Dordt College Gets a Laugh Out Of My Sally Mason Joke

You may recall that I was having fun with the Sally Mason situation the other day at the University of Iowa when I inserted Dordt College of Sioux Center into the picture.

Mason [pictured at the left] is the lady who is obviously in over her head as the school president in Iowa City.

Others evidently feel the same way.

The State Board of Regents denied Mason a pay raise because of her role in the sexual assault mess at her school.

That, of course, is like the pot calling the kettle black. The Board of Regents is an idiotic group that should have been put to sleep the last time Mike Gartner was whacked with a no-confidence vote.

"With the heat on," I wrote, "don't be surprised if you hear that Mason has decided to move to New Hampshire or Estonia so she can write a book about higher education.

"Obviously, the quicker she's gone from Iowa City, the better...I suppose her friends will say she's the victim of bad advice, but she's the boss and the responsibility is hers."

I went on to jokingly say that Mason might be teaching classes at Dordt sometime in the future.

That immediately got the attention of a good guy named Mike Byker, the sports information director at Dordt, who is pictured at the right.

Byker got hold of Scott Pierce, Drake's football and women's basketball radio play-by-play announcer and a frequent contributor to my columns. Byker was trying to reach me, but didn't have my e-mail address.

The next day, I heard from Pierce, who was told by Byker: "I'm a longtime reader of Ron Maly's blog, and you are mentioned several times. In a recent blog he commented Sally Mason would end up teaching at Dordt College.

"I will say I got a laugh out of that. We're doing just fine without her, but she's welcome to apply if we have an opening."

Pierce relayed this comment to me in regard to what Byker said: "If you want to hear from all of Iowa's colleges, rewrite the piece and insert their names. I have a feeling they would say the same thing as Mike."

I even heard through the grapevine that somebody else made this comment about Mason: "Please, please don't send her to Dordt. Maybe an out-of-state college would be willing to take her off the Iowa taxpayers' hands. I wouldn't even wish her on Northwestern."

That's a good one.

Northwestern College in Orange City is Dordt's big rival.

*

I got hold of Byker via e-mail yesterday, and asked him to give me some information about Dordt.

"We have an enrollment of about 1,400," he said. "We're affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church [CRC]. We have varsity sports in football, men's and women's cross-country, volleyball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track, softball, baseball, men's and women's tennis, club hockey and lacrosse.

"Our women's cross-country team is ranked No. 22 in the NAIA, women's volleyball is ranked No. 15 nationally, women's soccer currently leads the Great Plains Athletic Conference with a 4-0 record.

"We just started our football program. We're taking some lumps right now, but we look at it as a building process. We're trying to remain patient."

Dordt's football team is 0-4 and has been shut out in three of the losses.

*

[Photos at the top of this column [bottom to top] are of the B.J. Haan Auditorium, the chapel named after Dordt's first president, and DeWitt Gym, the home of the volleyball and basketball teams. Photos courtesy of Dordt College].

Well, At Least the Alumni Band Did a Great Job

Iowa City, Ia. -- Hey, I didn't see this coming either.

Remember, I picked Iowa to have an 8-4 record heading into a bowl game this season.

I sure didn't think Northwestern would be one of the four losses.

*

So, the way the Hawkeyes are playing now, it could be they'll be more like 4-8 than 8-4 in Kirk Ferentz's 10th season as coach.

The way I looked at it in July, I figured Iowa would be taking a 4-1 record into its game next Saturday at Michigan State.

The only loss, I thought, would have been to Pittsburgh.

*

Heck, it turns out the only way Pitt -- which slipped past Iowa, 21-20 -- could beat Northwestern would be if Johnny Majors was the coach and Tony Dorsett was still playing tailback.

Northwestern is good, my friends.

So good that its record is 5-0 -- the school's best in 46 seasons.

One more victory and the Wildcats will be certain of playing in a bowl game.

*

The same can't be said for Iowa.

At 3-2 and facing an uncertain future, there is unrest.

In their 22-17 loss yesterday, the Hawkeyes couldn't hang onto the ball and couldn't hang onto the lead.

The home team isn't supposed to blow a 17-3 advantage in its homecoming game against Northwestern.

The afternoon isn't supposed to end when the highlight of the day was the appearance of the alumni band.

The team that keeps selling out its games isn't supposed to come up empty when it's driving for the winning touchdown in the final few minutes.

But this Iowa squad hasn't learned how to win.

You've got to wonder if it ever will in 2008.

*

Tell me, now, with games in the immediate future at Michigan State and Indiana, then with Wisconsin, Illinois and Penn State on the schedule, tell me when the Hawkeyes' next victory will come.

The running back's head is hurt and the team's pride is hurt.

People are leaving the stadium and blaming the officials for another loss.

Wrong.

The zebras didn't lose the homecoming game.

