Lots Of Folks Flock To Valley Gym So They Can See Ames' Harrison Barnes; Fans Of the Tigers' Hapless Basketball Program Chant, 'Let's Play Football!'

It's not often that I make a trip to a high school gym to watch a 16-year-old kid play basketball, but I did just that last night.

*

I got my first up-close and personal look at Harrison Barnes [pictured at the left], the Ames High School player who is at the top -- or close to the top -- of every major college national recruiting list.

Duke wants him. North Carolina wants him. Kansas wants him. Texas wants him. Tubby Smith at Minnesota even wants him. Now, wouldn't that be a kick in the head -- Harrison Barnes being a Gopher!

So do Iowa State and Iowa want him -- and I'm sure Drake and Northern Iowa, too.

For all I know, the Celtics -- the Celtics from Boston of the NBA -- want him.

He's already been offered scholarships by the best teams and best coaches in the nation because he's that good.

*

Ames played a game in Bill Coldiron Fieldhouse at Valley in West Des Moines last night, and the 6-6, lean kid [don't worry, he'll put on weight eventually] on your Ames roster was everything you'd ask for in a high school junior.

The kid can shoot, rebound, run and pass. He seems to have a spectacular attitude on a team that has a 14-0 record and is ranked No. 1 among the state's 4-A high schools.

He scored 18 points in Ames' 63-40 victory in a game that, actually, amounted to a case of men playing against boys.

Doug McDermott, another junior who is a Division I prospect on the Ames team, scored 15 points for a team I refuse to call the Little Cyclones. OK, I'll do it once, but no more.

It might be the one of the two dumbest nicknames in the state. The other is Little Hawks at City High School in Iowa City.

Nothing little about either Ames or City High.

The way Barnes operated both outside and under the basket in a game that was close for a while -- Ames led only 29-25 at halftime, and Barnes didn't score until the second quarter -- I can see why Duke, North Carolina and Texas want him.

*

Ames began playing for real in the third quarter and turned what was a decent game into another bloodbath.

In front of the largest crowd I've ever seen for a Valley basketball game, Ames outscored the Tigers, 21-3, in the third quarter.

Even though the final score wasn't close, at least it wasn't anything like the 89-31 debacle Ames won from Valley earlier this season at Ames.

That was an embarrassment the minute Valley's players got off the team bus.

I'd have been tempted to fire the entire Valley coaching staff after that mess. Valley has no business losing by 58 points to anyone in anything.

*

Valley's records are 6-9 overall and 2-6 in the metro conference. The only thing keeping the Tigers out of last place in their division is Mason City, which must really be bad.

*

I saw Tim McClelland in the crowd. He's the major league baseball umpire who is consistently labeled the best in the business. He has a daughter, Maggie, on Valley's girls' team, but I was told last night that she's out for the rest of the season after having back surgery. By the way, Ames' girls beat Valley, 40-35. At least it was a decent game.

*

When things began looking hopeless for Valley's boys' team, the students sitting in the south end zone [pictured at the right] began chanting, "Let's play football!" to the Ames fans. A lot of the kids in that part of the Valley section were members of the Tiger football team that won another state class 4-A championship last fall.

*

I guess the only question I have is whether Barnes should go to a Duke, a North Carolina or a Kansas and be just another standout on a team made up of standouts, or if he should go somewhere and be the star of the show.

He certainly would get a lot of attention by playing at one of the Division I schools in our state, but I'm afraid he'll be like everyone being recruited by Duke and North Carolina.

The thought of being on one of those rosters will likely have a lot of influence on him.

The good thing is he's got this season and all of the 2009-2010 season to think about it. Nice luxury to have.

*

I guess I can't see Barnes playing at Iowa State, where his dad, Ron Harris, was a standout.

I mean, there's no assurance the Cyclone coach who's recruiting him -- Greg McDermott, the dad of Ames player Doug McDermott -- will be Iowa State's coach when Barnes is a collegiate player.

McDermott isn't getting the job done at Iowa State, and could be out of a job soon.

The clock is certainly ticking on him.

"One more season is what he'll get," a guy sitting a row above me predicted during the game.

I don't think the guy's name was Jamie Pollard, but he seemed to know something about the things going on at Iowa State.

The guy said he's seen Barnes play five times this season, and thinks Iowa State will give McDermott next season yet to prove he isn't in over his head.

We'll see.

*

The Valley-Ames doubleheader got a whopping four paragraphs in this morning's Des Moines Register -- two for the girls' game, two for the boys' game.

Hell of a strange way to treat two girls' teams that are ranked among the state's top 10, and the No. 1-rated boys' team playing against a school from one of the largest cities in the state of Iowa.

The next time publisher Laura Hollingsworth again wants to bitch about lousy [and always declining] circulation at her paper, all she has to do is take the elevator down to the fourth floor, check to see if the sports editor has any sanity and ream out his ass at the same time.

My Years Of Liking the New York Yankees Lasted Until I Was About 11. Now I Love It When They Lose Games and Get Mad At Each Other

When I was a kid, I was a fan of the New York Yankees.

That probably was for a couple of reasons -- first, Joe DiMaggio played for them and, second, because the Yankees were winners.

When I was about 10, I won an award in an essay contest in Cedar Rapids. I wrote that DiMaggio was my favorite player.

My prize was a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio.

The bat is long gone. It probably was lost somewhere in the garage my dad built on 18th Avenue on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids.

If the people who own that garage now ever find the bat, let me know. There will be a reward waiting.

*

My years of being a Yankees fan lasted until I was about 11.

Then, for some unknown reason, I began listening to Chicago Cubs games through the static on Chicago radio station WGN.

By that time, I guess, I had started liking underdogs.

Everyone knows now that the Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908, but I still have hope that they'll get the job done sometime before Lou Piniella is managing in the big ballpark in the sky.

*

All of that is beside the point.

Even though I don't like the Yankees anymore, I pay attention to what's going on with them.

I particularly like it when they lose games, and when they get mad at each other.

I know that former New York manager Joe Torre has written a book about them, and that it's not making present and past Yankee players very happy.

Indeed, ex-pitcher David Wells -- whom I have always regarded as a bum -- said some things about Torre yesterday. "Fired back" is how the Associated Press wrote it.

Wells said Torre unfairly criticized his former Yankee players in his book, "The Yankee Years" that was co-authored by Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated.

"I'm kind of like blown away because of the fact he's coming out and he's bashing," Wells said in a radio interview in Tampa, Fla. "I found out he was bashing me and Kevin Brown..."

Torre said of Wells: "The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to."

I love it.

*

My spies both in and out of the newspaper business are keeping me updated with the news -- all of it bad, of course.

I'm told that the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier [pictured at the left] is dropping its Saturday paper, another victim of the budget squeeze.

"Actually, when I was growing up in Waterloo there was no Saturday morning Courier," a guy tells me. "If East Waterloo High School played a Friday night game in basketball or football we saw no account of it until Sunday."

'Also, among the layoffs at Mason City [another Lee paper] was a guy they called sports editor. But she said she was not sure that anyone actually held such a title.

'You will remember, I know, Jim Van Heel, who was the Mason City Globe-Gazette sports editor for a long time."

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I remember Jim Van Heel well. He's dead now, but he wouldn't believe what's going on in the newspaper business these days either].

I'm Glad Evansville's Basketball Team Didn't Try To Make It To D.M. I Have Memories Of What Happened To a Purple Aces Squad More Than 32 Years Ago

When I heard that last night's Drake-Evansville basketball game at the Knapp Center was postponed until today because the Purple Aces had ice-related travel problems, my mind went into rewind.

I recalled the trip I made more than 32 years ago when there was a much more tragic basketball story in Evansville, Ind.

On Dec. 13, 1977, a twin-engine DC-3 airplane that was supposed to carry Evansville's team to a game at Middle Tennessee State crashed near the Evansville airport shortly after takeoff.

All 29 people aboard died, including 14 members of the team, coach Bobby Watson, school officials, team managers and a radio announcer.

I went to Evansville shortly after the tragedy, and among the people I interviewed was Arad McCutchan, who had retired as Evansville's coach the year before.

McCutchan told me he had the job of identifying bodies at the crash scene.

"I recruited six of the players and was a pallbearer at the funerals of Bob Hudson [the school's assistant athletic director] and radio broadcaster Marv Bates," McCutchan said.

McCutchan added that he very well could have been on the plane, too.

"I could have coached one more season, but decided to get out after last year," he told me.

With plenty of people in Evansville still around to recall what happened on that horrible Dec. 13, 1977 night, it didn't surprise me one bit that this season's team didn't try anything heroic when icy conditions kept its airplane from flying to Des Moines this week.

*

Three reserves from the basketball team at the University of Iowa later transferred to Evansville when it was rebuilding its program. I wrote that story, too, and that's a column for another day.

*

Susie Of Shueyville, not her real name, writes:

"As seen and read in the Cedar Rapids Gazette sports page:

HIRED

Homer Screws has been recommended for hire as girls' soccer coach at Cedar Rapids Kennedy, pending board approval.

If hired, Screws will take over a program that has finished second at the state tournament three straight years. He would succeed Sean Mccoy.

Susie of Shueyville asks; Do you think Mama Screws and Papa Screws might have considered a name change some years ago? After all, who wants to go through life with a name like Homer?"

[RON MALY'S COMMENT: To say nothing of Screws!]


*

When I'd talk to Maury John, the longtime basketball coach at Drake, he'd say, "Just give me seven players and a bunch of cheerleaders.

By "cheerleaders," he meant guys in uniform who would practice against his regulars and provide support on the bench during games.

I'm not sure coach Todd Lickliter has seven talented players at Iowa, but he does have at least one cheerleader on the bench.

The cheerleader is his son, John, a walkon who jumps all around during games, pumping his fists and offering support to the first-teamers.

Young Lickliter reminds Iowa fan Susie Of Shueyville of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh fame.

"Tigger is Winnie the Pooh's bouncy friend," Susie, not her real name, explained. "When my grandson was little he had a Tigger with springs in his tail and he would bounce up and down, boing, boing boing. It amused my grandson and me too. Tigger has all the energy that cheerleader John Lickliter has."

Tigger is pictured at the right. John Lickliter's dad, of course, reminds people of Eeyore of Winnie the Pooh fame.

*

Speaking of Hawkeye basketball, I guess I've had the planned practice court at Carver-Haekeye Arena and weightlifting as it applies to players on my mind lately.

These are a few thoughts I relayed on Twitter:

Anthony Tucker has a lot of time to lift weights now. He should really be good next season

*

When my friend Mike Hlas gets back from Tampa, I'll ask him to call Coach K and see if Duke's highly-ranked players lift weights a lot


*

Iowa State's players must not be doing much weightlifting. They're not playing very well. Except Brackins, who must be quite a weightlifter


*

No one has ever explained to me how Lute Olson's and Tom Davis' Hawkeye teams played so well without a new practice floor


*

Frankly, I can't wait for that new practice court at Carver-Hawkeye so the Hawkeyes will be stronger and can play better

Podolak Says He'll Seek Professional Treatment. Barta Says, 'We'll Be Cheering For Him.' Ron Maly Can See Podolak Returning As Iowa Radio Commentator

Longtime University of Iowa athletic booster Barry Crist e-mailed me this morning with the following information:

First, is a statement from Ed Podolak, a former Hawkeye football standout who recently retired as the commentator on radio broadcasts of the team:

“After considerable deliberation with my family and close friends, I’ve decided to seek professional treatment. Over the last few months the people closest to me in life have convinced me that treatment is in my best interest.

“The unbelievable outpouring of concern and love from Iowa fans everywhere has also had a big impact on my decision. I’ll always be a Hawkeye, but their prayers and well wishes have made this decision much easier.

“I continue to ask for the prayers and thoughts of all Iowa fans as I undertake this journey. My hope is that treatment will make me a better husband and father and a better person to my friends.”

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta issued the following statement:

"I wholeheartedly support Ed in his decision to enter treatment. He will be in my thoughts and prayers. We'll all be cheering for him. The number one priority is his health.

"I talked with Ed over the weekend, and he sounded positive and focused about his decision. He did not officially indicate he will be coming out of retirement, but in light of this recent development, I've spoken with Learfield and we have put the search for his replacement on hold.

"From Iowa fans everywhere, good luck, Ed!"

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Podolak retired as the football commentator on Hawkeye radio broadcasts after embarrassing photographs of him appeared on the Internet. Podolak appeared intoxicated in the photos taken at Tampa, Fla., where Iowa played South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. Podolak's mention of "professional treatment" likely concerns treatment for alcohol-related problems. The fact that Barta said Learfield has "put the search for [Podolak's] replacement on hold" likely means there is a chance Eddie could return as the football analyst in the future. I hope that happens, and I join Barta and others in wishing Podolak the best of luck].

*

[Photo of Gary Barta at the left; photo of Ed Podolak (right) and Iowa play-by-play radio announcer Gary Dolphin (left) in photo at the right].

Phelps Pulls a Houdini Act; 'Dollar Night' Doesn't Work For Iowa's Women; Students Get In Free To Thursday Night's Hawkeye Men's Game

I'll bet a dollar that Mark Phelps is a very popular guy this week.

With other collegiate basketball coaches, I mean.

Phelps is Drake's first-year coach, and he's done fairly well following in the footsteps of Keno Davis.

Davis had a 28-5 record in his only season as the Bulldogs' head coach, and now is at Providence after winning every major national coach of the year award in 2007-2008.

Phelps' records are 14-7 for the season and 5-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The reason I'm saying Phelps should be popular among his peers this week is because the Bulldogs won at Creighton, 74-62, last Saturday after many of their own fans seemed on the brink of abandoning ship.

Drake went into the Creighton game with three consecutive losses -- and two of them were in back-to-back games against Northern Iowa and Missouri State.

Phelps lost to the first-place Panthers by 22 points at the Knapp Center here, then by 21 points at Missouri State.

It was hard being optimistic about Drake's chances the rest of the season after those two nightmares.

But somehow, Phelps got his players in the right frame of mind against a Creighton team that was a runaway preseason choice as the Valley's champion. The Bluejays are coached by veteran Dana Altman, who keeps turning down bigtime coaching jobs to stay in Omaha.

Heck, Altman even took the Arkansas job for nearly 24 hours a couple of years ago before returning to Creighton.

My point is, a lot of guys whose teams aren't exactly coaching up a storm this season would probably like to talk to Phelps and find out what kind of magic he performed with his players between last Wednesday -- when Drake got clobbered at Missouri State -- and last Saturday -- when the Bulldogs shocked Creighton.

Drake will see if it can keep the good times rolling tomorrow night when it plays Evansville at 7:05 at the Knapp Center.

The Bulldogs have some business to take care of with Evansville. It was Evansville which defeated them, 76-65, in their first Valley game of the season.

*

They played another women's basketball game last night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena at Iowa City, and afterward it was the usual.

There were more questions than answers.

The game against Michigan, of course, was designated as a night anyone who was interested could get into the game for $1.

That's right, "Buck Night" at ol' Carver-Hawkeye, the place people have been staying away from in droves in recent years.

Just one problem.

It didn't work.

Only 3,722 people showed up for Iowa's 77-69 victory in the 15,500-seat building.

*

I suggested a few weeks ago when people were looking for answers to why Iowa's women's and men's teams have been having attendance problems that they borrow a page from Sandy Hatfield Clubb's book at Drake, and let fans in for a dollar.

When Drake has a Buck Night, Sandy goes one step further and lets fans buy a hotdog and a small popcorn for $1 each, too.

I don't think the $1 hotdog and popcorn were part of the deal last night in Iowa City -- where Lisa Bluder's Hawkeye women have been averaging only 3,557 fans per home game.

Whatever, even though the attendance wasn't even mentioned in the across-the-front-page [grossly overplayed] story in today's paper here, I'm saying Iowa continues to have a huge problem with attendance.

When you almost let 'em in free and still can't draw, you've got trouble, my friends.

And it's not like Iowa doesn't have a decent women's team. The Hawkeyes' season record is 12-7, and their Big Ten record is 5-5.

*

I've written plenty in recent years about Iowa's attendance problems for men's games, too, of course.

The Hawkeyes haven't had a capacity crowd for a men's game all season. The biggest turnout has been 12,125 for the Iowa State game in December.

They're averaging only 9,514 for 11 home games in the 15,500-seat arena. They drew just 9,663 for the Minnesota game. In the old days, all they had to do in Iowa City is open the doors for a game against the Gophers, and the place would be full.

So this week, Iowa is going one step beyond what it did for last night's women's game.

All students can get into Thursday night's 6 o'clock's game against Michigan State free.

That's right, free.

Just as was the case in the football season, students are staying away from the men's basketball games.

Iowa tried a students-get-in-free idea for the Northern Iowa game in December, and the crowd was listed as only 9,435.

So it wasn't exactly a smashing success.

I heard radio announcer Gary Dolphin say that there should be a full house when Michigan State, the Big Ten's first-place team, shows up Thursday.

Should and would are definitely different words.

We'll see what happens.

Don't forget, ESPN is televising the game. It's a lot easier for people [students included] to stay home on a cold winter night than to drive to Carver-Hawkeye, look for place to pay to park, then worry if you're going to get home on icy roads afterward.

Susie In Shueyville Likes To Listen To Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter--She Says, 'He Reminds Me Of Eeyore, the Mr. Gloom and Doom In Winnie the Pooh'

Because I've been busy covering so much negative stuff -- firings, buyouts, layoffs and rumors in the newspaper business -- I've been falling behind in some of the other things I should be doing.

I mean, I haven't been paying enough attention to the telecasts, radio broadcasts and postgame shows that feature the collegiate basketball coaches in our state.

One guy who seems to be turning into a cottage industry all by himself is Todd Lickliter, Iowa-s second-year coach.

Some people, it turns out, listen to Lickliter's postgame radio shows and Sunday coaching shows on TV just so they can hear what Lickliter is going to say next.

[Lickliter is pictured at the left, showing his disappointment during a Hawkeye game].

Susie In Shueyville, not her real name, tells me she tries to listen to Lickliter's comments as often as possible.

Susie thinks Lickliter is the original "Mr. Gloom and Doom, who reminds me of Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh."

[Eeyore is pictured at the right. He doesn't seem real happy, does he?]

"He's always complaining about something," Susie In Shueyville says. "In just about every postgame radio show, he bitches about the low attendance at Iowa's home games and about how badly his team is playing. Until Anthony Tucker was ruled academically ineligible, he complained a lot about how much he was drinking and how poorly he was playing.

"After Iowa lost Saturday's game at Penn State, Lickliter said his players weren't strong enough and tough enough because they couldn't bench-press well enough."

Lickliter, I guess, was upset that his players weren't strong enough down the stretch, and managed to blow a couple of 15-point leads in their loss at State College, Pa.

"I would think running in practice would be more important for basketball players than bench-pressing if Lickliter wants to get his players in shape," Susie In Shueyville told me.

Actually, I probably haven't kept up with Eeyore enough, either.

"He's the flop-eared donkey who usually appears blue in color in "Winnie the Pooh" by A. A. Milne," Susie In Shueyville explained. "He's always so dejected. Everything is, 'Oh, bother.'

"In one story, he says gloomily, 'It's snowing still.'

"'So it is. And freezing.

"'Is it?'

"'Yes, said Eeyore.

'However,' he said, brightening up a little, 'we haven't had an earthquake lately.'"

*

Back to the newspaper business for a minute or two.

We may be seeing the future in coverage of basketball games [and, who knows, maybe football games, too] by Iowa papers.

I see the Iowa City Press-Citizen didn't send a sportswriter or columnist to State College, Pa., for Saturday's Iowa-Penn State basketball game.

Instead, the Press-Citizen pulled one of those "Team Gannett" deals and used the story written by Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register.

Turnabout is fair play, I guess.

The Register used Pat Harty's story from the Press-Citizen in Iowa's Big Ten opener at Ohio State.

In other words, one Gannett paper in the state covering for another.

I hear that the Waterloo Courier and Quad City Times in Davenport [both Lee papers] use a single reporter for Hawkeye football and, no doubt, basketball coverage.

The Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette no longer sends a sportswriter to Iowa State's home basketball games, and certainly not to road games. Eric Peterson, who used to work for the Ames Tribune, freelances the stories for the Gazette.

Lots of belt-tightening, and more will likely be on the way.

It won't surprise me at all if papers -- and I mean the big papers -- say no to sending sportswriters to road football games next season. The smaller papers are already doing it.

*

You've got to hand it to road warrior Andrew Logue of the Register.

He was in Omaha for Drake's victory Saturday over Creighton, then covered Northern Iowa's game yesterday at Missouri State in Springfield.

Strange, though, that the Register covered the UNI game at Missouri State, but not the Drake game at Missouri State last week.

I'm glad the paper let Logue gas up the company car and do all that weekend driving but, really, I don't think there's a hell of a lot of UNI interest in Des Moines.

*

Another thing about the philosophy of spending money to cover Drake, Iowa, Iowa State and UNI on the road.

