Shonn Greene is not as dumb as he looks

Q: Do you know the capital of South Carolina?

GREENE: Columbia? Is that it?

Q: That's it. Pretty good.


Here's to hoping he comes back for another year...but I highly doubt it. The following are my reflections on the 8-4 Outback Bowl Bound Iowa Hawkeyes:

Offensive Play Of The Year:

This is a great video but the play is at the 1:47 mark.


Shonn Greene's ridiculous 34 yard touchdown here put the Hawkeyes up 35-9 capping off a day in which he ran for 217 yards on 25 carries for 4 touchdowns. The Hawkeyes had a bye after this game and would only lose once more, in Shampain.

Defensive Play Of The Year:


2nd play...

The Nittany Lions came out passing on their first drive and Iowa immediately set the tone that they were ready to ball. This play appeared to be a fumble and recovery for a Touchdown by Christian Ballard, but was overturned upon review.

Another memorable defensive stand by the Hawks occurred with about 5 minutes left in the first quarter up 7-0. Due to penalties, PSU had 6 cracks at the end zone inside the 10 yard line but were forced to kick a field goal on 7th down. These plays set the tone for an outstanding performance by the Hawks.

Within that video are also 2 more of my favorite offensive plays:
A stretch made by B "Swignmasta" Myers on 3rd and 10 with 1:30 to go and the bold play call by KOK for Stanzi to roll to this left on 3rd and 6 with 30 seconds remaining to DJK setting up the 2nd best ST play of the year.


Special Teams Play Of The Year:

Brodell's return.

The stakes are always higher in the Cy-Hawk Game and when a Hawkeye Senior from Ankeny (Western Iowa) returns a punt 81 yards to put the Hawks up 17-3 with 6:19 left to seal the deal, it's a big time play. Andy Brodell is hoping for a miracle that the NCAA will grant him a 6th year of eligibility due to all his injuries but it is expected that the bowl will be his last.

If Illinois Gets All These Amazing Recruits, Why Do They Still Suck?

In Freakanomics, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt included a chapter entitled, "If Drug Dealers Make So Much Money, Why Do They All Live With Their Mothers?" His answer: the average drug dealer in fact makes less than minimum wage--certainly not rich in anywhere outside of, perhaps, sub-Saharan Africa.

This post presents a similar question. Every year, all of us--being in Chicago after all--hear nothing but endless hype about Illinois' amazing football recruiting class. Four star this, and five star that, and we-beat-out-U.S.C.-that. Yet, as Big Bill pointed out so adroitly, Illinois Football: The Journey was canceled, so to speak, before the begining of December. In other news, I have to worry about fighting through another wicked hangover to watch the Hawkeyes on New Year's Day. Oh, and how am I going to fit the Winter Classic into my television schedule?

What gives?

I can't take complete credit for the observations that follow, as some was suggested by various posters on the Iowa Football forum at Iowa.Rivals.com. The hattip out of the way, I see two possible ways of resolving this paradox. Either Ron Zook is as bad at recruiting as he is at coaching, or the Iowa Coaching is a lot better at evaluating talent than the news services give them credit for.

(1) The Zooker is Stupid.

I wish www.fireronzook.com was still up and running. The first time I saw it, I laughed heartily at the very concept. However, it was more than funny--it was a great moment for democracy. A moment when the information revolution allowed the murmor of popular discontent to echo far and wide. The message: Ron Zook is one of the least talented head coaches in D-1A football.

As Hawkeye fans, we've seen his ineptitude first hand. Stupid decisions, errors in game manegment, and an inability to give his team the extra "edge" it needs at times. I don't want to hate. But, sometimes honesty hurts. In Ron Zook's case, the results speak for themselves. In his four years at Illinois, he has a 18-30 record. What's more, Ron Zook has never won a bowl game as a head coach.

Now, the popular storyline is that despite Ron Zook's less than stellar ability to actually "coach" his team, he is genius at assembling a talented roster. The narrative goes that the Zooker has a special apptitude for "identifying" with high school seniors, and that his "down to earth" nature allows him to lure prized recruits to Illinois. Another side to this conventional narrative asserts that the Zooker uses borderline illegal recruiting tactics, some claiming that he developed blisters from the illicit use of his Blackberry, and that he is willing to promise every player the world, even if the truth is something far different. For what it is worth, I think that both arguments are essentially two sides of the same coin--both assert that the Zooker is in fact a good coach.


