ronald wesley maly: Hey, Maybe You're Ready for This and Maybe You're Not [Frankly, I Doubt That I Am]. The Register Is Now Planning To Publish 'Tweets To the Editor'

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hey, Maybe You're Ready for This and Maybe You're Not [Frankly, I Doubt That I Am]. The Register Is Now Planning To Publish 'Tweets To the Editor'

Heaven help us.

The Des Moines Register made this announcement on Twitter today: "We plan to feature Tweets to the Editor in print along with Letters to the Editor. To submit, just use the tag #TweetTheReg.

Man, I can't wait for that.

Well, maybe I can.

Obviously, they'll try anything, and everything, to get your attention these days down there at 8th & Locust.

Maybe they can run those Tweets in the Monday morning paper, which is a pretty sad-sack publication now that there's no one-page business section and Work Bytes no longer appears.

lickliter's carotid artery repaired with stent; he stays home as his team is blitzed by uni, 67-50

$lickliter\$
Iowa basketball coach Todd Lickliter said tonight his carotid artery has been repaired with a stent at University Hospitals in Iowa City. The carotid artery supplies the head and neck with blood. "I feel like I'm on the mend," Lickliter told Gary Dolphin, the play-by-play announcer on the Iowa radio network prior to tonight's Iowa-Northern Iowa game in Cedar Falls--a game UNI won, 67-50. Lickliter missed last Saturday's game, tonight's game and it appears he'll miss Friday night's game at Iowa State. "The doctors say I probably need this week to recover," Lickliter said. Dolphin said Lickliter was having problems with headaches earlier in the season. "This was the beginning of a tear in your carotid artery," Dolphin said to Lickliter. "They say that could form with the sudden jerk of the neck, but you can't seem to pinpoint it."

chicago cubs next? hall of famer sandberg will manage no-name team in d.m. next season

charlie, clean up your mouth--you know you shouldn't be talking about another coach like that!

$charlie, clean up your mouth--you know you shouldn\$
Former Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis [right] said comments he made about USC's Pete Carroll [left] on an Internet website were taken "totally out of context." Evidently only one outlet, Irish Illustrated, ran the comments Weis made when asked how he was portrayed in comparison to the media's portrayal of Carroll. The other outlets on hand for the interview with Weis were the South Bend Tribune, WNDU-TV, Irish Sports Daily and Blue & Gold Illustrated. Asked by Irish Illustrated senior editor Tim Prister about the media's portrayal of Carroll, Weis said: "You guys know about things that go on in different places. Was I living with a grad student in Malibu, or was I living with my wife in my house? You could bet that if I were living with a grad student here in South Bend, it would be national news. He's doing it in Malibu and it's not national news. What's the difference? I don't understand. Why is it OK for one guy to do things like that, but for me, I'm scrutinized when I swear." Carroll's response to the Los Angeles Times: "It's untrue, it's irresponsible, and it's incredible he'd be talking about me like that." Carroll later told the Los Angeles newspaper: "I talked to Charlie and he wants to set the record straight. He apologized profusely for being represented wrongly." [Los Angeles Times].

cale hunt receives torch-bearer leadership award at drake football banquet

Fifth-year senior linebacker Cale Hunt was named the recipient of the Torch Bearer Award as the best leader on the team during the 112th annual Channing Smith Awards footbal banquet Sunday at All-Play in downtown Des Moines. For the second straight year Hunt, a two-time co-captain, also received the Committed to Excellence Award. He led Drake with 86 tackles, including 55 solo stops, along with two quarterback sacks for nine yards in losses and one pass interception. Senior J-Back Steve Platek, a two-time first-team all-Pioneer Football League selection, was named the most valuable player. Platek, a co-captain, led Drake with a team-high nine touchdowns. He caught a team-best 49 passes for 553 yards, including three touchdowns. He also rushed 30 times for 147 yards, including a team-high six touchdowns. Second-year coach Chris Creighton lauded the 17 senior players for being instrumental in the Bulldogs' 8-3 record. "We're here to celebrate all that has gone into this past season," said Creighton. "It is also a double-edged sword because we are saying goodbye to 17 players who have meant so much to this program. "The depth of their intensity and passion to be successful was unmatched with any team I've ever coached. We'll miss all these seniors who contributed to an incredible foundation." Fifth-year senior J-Back Mason Bucklin of Solon was named the Team Player of the Year for putting team above self. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Mike Mahon, Drake's sports information director].

drake's women fly high: plummer's 27 lead 85-67 victory over air force in tournament finale

$drake\$
Jordann Plummer tied a career-high with 27 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead Drake to an 85-67 victory over Air Force Saturday night in the championship game of the Air Force tournament in Colorado Springs. The Bulldogs, who trailed, 28-27, at halftime, scored 58 second-half points, tying the fifth-best single half total in school history. Plummer was the main reason for Drake’s second-half dominance. The senior made a pair of free throws at the 9:30 mark to tie the game, then sparked an 11-0 Drake run between the 7:18 and 3:18 marks that ended with Drake holding a 74-62 lead. [GoDrakeBulldogs.com].

ferentz says he's 'not a vagabond coach,' indicates he has no interest in the job at notre dame

$ferentz says he\$
Iowa's Kirk Ferentz said in Iowa City today that he's "not a vagabond coach" while discounting speculation that he could be interested in becoming the successor to Charlie Weis at Notre Dame. "I've been sitting here for 11 years now," Ferentz said, indicating he's happy at Iowa. A questioner said to Ferentz, "[Notre Dame athletic director] Jack Swarbrick said last night he would begin contacting potential candidates. As always, your name is thrown in there. I've got to ask, have you or any of your representatives been contacted by Notre Dame, and would you consider it if you were?" Ferentz called it inappropriate to comment on whether he's be contacted by Notre Dame officials, adding that what the school does is its business. Ferentz was the Big Ten's coach of the year for the third time this season. No. 9 Iowa [10-2 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten] will learn Sunday where it will play its January bowl game. [The quotes in this story were e-mailed to Ron Maly by Steve Roe, the associate sports information director at the University of Iowa].

iowa's joe conklin nominated for college football's 'rudy' award

$iowa\$
The University of Iowa nominated Hawkeye senior defensive back Joe Conklin for the tjord annual college football Rudy Award, it was announced by the Rudy Foundation charitable organization. The award honors student-athletes who demonstrate exemplary character, courage, contribution and commitment as members of their collegiate football teams. These same traits were immortalized in the blockbuster film “Rudy” in 27 seconds and against all odds on a gridiron in South Bend, Ind., enabling Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger to carve his name into college football lore. Conklin was a former walkon at Iowa State, then transferred to Iowa as a walkon after his freshman season. He suffered a head injury early in his career, but Conklin's hard work, dedication, and persistent attitude earned him both a spot on the two-deep roster, and eventually a scholarship at Iowa. Conklin's determination to get back from an early injury in his career was very inspirational. He battled every day in the weight room and on the practice field to earn a spot on the roster. Against Michigan State this season, Iowa's starting free safety was injured, and Conklin stepped in, helping the Hawkeyes to a victory in East Lansing to keep an undefeated season alive. He also earned his first career start the following week at home vs. Northwestern, and collected his first career interception. Conklin is a role model by the way he carries himself in the classroom and within the community. He has shown that he can be ready to perform at the highest level, even if he isn't guaranteed to even step on the playing field.

attention register and press-citizen: more gannett furloughs are on the way in 2010

Memo to Gannett employees. December 1, 2009. To: All US Community Publishing employees From: Bob Dickey. We are just completing the preliminary budgets for 2010. Thanks to all of your hard work and efforts to keep our costs down this year and create greater efficiencies across the division, we are heading into the new year with some solid improvements under our belt. We have seen some promising trends in advertising with ad declines slowing throughout the year and as we begin the holiday shopping season, we are also seeing some indication that retailers may be spending more on advertising. While these trends are encouraging, the overall economy is still fragile with a number of business uncertainties. Therefore, as we head into 2010, we think it is prudent to take a conservative approach toward managing our business. Toward that end, we have decided to implement furloughs across USCP during the first quarter. This is not a companywide initiative though Corporate and some of Gannett’s other operations have also decided to put furloughs into place during the first quarter. No one on the Gannett Management Committee makes these decisions lightly and we understand and appreciate the difficulties furloughs have placed on many of you and your families. The furloughs we took companywide this year, however, saved Gannett a significant amount of money and helped us get through what has been unquestionably the toughest time we have ever faced as a company and division. We are instituting the furloughs during the first quarter because it is traditionally the lightest time of the year for us. Non-union USCP employees, including me, will be furloughed for five business days during the quarter. We will be communicating separately with union representatives and asking for their support of the furloughs. However, those union-represented employees who recently negotiated pay reductions in their contracts will not be furloughed. Exempt, salaried employees must take one full payroll week within the pay period, to be completed by Sunday, March 28. Non-exempt, hourly employees will also take five days at any pre-approved time, before the last weekend in March. If you are not sure which category you are in, check with your Human Resources representative or supervisor. The attached FAQ should answer any questions you may have. I cannot stress enough how much the entire leadership of USCP and Gannett appreciate your hard work and many accomplishments which have helped us maintain the industry standard for excellence and leadership in many areas during extraordinarily difficult times. Our community publishing business is doing better...

4.0 student from ballard of huxley golfer signs national letter of intent to attend drake

Devin Leland, who has finished in the top 10 in each of the last three Iowa class 3-A high school state golf championships, has signed a national letter of intent at Drake, indicating he will join the Bulldog men's golf program. Leland has accumulated a perfect 4.0 grade-point average at Ballard of Huxley High School, where he earned all-district honors in football as a senior. He caught 24 passes for 373 yards this past fall, including seven touchdowns. He finished sixth in the 2007 Iowa class 3-A state meet as a freshman, just eight strokes behind current Bulldog Cody Schweinefus, who won the state title. He finished ninth in the 2009 Iowa Class 3A state golf meet, while placing fifth in 2008. He also starts for the Ballard of Huxley basketball team. "Devin is a multi-sport athlete who brings a strong work ethic to Drake along with an exceptional academic resume," said Drake golf coach Scott Bohlender. "I look forward to having Devin at practice next fall and I am convinced he will improve our program on and off the course." [This story was written for Ron Maly by Mike Mahon, Drake's sports information director].

great alaska shootout still hanging on and drake's men will play in it next nov. 24-27 at anchorage

$great alaska shootout still hanging on and drake\$
Drake will be among the men's basketball teams competing in the Great Alaska Shootout next Nov. 24-27. The eight-team field also includes Alaska Anchorage, Ball State, St. John’s, Arizona State, Houston Baptist, Southeast Louisiana and Southern Utah. The 2010 Shootout will be the 33rd installment of the tournament. For a while, it was one of the more prestigious events in college basketball, but in recent years interest has dropped as more tournaments compete for top schools. This year, only six teams will compete and the tournament had been reported to be in economic struggles. [Courtesy of Ball State University].

no. 1-rated tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz says 'no' to illinois scholarship, says he'll be a hawkeye

$no. 1-rated tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz says \$
Illinois football coach Ron Zook's recruiting took a big hit Wednesday when C.J. Fiedorowicz of Johnsburg [Ill.] High School, the top-rated tight end in the nation according to analyst Tom Lemming, declared he had decommitted from Illinois and plans to enroll at Iowa. Fiedorowicz, a 6-7, 245-pounder who is a two-time Sun-Times all-area selection, informed Zook of his decision after returning from a visit to the Iowa campus last weekend. He had committed to Illinois last July after attending a one-day camp in Rantoul. "I wasn't happy with what is going on at Illinois," Fiedorowicz said. "I like all the coaches at Iowa. They will be staying around for a long time. I went to the Iowa-Minnesota game last weekend and the atmosphere was so much better than at Illinois. Now I feel good about my decision." Fiedorowicz said he opted to switch because he is impressed with the way Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz incorporates the tight end into his offense. He said he had become disenchanted with Illinois' offensive system and reluctance to utilize the tight end in passing situations. "Illinois doesn't throw to the tight end, maybe 10 times all year," he said. "But it is an important part of Iowa's system. [Former Wheaton Warrenville South tight end] Tony Moeaki is in on every play. I hung out with him on Saturday night. He loves the Iowa program. He said there is no better school that he'd rather go to. He feels a part of the offense." Fiedorowicz said he made his commitment to Illinois too quickly. "It was spur of the moment. I was down there and I hung out with football players and I wanted to get it over with. I was sick of the phone calls. At the time, I felt it was the right choice. But I guess it wasn't," he said. He said he began to have doubts when he attended the Michigan State-Illinois game in Champaign. "I saw the fans weren't into it. There wasn't a lot of fan support. Illinois wasn't playing well. And I never saw the tight end on the field. I decided to look around," Fiedorowicz said Iowa was the first school to show up at Johnsburg to recruit him. Assistant coach Lester Erb made 10 to 15 trips, more than any other college coach. "They showed they wanted me," Fiedorowicz said. "They had the offense I was looking for. I saw how important the tight end is their offense. That sold me. And so did my time with Moeaki. I never talked to Illinois' tight end once. "I'm set, no more looking around. Last weekend, I was talking to Iowa fans and they knew all about me. You could tell they care about their football over there." As a junior, Fiedorowicz caught 49 passes for 809 yards and 11 touchdowns in nine games. As a senior, he caught 44 passes for 921 yards and 15 touchdowns in a 8-4 season. He also was a standout linebacker and safety. He caught 44 touchdown passes in his career, one short of the state record. An outstanding three-sport athlete, he was offered a scholarship by Wisconsin and Indiana for basketball. He qualified for the finals of the state track meet on a sprint relay team. In football, he had more than 30 offers, including Notre Dame, Miami, LSU, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Arizona. He is rated as the No. 13 player in the nation by Lemming. "All year long, he talked about going to a school that throws to the tight end," Lemming said. "Even when he was committed to Illinois, he talked about taking other visits. He has an NFL body. If he listens to his college coaches, he'll be a first-round draft choice. "I wouldn't have been surprised if he had gone to Iowa, Illinois or Wisconsin. But it's a super catch for Iowa, their biggest catch since the great Chicago haul (Moeaki, Dace Richardson, Dan Doering, Ryan Bain, Jake Christensen) five years ago. [Chicago Sun-Times].