I don't think it shows a lot of strong thinking to send a reporter to places like State College, Pa., and Austin, Texas, for one story.

I used to like what Gene Raffensperger, a former Register sports editor, did.

Raff would always look for another story that could be written on the way to, or on the way home from, places like State College and Austin.

Or Columbus, Ohio.

One week in the autumn, Raff assigned me to an Ohio State home football game [that, of course, was still in the days when we covered meaningful road games in the Big Ten and then-Big Eight Conferences].

Raff had me stop in Canton, Ohio, to do an update on Bob Commings, who had taken a high school job in Canton after being fired as Iowa's coach.

Another area where I think newspapers are missing it is in what we always called "follows" in the coverage of collegiate athletics.

In the old days [there's that phrase again!] we'd always write another story for Monday's paper after Iowa and Iowa State played basketball and football games on Saturdays.

After dropping Monday follows in football for a while, the Register now uses them. But not in basketball.

I think it's silly for the paper to spend as much money as it does for basketball coverage, without having Monday follows.

Then-sports editor Randy Brubaker halted follows in football and basketball a number of years ago, and it was a dumb idea.

Now Brubaker is the managing editor, and they're firing and layoff people in droves at 8th & Locust.

I mean, today would have been an ideal day for a story on why it took Iowa's Todd Lickliter so long to discover who David Palmer is. For that matter, how about the sports editor assigning, or writing, a story dealing with whether the heat will soon be on Iowa State coach Greg McDermott [if it isn't already] following a 15-point loss to Kansas in a game in which Craig Brackins scored 42 points and hauled in 14 rebounds.

The reason I bring up the Palmer situation is that I'm thinking the poor guy would've stayed on Lickliter's bench had Cyrus Tate not been injured.

Palmer played one minute in Iowa's 17-point loss to Drake on Dec. 20.

*

Tough crowd out there.

In the Register's online coverage of Drake's women's basketball victory yesterday over UNI, a reader wrote:

"According to this:

"Plummer was one of four Drake players in double figures, scoring 18 points. Dybing had 13, Jones 12 points and eight rebounds, and Hackbarth 10 points and eight rebounds....In fact, five Drake players scored in double figures. Brittnye McSparron finished with 10 points. . . . . Here's another job the Register [needs] to ship to India."

That's the reward the paper gets for inviting people to comment on its stories.

Scott Pierce Tells Me He's Glad I Clarified Which Announcer Is a Rhodes Scholar; Also, More Happy News: Lisa Brinkmeyer Gives Birth To a Son

Rhodes Scholar Lindsay Whorton at the right, Scott Pierce at the left doing their announcing work during Sunday's Drake-Northern Iowa women's basketball game. Photo by Bud Appleby.

"I am so glad you clarified which of the two is the Rhodes Scholar," Pierce tells me in an e-mail. "I would hate to have your readers confused.

"I have been blessed this year to work with Lindsay, Lisa Brinkmeyer and, of course, Laura Leonard. All three are really good. By the way, I was told hours after Lisa Brinkmeyer worked with me on Friday night, she went into labor. Her son was born Saturday afternoon. Lisa is one of the higher-ups with The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. I'm grateful for her timing. There are two things that kept me out of medical school. My 'D' in Biology II my sophomore year in high school AND I can't stand blood."

Scott Pierce
Adventures In Advertising, Central Iowa
(515) 274-1112 x 104 (office)
(515) 707-0121 (cell)

That Rumor About the Gazette? It's Untrue, Says Editor Steve Buttry; 'We Keep Putting Out the Paper Every Day With the Staff Supposedly Laid Off'

I'd like you to know that I've got my priorities in order these days.

We were about ready to leave for our grandson Nathan's 12th birthday party at Joe's Crab Shack at 4:30 p.m. yesterday when I got an e-mail from Larry In LeClaire, not his real name.

Larry In LeClaire knows quite a bit about the newspaper business, and he was wondering if I was aware of what was going on at the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

[It's possible I'm being old-fashioned calling it the Cedar Rapids Gazette. I guess it's the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette now].

In my former life, if I'd gotten an e-mail or a phone call at 3:38 p.m. on a Friday that might develop into a good news story, I'd have been late for the 4:30 birthday party or forgotten about it -- the party, I mean -- completely.

Yesterday, I did what every other retired newspaper guy would do. I sent a couple of e-mails to people I know at the Gazette, then went to the party.

After I got home, I was still exchanging e-mail with folks at the Gazette.

The whole episode began when Larry In LeClaire wrote this in his e-mail, which was titled "Any Truth?":

"Hey, Ron, any truth that the Cedar Rapids Gazette laid off the entire staff and then invited employees to reapply for their jobs, but not necessarily the job they were in and not at the same pay. That's just what I've heard."

Larry In LeClaire must think I'm responsible for digging up all the bad news in the newspaper business or something.

I mean, just because I write about Laura Hollingsworth, publisher of the Des Moines Register, every other day, I guess people figure I've got a pipeline into newsrooms all over the place.

Well, I've got to admit, I have a strong interest in happenings at the Register, where I worked for nearly 40 years, and the Gazette.

The Gazette is where I went to work as a 15-year-old Wilson High School student. I covered Cedar Rapids high school baseball, basketball and football games, and worked on the sports desk on weekends and any other time they needed me.

I later turned down a fulltime job there, but that's a column for another day.

Gus Schrader was the Gazette's sports editor then, but the man who hired me was Jack Ogden, the wonderful people-person who was Gus's assistant sports editor.

Jack's son, J. R., is now the Gazette sports editor, and I just complimented him yesterday via the communications tool Twitter on how strong his sports pages at the paper are. I added that his dad would be very proud of him.

That was before I got the e-mail from Larry In LeClaire about what the Gazette might be doing with its newsroom jobs.

Prior to leaving for the birthday party, I e-mailed Mike Hlas, a friend of mine who has been writing very good sports columns at the Gazette for many years.

I told Hlas what Larry In LeClaire wrote to me, and asked if there was any truth to it or if Larry In LeClaire might have begun getting into the sauce earlier than usual on a wintry Friday afternoon.

Hlas quickly responded to me in two separate e-mails. But then he changed his mind. He said he preferred to not be quoted on anything.

Too bad. Hlas gave me a couple of good comments.

"Damn it, Mike, you sure know how to ruin a good column," I told him.

However, I'm going to make a wild guess and say I'll bet Hlas will be in Tampa, Fla., next week to cover Kurt Warner, the ex-Cedar Rapids Regis, ex-Northern Iowa, ex-Iowa Barnstormers, ex-Amsterdam Admirals, ex-St. Louis Rams, ex-New York Giants, present Arizona Cardinals quarterback who will be in the Super Bowl.

Hey, I almost forgot. Also ex-shelf-stocker at the Cedar Falls Hy-Vee.

Assuming Hlas makes the trip to the Super Bowl, it would indicate to me that he's not being laid off at the Gazette. Or, if he was laid off, he was quickly rehired and given his old job back -- hopefully with a pay raise.

No surprise there. Hlas deserves to be the Gazette's sports columnist because he's very good.

I then e-mailed Steve Buttry [pictured at the right], who has been the Gazette's editor since last May, and has been doing a good job in a newspaper business that's in turmoil throughout the nation.

I worked in the same newsroom with Buttry at the Register, even though I didn't get the chance to know him well. I think Steve had two stints in Des Moines, and he also worked for newspapers in Omaha and Kansas City, and he's now regarded as a national authority on what's right and what's wrong in the news business.

In my e-mail, I told Buttry I liked the looks of the Gazette these days, and that I was impressed with his columns and his work with Twitter [again, that's a form of communication that's taking hold both in and out of the newspaper business].

I figured if anyone knew if there was any truth to what Larry In LeClaire was saying about the job situation at the Gazette, it would be Buttry.

In my e-mail, I pointed out to Buttry that I wasn't at all certain if Larry In LeClaire had started his Friday afternoon happy hour early or if he really knew what was going on at the Gazette.

I figure Buttry has a lot on his mind. As they say in the business, his plate obviously is full. But he responded to my e-mail last night. He wrote:

"Ron,

"That rumor is untrue. It's been circulating about a week and yet somehow we keep putting out the paper every day with the staff supposedly laid off...Thanks for asking.

"Steve"

Buttry also pointed out that he had written a column about the Gazette's reorganization. I'm printing that column at the end of this one, as well as his column for tomorrow which addresses the recent rumors.

I'd like to point out that I still have a cousin living in Cedar Rapids, and I'm guessing she reads the Gazette. I think my brother-in-law reads the paper at the nursing home in Marengo, or someone reads it to him because his eyes aren't as good as they used to be.

So I know they'll be happy to know -- in this rumor-filled world -- which ones about the Gazette are true, and which ones aren't true.

*

Here's Steve Buttry's column for tomorrow about rumors concerning the Gazette, the link to which he has posted on Twitter:

Uncertainty fuels rumors and questions

By Steve Buttry

Rumors and questions are inevitable when a company is restructuring.

Sometimes the rumors are quicker and more accurate than news reports. Sometimes they are wishful thinking or fears from friends or critics. Sometimes they are grounded in fact but grow in the retelling.

The restructuring of The Gazette is feeding the rumor mill. When I wrote about the restructuring last week, I didn’t address the rumors and that might have given them extra life. Or maybe they just picked up steam because that’s how rumors work.

As I mentioned last week, the restructuring affects many, if not all, parts of our company. I have been concentrating primarily on the changes involving the newsroom, so that’s what I will address here. Perhaps it’s tunnel vision, but I haven’t been hearing the rumors and questions about other aspects of our operation.

The first question to address is whether we plan to stop publishing The Gazette. Absolutely not. We have several teams right now working on plans to keep our core print product healthy long into the future.

As I noted last week, this product has been around for 126 years. We’re not sure that print newspapers will last another 126 years and we want this company to last that much longer and more. So we are reorganizing to manage products differently, cover news differently and develop content differently. But we are reorganizing in the full recognition that our flagship product is The Gazette and with every intention to keep that product strong and continue serving its audience.

Do you want to know how big that audience is and how valuable it is to our advertisers? On Feb. 1, crowds across our community will gather around their television sets to watch the Super Bowl. The crowds will include some non-football fans who just want to watch the new commercials trotted out on the biggest television advertising day of the year. That same day and every Sunday, more people in our community will read The Gazette than will watch the Super Bowl.

The Gazette faces some financial challenges: Beyond the challenges of the digital age, which I have written about extensively, newsprint and ink prices have been rising as the national economy tanks and the local economy struggles in flood recovery. But a product that regularly reaches as much of the community as the Super Bowl won’t be folding any time soon.

Whether we would actually stop publishing The Gazette was more a question than a rumor. I presume it was prompted by my noting last week that products come and go and that lots of newspapers were closing, going bankrupt or cutting editions. Not this one. We know that our growth opportunities lie in other areas, but The Gazette remains our flagship.

We believe The Gazette has been a force for strengthening this community throughout our history and the changes we make will be focused on strengthening the community.

More than once in the past week, I heard a rumor that we had laid off the entire news staff and forced people to reapply for their jobs. This rumor is false, but it has its roots in confusion over what we are actually doing.

No one on the news staff has been laid off. Even with the addition of news web sites more than a decade ago, virtually every newsroom in our industry remains heavily focused on producing the print edition or on dually producing the newspaper and the news web site. As I explained last week, we have decided to develop separate operations focused on developing content and on publishing packaged print and digital products.

In explaining this new operation to the news staff, I explained that all of our jobs, including mine, would fundamentally change. No one is being “forced to reapply for their jobs.” Their current jobs won’t exist.

In such a thorough reorganization, it would be unfair to slot people into particular jobs without giving everyone the opportunity to apply for the jobs that most fit their skills and interests. That would doom the reorganization in two ways: It would entitle people to think their jobs hadn’t really changed (so they wouldn’t really have to work differently) and it would deprive us of some of their creativity.

Our newsroom is an anxious, uneasy place during this change. But I’m getting a lot of great ideas from staff members applying for new jobs and I am convinced that creativity will help us succeed.

*

Here's Buttry's previous column on Gazette reorganization:

Every reporter or editor should have the experience of dealing with the news media. We are a pushy lot who ask difficult questions, often just the questions you can’t answer.

I have spent much of the past week dealing with the news media. The easiest questions came from a television reporter for KWWL, wondering what’s going on here at Gazette Communications. The tough ones came from the reporters, photojournalists and editors on my own staff.

As I did with the staff, I will tell you right away that we don’t have all the answers yet. We’re trying to be as open as possible with the staff and public as we consider changes that will fundamentally transform how this organization operates and how our staff works.

I have worked for newspapers that were making big changes and the managers kept employees in the dark until all the details were worked out. You can answer all the questions at once that way, but you damage trust and make clear that management is deciding everything in a one-way process.

Either way, it’s a scary time for our staff and leadership. David Lee, a copy editor, spoke for many of his colleagues when he wrote in his Write On blog last week, “I’m worried about my career, I’m worried about the newspaper I work for, I’m worried about my profession.”

Management has to set the strategic direction and makes the final decisions. But employees deliver the success or failure of any organization, so this week we have been informing our staff of changes that are taking shape in our company, even as we continue making crucial decisions.

I have told the newsroom staff that all of our jobs are fundamentally changing. The jobs in our new organization, including mine, won’t be the jobs we currently hold. We posted some new jobs earlier this month and will post more this week. I have told my staff the general framework of some new jobs, but I’ve asked them to help me shape those jobs.

News spreads quickly by word of mouth, so you might already have heard some of this from your friends and neighbors who work for this company. News also spreads inaccurately sometimes by word of mouth, so you may have heard wrong (some of the rumors that made it back to me were certainly wrong).

The changes we are making are no surprise: Chuck Peters, our CEO, began discussing them with the staff about two years ago, long before I showed up last June. He began blogging last April about the need to change.

Still, when you’ve been operating much the same way for 126 years, as our company has, or for decades, as many of our loyal employees have, it takes a while for the changes to sink in. They’re still sinking in for me, and I’m supplying some of the ideas.

For all of those 126 years, our success has been tied to a packaged product, a newspaper. Even though our customers like that packaged product and many even love it, they aren’t buying it because of the package but because of the content: stories, photographs, columns, graphics, editorials, obituaries, calendars, box scores, lists of information, advertisements.

If the content of this newspaper was in a different language, or if it was dictionary entries, pornography, gibberish or children’s riddles, we would have had an entirely different set of customers, or none at all.

Of course, we can present content in different ways: We can package content digitally or we can focus the content on particular niches. We can publish content in different packages – magazines such as Edge or books such as the popular “Epic Surge.”

Products come and go. The first newspaper I carried as a boy in the 1960s, the Columbus Citizen-Journal in Ohio, went out of business in the 1980s. The first newspaper to give me a writing job in the 1970s, the Evening Sentinel in Shenandoah, Iowa, went out of business in the 1990s. I was present for the deaths of afternoon newspapers in Des Moines in 1982 and in Kansas City in 1990. But the newspaper industry has never seen – at least not in my career – as much upheaval as it has in the past year. A web site called Paper Cuts counts more than 15,000 newspaper jobs lost in 2008 and that has continued this year.

Tribune Company, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun, filed for bankruptcy protection last month and the Star Tribune in Minneapolis did the same last week. The Detroit newspapers cut daily home delivery to three days a week.

Demand for the packaged newspaper product is falling at the same time that newsprint prices are rising and the economy that supports our advertisers is in turmoil. But demand for information content – news, photos, videos, answers to questions – is stronger than ever. The community always needs to connect and engage.

So the leaders and employees of Gazette Communications are working to reorganize into a company that can meet the information demands of the future and continue connecting and engaging the community effectively.

Products come and go in response to market conditions but information always remains essential to the community. So we are developing a new organization that separates content from products.

We will have a separate operation, which I will lead, to gather information content and publish it digitally in large quantities without regard to the limitations of packaged products. We will work out ways to tag the content and make it easily searchable, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for or browse by topics of interest, looking for nothing in particular.

Another operation will manage a portfolio of packaged products such as The Gazette, GazetteOnline, Hoopla, Edge, Penny Saver and IowaPrepSports.com. Those products will draw heavily on our information content as well as content from other sources. They will manage those products in response to changing market conditions.

Other parts of the company are organizing to provide production services or to focus on sales, distribution or customer care. No one is unaffected. We are committed to creating an entirely new media company, focused on and structured for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Some of the newsroom staff will work in information content, others in product management, but all of our jobs are fundamentally changing.

Even as I sympathize with employees in turmoil who want quick answers to their questions, I am excited about our plans to transform this company and pleased with the willingness – and at times eagerness – of our staff to lead the way in developing a new organization that will serve our community long into the future.

Another staff member, Angie Holmes, wrote in her Frumpfighter blog last week: “I see opportunity and forward-thinking in The Gazette’s plan. Will everybody who works there now make it through the restructuring? Probably not. I am guaranteed a job? No, nobody is. But I do have a sense of resilience that will keep me going no matter what happens.”

*

Photo of Steve Buttry courtesy of the Gazette; photo of the front page of the Gazette in 2005 courtesy of Wikipedia.

Jay Davidson Writes About the Suddenly Red-Hot Drake Women's Basketball Team, Which Has Reeled Off 5 Straight Victories and Goes For No. 6 On Sunday

Longtime Drake basketball fan Jay Davidson [pictured at the right] authors some praise for the suddenly red-hot Bulldog women, who have won five straight games and will go for No. 6 Sunday when they play Northern Iowa at the Knapp Center:

"Hi, Ron,

"Look now -- While the Drake men are in a midseason swoon, the women's basketball team has suddenly emerged red-hot! Led by underclasswomen and with the heavy contributions of three juniors, Jordann Plummer, Monique Jones and Kaniesha Agee, and three senior role players, Ashleigh Brady, Kelsey Keiser and Lauren Dybing, the Bulldogs have reeled off five straight wins, the most recent coming last night (Friday) when they ran the Bradley Braves off the Knapp Center court, 71-51, with a powerful second half on both ends of the court.

"After beginning the MVC campaign 0-2 with double-digit losses at Indiana State and Illinois State, Coach Amy Stephens' women have jelled into an efficient and exciting team in their five consecutive wins, including close victories at Southern Illinois and Evansville, the latter where no Drake women's team had won since the 2001-02 season. Freshmen Brittnye McSparron, who has claimed the starting point guard spot, and Rachael Hackbarth, at 6-2 becoming an inside force, and Des Moines' own Kristin Turk, a sophomore who can be electrifying both in her energy and her offensive and defensive moves and seems best when she comes in off the bench, are combining with the veterans to put the Bulldogs just a game off the league lead at 5-2. The Bradley team they crushed last night came in at 13-3 on the season.

"Tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 25) the Bulldogs host UNI (4-2 in the league) in a 2:05 tilt in the Knapp. It will be a great show, and these women deserve a big crowd! Let's get out and support them as they battle for the top in the MVC!

"All the best to you and your family, Ron,

Jay Davidson

[RON MAlY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for another nicely written essay, Jay. I always enjoy reading your thoughts on the Bulldogs and other subjects].

Al Koonse Recalls David Kruidenier and 'Some Of the Classiest People In the Newspaper Profession' In the 1970s and 1980s At the D.M. Register

I always enjoy hearing from people who recall the Des Moines Register from the good old days.

It was a pleasure receiving an e-mail from Al Koonse, who worked at the newspaper for 15 years.

It was work by Al and plenty of others who made the Register the outstanding newspaper it was when David Kruidenier was running the show.

Here's Koonse's e-mail:

"Ron,

'This is Alan Koonse. I e-mailed you a couple of times a few years back on this e-mail address. So if it's no longer current, I guess I'm just writing this for myself. Anyway...I read your blog on the David and Liz book. It's fascinating.

"I worked at The Register from 1972 to 1987. One late afternoon a few months after I joined the paper, I was at a desk in the newsroom writing a story, and the reporter next to me sat back and directed his attention to someone behind me. I kept on writing, but the reporter next to me then stood up to shake hands with the person behind me. That's when I turned around to see who was there. The person was Mr. Kruidenier.

"He introduced himself to me, told me to stay seated, and then told me he thought I had done a 'very good job' on a story that was in that morning's paper. (I was on the police beat then, so it probably was a crime story, but I have no recollection now of the specific article.) He also commended me for the 'detail' and the 'effective use of quotes' in the story.

"I knew then that I was working with some of the classiest people in the newspaper profession.

"Ron, I miss the old Register and the people there who gave Iowans a newspaper that informed and that they could be proud of. It saddens me now to see that The Register obviously is in the tank.

"In my pre-Gannett days at The Register, it was fun to go to work, some days even exciting, and always interesting. I miss most of the people from that time. It was a class act all the way around.

"After the sale, The Register that I hoped to retire with ceased to exist.

"I enjoy your blog. It helps me keep up with sports and other news in Iowa. By the way, I haven't retired; I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I last a good while longer at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, Ark. I arrived when it was just The Arkansas Democrat. The same problems that have clobbered other newspapers are starting to hit here.

"Tell anyone who might remember me that I said hello and wish them the best.

