The first thing we did was check the weather, and the milliseconds it took Google to respond was more than enough time for it all to come rushing back.

The first face-stinging step out the door; the brutal war of attrition against the ice and snow coating our worn-out 1991 Cutlass Supreme; sitting in a car with no heater (how is the seat colder than the air?); sliding an icebox on wheels to a 5 a.m. basketball practice. It was all there.

Then Google responded, and relief washed in. Temperatures in Ames, Iowa, have hovered around the 50-degree mark for much of the week. We grew up in Iowa. We remember the Decembers. And 50 degrees is downright tropical.

Naturally, camping outside Hilton Coliseum for 85 straight hours in advance of the Cy-Hawk rivalry game is insane no matter the temperature. But, for a moment, we were generally worried that a group of Iowa State fans featured in this Des Moines Register story were willingly putting themselves through genuine physical risk:

Megan Sims and a bunch of her Iowa State student buddies rushed outside at halftime during the Cyclones' Monday night victory against Buffalo at Hilton Coliseum. It’s Cy-Hawk week. They didn’t want anything keeping them from attending Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. game between No. 4 Iowa State and Iowa, so they pitched tents. A whopping 85 or so hours before the state’s two biggest college basketball teams tip off, these students were where they should be. "We wanted to get a good spot for the big game," Sims, a junior from Pella, said Tuesday.

Given the temperatures, we can stop worrying. Instead, we can celebrate this statement of fandom for what it is: A perfect example for non-Iowans of just how much the state's residents care about what is currently one of the nation's most underrated rivalries.

The game has always been a serious bragging-rights affair. What makes the past few seasons different is the quality of the play. Iowa State, which enters Thursday night's game unbeaten and ranked No. 4 in the country, was lifted to renewed national prominence in Fred Hoiberg's five seasons. Iowa, despite its occasional frustrations, has long since recovered from the disaster of the Todd Lickliter era. Under Fran McCaffery, the Hawkeyes are always at least solid. Despite two early losses, Iowa has posted top-20 adjusted efficiency numbers, and they will have no better chance to grab a marquee nonconference win than after Thursday's two-hour drive to Ames.

Indeed, this year's game might be better than most, if only from sheer familiarity. Georges Niang was a freshman playing big minutes the last time Iowa beat the Cyclones; so were Adam Woodbury and Mike Gesell. Enough of both teams' rotations have been around long enough to move from merely knowing Iowa and Iowa State are rivals to sharing the same distaste as their fans -- long enough to, say, blow kisses to opposing student sections. And so on.

That's a rare thing in college basketball these days, at least at the highest echelons of the sport. Which is why we're so excited for Thursday night. Not excited enough to camp out for 85 hours. But still: excited.

What we're thinking about today: