As some of you may know, I've been paying attention to what the Chicago Cubs do since about 1945. Actually, I was probably more of a fan of the New York Yankees in those days. To prove it, I entered an essay contest in Cedar Rapids in the 1940s, and finished in second place. The idea was for kids to write about their favorite major league baseball player. At the time, Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees was my favorite. I knew that the Cubs had lost the 1945 World Series to Detroit, but I can't recall anyone who played for the Cubs at that time. At some point, I quit rooting for the Yankees and began hoping the Cubs would win. That was a turning point in my life. I began cheering for underdogs, and I've been doing it ever since. I mean, guess who covered most of Iowa's football games in that horrible 19-year period during the previous century when the Hawkeyes didn't have one winning season? Me. Champion of the underdogs. That's why I care what the Cubs do, and most of what they've done in my lifetime is lose. But now I have hope. I hear that a man named Joe Maddon will be the Cubs' new manager. He's been the skipper of the Tampa Bay Rays, formerly known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, of the American League. I looked him up in the Tampa paper and found out that his players like him, he's regarded as a smart skipper, he drives an RV, he likes to drink wine and he recently changed his Twitter handle to #maddonini. I don't plan to communicate via Twitter with Maddon or Maddonini, and I probably won't be having a glass of red wine with him [or them] anytime soon. But I do hope ol' Joe [the man is 60] gets the Cubs out of last place in the National League Central. They've been there too damn long.

Joe Maddon

The Tiger Beat Goes On: Valley Improves Its Record To 9-1 and Wins Its 9th Consecutive Game By Shellshocking East, 56-7, In Opening Round Of Class 4-A High School Football Playoffs Tonight At Valley Stadium. The Tigers' Only Loss Was To Waukee In the First Week Of the Season. Other 4-A Winners In Central Iowa Included Dowling, Waukee, Ankeny, Ames, Southeast Polk and Johnston. Valley's next playoff game is Monday night against Johnston at Valley Stadium. Still on the subject of the 4-A playoffs, I find it interesting that Dowling's next opponent is Ames, and the game will be played at East's Williams Stadium. I'm happy about that. After all, Ames passed up an earlier opportunity to play at Williams Stadium. The Little Cyclones were scheduled to play East at Williams late in the season, but Ames officials stirred up plenty of controversy by refusing to send the team there for the game because of threats of violence on Facebook. I find it good and proper that Ames will be able to get the Williams Experience in the playoffs against a power-laden Dowling team that will be heavily favored in the game.

Totally Disorganized

A reader of these columns who is very knowledgeable about newspapers and sports sent me the following email: 

"Ron, did you notice that there was no game story in Saturday's Des Moines Register on the

Dowling-North football game?  I thought it might appear on Sunday, but nothing there either. They  managed to send Bryce Miller to Lincoln, Neb., to cover a meaningless Nebraska football game, but couldn't arrange for a reporter to travel to Kansas City [a lot closer] to cover any of the Royals' home games in the World Series. They  could have even covered an

Chad Leistikow

Iowa Conference football game or sent  a reporter to staff the Iowa Basketball Coaches Clinic over the weekend.  Chad Leistikow, the current sports editor, has lost touch with Central Iowa and is totally disorganized." 

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS--Thanks for your message. I wrote earlier about the paper failing to send a staff writer to cover the Royals in the World Series, and [even worse] not sending a reporter or not even lining up phone coverage of Dowling's 77-7 victory over North. The same night of the Dowling-North game, the paper managed only

one paragraph on Valley's 62-0 romp past Lincoln. In my opinion, Valley and Dowling are the state's best high school football teams. Both games were played in metropolitan Des Moines, of course, so there's no excuse for the sports department's failure to arrange coverage of the two games.  It was a thorough embarrassment to the entire newspaper in general, as well as the sports department specifically.  As for the paper's absence from the World Series games in Kansas City, evidently, the company car had a flat tire or else there wasn't enough money available to put a tank of gas into the car so a reporter could make the drive. The paper has been trying to play catch-up with the Royals by publishing staff-written stories about Kansas City fans and--get this--the fact that

Hy-Vee [a huge Register advertiser] has a sponsorship agreement with the Royals. Maybe the bosses at the paper  should've gone to Hy-Vee and begged the grocery chain for money to send a reporter to Kansas City. Again, horribly embarrassing. Like one of my many readers wrote, it's a case of losing touch and being totally disorganized.]

*
Photo of Chad Leistikow courtesy of Des Moines Register/Google.