"Take care,"

Al

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Al, the positive comments you make about the Register in the 1970s and 1980s echo what a lot of us would say. I'm usually not all that fond it of when retirees [your columnist included] or people who are in the twilight of their working careers say, "They don't do it as well as we did it" about the new generation, but unfortunately that's the situation in the newspaper business generally and the Des Moines Register specifically. Today's reporters and editors mean well and they'd like to do the job the right way, but they're hamstrung by tight economic conditions and superiors who are fearful of losing their own jobs. It's a lousy deal when a 50-year-old reporter or copy editor has to go to work every day, wondering if the grim reaper will meet him or her at the desk and say, "Sorry, you no longer have a job. We'll escort you to the backdoor." When the newspaper was bought by the Gannett Co., that was the beginning of the end. Now, unfortunately, the end is unfolding before our eyes. Sad to say, the paper is a mere shadow of what it once was. I'm glad you wrote some nice things about David Kruidenier, Al. He was a good man. On July 8, 2008, I wrote an entire column about Kruidenier's book, and the review is summarized elsewhere on this page, below the headline "betrayed." Kruidenier is pictured at the left].

*

Speaking of the newspaper business, Rev. David P. Mumm -- a former resident of Des Moines -- sent me this message in an e-mail:

"Hi, Ron,

"I thought you'd appreciate this cartoon."

Pastor Mumm

[Thanks, Pastor. And, yes, I do appreciate the cartoon. It's at the top of this column from Daryl Cagle's "The Cagle Post."]

*

That's it for now. The rest of my day will consist of avoiding all online chats with working newspaper people, and getting ready for my grandson Nathan's 12th birthday party. Have a good one. I know I will.

It Wasn't Long Ago That Apathy Was a Problem Among Drake Fans. Not Anymore. After a 28-5 Record Last Season, the Natives Are Now Officially Restless

It didn't take long. The natives are restless.

In this case, the natives are a segment of Drake's basketball fans.

Just think, it used to be that apathy was the No. 1 concern when it came to the Bulldogs' program.

Apathy among the fans, I mean.

No longer, I guess. Not after last season's team won a record 28 games.

I've been wondering how long it would take for long-suffering folks who enjoyed the ride on the Bulldogs' bandwagon in the Tom Davis/Keno Davis coaching years to jump off the bandwagon now that the Davises have gone elsewhere -- Keno to a million-dollar-a-year job at Providence and Tom back into retirement.

I was just as impressed as the next guy when Tom, who had been the winningest basketball coach in history at the University of Iowa, finally gave Drake a winning season after the agony that went through the program in the Rudy Washington and Kurt Kanaskie years.

Then, after turning the coaching job over to his son, Keno, Drake went 28-5 last season. Keno won every significant coach of the year award and his Bulldogs seized both the regular-season and postseason Missouri Valley Conference championships.

Tom Davis always thought the Drake coaching job was the toughest in the Valley. Keno looked like the best thing to arrive at Drake since Maury John, who took his 1968-69 team to the Final Four.

Indeed, it appeared that happy days had returned to a university where the pharmacy school, the law school and Paul Morrison were much better recognized than the basketball program.

When Keno was doing all that winning last season, I told him after a Tipoff Club lunch at Christopher's restaurant in Beaverdale, "You know, this happens at Drake only once every 40 years."

I was half-joking, half-serious.

I hope Keno understood.

Whatever, young Keno was a one-year wonder at Drake. Off to Providence he went. When the Big East comes calling, I guess you're supposed to go.

In came athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb's handpicked successor, Mark Phelps, who had been an assistant at Arizona State.

Could he keep the good times rolling? Could another first-year coach continue doing magic tricks at the place where Keno performed his magic?

Well, under Phelps, Drake now has lost three straight games and has records of 13-7 overall and 4-4 in the Valley.

Washington and Kanaskie would've given up both of their little toes -- maybe even their spleens -- to have records like that. So would some of the couple hundred Drake fans in those days.

Not anymore.

Face it, there's considerable uncertainty right now.

The last two defeats have been particularly agonizing to fans -- an 81-59 clunker last Saturday against Northern Iowa at the Knapp Center in Des Moines and last night's 65-44 thumping at Missouri State.

The game at Springfield, Mo., wasn't an hour old when this e-mail from "81DrakeGrad," not his real name, arrived on my computer:

"Hi Ron,

"Well, things go from bad to worse. Bulldog fans wondered how Drake would respond to their awful performance against UNI. I guess we found out; they played even worse. As other MVC teams continue to improve throughout the season, Drake gets worse. I really don't think the coach understands what made this team tick last season. He's trying to implement a system that Drake's players are incapable of making successful. Right now, I think he's lost this team. They seem to have no confidence in what they're being asked to do. They've been coached to play a very passive defense, and now that passivity has affected their rebounding and their offense.

"I have it on good authority (actually from 2 very good authorities) that Phelps has never looked at any of last year's game tapes. Maybe it's time.

"81DrakeGrad"

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for your observations, "81DrakeGrad." I'll be honest. I can't quite figure out what's happened to the Bulldogs so quickly. Like a lot of Drake's fans, I was impressed with what Phelps was accomplishing early in the season. Except for the first game. I was somewhat surprised the team lost its season opener to Butler, 58-48. To some people, I made the comment, "You mean Drake waited 6 1/2 months to see something like that?" But, in fairness, folks [perhaps Phelps included] maybe didn't realize how good Butler would be in November, and the players who had been recruited by Keno and Tom Davis were still getting adjusted to Phelps. Whatever, senior Jonathan "Bucky" Cox told me Phelps changed his entire offense after the Butler game. Good idea. After that, the Bulldogs cleared the first two hurdles on what seemed to be a cruise to a third straight mythical state Division I championship. They rallied to beat Iowa State. 66-63, in Ames, then manhandled Iowa, 60-43, at the Knapp Center. I thought Phelps outcoached Iowa's Todd Lickliter that afternoon. Clearly, Drake looked to be the best team in the state. The Bulldogs proceeded to build a 13-4 season record and a 4-1 Valley record before losing to a very good Illinois State team, 65-61, on the road. Since then, it's been a struggle. I mean, a real struggle. I'm shocked. I'm still trying to figure out what happened against UNI. Drake was out of that game immediately. The turning point was when the Panthers got off the team bus. Drake had no fire, falling behind by a whopping 37 points in the first half. Then came last night's debacle at Missouri State, a team the Bulldogs had beaten by 18 points in Des Moines on New Year's Eve. It's difficult to be optimistic about Saturday's 1 p.m. game at Creighton, and a loss there would put the Bulldogs below .500 in the league. In this era of "Fire Kirk Ferentz" and "Fire Steve Alford" websites, there is already a "Fire Phelps" segment on the Drake Nation site, No surprise there. But Drake fans tell me they think it's a Northern Iowa fan who originated that one. There are a couple of ways this team can go now. It can snap back and work its way out of an embarrassing streak or the bottom can fall out of the season. Let's hope it's option 1. Longtime Bulldogs fan Jay Davidson tells me, "I don't think Phelps will 'lose the class' -- keep the faith." We'll see what happens.]

*

Speaking of falling off the Drake bandwagon, it looks like the Des Moines Register has done just that.

The paper's editors sent no reporter to Springfield last night for the game, instead using a story from Lyndal Scranton, who covers games for the Springfield News-Leader.

The News-Leader, like the Register, is a Gannett Co. newspaper, so the Register no doubt didn't have to pay Scranton any freelance money.

That's the kind of financial deal the Register likes these days.

In other words, Scranton was filling the role performed by Andy Hamilton of the Iowa City Press Citizen at the Outback Bowl.

All I know is that it was a good thing Scranton wasn't taking his Gannett-ordered one-week, unpaid furlough this week or he probably wouldn't have been able to cover the game for the Register.

Meanwhile, I guess we've seen the last hard-hitting Bulldog Buzz in the paper for a while.

What a shame.

*

Jay Davidson writes about academically-ineligible Iowa player Anthony Tucker and Hawkeye coach Todd Lickliter:

"Hi Ron,

"Referencing your column about Anthony Tucker, I wonder how many times Lick has wished he was back at Butler. Iowa hired the 'anti-Steve Alford,' as programs often do. Lick's reputation as a recruiter and handler of young men was, I think, sterling up to now. Of course this may be just an aberration. Fans do well to remind themselves that one game, one season, or one disappointment in a highly touted recruit (which can still be turned around, one would hope) does not a career break.

"All the best,"

Jay Davidson

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Lickliter's Hawkeyes certainly didn't need Tucker last night, Jay. He sat expressionless on the bench in streetclothes during the Hawkeyes' victory in overtime over a Wisconsin team that's a cut below recent Badger squads. To say Iowa needed to win a game is an understatement. And maybe one of these days, fans will take notice and start showing up again at Carver-Hawkeye Arena].

Hawkeyes Upset Wisconsin, 73-69, In Overtime Despite Losing Troubled 6-4 Freshman Tucker, Who Was Their 2nd-Leading Scorer, For Rest Of the Season

For a college freshman, Iowa basketball player Anthony Tucker sure knows how to get into the news.

A season-high 24 points in November against West Virginia.

An arrest for public intoxication in December.

A two-game suspension by Todd Lickliter, his coach.

Mononucleosis in January.

Academic ineligibility now.

Lickliter said today that Tucker, Iowa's second-leading scorer with a 10.4 average, will miss the rest of the season after being ruled ineligible because of Big Ten Conference academic requirements.

So how much did Tucker's loss bother the Hawkeyes in their Big Ten game Wednesday night against Wisconsin?

Not at all.

With Tucker sitting on the bench in streetclothes, Iowa upset the Badgers, 73-69, in overtime.

“Since the conclusion of the first semester, Anthony has been involved in an appeal process concerning his academic course work,” said Lickliter. “We have been informed that the appeal process has been completed and Anthony is not eligible, by Big Ten Conference standards, to compete during the spring semester.”

As far as I know, this is the first time Lickliter has said anything publicly about Tucker's academic standing.

"He's going to have to learn from this," Lickliter said on his radio show prior to Wednesday night's game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

Of course, Lickliter didn't say anything about Tucker's mononucleosis, either. Tucker made that public.

I don't deal with the Iowa coach on a day-to-day basis, and the only press conference I've seen him in this season was following the Hawkeyes' 60-43 loss Dec. 20 at Drake.

In that game, Tucker scored a team-high 12 points while playing 19 minutes.

I think reporters who cover Iowa have tried to ask Lickliter periodically about Tucker's eligibility. At least I hope they have. Part of their job is to ask the coach about the academic standing of all the players.

Lickliter hadn't hinted that Tucker was in classroom trouble. However, I know the coach wasn't happy with how the freshman was playing.

And I know he wasn't happy that Tucker was found drunk and unconscious in an Iowa City alley in December.

Tucker was suspended for the Northern Iowa and Iowa State games -- both of which Iowa won -- because of the drunkenness.

He was fined $182 after being found lying on his back behind a bar at 1:10 a.m. Dec. 7.

Tucker joined the Iowa program after a high school career at Minnetonka [Minn.] High School. He started eight of the 14 games he has played. He's shooting 43.8 percent from the field, including 42.7 percent from three-point range.

His only double-double came when he scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds against Southeast Missouri State.

*

Despite Wednesday night's victory, there again were plenty of empty seats at Carver- Hawkeye Arena.

The attendance listed in the official box score was 10,239 -- more than 5,000 below the building's capacity of 15,500.

Iowa tried a promotion to get more students into the arena for this game. A student could bring another student, who was admitted free.

It's still a work in progress.

Publisher Laura Hollingsworth Puts Delivering Bad News On the Back Burner; She's Having Fun In the Sun At Bob Hope Golf Classic In Palm Springs

Des Moines Register publisher Laura Hollingsworth, who has been making a lot of news herself lately, continues to be at the center of plenty of second-guessing.

Hollingsworth [pictured at the right] has been following Gannett Co. orders and eliminating plenty of jobs at the Register, and last week wrote a commentary on how and why the newspaper was changing its format--including the local news section, the business section and the editorial page or pages in the general news section.

That's in addition to earlier firing or laying off many employees, including page 1 cartoonist Brian Duffy, and also ordering all Register employees to take a one-week, unpaid furlough.

Now it turns out Hollingsworth is among some top Gannett executives who are attending the Bob Hope Classic golf tournament near Palm Springs, Calif.

The Gannett Blog, which is written by Jim Hopkins, wrote that Bob Dickey is competing as an amateur in the golf tournament. Amateurs pay up to $25,000 to play in the event with a PGA professional.

Dickey just "happened" to combine with trip to the golf tournament with a journey to another sun-spot, Tucson, AZ.

"Last Friday, Dickey traveled to Arizona to deliver bad news to dozens of employees," Hopkins wrote. "Citing the 'difficult economy,' he said the Gannett-owned Tucson Citizen, the state's oldest continuously published daily, will close unless a new owner is found by late March.

"At least two other Gannett executives are joining Dickey, I've been told: Des Moines Register publisher Laura Hollingsworth, whose paper eliminated nearly 9 percent of 800 jobs last month; she also runs the West region of papers, which includes the Palm Springs daily. Also: Michelle Krans, the division's chief strategist; she'd previously been Sun publisher. Dickey promoted both women in a top-level management shakeup last June. I was not told how long Hollingsworth and Krans are staying."

"It had already been a tough week. Amid rumors of big budget cuts, and a looming earnings report, Gannett had earlier ordered about 35,000 U.S. employees [including those at the Register] to take one-week, unpaid furloughs this winter. 'That includes me, your publisher, everyone,' Dickey told workers in a memo. 'We all will be sharing the financial hardship.'"

Quite a hardship he's experiencing this week.

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I sure hope Hollingsworth comes home with a tan. It would be a shame to waste the trip].

*

More media bad news from R. H. of Des Moines:

"Ron,

"As I expected and feared when I e-mailed you a few days ago, Clear Channel executed their mass firings today during the Presidential Inauguration. 1,850 Clear Channel employees were let go.

"A (now former) programmer for KPTL (106.3 FM) here in town confirmed it through Twitter yesterday. I'm interested to know who else in local radio got the unceremonious boot by the radio conglomerate.

"Just like newspapers, even radio and television are cutting corners to save a buck.

"It's sad that on a day when history was being made, folks were becoming 'history' themselves, in the eyes of their employers.

"Shameful, but not surprising.

"Best,

R.H.
Des Moines
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: You're right, R. H. These are exremely sad days in the media business. The trouble is, things will likely get even worse in both the print and broadcast businesses].

*
That's it for this morning. I'll be going to the sportswriters' lunch in a few hours, where I'll tell the guys what their favorite newspaper publisher is doing the week.

*

The lunch went well. Plenty of heated discussion, but no fistfights.

We covered the waterfront, as usual.

Speaking of the waterfront, a few members of the lunch gang can't believe it that the Register now is asking people who hunt, fish and do whatever else outdoors to write the "In the Open" column now.

At least the weekly outdoor column has always been called "In the Open" in the past.

Maybe "In the Open" has been laid off, too. After all, "Prep Parade" -- the high school column that was handled so capably by guys such as Brad Wilson and Chuck Burdick -- is gone, probably forever.

Now the Register's editors are asking people who buy, or at least read, the paper to handle the writing and photography for the outdoors column.

There's no longer an outdoors writer because Juli Probasco-Sowers was either fired or accepted a buyout in one of the recent newsroom bloodbaths.

So the Register, on page 2 of the section today, wrote a story that was headlined: Anglers hunters can brag a little contribute a lot.

"Send us tales of your outdoor adventures," the story said. "Write a story about a recent catch, a memorable hunt or any outdoor activities-- no more than 400 words....

"Send us three to five digital photos...submit the story and photos by e-mail..."

I can't believe it and neither can a number of other people. What the paper is doing is asking the public to do its work.

Nothing is mentioned, of course, about freelance pay. I suppose the editors want people who hunt, fish and take pictures to write the stories and send them in without being paid anything.

I call it sick.

Newspapers Are Trying New Looks and New Ideas These Days, But the Outlook Continues To Be Grim for Attracting Readers and Advertisers

Don Clasen, who worked at the Des Moines Register & Tribune when there still was an afternoon Tribune, writes about something the Chicago Tribune is doing these days in a newspaper business that's desperately seeking some answers:

"Hi, Ron:

"I read with interest about the latest problems with the paper Iowa once depended upon. The struggle between a publication you can actually hold in your hands while reading and the one you read on a computer is, of course, a hot item.

"The Chicago Tribune, which impressed me when it went to a new look several months ago, Monday came out with a tabloid version called To-Go, which tells that it is primarily for commuters, who ride the trains and buses to work each day. The smaller version of the long-standing broadsheet is available only at newsstands, machines and stores. It is supposed to contain all the news that is in the regular paper, which will continue to be delivered to homes and businesses by carrier. The Trib's bosses simply say To-Go comes after readers requested it. Although To-Go is being made available without charge now, future Monday through Friday issues will sell for 75 cents, the same as the regular edition.

"The Trib is making changes while Sam Zell, who bought the paper, is trying to sell it and the Tribune Co.-owned Cubs. Supposedly the deals were to be consummated by the end of 2008, but have been delayed mainly because Zell, who made millions in real estate, cannot get his price from the sale. That's the problem today. Greedy owners want to make an unrealistic profit on everything.

"As for the Cubs, Zell is said to have narrowed down purchasers to three businessmen. Mark Cuban is not included, although they say he still has a slim chance of being involved. The big problem is getting major league owners to approve the sale.

"I imagine you feel as I do that old-timers are happy to avoid the stress of being involved. But I give the Trib credit for appearing to do something to stem the loss of subscribers. I can't believe that readers will accept an untraditional news source that they cannot hold in their hands, clip items from and work crossword puzzles, etc.

"As a Register alum I am dismayed to see the paper sinking as Gannett appears to be losing a puny battle to retain newspapers afloat.

"Meanwhile, I watched with dismay the Drake-UNI game the other day. Is UNI that good or is Drake that bad?

"Meanwhile, my wife and I are enjoying the Blackhawks, which I repeatedly call the best show in town. Yesterday, my wife purchased tickets for the Blackhawks' convention in July. Did you ever dream the Hawks would have a convention like the Cubs and Sox? It's a real success story of how Rocky Wirtz took over and made changes after his father died. The most needed change was putting all games on TV.

"Keep up the good work, Ron. The Register desperately needs a few guys like you."

Don Clasen,
Chicago

]RON MALY'S COMMENTS: When the Register displayed its latest new look yesterday with the national news, local news, business page and editorial page all included in one section, I began wondering how long it would be before the whole newspaper turned into a tabloid. I can see it happening. A photo of of what the Chicago Tribune began doing this week with its
To-Go edition is shown in this column, courtesy of Romenesko media news. The broadsheet and the front of the tabloid version are included. I don't know if format is the reason people buy newspapers or don't buy newspapers. My guess is it has no bearing on peoples' buying habits. Very important, of course, is whether advertisers want to sink lots of money into any newspaper -- whether it's the large form or the short form. Publishers can make the paper big or small and they can order their newsroom people to schedule chats with their readers until the cows come home, but that's not going to influence how much ad money comes in. I'm glad you've become a Blackhawks fan, Don, and I hope they repay you with some longtime success. As for the Drake and Northern Iowa basketball teams, it totally shocked me Saturday that the Bulldogs played so poorly in a game televised by ESPN2. Drake's players came out in a funk, and coach Mark Phelps had no answers in how to get them out of it. Of course, UNI had a lot to do with that. The Panthers are a red-hot team right now -- certainly the hottest in the Missouri Valley Conference. The key will be whether they can continue playing at this level. There's still a long way to go].

*

Bud Appleby writes:

"I wonder if the Register's story on the golf tournament in Hawaii yesterday is a sign of things to come -- covering an event by watching it on TV?"

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I can see it happening. Indeed, it's been done before. When Randy Brubaker [who now is the managing editor] was the sports editor, he sometimes chose not to send a sportswriter to basketball games on the road. Instead, he had them monitor the games on TV, then write a story. In these difficult economic times for newspapers, I can see sports editors declining to send reporters on the road so they cover games off the tube. It could happen in collegiate basketball, collegiate football and other sports].

*

From Al Schallau:

"Dear Ron,

"My sister Anne Guerrant (formerly known as Mona Schallau) and her husband Terry Guerrant now travel the world --- not to posh resorts -- but to the poorest poverty areas on this planet.

"Attached is a 3-minute TV newscast about their work in making small loans (less than $200 each), to persons in poverty areas. Such micro-funding enables those persons to start their own businesses, and become self-sufficient.

"If you want to find out more about their work, please log onto www.guerrantfoundation.org.

"Please forward this to as many people as possible.

"Best,"

Al Schallau

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Al, thanks for telling me about the work your sister, Anne [pictured at the left], and her husband are doing. I recall her successful professional tennis career, and I interviewed her and wrote the story about her when she was voted into the Des Moines Sunday Register Sports Hall of Fame].