Appleby wonders why the register couldn't find a reporter capable of covering drake women's game

$Appleby wonders why the register couldn\$
Bud Appleby of Des Moines wonders why the Des Moines Register couldn't find someone in the office to cover Drake's women's basketball victory over Chicago State the other night at the Knapp Center: "At least there was a dog at the game," Appleby tells me in an e-mail, referring to the nattily-atired bulldog who came to the game. "That's more than you can say about Register reporters. I can't understand why they can't find somebody to cover a Drake home game on a Wednesday night. They should be able to scrape up somebody, even if Bryce Miller has to do it. They obviously have no pride in the product they are putting out." [RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I took the photo of the bulldog [shown at the top] that showed up at the Drake men's and women's home games this week. Instead of sending a sportswriter to the women's game, the Register rewrote a release written by Brock Archer of the Drake sports information staff, then said it was "Special to the Register." I'm sure [so-called sports editor] Bryce Miller didn't pay Archer for that special story, which also was e-mailed to me and the weekly paper in Dallas County. I checked with a guy in the Register newsroom. She asked Bryce Miller why he or someone else didn't cover the Drake game. Miller said, "I was busy doing the hard-hitting 'In the Loop' for the Sunday paper, which is what they pay me for. Everybody else was getting their lunch from the vending machine."]

7 hawkeyes on all-big ten first team; ferentz named coach of the year again

Iowa's football team has begun reaping the rewards of a 10-2 regular season. Seven Iowa players have been named to either the coaches or media first all-Big Ten teams. Junior offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga has been named the offensive lineman of the year and Kirk Ferentz, for the third time, is the Big Ten’s Dave McClain coach of the year. This is only the fourth time in history that an Iowa team has won 10 games in the regular season. Earning first-team all-Big Ten honors are Bulaga, senior offensive guard Dace Richardson, senior tight end Tony Moeaki, junior defensive end Adrian Clayborn, senior linebacker Pat Angerer and defensive backs Tyler Sash (sophomore) and Amari Spievey (junior). Bulaga, Clayborn, Angerer and Sash made the first unit as named by both the coaches and the media. Spievey, Richardson and Moeaki were on the coaches’ first unit. All seven are on the first unit for the first time. The seven Iowa players picked to the coaches’ team are a league high (Penn State had six). Named to the second coaches unit were senior linebacker A.J. Edds, senior center Rafael Eubanks and junior wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos. Named to the media’s second team were Eubanks, Moeaki, senior offensive tackle Kyle Calloway, Spievey and junior free safety Brett Greenwood. Making the coaches honorable mention list were junior defensive tackles Christian Ballard and Karl Klug, junior punter Ryan Donahue and freshman running back Adam Robinson. Also on that list were Calloway and Greenwood. The media honorable mention list included Donahue, sophomore defensive end Broderick Binns, Edds, Johnson-Koulianos, Klug, junior place-kicker Daniel Murray, Robinson and junior quarterback Ricky Stanzi. Bulaga, a 6-6, 315-pound junior from Crystal Lake, IL, is the sixth Hawkeye offensive lineman to win league lineman of the year accolades. Previous winners include Mike Haight (1985), Dave Croston (1986), Mike Devlin (1992), Eric Steinbach (2002) and Robert Gallery (2003). Bulaga was a second team all-Big Ten selection in 2008 and was named to the 2009 pre-season watch lists for the Outland Trophy and Rotary Lombardi outstanding lineman award. Ferentz is the Big Ten coach of the year for the third time in the last eight years. Only Michigan’s Bo Schembechler has won the honor more times than Ferentz. Ferentz is just winding up his 11th year with the Hawkeyes. He previously won the coach of the year award in 2002 and 2004. He was Associated Press and Walter Camp national coach of the year in 2002. Ferentz is the second-winningest coach in Hawkeye football history. He has a career record of 92-76 and is 80-55 at Iowa. A.J. Edds was Iowa’s honoree for the Big Ten sportsmanship award.

well, if you're a hawkeye fan, keep your fingers [and anything else you've got] crossed

$well, if you\$
Iowa and Penn State ended the regular season eligible for an at-large Bowl Championship Series bid, and Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech are also in position to be eligible for invitations to the four big-money bowl games even though they have no shot to win their conferences. The top seven teams in the BCS standings released Sunday were unchanged from last week, with Florida, Alabama and Texas still in control of the national championship race. Barring any major upsets over the next two weeks, the winner of the Florida-Alabama Southeastern Conference title game will face Texas in the BCS title game Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl. With fourth-place TCU a victory away from securing an automatic BCS bid and the loser of Florida-Alabama essentially a lock to be selected, only two at-large berths would remain. To be eligible for an at-large BCS bid, a team must finish 14th or better in the final standings, which are released Dec. 6. Iowa is 11th after completing its regular season Saturday with a 10-2 record, while Big Ten counterpart Penn State is 13th after also finishing 10-2. The Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions will likely be vying for an at-large bid with sixth-place Boise State, which is two victories away from a 13-0 regular season but would be unable to gain an automatic bid if it finishes behind TCU.

marshalltown community college's phillips signs to play basketball at iowa state

$marshalltown community college\$
Marshalltown Community College guard DeMarcus Phillips was surrounded by a small cast of friends and teammates when he put on an Iowa State cap for the first time. The high-scoring sophomore was signing his letter of intent to play basketball next year for the Cyclones. Phillips, a former Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin, made known his future plans by signing with Iowa State on Monday morning at the Student Activity Center in Marshalltown. Marshalltown Community College coach Brynjar Brynjarsson and a small support group watched as Phillips put in motion his lifelong goal of playing NCAA Division I basketball, and 40 miles away Cyclone coach Greg McDermott was awaiting word of his newest recruit's signing. "DeMarcus is a combo guard who can score the basketball as well as make plays for his teammates," McDermott said at his weekly press conference. "He is a tremendous passer and has the uncanny ability to deliver timely passes. He also possesses great defensive instincts and the quickness to be an outstanding perimeter defender. "We started recruiting DeMarcus when he was in high school." Phillips, a 6-2, 195-pound guard, averaged 21.1 points and 5 rebounds per game as a senior at Milwaukee Washington High School. He received statewide notoriety as the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association's Mr. Basketball, and he was second in the voting for the Associated Press' player of the year honor. [Story and photo by Marshalltown Times-Republican].

barnes is a smart kid; he knew roy williams, north carolina were his quickest route to nba riches

I told you so. I told you Harrison Barnes would sign with North Carolina. I had a gut feeling, and I was right. I predicted it would happen several days ago, and it came true a few minutes after 3 p.m. today. Again, Roy Williams got his man. Again, Roy Williams stormed the state of Iowa and picked off a bigtime basketball recruit. This time, Williams got Barnes, the 6-foot 7-inch senior who is regarded as the best high school player in the nation. And, yes, the rich got richer. North Carolina, of course, is the defending national champion. "Not only is Coach Williams so good at instructing the game, I felt I had a great relationship with his players," Barnes said on the live ESPNU telecast that was picked up by WOI-TV in Des Moines. In choosing North Carolina, Barnes disappointed fans of Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma and UCLA -- the other universities Barnes had tabbed as finalists. Williams and his players were shown on a webcast at Ames High School as Barnes made public his decision to attend North Carolina. He signed his national letter of intent on the telecast. "I can't wait to play with all of you guys," Barnes told the Tar Heels players. Barnes is the fourth premier player from the state of Iowa to be signed by Williams. The others were Raef LaFrentz, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich, who were recruited by Williams when he coached at Kansas. It's difficult to fathom that Williams could come into the state of Iowa--which has four Division I universities that play basketball--and walk out with the best player. Ames, of course, is where Iowa State is--and Williams [who was accustomed to bringing his Kansas teams into Hilton Coliseum for games] convinced Barnes North Carolina was where he could play basketball. That is proof to me that talented players such as Barnes have learned North Carolina is the place they'll find the quickest route to the riches that await the great ones in the National Basketball Association. To players like Barnes, the NBA is what it's all about. Just think, Barnes may never have to work a day in his life after his professional basketball career is finished. Depending on how long he stays with the Tar Heels--whether it's one season or three seasons--he's ticketed for stardom in the NBA. Obviously, by choosing North Carolina over Iowa State, he felt he had a much better future under Williams' wing. Until Friday's signing, Barnes kept indicating he was unsure where he'd go to college. I have a difficult time believing that. I think North Carolina was his choice all along. He had to say the things he said just to pacify the Iowa State/Big 12 Conference fans in his hometown. Nobody knows how long Greg McDermott will be Iowa State's coach, so why would Barnes accept a scholarship there? McDermott hasn't had a winning season in Ames yet, and there is some thought that he may be in over his head in the Cyclone coaching job. Barnes is a smart kid, and he made a wise decision on accepting Williams' offer. Now Barnes can forget about making campus visits and forget the pressures of being recruited. He still has a senior season to play for Ames, and his Little Cyclones will be favored to win another state championship. -- Ron Maly

standout hawkeye punter donahue named one of 10 semifinalists for ray guy award

Iowa punter Ryan Donahue has been named one of 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award, which goes annually to the nation’s top collegiate punter. The announcement was made by the Augusta Sports Council. Donahue is a 6-3, 180-pound junior from Evergreen Park, IL. He is averaging 42.2 yards on 45 punts, with 22 punts inside the 20 and just five touchbacks. Hawkeye opponents have 17 punt returns for 75 net yards, as Iowa ranks 12th in the nation in punt return defense (4.4). He has at least one punt of at least 50 yards in 16 of Iowa’s last 21 games. Donahue holds three of the 10 longest punts (82, 76 and 73 yards) in school history. A national voting body of Football Bowl Subdivision coaches, sports information directors, national media, and former Ray Guy Award winners will decide the three finalists, who will be named on Nov. 23. Voters will then cast a second round of ballots to decide the winner. The winner of the 10th Ray Guy Award will be announced live on ESPN during the ESPNU College Football Awards show Dec. 10. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Phgil Haddy, Iowa's sports information director].

iowa's tony moeaki named semifinalist for john mackey award

q-c times veteran columnist wundram says he has inoperable prostate cancer

Bill Wundram, perhaps the longest-writing daily newspaper columnist in America, told his Quad-City Times readers Wednesday that he is about to undergo treatment for a "very aggressive type of cancer." Wundram has been on the staff of the Davenport paper for 65 years. Until a few years ago he wrote a column seven days a week. Now his column appears five times a week in the Lee Enterprises-owned daily. "I always wondered how I would write about something like this. ... I have cancer," Wundram wrote for Wednesday's column. "There are varieties and stages of cancer, but I have it bad, and that ain't good. What I have is a very aggressive type of cancer. It scares the hell out of me." Wundram said he had been diagnosed with an inoperable type of prostate cancer, and will soon undergo 55 daily radiation treatments. He said he has always feared cancer because it runs in his family, killing his father at 63 and a sister at 64. A son "staged a comeback from a severe battle with cancer" in his 50's, Wundram wrote. "So, I suppose it is my turn and I don't like it," he wrote. "I can't shrug it off. When I brush my teeth in the morning, the thought of cancer gnaws at me. When I drive to work, it fills my mind. As I sit here and write, cancer is taunting me." He wrote that he is in the "fight of my life," but intends to beat the disease. "So, that's that!" Wundram wrote towards the end of the column. "I'll keep writing, living and loving." [Editor & Publisher.com].

iowa's phil haddy says, 'get the correct facts' on the hawkeyes' unbeaten football team

$iowa\$
In a dispatch to me that's titled, "Get the correct facts on Iowa football," University of Iowa sports information director Phil Haddy [pictured] writes: It seems popular for national pundits to criticize the University of Iowa football team these days. Many have said Iowa doesn’t belong on the same board with Florida, Texas, Alabama, Cincinnati, Texas Christian, Oregon or Boise State. Iowa’s schedule has been rated the seventh-toughest in the nation. Only one team in Big Ten history has beaten Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin on the road in the same season (Michigan did it in 1997). The two schools Iowa does not play in the Big Ten this year have the worst overall records (Purdue and Illinois) in the league. To say Iowa hasn’t played a strong enough schedule is to be totally misinformed. Please look at the facts: Number of opponents defeated that currently have winning records: 1. Iowa 2. Cincinnati 4 TCU 4. Oregon 3 5. Boise State 2 Total won-lost records (and winning percentage) of defeated opponents: 1. Iowa 44-31 .586 2. Oregon 29-28 .508 3. TCU 34-33 .507 4. Cincinnati 30-36 .454 5. Boise State 27-37 .421 Total won-lost records of opponents pdefeated in their home stadiums (i.e. road wins) 1. Iowa 23-12 .657 2. TCU 19-14 .575 3. Cincinnati 21-20 .512 4. Boise State 14-18 .437 5. Oregon 6-10 .375 Number of defeated opponents ranked in current BCS Top 25: 1. Iowa 3 (Penn State, Arizona, Wisconsin) Oregon 3 (USC, Utah, California) 3. Boise State 1 (Oregon) 4. Cincinnati 1 (South Florida) 5. TCU 0 Won-lost records of remaining teams left on schedule: 1. Iowa 17-10 .629 2. Oregon 19-12 .612 3. Cincinnnati 19-13 .593 4. Boise State 20-22 .476 5. TCU 15-17 .468 [This story was written for Ron Maly by Phil Haddy, Iowa's sports information director].

