maly, too

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Thanks, Rick

BY RON MALY

Thanks to Rick Brown for the kind words he wrote about me in his farewell sports column in the Des Moines Register.

Rick Brown

I enjoyed working with Rick for many years at the paper.

He is a first-class guy and an outstanding writer.

The same was true of Bob Brown, Rick's late father.

I sat in many press boxes with Bob throughout my working years.

Bob then was a standout sports editor at the Fort Dodge Messenger.

Even though Rick has accepted a buyout at the Register, I'm betting he's not finished writing about sports and the people who play them.

He's got a tremendous amount of excellent writing left in him.

I hope to continue reading whatever he writes, and I also hope our paths cross again soon.

Count On It That Talented and Hard-Working Randy Peterson Will Be Back In the Register's Sportswriting Lineup Sooner Than You Think

By RON MALY

I had a nice conversation on the phone this morning with Randy Peterson, the talented and

Randy Peterson

hard-working Des Moines Register sportswriter who suffered a compound fracture of his left leg last Thursday night in Ames.

Peterson, a veteran writer who is as tenacious as any reporter in America when working on a column or a story for his newspaper, was injured while performing his postgame responsibilities at Hilton Coliseum on the Iowa State campus.

His leg was fractured while Cyclone basketball fans stormed the court following Iowa State's 83-82 victory over Iowa.

Both the tibia and fibula in his left leg were broken in the mishap.

Randy was still at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines when I talked with him today, but he expects to be released from the hospital very soon.

"The physical therapists are doing a great job with me," he said.

Physicians obviously did a wonderful job, too.

I had a few broken bones and other medical problems myself many years ago while covering sports at the paper, and doctors always told me it would take six weeks to heal the fractures.

I always tried to beat the odds so I could get back sooner.

I know Peterson will, too.

Randy, of course, has two broken bones, so I don't know if that means he'll take longer to heal or not.

Whatever, I know he'll be back on the job sooner than people think.

He's always been a gamer, and he'll return to the writing lineup as quickly as possible.

I wish him the very best.

Friday, December 11, 2015

The Chicago Cubs have been breaking the bank while trying to buy themselves into a World Series. They haven't won one--a World Series, I mean--for more than 100 years. So a lot of Cub fans have died without ever seeing their ballplayers participate in what is supposed to be baseball's biggest two-team tournament. The Cubs today agreed to pay an outfielder named Jason Heyward $184 million over the next 8 seasons to see if he can help get the team into a World Series. This comes a few days after the Cubs spent other millions of dollars signing pitcher John Lackey and second baseman Ben Zobrist. By the way, Heyward's contract says he can opt out of his new deal after 3 seasons or 4 seasons if he isn't happy about something. Frankly, I hope the man stays happy so he can be paid all of that $184 million. And if Heyward, Lackey, Zobrist and all of the other multi-millionaires on the Cubs' roster can't get the team into a World Series, I think Wrigley Field should be turned into a picnic grounds in the summer and an ice skating rink in the winter. Another by the way: National baseball reporters such as Ken Rosenthal are saying the St. Louis Cardinals, Heyward's former team, and the Washington Nationals each offered Heyward $200 million. But Jason, good guy that he is, turned down those larger contracts because he wanted to be a Cub. I'm sure the Cardinals and Nationals understand the young man's rationale. I sure do.

Jason Heyward. Photo courtesy of Google.

Big 12 Review Of Happenings At Hilton

Memo from the Big 12 Conference:

The conference has reviewed the Iowa - Iowa State men's basketball game and determined the host school handled its postgame celebration protocol consistent with Big 12 Conference Rules related to sportsmanship and ethical conduct. Game management staff appropriately handled their primary responsibility of ensuring the safety of the teams, coaches, officials and administrative staffs. We were sorry tao hear about the unfortunate accident with Des Moines Register reporter Randy Peterson and wish him a speedy recovery.

The conference considers this matter resolved and will have no further comment.

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS--I, too, wish Randy Peterson a speedy recovery after suffering a compound leg fracture during the time when Iowa State fans stormed the court after the Cyclones' 83-82 victory last night over Iowa at Hilton Coliseum. I learned a long time ago to stay away from excited fans running onto basketball courts and football fields. The next time I see Peterson, I'll stress to him that nothing good happens when a man my age or his age collides with college students who are running fast. Hopefully, no one else will get hurt if and when there are court-stormings the rest of the 2015-2016 basketball season. However, as far as I'm concerned, the fewer court-stormings there are, the better off everyone will be].

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Forget that phone call I was planning to make to Fred Hoiberg in Chicago. Fourth-ranked Iowa State [8-0] doesn't need any advice from The Mayor after rallying from a 20-point deficit to get past Iowa, 83-82, on Monte Morris' basket with 9 seconds remaining

Cyclone fans storm Hilton Coliseum court. Photo courtesy of Deadspin.

By RON MALY

I'm canceling my plan to make that phone call to Fred Hoiberg.

He was busy anyway.

The man they called The Mayor when he lived in Ames and played and coached basketball at Iowa State was calling the shots tonight for the Chicago Bulls in their 83-80 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at the United Center in Chicago.

Oh, well, I don't need to talk to Hoiberg, the former Iowa State basketball player and coach after all.

I planned to ask Fred if he thought the Cyclones had forgotten how to play defense and how to play both ends of the floor with tenacity since he coached his final game in Ames.