'If Gannett Wanted To Charge People To Read Their Dailies Online, They Should Have Done That When They Started Putting Stuff On the Internet'

In his e-mail titled "Shameless Plugs And More Layoffs On the Way," R. H. of Des Moines makes some observations about newspapers -- the Des Moines Register, of course, included:

"Ron,

"I thought I was under the assumption that the only time that anyone notices newspapers is when they report on a story, not be a part of it. If last week was Laura Hollingsworth's week to shine, or for that matter give herself a pat on the back, I guess it was a good time to do so. I read Lynn Hicks' interview with Hollingsworth, and then I read Jason Hancock's interview from the Iowa Indpendent. She did a lot more talking to Hancock than she did to Hicks, who merely cheerleaded throughout the piece.

"Maybe Biz Buzz, if they would put a little more effort into it, would be best suited to write about the effect that the sour economy has on businesses not named Principal, Wells Fargo. I'm not interested knowing which local business celebrity is having a birthday. I don't care to know who was golfing with who at Glen Oaks. I thought those fluff pieces were covered by the Iowa Life section?

"If Gannett, wanted to charge people to read their dailies online, they should have done that when they started putting stuff on the Internet. We've been reading the Register for free for nearly 10 years now.

"I have a feeling that Washburn told Hollingsworth to take the bullet for Gannett, while Washburn is secretly dusting off her resume and laying low.

"You may have been told this, but there is a report floating around that Clear Channel has scheduled a mass firing during the inauguration. Talk is that up to 1,000 will be whacked. In the words of fictional character Ron Burgandy from the movie "Anchorman", "you stay classy" Clear Channel.

"You stay classy.

"Best,"

R.H.
Des Moines

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I had to laugh when Hollingsworth [pictured at the right], the publisher, wrote her own commentary piece late last week to announce what the new-look-and-still-skinnier Des Moines Register would look like. She even had her own logo, maybe to see what kind of reaction she'd get from readers in the event she wanted to make column-writing a regular thing. Earlier, she had consented to being interviewed by the Iowa Independent and Lynn Hicks of the Register's business section. That way, she probably figured she wouldn't be misquoted. It was Hollingsworth who said she thinks people will be willing to pay to get online news from the Register in the future. That tells me right there how out of touch she and others in the newspaper business are with what readers want these days].

*

By the way, I took my first glance at the new-look Register this morning.

On page 1, right under the Des Moines Register logo, it said, "Metro&Iowa news, Business & Networking and Weather inside this section."

Lots of stuff jammed into one section. Speaking of sections, there were only two others -- Sports and IowaLife.

I've got to think a tabloid format can't be far away.

Yet, the publisher and editors had the guts in today's paper [I almost said balls, but thought better of it because all the top bosses are women] to still call it "The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon."

Count on it that this format is being used by other Gannett papers. The Register never shows any originality when it comes to making changes.

The front part of the paper included the general news, the business section -- and I use the word section loosely [it was one page], with the main story something written by a USA Today [Gannett, of course] columnist; a Metro&Iowa section and a one-page editorial "section."

I'd say the Business department has plenty to worry about. Two or three more people could go when the next layoffs are ordered by Gannett.

On a personal note, I found it disappointing that the "Work Bytes" column wasn't resurrected in the new-look Register.

That kept two people busy in the "Work Bytes" heyday.

But "Work Bytes" died a quiet death with absolutely no explanation, and evidently won't ever come back.

Pretty damn sad if you ask me.

*

The Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Gazette sent columnist Mike Hlas [pictured at the left] to the Arizona Cardinals' NFL playoff game in Glendale, AZ. The Register sent no one.

Hlas was there, obviously, because Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner grew up in Cedar Rapids, where he attended Regis High School.

He later played for the Iowa Barnstormers in Des Moines, but that wasn't enough to get a Register reporter or columnist down there for the playoff victory that sent Warner and the Cardinals to the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl will be played Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla., where Iowa's Outback Bowl game was held earlier this month.

It'll be interesting to see if the Register covers the game, or if Andy Hamilton of the Iowa City Press Citizen is sent back there.

That's a joke. I think.

It was Hamilton who provided a lot of the Register's Outback Bowl coverage by Team Gannett.

USA Today [again], the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Associated Press provided the Register's coverage of the playoff game in Arizona.

Here's the start of Hlas' column in today's Gazette:

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Twice upon a time ...

When Kurt Warner's storybook football career is over and the storybook of his career is written, "once upon a time" won't get it done.

Warner had already emerged from the obscurity of playing pro football in Des Moines and Amsterdam to win a Super Bowl, two NFC titles and two NFL Most Valuable Player awards between the 1999 and 2001 seasons with the St. Louis Rams. But when fading away seemed to be his clear destiny for a long time, look who's burning brightly again.

Though he is more clean-shaven than in those three seasons of stockpiling wins, passing yardage and touchdowns, Warner had a seven-year itch. He scratched it with a four-touchdown performance Sunday that helped the Arizona Cardinals — the never-any-good Arizona Cardinals — to their first Super Bowl appearance.

After seven years without returning to a Super Bowl or a Pro Bowl, Warner left University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday with his career fully risen like a phoenix in the desert.

The Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 32-25, in the NFC title game. Warner threw four touchdown passes. The first three almost seemed to come easily in the first half. The fourth capped a drive that forever goes into his and Arizona's lore.

Having led 24-6 at halftime, the Cardinals found themselves down 25-24 with 10:45 remaining in the game. High anxiety gripped a crowd of 70,650 that had been roaring at locomotive levels earlier. That was after Arizona mustered a measly 1 yard in the third quarter, after Philadelphia's capable defense started wearing down Warner's offensive line and putting increasing heat on the quarterback.

"When I got in the huddle I don't think a lot was said," Warner said. "I think we knew what we had to accomplish. Nobody was panicking, nobody was going crazy, hyperventilating, or anything like that.

"We just said, 'We've done some good things today. Now we've just got to put it together one more time.'"

*

Incidentally, when I saw Jim Ecker of the Gazette at Saturday's Drake-Northern Iowa basketball game at the Knapp Center, he told me he's writing two columns a week.

Ecker has always been an outstanding reporter, and he's always had plenty of opinions. I'm glad he's able to put his opinions in written form for his newspaper.

*

Intreresting.

In Sunday's one-column-long list of sport-by-sport Black Pioneers in Iowa Sports, the Register had Dick Culberson of Iowa at the top in basketball.

It said: "Dick Culberson became the first black player in the Big Ten Conference when he suited up for Iowa in 1944."

Two years ago, in a story that took up half of the sports section, the Register erroneously called Bill Garrett of Indiana the Big Ten's first player. That story ignored Culberson, then editors blamed the University of Iowa's sports recordkeepers for the mistake.

*

Good for Dan McCool for going to Stillwater, Okla., to cover Iowa's wrestling victory yesterday over Oklahoma State, and good for the Register to send him there. McCool is the nation's best wrestling writer.

*

That's it for today. Now I may see what kind of trouble Alive In Clive, not his real name, is getting into.

It Might Be Tough For UNI To Get Into NCAA's Big Dance; It'll Be a Shame If Season Gets Ugly For Drake After Being Blown Out By 22 Points At Home

After yesterday's 22-point assault on Drake, I wrote that Northern Iowa was my choice to win the Missouri Valley Conference basketball regular-season championship--if it continues to play like it did at the Knapp Center.

Continuing at that level, of course, is going to be the key to this whole thing for the Panthers.

With a 6-1 record, they're in first place in the league right now. But they have 11 conference games remaining, so they're certainly not home free.

And another important thing.

There's no assurance UNI will make it to the 65-team NCAA tournament even if it wins the Valley's regular-season title.

The postseason championship is more important to the NCAA selection committee. The winner of that will get the Valley's automatic bid.

Whether the Valley gets a second team in the Big Dance is questionable.

At this stage, I wouldn't count on it.

I saw a Ratings Percentage Index before yesterday's games that showed UNI rated only No. 102 nationally. Much of the reason is because the Panthers struggled to a 6-5 record before going on their six-game Valley winning streak.

UNI needs to keep playing well and keep winning, starting with Wednesday night's game against Bradley in Cedar Falls. Bradley was No. 79 in the RPI ratings I saw, and Drake was No. 70.

For that matter, Iowa was No. 75 and Iowa State was No. 92. I don't see any Big Dance for those teams either.

*

It's difficult to predict what's going to happen to Drake.

The Bulldogs certainly flopped in yesterday's must-win game. They needed to win that one after losing earlier in the week at Illinois State.

Drake has games this week at Missouri State [Wednesday] and Creighton [Saturday]. The Bulldogs defeated Missouri State, 67-49, here New Year's Eve, but who knows what frame of mind they'll be in after being blown out yesterday.

And Creighton is always difficult for Drake, whether the game is in Des Moines, Omaha or Mark Phelps' backyard.

Drake needs to right the ship immediately. If it doesn't, things could get very ugly.

*

Drake fan Jay Davidson reflected on the Bulldogs in this e-mail:

"Hi, Ron,

"As usual, you and those you quoted in your column today said it well...and for good measure I add this: On this day, UNI's great A game overwhelmed Drake, and I think the Panthers could have played with any team in the country today. This is a message I gave as I talked to Troy Dannen, Jean Berger, UNI's assistant coaches, Sandy Hatfield Clubb, our cheerleaders--whom I have been thanking after each of our games during the semester break for their great faithfulness and spirit in leading our fan support--and probably at least 50 of my fellow fans.

"For the Bulldog team, and for our fans, it's both gut check and heart check time. This is a good one to rack up to experience (bad experience), both learn from and forget, and move on. I have confidence we all can do that. And it's time to give great credit to a UNI team that on that date--01/17/09--played the best basketball I've seen played anywhere this season.

"All the best to you and yours, Ron,"

Jay Davidson

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Everyone associated with Northern Iowa had reason to walk out of the Knapp Center feeling very, very good about the men's basketball program. The Panthers left no doubt in my mind that they're the best Division I team in the state in January, 2009].

*

Jay Davidson has been keeping the keyboard on his computer warm. Here's more e-mail from him:

"Hi, Ron, (in response to one of your recent comments),

"Just got in from working too many hours for the U.S. Census Bureau, but I do love it! I think many readers of traditional newspapers need to face facts: most daily newspapers, including the local one that I used to read, will not survive the digital age. The ones that will survive are niche papers, papers catering to a very specific and defined audience (like arts lovers or investors), and free papers which are published less frequently than dailies and are full of advertising that people crave. The rest will die a gradual death or will have to become one of the others already mentioned.

"Readers of traditional dailies have to face facts: they are now a minority that cannot be practically and economically served by daily media that used to serve them. And they need to realize that what you are doing, (I'd put the last five words in italics if I knew how tonight!), and not any kind of 'traditional' journalism however packaged or transmitted, is the future of public print and discourse! I applaud rather than decry that fact as I see it and think most readers will be better served when that becomes the rule. Why is that so difficult for folks to comprehend?

"All the best to you,"

Jay Davidson

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: See what a good friend I am, Jay. I didn't just put those five words in italics; I put your entire e-mail in italics].

*

And again:

"Hi, Ron,

"Usually I try to keep just one controversy going at a time but let's see what I can stir up today that's relevant to your readers. Since I always try to be affirming, I won't say that your correspondent Mark Robinson is being negative in saying that only a miracle could keep Harrison Barnes in Iowa. (I do think Harrison Barnes is a classy name, by the way, and he's also a classy player by all accounts I have heard...I have yet to see him play.)

"Do we even know if any in-state schools are in the hunt for him? And why limit the comments to Iowa and Iowa State? Drake and UNI have done far better jobs in recruiting student-athletes who read and write, and know how to tell time and that lying in alleys is not a legitimate pasttime, not to mention winning with them, in most recent years. So assuming the aforementioned Mr. Barnes does all the above (which I do, by the way) he could choose one of the latter named institutions.

"All the best,"

Tongue Planted Firmly in Cheek (Jay Davidson)

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I don't know if Harrison Barnes is considering any of the state of Iowa's Division I universities, but the word I get is that both Iowa and Iowa State have offered him scholarships. All of us know that Drake and Northern Iowa are well aware of Barnes; I haven't had anyone tell me they've offered him scholarships. But when places like Duke, North Carolina, Texas and Stanford want him, I have to think people feel Barnes has a strong collegiate future ahead of him, I guess I'd like to see Barnes play close enough to this state [even in the state] so people here can watch him play. If he goes to Duke or North Carolina, all we'll be able to do is wait for him to be some sort of network game of the week. And that means we'd probably get Dick Vitale blabbering about him].

Bulldogs 'Hit In the Mouth' and Shellshocked By UNI, the Valley's Surprise Team; Can the Panthers Keep This Up and Win League Title? Hey, Why Not?

Second semester classes at Drake won't start until Tuesday. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs' basketball players, Northern Iowa took them to school three days early this morning and this afternoon.

*

In a thoroughly embarrassing nationally-televised game for Drake, the Panthers put on a dazzling show before 6,213 fans at the Knapp Center. UNI had a 27-point lead in the first half and a 37-point advantage in the last half en route to an 81-59 victory.

*

When I asked Drake coach Mark Phelps yesterday if he thought his players would be ready for a UNI team that's in first place in the Missouri Valley Conference, he was confident the Bulldogs would answer the challenge.

*

The players showed everyone how wrong a coach can be. Incredibly, season scoring leader Josh Young went without a basket and totaled three points, and a number of his teammates also were no-shows in a game that was televised by ESPN2.

*

If I had been Phelps, I would have been tempted to get two quick technical fouls [deliberately] early in the last half so the officials would kick me out of the game. By that time, it was obvious it wasn't the Bulldogs' day, and maybe the coach getting ejected would've lit a fire under some of the players who needed something to get them going.

*

What state championship? Drake had already beaten both Iowa State and Iowa -- and looked pretty darn good doing it. UNI lost to both teams, and looked like the UNI we've known With a victory today, the Bulldogs could have wrapped up a third straight mythical state title. Even a loss at UNI Feb. 18 couldn't have kept Drake from the title. However, now Drake is 2-1 in the state series and so is Iowa. Iowa State is 1-2 and so is UNI. If UNI beats Drake a second time, the Bulldogs will wind up 2-2 and Iowa will be 2-1.

*

To have this game beamed across the country was the last thing Drake needed. This is a program that featured a 28-5 record last season that included Valley regular-season and postseason championships. Today's 22-point loss was the Bulldogs' worst since a 79-56 defeat at Creighton on Jan. 9, 2007 in Tom Davis' final season as coach.

*

Young, who came into the game with a 17.l scoring average, got only two shots against a UNI defense that saw him get double-teamed much of the time. If Kwadzo Ahelegbe wasn't in Young's face, Lucas O'Rear and Brian Haak were smarming all over him. Today's Josh Young was someone I hadn't seen before.

*

UNI's goal was obviously to deny Young and 6-8 Johathan "Bucky" Cox the ball. Cox took only nine shots and scored 11 points. His 10 rebounds led both teams.

*

It's a good thing Josh Parker was one of the few Bulldogs who came to play. He scored a career-high 25 points and made four of Drake's seven three-point field goals.

*

Drake quit going hard for rebounds and loose basketballs after falling behind so far in the last half. Not a good sign.

*

UNI is obviously the surprise team of the Valley. In preseason voting, the Panthers were picked to finish sixth in the standings [Drake was fourth]. But coach Ben Jacobson said the words conference champions aren't yet in his vocabulary or that of his players.

*

UNI took Drake's crowd out of the game early. "The way [UNI] was making field goals early was really shellshocking to us and it carried over offensively," said Phelps. "We did things we didn't want to do. We weren't patient and we rushed some shots."

*

Drake missed 14 straight shots after a layup by Craig Stanley with 1:18 remained in the first half until Cox scored with 10:21 left in the game. The dry spell lasted 10 minutes 55 seconds.

*

UNI led at halftime, 47-25. The Panthers shot 58.1 percent in the opening 20 mionues, although it seemed more like 88.1 percent. Longtime Drake fan Jay Davidson came up to me at press row during the intermission to say he thought the second half would belong to the Bulldogs. Jay is right a lot of the time about Drake, but not today. The second half was just as bad for the Bulldogs, if not worse.

*

UNI's first half was the best I've seen all season by any team in any league -- including the NBA.

*

I asked Phelps what he told his players at halftime and if he thought they could get back into the game. "Absolutely we thought we could get back into it," the first-year coach said. "We knew we didn't play well and that Northern Iowa played great in the first half. You have to approach it with patience. You can't try to do it all at one time. It begins with stops on defense and patience and execution on offense. We weren't in a great way at halftime, but we felt confident we could chip away at it. But UNI started the second half the same way they started the first half."

*

I wondered if Phelps tried to give any Knute Rockne-type speeches to his players at halftime. I guess not. "I think we give way too much credit to fiery speeches," he said. "It's all about consistent daily preparation and making adjustments. We played a terrific team today that's playing terrific basketball. They've won six in a row, and three of them have been on the road in some places where they haven't won in quite some time."

*

Come to think about it, I guess Knute Rockne would have left the building at halftime if he was coaching Drake.

*

UNI has come from nowhwere to lead the Valley with a 6-1 record. The Panthers were only 6-5 before going on their six-game winning streak. They lost their Valley opener at home to lowly Indiana State, but have been on a roll ever since. Right now -- because of their road successes -- they're my choice to win the league title, if they continue playing the way they did today.

*

Jay Davidson reminded me that I wrote earlier this season that I wondered if Jacobson, who has been stumbling along in the last couple of years, would be fired after or during the season. Hell, now he might get a contract extension and a pay raise.

*

Josh Parker said, "I give all the credit to UNI. They're well-coached and they played well." I asked him if he and the other Bulldogs were shocked by the loss. "We know we have to come back and work hard. We need to work harder."

*

Of UNI's defense on Young, Parker said, "Josh is a great player and he attracts a lot of people. UNI limited his touches and guarded him."

*

Drake's Craig Stanley said UNI "came out and hit us in the mouth. We just have to work hard in practice and be ready for the next game. We got beat bad today, but we'll be ready next time."

*

Guard Johnny Moran scored 20 points for UNI, drilling six of 13 three-point shots. For the game, UNI was 11-for-26 on three-pointers, Drake 7-for-25.

*

Adam Templeton was 0-for-5 from the field and scoreless for Drake. Brent Heemskerk was 1-for-4 and scored two points. That's not going to cut it for a team that now is 13-6 overall and 4-3 in the Valley. If those two big guys [Templeton is 6-5, Heemskerk is 6-8] can't do the job, get somebody in there who can.

*

You were wondering if misery loves company? Well, I guess so. Fourteenth-ranked Marquette stormed back from a 13-point second-half deficit to beat Providence, 91-82, later Saturday. Providence, of course, is coached by Keno Davis, whose only Drake team went 28-5 last season. In the game on ESPN2, Jeff Xavier of Providence was hit in the face and dropped to the floor covering his right eye with 17:13 left in the game. No foul was called, but while the players were waiting at the free throw lane a fan walked onto the court and went chest-to-chest with one of the referees. Wire service reports said Jonathan Xavier -- Jeff's brother -- came down from the stands and jumped over the Providence bench to get onto the court. Security hustled him off, and he left without much of a fight, waiting under the stands with a guard while police were summoned. Jonathan Xavier was taken to the Providence police station and will be charged with disorderly conduct. Just another night at the arena. Keno's Friars now are 11-6 overall and 3-2 in the Big East Conference.

Phelps Isn't Fond Of the 11 a.m. Start, But He Figures Stanley, Other Bulldogs Will Be Wide Awake For ESPN2 Game Against Red-Hot UNI

I asked Drake basketball coach Mark Phelps today what he thinks about morning games.

"You've already played at various times of the day -- 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon and 6, 7 and 8 o'clock at night," I mentioned. "How do you feel about an 11o'clock in the morning game?"

"I prefer to not play at 11 a.m., but I think our guys will be ready," Phelps said of tomorrow's game at the Knapp Center against Northern Iowa.

"You just have to adjust your schedule. The starting time doesn't allow us to have a game-day shootaround but, but we're playing at home and it's a Missouri Valley Conference game."

*

It's a quick turnaround for the Bulldogs, who lost at Illinois State. 64-61, Wednesday night and now have records of 13-5 overall and 4-2 in the Valley.

"We got back here at 2:30 in the morning Thursday, and didn't pratice very hard yesterday," Phelps said. "We've got to make sure our guys are fresh mentally and physically.

"It's not ideal, but I think we have a decent plan [for tomorrow]."

*

Drake will be playing the hottest team in the Valley in a game that will televised by ESPN2.

UNI is tied for the league lead with five straight victories and a 5-1 record. The Panthers have won three games on the road -- 58-47 at Evansville [where Drake lost its Valley opener]; 59-51 at Southern Illinois and 69-66 at Creighton.

The Panthers lead the Valley in field goal percentage shooting at 46.7 and are the only team in the league that has four players in the starting lineup averaging in double figures.

"UNI is a really, really well-coached team at both ends of the court," Phelps said. "They're very stingy on defense. They help each other and the players aren't just concerned with their own man.