memo to uni president and everyone else: don't pay attention to anything mike gartner says

$memo to uni president and everyone else: don\$
Buried on page 5 of today's sports section in the Des Moines Register is a story quoting Mike Gartner [pictured], a member of the State Board of Regents, about the "viability of continuing" the very successful scholarship football program at the University of Northern Iowa. "Sooner or later," the story said, "UNI is going to have to address scholarship football," Gartner told UNI president Ben Allen during a discussion of the school's proposed budget cuts for the current academic year." One of the few things the Register did correctly today was put that story on page 5, back by the "750-Plus Year-Old European Digestive Discovery Helps Relieve Symptoms of Heartburn, Gas, Indigestion, Even Allergies" advertisement, The only thing it could have done better was not publish the story at all. Tom "The Shovel" Witosky and Staci Hupp had a double byline on the story. If I were Ben Allen, I wouldn't pay attention to anything Gartner says. Gartner has absolutely no credibility. Several years ago, the Associated Press wrote this story when Gartner was still president of the Board of Regents: "The fumbling search for a new president of the University of Iowa has led to a faculty uprising, with many professors complaining that meddling by one of the state's favorite sons--Pulitzer Prize-winning newsman Michael Gartner--has scared off a top candidate. Everyone involved has gotten some of the blame. But most of the ire has been aimed at the Board of Regents, and particularly its president, Gartner, who has been criticized as tactless, abrasive and ill-suited to the collegial ways of academia. Some professors have complained that he has little regard for others' opinions and makes it all too clear he thinks he is the smartest guy in the room. "Michael is a bomber, not a builder," said Sheldon Kurtz, the president of Iowa's Faculty Senate, who has led the criticism of Gartner..." Gartner has received more no-confidence votes than Lou Piniella. He's been fired--or should have been fired--from more jobs than a toilet salesman in a pig pen. He's the clown who changed Sec Taylor Stadium [named after longtime Register sports editor Sec Taylor] to Principal Park so he could fill his pockets with money from the naming rights. As the owner of what I now call No-Name team in Des Moines, he's got a sweetheart deal with the city, and his parking fees and prices at the concession stands are among the highest in the minor leagues. He attacks people in citview, his weekly newspaper but, in gutless style, doesn't sign his name to articles and opinion pieces he writes. Never turn your back to that little guy.

northwestern hands cold-shooting cyclones their first defeat, 67-65

Iowa State shot 28 percent from the field Saturday night in the second half of a 67-65 loss to Northwestern in the championship game of the Chicago Invitational. A second-half cold spell doomed the Cyclones. Iowa State went through a 12-minute drought where it made just one field goal, turning an 8-point lead into a Northwestern advantage. It was the first loss of the season for the Cyclones, who fall to 6-1. The Wildcats improved to 5-1. “If you are going to beat a team like Northwestern, you can’t give up layups,” coach Greg McDermott said. “You can give up some threes, but you can’t give up a bunch of layups. The five or six layups we gave up during the course of the game were certainly the difference.” [cyclones.com].

'people of the deep south realize what the rest of us have known for years: gene chizik is a fraud'

Former Iowan Jay Christensen, who writes the popular "The Wizard Of Odds" football blog, takes off on Gene Chizik: Here's what he wrote: It took eight games, but the good people of the Deep South now realize what the rest of us have known for years: Gene Chizik is a fraud. The Tigers won their first five, but have since nosedived, losing their last three. Paul Finebaum of the Mobile Press-Register has seen enough. He writes: "In two consecutive road games, the Tigers have been out of games before the uniforms got dirty, trailing by a total of 65-6. This wasn't against the Denver Broncos or the New Orleans Saints. Auburn fell behind, 34-3, to an Arkansas team fresh off a 35-7 pounding to Alabama. LSU has looked a little better, but it still took a miracle goal line stand to beat Mississippi State. "Can we say lousy coaching? "I say give Gene Chizik a contract extension before someone comes and steals him away. After all, that 10-22 record as a head coach would be tough to turn down. One can only imagine that his agent's phone is blowing up right now with calls from Louisville and Virginia. One thing is for sure — they don't want him back at Iowa State. Did you notice over the weekend that his successor won at Nebraska [first time since 1977] and matched Chizik's two-year total of victories?" Fortunately for Chizik, he still has Furman on the schedule. That would get the Tigers to 6-6 and make them eligible for the Pizza Bowl in Birmingham. [The Wizard Of Odds/Jay Christensen].

ex-hawkeye star lester gives iowa $100,000 to honor trainer streif, help with upgrading of arena

Ronnie Lester, an all-America basketball player at the University of Iowa, has made a $100,000 gift to the UI Foundation to support the Carver-Hawkeye Arena Enhancements Campaign. The assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers, Lester is a member of the committee that is leading the fundraising effort to upgrade the 26-year-old facility. At the request of Lester [pictured], the university's athletic department will name the training room at the remodeled Carver-Hawkeye Arena in honor of longtime Hawkeye athletic trainer John Streif. Streif and Lester, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., have been close friends since Lester's playing days as an Hawkeye, beginning in the mid-1970s. "John Streif has been a terrific friend to me for more than 30 years. He has worked tirelessly to support me and numerous other athletes for over four decades now," said Lester, a 1981 Iowa graduate who was a member of the Hawkeye basketball team from 1977-1980. "His dedication to the Hawkeyes is legendary, and I'm honored to name the training room for him. "As a member of the Carver-Hawkeye Arena campaign committee, I am pleased to step forward to make this gift," Lester continued. "Coach Lickliter has the program moving in the right direction, and I want to do my part to help this important project." The goal of the Carver-Hawkeye Arena Enhancements Campaign is to raise at least $20 million to modernize the current facility. No state funding will be used for the project. "We are thrilled to receive this gift from Ronnie Lester. He is one of the all-time great basketball players at Iowa," said athletic director Gary Barta. "It's always special to see former student-athletes reach back and support the Hawks. On top of his generosity, it is terrific that Ronnie has chosen to honor John Streif. I can't think of anyone more deserving." Streif, a 1970 Iowa graduate, is assistant athletic trainer and travel coordinator for Iowa. He has been on the athletic staff since 1972 and has received numerous honors, including the David J. Skorton Staff Excellence Award for Public Service, given to individuals who have made significant contributions to the UI and have shown "exceptional imagination and dedication to improving the university community," in July 2006. [HawkeyeBasketball.com].

uni, with all starters returning, picked to win valley title; drake tabbed for 8th place

Northern Iowa, which returns all five starters and nine of 10 players from last year’s regular-season co-champion and postseason tournament winner, has been picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball title in 2009-10. Drake was picked to finish eighth. The Panthers are hoping the pollsters are correct, although recent history could suggest otherwise, as only once in the past four years has the preseason poll correctly picked the regular-season champ (last year Creighton was picked to win and shared the regular-season title with UNI, which was picked to finish sixth). [UNI Panthers.com]

ex-kansas standout raef lafrentz lives in d.m., invests in iowa farmland

Former Kansas University basketball standout Raef LaFrentz’s NBA career appears to be over. The 33-year-old LaFrentz — who had surgery on his right shoulder 13 months ago as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers and missed the entire 2008-09 season — is currently a free agent living in Des Moines. Kansas' third-leading scorer of all-time has been busy accumulating farmland in his home state. “He was debating on whether to stay (in Iowa) or go play ball,” said LaFrentz’s dad, Ron, who lives with wife Ellen in Monona, IA. “I told him, ‘You’ve still got some knees left. If you stay in it much longer, those knees are not going to be any good. By 45, 50 you’ll have to have a knee replacement.’ “I’m not too much in favor of him going back and playing any more. His personality is suc he likes the competition and all that, (but) he’ll get over it,” Ron LaFrentz added of his son, who has had surgery on both knees to go with the shoulder operation. Raef LaFrentz, who made $12.7 million with the Blazers a year ago, has bought 160 acres of land in Adel, 500 acres in Dorchester and additional acreage in Iowa Falls. Raef and his wife, Joie, have one child — 2-year-old son Cael. “As for what he’s going to do when he gets bored ... like Ted Williams said, ‘You can only fish so much.’ He’s staying busy,” Ron said. “He’s made some good investments (in land) and may decide to get into real estate.” As far as hoops ... Raef might consider a return if an NBA team made an offer he couldn’t refuse. Because of his injury history, that doesn’t figure to happen. “His competitiveness has not died down too much. He said it’d be awfully difficult to get into (playing) shape,” Ron said. Raef averaged 10.1 points and 6.1 rebounds a game in an 11-year career that included stints in Denver, Dallas, Boston and Portland. “He probably would consider a one-year contract or so. His skills don’t seem to have deteriorated too much. But the healing process gets slower when you get to be 33, 34. He’s very content with what he’s doing now. We’re hoping some of the family genetics carries over into Cael and he ends up going to Kansas.” The 6-foot-11 LaFrentz, a two-time consensus all-American who is Kansas' No. 3 all-time leading scorer, had his Kansas jersey No. 45 retired during the 2002-03 season. He’s not been able to get back to a game since. “He loves that place,” Ron said, noting Raef has Kansas City Chiefs season tickets. “There’s no other place in the NCAA where the atmosphere is such as in Allen Fieldhouse.” [Lawrence (Kan.) Journal World.com].

maybe they'll get around to this story at 8th & locust one of these days

A message from Bud Appleby of Des Moines: "Rumeal Robinson, former University of Michigan and NBA basketball player, is scheduled to go on trial here next month on charges he scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars from Community State Bank. He was indicted in August on charges that include bank fraud and wire fraud. Also indicted were his former girlfriend and Brian Jermaine Williams, a bank officer who reportedly received kickbacks for helping Robinson. The Boston Globe and New York Times have reported on some of Robinson's problems. The Iowa Newspaper Nobody Depends Upon may get around to it some day." http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/10/how_hoops_hero_rumeal_robinson.php

iowa basketball team picked to finish last in big ten, but lickliter isn't buying it

$iowa basketball team picked to finish last in big ten, but lickliter isn\$
When Todd Lickliter and his assistant coaches took over Iowa's basketball program, they knew they had to turn it around. Unfortunately, Hawkeye basketball wasn't a stunt car with a fast and furious parking brake that slid right back into the NCAA tournament lane. It wasn't even a perfectly executed three-point turn back to the NIT highway. The job has been a little like turning around an old school bus. On a narrow gravel road. During an icy winter storm. "There's definitely been bumps in the road," assistant coach Joel Cornette said. "But that's part of rebuilding a program. And I wouldn't say this had to be rebuilt, but there were definitely some things that needed tweaking." Lickliter enters year three much like the previous two. Low expectations from outside the program and a lot of hope from inside. "I think we've turned the corner," Lickliter said. "I'm excited. I like where we're going. "None of us are happy with where we finished, and that's huge. Who would want to be? We're never going to be happy until we're competing for championships." Former coach Steve Alford left for a fresh start in New Mexico following a 17-14 season in 2007. In his first two years, Lickliter has gone 13-19 and 15-17. That includes an eighth- place and a 10th-place finish in the Big Ten. In the wake of quicker turnarounds at places such as Minnesota, Iowa fans are getting a little inpatient for the Hawkeyes to start heading the other direction. Iowa is not expected to climb beyond last season's 10th-place finish. Most preseason polls have pegged the Hawkeyes to finish last, a position Iowa has not occupied since going 5-13 in Big Ten play during the 1993-94 season. Lickliter isn't buying it. "I'm an inpatient guy," Cornette said. "It hasn't happened in year one or year two, as far as wins and losses. I'm definitely excited to show a lot more improvement on the court this year." The players and coaches feel a change. After two years of players transferring out the program, only one player on the roster -- junior Jarryd Cole -- was not recruited to Iowa by Lickliter. Now everyone knows the system. Everyone is marching to the beat of the same drummer. "We know what we need to do, and we feel we can get it accomplished," Cole said. It became obvious as more and more players began leaving that they were not comfortable playing in Lickliter's system. A system they never signed up for. "Transition is tough. Decisions were made. It's no ones fault; it doesn't make anyone a bad guy, it just means our interests aren't the same," assistant coach LaVall Jordan said. "We wish everyone the best and move on." Now the players are all drinking the Lickliter Kool-Aid. The remaining core has bonded from two rough years. "They say friction builds traction," Jordan said. "We may have some of that." So what does that mean on the outside? Most prognosticators don't see Iowa cracking the .500 mark for a third straight season. That's something that hasn't happened at Iowa for almost 80 years (1930-32). And that fact is another reminder that -- contrary to what you might have seen over the last decade -- Iowa does have a solid basketball tradition. In fact, recently ESPN/Sagarin came out with a list of the all-time basketball rankings, and Iowa was 10th. "To be 10th in that ranking is a testament to what we're about," Lickliter said. "Through the decades, the top 40 teams have been ranked, and we're always in the top 40 until this decade. We've fallen out. It's not acceptable, and we're going to work to recapture that." Assistant coach Chad Walthall understands the impatience, understands that fans want Iowa to return to something closer to its former glory sooner rather than later. "That's what we signed up for," Walthall said. "We don't complain about it. We don't feel sorry for ourselves. This is Big Ten basketball. This is what you sign up for. "You work as hard as you can this day, and do the same thing the next day, and the next day, and the next day. At some point, you're going to see the level rise. I think we're at that point now. "Nothing worthwhile happens overnight. It takes some time. But it also lasts a bit longer too." Many Hawkeye fans may be willing to get out and push, if that's what it takes. But the tires can't keep spinning forever. At some point, relatively soon, the program has to find that traction and start heading in the right direction. Buckle up. By the way, in answer to a question that is asked regularly, there again are others named Lickliter connected to the Hawkeye program. John Lickliter -- sometimes affectionately referred to as "Little Lick" by fans of the program, is a 5-11, 175-pound freshman guard. He is Todd Lickliter's son. Little Lick was a redshirt freshman last season after joining the program without a basketball scholarship. Garrett Lickliter, another of Todd Lickliter's sons, is Iowa's graduate manager. [Most of this story was written by Ryan Suchomel, Iowa City Press-Citizen, with contributions from Steve Batterson, Quad City Times, and Ron Maly].