38 Valley Students In All-State Music Festival

The Valley High School fine arts department will have 38 students participating in the Iowa

All-State Music Festival Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

All-state band members:

Flute 1 – Julia Anderson

Clarinet 2 – Bryce Sederburg

Trumpet 1 – Sam Anderson

Trombone 2 – Jacob Bedia

Trombone 3 – Joe Brennan

Percussion, Orchestra – Derek Pham

Alternates – Julian Castillo, oboe

All-state choir members:

Soprano –Claire Maly, Jessica Martens, Nicole Miller, Lauren Pfeil, Elizabeth Watson

Alto – Maria Lind, Beka Conard, Jillian Belieu

Tenor – Keaton Denker, Jared Freiburg, Brook Norwood, Matthew Hrdlicka, Derek Lutt, Josh Miksch

Bass – Luke Dawson, Jake Grittman, Andy Han
Alternate – Gloria Tanui, alto

All-state orchestra members:

Violin – Hannah Willard, Guowei Qi, Tori Cassady, Andrew Yi

Viola – Alexandra Carther, Clara Ortgies

Cello – Michael Stevens, Cayden Codel, Kate Jaros

Harp – Elsa Klein

Alternates – Joe Reck, violin; Travis Smith, viola; Ben Wiese, cello

Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at the Iowa State athletic ticket office or online at Ticketmaster. For more information on the Iowa All-State Music Festival, visit www.ihsma.org/all_state.shtml.

-- Valley High School via Facebook.

Let's Keep This Short

By RON MALY

I was intending to write another lengthy column about what was supposed to be in today's paper, but wasn't.

The more I thought about it, though, the less I wanted to do the writing.

It's a beautiful Saturday. I was outdoors to enjoy the weather for quite a while earlier this afternoon, and I plan to go out there again very soon.

So I'm going to keep this as short as possible, even though that may not be an option after seeing what wasn't in the paper.

The first thing I noticed was that the schedule of Wednesday night's first-round games in the state high school football playoffs was nowhere to be found.

Nor was there a story--not one word--on Dowling's 77-7 victory over North in a regular-season finale.

The fact that Dowling is the second-best team in the state [behind Valley, which clobbered Lincoln, 62-0, last night and got a one-paragraph story in the paper for doing it] was significant.

But so was the fact that there was no roundup story on the upcoming playoff matchups.

I checked the Iowa High School Athletic Association website and saw the playoff information I was looking for.  Here are Wednesday night's class 4-A games that are of interest to me:

East at Valley

Dowling vs. Indianola at East's Williams Stadium

Johnston at Ankeny Centennial

 Lincoln at Ankeny

Ames at Urbandale

Fort Dodge at Southeast Polk

The interesting thing about the Dowling-Indianola game is that it's at Williams Stadium,

which is where Ames refused to play East last week because of Facebook threats on the Internet. 

That resulted in a forfeit victory by Ames being declared by the shoot-from-the-hip high school association, which later wiped out the forfeit after enormous protests from people at East and elsewhere.

We'll see what's on Facebook in the upcoming week regarding the Dowling-Indianola game.

*

After Dowling's 77-7 shellacking of North and

Valley's 62-0 thumping of Lincoln, the dismissal of high schools in Des Moines from the Central Iowa Metro League can't come too soon.  Like I've been saying, those teams should be playing in a Saturday morning flag football league at Tower Park. Let the big boys from the suburban schools fight it out in the CIML.

*

The paper acts hurt that Republican Senate nominee Joni Ernst refused to meet with its 

Joni Ernst. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

editorial writers and political reporters. I don't blame Ernst. I wouldn't waste my time visiting with those people either. I certainly can't imagine anyone wanting to spend an hour or two talking to Rekha Basu about anything.

*

The paper plans to tell its readers tomorrow what candidates it is endorsing. Good. It won't mean a thing. When the paper endorses a candidate, I usually vote for the woman or guy it didn't endorse. Or else I enter a write-in

candidate, like My Neighbor Al, the Health Nut.  Al got my vote in the last presidential election. Newspaper endorsements mean nothing these days. Newspapers have no influence on how people vote.

*

I noticed a headline on the paper's website last night that asked the question: What will Iowa State's football players do on their day off Saturday? Well, I can tell you this: On a

beautiful Saturday, there are a couple of things they're doing now, or will be doing later--neither of which involves watching a football game or thinking about a football game. 

*

That's enough for now. I've already written too much.  Hopefully, I'll see you outdoors.

It Was Foggy Tonight At Valley Stadium, But the Tigers Had Their Sights Crystal-Clear. They Improved Their Record To 8-1 Heading Into the Class 4-A Playoffs By Crushing Lincoln, 62-0

TIME FLIES FAST

Now...

Defensive back Nate Maly [No. 3 in Row 2] was one of Valley's football players honored on Senior Night tonight at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines.

Then....

When Nate was a freshman and wore No. 45, Grandpa was still taller  Not now.