"On offense, they're extremely efficient. It's really a solid team. They're playing excellent basketball on the road."

*

In a way, it's too early to be talking about "must" games.

In another way, it isn't.

Drake can't afford a loss today or in any other home game.

*

The Buldogs have won 12 straight games over Iowa, Iowa State and UNI [four in a row over the Panthers] and are going after their third consecutive mythical state championship. UNI lost early-season games to both Iowa State and Iowa,

*

One of the most efficient Bulldogs recently has been guard Craig Stanley [pictured at the right], the junior college recruit who made his decision to attend Drake before Phelps was named Drake's coach last spring.

The Tom Davis/Keno Davis coaching staffs made the early contact with Stanley.

"Craig followed through on his commitment and signing with Drake in the midst of a coaching change," Phelps said. "I didn't get a chance to speak with Craig before he went ahead and officially signed.

"It was his demonstration of commitment to Drake that was so impressive to me. This is the place he wanted to be.

"Craig has been a concistent, improving player, I sound like a broken record, but he embraces everything we give him. He's becoming more comfortable, discovered a scoring touch and he's finding his teammates for open shots.

"Making that move from junior college to this level of Division I is difficult. I give Craig tremendous credit for making the adjustment. He's a terrific and deserves to have success."

*

In the event you still weren't convinced that the newspaper business is in awful shape, let me point out that the Minneapolis Star-Tribune -- the largest paper in Minnesota -- has filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. That's very hard for me to believe.

*

Laura Hollingsowrth is in the paper here so much these days that I'm starting to think she's a new columnist.

She even had a logo today whe announced yet more changes in the Des Moines Register, starting Monday.

The publisher said the paper is combining the Metro & Iowa and Business sections into one. The Health section -- which has never caught on --- moves inside Iowa Life on Wednesdays, the comics, puzzles, Dear Abby and the TV grid are moving to Datebook on Thursdays and there will be no stock listings on Saturdays.

And, oh, yes. there'll be no classified ads on Mondays and Tuesdays -- mainly because there aren't many or any.

It's the same-type changes a lot of other papers are making in these difficult times for all newspapers.

One of the interesting things to me is that it's Hollingsworth who is announcing these changes, not editor Carolyn Washburn.

There was a time when the editor made those announcements. Maybe I'm wondering what Washburn's future is at 8th & Locust, or if there's a future for her.

*

By the way, the Detroit Free Press says it's not going to follow Gannett Co. orders to have all employees take a one-week furlough with no pay. Good for the Free Press.

*

I see the Register is going to take another stab at trying to get things right with a Sunday project called "Black Pioneers In Iowa Sports."

Maybe the editors can finally get some truth into who was the first black basketball player in the Big Ten.

The paper screwed it all up a couple of years ago when it said Bill Garrett of Indiana was the league's first black player in 1948.

In truth, Dick Culberson of Iowa was the Big Ten's first black player in the 1944-45 season.

I talked to one of Culberson's teammates, who told me he couldn't believe the mistake the paper made.

The Register had no clue that Culberson played for Iowa, and that there was considerable historical significance to what he did.

To look even sillier, the paper's editors tried to blame record-keepers at the University of Iowa for their error.

It'll be interesting to see what they write about Culberson in Sunday's story. Still, it's going to be pretty damn embarrassing to the paper if it now accurately calls Iowa's Culberson the first black basketball player in the Big Ten after two years ago mistakenly saying it was Indiana's Garrett.

*

That's it for me today.

I had breakfast with Alive In Clive this morning, and he talked about wanting to play golf.

"Don't include me in your group," I told him. "Too much snow out there."

"I've got a purple ball," he said.

"That's your problem," I said.

You'd Better Watch Ames High School Standout Harrison Barnes Now--'If He Plays Anywhere In College Within Iowa's Borders, It Could Be a Miracle'

You may recall that I was railing on last week about how Ames had walloped Valley by 58 points in a high school basketball game -- and that the Tigers shouldn't ever lose by that large a margin to any team in anything.

A couple of sidebars to that column, of course, were that unbeaten Ames is the state's No. 1-ranked class 4-A team and that Harrison Barnes is the star of the show.

Barnes [pictured at the right, courtesy of Google] is a 6-6 [some say 6-7], 196-pound junior who is regarded as the No. 1-ranked small forward in the 2010 national high school recruiting class.

I hear that collegiate recruiters everywhere -- and I do mean everywhere -- are dazzled by Barnes' abilities.

After hearing that such universities as North Carolina and Duke -- plus Kansas, Texas, Stanford, a couple hundred or more other schools and probably even the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics pf the NBA -- are interested in him, I asked Mark Robinson of Iowa City for his thoughts on Barnes, and where he thinks he'll play collegiate basketball.

Robinson has always had a keen interest in collegiate sports in our state, and does all he can to keep track of the pulse of the basketball recruiting scene.

Here's what he told me in several e-mails:

Hi, Ron.

"You asked if I had any information with regard to where Harrison Barnes will wind up.

"My answer to that question is anywhere he wants to wind up. He's that good. If Mr. Barnes plays anywhere within Iowa's borders, it could be considered a miracle.

"However, he wouldn't play for more than a year or two anyway.

"I'm not trying to shoo Mr. Barnes out of Iowa, but he would be foolish to stay in-state with either Iowa or Iowa State.

"Basketball, Lickliter style, is fine if you enjoyed the early 30s when there was a jump ball after every basket.

"It's painful, Ron. Tom Davis also recruited Iowa and, at times, his teams were painful to watch. Most of the time, Davis' teams, with Iowa players, were a pleasure to watch even in a losing cause.

"Frankly, after the last nine years of Iowa basketball, I'm almost finished with it. And so are the few who attend Carver.

"Take care and keep writing, Ron,"

Mark Robinson
Iowa City

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for your thoughts, Mark. It's too bad fans in our state won't get the chance to watch Barnes play collegiate games, unless he shows up for an occasional game in somebody else's uniform. I guess I'd better take advantage I get to see the kid play his high school games].

*

Robinson later wrote to me about the Marshalltown-Ames rivalry. Here's his e-mail on that:

Hello, Ron,

"I almost drove to Ames to see the Marshalltown-Ames game. I'm glad I didn't. Ames is clearly the pack leader this season in the metro conference and I have no desire to see Ames beat Marshalltown.

"The rivalry runs pretty deep.

"In 1972, Ames came to the [Marshalltown] Roundhouse in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 ballgame. The Roundhouse, as you know, is the largest high school gymnasium in Iowa. That night, there were 5,000-plus fans jammed into the place. I was warming the pines.

"What a night! The Bobcats ran roughshod over Ames and eventually went up against a strong Cedar Rapids Kennedy team in the championship game, and lost.

"In 1960-61, Ames dealt Marshalltown its only loss in 46 games. The folks around town hadn't forgotten.

"In 1973, Ames returned the favor; beat Marshalltown in the state tourney and won it all.

"The last time the Marshalltown Roundhouse was filled to capacity was during the Jeff Horner-Michael Bell era. Again, a top five matchup with first team all-state performers.

"The first game in the Roundhouse was Marshalltown vs Roosevelt. I was there as a 10-year-old and the lights went out. Five thousand people, in the dark. They had to run all four giant fans in the ceiling to keep the place habitable and...lights out.

"Roosevelt won that game and the state title with players Ron Whitney, a kid named Sears and a bruiser named Ely. The following year, Marshalltown returned the favor, beating Roosevelt, 67-60, in the state tourney.

"Marshalltown's Frank Buchan had to sink a last-second shot from the free throw line to beat Sioux City Heelan to get to play Cedar Ra[ods Washington in the championship game.

"Marshalltown's Chanse Creekmur is coming to the University of Iowa. He's really good.

"Harrison Barnes, in contrast, will be on the moon. He just wouldn't fit in with coach Lickliter's 'system.'

"Keep writing,"

Mark Robinson
Iowa City

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Mark, I appreciate your thoughts on the Marshalltown-Ames rivalry -- something that runs very deep in high school. In my newspaper days, I got a chance to cover a couple of the games you wrote about].

*

Eddie Podolak has certainly been in the news a lot in recent days, and plenty has been written about him.

However, I'd like to write a little more about a guy I spent a lot of time around in his days as an Iowa football player and radio commentator on Hawkeye radio broadcasts.

One of the things I've thanked him for many times was the day in 2003 -- Sept. 20, to be exact -- when he graciously agreed to sit in with me at a signing of my then-new book, "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines," at Iowa Book and Supply in downtown Iowa City.

Hayden Fry's Iowa team was scheduled to play Arizona State at 5 p.m. that day at Kinnick Stadium. My book signing was at 1 p.m.

In the book, I included anecdotes from and about Podolak and Iowa play-by-play announcer Gary Dolphin, who also appeared at my signing that day.

Podolak and Dolphin are pictured at the left in a photo that's a courtesy of KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids. Podolak is at the right, Dolphin at the left.

Fans who were buying the book enjoyed visiting with both Podolak, who had been an outstanding quarterback/running back for Ray Nagel's Iowa teams in the 1960s, and Dolphin.

I'll forever be grateful to Eddie and Dolphin for participating in the book-signing.

Like I wrote earlier this week, enjoy your retirement, Eddie, from your job as Iowa's radio commentator. I'll miss seeing and talking to you in the press box on football Saturdays. And I'll miss hearing your comments on the radio.

*

Here's the story I wrote about Podolak that appeared April 20, 1986 when he was added to the Des Moines Sunday Register Iowa Sports Hall Of Fame:

RON MALY • Register Staff Writer • April 20, 1986

Ed Podolak says he'll be watching television at home, and occasionally one of the networks will show some film of the 1971 Christmas Day game the Kansas City Chiefs played against the Miami Dolphins.

"After watching for a few minutes," Podolak says, "I wonder how I ever ran that far. Now I can't even run to catch an elevator."

Just kidding, of course. At 38, Podolak -- former Chiefs running back, former University of Iowa quarterback and tailback, and former Atlantic, Ia., High School athletic standout -- still gets around pretty well.

Today, the man who lives in Carbondale, Colo., and owns a real estate and gas and oil business 20 miles away in Aspen, becomes the 112th member of the Des Moines Sunday Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.

Although Podolak displayed some brilliance as a rare double-position player at Iowa in 1966, 1967 and 1968, the Hawkeye football program in that era was considerably less than brilliant.

Indeed, those were part of football's Dark Ages at Iowa. The Hawkeyes had 19 straight non-winning, and Podolak played in three of them.

He participated on teams that had records of only 2-8, 1-8-1 and 5-5, but his 286-yard rushing day against Northwestern as a senior is still a school record.

Podolak led Iowa as a rusher that season with 937 yards, and was the team's No. 1 passer the two previous years. He threw for 1,041 yards as a sophomore, 1,014 as a junior.

He was a Hawkeye captain, the team's most valuable player and a first-team all-Big Ten Conference selection as a senior.

But Podolak's finest hours came as a member of the Chiefs. He was a National Football League "ironman," a 204-pounder who parlayed a strong work ethic instilled in him by parents Joe and Dorothy, and a gifted body into a nine-year pro career.

That's much longer than any running back is supposed to last in the NFL, where knee surgeries and broken bones are as commonplace as Tom Landry wearing a hat and Jim McMahon wearing a headband.

"The average career length is 31/2 years," said Podolak. "Maybe conditioning helped me stay as long as I did, maybe it was my running style. But luck had a big role in it, too.

"I really enjoyed my first three or four years of pro ball because we were very successful. But I didn't like the last part of my career because we were losing.

"That led me to retire. I could have played longer, but I hadn't had any knee operations, and thought it was time to quit."

Among the Chiefs' recods Podolak owns are for career-rushing yards with 4,451, and attempts with 1,158.

Although Podolak played on some outstanding Kansas City teams, his best game came in a loss.

That was the famous Christmas Day playoff game in 1971 with Miami. In a marathon that didn't end until the Dolphins' Garo Yepremian kicked a 37-yard field goal for a 27-24 victory after 82 minutes 40 seconds, Podolak piled up a record 350 yards.

He rushed for 100, totaled 100 in pass receiving, and added 150 in kick returns.

"The game was in Kansas City, and my parents were in town," Podolak said. "I went back home, ate a late Christmas dinner with them, then got on a plane the next day and flew to Aspen, so I could get away from football.

"Losing that game was a pretty painful experience. Most of our players thought we had a better team than the 1969 club that won the Super Bowl.
Injured as Rookie

Podolak was a rookie on the 1969 team, but tore a hamstring in the final exhibition game and missed nine weeks.

"I played on special teams in the Super Bowl game," he said, "and that was the only one I ever made it to."

In Super Bowl IV, at New Orleans on Jan. 11, 1970, Coach Hank Stram's Chiefs upset Minnesota, 23-7.

The versatile Podolak not only led the Chiefs in rushing for four straight years, 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1973, and again in 1977, but he still owns the club record with 12 pass receptions against Denver in 1973, and also has the club mark for punt returns with nine against San Diego in 1974.

Podolak was the Chiefs' second-round draft choice behind cornerback James Marsalis of Tennessee State after his senior season at Iowa.

Because he hadn't been moved from quarterback to running back until midway through his final year as a Hawkeye, Podolak gave the professional scouts plenty of time to see him as an option player.

"I was drafted by Saskatchewan of the Canadian League as a quarterback," Podolak said, "and gave a lot of thought to playing there.

"The Canadian offer was as much as he Chiefs' and it turned out I got a better deal from Kansas City because I was considering Saskatchewan."
Recruited by Burns

Jerry Burns was still the Iowa coach when Podolak was recruited out of Atlantic High School.

"Freshmen weren't eligible for varsity competition in college football then," Podolak said, "so I never played for Burns [who was fired after the 1965 season]."

Ray Nagel was hired as a coach, and Podolak Podolak became the quarterback.

"In my sophomore season, I was runner-up to Purdue's Bob Griese in Big Ten total offense," said Podolak.

"But it was frustrating to keep getting beat, because I'd played for high school teams that never lost.

"I had expected to be part of a healthy, winning program, but the wheels came off. Those first two years were really a struggle."

But Podolak began the 1968 season as the leader of a promising offensive unit. But, after opening with a 21-20 victory over Oregon State, the Hawkeyes promptly lost successive games to Texas Christian, Notre Dame and Indiana.

To make matters worse, Podolak suffered a concussion in the Oregon State game, then had the same thing happen at Texas Christian.

"I spent four or five days in a Texas hospital," he said, "and that was probably my worst injury as a player."

Podolak was moved to running back in the fifth game, and quickly proved it was a good move.

"I went to tailback," he said, "because Denny Green hurt an ankle, and we had no depth at the position.

"Larry Lawrence was our backup quarterback, and Nagel figured I'd be stronger at tailback.

"After gaining 140 yards in first game as a running back, I knew I'd stay there the rest of the year."

The highlight of the season came with the 286-yard rushing day in a 68-34 Iowa victory over Northwestern.

"That set a Big Ten record," Podolak said, "but it didn't last long. I broke a record that had stood for years, but the following week Ron Johnson of Michigan broke mine."

Podolak thought Iowa was headed for big things after he concluded his competition, but it was not to be.

"By the time I was a senior, Nagel had recruited a lot of good athletes," Podolak explained.

"I felt they had a chance to win the Big Ten championship the following season, bu the team lost nine or 10 starters because of the black boycott."

As a result, the 1969 team repeated the 1968 squad's 5-5 record, but won one fewer Big Ten game. Then, after a 3-6-1 record in 1970, Nagel was gone.

"Our 4-3 record in the Big Ten in '68 was the last time Iowa was better than .500 in the conference until Hayden Fry's teams," said Podolak.

Next fall, Podolak will be in his fifth season as a commentator on Iowa games broadcast by WHO-radio in Des Moines.

"I enjoy doing that much more than the work I did as a commentator on the NFL games on NBC-TV," he said. "College football is much more colorful than pro games.

"But the thing I enjoy most is that Hayden Fry's Iowa teams are winning. I'm tremendously impressed with Fry. I hope this is his last coaching job, and that he stays at Iowa 20 more seasons."

Podolak and his wife, Vicki, also formerly of Atlantic, are the parents of two children -- Emily, 8, and Laura, 5.

His parents no longer live on a farm, and have moved into town in Atlantic. Younger brother Charlie, also a former Iowa player, lives in Columbus, Ohio, and sister Betty is in San Antonio, Texas.

Podolak lives a casual lifestyle in Colorado. He doesn't wear many three-piece suits or Florsheim wingtips.

"If you put on a coat and tie to do business in Colorado, they think you're going to rob the bank," he joked.

"I wear tennis shoes a lot because my feet got so beat up when I played football. That part of your body takes a real beating.

"When I retired as a player, I promised myself my feet would never hurt again."

Register, Press Citizen Reporters Better Hope the Janitor Doesn't Have Their Job When They Return From Gannett-Ordered Furlough With No Pay

Attention, folks at the Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press Citizen and all other Gannett media companies:

Tighten your belts.

Big Brother is ordering you to take a week off, without pay.

Editor & Publisher says today that the Gannett Co. -- which owns the Register and Press Citizen -- is implementing a long-rumored furlough program that wil require most U.S. employees to take a week off without pay.

Indeed, the Register and Press Citizen are included in the furlough plan.

The Register said today that "about 800 full- and part-time employees at the Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Register’s weekly papers must take one week without pay as part of the program. Union-represented employees are not included, but the company will ask the union accept the furloughs.

“'This is an extraordinarily difficult economic time, not only for our business but for all industries. I know that a furlough is a personal burden for employees,” said Laura Hollingsworth, president and publisher of the Register. “But it does allow us the opportunity to avoid layoffs while we assess economic trends beyond this volatile first quarter of 2009.'”

I can imagine the snickering going on in the Register's sports department now.

"Does this mean that I'll have to check the movie camera I used at the Outback Bowl with Carolyn Washburn's secretary when I take my week off?" one guy is asking.

"No, check it with the janitor," another guy says. "The secretary might be taking her week off, too. By the way, don't be surprised if the janitor has your job when you get back from your furlough."

"Yeah, and maybe Washburn will be taking her furlough, too, when you're looking for a place to check your movie camera," somebody else says. "Let's hope she takes two weeks off, not just one."

"What if my week off comes when a big basketball is being played?" someone asks.

"Tell the coach to call the sports desk with the score!" a guy tells him.

Gannett CEO Craig Dubow announced the plan in a memo today, sent to E&P, and posted here:

"Today Gannett is implementing a furlough program across all U.S. divisions and at corporate headquarters. This means that most of our U.S. employees - including myself and all other top executives - will be furloughed for the equivalent of one week in the first quarter. This furlough will be unpaid. Unions also will be asked to participate.

"We are doing this to preserve our operations and continue to deliver for our customers while confronting the issues raised by some of the most difficult economic conditions we have ever experienced.

"After much consideration, we decided a furlough program would be the fairest and least intrusive way to meet these fiscal challenges in the first quarter, which is traditionally the lightest time of the year. We sincerely hope this minimizes the need for any layoffs going forward.

"As the day goes on, you will be receiving information from your division presidents explaining the program, including some FAQs to help answer any of your questions and address your concerns about pay and benefits.

"We have made some very difficult decisions this past year, all with the goal of keeping Gannett strong and preparing for the future. I understand I have asked a great deal of you, and I regret adding to your burden with this program.

"But my sincere hope is that this step removes the need to do anything more drastic, and that business conditions improve. As always, I thank you for your patience and loyalty to Gannett."

[A FEW FINAL WORDS FROM RON MALY: Just think, it was just the other day that Hollingsworth told a gullible Register business reporter -- or was he the business editor? -- that things were going to get better at her paper and his. Oh, I guess she meant three to five years from now. Hell, that business writer [Lynn Hicks] and Hollingsworth will probably both be selling washing machines at Sears by that time].

The Same Thing As Prostitution: D.M. Register's Publisher Can't Expect To Start Charging People For Something She's Been Giving Away Free

I've been trying to make some sense out of the story about Laura Hollingsworth that was in the Des Moines Register yesterday.

So far, I'm not making much headway.

On making sense out of Lynn Hicks' story in the business section, I mean.

The paper devoted a lot of column inches to telling us that Hollingsowrth thinks there's a bright future to some form of newspapering.

I guess I never thought the 41-year-old publisher was going to tell Hicks, "People don't read newspapers anymore. I'm suggesting to everyone in the newsroom that they pack up their pencils and notepads and get into another line of work."'

And I guess I think there'll always be a daily paper in Des Moines.

But to say there's going to be some positiveness to newspapers in three to five years is about as sensible as saying gas will cost 50 cents a gallon in three to five years or that Iowa State's football team will play in the Orange Bowl in three to five years.

Hell, Hollingsworth may not even be in the newspaper business in three to five years. Mary Stier, the most recent Gannett Co. climber who preceded her as publisher, is no longer in it. Numerous other publisher and editorial administrative jobs could easily change in the newspaper business around the country in three to five years, and no doubt will.

There wasn't much in Hicks' story on Hollingsworth. It was the usual cheerleading-type story that said things will get better, without giving any specific reasons why.

