games in one calendar year! I like Tempe, game was exciting but bad year overall
 
1) Cap 1 Bowl 2005. My first bowl game, can't get any better
2) Rose Bowl 2016. The only bowl loss I've been to, but everything but the game was simply awesome
3) Orange Bowl 2010. Great game, too cold for Florida though!
4) Outback Bowl 2009. Fun time slapping around the Gamecocks!
 
I absolutely loved the Alamo Bowl experience on the two occasions I went there. The River Walk, the Hotels, Restaurants, and walking over to the game. Just, wow! Wish it was still part of the BT. In a tie for first place, I would say the Outback Bowl. I enjoy the stadium with the patio...beer and a burger, watching warmups and talking to Iowa fans as well as fans of the "enemy" is just a lot of fun. The game I will only refer to as "The Catch" was probably the most memorable. The year we beat up on the Gators was my second favorite, especially when Matt Roth did the Gator Chop after sacking their QB right in front of the Gator fan section. Rose Bowl? Not so much. But, I had never been before and as an old guy, do not know if I will get another chance.
 
HuckFinn I couldn't agree more about the Alamo.Wife and I went when we played Texas and also wish we could get that one back.They couldn't believe how many Hawk fans were on the river walk,they wondered if anyone was left in Iowa.
 
1. Capital One Bowl. Tate to Holloway. Need I say more? OK, Matt Roth has two words for LSU.

2. Orange Bowl vs. USC. Even though we lost, that was an awesome experience. The day long event leading up to the game was awesome. I still like "Tusk" even though I was seated right above the USC band.

3. Orange Bowl vs. GT. Awesome game, but froze my rear off.

4. Rose Bowl vs. Stanford. Game sucked, but it was still "the Grandaddy of them all!" That stadium is like Wrigley before renovations - historic but not that great of a place to watch a game.

5. Alamo Bowl vs. Texas. We lost, but San Antonio is great!

6. Outback Bowl vs. LSU. I just don't like Tampa as well as most seem to.

I agree with the OP that winning isn't the be all end all of a great bowl trip. It certainly helps though.
 
Most memorable was The Catch game for more than just the game.Son,daughter-inlaw and 5 more wanted to go but couldn't afford much.We drove a 15 passenger ford van straight thru 21+ hours my turn to drive was 4:00am going thru Gerogia.We stayed at a hotel on Orange Blossom Trail by the mall that was $44 a night regardless how many people in the room,there was barbed wire around the parking lot,real nice area but anyone that's been there knows the stadium is in gang neiborhood and we were about a mile from it.News Year Eve was awesome at City Walk.
 
GrandpaHawk said:
Most memorable was The Catch game for more than just the game.Son,daughter-inlaw and 5 more wanted to go but couldn't afford much.We drove a 15 passenger ford van straight thru 21+ hours my turn to drive was 4:00am going thru Gerogia.We stayed at a hotel on Orange Blossom Trail by the mall that was $44 a night regardless how many people in the room,there was barbed wire around the parking lot,real nice area but anyone that's been there knows the stadium is in gang neiborhood and we were about a mile from it.News Year Eve was awesome at City Walk.
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Actually, the area around Citrus Bowl is undergoing a "renaissance". The funny part? Most of the other areas surrounding stadiums are pretty sketchy themselves. Orlando is FAR from the outlier in that regard.
 
