I hope to keep this conversation going a little more regularly. I've been doing this for 13 years and the Labor Day weekend still throws me off.
Yesterday, I wrote about Mitch King, who has a motor and no off button. He blamed his hamstring injury last season on himself, not keeping himself hyrdrated. His brother, Vince, who happens to be a former all-American D-lineman at Wartburg, told me that Mitch keeps a five-gallon Culligan jug of water at his side when he's not a practice. I know it's kind of dorky for sportswriters to come up with nicknames, but I'm going to throw out "Culligan Man" for King.
This week I'm taking a look at the "stars" system that Internet sites have attached to recruits. Now, it's not an indictment on hype and over-the-top expectations, rather an explanation -- what they are, how they're given and how players perceive them. I'm going to track down how many stars a few current Iowa players had. My opinion on the stars is entertainment purposes only. They all have zero when they hit the practice field in August.
I thought John Riehl's piece on Amari Spievey was interesting. I loved Clinton Solomon's success story, leaving Iowa because of academics and then returning, playing at a high level and getting his degree. It'd be cool if Spievey could follow the path Solomon took from Iowa Central back to Iowa City.
Saturday, I don't quite have figured out but probably something on last season's goal line stand. Think about the sheer work that 8-play goal line stand took. Think about the mental toughness to push as hard as you can that many times that close to the goal line. Then, think about coming back from a pass interference penalty. First down from the 2 all over again. And think about it from the offense's perspective. I talked to a few Iowa offensive players about that. What's going through their mind on try No. 6, No. 7 and then when all the pressure is on.
I have DirectTV and, yes, I saw the last seven minutes of Appalachian State and Michigan on the Big Ten Network. I thought Mike Hart showed a lot of guts. The rest of Michigan . . . ouch, baby. That's gonna leave a mark. I wish there would've been more shots of fans in the stands after the game. They kind of reminded me of the shot Iowa sports sold after the Capital One Bowl, Warren Holloway catching "the pass" and LSU fans' faces caught in frozen horror.
That's college football.