first it was photos of empty dining rooms in datebook, now it's photos of empty patio areas

$first it was photos of empty dining rooms in datebook, now it\$
It was bad enough that the Des Moines Register repeatedly embarrassed itself by publishing photographs of empty dining rooms at the restaurants it was reviewing in Datebook. Now the newspaper has gone one step further. Today, it published a photo of an empty patio area at Woody's Smoke Shack, 2511 Cottage Grove, in Des Moines. Count on it that I won't be eating there anytime soon. I never like dining alone.

on paper at least, uni is a strong favorite to win the valley's men's basketball title

$on paper at least, uni is a strong favorite to win the valley\$
Fresh off a trip to the NCAA tournament after winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, and a share of the 2008-2009 Valley's regular-season title, the University of Northern Iowa men's basketball team has been tabbed as the favorite in the Valley among the many preseason publications. UNI has been picked to finish first in the Missouri Valley Conference in The Sporting News' 2009-2010 College Basketball Preview, Lindy's College Basketball Preview and Athlon Sports College Basketball Preview issue. Senior forward Adam Koch [pictured] and junior guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe has been named to the preseason all-Valley first teams by The Sporting News and Athlon. Koch was also named a preseason first-teamer by Lindy's. Ahelegbe is a second-team pick in Lindy's, while senior center Jordan Eglsder is a third-team honoree in Lindy's. UNI has an exhibition Oct. 31 against Upper Iowa in the McLeod Center, then starts the regular season Nov. 13 at Denver. [Northern Iowa Basketball.com].

an easy decision for waukee's 6-11 will artino; he says he'll play basketball at creighton

$an easy decision for waukee\$
Will Artino didn’t have to think twice when Creighton’s basketball coaches extended a scholarship offer. “I visited Creighton in June, and I loved it,’’ said Artino, a 6-11 forward from Waukee. “I’ve been waiting for them to offer me, and when they did, it was an easy decision.’’ Artino gave Bluejays coach Dana Altman his commitment Sunday, and is the first player to commit to Creighton for the 2010-11 school year. “Creighton is a school with great academics and a great basketball program,’’ Artino said. “One of the things that I really liked is that I know Coach Altman is going to be there the entire time I’m at Creighton. “My high school coach told me he thought Creighton would be a good fit for me. I feel the same way.’’ Waukee coach Matt Woodley knows all about the Bluejays, having played against them when he was at Drake. Woodley spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Washington State before returning to central Iowa this spring to take over the Waukee program. “I told Dana that if I were still at Washington State, I would have tried to sign Will,’’ Woodley said. “His best basketball is two or three years down the road, and I think he has a chance to be a special player. “The thing you have to remember about Will is that he’s only 16. He’s still a growing boy.’’ Artino, who averaged 12.4 points and 7.9 rebound last season as a junior, knows he needs to do some growing out to match the six-inch height spurt he’s experienced since last summer. He said he weighs 200 pounds, and would like to be at least 215 by next summer. Woodley said that shouldn’t be a problem. “You have to remember that he should only be a junior in high school,’’ Woodley said. “A lot of his growth will come wivth his maturity, and then once he gets into the weight room, he’ll get bigger.’’ Artino said the Creighton coaches told him they liked how well he runs the court for a big man. “They said they’d probably have me face the basket more than having me be a back-to-the-basket guy,’’ Artino said. “I shoot the ball well, especially from mid-range.’’ Woodley seconded that. “The things Will does well are the things Dana likes his inside players to do,’’ Woodley said. “Will’s tremendously skilled for his size, very long and athletic. “He can put the ball on the floor and score, and I think he has a chance to be very good in that high post offense that Dana likes to run.’’ In addition to the unofficial visit he made to Creighton in June, Artino said he had visited Drake and Northern Iowa. He had received scholarship offers from UNI, San Diego, Colorado State, Ball State and Indiana State. Iowa had expressed interest in having him walk on, then receive a scholarship after his first year. Woodley said California also had recently expressed heavy interest in Artino. “But Will is the perfect kid for Creighton, both academically and athletically,’’ Woodley said. “He’s a good student. He’s going to be a good player. Will really wanted to go there, and I’m glad he’s getting the chance.’[Omaha World Herald].

son of ex-drake standout wayne kreklow says he'll play basketball at missouri

$son of ex-drake standout wayne kreklow says he\$
Missouri basketball offered the son of the university’s volleyball coaches a scholarship in the class of 2010 nearly a year ago. Now 6-5, 185-pound Ricky Kreklow has accepted. Kreklow’s verbal assent was met with a wave of excitement on internet message boards. It was on one of them, PowerMizzou.com, that Kreklow — of Columbia’s Rock Bridge High School — confirmed he had committed to Missouri. L.J. Goolsby, his AAU coach at KC Pump ‘N’ Run, said it was a case of a longtime Tigers fan staying home rather than take offer from Virginia or Stanford to leave Columbia. “It’s big,” Goolsby said. “Ricky’s a diehard Tiger fan. Goolsby added that Kreklow “was really serious about” Virginia and Stanford. But the draw of helping Mizzou’s building program was huge. “He shoots it really well, but he’s a multi-dimensional player,” Goolsby said. Last season Kreklow averaged 13 points and 4.5 assists for Rock Bridge and hit 41.5 percent of his three-point shots. Kreklow’s parents — Susan and Wayne — are the highly successful coaches of Missouri’s volleyball program, coming to the school after building Columbia College into a small college power. Wayne was a standout basketball player at Drake and s[emt one year with the Boston Celtics, where he was a member of the 1980-81 NBA championship team. [Kansas City Star.com].

ripping the soul out of d.m. register, other gannett co. newspapers

Corporate ownership of newspapers has ripped the soul out of many newspapers. Look at what happened to the papers in Phoenix, Louisville, Des Moines [and others] after they were bought by Gannett. The Gannettoids aren’t uniquely guilty. They’re just part of the steady ascendancy of buccaneer capitalism in our country. Look at Wall Street, where the bastards went wild with the smiling benediction of Alan Greenspan, whose every non-move was directed by the Gospel of Ayn Rand. Look at our gargantuan food industry, especially the meat processing giants who have relentlessly driven down workers’ real wages while increasingly depending upon an easily exploitable workforce of illegal immigrants. Look at our Congress, where the drive for campaign cash puts our democracy up for sale to the big-money-boys who know how the game is played: Hire the right lobbyists and make the right campaign contributions and Washington is yours. We’ve got government of the lobbyist, by legislative machinations like earmarks and regulatory nips and tucks, for the campaign cash. Mr Lincoln would not approve. But he’s the man who said that “we here highly resolve…” Does anybody highly resolve anything these days—except to get re-elected or pick up that mega-huge year-end bonus? [Jerry Kammer [pictured], formerly of Copley News Service/Romenesko].

kirk ferentz flying to the moon--or at least through the hawkeyes' 2015 football season

$kirk ferentz flying to the moon--or at least through the hawkeyes\$
Kirk Ferentz will enter his 20th year as a member of the staff of the University of Iowa with a signed contract as the coach of the Hawkeye football team through the 2015 season. The university said in April it had come to agreement with Ferentz on the terms of a new seven-year agreement. That contract was signed last week. "It has been said many times before and I'm pleased to say it again: Kirk Ferentz is a perfect fit for the University of Iowa, the community, and the state. He's considered one of the best football coaches in the country, he has incredible integrity, he cares deeply about our University and our state, and he's a proven winner at Iowa," said athletic director Gary Barta. Barta said Ferentz, who will begin his 11th season as head coach of the Hawkeyes on Sept. 5 when Iowa plays Northern Iowa at Kinnick Stadium, continues to provide Iowa and its football program continuity in leadership that is the envy of his peers. The Hawkeyes have had two head football coaches during the past 30 years -- Hall of Fame Hayden Fry and Ferentz -- and between them Iowa has won five Big Ten championships, participated in 21 postseason bowl games, and won 140 games against league opponents. Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State are the only teams in the league to have a winning record against Big Ten opponents during the past 30 years. "It has been said many times before and I'm pleased to say it again: Kirk Ferentz is a perfect fit for the University of Iowa, the community, and the state. He's considered one of the best football coaches in the country, he has incredible integrity, he cares deeply about our university and our state, and he's a proven winner at Iowa." The continuity in leadership has also resulted in success in the classroom for the student-athletes who participate in football at the UI. According to statistics released last October by the NCAA, Iowa's federal graduation rate of 62 percent and its Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 75 percent were better than the averages of 56 and 67 percent, respectively, posted by its peers nationally. In addition, Iowa's GSR of 75 ranked third among teams included in last year's final top 25. As noted earlier this spring, the annual salary and performance bonuses Ferentz will receive under the new contract are no different than what he was to receive previously. His annual salary remains at $3.02 million. Under the new agreement, Ferentz will have access to private plane transportation for up to 35 hours of personal use annually. The estimated cost associated with this benefit could be as much as $85,000. As is the case with all expenses of the Iowa athletic department, no tax dollars will be used; the department will pay for this benefit with contributions to the National I-Club. "Kirk is well compensated. He's earned that opportunity, but he's also greatly appreciative," said Barta. "While we haven't given him a raise the past three years and there isn't one in the new agreement, access to a plane provides a form of compensation that recognizes the extreme time demands placed on him throughout the year. It's a 24/7 job. This is one way to reduce some of the stress this position places on his personal and family life." [HawkeyeFootball.com].

cold-hearted move: dan mccool, the nation's best wrestling writer, among 36 laid off by register

$cold-hearted move: dan mccool, the nation\$
The Des Moines Register is laying off 36 people as the economy continues to hammer advertising revenue. The Iowa Independent said the newspaper's Iowa City Bureau has been closed, and reporter Erin Jordan and veteran eastern Iowa photographer Harry Baumert have been dismissed. The newsroom layoffs include sportswriter Dan McCool, the best wrestling writer in the nation; director of photography Don Tormey, news editor Suzanne Behnke, designer Scott Lester, features writer Dawn Sagario, writer Mary Challender and writer Kathy Hickman. Lisa Colonno volunteered to be laid off. Colonno had been a south zones reporter and a former sportswriter who covered the Iowa Chops or whatever-the-hell the name of the professional team in town was called. Larry Ballard, a former mid-level editor, was demoted to reporter. Ballard is a former Workbytes columnist in the business page. Of course, Workbytes is just a bad memory, too. Indeed, Workbytes turned out to be a slot that didn't do anything for a person's career. Sagario also used to write Workbytes and now is gone. Sagario also was a reporter for the Health section, which has shrunk to one page lately. Not much future there unless Hy-Vee starts sponsoring the entire section, like it does the West Des Moines Register. Also gone are Jason Zappe, Lata D'Mello, Brian Gaynor and Matthew Wheeler. Among those demoted was Kathy Bolten, who no longer an assistant managing editor. Her pay was cut. Tina White and Chase Davis quit. The cuts represent 6 percent of the company’s workforce. Effected employees will receive a transitional pay plan based on their years of service. “I remain optimistic that the economy will improve; unfortunately as a company we must scale ourselves to the current environment,” said Laura Hollingsworth, president and publisher of the paper. “I understand the financial and emotional impact of this decision and my thoughts are with these employees and their families.” Employees affected come from various departments including: advertising, production, circulation, marketing, information technology, finance and the news staff. “Our goal was to minimize impact on our reporting staff and we achieved that. We remain invested in and committed to providing the depth and quality of news and information Iowans have always depended upon. We will serve Iowans now and for years to come as a multimedia information company,” said Hollingsworth. If you believe that bunch of corporate crap, you'll believe there's still a future to journalism. Last week, Gannett Co., the Register’s parent company, said it would cut 1,400 jobs nationally. [Des Moines Register.com and the Iowa Independent contributed to this story].