HuckFinn said:
I absolutely loved the Alamo Bowl experience on the two occasions I went there. The River Walk, the Hotels, Restaurants, and walking over to the game. Just, wow! Wish it was still part of the BT. In a tie for first place, I would say the Outback Bowl. I enjoy the stadium with the patio...beer and a burger, watching warmups and talking to Iowa fans as well as fans of the "enemy" is just a lot of fun. The game I will only refer to as "The Catch" was probably the most memorable. The year we beat up on the Gators was my second favorite, especially when Matt Roth did the Gator Chop after sacking their QB right in front of the Gator fan section. Rose Bowl? Not so much. But, I had never been before and as an old guy, do not know if I will get another chance.
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Agree with all you say. I do not feel there is a better experience than being at the Alamo Bowl and with Hawk fans on the Riverwalk. Hawks fans lined up for blocks to get into the Hawk party at Howl at the Moon on the Riverwalk. My wife and kids were in there for 8 plus hours. 2013-14 basketball season started so promising I was hoping Iowa would get placed in San Antonio. ISU,Nebraska, and Creighton all got placed there so I went to San Antonio to watch basketball. No way going to Dayton.
The catch was the best moment ever at a bowl game. I never had so much fun walking out of a stadium.
Enjoy the Outback the most next to the Alamo bowl. Heading there for the 4th time.
The Orange bowl is my least favorite. Too spread out.
My wife and I along with our kids have had some of the best times ever at Iowa bowl games. Our kids now have kids of their own and we will be making the trip alone.
 
HuckFinn said:
I absolutely loved the Alamo Bowl experience on the two occasions I went there. The River Walk, the Hotels, Restaurants, and walking over to the game. Just, wow! Wish it was still part of the BT. In a tie for first place, I would say the Outback Bowl. I enjoy the stadium with the patio...beer and a burger, watching warmups and talking to Iowa fans as well as fans of the "enemy" is just a lot of fun. The game I will only refer to as "The Catch" was probably the most memorable. The year we beat up on the Gators was my second favorite, especially when Matt Roth did the Gator Chop after sacking their QB right in front of the Gator fan section. Rose Bowl? Not so much. But, I had never been before and as an old guy, do not know if I will get another chance.
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San Antonio was awesome, went to the 2001 Alamo Bowl. Fun game too. Great venue, wish we were still tied into it.

South Beach for the Orange in 2003...It's South Beach. What else is there to say? It was especially cool cuz I was hanging out with Tim Dwight part of the time and the dude likes to party. Game was fun, for a half...but the stadium sucks and the PA guy was hilariously bad.
 
The bowl must be rated by locations:

1. Tampa. Great city. Fun downtown and in Ybor City. Pro Stadium. Been there three times

2. San Antonio. Riverwalk area is so much fun. Stadium right there. Walk everywhere.

3. San Diego. Beautiful area. Great zoo.

4. Atlanta. Hotlanta has a lot of attractions

5. Pasadena. Only because it is the Rose Bowl. LA is a bitch getting around.

6. Orlando. Stadium in ghetto. But Tate to Holloway was special.

7. Miami is an even bigger sh*thole than Orlando. The #2 officer in the Miami Police DEA told me not to leave the hotel wearing anything that would indicate I wasn't local. Why? Because they will crack your head and rob you blind because they know you won't stay and testify.I was staying at the Biscayne Bay Marriott.
 
2004 Outback... 2 days @ Clearwater Beach, kids were right age to enjoy, 80º and never saw a cloud in 4 days, great tailgate, have awesome pic from 20' away of Gallery stuff Hawk flag in the eye of the Gator logo after the game.

1986 Rose Bowl - 5 college guys driving, went to Wilt's house, Malibu, etc., great Vegas stay after, except for game - awesome trip..... still want a 30 for 30 on Ronnie Harmon.

2016 Rose Bowl - I'd always said 'if we go to Rose Bowl, that has priority'...... again except for game. Just paid that off last month, but worth it for my household.
 
#1--2004 Outback. My first one ever. We spanked uppity Florida. Beer in the nice stadium. 80 degrees. Wow.

#2--2005 Cap-1. Epic game. Too bad the stadium is in the middle of a ghetto. Our tailgate, a few blocks from the stadium, had a lockable gate and security as the vagrants tried to barge in.

#3--2009 Outback. We spank Mr. Superior. Perfect weather again. Lots of friends there. Cock fans were a partying bunch. Fun.

#4/#5--2006 Outback/2011 Insight. We get hosed on a crap call. FL fans were rude. AZ was fun but sloppy Iowa play means a big defeat.

Not a bowl game, but the 2015 B1G champ game in Indy was a huge deal for me. Easy drive, lots of friends there, epic game down to the wire. So much riding on it.
 
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