It's business as usual at the Des Moines Register these days. Which means, of course, no business at all. Unbelievably, the newspaper now relies on the Associated Press to cover the state's board of regents meetings, and it couldn't come up with a tank of gas in the company car so a reporter could drive to Kansas City for the first two Royals-San Francisco Giants games in the World Series. It wasn't long ago that it would have been unheard-of for the paper to be passing up coverage of major sporting events in Kansas City. "You'd have thought the Register would be at the World Series this week because the football teams from both Iowa and Iowa State don't play Saturday,," pointed out Mike Mahon of West Des Moines, a former sports information director at Drake.. I covered a baseball All-Star game in Kansas City, I went to Kansas City to write profiles on such high-level sports people as Vida Blue, a former player for Des Moines' Triple-A frranchise, and at that time a pitcher for the Oakland A's, and Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram. I was sent to Kansas City by former on-top-of-the-news sports editors at the Register to do Chiefs training camp feature stories and to cover numerous Chiefs games in the National Football League. For a number of years, I [and others at the paper] would cover NFL games on Sundays when returning from whatever collegiate games we were on hand for on Saturday. Now no professional football games are covered by the paper. If that's an example of 21st-century newspapering, it ain't gonna fly. As for the board of regents meetings held throughout the state, my favorites took place a number of years ago. I can't help recalling those dandies in 2006 and 2007 when Mike Gartner, the worst regents president in history, received an embarrassing no-confidence slap in the face from the University of Iowa faculty council. A 2006 story written by KCRG.com read: "The University of Iowa faculty council will meet next week to vote on two resolutions involving the search for a new president. There are two issues. One is a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the board of regents. The second is a resolution recommending changing the process to find a president back to the way the last four presidents were hired. President of the University of Iowa's faculty senate Shelly Kurtz says there is a lack of faith in the board of regents leadership. He says specifically president Michael Gartner and president pro-team Teresa Wahlert are not getting the job done. He said, 'I think at the core this recommendation of no confidence is really a statement by this faculty that this leadership has to go.' An Associated Press story on Dec. 3, 2007 read: "Iowa board of regents president Michael Gartner says he is stepping down from the board after the regents meeting Tuesday. Gartner, whose two-year presidential term expires in April, wrote an email to the other eight board members Monday stating he will propose the board elect a new president, effective Jan. 1..Gartner's decision ends a tumultuous tenure that has been noted for a failed initial search for a University of Iowa president Gartner said earlier this fall he planned not to seek a third presidential term in April, but planned to remain on the board until his term as a regent ended in 2011."

Vida Blue card courtesy of Google.

East-Ames Football Ridiculousness Is the Biggest Embarrassment In the Long History Of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, And the Decision-Makers At the Place Who Screwed Things Up Are the Reason Why

By RON MALY

The more I think about it, the Des Moines East-Ames high school football mess is the most embarrassing thing to ever happen in the long history of the Iowa High School Athletic Association. And the people who work for the association are the main reason for the embarrassment. I wrote several days ago that those with decision-making responsibilities in the association should be suspended, and I still feel that way. There was no reason that game shouldn't have been played at Williams Stadium in Des Moines. The high school association is supposed to be made up of people with leadership qualities, but absolutely no leadership and no maturity was demonstrated by those people last week and this week.

*

I was talking on the phone with Mike Mahon today about that subject, and also about some other things. "Bob Savage is probably rolling over in his grave cause of that East-Ames stuff," Mahon said. Savage was the longtime football coach at East. He'd have gotten that game played, no questions asked, no controversy needed. He sure as hell wouldn't have needed the Iowa High School Athletic Association to get involved and screw up things.

*

"How long do you think the Register will let Bryce Miller continue writing sports columns?" Mahon asked me. "Good question," I said. "When the Iowa City Press Citizen told Pat Harty he was out as its sports columnist, his job ended immediately. Now he's writing blogs for an Iowa City radio station. It does seem strange that Miller [whose job at the paper here was eliminated] is still hanging on, even though nobody at the Register  wants him. But he probably hopes he can last as long as possible. He doesn't have anywhere else to go."

*

Speaking of embarrassments, I've managed to make it through most of the high school football season without having to listen to that ridiculous public address announcer at Ames High School's home games. His commentary was bothering the hell out of me and others sitting in the Valley section during a quarterfinal round game in the state playoffs last season. But it lasted for only about a quarter. When Valley began pouring it on en route to a 63-20 victory in which the mercy rule helped Ames escape an even bigger clobbering, the p.a. guy's act wasn't quite so obnoxious.  For all I know, he's been replaced. If not, he should be.

*

Enough of that. It's time for my 2-mile walk, and time to start thinking about Senior Night tomorrow at Valley Stadium. I'm hearing the weather will be outstanding.