strange development: c.r. gazette will print iowa city paper; press-citizen lays off 4 employees

Dan Brown, a lifelong Iowa City resident who has been with the Press-Citizen for 18 years, most recently as director of advertising and marketing, was named general manager of the newspaper Wednesday. Brown said he was honored. “Every significant event in my life has been chronicled in this newspaper,” he said. “It’s part of my life in more ways than just work.” Then there was this strange news: In addition to Brown’s promotion, the Press-Citizen has signed a letter of intent with the Cedar Rapids Gazette to contract with the Gazette to print and distribute the Press-Citizen. The Gazette also prints the Daily Iowan and the Waterloo Courier. The Des Moines Register -- like the Press-Citizen, a Gannett Co. paper -- has been printing the Iowa City paper. “This arrangement is a positive one for both organizations — and the Corridor in general,” Brown said. “It is a working relationship and investment in another prominent Corridor business and allows the Press-Citizen to focus on what it does best — serve the news and information needs of our community and provide effective advertising solutions for local businesses.” Brown said Press-Citizen subscribers should not be concerned that the move is a precursor to the newspaper being sold to the Gazette. Brown said the newspaper is not being sold, and the Gazette has not made any offers to purchase the Press-Citizen. “The information business is evolving. The Gazette and the Press-Citizen newspapers remain a key and critical information component to many people’s daily routine,” said Gazette Publisher Dave Storey. “With the Press-Citizen and Gazette Communications working together to print and distribute two quality newspapers to eastern Iowans, both companies can invest in other business opportunities that will enhance both companies’ abilities to provide information on other informational platforms as well.” The Press-Citizen also announced Wednesday that it was laying off four employees [but didn't name them], in addition to the circulation staff that will be affected by the changes in printing and distribution. On July 2, the Press-Citizen’s parent company, Gannett, announced there would be company-wide layoffs in its U.S. Community Publishing Division. The layoffs are a result of the economic problems many companies across the country continue to battle. Brown replaces former Press-Citizen General Manager Susan Patterson Plank. “I’m thrilled to hand the reins over to Dan Brown,” Patterson Plank said. “He has a long history with this newspaper and the community, and I know he’s going to do a wonderful job.” [Iowa City Press-Citizen].

ex-drake women's assistant coach parker named athletic director at california baptist

$ex-drake women\$
Micah Parker has been named the athletic director at California Baptist University in Riverside. Parker, a former assistant women's basketball coach at Drake, inherits a program that won a pair of NAIA national championships in 2009, finished an all-time best fifth in the race for the Learfield Sports-NAIA Director’s Cup and will likely have eight programs earn NAIA Scholar Team recognition when the teams are announced. He begins Aug. 3. “After a year-long search, CBU is thrilled with the hiring of Parker as its next athletic director,” said university vice-president Kent Dacus. “We feel Micah is a rising star in athletic administration. He is someone who is deeply committed to his faith and has shown strong integrity and character in his professional history. While he has a strong passion for intercollegiate athletics, he fully understands the bigger picture of university life and operating within the entire university structure.” Parker returns to the athletic arena after a 17-month hiatus during which time he served as the headmaster at the prestigious Lutheran South Academy in Houston, Texas. Prior to his time at Lutheran South Academy, Parker spent more than 17 years as a collegiate basketball coach. Parker was Drake's top assistant women’s coach [piictured] and served as the program’s recruiting coordinator in his last year after being in charge of player development and serving as camp director his first three years. He helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship and a subsequent NCAA tournament berth as well as a pair of women's NIT appearances.

6-7 drake recruit aaron hawley named mvp of arkansas all-star basketball event

Incoming Drake men's basketball recruit Aaron Hawley was named the most valuable player of the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Week. Hawley, a 6-foot 7-inch forward who graduated as the all-time leading scorer at Rogers High School, was named the MVP after scoring 11 points, including nine in the second half, to lead the West to a 101-88 victory over the East at Bud Walton Arena Saturday night. Hawley teamed up with northwest Arkansas standouts Fred Gulley, Cable Hogue, and Coleson Rakestraw -- who had all played together as kids on an AAU team -- with Dardanelle point guard Kendell Pinkney to lead the West. That bunch was primarily responsible for turning a three-point halftime lead into a romp to keep the West undefeated during this year's Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Week. "It was really fun," said Hawley, who was a two-time Arkansas Class 7A all-state choice. "We've all played together before and it was just fun to get out there and do the same thing again tonight. We play well together and we showed that." That group played spread out through the West's lineup during the first three periods and began to come together in the second half. The second half started with an alley oop from Hawley to Fred Gulley [Fayetteville] who will play at Oklahoma State. "We kind of ran that in practice and right before the inbounds he kind of looked at me and winked at me and I knew what was up," added Hawley who was the leading vote getter on the Arkansas Class 7A all-state team after guiding Rogers to a runner-up finish in the Arkansas state tournament. Hawley followed with a jumper and Gulley added a three-pointer to push the West lead to 60-52. Hawley knocked down a three-pointer as time ran out in the fourth period and the East bench yelled "Don't leave him open." Hogue [Fayetteville] scored to open the fifth period before Hawley hit back-to-back shots and Pinkney knocked down a trey for an 86-75 lead. Hawley led Rogers to a 24-6 record -- the second best season in school history -- while averaging a team high 17.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Drake sports information director Mike Mahon].

fleur cowles, 101, dies in england; 'the register is apparently waiting to publish a paid obituary'

$fleur cowles, 101, dies in england; \$
"Fleur Cowles, former wife of Gardner 'Mike' Cowles, has died," Bud Appleby of Des Moines tells me. "Both the London Telegraph and the New York Times [among others] had long feature obituaries on Monday. The Des Moines Register apparently is waiting for a paid obit." The comment about the "paid obit" was in reference to the large number of obituaries the Des Moines paper now publishes that are paid-for by families of the deceased. There was a time when obituaries were regarded as news stories by the Register. Here's the New York Times obituary on Fleur Cowles: Fleur Cowles, who rose from modest beginnings in New York to become a well-heeled friend of the powerful and famous and the creator of one of the most extravagant and innovative magazines ever published, died on Friday at a nursing home in Sussex, England. She was 101, and her death was confirmed by her husband, Tom Montague Meyer. Fleur Cowles with the fashion photographer Cecil Beaton in 1952. “The Best of Flair,” a 1996 compilation of art, photographs and essays from the magazine. Ms. Cowles (pronounced coals) was a painter, a writer and a renowned hostess. But she took greatest pride in two things. One was her short-lived magazine, Flair, published in the 1950s during her marriage to Gardner Cowles Jr., known as Mike, the publisher of Look magazine. The other was her talent for friendship. Her anecdotal memoir, “She Made Friends and Kept Them” (HarperCollins, 1996), was practically a Rolodex of many of the world’s most recognizable names: American presidents, foreign heads of state, Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth the Queen Mother (described as her “best friend”), Princess Grace, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Lady Bird Johnson, Pope John XXIII, Howard Hughes, Judy Garland, Joan Miró (who designed her dresses) and Cary Grant, the best man at her wedding to her fourth husband, Mr. Meyer (pronounced to rhyme with “clear”). Although there were just 12 issues of Flair, published from February 1950 to January 1951, the magazine caused a sensation and is still admired for its coverage of fashion, décor, travel, art, literature and other enthusiasms of Ms. Cowles’s. It was part of the Cowles publishing empire, which included newspapers in the Midwest and, most notably, Look magazine, of which Ms. Cowles had been an influential editor. But Flair, incorporating cutouts, fold-outs, pop-ups, removable reproductions of artworks and a variety of paper stocks of different sizes and textures, was simply too expensive to produce, even though it sold for 50 cents a copy when Time and Life were selling for 20 cents. When Flair ceased publication, Mr. Cowles, who had financed it, estimated that it had lost $2.5 million. Circulation, less than 100,000 for the first issue, eventually doubled, but advertising did not follow, and losses were running about 75 cents a copy. The preview issue, in September 1949, reflected Ms. Cowles’s passion for the arts and boasted a two-layer cover. The outside was embossed with a basket-weave pattern and punctuated with a hole, through which could be seen a picture of a man and woman embracing. The inside cover showed the couple as part of a wall layered with a collage of shredded posters. A spring issue featured the rose, a flower Ms. Cowles painted and extolled until her death. The issue was suffused with a rose fragrance, some four decades before scent strips became ubiquitous. Housed within it, bound as a booklet, was a tribute to the rose by Katherine Anne Porter. The magazine itself had a rose named after it — Flair rose — and there is a Fleur Cowles rose as well. Flair published stories and articles by W. H. Auden, Jean Cocteau, Simone de Beauvoir, Angus Wilson, Tennessee Williams, Ogden Nash and Clare Boothe Luce, among others. Salvador Dalí, Saul Steinberg, Lucian Freud, Rufino Tamayo and even Winston Churchill were among the contributing artists. Mr. Cowles wrote in his own memoir, “Mike Looks Back,” that his wife had been determined to start a magazine that would appeal to an elite audience. He had created Look, one of America’s most popular magazines, but Ms. Cowles was ashamed of its “man’s barbershop” reputation. Even before their wedding, in 1946, he said, she insisted that he move the Cowles headquarters from Iowa to New York, and that he personally edit and change Look’s image. “The Best of Flair,” a compilation of art, photographs and essays from the magazine, was published in 1996 by HarperCollins in an edition of 3,000 copies at $250 each. Ms. Cowles variously gave her birthplace as Boston and Montclair, N.J., her parents as Matthew Fenton and Eleanor Pearl Fenton, and the year of her birth as anywhere from 1910 to 1917. Census records and reminiscences of friends and relatives indicate that she was born on Jan. 20, 1908, in New York City, the daughter of Morris and Lena Freidman, and that her name at birth was Florence. Her family moved to Bloomfield, N.J., when she was very young, and her sister, Millicent (who also later adopted the name Fenton), was born there. She attended high school in Bloomfield and later, according to her own biographical notes, the School of Fine and Applied Arts in New York, which no longer exists. Her father, who was in the novelty business, deserted the family while she was still in school. Her career began, she said, at age 15, when she became an advertising copywriter for Gimbels department store. Several years later, while working in advertising in Boston, she married Bertram Klapper of Haverhill, Mass., who manufactured wooden heels. She also wrote a fashion and lifestyle column for The New York World-Telegram until 1934. By this time she had divorced Mr. Klapper and married Atherton Pettingell, an advertising agency executive who was her boss. Some years later they formed their own advertising company, specializing in Seventh Avenue clients. They were divorced in the mid-1940s. Soon afterward she volunteered to write speeches for the War Production Board in Washington, and when World War II ended, President Harry S. Truman appointed her as a consultant to the Famine Emergency Committee. She met Mike Cowles while he was in Washington with the Office of War Information, and they were married in December 1946. It was around this time that she changed her first name to Fleur. The following year she joined Look as an associate editor. She added food and fashion to the magazine, which brought in increased advertising, and was instrumental in a redesign. The couple began traveling to Europe, South America and Asia, where they met and interviewed world leaders like Churchill, Eva Perón and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. After she worked on Dwight D. Eisenhower’s successful presidential campaign in 1952, the White House sent her on fact-finding missions abroad and named her a special envoy to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. She and Mr. Cowles divorced in 1955, and within months she married Mr. Meyer, whom she had met on a plane. The couple took up residence in chambers in Albany, one of London’s most prestigious addresses, where Byron, Disraeli and Gladstone once lived. They also bought and restored Great Surries, an Elizabethan farmhouse on 650 acres in Sussex with rooms named for frequent guests like Cary Grant and Leslie Caron and a barn made acoustically perfect for performances by artists like Yehudi Menuhin. The Meyers also restored a 12th-century castle in Trujillo, Spain, which they used as a holiday residence until selling it several years ago. In 1994 the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin, opened the Fleur Cowles Room, a replica of her study in London. In 2003 Pratt Institute devoted an exhibition in Manhattan to the lasting influence of Flair. Ms. Cowles gave up editing after marrying Mr. Meyer, but she continued to write books, adding to a bibliography that included the biographies “Bloody Precedent” (1951), about Juan and Eva Perón, and “The Case of Salvador Dalí” (1959). She also illustrated a number of her books, including “People as Animals,” “The Flower Game” and “The Life and Times of the Rose.” Her paintings of jungle beasts, huge flowers, birds and objects of nature, often in dreamlike sequences, were exhibited in cities around the world. In 1994 the National Museum of Women’s Art in Washington mounted a show of her paintings, prints and porcelain and crystal designs. “I have an idea a minute,” Ms. Cowles once said. “I’m a born idea myself.” [NOTE: In the photo above, which was published in the London Telegraph, Fleur Cowles is shown with Cary Grant in his room at the Madrid Ritz. Grant was best man at the last of her four weddings].