I'm wondering if this in fact true. For all the Zooker's amazing players, I don't see all of them earning All Big-Ten honors. Maybe the Zooker isn't a very good of football talent. Maybe, because of his smaller than normal intellect, he is forced to rely on mere rankings, and cannot provide an independent evaluation of talent that is much better than the talking heads who don't get paid to pick who the best high school players in the country are.

To be fair, this might not be much of a criticism. For reasons that don't belong on a sports blog, I am very skeptical of ever being able to beat the herd when it comes to selecting something, whether it is stocks, football prospects, or a high quality attorney. If we imagine that the people who are being chosen, be it fund managers, college recruiters, or attorneys, are by in large already employed in their given profession, the odds are that the vast majority of folks will be in the center of the bell curve. Moreover, if the peculiar success of outliers was due to something less ephemeral than luck, those concrete methods would be quickly utilized by all others engaged in the competitive activity--think film study, the 40 yard dash, etc. But, I digress.

In short, I think that Illinois is a poor team because, in addition to being a poor coach, the Zooker is a shitty judge of talent. Sure, he can stack his team with four and five star recruits as ranked by Rivals. But, the State of Illinois does not pay Rivals.com what they pay the Zooker.

(2) Kirk Ferentz & Co. is a lot better at evaluating talent than Rivals.com:
Chad Greenway, Dallas Clark, Robert Gallery--pick your favorate Hawkeye overacheiver. To the best of my knowledge, not one of these individuals was recruited by another major college--South Dakota State University does not count. Yet, you can see every last one of them playing on Sundays, in addition to Bob "the Hitman" Sanders.

Iowa consistently garners medicore grades for its recruiting classes. The lone exception was the highly touted 2005 recruiting class. And, we all know how that went. So, in the same fashion that the Zooker isn't any better than Rivals.com, maybe Kirk & Co. is superior. By definition, that would seem to follow from the results he has gotten from recruits that were otherwise passed over.

Anyway, food for thought. Please comment below, and Merry Christmas!

Is Anyone Hungry?

Since it hasn't been posted here before, and it has been quite some time since the announcement, let me take the honor:

IOWA IS GOING TO THE OUTBACK BOWL!!!

That means visiting the home of the much maligned Tampa-Two, warm weather, and giving Kirk Ferentz his first opportunity to tangle with the Visored-One.

Who would have thought we would be playing in Tampa after losing to Pittsburgh? I mean, if we can't beat a Dave Wandstedt coached team--you know, the schlub that ruined our Beloved Bears--then who can we beat? Northwestern? They have a football team? That can win a game?

Michigan State? Okay, that had an air of respectability. I can handle losing to a Michigan State team. After all, if you just barely lose to the best team in the state of Michigan--and the only major college team in Michigan to never lose to a DI-AA school--it isn't the end of the world.

But, the Zooker. Really, the Zooker. The man couldn't coach a used up wino into a bar. I know it was only a last second field goal. I know the Hawks were on the road. But, there are certain things you just cannot let happen in life. One of those things, is losing to a Ron Zook coached football team. After all, after obtaining confidential access to his SAT scores, I can tell you all he got on that test was drool.

Yet, lose we did. It seemed another season of mediocrity was afoot. Then, came the Penn State game, and the world was right again. Purdue fell in succession, really more of a waypoint to the Minnesota game than a destination in its own right. Once the Hawkeyes arrived in Minneapolis it was clear that they meant business. They took it to the Golden Gophers like that 26 year old guy took it to the 38 year old married chick in the Metrodome bathroom--a pounding that might not have been classy, but surely left a message.

And so, here we are. It is Bowl season once again, and I know everything will be okay. It was nice being able to sleep off my hangover on New Years Day, but I'm glad that vacation is over.

So, bring on South Carolina. More to come in following posts, but I like our chances. Old Kirk is going to show the Visored One a few things he hasn't seen in the good ole' south. ***Hint***Hint, one of those things is Shonn Greene, and another is a respectable defense.

