If, for some bizarre reason, you have bookmarked the Hlog, please note its move to a new home on the Web.
That, namely, is:
Hlog's New Home
The loss of human life from the tornado that ravaged Parkersburg Sunday - there are no words to adequately describe the horror.
The loss of homes and meaningful personal property are devastating to the survivors.
And a high school has been destroyed. Aplington-Parkersburg High must relocate, rebuild. The high school is the focal point of most small towns, and this one was no different.
The name "Parkersburg" already registered with sports followers across the state who had never stepped foot in the town. A-P has been a perennial participant in the state football playoffs, and has two titles and four runner-up finishes under head coach Ed Thomas, who has coached at the school since 1975.
In 2005, Thomas was named the NFL's High School Coach of the Year. He was nominated by his four former players who currently play in the NFL -- Jared DeVries, Aaron Kampman, Brad Meester and Casey Wiegmann.
"He taught me as much about being a gentleman as he did about football," DeVries said.
Falcons football has never been fancy. A-P runs and runs on offense. It's blocking and tackling. The four NFL players from A-P are all linemen.
"We would drill and drill," Kampman said.
"I always said my job is not to prepare our kids to be college athletes," Thomas said in an interview a few years ago. "My job is to make football a learning experience, and there are so many things they can learn from being a part of our team that will help them be successful later in life as a father, member of a church, or member of the community."
That's a Coach of the Year attitude.
A-P's tattered football field, with mangled goal posts and a battered scoreboard, is named Ed Thomas Field.
"When I'm done and out of coaching," Thomas once told the Waterloo Courier, "I hope they let me come back and take care of that field. I want it to look really nice."
For quite some time, the football field in Parkersburg was called "The Sacred Acre."</p>
The walls of Thomas' classroom - he teaches government and economics - were covered with photos and clippings of his former athletes. That's all part of rubble now.
Thomas was one of the many Parkersburg citizens who lost a home Sunday. He spent part of Monday directing his A-P athletes in moving weightlifting equipment out of the shambles that was left of the high school.
How does a community bounce back from something so destructive? Trite as it may sound, it starts and ends with strong people like Thomas refusing to surrender.
Someday down the road, I suspect Ed Thomas will again be keeping the weeds out of Ed Thomas Field. And it's not likely Aplington-Parkersburg's football team will give an inch this fall, no matter where it has to play its games.
For an especially good Los Angeles Times account of the Parkersburg disaster, click on the link below:
L.A. Times on Parkersburg
Things have changed in Big Ten football. Illinois is no longer playing its games in anonymity. Iowa, meanwhile, has become Big Ten Network fodder.
While Iowa will host Maine the afternoon of Aug. 30 in a Big Ten Network game certain to be forgotten nine seconds after it ends, Illinois is kicking off its season in prime-time on ESPN. The Fighting Illini, fresh off a Rose Bowl trip, will meet Missouri at 6:45 that night in St. Louis.
Four Saturdays later, Illinois will play at Penn State in a 7 p.m. game that will be carried by either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. Iowa will host Northwestern that day. That's an 11:05 a.m. game that probably seems a safe bet to also air on the Big Ten Network.
The season starts three months from this week. How many fly balls will Alfonso Soriano of the Cubs have dropped by then?
"I played 14 years in the league, and it wasn't because of athletic ability," says Jeff Hornacek, one of the all-time great Iowa State basketball players. "It's from knowing the game."
Hornacek became a beloved NBA player in not one, but two cities, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. His jersey number was retired by the Utah Jazz. He not only knew the game, he played it hard, smart and well.
Surprisingly, he is on the long list of candidates to become the next Chicago Bulls head coach. And he's only a part-time assistant coach with the Utah Jazz.
Chicago newspapers have reported Hornacek will be interviewed for the Bulls' job. He also reportedly will interview for the head coaching job of the Phoenix Suns, and probably has a much better chance there than Chicago, where the choice would get ripped up and down Lake Michigan.
Is Hornacek the man to get Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire and Shaquille O'Neal to mesh? He may get hired by the Suns, but as a full-time assistant. He lives in the Phoenix area.
Here's the link to a story on the subject from the East Valley Tribune in the Phoenix area:
Hornacek to coach?
Old Mike was at the John Deere Classic's media day Monday, featuring defending champion Jonathan Byrd. Young Byrd, who seems to be grounded and amiable, had earned $264,000 the day before at the AT&T Classic.
For finishing fourth.
I had to ask him if pocketing a check that size felt bizarre or surreal. You wonder if these guys with all their endorsements and opportunties understand that kind of money doesn't come most peoples' way.
"It's bizarre," Byrd replied immediately. "It just doesn't seem fair, does it, for playing golf?"
"Yesterday, I mean, it just seems surreal. I mean my brother's an assistant golf coach at Clemson. We were joking on the phone last night. He was joking about he wanted to borrow some money.
"But there's a lot of great jobs out there that don't pay like our job.