This was a full team effort.

*

Speaking of team efforts, how about what happened yesterday to Wisconsin?

The Badgers led Michigan at halftime, 19-0, on the way to their fourth straight victory.

Pasadena? The Orange Bowl?

Bret Bielema and the Badger boys were ready to punch their ticket.

Huh-uh.

Michigan -- yes, lowly Michigan -- scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to win, 27-25.

Pete Carroll at USC knows the feeling.

*

I'd say the Chicago Cubs have a very good chance of keeping Milwaukee out of the National League playoffs today.

Especially since Carlos Zambrano won't be pitching.

Manager Lou Piniella has pulled the plug on Z's appearance in the final regular season game.

Angel Guzman -- now, there's a household name for a Cubs pitcher if I ever heard one -- will get the ball for the Cubs against CC Sabathia.

I'm picking the Cubs, 8-5.

*

One final thought about Northwestern.

I like its no-huddle offense and I think C. J. Bacher, its quarterback, is sensational.

All Bacher did was pass for 284 yards and three touchdowns against Iowa.

The good news for the Hawkeyes and their fans is that Bacher is finally a senior.

*

Cartoon courtesy of www.CartoonStock.com

Like I Was Saying

You can call Sally Mason lots of things, but you certainly can't call her a dummy. In the latest development in the ugly sexual assault mess at the University of Iowa, the school president showed that she's on top of things by quickly firing Philip Jones and Marcus Mills. Mason dumped Jones, the vice-president for student services, and Mills, the vice-president for legal affairs and general counsel, before somebody could fire her. Obviously, Mason is in over her head and is the one who should get the ax. But, like Yogi or Alive In Clive always says, it ain't over yet.

*

Now that the Iowa Supreme Court says former Hawkeye Pierre Pierce can go to France so he can play professional basketball, I'm saying it's a decision closely resembling one that would give the fox a free six-month pass to the hen house.


*

You've got to hand it to the University of Iowa. Folks there have shown they mean business by hiring Chigozi Ejiasi as director of player development for the Hawkeye football team at a salary of $44,000 a year. That's a pretty cheap way to make sure there won't be any more arrests of football players.

*

There's some thought that this will be Lou Piniella's last season as the Chicago Cubs' manager if his team wins the World Series. Even though Piniella is tired of dealing with second-guessing from reporters and fans, he'll evidently be back as the skipper in 2009 if the Cubs don't win the Series. My prediction: Piniella will manage the Cubs in '09. Which means the California Angels will win the World Series.

*

Face it already. Tempers flare and there are disagreements galore on the field and on the sidelines during collegiate football games. Some of you may remember when Hayden Fry got himself in hot water with fans by grabbing then-Iowa quarterback Matt Rodgers by his facemask during a game at Ohio State that was televised nationally. Miraculously, everyone survived another week.

*

I sure can't imagine any quarterback having a problem with Hawkeye offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe during a game. I don't know why anyone else would. As far as I'm concerned, O'Keefe is a cordial, up-front, always-available coach who gets along with the players as well as any assistant in America.

*

I can't help but recall what some football sage said many years ago: Whenever a coach can't decide between two quarterbacks, it usually means the coach doesn't have any quarterbacks. Not that I'm referring to Iowa or Iowa State, of course.

*

I don't think the White Sox are going to make it to the American League playoffs.

*

Nice e-mail from Don Clasen, a retired newspaperman who once worked at the Des Moines Register & Tribune:

"Ron, I received your book in the mail yesterday, started reading it and couldn't put it down. As usual, a great job. It brought back memories. After 4 years in the Navy I returned to go to Iowa, but didn't graduate after being offered a job at the former Davenport Democrat. I vividly recall the huge 6-0 victory over the Buckeyes. Page 1 of the Democrat the Sunday after the victory included an 8-column picture of Jim Gibbons hauling in the touchdown pass. The shot was snapped by Harry Boll from across the field. It was grainy--I believe he took it using a Speed Graphic. I have gotten to know some of those you quoted through the I-Club. Brooksie and Dolph have become friends. I'll never forget Bob telling of a remark made by Bobby Knight when they met after 'The General' left Indiana. 'Aren't you dead yet?' Brooksie asked. Great book, Ron. It brought made a lot of names and memlories. Thanks for writing the book."

*

Photos of Cedar Rapids radio broadcaster Bob Brooks, aka Brooksie [right] and former Indiana and Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight [left] courtesy of the Internet.

Strong, Proud People

A number of years ago, one of my kids asked, "How did it happen that the high school you graduated from is no longer a high school?"

"Just lucky, I guess," I answered.

I was being facetious, of course.

It's been 55 years and a few months since I left Wilson High School in Cedar Rapids for the last time.

The proud building still sits there on the top of the hill at J Street and Wilson Avenue, but it hasn't been a high school since 1958.

