maly, too: June 2015

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

And So Forth

Chicago Blackhawks Show Off the Stanley Cup At Wrigley Field

By RON MALY

I'm wondering what this world is coming to.

It's only June 17 and already the basketball and hockey seasons are over.

That's intended as a joke, by the way.

*

A tweet from Mike Mahon, a former Drake sports publicist:

Ron Adams

Finally in 20th year working in the #NBA, congrats to #GoldenState asst. coach #RonAdams, ex #Drake aide, reaching #TheFinals for first time.

Now Adams, like the rest of the gang from Golden State, can say they're champions.

The 67-year-old Adams was an assistant coach at Drake in the 1991-1992 season.

I guess one year on Rudy Washington's staff was enough.

*

They had a baseball game last night at Wrigley Field, and the NHL champion Chicago Blackhawks brought their Stanley Cup over there

to celebrate.

Too bad the Cubs didn't show up.

They got four hits, they were flatter than a McDonald's pancake and were embarrassed, 6-0, by Cleveland.

*

Bird flu is no longer much of a problem, but the price of eggs remains outrageously high at the grocery stores.

I suppose that means the price of gas will go up, too.

Those gas people are always looking for another reason to jack the price up another dime.

*

By the way, don't look for me to be buying any eggs until the price drops.

*

Headline in today's paper:

DAD-APPROVED BBQ JOINTS IN CENTRAL IOWA

I'm wondering why people at the paper here call every restaurant that sells barbecue a joint.

*

Still on the subject of newspapers, the Korea Times, an English language paper in South Korea, reported that the Chicago Bears--not the Blackhawks--won the Stanley Cup:

Like I keep saying, newspapering is a dying [if not already dead] business.

It appears that some of the headline writers are, indeed, dead.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Carnegie Hall, Here They Come

Valley High School's talented choral and orchestral groups presented a dress rehearsal tonight of the “Providence” performance they will stage June 15 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Tonight's performance drew a packed house in Valley's Performing Arts Center. Nobody has ever given me an A-plus for music appreciation, but the show sounded great to me.

I Wish Steve Prohm Well As Iowa State's New Basketball Coach. But I Don't Expect Him To Be Another Fred Hoiberg Because There's Only One Fred Hoiberg, and He's Now Coaching the Chicago Bulls Of the NBA

By RON MALY

I wish 40-year-old Steve Prohm well as Iowa State's new basketball coach.

Steve Prohm

He appears to have the credentials necessary to have success in the Big 12 Conference, one of the very best leagues in collegiate basketball.

However, I do not expect him to be another Fred Hoiberg, and I hope nobody else does either.

After all, there is only one Fred Hoiberg, and he now coaches the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association.

I'm still trying to get over that.

I wrote a lot about Hoiberg when he played at Iowa State, and I knew the man as well as anyone.

I had no idea he would someday return to Cyclone basketball as the head coach, and would have a 115-56 record in five seasons.

I couldn't conceive he would go from a 16-16 break-in season in 2010-2011 to records of 23-11, 23-12, 28-8 and 25-9 afterward.

But he did, which underscores the thought that Fred Hoiberg will be a success at whatever he does in life.

I'm sure he would've preferred that his last game as the Cyclones' coach wasn't a loss to lowly Alabama-Birmingham in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, but, hey, crap like that happens.

I guess I thought Hoiberg would be Iowa State's coach until he grew tired of putting X's and O's on blackboards and clipboards.

Fred Hoiberg

But now he's gone.

Kansas, Iowa and the other teams he kept beating are happy.

Steve Prohm, who has been at a place called Murray Steve in Kentucky, is the new guy in Ames.

Like I wrote earlier, I wish him well.

But his first name isn't Fred.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Readers-Turned-Critics

You never know what's going to wind up in the letters to the editor section of the paper these days.

Indeed, there was this letter the other day in the Des Moines Register:

Now that Fred Hoiberg is headed to Chicago, Register reporter John Naughton and his superb May 28 piece on Harrison Barnes [“From Ames to NBA, Barnes remains grounded”] present clear evidence that fact-based pieces, written with heart and sincerity, exist in stark contrast to what seems like copy-and-paste work of others. The most recent example has been the repeated speculation proffered by one longtime Register sports columnist, who is more interested in setting up doltish straw men and repeatedly insulting intelligence with what we know already.