Iowa Wrestling Squad Beats Iowa State 20-15. Post-Meet Analysis

Iowa Beat Iowa State 20-15 last Saturday, setting the NCAA all-time attendance record for a wrestling meet at 15,955. That means a whole lot of people got to see Iowa kick Iowa State's collective asses in person, and even more were able to watch the spectacle on the Big Ten Network. More on that later. What follows is analysis of what I saw, with the aid of one week of cool and calm reflection.

First, at the outset, I was not terribly impressed with the effort the Hawkeyes put forward. Iowa Wrestling isn't a matter of winning or losing, it is a matter of domination. To quote Tom Brands' philosophy:

“You’re beating them physically, you’re beating them mentally, beating psychologically because you rest and eat right, and spiritually because you pray to the Lord Jesus Christ. You got five, or six or seven dimensions in that. You put it on a level your opponent cannot understand. He quits, not because he wants to, but because he has to. He has no choice.” — Tom Brands, Jan. 20, 2008

Apart from Brent Metcalf's match, there was no domination--at any level--against Iowa State. Wrestlers who should have pulled away from their opponents to earn major decisions, only walked away with a win. Nowhere was this more true than in the first match of the night:

125--Charlie Falck (I) dec. Tyler Clark (ISU), 4-2--

Yawn. Charlie had a nice first takedown in the first period, and you have to give credit to Tyler Clark for keeping Falck from getting any back points. Charlie was clearly more proficient on his feet, and could very well have scored at will against Clark. He didn't. With that said, I have to temper my criticism, as the officials were very slow to call stalements that would have moved the action forward. Furthermore, Clark quite clearly stalled his ass off to start the second. He made no effort to advance his position, being merely content to hang on. When you wrestling a staller, it is hard to rack up a big score. You have to expect more out of the number two wrestler in the country.

133--Nick Fanthrope (ISU) Maj. Dec. Joe Slaton (I), 12-2--

Picture: Probably the last time Slaton was on his feet during the match.

I'll try to make this short. Slaton looked terrible. He looked as bad against ISU as I have ever seen an Iowa wrestler look against anyone. He got a quick first takedown, and then gassed. Some commentators have written that he even looked winded running on to the mat. I think that is a little harsh. What is clear though is Joe Slaton is not ready to wrestle.

What do I mean by that? I mean his weight isn't under control. Tom Brands came out and said, straight out, that Joe Slaton has spent too much of his time working on cutting weight, and that he made a coaching "mistake" putting Slaton out there instead of Iowa 133 pounder, and Grant High School Alum, Daniel Dennis. I don't think that Slaton is any less of a wrestler than he was last year, when he took 2nd at Nationals. The first 30 seconds of the match made clear the skills are still there. He just needs to get down to weight, and get his conditioning up to speed.

This is not to say that Nick Fanthrope is not a very good wrestler. Fanthrope, a Naperville North prodegy along with Eric Tannenbaum (Michigan) and Brian Dyer, is a stud. He is the kind of guy that will almost certainly be an All-American. However, he is not the kind of wrestler who should (a) beat Joe Slaton; and (b) he is most certainly not the kind of wrestler who should beat Joe Slaton by a major decision.

This is a news story I'd like to see the Press-Citizen pay some more attention to. If he isn't in peak shape by Midlands, problems are afoot.

141--Alex Tsirtsis (I) dec. Nick Gallick (ISU), 4-2--
Before Alex Tsirtsis, a 2007 All-American for the Hawkeyes who took a redshirt last year, beat Nick Gallick, the biggest news surrounding his return to the program was his long hair.

Let that talk be damned. Alex Tsirtsis provided one of the few bright spots to an otherwise mediocre meet. Tsirtsis, ranked #3 in the nation at the time of the duel, beat the #2 ranked wrestler. Anytime this happens, it is a positive. However, that doesn't nearly sum up why this was so good.

Part of it was the suspense--a last second reversal secured victory for Tsirtsis, causing the nearly 16,000 Hawkeye faithful to go nuts. Part of it is Tsirtsis' long and troubled road from wunderkind to meh and back again. For those not in the know, Tsirtsis was a 4x Indiana State Champ, went undefeated (or nearly so) in both high school, and national level competition, and was invited to compete in the prestigous Midlands Tourney as a senior at Griffith High Schol in Indiana. When a sagging Iowa team landed him as a recruit, it was a major coups. I first saw him at that Midlands tournement. He was confident, and incredibly explosive. While he didn't place, he came damn close.