I guess it was a middle school for a while, and even an elementary school. Now it may be both.

But the public high schools in Cedar Rapids are now named Jefferson, Washington and Kennedy.

No Wilson, Roosevelt, McKinley and Franklin.

They said that was progress.

Maybe. Maybe not.

*

However, the fact that Wilson is no longer a high school doesn't keep the folks who attended classes and got their diplomas there from throwing a party.

My '53 class had another reunion a few weeks ago, even though Cedar Rapids had suffered through the worst summer in its history.

Flooding like no one had ever seen ravaged my hometown, and the place is still trying to recover.

I couldn't make it to the reunion, but I've heard from Colleen Dolezal Kullmer, who told me a few things about it.

"Sorry you missed the reunion," Colleen wrote. "The flood damage in C.R. was a main topic of conversation."

Colleen said 35 people attended the reunion, which consisted of a dinner at the Longbranch restaurant.

Folks from as far away as Santa Lope, Calif., Sierra Vista, Ariz., Seattle. Wash., and Hauser, Idaho, showed up. Of course, there were others from Cedar Rapids, Marion, Fairfax, Solon and Garner.

No. 21 on the list was Carol Moneypenny Miller. Of her, the information page said, "Her husband, Arlo, was unable to come because of a lawn mower accident."

I hope Arlo is doing better now.

Of Lyle Matthews, the sheet said, "Lyle has been the chairman of the last two reunions, has put in a lot of work, and has done a great job!"

Well, I guess.

Nice going, Lyle.

But I would've expected nothing less from Lyle. He and I not only attended Wilson together; before that, we also went to Lincoln Elementary School at the same time.

Lincoln has changed, too. I guess they teach community education classes to adults there instead of spelling and basic math to kids.

*

I'll tell you this about my '53 class at Wilson.

Those people are the proudest and the toughest of any you could ever imagine.

They grew up in neighborhoods filled with families of Czechoslovakian descent, and they were the hardest workers on this planet.

They got jobs in the city's factories, and they gave you 40 hours of work for 40 hours of pay. They went to the union meetings, too.

A lot of them did their shopping on The Avenue -- which everyone in Cedar Rapids knew as 16th Avenue, where you could get a ham, a poppyseed kolache, a haircut, a tooth pulled or a cold one.

Six days a week anyway. Closed on Sundays. That was the day you went to church, not to the meat market.

You know by now, of course, that The Avenue took a tremendous hit from the 2008 flooding in Cedar Rapids. I'm hoping it will spring back to life.

Knowing people on The Avenue, I'm betting it will.

*

We were smart kids, too.

God meant for me to go to a high school at the top of a hill.

That way, I could park my 1937 Ford coupe -- the car I bought for $75 in the summer of 1952 -- in a place where I could let it coast downhill to get the motor running if it wouldn't start.

After all, I had to get to my parttime jobs at Martin's and the Gazette in downtown Cedar Rapids so I'd have enough money to get through my first year at the University of Iowa.

*

A lot of the old gang is still around.

But some aren't.

"Twenty-five classmates are deceased," said the information sheet that Colleen sent me.

Hard to believe.

A few of us went on to college after our high school years at Wilson. A few of us moved away and never came back, even though we had chances to come back.

I heard through the grapevine that they took pictures at the 55th reunion, and that one of them was published last weekend in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Just one problem. Everyone in the photo was misidentified in the paper.

That happens in the newspaper business, of course. They make occasional mistakes, just like everyone else.

My advice to those from my '53 class who would like the class members identified correctly is to e-mail or call the editor listed at the top of the section and tell him or her what the problem was.

Steve Buttry is the new boss in the newsroom at the Gazette, and he's doing an outstanding job of running the place. I also know he doesn't like it when his paper makes mistakes.

If the department head can't get the photo identification straightened out, I'll bet Buttry will make sure the picture of the '53 class is reprinted with the correct names.

I suppose I could ask Mike Hlas to help out on this, too. But, with another quarterback controversy on the Hawkeye football team, he's got lots of other stuff on his plate these days.

*

Meanwhile, not much was said at the 55th reunion about a possible 60th. I guess the flooding was on everyone's mind.

But I hope someone decides to organize a 60th when the time approaches.

I think it'll happen. Like I said, these are strong, proud people.

*

Photos of the poppyseed kolache [right] and baked ham [left] courtesy of the Internet.

Surrounded By Talent

Iowa City, Ia. -- One of the pleasures of watching my 30th Iowa-Iowa State football game yesterday was being able to have John Carlson on one side of me in the Kinnick Stadium press box and Thom Cornelis on the other side.

Carlson, of course, is the standout newsside columnist for the Des Moines Register, and Cornelis is the longtime and talented sports director at KWQC-TV in the Quad Cities.