Anyone with a Twitter account could glean all along that Freddy was out of here. But the tone of these seemingly endless number of “Hoiberg-might-be-leaving!” columns has been, “If you dummies thought this, think again! Here’s more speculation with the same exact facts from yesterday, and the day before, and the day before!” I enjoy the Register and will never end my subscription. But these columns pose more evidence that evolving media have been understandably difficult on print-based employees.

— Greg Goaley, Des Moines

Lots of media critics out there, I guess. Evidently, people in the news business are underestimating readers far too often these days. They don't realize how much attention people pay to news on the Internet, Twitter, Facebook and whatever. Those same readers-turned-critics can't be fooled when they notice that some media people credit sources for the basis of stories that say who is being interviewed for this coaching job or that coaching job. Readers see the same things on CBSsports.com, SI.com and ESPN.com on their computers that the sportswriters see. So that stuff should no longer be regarded as local column material. Like I say, newspapers [that are losing circulation daily] can no longer fool their readers.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

I have never met T. J. Otzelberger. I probably will never meet T. J. Otzelberger. T. J. Otzelberger is an assistant basketball coach at Iowa State, and I guess he's the favorite of some people to become the successor to Fred Hoiberg as the Cyclones' head coach. For all I know, T. J. Otzelberger may have what it takes to become the successful leader of Iowa State's top-flight program. But I also know that choosing an assistant coach to become the new head coach at a successful collegiate program is asking for trouble. I remember when Dick Schultz succeeded the highly-successful Ralph Miller at Iowa a number of years ago. Schultz, who had been Miller's No. 1 assistant, was a flop in the No. 1 job. I remember when Jim Hallihan was Johnny Orr's No. 1 assistant at Iowa State. Lots of people, including Orr, wanted Hallihan to be named the successor to Johnny. Gene Smith, then the athletic director, was not among them. Smith picked Tim Floyd to be the new coach. Floyd, who had been at New Orleans University, became a huge success with the Cyclones before becoming the Chicago Bulls' coach. [Sound familiar, now that Hoiberg was named the Bulls' coach this week?]. I don't know if Jeff Hornacek, a former Iowa State player who now coaches the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, is the right guy for the Iowa State job, either. And I don't know if some lesser-known collegiate coaches could equal or surpass what Hoiberg did in Ames. But I do know that Iowa State should interview 3 or 4 other guys before settling on Otzelberger for the job. If Cyclone officials think Otzelberger is the right guy after talking with a few other candidates, then they should hire him. And, if they do hire him, I wish him well. Actually, I still haven't faced reality. I thought Hoiberg would be at Iowa State forever, and I can't believe he has taken a job in the NBA, where coaches get eaten alive.

T. J. Otzelberger

Monday, June 1, 2015

I Never Thought It Would Happen

By RON MALY

I never thought Fred Hoiberg would leave Iowa State for a coaching job in the NBA.

Fred Hoiberg

I was naive enough to think Hoiberg would spend the rest of his coaching years with the Cyclones.

I thought the Fred Hoiberg/Iowa State fit was perfect.

He was a good player for the Cyclones, and a sensational coach for them.

Iowa State fans in Ames and everywhere else worshiped at his feet.

He made the transition from the NBA front office to Iowa State coach flawlessly.

In practically no time, he became of the best coaches in collegiate basketball.

I figured he would continue winning games and championships at Iowa State as long as he wanted to coach.

Even though I'm at least somewhat surprised that Hoiberg will be the Chicago Bulls' next coach and that the NBA will be his next league, I have no doubt that he will be a huge success in his next gig.

Fred Hoiberg does not know the meaning of the word failure.

Good luck, Fred.

I thoroughly enjoyed covering your games when you were an Iowa State player, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching your Cyclones play when you became the university's coach.

I'll miss seeing you calling the shots in Iowa State games in the future.

To me, Cyclone basketball won't be the same.

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.