And I feel very blessed and lucky that I have a well-paying job and it doesn't seem right sometimes. But I'm just grateful. It's just a lot of fun to be able to go play golf and get paid the way we do."
Byrd had the 36-hole lead and would have earned over a million bucks had he held on to win. Nice work if you can get it. To get it, of course, you just have to be among the best couple hundred of people in the world at your profession.
"I eagled the last hole yesterday," said Byrd, "came to the last hole, hit a great 3-iron on the green and made a 40-footer to go from ( a tie for sixth)to fourth alone. My sister-in-law texted me last night and said that putt was worth $99,000.
"I've had plenty of holes where I've bogeyed the last hole and it's cost me a bunch, too."
No jealous or catty remarks here. Athletes in pro team sports get paid if their teams win or lose, or even if they're hurt. If golfers don't make the 36-hole cut, they go home with the middle of a doughnut and nobody to blame it on but themselves.
And, they have to pay their coaches. Which is a concept coaches everywhere can surely get behind.
OK, Springsteen fans, if you don't know about this Web site, you do now. And there's no way you won't be grateful.
It's so simple, I won't even link it. Just cut and paste it, or memorize it and type it in to your browser. Do it for the Boss. Do it for not listening to bad FM radio. Just do it.
http://www.springsteenradio.com
It's a brainteaser, no?
Of course, the correct answer is actual football opponent of Iowa. The Florida International Golden Panthers play at Kinnick Stadium on Sept. 6. In a game that counts. Against the Hawkeyes.
FIU was 1-11 last season, 1-6 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Sun Belt is to major-college football what Meadow's boyfriends were to "The Sopranos." Lightweights.
The one good thing about the Florida International-Iowa game is it probably features a better opponent for the Hawkeyes than the one that opens the season. On Aug. 30, the Maine Black Bears come for a nice payday and a presumed beatdown.
There's no hurry for summer to come and go, is there?
The New York Times has a college football blog, and it is ranking the 120 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (I-A) teams from the bottom to the top, one day at a time. It got to Florida International on Day 3.
The Golden Panthers are 118th according to the Times, ahead of only Utah State and Western Kentucky. But caution, Hawkeyes, the Times blog notes FIU increased its offense by nearly 100 yards per game in its last six games as opposed to its first six.
Let us not forget Iowa fell last November to a Western Michigan team that arrived in Kinnick with a 3-7 record. Nonetheless, if the Hawkeyes aren't 2-0 heading into their game against Iowa State on Sept. 13, something has gone horribly wrong.
Here's the Hlog linking to the New York Times. When do you suppose the Times will return the favor?
NY Times on Florida International
Normally, I wouldn't try to direct business to the NFL, since the league seems to be holding up nicely on its own.
But as a sentimental softie, I'm sharing this link to gifts that will make Mom all warm and happy. Namely, NFL pendants and bamboo bread boards.
You'll have to cut and paste this one due to my own coding problems. My apologies.
http://www.nflshop.com/sm-2008-mothers-day--ci-3098203.html
It may be obvious given the animal is a burrowing rodent, but no grass is growing under the feet of the Gophers of Minnesota's men's basketball program.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press had a story this week suggesting the 2008 recruiting class of Tubby Smith -- his first full class with Minnesota -- could be the Gophers' best in 30 years.
One of the recruits is 6-foot-11 Ralph Sampson Jr., who certainly has the bloodlines and is said to have a rapidly improving game.
The Pioneer Press' story:
Tubby on the Trail
The news isn't quite so cheery at Michigan, where sophomore center Ekpe Udoh has decided to transfer.
Udoh played in all 67 of the Wolverines' games the last two seasons, averaging 5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
His former high school coach in Oklahoma said Udoh's goal is to play in the NBA. Good luck with that.
As the linked Detroit News story points out, this makes five Wolverines who have left John Beilein's program since he came aboard a year ago. So Tony Freeman leaving Iowa last week is apparently just another day in the college basketball business.
Adios, Udoh
Oil prices have just passed $120 a barrel for the first time. You and I feel the strain even when we're filling up our gas cans to transport the liquid gold to our lawnmowers.
Lenox Rawlings of the Winston-Salem Journal had an interesting concept for a column from the PGA Tour's Wachovia Championship last week.
Rawlings asked Tour players, few of whom are staying in Super 8's and eating at Subway, for their thoughts on today's financial times.
One player Rawlings quoted is Cedar Rapids native Zach Johnson. Among his comments:
"Recession? You don't hear people talking about a recession out here. There might be a few guys who talk a lot about the stock market and keep up with that, but I'm not one of them."
"Gas prices aren't something I hear much about out here.
If you didn't know Johnson, you'd think these selected quotes make him sound like an isolated rich guy. But as his wont, he was just speaking the truth. Like most people who are in top 50 or 100 or 250 in their profession in the world, PGA Tour pros aren't plagued with worries about things like whether gas is going to hop up another dime per gallon tomorrow.