If I anticipated having any problems figuring things out in this game, I knew Carlson and Cornelis would be able to come to my assistance.

Both guys, you might say, have been around the block.

I mean, Carlson has been to Oakville and Iraq, so you can figure he knows how way around everywhere.

"Have you heard that there's a graveyard under this stadium?" he asked me during a lull in the action.

[By the way, there a number of lulls in the action in a game Iowa won, 17-5, before a sellout crowd of well over 70,000 at Kinnick Stadium.]

"That's what I understand," I told Carlson. "I guess there are horses buried under there."

Well, that's the story I've been hearing for years anyway, although there are doubters.

Long before Kinnick Stadium got its present name, it was called simply Iowa Stadium.

Historians tell us the stadium was built in just seven months, which is a story in itself.

The story goes that workers used lights at night and horses and mules [pictured, courtesy of Special Collections, UI Libraries] as the primary heavy-equipment movers.

There was a rumor for many years that horses that died during the process were buried under what now is the north end zone.

However, Wikipedia reports that others say the animals that died during the process were thrown into the Iowa River before the round-the-clock construction came to an end in July. The first game was played there Oct. 5, 1929.

If Al Grady were still alive, I'd check all of this out with him. Grady, the longtime sports editor of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, knew everything there was to know about Hawkeye football.

I suppose I could check with Jim Zabel. "Z" probably broadcast the first game at Iowa Stadium, and maybe was on hand when horses were being used to carry equipment there in 1929. It could be he even rode one of them.

*

I had my laptop computer in front of me in the press box, acting like I was a real working guy in Row 3 between Carlson and Cornelis.

But I closed the computer up shortly I began my conversation with the two guys.

Then I was convinced I was keeping Carlson from doing his job by talking to him.

After all, he was there to write a page 1 story for Sunday's paper.

"No problem," he said, "I've got most of the story finished."

John told me he was writing about 94-year-old John Brockway, who watched his first Hawkeye game in 1922.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading his story in today's paper.

Of course, I enjoy everything Carlson writes.

He's a pro, and always has been.

He's been a reporter, an bureau guy in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and now a columnist.

He's one of the best in the business, and he's a good guy.

As far as I'm concerned, he's the heart of the newsroom in a business that's facing difficult times.

*

John and I talked about Ken Fuson, the tremendous former Register writer who recently accepted a buyout and is now out of the newspaper business.

"Ken is writing a book," Carlson told me.

Great.

If Fuson is writing a book, I know it'll be a good one. If he has a book-signing when it's published, I'll try to be the first guy in line to get a signed copy.

I think Kenny might have misinterpreted some things that I wrote about him a couple of weeks ago when he announced he was taking the buyout.

I used the words "rats leaving a sinking ship" when I described Kenny's bailout.

I don't think he liked those words, but I meant no harm.

I had always heard that rats were smart and they were always the first to leave a ship that was going down in the sea.

That's all I meant by my reference to rats.

Kenny, if I ever run into you in a coffee shop, I'm buying. You're the best.

*

Jake Christensen has to be Iowa's starting quarterback in Saturday's game at Pittsburgh.

The way I look at it, coach Kirk Ferentz has no other choice.

*

It was good seeing Tom Kroeschell yesterday in the press box.

He's the longtime sports information director at Iowa State, and I told him I think the Cyclones will do all right this season.

Indeed, they could do better than the 4-8 record I predicted.

And Iowa is well on its way toward reaching the 8-4 record I predicted. The Hawkeyes will go to 4-0 Saturday at Pitt.

*

Jeff Valadez, a former Iowan who now lives in Bend, Ore., e-mailed me this message about the Hawkeye quarterbacks:

"Well, it's great to have two decent quarterbacks, as long as we get the 'W.' That is all that counts!!!! Oregon looks like they are down to their No. 3.

"Please don't say that Pitt is not all that good....you know the story!!!

"I'm going to try to go to the Wisconsin game this year. My cousins from Des Moines always have the tailgating going on (Villalobos family with the best Mexican breakfast in the parking lot!!!) and the last time I went to a game in Iowa City was when we beat the Buckeyes, 33-7. So I think I need to take the good luck to that game!

"Glad to hear you had a good time with your family and enjoyed a good win. ISU is always a good one!!!!"

Jeff

[RON MALY'S COMMENT: Jeff, I'll see you in the parking lot at the Wisconsin game. You're making me hungry with talk of that Mexican breakfast].

Sadness

Sometimes the things going on around us are fairly easy to understand.

At other times, that's simply not the case.

Our prayers today are with Larry and Julie Vogt of Dubuque, whose son, Grant, has joined the Lord in Heaven less than a week after the crash of a small airplane in Cassville, Wis.

I didn't know Grant, but I know his father, Larry.

