The Hlog

So much for a 16-0 Big Ten season

I didn't see the Iowa-Illinois basketball game Wednesday night. I have Mediacom cable. I'd sided with Mediacom in the battle with Sinclair Broadcast Group that it can't win until Wednesday. Until, that is, a Mediacom technician was supposed to come to my house between 1 and 4 p.m. to show me how to get the free antenna Mediacom gave me Tuesday to work with my television/VCR/DVD/dishawsher. The Mediacom person never showed. So now Mediacom and Sinclair both hold the same spot in my heart as tofu and spiders.

Illinois won, Iowa lost, and the Hawkeyes can't go 16-0 in the Big Ten as a result. This was one of those games that could have given Iowa a bit of separation from the rest of the bottom nine teams in the conference. Or, to be kinder, the teams not named Wisconsin and Ohio State. But by losing on the road to an Illinois team that had lost at home by 20-plus points to Ohio State, the Hawkeyes remained in the quagmire.

Iowa hosts Minnesota Saturday. Try to make me care. The Gophers are lousy. If Iowa doesn't win, a line from a Tom Petty song called "Learning to Fly" will be fitting. The rocks might melt and the sea may burn.

The Nebraska-Iowa State game was on TV in Cedar Rapids Wednesday night, though, and the Cyclones are somehow 2-0 in the Big 12 after their home victory over the Cornhuskers. ISU looked pretty undermanned in December when they went 0-3 against in-state teams, and they'll probably look really undermanned Saturday afternoon when they host Kansas. But they played Ohio State tough at Columbus, and they've shown no fear of deficits in Big 12 comeback wins over Missouri and now Nebraska.

The Kansas game will undoubtedly be a return to cold reality for the Cyclones, but Hilton Coliseum ought to be all charged up Saturday all the same.

And now ... poker, NFL playoffs, Iraq, stem cells, Donald Trump, Rosie O'Donnell, Barbara Walters, Barack Obama, Brooke Burke, Erik Estrada, global warming, recipes, "24."

That was to get those words here so people who have them in Google Alerts and other such gadgets will get directed to this site and give it hits. I'm all about the hits. Which is why you should continue to look here to see how to win a trip to the Super Bowl. You won't find it, but keep looking. I need the hits.


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