What we are left with now is a situation still overflowing with anger and chaos. I want to know what's going to happen when there is another high school football game played at East. That could come sooner rather than later. East's regular-season home schedule is over, but the state high school playoffs will be starting next week. East could be in the playoffs. I want to know what will happen if a playoff game is scheduled in East's stadium [or any other high school stadium in the state, for that matter], and some knucklehead writes on Facebook that people will show up at the game with guns and knives in their pockets.

By RON MALY

I'm glad the Iowa High School Athletic Association followed my suggestions. 

In a column late last week, I wrote that the association should be ashamed of itself for the way it handled the high school football mess involving Des Moines East and Ames. 

The association should not have ruled that East forfeited the game. 

If any team forfeited, it was Ames for refusing to travel to East to play the game. 

I wrote that the high school association should revisit the controversy, and it did. 

It wiped out the forfeit.  Ames didn't get a victory, East didn't get a defeat. 

East, however, was figuring on making lots of money from ticket receipts and the sale of popcorn, Diet Pepsi and Snickers candy bars at the concession stands--but didn't because of the less-than-courageous actions of Ames officials for refusing to permit their football team to to go to East, and the high school association for not forcing Ames to play. 

What  we are left with now is a situation still overflowing with anger and chaos. 

I want to know what's going to happen when there is another high school football game is scheduled at East. 

That could come sooner rather than later. 

East's regular-season home schedule is over, but the state high school playoffs will be starting next week.  

East could be in the playoffs. 

I want to know what will happen if a playoff game is scheduled in East's stadium [or any other high school stadium in the state, for that matter], and some knucklehead writes on Facebook that people will show up at the game with guns and knives in their pockets. 

I know for a fact that Dowling of West Des Moines, a high school with no stadium of its own, has scheduled playoff games at East in the past. 

I attended a Dowling-Valley playoff game at East a few years ago. 

On a bitterly-cold night, there was no mention of guns and knives. It was a wonderful football game. 

I happen to think the East-Ames game at East would have been a wonderful one, too, had it been played. 

Ames and the Iowa High School Athletic Association screwed up. 

I hope it doesn't happen again.

Valley's Excellent Tribute To Academics

By RON MALY

Valley High School knows how to do things right. In another spectacular performance last

night, a ton of senior, junior and sophomore students were honored at the 2014-2015 Academic Recognition Ceremony in the Bill Coldiron Fieldhouse. Over the years, I've attended plenty of basketball games in the Coldiron arena, and I was there for the graduation of my three sons before the commencement ceremony was moved to the Knapp Center on Drake's campus.  Last night was my first opportunity to attend the Academic Recognition Ceremony, and I thought it was a blast. All Valley students who earned 3.4 grade-point averages or higher on a 4.0 scale for two consecutive semesters or more  were honored and handed awards by school officials. Math wasn't my specialty in school, but I counted 219 students in the senior class alone who were honored.   I felt particularly proud because among the students presented awards were my three grandchildren who still attend Valley--seniors Nate and Claire and sophomore Megan.  Cole, anther of my six grandkids,  is an earlier Valley graduate and is already a junior at the University of Nebraska.  A huge crowd was in

the Coldiron building to see the students receive their awards and to hear comments from guest speaker Matt Schultz, a Valley graduate and former Tiger athlete who now is Iowa's Secretary of State; Valley principal Tim Miller; associate principal David Maxwell, and Valley Southwoods Freshman High School  principal Mitch Kuhnert, Valley students Megan Smith,  Bridget Shoemaker, Keaton Denker and Jake Grittman sang the National Anthem. All in all, it was a wonderful way for Valley to honor excellence in the classroom.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association Should Be Ashamed Of Itself

By RON MALY 

I've been watching high school football games in this state since 1946. Over the years, I've never had an issue with the Iowa High School Athletic Association.  People who work

there have treated me well, and I've tried to treat them well. Now, though, I'm having a problem with a situation that caused East High School of Des Moines to forfeit last night's scheduled football game to Ames High School.  I think the high school association should be ashamed of itself for siding with Ames officials and making this happen. Ames people and the high school association decided it would be too dangerous to play a game at East. How they came to that decision is beyond me.  Rumors? Threats? Garbage on Facebook about people having guns at the game? Give me a break. If there was that much concern, the game should have been suspended, and played at a later date when emotions wouldn't be running so high.  By the way, I also think the people who have decision-making powers at the high school association should also be suspended until all of us are aware of more facts in this mess. East did not deserve to have the game turned into a forfeit. If Ames didn't want to make the trip to East, Ames should have been the school forced to forfeit. I think the Iowa High School Athletic Association should revisit this entire situation. I think the forfeit should be deleted, and the game should be played at East at a later time. This is rotten treatment for the proud people associated with East High School.