My son, Mark, became a friend of Larry when both of them were freshmen at the University of Iowa in the late-1970s.

Larry was a great young guy, and he was always telling me he thought he was good enough to be a placekicker for Hayden Fry's Hawkeyes.

For all I know, he was.

But he never got the chance to prove it.

Mark and Larry have kept in touch over the years.

Unfortunately, they had to have a couple of telephone conversations in the past week that were very difficult.

Larry called Mark shortly after the plane in which Grant and another University of Dubuque student, Clory Alsip of Glendale Heights, Ill., crashed in Cassville.

Grant [photo courtesy of KCRGTV.com] died Tuesday of his injuries, and the funeral is Saturday. Cory Alsip remains in critical condition.

Grant's funeral is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph The Worker Catholic Church in Dubuque.

My son, Mark, is a pilot. He was supposed to be at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday morning, watching four fellow pilots from the 132nd Fighter Wing of the Des Moines Air Guard do a flyover prior to the Iowa-Iowa State football game.

Instead, he'll be in Dubuque, attending Grant Vogt's funeral.

Here's part of what assistant city editor M.D. Kittle of the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald wrote about Grant:

"Grant Vogt was a driven young man, confident but not cocky, his high school coach said. He was the kind of guy who could bring people together just by his example of hard work.

"The Dubuquer went through life with a smile on his face.

"'And whenever you talked about flying, he had a bigger smile. It was one of those things he loved to do,' said Tom Witry, Vogt's baseball coach at Hempstead High School.

"It was that love that claimed the young man's life.

"On Tuesday afternoon, Vogt, a junior in the University of Dubuque's aviation school, died at University of Wisconsin Hospitals in Madison. His death, at 3:40 p.m., came six days nearly to the hour of a UD plane crash in Cassville, Wis., that critically injured Vogt and fellow UD aviation school junior Cory Alsip, of Glendale Heights, Ill.

"The students were badly burned when the Socata Trinidad TB 20 Alsip was piloting crashed into a tree and exploded in a resort cabin near the Cassville airport. No one else was in the plane, and no one else was injured in the fiery crash.

"'A piece of me has died,' Witry said of Vogt's death.

Witry saw his former high school catcher the other night for the last time. Vogt never regained consciousness.

"'To see all of his friends who came in, how they felt about him, it was one of the worst things I'd ever done, and one of the most [up]lifting,' Witry said.

"Witry said Vogt has donated his organs so that others might have life, a final act of charity from a young man who has spent his life giving, even in death...."

This Kid Knows How To Spell

Spelling bee:

Adult: "How do you spell the word 'panic?'"

Child: "C-H-I-C-A-G-O C-U-B-S."

Perfect answer, kid.

*

The sports news out of St. Louis says Cubs manager Lou Piniella [pictured at the left] flew into a rege, or tried to anyway, after his team lost [again] in the ninth inning of a game last night.

This time it was the St. Louis Cardinals who rallied to whip the Cubs, 4-3.

Everybody is doing that to the Chicagos these days. They could lose in the ninth inning to the School of Ditch-Digging amateur team.

Last night's loss was Chicago's eighth in its last nine games, and it further tightened the noose around the players' necks.

You'd never know that the Cubs have a 4 1/2-game lead in the National League Central.
That's because second-place Milwaukee is also not only choking on all the big ones, but the little ones as well.

*

"We're playing like we're waiting to get beat," Piniella told reporters loudly after the game at Busch Stadium.

I guess Lou wanted his players to be able to hear what he said. The trouble was, most of them had already cleared out of the clubhouse.

Today's managers -- Piniella included -- have difficulty getting messages across to players who are paid many millions of dollars more than they're paid.

When players lose a game now, it's always, "Well, we'll try to win tomorrow."

*

Tomorrow has arrived.

And the black cat that walked past Cubs third baseman Ron Santo in a September game at Shea Stadium in New York in 1969 [pictured at the top] has been given a new life.

These Cubs of 2008 are just as dead as Santo's Cubs were in 1969.

For me, the official end to the season can't come soon enough.

Unofficially, it's already over for me.

*

My good friend Walt Shotwell [pictured at the right] called attention to the guest commentary he has written for this week's edition of Cityview at http://www.dmcityview.com/guest.shtml.

After reading it, here's what I wrote to Shotwell, a retired reporter/columnist at the Register:

"Walt, thanks for sending me a link to your guest commentary in Cityview. It's very good reading, but that's what I'd expect from a veteran reporter/columnist like you. I like your idea of "Breakfast with Barack," and I like it that you tied my friend and yours Bob Ray into the column. Keep up the great work."

*

By the way, I'm picking Iowa to slip past Iowa State, 24-21, in Saturday's game at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

I picked the Hawkeyes to win last summer -- even when most of us still thought Jake Christensen would be the No. 1 quarterback -- and I haven't changed my mind. With Ricky Stanzi now the Hawkeyes' quarterback, I continue to favor Iowa.