Well, it's a good thing there was a last half to tonight's game against Iowa at Hilton Coliseum.

Although lethargic in the opening half, Iowa State played much better defense and offense in the final 20 minutes--holding Iowa without a point in the final 2 minutes 35 seconds--and won, 83-82, for its eighth victory without a loss in Steve Prohm's first season as Hoiberg's successor.

Monte Morris' basket with 9 seconds remaining decided the drama-filled game.

The Cyclones had games like that when Hoiberg coached 'em, too.

So he would have understood.

Iowa State scored the last 9 points, and many of the giddy students who were in the crowd stormed the court when the game ended [photo at the top of this column].

Yes, Hilton Magic is still alive.

However, it turned out that the magic didn't reach far enough to protect Randy Peterson, a longtime sportswriter who was covering the game for the Des Moines Register.

I learned on Twitter that Peterson suffered a compound fracture of a leg during the court-storming.

I guess that's called being part of the story, not just covering the story.

I tweeted this late-night message to Peterson: "Sorry to hear about your mishap. But knowing what a gamer you are, you won't be MIA very long."

Earlier in the night, Iowa's basketball players seemed capable of making sure there would be no Hilton Magic and no court-storming by Iowa State students.

But the Hawkeyes couldn't continue their first-half domination.

Frankly, the Hawkeyes [7-3] are a veteran team and had no business losing.

They got a phenomenal 30 points from Jarrod Uthoff in the first half and built their lead at one stage to 20 points.

Uthoff connected on 11 of his 13 field goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes.

But the defensive tenaciousness that Iowa State lacked in the first half forced Iowa into mistake after mistake when the game was on the line.

For some reason, Uthoff quit shooting in the last half, finishing with just one basket in those last 20 minutes.

Go figure.

If Iowa is going to be a factor in the Big Ten Conference this season, stuff like that just cannot happen.

And So Forth

By RON MALY

In recent seasons, the Iowa-Iowa State basketball game has been played on Friday nights.

This year's game isn't on Friday night, and I'm happy.

I'm glad it's being played tonight at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

It starts at 6:30 and it'll be televised by ESPN2.

Leave Friday night to high school basketball.

Many high schools have a difficult enough time attracting fans, including students, to their games without an Iowa-Iowa State game getting in the way.

*

A few days ago, I wrote that I was getting sick of reading the word takeaways in the paper.

Evidently, one or two people at the paper have suddenly decided it's cool term.

Unfortunately, takeaways showed up again in the paper's coverage of the Iowa-Michigan State football game that decided the Big Ten football championship.

Beneath the takeaways headline, was something just as curious.

The paper had a story about the game written by Andy Hamilton that had no Indianapolis dateline.

Which indicated to me that Hamilton wrote the story in Des Moines while watching the game on TV and listening to it on the radio.

Indeed, he included a quote from Ed Podolak, the former standout Hawkeye player who has been a longtime commentator on radio broadcasts of Iowa games.

I doubt people covering the game in the press box at Indianapolis were listening to Podolak's commentary on the Iowa radio network.

I don't know where the quote from Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio came from.

I guess Hamilton will be the successor to Rick Brown [who has taken a buyout] on the Hawkeye sports beat.

Hamilton is no stranger to writing about Iowa athletics.

He covered the Hawkeyes when he worked at the Iowa City Press Citizen, and did it so well that George Wine [now deceased] told me a number of years ago that, at the time, he thought Andy wrote sports stories as well as anyone.

Wine, who was Iowa's sports information director for a quarter-century, was like a lot of us.

He didn't think much of 21st century sportswriting. After he retired, compliments to sportswriters by ol' George were few and far between.

But in his eyes, Hamilton's writing was better than most at the time.

Another curious thing was that Hamilton later left the Press Citizen and moved to the paper here. Both newspapers are owned by the Gannett--a company that has worked hard to earn its horrible reputation.

The fact that Hamilton came to Des Moines cost the hard-working Dan Johnson [also now deceased] his job at the Register.

That's the cut-throat type of business Gannett did, and still does.

Anyway, I am now wondering if bosses at the paper are frothing at the mouth after finding out that Hamilton was able to write a decent story on the Iowa-Michigan State football game by watching it on TV and listening to it on the radio.

For all I know, they may decide to cover all Iowa [and Iowa State] games by watching 'em on TV.

Look at all the money they'd be saving.

No need to fill the gas tank in the company car, no expensive airplane tickets, no meal money, no Motel 6 costs.

*

Still on the subject of the paper, there was this headline in the business section:

Clive store to become Cash Saver outlet

The first two paragraphs of the story said:

"For the second time in less than a year, the Price Chopper grocery store in Clive will be re-branded.

"Starting Dec. 17, the store will become a Cash Saver Food Outlet discount supermarket."

My question is this:

Where the hell in Clive, a city of 16,590 residents, is the Price Chopper store that is turning into a Cash Saver store?

There was no address of the store included in the entire story, which was spread out over two pages.

By the way, I think Price Chopper and Cash Saver are both dumb names for grocery stores.

*

That's it from me. I hope it's a good game tonight.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Best-Kept Sports Secret In Central Iowa

mike mahon @mahonsports

Best kept secret sports event in central Iowa this Fri & Sat: #NCAAVB Regional @WellsFargoCtr —#4Minnesota #7Hawaii #8PennState #21Illinois

‏@WesleyVaclav

Ronald Wesley Maly Retweeted mike mahon

Does the paper know about this yet?

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.