By Georgios, Cyclones' Fred Hoiberg Signs a 7-1 Center from Greece. Georgios Tsalmpouris Says, 'I Feel Blessed Because My Dream Came True On the Best Possible Scenario.' Hoiberg Says, 'Geoprgios Gives Us Another Big Man That Is Able To Run the Floor and Shoot hte Ball.'

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• PRINTGood for Fred Hoiberg. Good for Iowa State.

Good for Fred Hoiberg. Good for Iowa State. 

Hoiberg is keeping the Cyclones' basketball cupboard filled with talent, and retaining Iowa State's place as a national power.

Today he added a 7-foot 1-inch player--center Georgios Tsalmpouris of Greece--to his roster.  Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com wrote that Hoiberg signed Tsalmpouris of Greek's national team.

Tsalmpouris, who is from Veria, Greece, won't turn 18 until June. He will compete in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain this summer before joining the Cyclones in the fall. Tsalmpouris will be eligible to play for Iowa State immediately.

"As an elementary school student in Greece I started playing basketball having a dream, a big dream, for a country boy from a small rural town named Katerini," Tsalmpouris said via the school's release on the signing. "I hoped that one day I would be able to cross the Atlantic Ocean and playing basketball at a big university.

"Today I feel blessed because my dream came true on the best possible scenario. I am joining the Iowa State basketball team. I am so grateful to Coach Hoiberg and Coach [Matt] Abdelmassih, who recruited me and gave me the opportunity to learn from the best and contribute to the future success of the Iowa State basketball program."

The teenager rejected interest from Greek professional teams and instead joined the Cyclones, where he'll likely come off the bench next season, per a source close to the program.

Tsalmpouris is just the fifth 7-footer the program has signed.

Last year, Hoiberg started 6-6 Melvin Ejim and 6-7 Georges Niang inside. But the Cyclones will utilize a bigger rotation next season.

Marquette transfer Jameel McKay is a 6-9 forward who is expected to join Monte Morris, UNLV transfer Bryce Dejean-Jones, Dustin Hogue and Niang in next season's starting lineup. Tsalmpouris will add frontcourt depth and size that Hoiberg hasn't had during his time in Ames.

Iowa State's offseason moves have positioned the program to compete with Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma for the Big 12 title.

"Georgios gives us another big man that is able to run the floor and shoot the ball," Hoiberg said in the school's release. "He fits with how we want to play while giving us more length. I'm looking forward to helping him continue to develop as a basketball player."

This Is Mostly About Autographs: The Day In the Summer Of 1948 When I Got An Autograph At Wrigley Field From the St. Louis Cardinals' Stan Musial, And How Fans Of Ames' Harrison Barnes, Now An NBA Player, Can Get His Autograph Free

By RON MALY


I'll start by saying that I'm not someone who normally wants anyone else's autograph.

The only time I can recall asking an athlete to sign his name to a piece of paper was when I was 12 years of age and was attending my second major league baseball game. 

Stan Musial

The game was at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and the Cubs were playing the St. Louis Cardinals.

I'd been invited to go to Chicago on a driving trip with Cliff Stone and his family from Cedar Rapids. 

At the time, I was a friend of Cliff's son, Jack Stone. 

The year was 1948, and the first game we saw on that trip was at old Comiskey Park in Chicago, where the White Sox played the Cleveland Indians. 

[By the way, the summer of 1948 was very eventful for me--and not all of it was pleasant. I'd had a pretty good season as a second baseman and pitcher for my Kids League baseball team in Cedar Rapids and--as a 12-year-old might do then and now--I foolishly envisioned myself as a future big league star. But I couldn't keep any weight on my body that summer, and it seemed like I was thirsty all of the time. Little did I know when I accompanied the Cliff Stone family to Chicago that I was in the process of developing Type I diabetes, a serious illness that people didn't know nearly as much about in 1948 as they do now. In that summer of '48, my weight had dropped to dangerous levels and, on the trip to Chicago, Cliff Stone would pull his car into farmyards throughout Iowa and Illinois so I could quench my thirst at water pumps. The Stones didn't know it, and I certainly didn't know it, that a month later I would have an atrocious 700-plus blood glucose score when I was examined by a doctor in Cedar Rapids, and my weight would be 79 pounds. Before insulin was discovered in 1921, the life expectency of a newly-diagnosed Type I diabetic was anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. It was on Sept. 20, 1948 that I was told by Dr. Walter Block that I would spend the rest of my life as a Type I, insulin-dependent diabetic. After being informed what was in store for me, I spent the next 5 weeks in hospitals at Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Needless to say, it makes me very happy to be able to tell you all about this nearly 66 years later].

Now back to autographs.

