maly, too: September 2015

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Impressive

By RON MALY

As you know, I've been paying attention to collegiate football for a lot of years.

A lot of decades, really.

A lot more years and decades than I care to remember, I guess.

But it was fun 70 years ago, and it's fun now.

I don't spend as much time following the game as I did earlier in my life, but I observe enough to draw a conclusion or two about the landscape.

I got a close-up look at Iowa' 2015 team yesterday in its final non-conference game, and came away impressed.

The Hawkeyes manhandled Dan McCarney's North Texas team, 62-16, in Kinnick Stadium.

I felt bad for McCarney, a friend of mine dating back to his days as an Iowa player and later as an assistant coach at Iowa and Wisconsin, and the head coach at Iowa State.

He's a man I respect, but he and his team were clearly in over their heads yesterday.

However, this Hawkeye team, coached by Kirk Ferentz, is capable of doing that to an opponent.

Frankly, I don't think there's any team on the schedule that Iowa can't beat.

After all, this is not the most difficult schedule in major-college football.

I'm not saying the Hawkeyes will go 12-0 and play in the Big Ten championship game, but I think we're looking at a team that could finish the regular season 10-2 or 9-3.

Iowa has a 4-0 record heading into its Big Ten opener next Saturday at Wisconsin.

You know and I know that will be a difficult game for the Hawkeyes.

Wisconsin is always difficult for Iowa.

But the Hawkeyes are a capable of winning this game, and they are capable of winning the other road games at Northwestern, Indiana and Nebraska.

They certainly are capable of winning the rest of their home games against Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota and Purdue.

But to say they'll run the table is foolish.

It doesn't work that way in collegiate football these days.

There's far too much parity in the Big Ten and in every other major conference.

So I'm being conservative.

Experience has taught me that.

Right now, I'll predict the regular-season record to be 9-3.

The losses will be, or could be, to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska.

I hope I'm wrong about that previous sentence.

Don't forget, I wrote that Iowa is capable of winning 'em all, and I hope it happens.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

And the State Champion [Again] Will Be Dowling

By RON MALY

I don't particularly want to write that I told you so...but, hey, I told you so.

A few weeks ago, I wrote this in a column:

It's no secret that I'm a big follower of the athletic program at Valley High School. I've lived in West Des Moines for 48 years, and my three sons and three of my six grandchildren own diplomas from the school. A fourth grandchild will graduate from Valley in two years.

I happen to think that Valley's Gary Swenson is the best high school football coach in the state, and one of the best anywhere. He has five state championships to prove it.

But I don't necessarily think the Tigers should be ranked No. 1 in the state by the paper at this stage of the season, even though they walloped Waukee, 44-13, Friday night.

As far as I'm concerned, Valley's opponent from a few miles down the road in West Des Moines--Dowling--should be on top of the class 4-A rankings.

Dowling won the 2014 state championship, and I know coach Tom Wilson has another standout team this season.

Wilson is a very good coach and he'll have his players sky-high when they tee it up Sept. 18 against Valley in a Dowling home game at Drake Stadium.

Until the Maroons lose, they're No. 1 in my book.

*

Well, you and I saw what happened last night.

Dowling manhandled Valley, 38-21, at Drake Stadium

The paper, in a typical exercise in overstatement, called it a "stunner."

The only people stunned by the outcome were those at the paper, plus perhaps a few misguided Valley fans who really thought the Tigers had a defense that could stop Dowling.

Valley is a pretty good team, but clearly not as good as Dowling.

I happen to think coach Tom Wilson's Maroons are the best team in the state, and they will run the table en route to yet another 4-A championship.

No high school football program in this state compares to the one Wilson has constructed at Dowling.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Just What the Doctor Ordered

By RON MALY

My left ankle wasn't feeling worth a damn a while back.

It soreness was affecting my long-distance walking.

So I went to a doctor who specializes in feet and ankles.

He looked at the X-rays of my ankle and said, "I'll tell you one thing right now. You've got arthritis."

"That doesn't surprise me," I said. "I broke ankle back in the days when I was still working."

"How'd it happen?" the doctor asked.

"Well, they were getting ready to hold the Big Ten wrestling meet in Carver-Hawkeye Arena at Iowa City, "and they were moving some of the bleachers to make room for the mats.

"I made the mistake of jumping down from the bleachers, which were higher than normal, onto the floor. I was walking around with a boot on my ankle the next morning. The ankle was broken."

One or two comments later, the doctor urged me to start taking fish oil pills. Maybe they would help my arthritic ankle feel better, he said.

"I take four fish oil pills every morning," he said.

I haven't started doing that yet.

Maybe tomorrow I will.

At least fish oil in some form.

You see, I read something in the health section of the New York Times that said fish oil, though controversial, might be good for kids.

And if fish oil is good for kids, it might be good for adults.

I'm thinking I might skip the pills and start taking a spoonful of cod liver oil every morning, like my mother told me to do.

I'll let you know in a few weeks how my ankle is doing.

Don't expect Lawrence Phillips to be participating in any pregame coin toss or even being in the football stadium at Nebraska anytime soon. Phillips, a Cornhusker running back from 1993-1995, who later played in the National Football League and the Canadian Football League is--as Muhammad Ali used to say--a bad man. Phillips has been in a California prison since 2008 for convictions that included domestic violence, spousal abuse, false imprisonment and vehicle theft. His sentence was for 31 years. Now Phillips has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his prison cellmate, Damian Soward, 37. Soward was found unresponsive in his cell last April. Wire service reports say Phillips is facing a term of 25 years to life, plus 15 years. Why the 15 years? Just for being a bad guy, I guess

Lawrence Phillips

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

The paper is a day late, a dollar short and--as usual--playing catch-up again. Javier Baez, who plays for the local Triple-A ballclub, has been called up by the Chicago Cubs, and the Big Team is also adding some other players from the local nine, as well as from a swap with Seattle. Major league rosters can expand today, and the Chicagos are taking advantage of that little bonus by giving Baez, who earned the nickname Strikeout Machine last season in a short, forgettable stint with the Cubs. Outfielder Austin Jackson was the player obtained from Seattle for the all-too-famous player to be named later. Hopefully, the guy being sent to Seattle is Mike Gartner, the Official Asshole Of This Column and the owner of the locals. Get the clown out of town already. Others brought up to the Big Team from the local nine are outfielder Quintin Berry, who is notorious for stealing bases, and pitchers Trevor Cahill and Tsuyoshi Wada. I expect nothing from Jackson, Berry, Cahill and Wada. I don't know about Baez, who hit pretty well for the locals and cut down on his whiffs.. I've never been sold on him, but I say give the poor guy a second chance. If he strikes out a lot again this year for the Chicagos, send him to the Mexican League or the farm department at the paper--which, like every other department there, needs a hell of a lot of help.

Javier Baez

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.