Gazette Online Blogs
It's never too early to talk high school football.
In a live chat today at www.gazetteonline.com, Jeff and Jeff (that's Linder and Johnson or Johnson and Linder), spent a lot of time talking football instead of baseball and softball. It's what folks...
Here is a short version of my column that will appear in Sunday's paper:
I didn’t know Ed Thomas, but I knew about him.
I had never met the man who put Aplington-Parkersburg on the national map, but I know people like him.
I’ll bet many of you felt...
Kris Ihle-Helledy is coming back to Cedar Rapids for the first time since winning the Alliant Energy Fifth Season 8K in 2001.
She's a different woman in 2009.
Ihle, the last name she uses professionally, now is a mother of two young sons. She earned...
Here is an excerpt from upcoming column:
Steve DeVries has a message for parents of young athletes — “relax.”
DeVries, 60, has a doctorate in sports psychologist. He’s a professor at Cornell College in Mount Vernon who teaches sports psychology and...
It's hard not to reflect on what happened in my home town a year ago today.
I was preparing to leave on a Wednesday night, flying to Las Vegas for the Olympic Trials in freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman and Judo. It was a great assignment and one I would...
Tom Brands is proven winner on the wrestling mat, as fierce a competitor and a coach as I’ve ever seen.
Last night, at the ninth annual Celebration of Sports Banquet, the University of Iowa wrestling coach showed he’s a winner off the mat, too. And just...
I had the best of times.
Joe Henderson, the one-time West Coast editor for Runner's World magazine, once told me I would be a runner for life.
At the time, I nodded in agreement because running was the most important thing outside my family and work....
OK, this isn't sports, but, hey, there is more happening in the "corner chair" than athletic events. Sometimes.
Anyhow, just finished reading the latest offering from David Morrell earlier this week. In a word "Wow!"
Morrell is best know as the man...
Look for a local road this summer? Get those legs moving. Here is the list we've got so far:
MAY
16 — Marion Arts Festival 5K, Marion, (319) 373-0741
23 — CRFD Memorial 5K, Cedar Rapids
23 — EF5K walk/run, Parkersburg
30 — Central Lutheran School...
Randy Lewis, a four-time all-American for the University of Iowa wrestling team in the 1970s, is getting back on the mat.
Lewis, 49, announced this decision several weeks ago, but know it's time to back up his plan.
"If I hadn't" put it out on the message...
Arlo Becker hasn’t changed much in his “50-some” years of racing cars at Hawkeye Downs.
He’s “69 and holding” and still takes things one season at a time.
“I’ll give it one more year,” he said.
But there’s one thing Becker, 71, would like to see change...
I never heard from Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard, seeking my counsel on who his next wrestling coach should be. I knew it would be a long wait.
Pollard, I’m sure, is got plenty of advice from Cyclone boosters and others in the wrestling...
Dan Gable said he always felt Jim Heffernan was destined to be a wrestling “lifer.”
“It’s a good situation,” Gable, the former University of Iowa wrestling coach, said about Heffernan, who was named the 14th head wrestling coach at the University of...
The University of Illionis announced today it will name it's new wrestling coach this afternoon. Look for former Iowa standout Jim Heffernan, a long-time Mark Johnson assistant, to get the job.
Heffernan wouldn't comment Tuesday morning, but a source...
If Joe Heskett will become the next Iowa State wrestling coach, Ohio State Coach Tom Ryan isn't saying.
Heskett, a four-time all-American for the Cyclones and a member of Ryan's staff in Columbus, is being rumored as the next ISU coach after Cael Sanderson...
Gazette sports columnist Mike Hlas wrote an excellent column for Friday's newspaper about Tom Brands and his new rivalry with new Penn State Coach Cael Sanderson.
Brands couldn't talk specifics, but below is what he was talking about. I know the Brands...
Recently finished the book "The Interim" by KCRG news anchor Chris Earl. Yes, the anchor guy from Wisconsin is an author, too, specializing in sports fiction.
It was a great read.
There were parts of the of 340-page book I would have edited, some minor...
Gazette sports journalist KJ Pilcher broke the news today that Cael Sanderson is leaving Iowa State for richer fields at Penn State.
The question now is why.
Why would Sanderson ditch is alma mater for Penn State, a school that has some rich wrestling...
No, not me. Not this year.
I did qualify once, a long time ago, but that's a story for another day.
A total of 37 Eastern Iowa runners have entered Mondat’s 113th Boston Marathon, a historic 26.2-mile run through the streets of Hopkinton to Boston....
Just got back from a wonderful - and long - weekend in the Phoenix, Ariz., area.
My wife and I got to spend Saturday afternoon at the Arizona State track meet, watching our son, Jack, run for UNI. We spent the rest of the weekend with our friends, Kirk...
Although this doesn't mention what the punishment is, here is the latest on the Brent Metcalf-Darrion Caldwell saga:
"The NCAA Division I Wrestling Games Committee has reprimanded University of Iowa student-athlete Brent Metcalf for inappropriate behavior...
CEDAR FALLS — University of Northern Iowa senior Moza Fay has been named the Western Wrestling Conference wrestler of the year.
A former Anamosa prep, Fay won the honor for the second year in a row after earning his second All-America honor with a sixth-place...
This is a question I've been hearing a lot the past two days, with the start of the Major League baseball season.
I received several calls and e-mails wanting an explanation. Some readers have threatened to drop the paper, others have been understanding....
My Sunday column this week will deal with the upcoming Duramed Futures Tour bringing a tournament to the Metro area.
The inaugural Ladies Titan Tire Challenge is June 5-7 at Hunter's Ridge in Marion.
Former Cedar Rapids Washington H.S. AD Denny Goettel,...
Olympic gold medalist Jeremy Wariner can’t wait to redeem himself after a disappointing runner-up finish in the 400-meter dash in 2008 Olympics.
That road to recovery will get a jump start later this month at the 100th Drake Relays.
Drake Relays director...