Hollingsworth said circulation was down, but everybody knew that. She didn't disclose any figures, and evidently Hicks didn't ask her for numbers or find them elsewhere.

The thing that interested me most was that Hollingsworth said -- even predicted -- that the Register will likely start charging people to read the paper on their computers.

Hicks wrote, "Most newspapers and other media have offered content for free [online], but Hollingsworth expects that to change, even if it takes years. 'I really, really believe that people again will want to pay for credibility, for high quality, for excellence,' Hollingsworth said.

"'That may mean online subscriptions, cable-style billing or new methods.'"

I've got news for Hollingsowrth. People are not going to pay to read the paper on their computers.

I compare it to prostitution. People aren't going to pay for something they've been getting free for many years.

In the "reader comments" that followed the Hicks/Hollingsworth story on the Internet, a reader had this to say about the publisher's comments concerning charging people to see the paper online:

"'I really, really believe that people again will want to pay for credibility, for high quality, for excellence,' she said.

"LOLOLOL!!!!! You'll get alot of credibility with fluff pieces like this....NOT!! Give it up Hollingsworth. Your paper sucks. You know it and so does everyone else. If the Register had any kind of competition, they would have ceased to exist not long after Gannett bought the paper."

And this from another reader:

"Laura....people are not going to pay to read the des moines register online. not in a million years. people won't pay for the real paper anymore.your circulation's in the toilet and going down. you think that people that won't pay for the paper in the first place are going to pay for it online. that's hilarious. the only reason your circulation's as high as it is, is because you've been buying papers and claiming their circulation for your own. that trick's just about paid out. there aren't very many papers left to buy."

By the way, I know something about the history of the Register going online.

When I covered an Iowa football game in the Alamo Bowl at San Antonio, TX, a number of years ago, the paper made a big deal out of saying my stories would be available to online readers.

The paper's bosses -- few of whom are still around -- were happy that many readers read my stuff from San Antonio online. For free. They liked the numbers so well that they were jacking off for months. Hopefully, not in the office.

They definitely thought there was a future to online journalism, even though all of us knew you could never put a Hy-Vee grocery ad on the comupter.

So now Hollingsworth says she's going to start charging money for people to read a football story or any other kind of story?

Give me a break. I know I won't be paying anything for something like that. I'll read the newspapers online for free that I read right now for free.

By the way, it irritated me that neither Hicks nor Hollingsworth mentioned page 1 cartoonist Brian Duffy by name when they discussed the deletion of his drawings and his firing.

All that was mentioned was the "front page editorial cartoon" -- without using Duffy's name.

A horrible way to treat a guy who drew and drew and drew for all those years, and even helped the place promote its summertime bicycle ride.

Hollingsorth also wouldn't say if there'd be any more layoffs in the Register's newsroom.

Evidently, Hicks didn't press her on it, probably fearing he might be one of the next to go.

You know there'll be more layoffs. If they can send a sportswriter to the Outback Bowl with a movie camera so he can take pictures for the website, you can figure there's more bad, demeaning news down the road.

*

Photos of Laura Hollingsworth [at the left, when she was named publisher of the Register 16 months ago] and [at the right, as she appears now] courtesy of Google]. I think she's looking...let's put it this way, a little more mature these days.

It's Still Early In the Missouri Valley Conference Race, But This Is a Key Week For Drake, With Games Against Illinois State, Surprising Northern Iowa

Jay Davidson covers the Drake men's and women's basketball scenes for me in the following e-mail:

"Hi. Ron,

"Just a couple thoughts on (last) night's Drake-Wichita State game and other things. I am not surprised that you decided against braving the raw elements and stayed indoors this evening. But the game at the Knapp Center warmed everyone up. Mike Mahon's story in your column captured the action in the tightly contested game very well, as Mike always does. Big and exciting plays, 31 points off the bench by Bulldogs, lots of scrapping by Drake to neutralize the Shockers' superior length...all contributed to the 'Dogs' thrilling 5-point win. A tense moment late in the game came when Josh Young was slow to get up after a collision near (really under) the Drake bench. Drake's great head trainer Scott Kerr appeared to examine Josh's face and eyes closely and JY left the game briefly but returned for the final minutes.

"I keep forgetting to tell you that when we were in PA for the holiday break, I tried to find the Drake-Evansville score on several web sites including ESPN, AP and Drake's own site. Then I went to your column, and there it was -- the bad news that Drake had lost at UE, to date the Bulldogs' only loss in the MVC. You were probably the only one in the country at that point with the Drake score!

"(Saturday), after the Drake women's win over a very young Missouri State team which starts three freshmen (all of whom will be terrific players) and has six frosh on its travelling squad, I had a chance to greet MSU coach Nyla Milleson, who's in her second season as Lady Bears' coach. She previously had great success at Springfield's other university, Drury, where she started the program and won over 180 games in a decade. I just told her that I had great respect for her coaching and knew that she'd have her team battling for first place in a couple years.

"Apparently touched by my comments, she said 'I needed to hear something like that today,' and gave me a quick sideways hug! So I'm probably the only Drake fan to be hugged by a visiting MVC coach this year!

"All the best,"

Jay Davidson

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for your comments, Jay. I watched most of Drake's 74-69 victory over Wichita State on ESPNU, and was a bit surprised that the Shockers -- who still haven't won a Missouri Valley Conference game -- hung in there so well at the Knapp Center. Now that Drake is tied with Northern Iowa and Bradley for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, this is a key week. The Bulldogs play at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at Illinois State and at 11:05 a.m. Saturday against Northern Iowa at the Knapp Center. Illinois State was riding high with its 14-0 overall record and 3-0 Valley record a week ago, but lost twice last week to Bradley and [surprisingly] Indiana State. Still, Wednesday's game will be a challenge for Drake, which has won four straight Valley games since losing its opener at Evansville. Northern Iowa continues to be a surprise team in the conference after going only 6-5 in the non-league schedule. The Panthers' game Saturday on ESPN2 figures to be highly-emotional and highly-competitive. If Drake can get past that hurdle, it'll be another step in its domination of this state's Division I schools. The Bulldogs have already beaten Iowa State and Iowa this season. Drake, which is 13-4 overall, plays another game against UNI on Feb. 18 at Cedar Falls].

*

The basketball playing career of Mac McCausland, who lives in the Waterloo/Cedar falls area, continues getting better with time.

Dan McLaughlin, the play-by-play announcer during the ESPNU telecast of the Drake-Wichita State game, kept referring to McCausland as a "star" and "standout" basketball player when he attended Iowa.

Actually, there is no record of McCausland ever lettering in basketball as a Hawkeye. However, I've been told he was a member of some Iowa teams.

Mac, a fun guy and someone I talked with a lot over the years when he teamed with Larry Morgan on Hawkeye telecasts, never corrected McLaughin about his playing career during the Drake-Wichita State telecast.

I don't know, maybe it was a case of one Mac [McLaughlin] joking with another Mac [McCausland].

McCausland's son, Kent, was a decent Hawkeye player. The guard lettered in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.

*

It was good to see another Andy Hamilton story in this morning's Des Moines Register.

Andy was a member of the Eastern Iowa [aka Iowa City Press Citizen] Bureau of Team Gannett at the Outback Bowl, but had been out of the Register again until today.

*

I see No-Name Ballteam's lunch tomorrow that was supposed to feature manager Lou Piniella and general manager Jim Hendry of the Chicago Cubs, plus whatever guy will be managing No-Name team this year has been called off.

The reason given was that nobody knew if the guests would be able to be here.

Sounds pretty weak to me.

If you ask me, none of three wanted to be here very badly.

Either that or nobody was buying tickets.

Or both of the above.

*

I've been reading the story about Des Moines Register publisher Laura Hollingsworth that was in today's paper.

Hollingsworth rarely says anything that's worth commenting about. I'm thinking that's the case again. I'll let you know.

*

Photos of Drake's Josh Parker [right] and Josh Young [left] courtesy of GoDrakeBulldogs.com and Google.

I Made My First NFL Game Of the 2008-2009 Season a Good One. Future Hall Of Famer Kurt Warner, At 37, Showed He's Still Got Plenty Of Gas In the Tank

I'm going to try to make a couple of points today.

First of all, I'm all for old guys doing meaningful things in this world of ours.

I'm talking about Kurt Warner, who [at 37] is regarded as being long in the tooth as far as professional football players, especially quarterbacks, are concerned.

Then there's the matter generally of the NFL -- also known as the National Football League.

Before fall turned to winter, I commented one day in print that I had kept my record clean.

I still hadn't watched an NFL game in its entirety all season -- on Sunday, Monday and on whatever other days the play-for-pay guys were scheduling games.

In September, October and November, after weekends of keeping track of some of the high school games on Friday nights and collegiate games on Saturday, I wasn't in much of a mood to see millionaire quarterbacks and running backs on Sundays and/or Mondays.

My streak ended last night.

I knew Warner played for the Arizona Cardinals, and I knew they were on TV.

Snow and ice were on the ground, so I knew I couldn't walk outdoors. I didn't want to drive anywhere to walk indoors.

So it was Warner and channel 17 on my TV.

Yes, I watched all or most of an NFL game.

I knew nobody thought much of Arizona's chances. The Cardinals were 10-point underdogs to Carolina on the Panthers' home field.

I knew Warner, the quarterback who was born in Burlington, Ia., grew up in Cedar Rapids, played at Regis High School and Northern Iowa, for the Iowa Barnstormers [I even covered one of his games at Veterans Memorial Auditorium], in NFL Europe, for the St. Louis Rams and briefly for the New York Giants.

I knew Warner then began bouncing around the NFL, and that now -- at 37 -- he was pretty much considered damaged goods.

But I also knew Warner would probably he headed to pro football's Hall of Fame, and I wanted to get one final look at him.

What a surprise.

I certainly haven't seen all -- or even many -- of Warner's NFL games, but I doubt he's ever looked much better than he did in Arizona's 33-13 victory over Carolina.

The guy completed 21 of 32 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns. He threw only one inerception, which [for him] was exceptional.

It's a good thing he had Larry Fitzgerald on his team because all acrobatic Larry did was catch 166 yards worth of passes in the easy victory.

It helped Arizona that Jake Delhomme, who once was Warner's backup for the Amsterdam Admirals in NFL Europe, was intercepted five times and lost a fumble.

It was a fun game to see, and I hope Arizona keeps winning. The Cardinals play the Philadelphia Eagles next, and the good thing is that the game will be in the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, where Arizona plays its home games.

But in the Cardinals' case, I guess it doesn't matter where they play. They could be a team of destiny.

*

I haven't had to worry about whether Jake Christensen talked to me or not in recent years.

I let others have that problem.

The way I understand it, Jake didn't talk to anyone who worked for a newspaper in the state of Iowa.

Christensen was a quarterback at Iowa who fell out of disfavor with the coaches and certainly Hawkeye fans early in the 2008 season.

Now, as you've been able to see elsewhere on this page since late yesterday, ol' Jake is saying goodbye to Iowa and is preparing to say hello to one of the four schools now courting him.

I've got nothing against Jake, so I want to wish him good luck.

I don't blame him for leaving Iowa.

He wasn't going to play next season. Jake [and his dad, too] think he still has some football in him, so I hope he proves it somewhere.

*

That's it for this morning. I'm heading to church. I'm sure someone will e-mail me with the score of the Iowa basketball game.

Have a good one.

*

It's 2 p.m., and I'm back from church and lunch.

As I was pulling up to the Urbandale Cafe, I turned on the car radio. I guess Michigan was leading Iowa, 52-29, in the game at Ann Arbor.

The Hawkeyes had just committed a turnover, and play-by-play announcer Gary Dolphin said to analyst Bobby Hansen, "Bobby, this seems almost like a case of disinterest [among Iowa's players]."

Things didn't get much better after that. Iowa lost, 64-49.

*

By the way, my oldest son [who lives in St. Paul] told me the other day that one of the Minnesota announcers on the radio broadcast of the Gophers' game against Iowa last week blamed the poor crowd in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the flooding in Iowa City last summer.

Huh?

I don't which tent that guy has been sleeping in, but no flood of any kind caused Thursday's crowd to be nearly, 6,000 below capacity.

That's the way it's been for several years at Iowa basketball games. Fans began leaving the Hawkeye ship late in Steve Alford's term as coach, and they haven't come back in Todd Lickliter's first two seasons.

*

Hey, I'm glad the hard-hitting "In the Loop" finally caught up with Adam Emmenecker after all these days.

I Enjoyed Craig Cooper's Work As a Sportswriter In Des Moines and Davenport; Now He's a Candidate For Alderman In Davenport's 2nd Ward

When I used to work with Craig Cooper and see him in press boxes all over the place, I had no idea he'd wind up running for office someday.

But here he is, a candidate for alderman in Davenport's 2nd Ward.

Cooper was a sportswriter at the Des Moines Register and the Quad City Times, but now is out the newspaper business and is a public relations guy in the health care field.

Following is the information Cooper [who is pictured] sent me on his new venture, and his work background.

He's a good guy and he's been a friend of mine for a long time. So I'm supporting him.

Hey, Ron,

I'm running for alderman in Davenport's 2nd Ward. Our alderman was elected to the Iowa Senate, so Idecided to throw my shoe, I mean hat, into the ring.

I've always had an interest in government and public service, but still had ethics when I worked for newspapers. Too much of a conflict of interest then. There will be a special election March 3.

On the same day, all voters in Davenport will consider Davenport Promise, a program to give all Davenport high school graduates tuition for community college, trade schools and four-year colleges.

I like my website that my son designed because it looks good and was cheap. You may not be able to vote for me, but that doesn't mean you can't register as a supporter.

I know one thing; I'm for newspapers that I can hold in my hands, but don't mind the online versions either. I'll be doing some blogging on the website.

I was at the Register for 2 years right out of Iowa State and the Quad-City Times from 1978 to 2004. Here I covered everything from the Little League World Series, which was one of my favorite events, to the Olympics, World Series, a Super Bowl.

These were in the pre-blog, pre-video camera and very early, we didn't even have laptops. Now I am the media relations coordinator for Genesis Health System, a system of three hospitals. Genesis is the largest employer in Davenport and Scott County with about 5,000 employees.

I work on a daily basis with reporters -- health news is very important these days --pitch stories to the media, write for publications, produce and co-host a one-hour
Genesis radio show each week, write some items for employee publications and have duties as assigned, including some lobbying of goverment folks.

The 2nd Ward in Davenport is a very large area geographically and a diverse ward. I'm having a lot of fun hoofing around neighborhoods, knocking on doors. We have a web site www.craigcooper4alderman.com.

Hey ... do you think maybe I could get Dan Gable to come and knock on doors with me?

Coop

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Good luck, Coop. And I'm all for getting as much help as you can from Dan Gable. No one can argue with his success].

*

I was planning to attend the Valley-Waukee girls'/boys' basketball doubleheader last night, mainly to see if the Tiger boys are as bad as they seemed in a 58-point loss earlier in the week at Ames -- or if the 89-31 score in the paper was wrong.

But a bunch of sleet and snow began falling on my windshield when I was leaving the driveway, so I stayed home.

The days are over when I go very far -- even six city blocks -- for a basketball game in bad weather.

Anyway, Waukee got past Valley, 54-48, which indicates the Tigers were back in a class of competition where they belonged.

Ames thrashed Marshalltown by 29 points [thanks, Mark Robinson, for correcting my awful math], which indicates the Big Cyclones [I refuse to call 'em the Little Cyclones] are head-and-shoulders above every team around here.

*

In the story he did on Register publisher Laura Hollingsworth for the Iowa Independent, I wish Jason Hancock would've asked her why the paper's bosses didn't treat cartoonist Brian Duffy with more respect when they fired him.

It's one thing to end the page 1 cartoons Duffy drew so well for such a long time; it's another thing to throw him out the door like a bag of garbage, without even mentioning how good he was.

Another thing some of us are wondering about Hancock's story: When Hollingsworth mentioned the "wonderful columnists" the Register has, why didn't she mention Marc Hansen and Dave Yepsen?

The two columnists she talked about were John Carlson and Rekha Basu.

Strange.

I wonder if Hollingsworth even knows who Hansen and Yepsen are.

*

Another casualty in the most recent bloodbath at the Register was Jane Norman of the paper's Washington Bureau.

Hancock has an update on Norman in the Iowa Independent:

"...Norman is once again writing for an Iowa audience. [She] has been hired as a columnist for IowaPolitics.com, a non-partisan, for-profit political news service that aggregates news and publishes a daily newsletter. Norman will be writing a column entitled 'A View From D.C.,' where she will try to put an Iowa perspective on news from the nation’s capitol."

Good luck on that one.

Florida Is Your National Champion, But Unbeaten Utah Is Mine. Iowa No 20 In Final Polls. And Let's Have a 'Dollar Night' At Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Don't tell Southern California.

Or Utah, either.

Florida is your national football champion this season.

Yours, not mine.

I'm sticking with Utah. The Utes didn't lose a game; Florida lost to Mississippi.

Yes, Mississippi. As in Ole Miss.

So Florida -- because of its 24-14 victory last night over Oklahoma in a game that ended far too late -- finished No. 1 in both the Associated Press sportswriters' poll and the coaches/sports information directors polls.

And for all you Hawkeyes out there, Iowa wound up No. 20 in both polls after becoming the only Big Ten Conference team to win a bowl game.

Florida [pictured at the right] was good last night, but nobody -- certainly not me -- is about to say it's the best team since football was invented.

Indeed, my friend Jay Christensen says he's checked with people in Las Vegas [I think he might know quite a few folks out there] and says USC would be favored by 3 points over Florida if the teams played next week.

Christensen is starting to look more like Alfred Hitchcock every day, but I'll write about that some other time.

*

Oklahoma's loss continued the bowl frustrations of Bob Stoops, the former Iowa player who once was interested in coaching the Hawkeyes, but never got the chance.

It was the Sooners' fifth consecutive defeat in a Bowl Championship Series game. Stoops has lost three straight times while going for a national championship.

"I'll be glad to try again next year," Stoops [pictured at the left] told reporters after the game. "If that's the biggest burden I have to bear in my life, I'm a pretty lucky guy."

Oklahoma scored a modern-day record 702 points and had 60 or more in its last five games, but was stopped by Florida's defense.

The Gators' Tim Tebow was far-from-sensational in the game, but he was better than 2008 Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford of Oklahoma.

*

Frankly, I wish people would get off Stoops' back. I like the guy and I'm convinced he's a very good football coach.

Name me one school that wouldn't want to be playing for a national championship as many times as Stoops has had Oklahoma in that position.

*

I'm very happy for Dan McCarney, the former Iowa State football coach who was Florida's assistant head coach/defensive line coach this season.

He's certainly a big part of the reason for the Gators' outstanding defense.

I'm sure the work he did will get him a pay raise. And, if he still wants to be a head coach somewhere, I hope that happens, too.

*

Final Coaches' Poll

1. Florida (60) 13-1 1,524
2. USC 12-1 1,393
3. Texas 12-1 1,389
4. Utah (1) 13-0 1,375
5. Oklahoma 12-2 1,333
6. Alabama 12-2 1,157
7. TCU 11-2 1,114
8. Penn State 11-2 1,091
9. Oregon 10-3 1,011
10. Georgia 10-3 904
11. Ohio State 10-3 874
12. Texas Tech 11-2 867
13. Boise State 12-1 809
14. Virginia Tech 10-4 740
15. Mississippi 9-4 620
16. Missouri 10-4 549
17. Cincinnati 11-3 493
18. Oklahoma State 9-4 480
19. Oregon State 9-4 407
20. Iowa 9-4 250
21. Brigham Young 10-3 248
22. Georgia Tech 9-4 219
23. Florida State 9-4 217
24. Michigan State 9-4 179
25. California 9-4 116

Others Receiving Votes

West Virginia 101, Tulsa 68, LSU 65, Northwestern 63, Nebraska 62, Pittsburgh 38, Arizona 21, Ball State 14, Rice 14, Boston College 6, Rutgers 5, Kansas 3, Kentucky 3, Connecticut 2, Houston 1.

Dropped From Rankings

Northwestern 20, Pittsburgh 21, Ball State 22.

*

Final Associated Press Poll

1. Florida (48) 13-1 1,606
2. Utah (16) 13-0 1,519
3. USC (1) 12-1 1,481
4. Texas 12-1 1,478
5. Oklahoma 12-2 1,391
6. Alabama 12-2 1,264
7. TCU 11-2 1,193
8. Penn State 11-2 1,153
9. Ohio State 10-3 1,013
10. Oregon 10-3 997
11. Boise State 12-1 938
12. Texas Tech 11-2 916
13. Georgia 10-3 903
14. Mississippi 9-4 857
15. Virginia Tech 10-4 713
16. Oklahoma State 9-4 534
17. Cincinnati 11-3 506
18. Oregon State 9-4 467
19. Missouri 10-4 435
20. Iowa 9-4 317
21. Florida State 9-4 246
22. Georgia Tech 9-4 223
23. West Virginia 9-4 144
24. Michigan State 9-4 138
25. Brigham Young 10-3 137

Others Receiving Votes

California 128, Pittsburgh 106, LSU 95, Nebraska 64, Tulsa 61, Northwestern 53, Ball State 13, Boston College 11, Rutgers 11, Rice 8, Arizona 4, Kansas 2.