Johnson did the Super 8/Subway thing not that many years ago when he was playing the Hooters and Nationwide tours. A big reason he has attained the success he had is, no pun intended, he hasn't forgotten what it's like to be hungry.
Rawlings' column:
No Recession on PGA Tour
It was clear from reading the Saturday morning papers that Tony Freeman was no longer wanted by Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter.
You would have thought the days of soap operas would have left the Hawkeye men's basketball program for a while the day Steve Alford said adios for Albuquerque. Not so.
I enjoyed and didn't enjoy watching Freeman play. He could be maddening with his tendency to dribble possessions away, and his shot selection wasn't the greatest. But he played with desire, and he certainly has skills.
Ultimately, Freeman had just one season left and his departure probably won't be noted as any kind of turning point in the Lickliter era at Iowa. But right now, it seems a little ... odd.
Here's hoping Freeman finds a good home for his senior season and closes his college career happily. Here's also hoping that all major-college athletes fully realize scholarships are renewable each year, and that they take nothing for granted. Because when it comes to leverage, the coaches usually have most of it.
In the words of Ed Begley Jr. in the movie "Pittsburgh": NG. Not Good.
The writing was clearly on the wall several days ago when Cyrus Tate and sophomore-to-be Jarryd Cole were named captains of the Iowa men's basketball team. When a senior-to-be starting guard was passed over for a soph, as Freeman was, he didn't fit into next season's plans.
It's unusual to see a player leave a program for another after three seasons. But this is life in major-college basketball, it seems. Don't get too attached to anyone (remember Tyler Smith?). Programs are disposable. But so are players.
I've got to think this was Todd Lickliter's decision as much or more than it is Freeman's. Lickliter didn't seem too enthralled with the way Freeman played with the ball. It may have been Lickliter's agonized facial expressions or the repeated placing of his head in his hands that were tip-offs.You can't argue that Freeman did a lot of dribbling, maybe more dribbles per possession than any player in the Big Ten. So off he goes.
Three years. Poof. We all move on. We always do.
I really, really think Iowa can handle Indiana in men's basketball next season.
The Hoosiers were already losing their two best players, and two of the Big Ten's best in senior big man D.J. White and freshman guard extraordinaire Eric Gordon.
Friday, new Indiana coach Tom Crean was down to three returning scholarship players and eight in all after the announced departures of four Hoosiers.
Sophomore Armon Bassett and junior Jamarcus Ellis, who had appealed their suspensions by former interim coach Dan Dakich, were dismissed from the program. Junior forward DeAndre Thomas is leaving, and so is freshman Eli Holman.
Indiana was 25-7 this season, but stumbled in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals and in the first-round of the NCAA tourney, making it feel like an unsatisfying season. Kelvin Sampson added to that when he got fired for his bizarre over-use of his cell phone in recruiting, which had the NCAA hot on the program's trail.
Iowa was short-handed last season in Todd Lickliter's first year as coach, thanks to Tyler Smith's transfer to Tennessee and other reasons not of Lickliter's making. But this makes the 2007-08 Hawkeyes look like the 2007-08 Kansas Jayhawks compared to what Crean is inheriting at Indiana for 20008-09.
Sampson, meanwhile, appears set to become an assistant coach for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. These guys always seem to land on their feet, don't they?
Sophomore Armon Bassett and junior Jamarcus Ellis, who had appealed their suspensions by former interim coach Dan Dakich, were dismissed from the program. Junior forward DeAndre Thomas will also not return and neither will freshman Eli Holman, who has elected to transfer after a meeting Thursday that required a call to campus police when Holman became agitated.
Stanford Athleticcs Director Bob Bowlsby -- who once worked in this less-cosmopolitan area of the nation -- hired 11-year Duke assistant coach Johnny Dawkins to run his men's basketball program.
San Francisco-area columnists weren't too taken with Bowlsby letting Trent Johnson leave that job to go to LSU when Johnson wanted to stay put, and didn't have a lot of faith in Bowlsby's ability to find a coach who would equal Johnson.
There didn't seem to be enormous ink spilled about the hire in Tuesday's San Francisco/Oakland editions, because the NHL's San Jose Sharks are in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the San Francisco Giants sent $126 million pitcher Barry Zito to the bullpen, and the Oakland A's opened a series with the Los Angeles Angels for the AL West lead.
Early returns show there isn't great excitement for the Dawkins hire, though. Which may be a good sign for Bowlsby, since Iowa heartily endorsed his hire of Steve Alford a decade or so ago, and felt less warm about it several years later.
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News was none too overwhelmed with Bowlsby's latest appointment, however. He wrote: "Dawkins, not surprisingly, sounds like he wants to transfer Coach K's philosophies from Cameron Indoor Stadium to Maples Pavilion, and I don't think it works that way.
"Of course, Bowlsby is praying it works that way. He has no other choice. He messed up with Johnson and missed on everybody else, now he's stuck."
The link:
Kawakami: Hire is Doomed
Ah, what might have been ...
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/6dgqjw"</a>