Last week, Tsirtsis reclaimed some of that confidence, showing the world is speed and skill with an amazing sweep single in the first period. Doug Schwab, who wrestled for the United States in this past Olympics, commented to the press that Tsirtsis' shot was the kind that scored in world-competition. This may have been Tsirtsis' coming-out party, so-to-speak. Now, if he can hit more than one of those amazing shots....

149--Brent Metcalf (I) Tech. Fall Mitch Mueller (ISU), 26-10 in 6:14
Picture: ISU Wrestler: "Please don't hurt me!"

Guns don't kill people, Brent Metcalf kills people.

Brent Metcalf doesn't sleep, he waits.

Brent Metcalf's tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

Brent Metcalf destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Brent Metcalf.

Outer space exists because it is afraid to be on the same planet as Brent Metcalf.

Brent Metcalf is the reason why Waldo is hiding.


157--Cyler Sanderson (ISU) Maj. Dec. Matt Ballweg (I), 22-9--
Cyler Sanderson is good, maybe not as good as his famous older brother Cael, but still pretty damn good. He was able to shoot on Ballweg at will. Kudos to Ballweg for not losing via tec. fall. Look for Cyler to win at a few national championships before he is done clowning-around.

165--Ryan Morningstar (I) dec. Jon Reader (ISU), 2-0--
Ryan Morningstar is easily the most frustrating Hawkeye wrestler for me to watch. Make no bones about it, this was a gigantic win for him--Morningstar was ranked number 9 in the nation, while Reader was ranked number 3. What frustrates me is that Morningstar, if he was consistent, would be hammering people like Reader all day long.

A little history. I first saw Morningstar wrestle when he was a junior at Lisbon High School. The match was televised in the dorms, and I was able to watch him win his second of three eventual state championships. Then, and now, I have never seen a high school wrestler who looked slicker on his feet. I saw Eric Tannenbaum (Michigan, multiple AA), Mike Poeta (Illinois, Multiple AA, current national titer contender), Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois, AA), Daniel Dennis (Iowa 133) and many other tough kids. None looked tougher than Morningstar.

So, imagine my shock and surprise, when Morningstar shows up at Iowa, and doesn't look slick at all on his feet. Hell, he beat Reader via his riding prowess--which was pretty damn amazing. What will happen if Morningstar is ever able to open up his offense, and unlease his full potential? Hopefully we find out before the season is over.

174--Jay Borschel (I) dec. Duke Burk (ISU), 6-2--

Perfect example of the Hawkeyes doing just enough to win, and not nearly enough to really separate themselves from the competition. This should have been a major decision. Anything less is just unaceptable. With that said, Burk is pretty tough. I still expect to see Jay Borschel being interviewed after he wins a national championship at the end of the year.

184--Phillip Keddy (I) dec. Jerome Ward (ISU), 3-2--

The story of this match wasn't Phillip Keddy's failure to get a major decision against Jerome Ward. It was how good Jerome Ward looked. True, Ward spent most of the match stalling his ass off. But, what do you expect from an ISU wrestler? Ward, a product of a very good St. Rita program in Chicago, looked instantly ready to compete. Should be an interesting battle next year, but for the rest of this year I expect Keddy to widden his margin of victory against this talented youngster.

197--Jake Varner (ISU) Maj. Dec. Luke Lofthouse (I), 13-3--

It is nice to see that Luke Lofthouse is back from his Mormon Mission. It was also nice to see that he put up a serious fight, and put the duel meet out of reach for ISU by not being pinned. With that said, this was a serious mismatch. Iowa needs to be competitive at every weightclass, and if this manhandling is any indication, we are not competitive nationally at 197.

Hwt.--David Zabriskie (ISU) dec. Dan Erekson (I), 5-1--

This match was a lot closer than the score indicates, and I'm genuinely excited about the prospects of having Erekson at heavyweight. At one point in the second period, if my memory serves me correctly, Erekson was inches away from sticking Zabriskie. It is nice to have a pinner at heavyweight, and certainly exciting. A shame Erekson got careless, and gave up some stupid takedowns at the end of periods. Oh, well. Live and learn.