Olympic gold medal gymnast and "Dancing With The Stars" winner Shawn Johnson is taking advantage of her celebrity-hood. She has appeared at NASCAR events, and Monday night she appeared on Fox Prime's pregame Dodgers television show before throwing out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium. In the lower photo, Shawn appears with Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, who was born in Des Moines and grew up in Indianola, Ia. No doubt Blake gave Johnson some pointers on how to handle the hot corner. In the game, the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Dodgers, 3-2. Two Dodger pitchers threw five wild pitches, prompting Ron Maly to suggest that maybe Blake should have been the team's catcher. Johnson is even making it onto those gossipy "Who's better dressed" polls.[Los Angeles Times]

d.m. register's reid forgrave, k.c. star's bill reiter talk about sick and dying newspaper business

$d.m. register\$
I've spent evenings, weekends and furlough days for the past few months talking to some of the people who still have jobs in the dying newspaper business. Already, former Des Moines Register reporter Bill Reiter [the rumor is he left the Register after editor Carolyn Washburn said she didn't like a story he wrote] can hear his colleagues at McClatchy's Kansas City Star laughing. Reiter knows he'll be teased for his unbridled optimism, his belief that journalism's glass is still half full. "I feel like I live in Middle Earth, and the dark cloud has covered the land," Reiter says. What right does he have to be so happy about his job? After all, he's a mortgage-holder with a journalist-wife and a kid on the way, and he works as a sports enterprise reporter at a paper that has had four rounds of layoffs, saying goodbye to more than 100 staffers. There's plenty to do at work; he feels lucky to get to write Sunday takeouts on a near-weekly basis. But he also spends half his free time "trying to talk fellow journalists off the ledge." Here's what he tells them: "I can't save the newspaper industry, and I can't stop layoffs, and I can't impact the recession. I know this is a cliché, but I can only do the best work that I can do, and I happen to still love it. If you still love it, love it while you can." Besides, in this economy, no profession is layoff-proof. Reiter, 31, believes journalists are craving colleagues and editors who inspire them, who trust them and who know that the key to rowing through the rocky shoals of reinvention is telling great stories. "Everywhere I look there are signs that people are desperate to feel good about journalism," he says. The Web site sportsjournalists.com -- where sports reporters typically complain about the uselessness of awards -- took an uncharacteristic turn as participants urged the complainers to "be quiet; give us something to celebrate, for once!" Reiter recalls. His buddy Reid Forgrave noticed the same response at a beer-and-bitch session following the latest Iowa Newspaper Association awards dinner. Forgrave, a reporter for the Register, says the usual complaints about "my editor wouldn't let me write a 40-inch story; it had to be 25" were gone. "The old complaints almost seem like a luxury now," says Forgrave, 30. Even with the announcements of Gannett-wide furloughs, "People weren't too happy about sacrificing a week's pay, but they weren't as irate as you might expect. It was more like, 'At least we're not getting laid off.' " What keeps him going is the readers who are desperate to tell their stories. The day before his weeklong furlough was to begin in February, a source tipped him off to a 70-year-old woman being kicked out of her house because it was in foreclosure – even though she'd paid her rent. "Those are the stories that I'm most scared of losing. You can always say foreclosures are up 4.2 percent, but when you show it happening to an old woman who's on her front lawn with her granddaughters going through her stuff.." Even though he can't always do it, Forgrave knows he does better work when he protects himself from newsroom negativity, even if it means trying to distance himself from some coworkers and the poisonous drumbeat of Romenesko postings. It would help, he adds, if more editors across the country doled out "honest, positive encouragement that plays to our conscience, to our calling -- the reason we got into the business in the first place," Forgrave says. He likes to take the long view, imagining the industry five or 10 years into the future: "We've figured out how to make money on the Web and we're back to the place where we're not all Chicken Little anymore. "It will probably have been good for us to have had the spotlight shone on us. For once, we'll feel more in tune with the people we're covering..down to the level of what newspaper writers used to be and back to the people that we should be writing about more – the voiceless." [Beth Macy, American Journalism Review. If Macy is among the best that journalism has these days, the business will be dead sooner rather than later. Macy needs an editor. Quickly and badly].

now here's some fantastic news from kcci: the tv station will be showing brian duffy's cartoons

$now here\$
After being seen on the front page of the Des Moines Register for 25 years, award-winning cartoonist Brian Duffy’s work will now be seen on KCCI NewsChannel 8 and KCCI.com. Beginning Tuesday, KCCI NewsChannel 8 viewers will be able to see Duffy’s cartoons animate on their TV screens Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6pm & 10pm. The cartoons will also be available for viewing on KCCI.com Wednesdays and Fridays. “Duffy’s creative wit and style have been sorely missed, and we are delighted to be able to bring him back and showcase his great work,” says KCCI news director Dave Busiek. “Being able to animate his cartoons and see them come to life will be even better than just the still image you used to see in the newspaper.” Brian Duffy is an award-winning cartoonist whose work had been anchored on the front page of the Des Moines Register for 25 years. The Register embarrassed Duffy by firing him earlier this year, then assigning a security person to escort him out of the building. It was a horrible way of demeaning a man who had been a longtime credit to the newspaper. Duffy has been working as a cartoonist and illustrator for more than 30 years. He has received numerous Best of Gannett awards, two consecutive World Hunger Media awards, the Clarion Award and was a finalist for the prestigious John Fischetti Award for editorial cartooning. His two books are "A Decade of Duffy" published in 1993 and "More of Duffy," published in 1995. King Features Syndicate nationally syndicates Duffy’s cartoons in over 400 newspapers. His work can also be seen on his website www.duffyink.com. Duffy attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He lives in West Des Moines with his wife and four children. [KCCI].

on and in the field

Ron Maly is a professional writer and author. He is a four-time Sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa, and he's the author of the best-selling book, "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines," which chronicles the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa. Not only was the hard-cover edition of the book a best-seller, so was the revised, soft-cover edition. Ron is a charter member of the Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box at Iowa City [shown in the photo below]. The Wall of Fame honors members of the media who covered athletics at the University of Iowa. These days, Ron writes about anything that interests him.

Ron Maly's publisher writes: "The University of Iowa has been fielding football teams since 1889, but few have been more successful than the recent squads coached by Kirk Ferentz. In the newly revised and updated trade paper edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, fans can indulge in an up-close view on everything that has taken place in Iowa football through the 2004 season, including the marvelous 2002 season. In 2002 the Hawkeyes tied for the Big Ten title, won a school-record 11 games, and played USC in the Orange Bowl. Award-winning author Ron Maly covers every gripping moment that took place both on and off the field in a season that produced an 8-0 conference record ? from the exciting 42-35 survival in overtime at Penn State to the stunning 34-9 victory at Michigan and the 45-21 win at Minnesota that wrapped up a perfect Big Ten schedule."

can tv station and a newspaper work together? we'll find out. who-tv and register arrange a deal

$can tv station and a newspaper work together? we\$
Well, we'll find out where this all leads. Maybe it'll be a marriage made in heaven between a newspaper and a TV station, maybe it won't. Time will tell. I mean, could Rekha Basu be an anchorwoman? Could John Bachman write a column? All of us know the newspaper business is hurting these days, and we also know WHO runs a consistent No. 2 to KCCI in the central Iowa TV ratings. Now this from Tim Gardner at channel 13: The Des Moines Register and WHO-TV/channel 13 have agreed to work together to expand their content and expertise in an effort to provide the most complete coverage possible to central Iowans. Channel 13 will provide additional video, aerial photography, weather information, including severe weather and school closings to ihe Register and DesMoinesRegister.com to complement the newspaper's print and online offerings. Register reporters and columnists will appear on-air at channel 13. Both companies anticipate working together on significant news events as they arise. “This is simply about allowing central Iowans more choice for accessing Register coverage and content and making that convenient and flexible to suit their lifestyle. We’re pleased to be working with Channel 13” said Laura Hollingsworth, president and publisher of the Register. “The biggest winner in this agreement will be central Iowa news and information consumers,” says WHO regional vice president and general manager Dale R. Woods. “We discovered the strengths of channel 13 news and those of he Des Moines Register complement each other very well and will create fuller, richer content on all our platforms." I guess we'll all have to wait and see if the bosses at KCCI/channel 8 threaten to slash their wrists over all of this.

florida's meyer best collegiate coach, sooners' stoops no. 2, iowa's ferentz no. 5

$florida\$
It's Urban Meyer's world. Everyone else is just coaching in it. Meyer has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of this chart. When this decade dawned, Meyer was the wide receivers coach at Notre Dame under Bob Davie. Meyer went on to coach Bowling Green for two years (17-6 record), Utah for two seasons (22-2) and is entering his fifth season at Florida (45-9). Meyer has two BCS titles in the past three seasons, and his Gators figure to be the overwhelming favorite to win another national championship this season. When will Meyer get bored by all of this and scamper off to the NFL? Or perhaps he'll be lured to Notre Dame, his "dream job," and restore the Irish to national prominence. Whatever is in his future, know this: It's good being Urban Meyer, college football's coaching king. The top 30 coaches: 1. Urban Meyer, Florida. Two BCS titles in three seasons, with another in his sights. 2. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma. No coach can match his four BCS title game appearances. 3. Nick Saban, Alabama. First, he made LSU a national power. Now, Saban has Alabama poised to be the nation's top program. 4. Pete Carroll, USC. No program dominates its conference more. The only thing missing? More BCS titles. 5. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa. He has won big with talent that annually ranks no better than fourth in his league –- at best –- each season. 6. Mack Brown, Texas. To whom much is given, much is expected. And Brown has delivered. 7. Jim Grobe, Wake Forest. Honestly, if this guy were coaching at, say, Texas, how many national titles would he have? 8. Brian Kelly, Cincinnati. He was at his best last fall, tiptoeing around myriad quarterback injuries to lead the Bearcats to the Big East title. 9. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech. He took a simple idea of building a program around defense and special teams – and "Beamerball" – and created a perennial power. 10. Mark Richt, Georgia. His résumé only lacks a national title. And you know one is coming. 11. Rich Rodriguez, Michigan. Not only has he won big, RichRod has helped change the sport with his offense. 12. Mike Riley, Oregon State. He is proof that nice guys don't finish last … and that you can go home again. 13. Jim Tressel, Ohio State. Is he the best coach in Buckeyes history? 14. Tom O'Brien, N.C. State. He's a throwback coach who wins with toughness, discipline and lots of smarts. 15. Joe Paterno, Penn State. Perhaps his best trait at this stage of his career is knowing how to delegate. 16. Kyle Whittingham, Utah. He has taken what Urban Meyer built and made it better. 17. Houston Nutt, Ole Miss. He's an underrated offensive mind who has a knack for getting players to reach their potential. 18. Gary Patterson, TCU. He's a defensive mastermind whose program is every bit as good as most in the Big 12. 19. Mark Mangino, Kansas. He has done the impossible, making Jayhawks football a nationally respected program. 20. Randy Edsall, Connecticut. There isn't a more underrated coach in the nation than Edsall, a smart taskmaster who finds ways to win. 21. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina. He has lost some luster, but Spurrier still is an offensive genius. 22. Mike Leach, Texas Tech. Perhaps no coach means more to his school than Leach, whose offenses have revolutionized the sport. 23. Greg Schiano, Rutgers. He inherited one of the worst programs in America and made it into a likeness of himself – strong, tough and good. 24. Jeff Tedford, California. The offensive wiz has done everything but lead the Golden Bears to the Pac-10 championship. 25. Dennis Erickson, Arizona State. Erickson, who has won two national titles, yearns to finish his career with a bang. 26. Gary Pinkel, Missouri. It was just a matter of time before he imposed his iron will on this program, as he did at Toledo. 27. Jim Leavitt, USF. He has built something out of nothing, making USF a Big East power. 28. Les Miles, LSU. The "Hat" has done enough to prove he belongs among the nation's elite. 29. Chris Petersen, Boise State. The cerebral Petersen understands how to find talent to fit his schemes. 30. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech. He's about ready to change the way we thought you could win in big-time football. Others: Chris Ault, Nevada; Bobby Bowden, Florida State; Art Briles, Baylor; Rich Brooks, Kentucky; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Butch Davis, North Carolina; Todd Graham, Tulsa; Al Groh, Virginia; Jim Harbaugh, Stanford; Pat Hill, Fresno State; Brady Hoke, San Diego State; Skip Holtz, East Carolina; Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt; June Jones, SMU; Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville; Bronco Mendenhall, BYU; Rick Neuheisel, UCLA; Bobby Petrino, Arkansas. [Tom Dienhart, Rivals.com].

n.y. times wins 5 pulitzer prizes; d.m. register shut out for 18th straight year

Some regard the Pulitzer Prize as journalism's highest award. The New York Times won five Pulitzers today, which may or may not indicate something in a dying business. The Des Moines Register, for the 18th consecutive year, did not win a Pulitzer. That may or may not indicate something, too. The Pulitzer winners: JOURNALISM: Public Service - Las Vegas Sun Breaking News Reporting - The New York Times Staff Investigative Reporting - David Barstow of The New York Times Explanatory Reporting - Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times Local Reporting -Detroit Free Press Staff and Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ National Reporting - St. Petersburg Times Staff International Reporting - The New York Times Staff Feature Writing - Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times Commentary - Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post Criticism - Holland Cotter of The New York Times Editorial Writing - Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY Editorial Cartooning - Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune Breaking News Photography - Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald Feature Photography - Damon Winter of The New York Times LETTERS, DRAMA and MUSIC: Fiction - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Random House) Drama - Ruined by Lynn Nottage History - The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (W.W. Norton & Company) Biography - American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (Random House) Poetry - The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press) General Nonfiction - Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (Doubleday) Music - Double Sextet by Steve Reich, premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA (Boosey & Hawkes).

