maly, too: Al & The Grim Reaper

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Al & The Grim Reaper

By RON MALY

My Neighbor Al, the Health Nut called fairly early this morning to ask what I've been up to.

"As little as possible," I answered. "The

weather has been lousy, so I'm pretty much hunkered down until June. I'm glad you're doing well, though."

I was aware, of course, that Al was having a wonderful winter because he's been following the basketball team representing Northern Iowa, his alma mater.

"I hope the Panthers get a high seeding in the NCAA's Big Dance, and I see no reason why they shouldn't," I said.

I talked to Al for another couple of minutes, then asked if he wanted a cup of Italian Dark Roast to start his day.

"Thought you'd never ask," Al said. "I'll be right over."

I knew Al had probably already been to Hy-Vee because that's where he reads the paper every morning.

He canceled his subscription two or three publishers ago.

"I see the newest publisher is bailing out, too," I mentioned to Al.

I'd heard that some fly-by-night, do-nothing named Rick Green was pulling up stakes and moving to Cincinnati. I already wrote that somebody's got to live in Cincinnati, so everyone in Des Moines should be glad it's Green. Cincinnati and Green deserve each other. Good riddance.

Grim Reaper

As far as I'm concerned, the publisher's exit is another sign that the Grim Reaper is making more trips than usual to the paper's newsroom these days.

The message has been strongly sent to employees to rent, not buy.

"On one of my trips to Hy-Vee," Al said, "I read something that Amalie Nash, the paper's executive editor and vice president for news and engagement, wrote about how things are going down there.

"It was all lies, of course. Nash was trying to convince people that the paper is putting out a better product even though more of the hired hands are getting fired or quitting."

"I didn't see that," I said. "I read very little of the paper. For my own information, what the hell does the job vice president for news and engagement involve?

"Is Nash in charge of the wedding page or something?"

"Don't ask me," Al answered. "You worked at that place for 40 years. I figured you'd know."

"I don't understand any of the terminology these days," I said. "Big daddy, the Gannett Co., just wants to keep people, including the employees, in the dark.

"They've canned so many people at this town's paper that the whole staff can fit into a couple of phone booths now. Nash might be headed to Cincinnati any day now, too.

"The coverage is an absolute joke. The lead story on page one of the Iowa In-Depth section Sunday was written by somebody from the Dubuque Telegraph Herald.

"Most of the rest of the state news is written by the Associated Press. Retired guys like John Carlson and Gene Raffensperger, who used to do such a great job of running the paper's news bureaus in eastern Iowa, must be throwing up every morning when they see what's going on now."

On that subject, Al said the paper has been publishing pictures of the people who presently work there, and describing what they do.

"They even talked Daniel P. Finney into taking time out from his No. 1 passion--elbowing his way into the front row of the buffet line at an all-you-can-eat restaurant--to have his picture taken," Al said. "Of course, the photographer needed a wide-angle lens to get the mug shot."

"It's too bad they don't have a decent health section at the paper," I commented. "They could write a series of stories about Finney's enormous caloric intake, and title it "The Quickest Way To Cardiac Arrest."

"Quit talking about that idiot Finney," Al said. "You're giving my Italian Dark Roast taste a bad taste.

"Pour me another cup, and let's talk about the Panthers."

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.