MORE SHAMEFUL WORK

Another outfit that should be ashamed of itself [again] is the Des Moines Register.  I searched the sports section  for quite a while this morning, looking for the Central Iowa Metro League football results.  I couldn't find a word on Ankeny's victory over Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson or Lewis Central's victory over Johnston. For all I know, maybe another couple of games were missing, too. Ankeny and Johnston are very large suburbs of Des Moines. Can you imagine  newspaper readers in those two cities looking for results of the games played by high school teams for which they have sons playing?  Subscriptions have no doubt been canceled all weekend.  I think Randy Evans, editor of the paper's Opinion section and a man who already has a thistle up his ass because of past foolishness, should slice off part of that thistle and deliver it to the sports department because of this latest embarrassing work.

Sad News, But Not Shocking News As Newspapers Remain On Life-Support While Preparing To Die: Pat Harty Loses His Job As An Outstanding Sports Columnist At the Iowa City Press Citizen. The Veteran Of 23 Years At the Paper Tweets, 'It Sucks Being Laid Off, But It Feels Like An 800-Pound Sinking Ship Has Been Lifted From My Back'.

Mike Mahon, the former Drake sports information director who still makes a habit of staying on top of the news, sent me this email today: Did you see this tweet today from Susan Harman Susan Harman ‏@susan_harman  30m30 minutes ago Gannett strikes again gutting Press-Citizen sports dept by laying off hard -working Pat Harty, a 23-yr employee. PC left w/ 1 in sports. Susan Harman is a retired newspaper sportswriter. Among the cities in which she worked were Des Moines, Ames and Iowa City. She and I worked in the Des Moines Register newsroom at Pat Harty the same time for a number of years, and I regarded her as a hard worker who handled her responsibilities thoroughly. The information she tweeted about Des Moines native Pat Harty doesn't shock me because of the lousy, unfair stuff going on in the dying newspaper business these days. However, that doesn't prevent me from being saddened by Harty's plight. I've known him for a long time, and I always felt he did an outstanding job of covering the sports news at the University of Iowa. I've always thought that writing columns about a collegiate sports program for the newspaper in that city is one of the most challenging things in journalism. But Harty handled his responsibilities in a professional manner, and I hope he is hired for a comparable, or better, job now that he'll be gone from the Iowa City Press Citizen. Harty and Susan Harman worked in the Press Citizen newsroom  at the same time for many years. Harman beat the hangman to the punch by retiring. Harty waited until the bitter end to be told he's no longer needed. Awful stuff. My best to you, Pat. I hope to see you in a press box again soon. Here are a couple of tweets Harty has sent today: Pat Harty @PatHarty  I'm very excited to announce that I will start writing a Hawkeye blog for KCJJ radio that can be read at http://1630KCJJ.com . 0 replies Pat Harty @PatHarty  ·  Thanks for the kind words of support. It sucks being laid off, but it feels like an 800-pound sinking ship has been lifted from my back.

Baranczyk 'Looking Forward To Some Big Things'

Maybe there's actually a Drake basketball team that can have a winning record in the 2014-2015 season. The women's team,

I mean. Jennie Baranczyk, who is in her third season as the Bulldogs' coach, didn't exactly say today that her team would finish above .500, but she sure sounded optimistic. "The team is hungry and having fun already, and we haven't even played a game yet," Baranczyk said. "We have amazing leadership led by an incredible senior class that has the Missouri Valley Conference player of the year in Kyndal Clark. We also have some great [players who] are now sophomores in Caitlin Ingle and Lizzy Wendell. Lizzy was the Missouri Valley Conference freshman of the year, and Caitlin and Lizzy were on the [league's] all-freshman team."  Baranczyk added that she's "really looking forward to some big things. I love our incoming class..."

What a wonderful performance by the students from Valley High School's Vocal Music Department last night at their Fall Concert. The Concert Choir, the aCapella Choir, the Select Treble Clef Choir and the Valley Singers performed flawlessly under the direction of conductors Ryan Deignan and Haley Gibbons in their extravaganza at the Norwalk High School Auditorium. It was the Valley students' final performance at Norwalk,where officials have so graciously turned over their facilities while Valley's excellent Performing Arts Center has been under construction for the past 18 months. Valley's spectacular Performing Arts Center [pictured] opens officially Nov. 16. After that, there will be a full schedule of music, drama and everything else that fits into the agenda at an outstanding Performing Arts Center.

The next time you're saying prayers, take some time to say one for Bill Coldiron. Bill is the longtime educator and coach from West Des Moines who is fighting some major health problems these days. I first knew Bill many years ago when one of my sons took golf instructions from him. He coached golf at Valley High School for a long time, and he was so highly thought of that officials named Valley's basketball arena the Bill Coldiron Fieldhouse. That's quite a tribute--naming a basketball arena in honor of a golf coach. When Valley's girls' basketball team was winning game after game last season en route to a spot in the class 5-A state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena, Tiger fans began wearing T-shirts to the games that said they were "Coldiron Crazies." My son bought me one of the shirts, and I wear it proudly. The team's captains presented some of the shirts [pictured] to Bill and his family, and he was very appreciative of it. That was then, this is now. Like I said, say a prayer for Bill.

