Going to a Hawkeye Basketball Game

My dad picked up two tickets to four Hawkeye basketball games.  I have not looked into the dates yet, but I think the games are Minnesota, Ohio State, MSU, and Wisconsin.  That is a pretty good package.

Ignoring the dates, which game sounds the most interesting?

Minnesota definitely is in a different interest class than the others.

Ohio State seems to be the logical pick for the top of the Big 10 according to the preseason polls.  Wisconsin is apparently going to be pretty good to and Iowa frequently gets up big on them in the first half only to fall apart int he second half.  But, there’s something special about the recent success and physical nastiness of Michigan State.

I will have to look at the dates, but it looks like I can not go wrong with any of them.  I can not even remember the last game I watched at Iowa.  One of my greatest memories of Carver-Hawkeye is playing in the All Star game during a summer basketball camp.  I also received one of the four camp MVPs that year in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  Good memories.

Blackout Saturday at Kinnick Stadium

The crowd was fairly quiet compared to a normal Hawkeye home game.  During the call in radio show after the game, people blamed it on the inability of Iowa to pull convincingly away or the sloppy play.

I think there might be something else to blame.  Blackout Saturday.

I know the point is to create a shocking scene in the stands.  Everybody wearing one color is very visually arresting.  When Penn State does their all white day, it shows up very well and is quite annoying.

Blackout Saturday does not create that same impact.  It looks flat and dull.  It looks depressing and sad.  It makes it look like fewer people are at the game.  It saps energy.

We need to get rid of Blackout Saturday and go back to a Be Bold - Wear Gold or make our own Whiteout Saturday.  The change in colors will make a big difference in the energy level.

And then we need to get our receivers to quit dropping the ball.

Technorati Tags: iowa hawkeyes, football, blackout saturday

Damien Sims - The Good and the Ugly

Iowa finally dominated a game.  They finally got the blocks, the passes, the catches, and finally found the running game.  That was a fun game to watch.
Poor Albert Young had to miss this game where Iowa’s O-line totally dominated Purdue’s D-line.  But, Damien Sims stepped in quite well getting 150+ yards.  Sims is a much more entertaining runner than Young.  He’s quicker and appears to be much faster.  He has that ability to sneak through a hole and turn it into a touchdown from anywhere on the field.

But, lost in the 150+ yards were two fumbles.  And that is one of the reasons why Young is the starter.  If Sims wants to keep the spot when Young gets back, he has to learn to hold on to the ball.  150 yards would be amazing to come by against Michigan, but if we lose two fumbles, we will lose the game.

Fortunately, we have a game against Indiana before the Michigan game.  I haven’t heard much about how long Young is supposed to be out, but maybe Sims will be able to get enough snaps next week to work on holding on to the ball.

If I were Sims, I would start this week by carrying a football everywhere all week and telling his friends that when they see him they are supposed to sneak up and try to knock the ball away.  Sims needs to get very conscious that somebody is always around ready to cause a fumble.

Boring defense that works

Iowa’s defense is boring.  Every year they are very affective and they hardly ever give up points on big plays but let’s face it they are boring.

They rush four and only four on every play.  And those four are always the line men.  They are very good at what they do.  Teams normally don’t get a ton of yards and if they do, they don’t do very well in the red zone.

Year in and year out they are a definite asset to the team.

But man is the defense boring to watch.  And when they play a really good team like Ohio State that isn’t overmatched or mistake prone, then it is really hard for the defense to create an advantage.  They can normally keep Iowa in the game, like against OSU when they were down 14 and driving with the ball before Chandler fumbled.  But in the end, they don’t often make the big exciting play to change the nature of the game.  Sure, they held Syracuse on 7 tries from the 2 to win in overtime, but that was just grunting it out in a goal line stand.

The defense is good at that.  They do not get the big monster hit from a blind side safety blitz.  They don’t often get the fumbles because the players rush in trying to strip the ball even if it means missing a tackle every now and then.  They don’t get interceptions by crowding the receivers even if it means getting burnt on a pump fake now and then for a deep touch down.

I’m not asking or even wanting the coaches to change anything, but sometimes it is more exciting to go for the monster plays then to make sure that no mistakes are made.  I know that Iowa doesn’t have the team speed to survive many blown plays on the defense but every once in a while it would be nice to rattle the quarterback on the other team by throwing everybody at him on a couple series in a row.

Season Tickets versus TV

As I’ve mentioned about a million times, I have had season tickets at Iowa for abotu 18 years.  I happen to live about 4 hours from the stadium, so it is a bit of a hike to get up there for the games.  An all day event in fact.  For some reason, I’ve been wondering recently about whether I want to keep my season ticket.