---

Overall, I give the Hawkeyes a C+. Disgustingly poor performance by Slaton, good performances by Morningstar and Tsirtsis. Everyone else was mediocre. If we can beat a team like Iowa State when we wrestle poorly, it will be scary to see how we do when the Hawkeyes wrestle well.

Blackhawks Looking Good

The Hawks looks real good! After the blow out of Gretsky's Cyotes the kids should have a lot of spirit and momentum going foward with the season. This is good news since we only have three home games in our next nine games. More than a third of the way through the season the Howks have only 6 regulation losses (only Detroit and San Jose have less). The Hawks are currently in 6th place in the conference and only 4 points behind 3rd place Vancuver. I love me some playoffs!

The re-emergence of Jonathan Towes a great sign, this kid can play and it just took him a while to get going.

Kris Versteeg looks like he wants nothing more than to be the next rookie of the year and keep pace with Kaner. The great part is that he has a real chance if he keeps his play at the level it is now.

Two things that i love about this season so far:

1. Duncan Keith is playing like an all star. We knew that Kane, Towes and Sharp would show up and get thier share of goals, but the real victories are won and lost at the defensive end. Keith, while he only has 11 points on the year he is currently at a +9. This is great, with him and Campbell playing some great defense the hawks can cause real trouble for any team this year.

2. Andrew Ladd is playing his role and doing it great. His 15 points and +11 rating make him a great addition to that third line. This kid was the number 4 overall pick just 4 years ago and we got him for Ruutu, good trade as far as I can see. His emergence this year (1G and 3A last game) means no breaks for the other team when are big three are not on the ice.

With Khabibulin coming back and starting this friday the team is in a good position to win a couple more games and have a nice little run leading up to that series against Detroit. With the warm up game on the 30th in Detroit and the Winter Classic on the first we are in for some good hockey.


As always, Go Hawks!

What took so long?

Blagojevich and aide allegedly conspired to sell U.S. Senate appointment, engaged in "pay-to-play" schemes and threatened to withhold state assistance to Tribune Company for Wrigley Field to induce purge of newspaper editorial writers.

Once his buddy Tony Rezko got arrested, I knew it was only a matter of time. The fact that subsequent to this arrest he engaged in the Senate appointment scheme shows true arrogance.

Two Governors in a row locked up, way to go Illinois!

ESPN Rise National Player of the Week

Quite an accomplishment.

That Other Chicago Team...

I love my Beloved Bears. So, it is with a sad heart that I must say: things are not right in Halas Hall.

Now, this is probably the most unoriginal observation floating around the blogosphere. There is a distinct putrid smell coming from the teams HQ, and isn't from Olin Kreutz's jock. The Bears are just playing like crap.

Before opening this post up for an open discussion in the comments section about the state of Our Beloved, let me give my two cents:

First, Matt Forte is the best thing to happen to the Bears since we drafted Brian Urlacher. He is the foundation of whatever this team is going to become: whether that is a reincarnation of the '85 Bears, or something more similar to the crappy pre-Ditka teams Sweetness made tolerable for a television audience. Second, I think that Kyle Orton as emerged as a steady, serviceable quarterback. The Bears can dick around all they want trying to find the next Peyton or Eli Manning. That's fine. Until then, I am very comfortable with Kyle Orton guiding the ship, and not doing anything stupid--as in, what Rex Grossman constantly did--to sabotage an otherwise good game. I like G-Reg and Desmond at Tight End.

Patrick Mannely should stay with the Bears until retirement. I'm talking about our long-snapper, in case you aren't as well versed in Bears arcana as others. Maynard and Gould will receive no scorn.

The Bears' defensive unit, however, is now only living off of reputation. Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher--despite the crap I hear on talk radio--are worthy of keeping around. I cannot allow myself to speak ill of Mike Brown, who (along with Tony Parish) manned my favorite Bears secondary.

Everyone else should be fired. Everyone. I'm talking about a firesale--a complete abandonment of the Lovie Smith Era. This is a team that is now longer headed forward toward some happy future. It is adrift.