anonymous comments permitted by gannett co. rankle d.m. register reporter clark kauffman

Doug Feaver is retired from WashingtonPost.com. His defense earlier today on Jim Romenesko's Poynter journalism website of unmoderated, anonymous comments prompted Clark Kauffman to dig up a letter he wrote to Gannett's news chief in early 2008. The Des Moines Register reporter complained that the chain "is systematically dismantling its professionally staffed newsrooms and replacing them with Information Centers staffed in part by unpaid (and sometimes anonymous) contributors. I know financial pressures are driving this, but the result is as predictable as it is unavoidable: a lower quality news product." Here's what was written by Kauffman and posted on Poynter Online: From CLARK KAUFFMAN: I see that a former Washington Post website editor is defending unmoderated, anonymous comments by saying there are "dark forces are out there and that it is too easy to forget that truth by imposing rules that obscure it." Do anonymous, unsubstantiated allegations help expose the truth? I'd argue that the opposite is true and that's why newspapers are staffed by trained, skilled reporters, editors and fact-checkers, and not by anonymous individuals randomly plucked off the street. In January, 2008, I wrote to Gannett's senior vice president of news at the time, Phil Currie, to explain my own personal concerns about the unmoderated "story chats" embraced by the company. Mr. Currie didn't respond, but there's little or nothing I said then that wouldn't apply to newspapers today. Here's that letter: Mr. Currie, As a Gannett reporter, I was happy to see your NewsWatch column about responsible journalism. I was particularly encouraged to see you argue that we need to help the public "see the difference between shouting matches and sound journalism, and underscore that the second version -- while perhaps not quite as visually or viscerally entertaining -- in the long run is far more informative and important to us all." I hope I'm not out of line here, but from my perspective, it looks as if Gannett's newspapers are determined to erase the line that once separated sound journalism from uninformed commentary, unsubstantiated accusations and anonymous allegations. Like other Gannett papers, the Register has turned its newsroom into an "Information Center," in part by publishing rumors, half-truths and outright lies submitted by anonymous folks with screen names like "Hugh G. Rekshon." Not long ago, we had a reader who decided to publish on our site the juvenile court record of a young woman, complete with references to drug testing, psychological exams and the girl's one-time status as a juvenile ward of the state. We routinely publish comments questioning the virtue of female criminal defendants and the citizenship of anyone who seems to have a Hispanic surname. We call that "community conversation." Others see it as a public stoning, hosted by a newspaper that grants all of the attackers complete anonymity. And like other Gannett papers, the Register is cutting back on content produced by trained, professional journalists while encouraging community members to submit photos, columns and blogs. A few of our community bloggers have used this forum to write about the details of their drug use and their sexual activities. Most of our contributors choose their topics more carefully, but again, they're not professionals. Not everyone who can type is a reporter. Not everyone with a cell-phone camera is a photographer. But in the Information Center, we're all part of a homogenized team of "content providers" -- some of whom, not coincidentally, work for free. A well-researched Register news article is published on the same Web page as a reader's step-by-step instructions as to how a local woman under a psychiatrist's care should commit suicide using carbon monoxide. The Register also has government officials writing copy for its news columns. Last week, I interviewed a state department head who told me about the health columns his workers are writing, at taxpayer expense, for my employer. I know we've also had city officials contribute bylined columns. These are public officials working for a private, for-profit business on the taxpayers' dime. That's the sort of thing Gannett should uncover and report. It's not the sort of thing Gannett should facilitate. We also have advertisers working directly for our newsroom. A few weeks ago, an editor had to ask one of "our" health columnists, who actually works for the Hy-Vee grocery store chain, to stop using the column to shill for Hy-Vee brand merchandise. Don't get me wrong: We still do great things here at the Register, day in and day out. I'm proud to work here. But just as our best journalism enhances our reputation in the community, these other contributions diminish the standing of the institution and the people who work here. More important, they contribute to this problem of readers and viewers confusing all the shouting, name calling and misinformation on the Web with the actual news you're paying people like myself to produce. Somehow, in the transition from ink-on-paper to pixels-on-a-screen, we threw away almost all of our standards related to content and professionalism. We're no longer willing to act as a gatekeeper, apparently because some of our competitors on the Web aren't willing to act as one. They publish unverified allegations from anonymous individuals, and now, so do we. They make no distinction between mere information and actual news, between stenography and reporting, between press releases and news articles, between analysis and uninformed speculation ... and now we seem to be doing the same. How can we expect our readers to distinguish between all these variations in information dissemination when we're unable to do so ourselves? In 1897, the New York Times decided the best way to compete with all of the scandal sheets in the city was to openly promote the fact that it was going to act as a gatekeeper and would decide what sort of news was worthy of publication. While other papers tried to compete by publishing the most outrageous and unverified stories, the Times actively promoted the fact that it was willing to print only the news that it deemed "fit to print." The paper used its high standards to set itself apart from all of its competitors, and before long it was recognized as the most reliable and accurate source of news in the city. I wish Gannett would take that same approach to the competition we face today. Instead, it is systematically dismantling its professionally staffed newsrooms and replacing them with Information Centers staffed in part by unpaid (and sometimes anonymous) contributors. I know financial pressures are driving this, but the result is as predictable as it is unavoidable: a lower quality news product. One final point: I don't mean to preach, but our lack of liability for publishing "story chat" material doesn't lessen our moral responsibility. I know everyone at Gannett understands that. But do they realize that the people subjected to the most inflammatory reader comments on news sites are often violent criminals or people with mental health problems whose troubles have put them in the news? In that context, a murder or suicide that stems from something posted to one of our sites is a real possibility. As noted in the example cited above, there's no shortage of people out there who will use our story chat to figuratively yell "Jump!" at someone standing on a ledge. We haven't had a MySpace-type incident yet, but I think it's only a matter of time. Well, as I said, I was pleased to read your column. I suspect there may not be many people at the corporate level who share my concerns, but I think they're indicative of these larger problems you mentioned in your column. And as a lifelong Iowan who appreciates the role of The Des Moines Register in this state's history, these are the things that keep me up at night. -- Clark Kauffman, reporter, Des Moines Register.

6-7 ben simons, an incoming drake recruit, finishes as runnerup for michigan's mr. basketball award

$6-7 ben simons, an incoming drake recruit, finishes as runnerup for michigan\$
Incoming Drake basketball recruit Ben Simons, a 6-7 forward from Cadillac, Mich., Monday finished as runner-up for the 29th annual Hal Schram Mr. Basketball award, given by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan, in conjunction with the Detroit Free Press. Simons finished with 1,638 points in voting, 88 points behind Derrick Nix (1,726 points) of Detroit Pershing High School. Simons averaged 29.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.1 steals per game this past season. He had two 44-point games and a pair of 38-point efforts, while leading Cadillac to a No. 9 ranking in the final 2009 Michigan Class B poll. He earned first-team Michigan Class B all-state honors by the Detroit Free Press and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan. He was a three-time first team All-Big North Conference performer. Simons shoot 53 percent from the field, nearly 80 percent at the foul line and he hit 38 percent behind the three-point arc. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Mike Mahon, Drake's sports information director].

street in coralville will be named hayden fry way in honor of hawkeyes' former football coach

$street in coralville will be named hayden fry way in honor of hawkeyes\$
The Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, the University of Iowa and the city of Coralville, along with the Iowa City/Coralville Area Hospitality Association, are pleased to announce a proclamation and new festival honoring longtime Iowa football coach Hayden Fry. The city of Coralville will issue a proclamation at its March 10 meeting co-naming First Avenue (between I-80 and Highway 6) in Coralville as Hayden Fry Way. First Avenue is the most heavily traveled stretch of road in Johnson County and serves as the gateway for Kinnick-bound Iowa football fans. It is also the stretch of road Hayden took every day for 20 years to his office. Hayden Fry Way will be unveiled publicly at a special ceremony with Fry on Sept. 4, at 10 a.m. Hayden celebrated his 80th birthday last Saturday, and 2009 marks the 10th Anniversary of his retirement as Iowa’s winningest football coach. FRY FEST 2009 will be a new, annual weekend festival in celebration of the Hawkeyes. The festival will be named in honor of Fry, be coordinated with the unveiling of Hayden Fry Way/First Avenue signage; and will occur, annually, on the Friday before each first Iowa home football game. [This story was sent to Ron Maly by Barry Crist].

27-year veteran ecker, 56, fired at gazette; he was among 3 top investigative sportswriters in iowa

Not a lot of upbeat stuff from the newspaper front today. Jim Ecker's byline has appeared for the last time on the sports pages of the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Ecker, 56, who has been writing two columns a week and covering Northern Iowa basketball games, has been fired after nearly 27 years at the newspaper. Ecker [pictured] is one of the three best investigative sportswriters in the state of Iowa, and didn't deserve what happened to him. Also fired from the Gazette's sports staff were John Riehl and Jeff Dahn. In all, more than a dozen newsroom employees were dumped at the Gazette. People at the paper are referring to it as "Black Tuesday." It is, of course, a sign of the times in the newspaper business. The Gazette isn't the first paper to fire reporters and editors, and it won't be the last. Amid the turmoil in the business, nothing should surprise me. Or you. There are shockers every day. Who'd have thought page 1 cartoonist Brian Duffy would get the ax at the Des Moines Register a while back? Good people, people with talent are shown the door in an industry that's shellshocked because of declining advertising profits and circulation. One of the talented writers to take a career hit was certainly Ecker. He was a high-proile reporter and columnist at the Gazette, and I know first-hand how hard he worked. He was well-known throughout the state, as well as other areas of the country. He covered big bowl games and NCAA tournaments. He's been in huge press boxes in the Big Ten and Big 12 Conferences. He's asked tough questions in press conferences. He's gotten into heated discussions more than once with coaches and athletic directors. A classic Ecker performance came a number of years ago when he was on the Iowa football beat. Hawkeye coach Hayden Fry spent most of a Tuesday press conference berating Ecker because he aggressively tried to find out what Iowa's new uniforms looked like. But the more Fry barked, the more Ecker barked. It was sports journalism at its best. It also was Ecker and Fry at their best. After those two guys got through with each other, there wasn't any time to talk about football. Ecker didn't quit on a column or a story until he got it right, and I thought he was fair to the people he wrote about and fair to the people he worked with. Critics said he at times treated sportswriting as though it was the police beat. But I say not enough people covering sports do it the way Ecker does it. He's been a friend of mine for a lot of years, and I'll miss seeing his byline in the Gazette. Good luck in the future, Jim. [By Ron Maly].

Cartoonist duffy, outdoor writer latest victims of purge in the register's newsroom

$Cartoonist duffy, outdoor writer latest victims of purge in the register\$
Two traditions at the Des Moines Register undoubtedly went down the drain today in the latest bloodbath in the newsroom. Brian Duffy, the veteran front-page cartoonist, and outdoor writer Julie Probasco-Sowers were victims of another round of layoffs and buyouts in a dying industry. Duffy was no doubt the last page 1 cartoonist at the Register, following such Pulitzer Prize-winners as J. N. "Ding" Darling and Frank Miller. Darling won Pulitzers in 1924 and 1943, Miller in 1967. Many newspaper people wondered why Duffy never won a Pulitzer; now he never will--at least at the Register. It's difficult to believe the Gannett Co., owner of the Register, has ordered massive layoffs and buyouts at its newspapers with Christmas just weeks away. But, obviously, it is a business that no longer has a heart. In the old days, newspapers gave their employees holiday bonuses; today they give them pink slips. There are people besides Duffy and Probasco-Sowers who've been told they'll be without jobs. Among them are Conrad Schmidt, a zones photographer; Tim Brown in the library; Cindy Lane, an event tracker; Ken Seeber of the night copy desk; Randy Witke of the day copy desk, who is taking a voluntary retirement, and Todd Bailey, sports online content. "There are several open positions in the newsroom, but I haven't heard whether they bit the dust or not," a source says. "I'm guessing they did. It's not a a happy ship right now."-- Cartoon by Duffy, May 27, 2008