But not by the 13 1/2 points Las Vegas says.

*

The Gannett Co. is eliminating 100 executive jobs at its newspapers.

Unfortunately, the Des Moines Register isn't one of those affected, according to the paper.

There's a bus loading at the Greyhound terminal here now, and a few Register folks deserve to be on it.

First the Thai Food, Then Ferentz

One of the things I like about my life these days is that I can go to the Cool Basil restaurant on a Tuesday, have a Thai lunch [left], then come home and be furnished the text on my computer of what Kirk Ferentz [right] said during his press conference a couple of hours earlier in Iowa City.

The things the Iowa football coach told reporters today about a matchup that's often called the Big Game, but only occasionally is played like a big game, is right there in an e-mail attachment, thanks to Phil Haddy, Steve Roe and others in Iowa's sports information office.

That sure beats the old days.

Because this is the week Ferentz's Hawkeyes play Iowa State in their first important game of the season, I printed out what he said during his press conference.

"My week has been off to a big start already," Ferentz began. "Yesterday, I got to open the paper and saw a little picture of my face, nice smile on my face, cited like a 2-and-20 record against Iowa Since since I've been here.

"And then the highlight of my day today, I got off the Big Ten....whatever they call it....media call-in or whatever it's called, but it's like a call-in show, and we wrapped it up with a question about the tight end at Wisconsin...."

*

Ferentz may have thought he was off to a good start.

I'm not sure I was.

*

First of all, Ferentz isn't 2-20 against Iowa State. He's "only" 3-6.

In all, the Cyclones have won seven of the last 10 games of the series with Iowa.

*

Everybody wants to talk about Iowa's quarterback these days -- or, I guess, anytime. So the first question Ferentz got concerned starter Ricky Stanzi and backup Jake Christensen, the player some Iowa fans booed last week.

"So far, [Stanzi has] played well," Ferentz said. "I think both guys have done a good job in all the situations they've been in, and the thing that motivated us to start Rick last week, we didn't have a chance to see him as a starter.

"There are a lot of things we don't know about him yet....It's not like we're ready to crown him king or anything. It's kind of like our football team. We've played hard, but we really haven't done anything yet, either."

Someone even asked this question: "Do you have any concerns with Ricky, like him getting a big head, that type of thing?

"I don't, but I've never seen him in this situation," Ferentz said. "He's a lot like our team; it's not like we've done anything yet. I mean, we've won two games. We won two games last year and the season didn't have a happy ending."

*

Someone asked if tight end Tony Moeaki, who has been injured, will be available Saturday.

"Yeah, if he gets through the week," Ferentz said. "He's making progress. Two questions--how effective will he be, then how long can he go?

"Do you like [split end] Trey Stross also this week?" Ferentz was asked.

"He's got a chance. He gained ground during last week, and if we can get him through the next three days, you'll see him Saturday. If you don't see him Saturday, that means we didn't get him through the next three days."

*

Asked if his players understand the significance of the Iowa-Iowa State game, Ferentz said, "Yeah, I think probably the only people that don't would be the first-year freshmen that haven't been involved in this game...."

A follow-up on the Iowa State game: "When you're walking around in public, do you get asked if you're going to beat Iowa State this year moreso than any other game?"

"Not really," Ferentz said. "Not to ruin your story, but it does come up, I'm not going to iminmize it. A few other things come up, too, especially after last year [a 15-13 Iowa loss at Ames]."

Someone wanted to know what kind of relationship Ferentz has with Iowa State coach Gene Chizik.

"It's very casual," he said. "We attended a dinner together a year ago April, and I saw him last September,. I think that's about it. But professionally, I'm well aware of what he's done and I think we're probably both in tune to what we do program-wise, and I've got great respect for the job he's done all throughout his career. Certainly he's doing a great job there...."

*

Asked about the emotions after last year's loss at Iowa State, Ferentz said, "Yeah, you know, more prominent to me is just the ride home. That's a long ride home. I remember that ride home.

"I remember riding home from Northwestern [a 28-27 Iowa loss]in 2005. I remember the week or so after the last ballgame last year [a 28-19 loss to Western Michigan that kept Iowa from going to a bowl game]. I rememeber the last week or so after our last ballgame the year before that, the [loss at] Minnesota.

"There are certain things that just -- snapshot memories you have, and they're not pleasant thoughts. If those motivate you, great. They should motivate you to work harder."

This Week's Iowa-Iowa State Game [Temporarily] Halts Talk Of Powder-Puff Non-Conference Scheduling

Native Iowan and longtime Hawkeye football booster Al Schallau has seen enough of teams such as Maine and Florida International on Iowa's schedules.

