maly, too

Friday, May 31, 2013

Stick a Fork In This Clown

Will someone please stick a fork in Gordon Gee already. The Ohio State president is done. Overdone. The pitiful guy should be put out to pasture. Not tomorrow. Today. Gee is a goofball with the biggest mouth--a mouth with an acid tongue--in higher education.

Gee, What a Knucklehead President He Is

In comments obtained by the AP, Gee ripped into folks at Notre Dame and other Catholics. At a meeting attended by athletic director Gene Smith [a former Iowa State director] and several other athletic department members, along with professors and students. Gee saod. 'You just can't trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday, and so, literally, I can say that,' said Gee, a Mormon." If an athletic director or a coach said stuff like that, he [or she] would be fired immediately. And that's what should happen to Gee.

Sportswriting Boosterism At Its Worst

The most embarrassing example of sportswriting boosterism of this or any other century is Derrick Goold, who works for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Goold wrapped up a long night at the Cardinals' ballpark this morning

by neglecting to mention in his account of the game how the St. Louis fans booed relief pitcher Mitchell Boggs after he gave up a game-tying home run to the Kansas City Royals in the top of the ninth inning. The Royals went on to win, 4-2, after a 4-hour 32-minute rain delay. The game ended at 3:14 a.m. today. All Goold seemed to be interested in was how tired he'd be when he drove his kid to school this morning. Evidently, Goold -- the perfect example of a sportswriting "homer" -- didn't want to get on the wrong side of Boggs or the rest of the Cardinals by conveniently forgetting to write about how the fans showered Boggs with boos in the ninth inning. Horrible.

Monday, May 27, 2013

In recent years, I have set--or at least tied--the modern-day record for not watching any of the early rounds of the NBA playoffs. However, I weakened last night when I noticed on the TV screen that the first half of the Miami-Indiana game was being televised. So I turned on the game for a minute or two, hoping the Pacers were winning. They weren't. They were being skunked by the Heat. Indeed, the Heat scored a whopping 70 points in the first half. All of today's basketball players wear tattoos, but I noticed that one idiot from the Heat not only had a body full of tattoos, but also a very strange haircut. It was someone named Chris Andersen, who is a 6-10 player nicknamed "Birdman." After watching him for a few seconds, I decided I had more important things to do, like cleaning the garage. The Heat won Sunday's game, 114-96, which came as no surprise. The Birdman is now 13-for-13 on field goals against the Pacers in the series, and is 16-for-his-last-16 in the playoffs. Still, I have no plans to watch the next playoff game. I've got yard-work to do.

Birdman. Photo courtesy of Google

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Marilyn

This was 70 or so years ago. The little girl from the city 50 miles away would come out to the house on the

farm to visit relatives. The little girl was four years younger than her cousin. The little girl and her older cousin [actually, she was little, too] would talk for hours. They would dream about going to California. They knew they'd go; it was just a matter of how they'd get there. It could be in an airplane, it could be on a train, it could be in a car, maybe even a bus. The years sailed by. The little girl married and had a family, moving from one city to another. The older girl had been born with some physical problems, but she was a fighter nonetheless. She stayed in the close-knit farm community, becoming an accomplished pianist. She could play the piano so well that she taught it to anyone who was interested in learning. She remained vibrant. She was witty. Finally, she began spending more time in her wheelchair, and lived her last years in a care center. The little girl had gone to California a number of times, taking a train once, flying there more than a half-dozen other times. The little girl and the older girl would see one another at family reunions, picnics in July, weddings and funerals. As always, they enjoyed visiting with one another. Sadly, the older girl never got to take that California trip she talked about so much. Her name was Marilyn Neuhaus, and she died the other day at the care center, one day short of her 81st birthday. Her funeral is Tuesday at St. John's Lutheran, the country church near Victor. The little girl will be at the service. Looking back, one or two people wish they'd taken the time to arrange that trip to California for Marilyn.

[Text by Ron Maly; photo of Marilyn Neuhaus courtesy of Smith Funeral Home in Victor].

Friday, May 24, 2013

Jim Zabel Was Everywhere

An e-mail from former Iowan Mike Swan:

Ron,

You are certainly among the many writing and talking about the passing of Jim Zabel. I personally remember so many things about his broadcasts and interactions with people. Before universities went the exclusivity route in radio broadcasts, it seemed like Jim was everywhere: Drake, Iowa State, Iowa, in addition to the boys' and girls' basketball tournaments. "Beat the Bear" on television! What a fun show that was. Also, the ads and

endorsements he did. The list goes on and on. Oh, and the late night radio scoreboard show when they would start to get a little punchy. This is another tough one, Ron, but it also brings lots of laughter with the memories, so that is certainly a good thing.

Keep writing,

Mike Swan

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Good hearing from you, Mike. Too bad we had to communicate about a death, but I'm glad you and many others have positive memories of Jim Zabel].

I was very sorry to learn of the death, at 91, of legendary sports broadcaster Jim Zabel. I worked in press boxes in Iowa City and other places around the nation with Zabel for 40 years or so, and got to know the man very well. Although "Z" and I were in a professional competition--he in the radio and TV business, me in the newspaper business--we had a strong mutual respect for one another. We witnessed countless collegiate football and basketball games together, and it was good to know that he was still doing the thing he did best--talking on the radio--right up to the end. He was still doing a weekly show for Des Moines station WHO. .Zabel and I were among the 20 charter members of the media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box at the University of Iowa, and it was good to see him when we were honored that day in 2006. "Z" had been spending most of his time in Arizona, and I guess that was the last time I saw him in person. However, I was able to talk with him a number of times on the phone since. I'm miss seeing "Z" in the press box. and I'll miss talking with him about the good old days. Rest in peace, Jim.

Jim Zabel. Photo courtesy of Google.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Chicago Tribune Looking for a Baseball Reporter: 'The Preferred Candidate Will Have 3-5 Years Covering a Beat At a Major Metropolitan Newspaper. Previous. Experience Covering Baseball Is Helpful, But Not Required'

Job opening via Twitter:

Description: The Chicago Tribune is seeking a baseball reporter focused on the Chicago Cubs and White Sox. The ideal

candidate will have the skills, experience and desire to cover either or both teams in town as a beat, breaking news for chicagotribune.com as well as adding meaning beyond the results on the field in the next day’s print. This reporter will provide understanding of the moves of the whole of the organization, from the draft and minor league prospects to free agents and the big league clubhouse, delivering news and information that matter so much to our readers. This hire will be a self-starter with a track record in enterprise beat reporting, bring a desire to add context beyond the box score and demonstrate a comfort level with posting news and video online, including via Twitter and Facebook.

Requirement: The preferred candidate will have 3-5 years covering a beat at a major metropolitan newspaper. Previous experience covering baseball is helpful but not required.

I wonder who's leaving? Maybe someone who had no experience covering baseball.

Or, like the Cubs, people who have no experience playing baseball.

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.