Dropped From Rankings

Pittsburgh 18, Northwestern 22, Ball State 23.

*

I'm starting to think Iowa should borrow an idea from Drake and have a "Dollar Night" or several for its basketball games.

The men's games, I mean.

Nothing will help attendance at the women's games.

A Dollar night -- where fans are admitted for $1 and where popcorn and hot dogs cost $1 each -- would, hopefully, get people into Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It's embarrassing the way they're staying out of the building these days.

Only 9,663 [or fewer] fans were in the arena last night for Iowa's 52-49 loss to Minnesota.

Somebody pointed out that it was so quiet in the place that a TV viewer could hear the coaches talking to the players.

The building seats 15,500, and the Hawkeyes haven't had a full house all season.

The average per home game is 9,442 -- more than 6,000 below capacity.

It used to be that all you had to do to get a capacity crowd in Iowa City for an Iowa-Minnesota basketball game at either Iowa Fieldhouse or Carver-Hawkeye Arena was open the doors.

Steve Alford ruined that idea when he coached the Hawkeyes, and Todd Lickliter's slowdown style of basketball hasn't brought people back.

Buck Night might be the solution.

*

I'd like to know what kind of play Iowa had set up, or if there was a play set up, with 5.3 seconds remaining in last night's game.

The Hawkeyes, who needed a three-point basket to tie the game, had to settle for what ESPN2 analyst Doug Gottlieb and his play-by-play cohort kept calling "a terrible shot" by Jake Kelly.

Kelly, evidently seeing no one else open downcourt, launched the shot from Coralville.

Shot, hell. It was a prayer. And it went unanswered.

*

A number of Iowa's fans in the Internet chat rooms are saying Lickliter got outcoached by Minnesota's Tubby Smith.

Could be.

Iowa led by 13 points at one stage.

But Tubby has outcoached a lot of guys over the years. That's why Minnesota hired him.

*

Those people in the chat rooms are also wondering why it took so long for freshman Anthony Tucker to say he has mononucleosis.

Indeed, some people wonder if that's what he has. I couldn't tell you because I never had it. Mono, I mean.

Tucker played a few minutes in the second half last night, but not very well.

The whole thing is still kind of mysterious, if you ask me.

*

That's it for this morning.

I'm going to have some coffee and think about some other things.

One thing I won't be thinking about is chatting with Cy, the Cyclone mascot, in another Des Moines Register get-the-reader-involved project.

If people at the paper think having folks chat with Cy is going to generate advertising and help save some reporter's job, they need to see a doctor.

Ferentz-To-Cleveland Rumors Didn't Last Long; Too Bad Paterno's Glasses Were Stolen--Now He Can't See That It's Time For Him To Retire At Penn State

I hope you noticed that those Kirk Ferentz-to-the-Cleveland Browns rumors died as quickly as they began. I guess the Browns weren't paying attention. They've already hired Eric Mangini, who had been fired as the New York Jets' coach.

*

Ferentz, the Iowa coach who was wondering how he went so quickly from being on the collegiate coaching hot seat to being a hot commodity, got good again because his team was the only one of seven from the Big Ten Conference that won a bowl game. Being matched against horribly-over-the-hill Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina team in the Outback Bowl helped matters a lot.

*

But people who worry 24 hours a day about Iowa's football fortunes can't relax yet, of course. As far as I know, the Detroit Lions' job is still open. Their record in 2008 was 0-16, which evidently wasn't good enough for Rod Marinelli to keep his job. Even Detroit has its standards. If Ferentz or anyone else is looking for a rebuilding job in the NFL, Detroit is the place to be.

*

By the way, just to show that this NFL firings thing works both ways, the fired Marinelli at least got the satisfaction of knowing that his favorite [I'm kidding now] newspaper sports columnist, Rob Parker of the Detroit News, also was told to find work elsewhere. Parker is out after being demoted to the old "general assignment reporter" job. Said managing editor Donald Nauss: "He doesn't work here anymore." At a postgame news conference Dec. 21, Parker asked Marinelli if he wished his daughter had married "a better defensive coordinator." Last year Marinelli hired his son-in-law, Joe Barry, as his defensive coordinator and the results, of course, were horrible. Fox-TV analyst Terry Bradshaw said of Parker, "You know, Rob, you're an idiot. A flat-out idiot." For one of the few times in his life, Bradshaw was right. Parker is an idiot and should look for work outside of the newspaper business.

*

Poor Joe Paterno. His team was blasted in the Rose Bowl, 38-34, by Southern California, then his glasses were stolen. Not his real glasses. The glasses that were over his ears on the statue of him [pictured at the right] in State College, Pa. Now the 82-year-old Paterno -- college football's winningest coach -- can't see that it's time to retire.

*

It's just a guess, but I don't think the basketball team from Terre Haute, Ind., is the same Indiana State your dad knew. The one that Larry Bird played for, I mean. The team that won 33 straight games before losing to Michigan State in the 1979 NCAA championship game. Indiana State lost to Drake by 19 last night at the Knapp Center.

*

Then there's somebody named Jeff Jagodzinski, who was fired by athletic director Gene DeFilippo as the football coach at Boston College despite a 20-8 two-year record. He was dumped because he interviewed for the New York Jets' coaching job -- one he probably won't get anyway. I'll tell you what. Firing a guy who interviews for another job would immediately stop a lot of Ferentz-to-Cleveland talk and stuff resembling it.

*

At our sportswriters' lunch this week, someone asked what Dave Westphal is doing these days. Westphal is the former Des Moines Register ace who went from sports editor-to-managing editor-to-husband-of-editor-Geneva Overholser. Well, a guy from our group did some research and found out that Westphal is called an executive in residence at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication. Until this fall, he was Washington editor of McClatchy Newspapers, the nation's third-largest newspaper company. Overholser is director of the journalism school, so it's obvious the two of them are still working closely together. Westphal and Overholser are pictured at the left. Overholser was editor at the Register from 1988-1995, and was a good one. And Westphal was a good managing editor. It's too bad they're both not still at 8th & Locust. The Register newsroom would be a much better place if they were.

*

I know lots of people around here think and hope Bob Stoops and his Oklahoma football team beat Florida tonight in the national championship game. I like Stoops, too, but I think Florida is going to win, 103-100, in overtime.

*

That's it for this morning. Now I'm going somewhere to celebrate the Cubs' trade of Jason Marquis to the Colorado Rockies.

Valley Should Never Lose By 58 Points To Anybody In Anything; Drake Wins Again, So Does Keno Davis, Who Is 3-0 In the Big East At Providence

I know Ames has a fantastic high school basketball team and that there's plenty of college-bound talent on the roster.

It's embarrassing to even have to call the team the Little Cyclones.

As I've written in the past, it's silly for Ames High School to be nicknamed the Little Cyclones and City High in Iowa City to be called the Little Hawks.

If I were a high school kid, I wouldn't want to be called little anything.

But back to my original point.

Speaking of embarrassments, I would be embarrassed if I were the coach and the players at Valley High School in West Des Moines.

I've sounded off about Valley sports in the past. I live six blocks from the place, I had three sons participate in athletics there, and graduate from there.

In the near-future, I'll have four grandchildren who attend Valley.

So, naturally, I like to see Valley win in athletics and do well in band competitions and all other competitions.

The Tigers have cominated the state's class 4-A football scene since Gary Swenson has been their coach.

They won another state championship in November at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, and I was there with one of my sons and one of my grandsons to see it.

However, I find it hard to believe that Valley could lose by 58 points to Ames last night.

That's right, the Little Cyclones put an 89-31 clobbering on the Tigers.

I can't figure out how Valley can be so good in football and so bad in basketball.

Valley is too big a school and has too many athletes for something like that to happen.

Like I said, it's embarrassing, and something should be done about it. I wouldn't want to be the head coach or the athletic director at a school that lost by 58 points in any sport.

*

We had a visitor at today's sportswriters' lunch at the Chinese restaurant in West Des Moines.

It was Chuck Offenburger, the author and Internet columnist who has teamed with Gary Thompson of Ames to write a very good book titled, "GARY THOMPSON: All-American."

Offenburger said sales of the book have been "fantastic" since it was published just before Christmas.

Offenburger and the regulars in our group settled all of the world's problems -- at least those dealing with sports and newspapering -- over the chicken, tofu, rice [both steamed and fried], vegetables, egg rolls and crab rangoon.

It was good to have a noontime visit with Chuck, who made the drive on a rather crappy day weatherwise from his more-than-a-century-old home on an acreage in Cooper, Ia.

Chuck and I talked a guy who was having his lunch into stopping for a minute so he could take our picture as we were on our way out of the restaurant,

It's a fine photo, and I told the guy who took it that he'd probably be getting a newspaper job any day now.

He didn't seem impressed.

*

Mark Phelps, Drake's first-year coach, kept things rolling at the Knapp Center tonight.

The Bulldogs cruised past Indiana State, 69-50, for their third victory in four Missouri Valley Conference games.

For the season, Drake is an impressive 12-4 heading into Sunday night's game against Wichita State at the Knapp Center. That's a game the Bulldogs should win.

*

And hand it to Keno Davis and his Providence team.

Keno, who took Drake to a 28-5 record and made a near-sweep of the national coach of the year awards last season, improved his records to 11-4 overall and 3-0 in the Big East Conference with an 87-79 victory tonight at Cincinnati.

The Friars have won seven of their last eight games and their first three league games for the first time since the 1988-89 season.

I watched the game on ESPNU, and Providence put on quite a show.

It's Time To Recycle An Old Question When You Greet Someone From the Big Ten: 'Is It Still Big?' Well, Not Right Now, But Wait a While. Things Change

When I was in the Rose Bowl press box a number of years ago, a reporter from the Washington Post greeted then-Big Ten Conference flak Jeff Elliott with this line: "How's the Big Ten -- still big?"

I thought it was funny then, and it's still pretty funny.

But I'm sure Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany wouldn't get any humor from it today.

Not after his league had a 1-6 bowl record -- second-worst to only the Mid-American Conference, which went 0-4.

*

Still on that subject, I got an e-mail from my friend George Wine, who spent 25 years as Iowa's sports information director, after I wrote about how bad the Big Ten was in the postseason.

Iowa, which thrashed South Carolina, 31-10, in the Outback Bowl to snare the Big Ten's only bowl victory, wrote:

"Ron, you are right about the Big Ten having a horseshit bowl season.

"Best line out of the Outback Bowl was by a Tampa Tribune columnist who said Spurrier went from stinky to Smelley at quarterback. The Hawkeyes had their way with the ol' ball coach. Great time for all the Iowa fans who treked to Florida.

"We are in Marco Island enjoying the tropical weather. Be home in March.

"Happy New Year."

George Wine

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I know how this storyline will go. There will be a few people out there who'll say the Rose Bowl [the stadium in Pasadena is pictured at the right] should get out of its contract with the Big Ten because the league has gotten so bad. But these things run in cycles. There have been times [like now] when the Big Ten couldn't beat the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl, and there have been times when the USCs, UCLAs and Washingtons of the world couldn't beat the Big Ten. The Big Ten/Pac-10 Rose Bowl deal remains strong, and I wouldn't hurry to dissolve the agreement just because USC's Pete Carroll put a butt-whippin' on Penn State's Joe Paterno, who isn't even strong enough anymore to stand on the sidelines for 3 1/2 hours. What I'd like to see one of these years is for Iowa to get to the Rose Bowl and actually win the game. That hasn't happened since Forest Evashevski's 1956 and 1958 teams won at Pasadena. That, folks, was a long time ago].

*

Drake basketball coach Mark Phelps says Jonathan "Bucky" Cox[pictured at the left], his 6-8 senior, "is certainly better in games than he is every day in practice -- and I don't mean that negatively at all because he's an extremely hard worker in practice.

"He's got a laid-back demeanor which serves him well in pressure situations. One thing he's doing a real good job at for us now is that he's driving the ball from the forward position.

"He has the advantage of taking advantage of his quickness off the ball. When you first get around Bucky, he's quiet and seems unassuming. Rebounding is certainly [one of his] skills. He doesn't rebound the conventional way....like all of us coaches love to teach like getting low and wide, then exploding up.

"In games, a lot of times, good rebounders use certain craftiness, and Bucky Cox has that."

*

I hate to bring this up again, but Mike Mahon of Drake points out that "it's customary with the ringing in of a new year that various media outlets look back on the top stories of the previous year.

"Drake's heartbreaking NCAA basketball tournament loss to Western Kentucky last March was ranked No. 7 on ESPN's top 10 plays of 2008.

"Ty Rogers made a desperation 26-foot three-point basket with three defenders in his face and no time on the clock in overtime to give Western Kentucky a 101-99 victory in the first round of the NCAA tournament."

*

After that, let's move to fast-forward.

What I'm concerned about now is Illinois State.

They call 'em the Redbirds, they play in the Missouri Valley Conference with Drake and they're one of only four unbeaten men's major-college teams in the nation.

The other unbeatens are 14-0 Clemson and 14-0 Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference and 14-0 Pittsburgh of the Big East.

Pittsburgh is ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press sportswriters' poll, Wake Forest is No. 4 and Clemson is No. 12.

It's a shame Illinois State is buried among the "others receiving votes."

Now the Redbirds and coach Tim Jankovich know how Drake felt last season when it took forever for Keno Davis' team to be ranked among the top 25 in their 28-5 season.

*

Iowa's strong junior college basketball program continues to produce Division I players.

Illinois State has two guys on its roster from Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs -- 6-2 senior Emmanuel Holloway and 5-10 junior Lloyd Phillips.

*

For the sake of the rest of the league, you'd better be pulling for Bradley in its game tonight against Illinois State.

If the Redbirds go to 15-0 overall and 4-0 in the Valley, it's going to turn into a situation where they may hide from everyone else.

It's looking like the Valley will get only one team in the NCAA's Big Dance again this season. The only way to get a team other than one like Illinois State into the 65-team field would be for a different school to win the Valley's postseason tournament and get the automatic bid.

Drake, at 11-4 and 2-1, needs to keep winning now just to stay alive in the race. That's why Sunday's victory at Southern Illinois was so importnt, and why the Bulldogs need to win their next two games--against Indiana State and Wichita State--at home.

*

Only 11 teams in Valley history have started a season with 14 straight victories. The last Valley team to do it prior to Illinois State was Tulsa in 1983-84 [15-0 start]. Only 10 teams have started 15-0 or better. Here are the best starts since 1927-28:

Streak Team [Year] -- How it Ended

33-0 -- Indiana State [1978-79], Lost to Michigan State
19-0 -- Cincinnati [1962-63], Lost at Wichita State
15-0 -- Oklahoma St. [1950-51], Lost at Oklahoma
15-0 -- Bradley [1950-51], Lost at St. John's
15-0 -- Tulsa [1983-84], Lost to Illinois State
14-0 -- Illinois State [2008-09]

*

Illinois State sold out its 10,200-seat arena for its game against Creighton last week for the first time in a non-Bradley game since the 1991-92 season.

Classless

Bud Appleby of Des Moines writes in an e-mail to me:

"The Register published this comic this morning, proving once again that it has no class."

The Des Moines Register and its parent company, Gannett, have been among the national leaders in newspaper firings, layoffs, buyouts and cutbacks.

Among the high-profile people who no longer work in the Register's newsroom are page 1 cartoonist Brian Duffy, farm editor Jerry Perkins, feature writer Ken Fuson and outdoors columnist Julie Probasco-Sowers.

Now the Rest Of the Story: Larry Coyer Is One Of the Original Football Coaching Vagabonds. He Was On 2 Cyclone Football Staffs, One At Iowa

As happens so often in The Era Of the Dying Daily Newspaper, yesterday's Des Moines Register again had only half, or barely a fraction, of the story.

I'm referring to an item in the hard-hitting [just kidding, of course] In the Loop segment on page 2 of the sports section.

It was a story about Larry Coyer resigning as assistant head coach on the defensive side of the football for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League.

"I think it's best that I look for other things at this time," Coyer said.

Translated, that means his contract was due to expire and he wasn't going to be rehired.

The Register's headline on the story said Ex-ISU Coach Leaves Bucs.

What the sports editor and copy desk at the paper didn't tell you, and undoubtedly didn't know, was that Coyer worked on two football staffs at Iowa State and one at Iowa.

He's among very few coaches who have coached football at both Iowa and Iowa State, which is what I'd expect from a guy I used to call "pipe-smoking Larry Coyer and a coaching vagabond."

On Jan. 9, 2007, I wrote this about Coyer:

"Well, that old pipe-smoker Larry Coyer is looking for a football coaching job again.

"At least I assume ol' Larry has his bags packed and is ready to go to work.

"At 62 years of age, I doubt he's planning to live off his Social Security checks.

"Gene Raffensperger and I have laughed -- laughed in a positive sort of way -- about Larry Coyer for many years.

"Please understand that Raff and I haven't laughed at Larry Coyer. We've laughed with Larry Coyer.

"Coyer [pictured at the right, courtesy of the Tampa Tribune] may not be the original coaching vagabond, but he's certainly in the top five.

"He'd be the guy I'd ask for directions if I wanted to travel west. Or east. Or south. Or north.

"Larry has been everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.

"I long ago quit smoking pipes, but Coyer would be the guy I'd ask if I was in the market for one.

"Whenever I'd call on him in his offices at Iowa and Iowa State, I'd make some kind of comment about the smell of the tobacco he was smoking in his pipe.

"If he's still puffing on pipes, I guess it'll be someplace other than Denver. The guy was fired today as the Denver Broncos' defensive coordinator by coach Mike Shanahan.

[Shanahan was recently fired as the Broncos' head coach].

"Coyer coached defense at both Iowa and Iowa State. In fact, he was the defensive coordinator at Iowa State under two coaches in three decades.

"Coyer was on Donnie Duncan's staff from 1979-1982 and on Dan McCarney's staff from 1995-96.

"He got to know McCarney when he was Iowa's defensive coordinator on Bob Commings' staff from 1974-77. McCarney is a former Iowa player and assistant coach.

"Coyer was the Broncos' defensive coordinator the past four seasons. Before that, he coached Denver's linebackers for three seasons...."

Coyer was born in Huntington, W. Va., about 64 years ago. Evidently, he's had two families. While married to his wife, Jan, Coyer has two sons, Matt and Justin [who was a standout high school football player in Iowa].

Coyer and his wife, Kristin, are the parents of Rachel, 6, and Ryan, 3.

I'm sure Larry will wind up coaching defense somewhere next season.

All of the vagabonds do.

Let's see, Iowa State still needs a defensive coordinator on Paul Rhoads' new staff, doesn't it?

Hmmm.

VAGABOND LARRY COYER'S COACHING STOPS

* 1965-67…Marshall, Secondary Coach
* 1968-73…Bowling Green, Defensive Backs Coach
* 1974-77…Iowa, Defensive Coordinator
* 1978…Oklahoma State, Defensive Coordinator
* 1979-82…Iowa State, Defensive Coordinator
* 1983-84…Michigan Panthers (USFL), Linebackers Coach
* 1985…Memphis Showboats (USFL), Defensive Coordinator
* 1987-89…UCLA, Linebackers Coach
* 1990…University of Houston, Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Backs Coach
* 1991-92…Ohio State, Defensive Backs Coach
* 1993…East Carolina, Defensive Coordinator
* 1994…New York Jets, Defensive Line
* 1995-96…Iowa State, Defensive Coordinator
* 1997-99…University of Pittsburgh, Defensive Coordinator
* 2000-02…Denver Broncos, Linebackers Coach
* 2003-06…Denver Broncos, Defensive Coordinator
* 2007…Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach
* 2008…Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Assistant Head Coach

*

DRAKE'S MARK PHELPS CONTINUES TO IMPRESS ME

First-year coach Mark Phelps continues to do some outstanding things with Drake's basketball team.

In December, Phelps [pictured at the top of this column with his players on the sideline, courtesy of GoDrakeBulldogs.com] beat Steve Alford's New Mexico team, destroyed whatever myth still remained about Hilton Magic at Iowa State by rallying to beat the Cyclones, 66-63, then drilling Iowa, 60-43.

Last night, Drake won another big one.

The Bulldogs defeated Southern Illinois, 67-60, in beautiful, progressive, picturesque and exciting Carbondale, Ill., for the first time since 1996.

Get this: It was just the fifth time since the Drake-Southern Illinois series began in 1976 that Drake won in Carbondale.

The only other Drake coaches to win there were Bob Ortegel in 1978 and 1981; Gary Garner in 1986 and Rudy Washington in 1996.

The Bulldogs, with records of 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference, are now home for games Wednesday against Indiana State and Sunday against Wichita State.

Both are very winnable.