In an e-mail titled, "Iowa Hawkeyes Scheduling Powder-Puff Opponents," Schallau writes:

Ron,

"My No. 1 gripe about the Iowa Hawkeye football program is their scheduling powder-puff non-conference opponents.

"In 2008, Iowa played Maine and Florida International at home; and in 2009, Iowa opens the season against Northern Iowa at home. Meanwhile Ohio State scheduled home-and-home games against the USC Trojans in 2008 and 2009.

"According to the future Hawkeye schedules posted on the internet, Iowa presently needs an opponent for Saturday, October 3, 2009. Boise State also has a present opening on its schedule the same date.

"For 2010, Iowa presently needs an opponent for its opener on Sept. 4; and on Sept. 25; and on October 9, 2010. Boise State also has present openings on its schedule on Sept. 4, 2010 and on October 9, 2010.

"ESPN would jump at the chance to televise an Iowa vs. Boise State game from Kinnick
Stadium.

"Will Iowa schedule Boise State for any of those dates? NOT A CHANCE.

"Best,"

Al Schallau

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Here's an update, Al. The Hawkeyes will play Arkansas State on Oct. 3, 2009 at Kinnick Stadium. It will be the first-ever game between the schools. That game probably doesn't trip your trigger, either. I wish Iowa would've had a more difficult opponent than either Maine or Florida International, too, but scheduling like that has become the norm in conferences such as the Big Ten and Big 12. Northern Iowa probably doesn't like it that you call it a powder-puff team, but the Panthers -- like a lot of other schools -- are constantly looking for a big-money game or two each season. And universities like Iowa are always willing to oblige. UNI hss improved its program greatly, but lost to Brigham Young, 41-17, Aug. 30 in a mismatch. I think the so-called powder-puff scheduling is a disappointment to season ticketholders of Division I-Ae schools, but they continue showing up in droves to stadiums across America. By the way, Iowa received four votes in this week's coaches' poll, despite playing a couple of patsies early in the season. The Hawkeyes didn't get a vote in the sportswriters' Associated Press poll. And another thing...I doubt anyone will be knocking the schedules of either Iowa or Iowa State this week as they await Saturday's game against each other in the battle for the fantastic [at least to the team that wins it] Cy-Hawk Trophy at Kinnick Stadium].

*

Good luck to Ken Fuson and Jerry Perkins now that they've left the Register's newsroom. Obviously,the paper needed them more than they needed the paper.

*

My good friend Don Lund, the journalist who is an Iowa graduate and Iowa fan [the late Al Grady, of course, proved it's possible to be both], reflected in print on the booing of Hawkeye quarterback Jake Christensen:

"The fans who booed him not only showed no class, but what will some of the future Iowa recruits think? He got beat up enough last year by the opposition; he doesn’t need to hear it from the Iowa fans."

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Don, you've seen the good and the not-so-good in your years in and around Iowa City. Keep telling it the way it is. I enjoyed visiting with you before last Saturday's game, and I'll look forward to seeing you this week at Kinnick Stadium].

*

Retired Iowa sports information director George Wine, perhaps recalling other times when the Hawkeyes failed after being favored:

"I just checked the Las Vegas sports books and learned that Iowa is a 13 1/2-point favorite Saturday over Iowa State. Here we go again."

Solving the World's [Football] Problems

Iowa City, Ia. -- While I was solving the world's problems with friends such as Mike Hlas, George Wine, Steve Roe, Bob Brown, John Bohnenkamp and plenty of others yesterday in the Kinnick Stadium press box [pictured above], another guy I know was viewing the Iowa-Florida International football game on TV in Oregon.

"Hey, Ron, I'm watching the game right now in Bend," Jeff wrote in an e-mail I read when I got back home. "I like Stanzi's touch and composure. Jake still looks too jerky and doesn't have very catchable balls when a bit of touch is needed.

"But the Hawkeyes are looking like they can be decent. Let's see next Saturday
against the Cyclones. It's actually looking like a good year to play Michigan and Ohio State."

*

The Stanzi and Jake referred to by Jeff were, of course, Iowa quarterbacks Ricky Stanzi and Jake Christensen.

Stanzi, who is looking more and more like he's the best quarterback on Kirk Ferentz's roster, caused a stir among everyone in the press box and the stadium seats by starting the game.

The buzz in the press box was evident when word began circulating that Stanzi would be starting.

"I hear Christensen will be transferring to Eastern Illinois," a guy said to me while I was drinking my first cup of coffee.

*

We'll see about that.

Right now, I see no reason why Ferentz would change anything for Saturday's game against Iowa State.

I figure Stanzi, who completed eight of 10 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns in Iowa's 42-0 cruise yesterday, will be the starter again Saturday when Iowa tees it up against a Cyclone team that sailed past Kent State, 48-28, last night and will be hard for Iowa to beat.