The atmosphere at a major league baseball game in 1948 was much different than it is now.

Jack Stone and I were able to get the autograph of Stan Musial, one of the best baseball players in the history of the sport and a future Hall of Famer with the St. Louis Cardinals, before the game at Wrigley Field began.

The way I recall it, Musial was signing autographs for kids near the St. Louis dugout, and Jack and I were able to go down there from our seats in the grandstand to get autographs.

Can you imagine a kid being able to get the autograph of a major league standout these days before a game? 

Certainly not.

Now back to the other stuff I intended to write about. 

It's about autographs.

Free autographs.

I saw on ESPN.com this morning that Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes, who was a very good basketball player at Ames High School and at North Carolina, is saying he will fill his offseason with staying in shape, playing video games and signing autographs. 

Barnes said on his Facebook page that he's implementing an autograph policy that will allow his fans to get his signature, free of charge, in the offseason.

Harrison Barnes

"Since I get so many requests for autographs, I bought a P.O. Box for all of you to send items for me to sign," Barnes wrote. "I'm really excited to sign for everyone who's ever asked me for an autograph. I appreciate all the messages and replies I get on social media. This is my thank-you to all of you and a token of my appreciation for not only supporting me as a player, but as a person as well."

Barnes wrote that in order for fans to qualify for an autograph, they must write a handwritten letter explaining why they want an item signed and send a photo of them holding the item. Fans, who are permitted only one autograph per person, also must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for Barnes to return the item.

"My time is limited because of daily workouts, 'Games of Thrones,' 'House of Cards,' and video games," Barnes wrote. "Items will be sent back as soon as possible."

That's a very nice thing for Harrison Barnes to do.

*

Photos of Stan Musial and Harrison Barnes courtesy of Google and ESPN.com

For some unknown reason, I had the ABC national news on one of my TVs, and an announcer said Barbara Walters was retiring from the TV business. I guess I thought Walters was already retired. Indeed, I guess I thought Walters wasn't even living anymore. Then I looked up Walters' age, and found out she's 84. She certainly doesn't look her age. She looks older than 84. She should be the poster-child for three or four facelift clinics. I haven't heard what Walters is planning to do in retirement. Maybe she and Kim Novak will work out something together. Being 84 means Walters may have been born even before TV was invented. Or close to it. Anyway, I'm figuring the TV business will survive without Barbara Walters. I never watched her, and I won't miss her

Skip [Don't Sip] Red Wine, Drink Soy Milk

By RON MALY

Over the years, you've heard all of the same things I've heard. Stuff like eat your vegetables, drink your milk, watch your intake of fats, make sure your belly doesn't hang over your

belt, if you're going to drink alcohol, make it a glass of red wine. About that red wine thing, I recall a guy telling me he and his wife each drink 2 glasses of red wine every evening before dinner. Now the guy is on oxygen 24/7 and gets around in a wheelchair, but I guess if consuming a couple of glasses of red wine makes him feel better,  who am I to say there's anything wrong with it? Heck, I've had a glass or 2 of red wine myself over the years. White wine, too.  I'm not sure the stuff  did anything--good or bad-- for me.. Now I've been reading the health journals, and they say that red wine doesn't have the health benefits that fans of it were promoting in recent years. Actually, it

likely was the owners of red grape vineyards and wine companies wanting your money and mine who we're pushing the health benefits of red wine. So save your money. Drink soy milk. Especially since the price of a half-gallon of skim milk in the dairy department at Hy-Vee has skyrocketed to $2.19. And maybe drinking soy milk will give a boost to Iowa's farmers. After all, I'm here to help people.

11 a.m. Homecoming Game At Iowa

By RON MALY

No one knows yet what kind of football team Iowa will have in the upcoming season [I'm guessing the Hawkeyes are going to be pretty darn good], but at least we can be certain that the Oct. 11 homecoming game against Indiana at

Kinnick Stadium will start at 11 a.m. 

The Big Ten Conference made that decision, and I guess the league has the call on what time most games start. 

Before television made its presence in collegiate football, you could be fairly certain that all, or most, games started at 1 or 1:30 p.m. 

Now a 1 or 1:30 game is about as common as leather helmets with no facemasks and fans being allowed to cart kegs of beer into the stadium. 

If the games are played in the daytime in this era, they usually start at either 11 a.m. or 2:30 p.m.  

Steve Roe, Iowa's sports information director, informs me that the Hawkeyes' homecoming game will be televised by either the Big Ten Network "or an ESPN platform including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU."  

The final decision on TV will depend on how good the teams are. 

Like I said earlier, I think the Hawkeyes are going to be pretty good. Indiana? Not so good.

I guess the Big Ten is taking care of  the starting times for all homecoming games throughout the conference right now. 

