The Hlog

What's a bowl week without a kooky coyote?

Bowl games have events to keep teams occupied. Such events are inevitably lame.

 

There’s nothing like watching dozens of  mildly interested 20- and 21-year-olds schlepping about a Sea World or Busch Gardens in the name of a photo opportunity when they’d rather be hanging around their hotel rooms playing video games or something equally uplifting.

 

A time-honored bowl event is when a team goes to a professional sporting event. It's to show the rubes a taste of big-city sports, I guess. In recent years, Iowa’s team has been the guest of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning gave the Hawkeyes a block of seats in the balcony, approximately seven city blocks from the ice. Football players pretended to be interested in hockey for as long as they could before the video games in their hotel rooms beckoned them and they left late in the first period.

 

Tuesday night was Alamo Bowl Team Night at the San Antonio Spurs’ home game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Hawkeyes and the Texas Longhorns were guests, but it was hard to spot them in the crowd of almost 19,000 at the AT&T Center. When the teams were introduced late in the first quarter, whoever operated the arena video shown on the center-court scoreboard didn’t seem to have much luck locating Hawks or Horns.

 

A witless skit on the court during a timeout featured the Spurs’ costumed Coyote, Hawkeye scout team senior offensive lineman Bryan Ryther of Marion, and some adult who purported to represent Texas. He may have been an arena beer vendor. Ryther and the beer guy stuffed a fake coyote mascot in a garbage can, the “real” Coyote preened about, and a good time was had by all. Ryther, to his credit, played his role enthusiastically without sacrificing any dignity. He’s obviously a team player.

 

A note to the Coyote: Less is more. We saw more of you Tuesday than we did Tim Duncan or Tony Parker, and they have a lot more game.

 

Meanwhile, Saturday’s Alamo Bowl draws nearer. Upon checking into my downtown San Antonio hotel Tuesday afternoon, the hotel desk clerk breathlessly informed me that Texas freshman quarterback sensation Colt McCoy has been cleared to play in the game.

 

It was old news, of course. But maybe he thinks word reaches Iowa slowly. Hey, Tex, I wanted to say, I knew that about McCoy, and I also know your precious Dallas Cowboys got pounded the day before by Philadelphia.

 

It's fun to call Texans "Tex.'' They seem to love it, too. If you're tipping well, that is.

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