The Danger Of Taking One Step Too Many

By RON MALY


It's obvious to me that Bryce Miller took one step too many at the Des Moines Register.


Had Miller paid attention to where he might end up, he wouldn't be preparing to soon make a one-way trip out of the building, with his final paycheck in his pocket.

Cartoon of a reporter courtesy of Google

It wasn't long ago that Miller was supposed to be the No. 1 sports columnist at the paper.


Before that, he was the sports editor. 


He should have stayed in the sports editor job because, the way the sports department is being managed now, a general sports columnist is no longer needed.



The opinion pieces written by reporters covering Iowa and Iowa State football and basketball are more than enough commentary for any paper that's in a constant circulation freefall, as is the case at the Register.


There was a time, I guess, when Miller may have been regarded as a fair-haired boy in the paper's newsroom. 

 
He did everything to try to impress the bosses.

 
He worked long hours. He seemed to be kissing all the ink-stained asses he thought needed kissing. He covered sports situations that no one else seemed to want to tackle. He wore a necktie. He showed up on sports-talk radio shows around town. He appeared  in front of a video camera to do interviews that were shown [but rarely watched by anyone other than himself and his relatives] on the paper's website. Every time Lolo Jones opened her mouth, Miller quoted her. After all, he liked the hell out of the gig that sent him to the Olympics every four years on Gannett's dollar.


Now, though, all of that is meaningless. Gannett, the worst newspaper company in the world, has ordered yet another cutback in Des Moines and just about everywhere else it puts out a paper. 


No amount of ass-kissing a guy did earlier in his career, no amount of 70-hour weeks without overtime pay he put in means anything when cold-blooded Gannett decides to pull the plug on his job.

  
I guess Miller tried hard to be a decent sports editor and a decent sports columnist.


Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at either job.


I've been around long enough and I've worked in enough newspaper offices to know a lot about what it takes to be a good sports editor and a good sports columnist.  


In my ranking of sports editors throughout history at the Register, Miller is tied for last place with Randy Brubaker.


In my ranking of general sports columnists throughout history at the  paper, Miller is tied for last place with Sean Keeler. 


The best sports editors at the paper were, in order, Gene Raffensperger, Dave Westphal, Dave Witke, Sec Taylor and Leighton Housh [who was called executive sports editor and managed the department when Taylor was writing columns].



The best general sports columnists were, in order, Marc Hansen, Sec Taylor and Maury White.

 
By the way, Bryce Miller likely isn't the only person in the newsroom planning to beat the posse out of the door in the newest Gannett cutback.
  

I'm guessing the decisions to leave the building  were made by Miller and others after folks in the newsroom were ordered by Gannett to reapply for their own jobs, or someone else's job.

 
What an embarrassing, atrocious thing to do to people.

 
The way I look at it, anyone who has already turned in his or her resignation did so because he or she was unqualified and got the feeling there would be no job for them after the bosses reviewed the applications.

 
It's obvious that newspapering is a terrible, terrible business these days.

What a wonderful day yesterday was for me. I got to spend most of the morning and part of the afternoon in Iowa City, where homecoming was all over the place on the University of Iowa campus. The trees and the sumac were in their full autumn colors. The weather was warm and felt like late-summer. The sun shone brightly. It was a festive atmosphere outside and inside Kinnick Stadium. The drum line did an outstanding job in its pregame warmup. The marching band, the dancers, the golden girl and the cheerleaders performed in sparkling style in their indoor practice session in front of a huge, standing-room-only crowd in the Recreation Building. Despite worries suggested by people on the pregame radio programs that Indiana might be a problem for Iowa in the football game, that was not the case at all. The Hoosiers could have stayed home. They didn't have a chance. The Hawkeyes' offense turned in its best performance so far in this 2014 season. Jake Rudock showed those who were still wondering that he is, indeed, a quality quarterback. People should quit saying and writing that he shouldn't be the starter. They should get off Rudock's back and off coach Kirk Ferentz's back. In my book, Rudock is the clear-cut No. 1 guy. The 175-member alumni band is always one of my favorite parts of homecoming, and the group turned in a dandy show the entire day. Nothing quite like the alumni band putting on a spectacular performance in front of more than 70,000 appreciative football fans. There was more to be happy about on this Saturday in October. The Royals won and the Cardinals lost. It can't get any better than that. Like I said, it was a fantastic Saturday.