betrayal

A number of my friends from both inside and outside of the newspaper business urged me to read a book titled "David and Liz -- Dancing Through Love." It's not what you might think. Just because the words love and dancing are in the title, there are plenty of things in the book that are neither graceful nor lovable. It's a paperback written by Dave and Elizabeth Kruidenier with Beverly Rivera Davis that gives a reader some insight into the newspaper business when people actually thought it had a future. I mean, when Dave Kruidenier was at the top of his game, circulation and advertising weren't at all-time lows at the Des Moines Register like they are now, readers weren't invited continually to read the paper on their computers and eager young journalism students weren't being told that newspapers are dead. Davis wrote the 347-page book after interviewing Dave Kruidenier and his wife, Liz. The late Dave Kruidenier was the big boss at the Register during some of the time I worked there. Indeed, I was onboard when Time magazine, in 1984, called it one of the best 10 newspapers in America. I didn't see much of Dave, and neither did most of the other reporters and middle editors who worked in the newsroom on the fourth floor of the paper at 8th & Locust. I probably would have had more conversations with Kruidenier had I made better use of the elevators. But, in those days, I usually walked up and down the stairs and forgot the elevators. Dave rode the elevators. However, whenever I did have occasion to talk with Kruidenier, we got along very well. After I gave the introductory speech for new members of the Register & Tribune's 20-Year Club in 1979, Kruidenier greeted me warmly, told me how much he liked my comments and mentioned that he thought the double-breasted navy blue blazer, white shirt with French cuffs, blue-and-red striped tie and gray slacks I was wearing that Sunday afternoon gave the program a professional look. More than anything, he liked the shoes I was wearing. "Are those Johnston & Murphy?" he asked. "You're close," I told him. "Nice," he said. I thanked Kruidenier, told him he was dressed well, too, and mentioned that I thought he was doing a great job of running the paper. I figured that was the least a stockholder joining the 20-Year Club could tell the big boss. On the "About the Authors" page at the end of the book, Kruidenier is called the "former CEO and president of Cowles Media Company, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper publisher, and philanthropist." Dave Kruidenier never really left the building, even after the Register was sold, but the paper has never been the same since he had to cease running the show. The book says Dave's wife, Elizabeth Woodwell Stuart Kruidenier "is an attorney, civil rights activist, and philanthropist." Beverly Rivera Davis "is a native Iowan and longtime friend of the Kruideniers. Educated at the State University of New York, she is a former television reporter and producer, talk show host and wire journalist. Currently, she is a freelance writer and U.S. political correspondent for PROFIL, an Austrian weekly newsmagazine." The book, published by iUniverse, has a price on the back cover of $24.95. I am indebted to my good friend, Bob Downing, who loaned me his autographed copy so I could read it. In the book's foreword, Beverly Rivera Davis writes, "David and Liz Kruidenier with this book was their last and best gift to me. When David died before all these pages were completed, our city lost its most generous philanthropist and I lost a dear friend and best mentor.... "We first met in the mid-70s. Already in their fifties, David and Liz were at the height of their beauty and power; known as scions of society and seriously accomplished professionals...." I was particularly interested in chapter 23 of the book, which is titled "Betrayal." The betrayal part is in reference to Mike Gartner, aka Michael Gartner, a power-hungry little asshole who many people regard as the most hated man in the state of Iowa. At one point or another, Gartner -- who has always had an advanced case of "little man's disease" and is a poster child for the ailment -- finds a way of getting under the skin of virtually everyone he meets. Read my entire review of the book in my July 9, 2008 column. Link at the bottom of the page, under "the end." Photo of Gartner courtesy of Google.

what nile kinnick might be saying

I'm glad Kirk and the boys over at Iowa City had another outstanding season. Kirk certainly deserved being voted the Big Ten's coach of the year. Nothing against Eddie Anderson, but Kirk is the kind of coach I'd have liked to play for. Ron Maly used to always tell Hayden Fry, the coach who preceded Kirk in the Iowa job, that the season wouldn't be complete until he took Ron and everyone else connected to Hawkeye football "to somewhere warm in January." It's obvious Kirk is going to take everyone who wants to make the trip to someplace warm again in 2010.

he's on twitter, too -- even though he doesn't think much of the name

Ron Maly on Twitter

the columns

▼ 2009 (277)

► December (8)

Hosing the State's Basketball Fans

How To Feel Good In the Winter

Iowa Takes 10-2 Record Against 11-2 Georgia Tech I...

Melodee Hanes

The Deal At Dordt

Mac Attack

It's Time To Retire the Numbers Of Wier and Darlin...

Richard Hayman

► November (22)

Dordt College Would Never Treat Me So Rudely

In a Letter To the Register's Editor, George Wine ...

Iowa State's 'Bill Fennelly Hates--Absolutely Hate...

It's Just Like the Old Days for Me: I Ask Bill Fen...

Be Glad the Gophers Are In the League

Chanse Creekmur...Or His Dad...Might Want To Commi...

'Walter' Calls This Iowa's Worst Basketball Team I...

Jane Burns and That Front-Page Stuff

For Greg McDermott, This Team Could Be a Job-Saver...

'The Team That Quit:' In 1957, Evashevski Told Iow...

After the Hawkeyes' Near-Miss At Ohio State, Longt...

Too Many Dropped Passes In 27 -24 Overtime Loss To...

El Foldo Acts & Other Things

'The Farnsworth Invention' One Of Worst Performan...

The Day Giraffes Start Writing Messages On Twitter...

Virgil In Victor Writes About His Narrowing Stream...

Nothing Like Being Part Of the Front Page News In ...

$1 On Sundays, $1 On Weekdays

Even In Santa Fe, They Knew

Even in Santa Fe, Ron Maly and plenty of others kn...

Hawkeyes' Evashevski 'Had a Command Presence About...

Lute Olson Never Met a Sports Information Director...

► October (25)

Some Coaches Would've Benched Stanzi After 5 Inter...

Iowa's 1958 Team Is Regarded As the Best Iowa Has ...

Scott Pierce Says High School Football Teams Playi...

Memo To Hawkeye Fans: 'There Are Pot Holes Ahead. ...

Iowa's Forest Evashevski Was Great In the Football...

This Is Getting Serious, Folks. Historic, Too. 7-Y...

An Eye-Opening Upset By the Cyclones At Nebraska; ...

These Days, I Judge a Movie By How Many Times I Fa...

It's a Twitter Kind Of Day

Jayde and Yuki In Japan. Fusayo Hattori Tells Ron ...

Forest Evashevski, Always the Battler, Was the Bes...

People Say Some Guys Spend Part Of Their Lives Loo...

I Found An Ideal Time To Employ the 140-Character ...

Bow Your Head. Our State's Pastors and Priests Can...

'Who Thought It Was a Good Idea? Who Thought It Wa...

28-5 Under Keno, 17-16 Under Phelps--Now Drake's '...

Check This Out To Learn What Happened When Someone...

All That's Missing From This Picture Is the 'Help ...

A Look At a Classic Kinnick Stadium Blackout Game;...

No Holiday [Park] for Holliday--Little Leaguers Fr...

► September (18)

► August (16)

► July (22)

► June (20)

▼ May (31)

'How To Save $$$...Screw the Press'--Ohio State, M...

Scott Pierce Tells Me, 'As a Cardinal Fan, I Hope ...

NASCAR Last Week, Dodgers Next Week--Now I've Got ...

In Answer To the Question About Whether Overpaid, ...

We Talked About the Darnedest Things At Erv's 90th...

Pip Puts On a Show

Cap Anson Was a Racist, For Sure--'On More Than On...

'Back In the Early 1950s, There Was a Group Of Peo...

Drake Announcer Scott Pierce Says His 11-Year-Old ...

Bob Spiegel, Who Was a 19-Year Des Moines Tribune ...

Cleveland Trading DeRosa To the Cardinals Would Be...

Hey, Maybe You're Ready for This and Maybe You're ...

This Is Going To Be An Interesting Summer, Knowing...

It's Difficult for Me To Believe That It's Only Ma...

Bo, Brooksie, The 'Z', Mark, Mother Podolak's Chil...

Shawn Has Taken the Fixed 'Dancing' As Far As It N...

Scott Pierce, Who Doesn't Buy the Register Anymore...

Carolyn Washburn's Husband Has a New Pizza Cookboo...

This & That, Including Bradley, Staiger, the Chrys...

Cubs Win Late Last Night and Today, Too. Theriot I...

It's Too Bad 'Dancing With the Stars' Isn't a Spor...

Where's Chuck Albrecht When I Need Him? Oh, Well, ...

He's Not Crazy, He's Just a Cub: The Team Now Has ...

Now That We Know Jeff Samardzija Is Showing Signs ...

Drake Will Hear the 'Let's Go, Peay!' Cheer a Lot ...

Brett Favre Is Obviously a Sick Man, and I Hope Th...

Even Though Big Ten Football Is In a Down Cycle [1...

Yawn. Sorry, But I'm Not Among the 2 Or 3 People W...

Bud Appleby Says, 'I Sometimes Think the Register ...

The Sun Is Out, So Look for Me Behind the Honda In...

McCoy McLemore Helped Put Drake Basketball On the ...

► April (24)

► March (31)

► February (25)

► January (35)

► 2008 (378)

► December (37)

► November (33)

► October (39)

► September (28)

► August (34)

► July (24)

► June (26)

► May (29)

► April (28)

► March (34)

► February (33)

► January (33)

► 2007 (331)

► December (29)

► November (23)

► October (25)

► September (23)

► August (43)

► July (35)

► June (26)

► May (21)

► April (30)

► March (31)

► February (18)

► January (27)

► 2006 (145)

► December (27)

► November (22)

► October (23)

► September (26)

► August (25)

► July (22)

the end

Google News

Mike Gartner's, aka Michael Gartner's Betrayal

Ron Maly

Ron On Twitter

Ronald Wesley Maly

The March To Madness

The Wizard Of Odds

ronald wesley maly

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hey, Maybe You're Ready for This and Maybe You're Not [Frankly, I Doubt That I Am]. The Register Is Now Planning To Publish 'Tweets To the Editor'

ron maly

lickliter's carotid artery repaired with stent; he stays home as his team is blitzed by uni, 67-50

chicago cubs next? hall of famer sandberg will manage no-name team in d.m. next season

charlie, clean up your mouth--you know you shouldn't be talking about another coach like that!

cale hunt receives torch-bearer leadership award at drake football banquet

christmas card from tiger woods and the missus

drake's women fly high: plummer's 27 lead 85-67 victory over air force in tournament finale

ferentz says he's 'not a vagabond coach,' indicates he has no interest in the job at notre dame

iowa's joe conklin nominated for college football's 'rudy' award

attention register and press-citizen: more gannett furloughs are on the way in 2010

4.0 student from ballard of huxley golfer signs national letter of intent to attend drake

great alaska shootout still hanging on and drake's men will play in it next nov. 24-27 at anchorage

no. 1-rated tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz says 'no' to illinois scholarship, says he'll be a hawkeye

Appleby wonders why the register couldn't find a reporter capable of covering drake women's game

7 hawkeyes on all-big ten first team; ferentz named coach of the year again

well, if you're a hawkeye fan, keep your fingers [and anything else you've got] crossed

marshalltown community college's phillips signs to play basketball at iowa state

barnes is a smart kid; he knew roy williams, north carolina were his quickest route to nba riches

standout hawkeye punter donahue named one of 10 semifinalists for ray guy award

iowa's tony moeaki named semifinalist for john mackey award

q-c times veteran columnist wundram says he has inoperable prostate cancer

iowa's phil haddy says, 'get the correct facts' on the hawkeyes' unbeaten football team

memo to uni president and everyone else: don't pay attention to anything mike gartner says

northwestern hands cold-shooting cyclones their first defeat, 67-65

'the buzz is back' at azalea? with that empty dining room, datebook must be trying to fool readers

'people of the deep south realize what the rest of us have known for years: gene chizik is a fraud'

ex-hawkeye star lester gives iowa $100,000 to honor trainer streif, help with upgrading of arena

carroll, ia. marks 50th anniversary of minneapolis lakers' crash-land in cornfield

if nebraska's Ndamukong Suh is a heisman finalist, mike gartner will jump naked off no name stadium

hey, give datebook a hand--it found a restaurant that had 2 customers and one waiter in dining room

yogi says, 'hi'

uni, with all starters returning, picked to win valley title; drake tabbed for 8th place

ex-kansas standout raef lafrentz lives in d.m., invests in iowa farmland

maybe they'll get around to this story at 8th & locust one of these days

iowa basketball team picked to finish last in big ten, but lickliter isn't buying it

don't go here--with all those empty seats, obviously the food is very bad in this restaurant

speaking of losers

datebook gives us a good look at another restaurant where nobody wants to be seen or caught eating

gene chizik sends 2009 greetings to all of his good friends at iowa state and in central iowa

first it was photos of empty dining rooms in datebook, now it's photos of empty patio areas

on paper at least, uni is a strong favorite to win the valley's men's basketball title

the classic photographic example of a man having his cake and eating it, too

an easy decision for waukee's 6-11 will artino; he says he'll play basketball at creighton

son of ex-drake standout wayne kreklow says he'll play basketball at missouri

although this may look like a register editor, it's not; it's the official birdhouse of this column

ripping the soul out of d.m. register, other gannett co. newspapers

kirk ferentz flying to the moon--or at least through the hawkeyes' 2015 football season

this $20 no-gears, no-frills cruiser with coaster brakes is the official bike of ron maly's columns

cold-hearted move: dan mccool, the nation's best wrestling writer, among 36 laid off by register

strange development: c.r. gazette will print iowa city paper; press-citizen lays off 4 employees

ex-drake women's assistant coach parker named athletic director at california baptist

the official car

the news

no-name ballfield

6-7 drake recruit aaron hawley named mvp of arkansas all-star basketball event

happiness

bees buzz

work

camp

fleur cowles, 101, dies in england; 'the register is apparently waiting to publish a paid obituary'

maybe it's not floyd of rosedale, but at least the heartland is a football trophy

d.m. register's reid forgrave, k.c. star's bill reiter talk about sick and dying newspaper business

remember when i had you stop and smell the flowers last year at this time? well, they're back again

how time flies

newlyweds

welcome

now here's some fantastic news from kcci: the tv station will be showing brian duffy's cartoons

on and in the field

the wall of fame

the best-sellers

friends

gary hinrichs tells ron maly about his offensive skill as a guernsey basketball player in 1942

can tv station and a newspaper work together? we'll find out. who-tv and register arrange a deal

you've heard what they say about an apple a day, haven't you?

florida's meyer best collegiate coach, sooners' stoops no. 2, iowa's ferentz no. 5

cute crowd

duluth volleyball, 2009