Back in 1988, my dad got us tickets in Madison for an Iowa game. I was 9, and had only been to one game at Carver a couple of seasons before that. When we got to Madison, there was a huge snowstorm, and they weren't letting anyone in the arena because Jerome Lane from Pitt had broken the backboard, so the Iowa tip time was getting pushed back. They eventually let everyone in, and as we were walking around trying to get to our seats, we ended up in this hallway under the main seating area (this was the old fieldhouse). There was a crowd of people, and we noticed that Dickie V and Mike Patrick were standing over there.
Mike was standing a couple of feet away from everyone, smoking a cigarette, and not giving an ounce of attention to anyone asking for it. Dick was talking to everyone, signing autographs, etc... I waited for a few minutes, and when I was near the front, he didn't notice me, and was kind of talking over me, signing over me, etc. He said he had to get going, and everyone kind of groaned. Before he left, he looked down and noticed that I'd been standing there and he'd completely missed me. He grabbed me as he started walking and started talking to me about the Hawkeyes since I was the only Iowa fan around. We walked for a bit, he signed my program, and apologized for not noticing me. That moment has always stuck with me. I took the program to school the next day, because that's what a 9 year old dork would do.
/csb