Iowa City's Soft Underbelly

In August, I wrote a post asking for comment about what I should do when in Iowa City visiting my wife's family.  The overwhelming reply--wear a penn state shirt--was wrong but on the right track. (The right answer there was to put a DC17 jersey on the statue of some unsuspecting Iowan, but alas, I only realized this once in Iowa City and nowhere near a jersey.)

In any event, I found myself one night in George's Buffet, a solid dive bar right in the heart of Iowa City. There's not really a good State College analogue, but its similar to the rathskellar, though smaller and above ground. Anyway, I stumbled upon a conversation with the owner--who's not named George--and told him I graduated from Penn State, blah, blah, blah.

 
He goes into his office and pulls out a...

penn state tie signed by JoePa. 

Apparently, bartenders at George's used to wear ties--they don't anymore--and the owner, an Iowa City native, would every so often break out the Nittany blue.  An Iowa professor who graduated from PSU gave it to him when we joined the big ten. 

He bought me a couple of shots and we had a solid 15 minute conversation.  

Why am I telling this story?  Unclear, but let's give three reasons:

1) If you find yourself thirsty in Iowa City, go to George's;

2) Its good to love your school and your place, but I respect George's owner for being multicultural; and

3) Iowans are soft.

Let's go state; beat Iowa