Photo of Alumni Band courtesy of University of Iowa Alumni Association

More Horrible Newspapering: The Des Moines Register Covered Valley's 76-6 Drubbing Of Sioux City West With a One-Paragraph Story; The Sioux City Journal Didn't Know Which West Des Moines Team Won the Game. The Headline and First Paragraph Of the Story Said It Was Dowling, the Rest Of the Story Said It Was Valley. The Bottom Line: Scores Of People Across Iowa Are Likely Canceling Their Newspaper Subscriptions

By RON MALY 

So you were wondering why newspapers are dying.

Well, consider this.

Two daily papers--the Des Moines Register and the Sioux City Journal--both did unbelievably lousy jobs of covering Valley's 76-6 football drubbing of Sioux City West last night at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines.

I fully expected the Register to do a crummy job because that's business as usual when it comes to the paper's coverage of Valley's powerhouse athletic teams. 

There was a one-paragraph story [yes, just one] in this morning's Register of a victory that sent Valley's record to 6-1.

The Journal carried a five-paragraph story on the game on its website.

Just one huge problem, however.

The Sioux City paper couldn't figure out which West Des Moines team scored 76 points.

The headline read: Dowling's Big First Half Sends It Past West

Imagine that. 

The paper mistook Valley for Dowling, its crosstown West Des Moines rival.

And, in the first paragraph of the story, the reference is to West Des Moines Dowling. 

Terrible.  

Here's the Journal's story, and notice that West Des Moines is also misspelled in the dateline:

WEST DES MONIES--Class 4-A fourth-ranked West Des Moines Dowling scored 62 first-half points on its way to a dominating 76-6 victory over West on Friday night.

A pair of interceptions -- one returned for a touchdown -- and a fumble all in the first quarter helped Valley get off to the fast start.

West's lone score came in the third quarter on a 17-yard pass from Noah McWell to Ricky Quintana.

Valley ran for 188 yards and threw for 146, while West was held to 23 rushing yard sand 139 through the air.

West is now 0-7 overall and 0-3 in district action. Valley improved to 6-1 and 3-0.

*

  

 I attended the Valley-Sioux City West game, and I'll tell you right now that West is the worst high school football team I have ever seen.

Actually, I felt sorry for West's players and coaches.

There were only about 30 West fans in the grandstand on the east side of the stadium.

West had almost as many cheerleaders as it had players.

The whole thing was an embarrassment to high school football in the state of Iowa.

West was certainly the worst class 4-A team I have ever seen, and perhaps the worst team I have ever seen in any class.

Before I put that mismatch in my rear-view mirror, I'd like to mention that I'm wondering if the circus clowns who work in the Opinion section at the Des Moines Register will accuse Valley of pouring it on in the 70-point victory.  

It was a year ago that someone in that Opinion department wrote that Valley deserved a thistle for running up 88 points against a horrible Council Bluffs high school team.

Thistle as in Roses & Thistles.

The writer who made that charge didn't identify himself or herself in print.

Gutless, I guess.

Maybe it was Randy Evans, the editor of the paper's editorial pages, maybe it was some other idiot in the department who doesn't know a football from a ping pong ball.

I didn't see that game, but I talked with people later who said Valley did not run up the score. Indeed, the Tigers' offensive players purposely fell on the ground late in the game so the score wouldn't get even more lopsided.

If the paper throws another thistle at Valley in the wake of its 76-6 victory last night, I think Randy Evans should have that thistle shoved up his ass, and he should be kicked through the goal posts at the north end of Valley Stadium.

Larry Morgan Still Going Strong

For one reason or another, I don't get to the free-pie-day get-togethers at the Village Inn restaurant as often as I'd like these days. But I did make it to today's session, and it was good to see Larry Morgan there, along with Mike Mahon, Paul Morrison and others. The longtime radio and TV sportscaster has been a friend of mine since the Bob Ortegel basketball coaching days at Drake. Ortegel first was an assistant coach with the Bulldogs, then was the head coach  from 1975 through 1981. Ortegel surprised me [probably Morgan, too] and just about everyone else around the Drake scene by having a 19-10 record in his first season. He culminated things by coaching the Bulldogs to the National Commissioners Invitational Tournament championship in Louisville, Ky. Consequently, he was the only coach [and still is] to lead a Drake team to a national basketball title of any kind. Morgan and I got along so well with Ortegel that he invited us to his players' and coaches' pregame meals on road trips. Morgan and I talk about those favors whenever we bring up the old days. Anyway, Morgan told me today over coffee at Village Inn [I'd already consumed my blueberry pie and Morgan was taking his pie home] that he'll be doing play-by-play again this season on Mediacom on telecasts of Drake men's basketball games. He also told me he'll be announcing a few Central Iowa Metro League high school games. Larry still does excellent work, and I'm assuming he'll keep doing it for quite a few more years.