For some reason, Iowa State is usually more prepared for the Big Game than is Iowa.

*

Incidentally, Christensen was booed by some of Iowa's fans yesterday.

Being a quarterback in Iowa City is sometimes not easy.

He's not the first quarterback to be booed here, and he won't be the last.

There have always been lots of football experts in Kinnick Stadium.

*

Iowa State has its own indecision at quarterback, of course, and I'll leave figuring out the Cyclones' and Hawkeyes' depth charts to others -- the folks being paid to determine what it is that newspaper readers want these days.

Something called "liveblogging" is the newest idea racing through the business, and it was taking place in a big way yesterday at Kinnick.

Three writers covering the game for the Gazette -- which puts out papers in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City -- were liveblogging in a manner that no one has ever seen.

I mean, on this crisp autumn morning and pleasant autumn afternoon in Iowa City, Grantland Rice and Bert McGrane would have thrown up their hands and shouted, "Put us on the police beat!" if they'd been asked to respond to readers' comments on a computer during the game.

Rice, who wrote for a number of newspapers a long time ago, including the New York Herald Tribune, authored sports stories that sang. McGrane tried to do the same thing for the Des Moines Register.

In 1924, Rice wrote the famous "Four Horsemen" lead in describing a Notre Dame-Army game.

It began, "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below..."

In those days, the score of the game might not have appeared until the ninth or 10th paragraph. Nobody cared. Rice didn't care, neither did his editors or his readers.

Actually, I sometimes miss that kind of writing. But evidently today's newspaper readers and editors don't.

They want liveblogging.

*

When the Gazette started its liveblogging in the Iowa-Maine season opener, it evidently caused a mini-controversy with the NCAA -- which evidently doesn't have enough to do these days.

The NCAA wanted to limit how many liveblogs the Gazette and other papers could send during a Hawkeye game.

Why there should be any limit is something I don't know and don't care to know.

The NCAA should be trying to find out how Southern California's football and basketball players keep getting paid millions of dollars every year when all they're supposed to be getting is board, books, tuition and the game plan.

*

I guess the situation has been solved now.

The Gazette guys could liveblog all they wanted to yesterday during a game that was a real yawner.

I had to go outdoors at halftime to make sure I didn't fall asleep. When I went out there, three guys were lying on the ground near the stadium.

My guess is they'd had too much Bud Light.

If it wasn't that, it was too much Florida International.

*

I talked to Hlas, the Gazette sports columnist, for a long time before the game about liveblogging.

So, when I got home, I read what he wrote in his liveblog.

I quickly determined that Mike attracts a group of very intelligent, very clever and very witty liveblogging participants.

Guys who know football as well as the news business provided him with some outstanding comments.

Just to keep things lively, one guy even told Hlas that he was starting a campaign to get Jim Ecker involved in liveblogging during a game.

Ecker was, and still is, an outstanding sports reporter at the Gazette.

When he was covering Iowa, he treated it like the police beat. Something he wrote one time caused former Iowa coach Hayden Fry to devote an entire press conference to criticism of Ecker.

That took some doing.

All I know is, I'll be looking for some liveblogs from Ecker any day now.

*

All but one of the Wall of Famers whose plaques are displayed in Kinnick Stadium would think liveblogging is a foreign language. I think I'm the only Wall of Famer who has an idea about what it is.

*

As enjoyable as the game and the entire press box scenario was, the highlight of the day was the pregame tailgating I did with my son, daughter-in-law and two of my granddaughters [pictured at the left].

*

By the way, Hlas tells me just half of his worktime these days is spent writing sports columns.

He's also writing a book on the horrible flooding that took place in Cedar Rapids this summer.

"Steve Buttry, our new editor, asked me if I'd write the book," Hlas said. "When the boss asks, you do it."

Knowing how well Mike writes, the book will be a good one and I'll be anxious to read it.

*

As for the comment made by my friend Jeff that that it's too bad Iowa isn't playing Ohio State and Michigan this season, I agree with him.

Neither team is a world-beater. Ohio State had to score 14 last-quarter points to beat Frank Solich's Ohio University team, 26-14, and Michigan struggled to beat Miami of Ohio, 16-6, in a game that likely caused Bo Schembechler to roll over a couple of times in his grave.

*

It was good to see Forest Evashevski's photo on the cover of yesterday's game program.

Evy's 1958 team was the best Iowa has ever had.

That team was honored on the weekend of the season opener against Maine, but Evashevski couldn't attend because of health problems.

*

Final thought: I'm wondering what Maury White would say about all this liveblogging crap.

I know one thing. His comments wouldn't be suitable for a newspaper. The only thing they'd work in would be a blog or on Twitter.

That's how much the writing business is changing.

I'll see you at this week's Big Game.