Illinois State, which is off to a tremendous 14-0 start, including 3-0 in the Valley, appears to be the cream of the crop in the conference. But there's a long way to go.

Phelps is proving to me that he knows his way around a basketball court and a game-plan.

*

More good writing from the Eastern Iowa Bureau of Team Gannett in this morning's Des Moines Register.

I'm sure Brian Morelli of the Iowa City Press Citizen got a big bonus from Gannett for servicing both papers.

Yes, and 10 of the Big Ten's 11 teams still play bigtime football, too.

I'd Be Just Fine If It Wasn't for All This Ice

I exchanged e-mail a few days ago with a guy who is a regular at our weekly sportswriters' lunches.

After a two-week interruption for the holidays, we were trying to schedule a lunch for the first week of 2009.

After all, we have a lot of problems to solve and a lot of people to discuss.

So we scheduled this week's lunch at the Oriental cafe, tentatively at least, for Wednesday.

"Ron: OK. I can make that Jan. 7 lunch, but the ice situation here is still critical," the guy told me in his e-mail. "I can get my small car in and out of the garage. I have lived in Iowa all my life except for when I was in the Army in Baltimore and Germany. This is the worst ice coating in my memory.

"I thought last year was bad and said, well we can't have two in a row. The hell we can't. I think this one is worst so far. I hope to see you Jan. 7."

Well, I can maybe top that guy's story.

For the first time since moving to central Iowa in September, 1959 -- that's nearly a half-century -- I can't get my car into the driveway because of ice.

In 1959, at our home in Des Moines, we didn't have a garage.

Still, I could always get into and out of the driveway, despite any amount of snow and/or ice.

Now I have a two-car attached garage in the West Des Moines home where we've lived since 1967, and ice on the street is preventing me from getting my 1989 Toyota Camry into the driveway and the garage.

That's a first.

Here's how I found out how difficult things are out there:

The weather in Iowa has been too lousy lately, of course, for me to take my normal outdoor walks.

So I've been walking indoors at the malls. No snow or ice inside Valley West. Not yet, anyway.

After finishing my walk at 3:15 p.m. yesterday, I noticed rain falling on the windshield of the Toyota.

But it wasn't freezing, and I had no problem driving home.

Before going up my driveway at about 3:20 p.m., I checked to see if my mail had been delivered. The mailman drives one of those Jeep-type vehicles and delivers the mail to a box in the street.

I think I might be the last guy on his route. Sometimes it's dark when I get my mail.

At 3:20 p.m. yesterday, my mail still hadn't arrived.

So I parked the car in the garage, and watched the Iowa-Indiana basketball game on TV.

I stayed awake most of the time.

After the game, which was at about 5:45 p.m., I thought about checking the mailbox again.

I figured I'd walk to the box. But right away, I could see problems.

There was a glaze of ice on the sidewalk leading from my front door to the driveway.

I hung onto the railing to get to the driveway. I've had enough broken bones in my life to know that was a good idea.

When I reached the driveway, I could see no future to walking the rest of the way to the mailbox.

Too slippery.

So I got the bright idea to drive to the mailbox.

I've done that before when it was raining hard.

Bad idea this time.

The car was sliding every which way as I tried to pull into the street. I couldn't control where it was going. I was fearful the car might wind up in my front yard, or the guy's front yard across the street.

I somehow made it to the street, parked the car and got the mail. After looking at what arrived, it wasn't worth the trip.

Then came the big challenge -- trying to get back up the street and into the driveway and garage.

Forget it.

Impossible.

I put the car into every gear I had, with no success. The car would move backward, but not forward. Lots of wheel-spinning.

I figured the only thing I could do was park it and wait until today.

But, of course, I still wasn't in the house. That was another challenge.

I began walking, but fell to my knees once while losing my balance on the snow that was slippery and hardened by the ice.

Finally, I made it to the house.

And that's where I've stayed since.

Now it's Sunday morning. the '89 Camry is still parked in the street.

I'm going to take another stab at getting it into the garage when it gets light.

I'll let you know how I do.

*

Update: At 7:35 a.m., under my sweatpants, I wore basketball/volleyball knee-guards on both knees, put on steel-toe high-top shoes with rubber treads under them, and made it to the car without falling.

The car started after being outdoors overnight for the first time in a long while.

After two tries, I made it into the driveway and the garage.

Iowa is sure a fun place to live in the winter.

*

Photo of ice cubes courtesy of Google.

The Big Ten's Best Football Team, Hockey At Wrigley Field, A Look at the First Sunrise Of the New Year At the Sea And Mt. Fuji In Japan

Don Clasen was a longtime newspaperman who included the Des Moines Register and Tribune among his places of employment.

Clasen still watches plenty of sporting events and does does some writing, including this e-mail to me:

"Ron:

"Great column or blog on Friday. Iowa is undoubtedly the best Big Ten team now and should be for the '09 season. I hope that keeps Kirk Ferentz in Iowa City even without Shonn Greene.

"Of course, I remained at home Thursday and watched the Hawks demolish Steve Spurrier on the tube. But my wife welcomed in 2009 at Wrigley Field. Since we are a couple of old rink rats, who ran the Bucs games for years in Urbandale, the Blackhawks have renewed our interest in the ice sport. Even though they lost, 6-4, to Detroit in the Winter Classic, they are the best show in Chicago these days. If it weren't for the other Hawks, I would have been at chilly Wrigley on New Year's Day.

"My son and daughter-in-law bought tickets for the Classic earlier. Although I managed to get into the waiting room on the computer and could have bought tickets I neglected to do so. As it turned out, wife Lucy didn't think too highly of my decision. She wanted to go despite the cold.

"Our son, David, went to Wrigley early Thursday and met at big hockey fan from Calgary and bought Lucy a ticket. She had a ball and didn't even complain about the temperatures in the 20s. Of course, I watched the conclusion of the Classic after the Iowa game.

"Needless to say, I agree with the guy who says you should still be writing for the Register. The paper's reporters are amateurs compared to a pro like you. Keep up the good work."

Don Clasen

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Great hearing from you, Don, and thanks for the kind words. The last time [and only time] I watched an outdoor hockey game was when I was a one-man sports department at the Albert Lea Tribune many years ago in southern Minnesota. I vowed after I left that job that I'd never again watch hockey in 10-degree weather. But 40,818 people showed up at Wrigley Field for the Blackhawks' 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings [pictured at the right], so not everyone shares my opinions about outdoor hockey. Happy New Year, Don].

*

Our friend, Fusayo Hattori, brought in the New Year in fine fashion near her home in Japan. She writes:

"This morning, I went to watch the first sunrise of the year at the sea [you know, It's near my house]. Then we saw Mt.Fuji. It's very beautiful..."

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for sending the beautiful photo shown at the top of this column, Fusayo. Our best to your wonderful family, including Boggie].

*

I see some of the folks at Iowa State [pictured at the left] will be taking furloughs so they can save some money for the place.

That doesn't, of course, include former Cyclone football coach Gene Chizik, who was out to lunch from August through November last year.

I figure newspaper people will be watching that very closely. In a business that's been torn to shreds with closings, downsizing, layoffs and other cutbacks, I predict reporters, middle editors and photographers will be furloughed in droves so the bosses can keep their own jobs a while longer.

*

Speaking of newspaper people, there's not enough aggressiveness being shown by them in the strange Anthony Tucker situation.

*

I don't care how much money Iowa pays Kirk Ferentz or what the extent of his contract is. If he wants to leave, he'll do it. That's the way it's always been in the coaching business.

*

Photos courtesy of Fusayo Hattori, Iowa State University and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Iowa Is Big Ten's Best [And Maybe Only] Team--I Plan To Call the Conference Offices, Where I'll Be Told, 'That Phone Number Is No Longer In Service'

As soon as I finish my breakfast, I plan to call the Big Ten Conference offices in Park Ridge, Ill.

However, I really don't expect to get very far.

I'm sure that when I ask for the assistant commissioner in charge of football, the operator will say, "She's on her break right now. In fact, she'll be on her break until next August."

Actually, I could listen to a recording that says, "That number is no longer in service."

Or one that says, "For all Big Ten football calls, check with the people in Iowa City. They're the only ones who know what a football is."

*

Hey, the Big Ten is in trouble, folks.

The old league has sent six football teams out to do battle in bowl games so far, and five of them have lost.

Only Iowa has won.

It's a damn good thing the Hawkeyes were matched against a South Carolina team whose season ended in September and against a coach named Steve Spurrier, who should have been put out to pasture five years ago.

Iowa manhandled the Gamecocks, 31-10, and every other Big Ten team should've stayed home.

Wisconsin was thrashed by Florida State, 42-13, in something called the Champs Sports Bowl; Northwestern lost to Missouri, 30-23, in the Alamo Bowl; Minnesota was thumped by Kansas, 42-31, in the Inight Bowl; Penn State was embarrassed by Southern California, 38-24, in the Rose Bowl, and Michigan State was beaten by Georgia, 24-12, in the Capital One Bowl.

The last I heard, Ohio State still plans to play Texas in Monday's Fiesta Bowl, even though 51 percent of Buckeye fans said in an Internet poll that they'd be happy just being in Arizona without having to watch their team play a football game.

*

It's obvious Iowa is the best team in the Big Ten at the end of the season.

No doubt about it.

You thought it was a fluke when the Hawkeyes beat Joe Paterno in Iowa City?

That was the real thing.

Paterno watched the game from the Kinnick Stadium press box, and should've stayed there.

He and his team were no-shows in Pasadena.

*

This just in: Gene Chizik has decided, or someone has decided for him, that a 5-19 record won't be good enough at Auburn. So now he wants to be interviewed for the Cleveland Browns' coaching job.

*

I heard from Sam Of Solon, not his real name, about some things:

"Ron,

"Iowa played a good game yesterday. The way it started out, I thought it might be even more of a blowout. South Carolina didn't look good at all. The low point in the TV coverage in my mind, was when they kept showing that stupid gamecock rooster pecking at himself in the mirror. That even had to be part of the highlight reels on ESPN, etc. The other thing I didn't like in the various football games was seeing those really dumb and annoying Dodge Ram and Capital One commercials every five or ten minutes. They rank right up there as the worst commercials behind the Qwest ones that try to show what it's like waiting for the cable guy. I kept my remote handy.

"I tuned in the hockey game at Wrigley Field a few times. Everybody was commenting what a great venue it was. The puck is hard enough to follow on TV or when you're sitting right next to the rink, so I can't imagine what those fans sitting in the outfield bleachers could see, let alone those on the rooftops. And then to sit there in the freezing weather. I heard they had 240,000 requests for tickets and ran a lottery for the 41,000 available seats. I guess I don't get it, but I'm not that much of a hockey fan.

"Happy New Year,"

Sam Of Solon

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: That numbnuts of an ESPN sideline reporter is the same guy who spent most of the first half of the Iowa-Illinois game trying to eat a 10-pound sandwich. I think he's been auditioning for a comedy routine, and the quicker he gets into the line of work that was meant for him -- which is selling used cars -- the better off all of us will be. Sam, I didn't watch the hockey game at Wrigley Field. I've seen enough Cubs baseball games on TV there that resembled hockey or something worse. Thanks for writing. The next time you make the trip here from Solon, let me know and we'll have a "sody pop" -- which was something Hayden Fry was always saying he wanted to do the next time he saw me].

*

Mark Robinson of Iowa City writes:

"Ron, it is a shame; a goddamned shame that you are retired from the newspaper business. Reading your posts last night reminds me of my youth when I would retrieve the paper off the porch and fire up the oatmeal.

"I'm 54 next month, but goddamit, what is there to read anymore?"

Thanks for your continued writing, Ron.

Mark Robinson
Iowa City

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for the kind words, Mark. Happy New Year, and keep the oatmeal warm].

*

I wonder if Shonn Greene will make more money in football next year than Kirk Ferentz.

*

I almost forgot, there's still a basketball season going on.

After what happened in the bowl games, I know Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is glad the league still includes basketball as a sport.

Otherwise, he might be looking for a job.

Iowa has two upcoming games at home -- Saturday against Indiana and Thursday against Minnesota.

Both are winnable games. Let's put it this way, the Hawkeyes better win those two because they're already 0-1 in the league and they have road assignments at Michigan and Purdue following the Indiana/Minnesota home games.

*

I almost forgot to do an update on Anthony Tucker, who used to be a starter on Iowa's basketball team.

Then they found him drunk in an alley, and not much has been heard from him since.

He played one minute -- maybe less than a minute -- in a 68-65 loss New Year's Eve at Ohio State.

I guess no one misses him, including his coaches and teammates.

*

Mike Mahon of Drake tells me the Bulldogs have eight nationally-televised games this season -- the most by any university in the state.

One of them will be at 6:05 p.m. Sunday when Drake plays at Southern Illinois on ESPNU.

Drake plays two more Sunday evening games on ESPNU -- both at home, Jan. 11 against Wichita State and Feb. 15 against Illinois State.

Drake plays Northern Iowa at 11:05 a.m. on Jan. 17 on ESPN2. So far, the Bulldogs have a 3-1 record in national TV games, with victories over New Mexico, 68-62, on CBS College Sports, Iowa State, 66-63, on ESPNU and Iowa, 60-43, on ESPNU. Drake fell to Vanderbilt, 72-57, at the Cancun Challenge with the game televised by CBS College Sports.

*

I visited with Jay Davidson during Drake's 18-point blowout of Missouri State at the Knapp Center on New Year's Eve.

Here's an e-mail from him:

Hi, Ron,

"Good to talk with you at the Drake-MSU game. I just read your column about the game and you captured things very well. The Bulldogs -- other than Bucky Cox -- didn't play their best ball and to only hit 59 percent of their free throws could have doomed them some days. But their terrific defensive play, and hitting 10 of 21 3-point attempts, carried the day.

"I was impressed by the style of Cuonzo Martin, whom I remember from his playing days at Purdue. He came out and coached his team, period. He didn't argue with the refs or try to intimidate them. Most of the time he didn't respond at all to a call. (This was perhaps the best officiated game of the year at Drake, which helped.) Martin was teaching his players basketball all the time. Isn't that what coaches are paid to do?

"It wasn't a thing of beauty but the crowd of over 6,000 enjoyed a hard fought and interesting game. Next stop: Carbondale on Sunday. It's the first of several Sunday games this year, a new wrinkle in the men's MVC schedule. The Bulldogs will need to play their very best ball to have a chance on one of the toughest home courts in the country. You know what? They just might!

"All the best to you and your family for a great 2009, Ron,"

Jay Davidson

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Jay, it was interesting that you mentioned Missouri State coach Cuonzo Martin, who is in his first season. A guy from Drake asked me after the press conferences that day if Martin was critical of the officiating in his postgame comments. I said, "No, actually, he was very complimentary of Drake and didn't mention the zebras." I think it's going to be a fun season for the Bulldogs, but they need to win a road game or two after losing at Evansville in their league opener].

*

Iowa State won't play a Big 12 Conference basketball game until a rugged Jan. 10 assignment at Texas.

Meanwhile, the Cyclones play two non-conference yawners before that -- tomorrow at 7 p.m. against SIU-Edwardsville and Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Houston Baptist.

Maybe they can talk new football coach Paul Rhoads into speaking to the crowd at halftime of both basketball games to keep things interesting.

Some Things That Ohana's Cy and I May Agree On: Kirk Ferentz Should Be Big Ten Commissioner, Steve Spurrier Should Be the Cleveland Browns' New Coach

Newest rumor in collegiate football: South Carolina's fans are trying to talk the Cleveland Browns into hiring Steve Spurrier, their coach.

*

Spurrier is so bad and so out of touch with football that he'll fit right in at a place like Cleveland.

*

My buddy, Cy, from the Ohana Japanese Steakhouse in West Des Moines [shown with me in the photo at the top that was taken by a guy at our table whom I tore away from his steak-and-scallops] was probably looking for something more interesting to do in the second half of the Outback Bowl.

Like maybe building birdhouses in his garage.

*

Cy -- who you see on TV a lot in the Ohana commercials -- was the gracious waiter for our table of nine last night on New Year's Eve.

The guy knows his stuff.

By the way, just because his name is Cy doesn't mean he's an Iowa State fan.

The next time I see him, which I hope is sooner rather than later, I'll find out.

*

Iowa had a 14-0 lead in the Outback Bowl even before I'd eaten my second slice of 9-grain toast with pepperjack cheese and sliced tomatoes on it this morning.

*

Come to think of it, maybe Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz should be named commissioner of the Big Ten.

At halftime of the Outback Bowl, where his Hawkeyes had a 21-0 lead, he was doing all he could to save his league.

After bowl losses by Wisconsin, Northwestern, Minnesota, Michigan State and Penn State -- and with more to follow -- Ferentz was doing all he could to prove to the nation that the Big Ten is still a major-college conference.

*

"Our offense is really struggling," Spurrier told an ESPN sideline reporter when the first half ended. "We've got to make something happen in the second half."

Spurrier couldn't wait to get away from the ESPN microphone. He's starting to look and sound like former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr all the time.

*

Shonn Greene had ran for 77 yards in the first half. NFL scouts were drooling throughout the stadium in Tampa.

The trouble was, the scouts weren't sure who they were working for because so many NFL coaches are being fired these days.

Later, Greene ended all uncertainty concerning the matter. He's making himself available for the professional draft.

*

ESPN was desperately trying to keep viewers from switching to the Turner Classic Movies channel at halftime of the Outback Bowl.

On the network's halftime show, former South Carolina coach [and also former Minnesota, Arkansas, Notre Dame and South Carolina coach and former Iowa graduate assistant], said don't count your bowl chickens before they're hatched.

"We led Ohio State, 28-0, at halftime one year, and we were eating hot dogs and drinking Cokes in the locker room. Then Ohio State tied it up, 28-28, before we finally won," Holtz said.

"Trust me, anything can happen in a bowl game."

*

Flash! This just in.

As the third quarter of the Outback Bowl nears its conclusion, Iowa leads South Carolina, 31-0.

Like Lou Holtz said, anything can happen in a bowl game.

*

Who says South Carolina is a dead team [other than me]?

The Gamecocks actually scored a touchdown with 13:35 left in the game. Now they trail only 31-7.

*

The game was so one-sided that the TV announcers spent most of the last quarter talking mainly about whether Ferentz is going to the Cleveland Browns and in what round Greene will be picked in the upcoming NFL draft.

*

After Ferentz got a Gatorade shower and a 31-10 victory from his players, the ESPN sideline reporter took his shot at trying to get an answer out of him about the Cleveland Browns.

In the ESPN studio, Mark May kept saying Ferentz should take the Browns' job.

Ferentz would likely find that interesting, considering it hasn't even been offered to him.

Forget it.

The network got no specifics, no real answers about anything associated with the Browns or the NFL from Ferentz.

Count on it. That's the way it's going to be for a while. But, like I wrote earlier today, I'm saying Ferentz will stay at Iowa.

The money is good and the pressure isn't bad.

Happy New Year To All Of You. And Forget About Ferentz Going To Cleveland--Evashevski Didn't Go To Michigan and Fry Didn't Get the USC Job

Happy New Year, everyone.

By the way, don't fall for that Kirk Ferentz-to-the-Cleveland Browns crap.

It's not going to happen.

It's not worth my time to write anything about it.

It's a waste of column space.

Just figure that Ferentz will beat the daylights out of South Carolina's Steve Spurrier in today's Outback Bowl, and that he'll receive another pay raise in a couple of weeks.

When Forest Evashevski [pictured at the left] was Iowa's football coach more than a half-century ago, and his Hawkeyes were actually winning Rose Bowl games, people in this state were scared to death that he would take the Michigan job.

When Hayden Fry [pictured at the right] was the Hawkeyes' coach much more recently than that, I chased him all around San Diego at the Holiday Bowl because the rumor was he would be Southern California's next coach.

Evashevski didn't go to Michigan and Fry didn't go to USC.

Ferentz isn't going to the Cleveland Browns or to any other NFL team, so quit worrying about it.

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Did you ever consider that if Ferentz ever took one of those NFL jobs he's always mentioned for that he might take Iowa offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe with him?

Then you'd think you've died and gone to heaven.

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Other than Drake's 67-49 victory over Missouri State, the best news I got yesterday was that the Cubs are going to trade pitcher Jason Marquis to the Colorado Rockies.

And they're actually getting another pitcher in return.

I consider it a success that Cubs general manager Jim Hendry found a team that would take Marquis off the team's hands.

Getting rid of most of Marquis' salary [the Cubs will pay $1 million of it] is a tremendous thing.

Getting rid of his personality is even better.

To actually get another pitcher [even though Vizcaino's earned-run average is 5.28] is a bonus.

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I see Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres winding up with the Cubs after all. He'll be Chicago's opening-day roster.

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People laughed when Hendry was hooked up to an EKG machine while agreeing to terms with a pitcher a few years ago.

I think the Cubs' general manager needs to be connected to an EKG again after sending utilityman deluxe Mark DeRosa to Cleveland.

DeRose can, and does, play anywhere on the field.

I wonder if he has any interest in being the general manager, too.