The Good & The Bad

I'm sure glad this was the week in October when the Iowa Clinic published its health section in the Sunday paper. Great stuff in a  section that was written and edited by physicians and other knowledgeable medical people. As usual, it beat the hell out of the paper's own lousy health section that was in today's paper and looked like it was written and edited by a guy wearing coveralls who couldn't make it to work on time to drive his garbage truck, and a couple of teenage girls whose main job is operating the drive-up counter at the Burger King in Clive.

It's a Great Day To Have a Big Appetite

By RON MALY

This is a special day for our granddaughter, Claire.

Not only is it her 18th birthday, but she was the head chef at Cafe V, the cafe that's a big part of the culinary arts program at Valley High School. 

The cafe serves lunches that are open to the public, and Claire had a number of relatives, including her parents and both sets of grandparents [one pair from West Des Moines, the other pair from Lincoln, Neb.], and friends in attendance at today's meal. 

The menu consisted of Italian fare, starting with a garden salad that included mixed greens, topped with tomato, red onion, homemade croutons and a side of homemade ranch dressing. The entree was chicken alfredo that consisted of fettucine pasta tossed in a light alfredo cream sauce with breaded chicken. It was served with homemade bread and olive oil. 

Dessert was a fantastic Italian cream cake. It was a white coconut cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting, pecans and shredded coconut. 

To think that this entire meal was planned and prepared by high school students made it even more special. Fifteen other students helped Claire do the preparation. 

The menu changes every school day, and the  price per meal is $8. 

If I say so myself, it's a great place to dine.

Speaking of dining, there was much more last night as the traveling birthday party continued. An even larger group of Claire's relatives [parents and both sets of grandparents included] and friends were present at a Japanese restaurant in West Des Moines for dinner. 

I chose hibachi-style scallops, vegetables and fried rice. All of it was, as my Japanese friend Jiro Hattori used to say, "Good for the health."

What a wonderful day and night it was for Claire's birthday parties.

Oh, to be 18 again!

Amalie Nash, the editor and vice-president of audience engagement or what the hell she's called, certainly isn't the only problem at the paper. The paper's main shortcoming is failing to accomplish what its No. 1 mission is: Delivering the news. That was nowhere more obvious than in this morning's sports section. The paper missed the two biggest sports stories of last night--Arizona's 31-24 collegiate football upset of No. 2-ranked Oregon, and the Kansas City Royals' 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in 11 innings in the American League division series in Anaheim. The Royals won when Mike Moustakas, the team's ninth-place batter, homered off reliever Fernando Salas. The paper carried a note on page one that said, "The game was not complete when this edition of the Register went to press." Hell, I think anything that happens after about 7 o'clock in the evening doesn't get into the paper these days. No wonder My Neighbor Al, the Health Nut canceled his subscription long ago, and now reads his paper for free in the deli at Hy-Vee every morning. The trouble is, he's got to take his iPad and iPhone with him to the deli so he can get the latest scores. They're certainly not in the paper. As for the other big game the paper missed last night, Arizona improved its record to 5-0 with a shocking upset of No. 2 Oregon at Eugene, Ore. It was the second straight year the Wildcats have stunned Oregon. Last year's victory cost the Ducks any hope of playing for the national championship, and last night's upset likely did the same thing. Arizona was a 24-point underdog last night, and the most difficult thing for me to believe is that the Wildcats' coach is Rich Rodriguez, who was run off by Michigan when he couldn't win the big ones or the little ones. Now Michigan is still having problems and Rodriguez is showing he knows something about coaching after all.Another thing about the paper. It says, "Check out 14 [online] photos from the Hawkeyes' preseason hoops gathering in Iowa City." I did. All of the photos were taken by the Iowa City Press Citizen and the Associated Press. None by a Des Moines Register photographer. That leads me to a thought--maybe all of the Register's photographers have already quit or been fired, or the company car wasn't available [or didn't have gas in the tank] for one of them to drive to Iowa City yesterday.

I keep thinking things can't get any more ridiculous at the paper than they've been in recent years. It's been one firing, one layoff, one cutback after another at that house of horrors. Now men and women who have worked their asses off for 20 years, 25 years, even more, have had to reapply for their own jobs. To make matters even more stupid, the fates of those veteran writers, copy editors and photographers are being decided by Amalie Nash, who was sent to Des Moines in January from another Gannett Co. paper in Detroit as the new 37-year-old editor. By all accounts, she didn't know her ass from first base or city hall when she was in Detroit. and hasn't learned the difference between her ass, first base and city hall since she's been in Des Moines. At some point soon, a number of those veterans she is pulling the plug on at the paper here will be told to clean out their desks, probably escorted to the back door by a security person, and told to not bother coming back. What a horrible, dehumanizing place that has gotten to be.