Here’s the discussion I’ve been having with myself:

• Season Ticket Perks
• Get to spend time with my dad, sister and uncle.
• The games are very exciting when you are sitting in the front row screaming as loudly as you can.
• It is nice to get a fun day away from all responsibility 6 or 7 times a year.
• I get the option of buying bowl game tickets.
• Season Ticket Drags
• The commute is much longer than the actual game
• The tickets cost about $100 when the “donation” to the school is factored in and that doesn’t include gas/food/hats when I forget them at home.
• Eats up a big portion of the weekend.
• Don’t get to watch the games with the kids
• TV Perks
• Get to watch the games with the kids.
• Much, much cheaper.
• Don’t have to wait as long in line for the bathroom.
• Don’t eat nearly as much junk food all day.

I was a Hawkeye fan long before we had season tickets.  I became a Hawkeye fan by listening to the games on the radio and catching them on occasion on TV.  I always watched/listened to them with my dad.  Before we got the tickets, we started going to about one game a season with a lot of those games being when Iowa went to Northwestern since Northwestern is much closer.

If I am away at so many games, my kids won’t get that bonding experience and the tradition won’t be established.  The kids (they are only 3) watched the Syracuse game on TV with me a couple weeks back.  They enjoyed watching me and my dad get excited.  They enjoyed nibbling on the chips.  They enjoyed wearing their Hawkeye t-shirts and shouting “Hawkeyes!”

I haven’t made my commitment yet, but I am definitely considering giving up my season tickets in a year or so and maybe just upgrading our cable so I can order the Iowa games that aren’t on regular TV and then taking them to a game or two every year.  Between Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, I could let them see quite a few different stadiums.  Northwestern would probably be the best since the fans are so close to comatose.  It is the least intimidating place to watch a road game that I have ever been to.  Perfect for young kids.

A good stiff kick to the head

Haynesworth is a very big man. 6′6″, 320 pounds big.  He was at work the other day and got mad at a competitor.  Things weren’t going well and he was frustrated.

The competitor was down momentarily and defenseless.  Haynesworth vented his frustration by kicking him…in the head…with cleats…causing 30 stitches.

His employer has suspended him from 5 weeks of pay and threatened to fine him some more.  The team he actually works for has said they might do more if they are not happy with those penalties directly from the above.

Only in the NFL.  If I walked into work and kicked somebody in the head causing 30 stitches, I would lose my job.  No questions asked.  I would also be in jail.  No questions asked.

The local police have said that they are willing to pursue legal action if the victim is willing to press charges.  We’ll see what happens in the long run.

The NFL should have sent the message that intentionally kicking somebody in the face who had lost their helmet is unacceptable.  Losing a little over a months pay is a slap in the wrist for somebody that should be worrying about whether he will ever be able to play again.  They should have suspended him at least 1 year.  At least.

People are not allowed to spike other people’s face at work.  This did not happen in the middle of the play.  This was while everybody was standing up to head back to the huddle.  Unacceptable.

Don’t give me the argument that these people are all testosteroned up and enraged by the intensity of the sport.  If the athletes cannot handle the situation better than that, then they do not need to be playing football on national TV making the money that first round draft picks make in the NFL.

Ohio State is still number 1

My homer pick didn’t pan out to well.

Ohio State is a very good football team that just flat out does not make mistakes.  They have the talent to do way more offensively than they do, but their style is to grind it out, refuse to turn over the ball and score enough to beat your.  And they have the talent to make it work.

There were some things I did note during the game.

Iowa receivers were wide open throughout most of the game.  Tate had several passes that were way over/under thrown.  He also had a ton of passes that were dropped.  On most of those incomplete passes, there was no defender around to influence the catch.  The offense would have looked quite a bit better if they completed those easy plays.

I can’t help but wonder if the abdominal strain that Tate is recovering from is hurting him a little more than he lets on to the press.

The defense is pretty good.  Ohio State’s receivers are really really fast.  Iowa did not get burnt on deep passes the way I expected.  They got burnt on short passes where the receiver (Anthony Gonzalez normally) went crazy after the catch.  The running defense did a good job of stuffing anything up the middle.  Most of the big runs were plays designed up the middle where the back saw nothing there and took off toward the sideline.  Ohio State is fast and won those semi-broken play battles.  Anytime you ask your defense to be on the field for more than 40 minutes and more than 24 minutes of the second half, they are going to give up some points.

Plus, Iowa was missing Paschal and his backup.  Not a good game for that.  A lot of those 3rd and longs that OSU converted might have turned out a little different if one or both of them were available.

In the end, OSU is deeper, more skilled, and a very well coached football team that won a very tough road game and deserve to be ranked number 1.