By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Fans in the stands used to be something I took for granted.

The game-day traffic gridlock, the packed concourses, and the thousands of tailgaters filling the streets and parking lots, at times, used to annoy me.

It used to annoy me having to leave my house on the east side of Iowa City at least two hours before kickoff in order to secure a parking space near Kinnick Stadium on game day.

It used to be kind of annoying when fans stood in front of me on press row at Carver-Hawkeye Arena because then I also had to stand in order to see the action on the court, and that made it so I was blocking the media members sitting behind me.

The long lines for food and beverage at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, I used to consider a hassle and an inconvenience.

As you can tell, I’m kind of whiner, but one thing I’ve learned during the COVID-19 global pandemic is that sporting events just aren’t the same without fans, and I’ll never take them for granted again, even the ones who say I suck.

There’s an empty feeling, whether in Kinnick Stadium or Carver-Hawkeye Arena, without fans cheering and creating a distraction and bringing energy from the stands.

The third-ranked Iowa men’s basketball team will have home-court advantage when it faces No. 16 North Carolina on Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and for Friday’s game against Iowa State.

The 19th-ranked Iowa football team will also have home-field advantage when it faces No. 25 Wisconsin on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

But it just won’t be the same with so few fans in the stands.

If ever there was a week when Iowa athletics could use the energy from a packed stadium, or from a packed arena, this is the week.

“Obviously, with the hype on this game, I know Carver, for sure, would have been rocking tomorrow and it would have been a lot of fun,” said Iowa sophomore guard C.J. Fredrick. “But with the circumstances this year, obviously, that’s not able to happen.

“So we’ve just got to lock in and we have to communicate on both ends of the floor tomorrow. We’ve got to be loud and we’ve got to bring a lot energy.”

I feel for the Iowa fans who want so much to be a part of the game-day environment, and who want to be a part of the Wave at Kinnick Stadium, but don’t have the opportunity to do so.

Of course, in the big scheme of things, not being able to watch a sporting event in person is a small price to pay during a global pandemic that has killed over 250,000 in the United States.

The absence of fans certainly has to be kept in perspective, but from a sports entertainment standpoint, it’s a big deal.

From the loss in revenue to the stale environment, playing without fans is a serious setback, and yet another example of how the highly contagious coronavirus has disrupted our lives.

I’m not questioning the science, or suggesting that it’s wrong to prohibit fans from the stadium because what do I know?

I trust the medical experts because, well, they’re medical experts.

I’m just voicing my frustration with the strange and surreal circumstances, and with how sports has been impacted.

There are some conveniences with having no fans in the stands, including having multiple parking spots right next to Kinnick Stadium available right up until kickoff.

But even that gets old after a while.

My hope is that by next football season, and with a vaccine on the way, that the circumstances will be close to normal again.

I look forward to having to leave my house by 8:30 a.m. in order to get a parking spot for an 11 a.m. kickoff at Kinnick Stadium.

I look forward to sitting in traffic, and to squeezing through the packed concourses.

I look forward to fans standing in front of me on press row at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

I look forward to watching fans perform the Wave again.

And I look forward to interviewing the Iowa players and coaches in person again.

Nothing against a zoom conference, because it is a way to communicate. But it’s just not the same as being face-to-face.

Nothing feels the same right now, and that will be so obvious when Iowa and North Carolina play on Tuesday.

Iowa is the higher ranked team, and has the preseason favorite for National Player of Year in All-America senior center Luka Garza.

But sadly, hardly anyone will be in the stands to support Garza and his cohorts, or to create a hostile environment.

“I think in some ways it’s easier because you don’t have the crowd going crazy,” North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said Monday on a zoom conference. “The other team scores two baskets in a row and you can’t hear what the call is and guys get nervous and the whole bit.

“So it’s easier from that standpoint. But the guys that have been around a long time, I’ve told them I’ve never lost a game because of the building. It’s usually because that other team was really good.”

This Iowa team is supposed to be real good, so it should be able to overcome the arena being mostly empty.

It’s just unfortunate that it has to be this way.