McCaskey--excuse my spelling, but the prick doesn't warrant my time for a proper spellcheck--long ago made clear that he has no dignity or self-respect. But, I'd like to think that the players do. After all, they are men, playing in a manly game. Well Santa Claus isn't real, and the Bears sense of pride is equally fictional. Losing 37-3 against the Packers made that clear.

And, what about Lovie? I know he has coached the Bears to the second highest win total, or whatever, in the past whatever years. But, I'm sick of his lack of intensity. I like the guy, I really do. But, he is the coach of the Chicago Bears, not the Tennessee Titans. We have history, which means tradition, which means minimal standards of performance. That means you can't lose to the Packers like that. More importantly, you can't lose against the Packers like that and look calm, cool, and collected. It should hurt. It should piss you off. It should make you so uncomfortable you just can't live. It should humiliate you. It should, at the very least, make you feel like the rest of the Bear fans in the City--disgusted.

The lack of all those appropriate emotions is strike two for Lovie. Strike one came before the Super Bowl appearance. A year before, in 2005 when he decided to bench his starters for two games or something like that. It showed he didn't have killer instinct, that he wasn't ready to put his food on opponents throats. And, as Ditka astutely observed at the time, it would make the Bears soft. His prediction was confirmed when the Bears lost to Carolina.

Strike three will come if a more game performance isn't delivered against Green Bay later this month.

To recap: This Bears team is going nowhere. What to do? Keep a handful of players, fire everyone else. Start fresh. This should include Lovie Smith, if he does not manage to get his team to play with at least an iota of pride in the next game against Green Bay.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Big Win For The Other Hawks

The Hawks ended the annual circus trip by scoring 4 goals total in their last 3 games. They matched that total last night. Trailing 2-1 in the 3rd period (right about when I turned the game on), the Hawks mounted a comeback and tacked on a late empty net goal. Martin Havlat tied the game and then Jonathon Toews sealed the deal. The Hawks now stand at 11-6-6 and are 7-1-4 at home, selling out all games to this point matching the total sellouts all of last season. The bandwagon is filling up, so join the fun as the Hawks pursue their first playoff appearance since 2001-2002.

Good Bye, and Good Riddance

I liked Javier Vasquez. He had great stuff, and was full of potential. He also may have single-handedly caused my blood pressure to double.

You see, Javy had good stuff. Hell, 25% of the time I'd say he had great stuff. The problem is that (1) he never seemed to have great stuff when the game really mattered; and (2) the other 75% of the time he might as well have been throwing batting practice to opposing batters.

In 2008, he pitched 208.3 innings. During that span, he gave up 214 hits and 61 walks. Yeah, the 200 Ks were nice, but not when compared with his other negative aspects.

In retrospect, I think one of the reasons I liked Javier stemmed from my almost limitless faith in Don Cooper's ability to turn troubled pitches around, e.g. Jose Contreras, and Bad Bobby Jenks. One of the reasons I like the trade--apart from the fact the Sox are dumping $23 million--is that I am fully confident that Javier will be a bust for the Braves. If he couldn't get his act together, and harness his prodigous talent in Chicago, it just isn't going to happen.

The loss of Boone Logan is a different story. Boone Logan's metoric rise from non-roster invitee to spring training in 2006, to the show in the same year. Logan was almost almost untoubable under the Arizona sun. While his performances for the Sox left much to be desired, he will be missed. Then again, I'm not sure what kind of spot he had in the current Sox bullpen going into 2009.

That loud noise you hear is the hamburger joints around South Bend cheering!

I cannot believe the Notre Dame faithful will allow an arrogant coach who has produced a whopping 9 victories in the last 2 seasons to remain employed for another season. Let's take a closer look at some facts from the Weis era:
-Highest ranked victory #19 Penn St. on 9/9/06
-He is best remembered for ALMOST beating USC (with Ty Willingham's players)
-He has recruited 4 straight top 10 classes yet only finished in the top 10 once (#9 in 2005.)
-I can't hit this point home enough, after 4 years of bringing in stellar talent and getting his system implemented he has managed to produce 9 wins the last 2 seasons. As a comparative, after Iowa knocks off South Carolina in the Outback bowl Iowa will have just as many wins, only in one season.