I can also tell you that Iowa's Sept. 27 game at Purdue and the Oct. 18 game at new Big Ten member Maryland will also start at 11 a.m. because they are those schools' homecoming games.  

The Big Ten hasn't disclosed anything about it yet, but if I were a betting guy, I'd say Iowa's regular-season finale against Nebraska on Nov. 28 [the day after Thanksgiving] will also likely start at 11 a.m. 

Possibly noon, but I think it'll be 11 a.m.

Hopefully, you'll have your turkey and cranberries and all the fixin's, plus the leftovers, digested by those times.  

Here's Iowa's 2014 schedule:

 Date                  Opponent                               Time (TV)

Aug. 30             Northern Iowa                       TBD

Sept. 6              Ball State                                TBD

Sept. 13            Iowa State                               TBD

Sept. 20            at Pittsburgh                          TBD

Sept. 27            at Purdue                                11 a.m. CT (ESPN/ABC/BTN)

Oct. 11              Indiana                                    11 a.m. (ESPN/ABC/BTN)

Oct. 18              at Maryland                             11 a.m. CT (ESPN/ABC/BTN)

Nov. 1               Northwestern                          TBD

Nov. 8               at Minnesota                            TBD

Nov. 15            at Illinois                                    TBD

Nov. 22            Wisconsin                                 TBD

Nov. 28            Nebraska                                   TBD

[TBD means To Be Determined]

Heart Of the Matter

By RON MALY

Today's all-day rain made it great for the lawns, bad for yard work, tennis, golf and Little League baseball.

Diane, the wife of My Neighbor Al, the Health Nut, was holding an umbrella over her head when she rang my doorbell late this afternoon.

Diane had called me on the phone earlier in the day, wondering if we still had this morning's paper.

"I've got it, but I haven't bothered reading it," I told her. "The Monday paper is a throw-away deal.  Wire-service stuff,  left-over stories from Sunday, stories from other papers in the state that have already been on the Internet. Pretty sad, really."

"I know," Diane said. "Al, of course, read the paper at Hy-Vee early this morning. We dropped our subscription a year ago. Al mentioned to me that there was obituary in the paper about a woman I knew. If you don't mind, I'll cut it out the paper and mail it with a card to the woman's family."

"Sounds great to me," I said. "Come on over, have a cup of something and get whatever you need out of the paper."

So, when Diane got to the house and began drinking a cup of decaf [she stays away from the Italian Dark Roast that Al craves], she asked if I knew "anything more about that Brubaker guy."

She was referring to Randy Brubaker, the 55-year-old member of the paper's editing staff who died the other day of heart problems.

The sad thing was that Brubaker had survived a heart attack two weeks earlier, and had a stent put in an artery in his heart.

I guess his cardiologist thought that would be enough to keep his heart ticking for a while.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

In recent days, I've been writing about Brubaker and the lack of a decent health section in the paper at which he was employed.

I've been wondering why the paper doesn't do more in the health section other than stories about bicycling and dieting.

In my estimation, the paper should have more stories dealing with what can go wrong with a person's heart, kidneys, lungs and liver, and how to prevent problems.

The only time the paper writes much about hearts is prior to Valentine's Day. 

The editors think that's cute.

They took a tiny step in that direction today by doing a story on high blood pressure and how it influences the heart, but no new ground was broken.

"They're obviously reading the columns you've been writing about the crappy health section," Diane said.  "I'm glad you're getting after them."

In answer to Diane's earlier comment wondering if I knew much more about Brubaker's situation now than I did earlier, the answer is I'm still looking for answers.

I mentioned to her that I'd been told some of Brubaker's relatives had heart problems, and at least one person in the family had undergone coronary bypass surgery.

I'd wondered earlier why cardiologists chose not to do open-heart surgery and bypass Brubaker's heart, but I don't know enough about his medical history to draw any conclusions.

Brubaker's death came about four months after the death of his wife, who had fought Type I diabetes and heart problems.

I'd heard that his wife's arteries and veins were too small to permit cardiologists to do bypass surgery on her.

That's a tough one.

Someone named Estela Villanueva-Whitman wrote today's story on page 1 of the health section about blood pressure, and she also authored an even better story on page 3 about stent grafts to treat aortic aneurysms.

Her byline didn't refer to her as a staff writer of the paper.  It said the stories were "special to the Register."

Which likely means she's a freelancer or parttimer.

And that's just one of the problems with the health section.

I wish all mothers everywhere a Very Happy Mother's Day. And a special Very Happy Mother's Day to my mother, who went to Heaven eight years ago at the age of 94. I think of her every day and I always wish I could have one more cup of coffee and one more conversation with her.

Photo of Mother's Day flowers courtesy of Google