The University of Iowa field hockey team announced Monday that it had signed five prep standouts for the 2007 season. Maggie Neill, Sarah Pergine, and Amy Baxter all hail from Pennsylvania. Chelsea Miller is from Texas, while Paige Lowrey is from Colorado.
What is the problem with high school field hockey programs in Iowa? They just can't seem to elevate their play enough to send girls to university field hockey programs. The Hawkeyes' 2006 roster had six players from Pennsylvania, two from New Hampshire and New Jersey, and one apiece from California, Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri, New York and Delaware.
What's the world coming to when Delaware and New Hampshire crank out more college field hockey players than Iowa?
Oh, wait. Iowa doesn't have high school field hockey and never has.
Never mind.
A couple days ago, I guested on WMT-AM's Bob Bruce Radio Experience as I do each Monday afternoon. The Bob Bruce Radio Experience is the modern-day version of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but with more of a focus on issues of the day and less on wizardry with the electric guitar.
Bob said we can get excited because pitchers and catchers are about to report to major-league baseball training camps. I begged to differ. Grown men playing catch in Florida and Arizona aren't going to better my mood when a projected snow storm is on the way. It came. I shoveled.
I understand Bob's optimism. He's a big baseball fan. Plus, it's February, the shortest month, meaning March is around the corner, meaning spring can't be too far away. His attitude is healthy. Happier weather days will get here.
But when high school and even Big Ten basketball games are getting postponed because the Midwest is getting pounded by snow, and when the Northeast U.S. has taken more of a winter beating than we Midwesterners have, I don't care to hear about anything that involves the Cactus or Grapefruit leagues just yet. It's the same reason I didn't want to know about whatever revelry they had at Super Bowl week in Miami, nor do I want to know about the hoopla leading this week in Las Vegas in the lead-up to the NBA All-Star Game.
In my world, I'm risking life and limb in Cedar Rapids just dodging ice in my own garage, let alone the cold, slippery, heartless landscape outside it. And I'm supposed to get excited about Red Sox pitchers are running wind sprints in Winter Haven? Just the thought of a place called Winter Haven disgusts me right now.