The Ice Storm

There was a nasty ice storm in Iowa today. Like a harbinger of the chaos to come in the world of the BCS, a snarling, drenching maelstrom descended upon the farms and fields of the prairie. Raindrops turned to ice before they landed on the frozen earth. Within minutes, everything was coated in a thick patina of glistening crystal. Sidewalks become skating rinks, roads become toboggan runs, and driveways are mortal hazards. Basically, it’s the kind of day that you are just better off staying inside and watching football.

Fortunately, that’s exactly what I wanted to do! Championship Saturday offered one of the most intriguing smorgasbord of contests all year: Army-Navy, USC-UCLA, The Civil War, The Big Game, The Desert Skirmish, Hawaii-Washington, and the championship games of the SEC, ACC, and Big-12. (The MAC and Conference USA championships don’t count). Best of all, they were all televised sequentially with no more than three going on at the same time, so by having two screens set up I could watch the whole thing! I invited some residents and students brave enough to trek through the storm, whipped up a batch of fresh guacamole, and put together the BCS centerpiece for decoration. Then I sat back and took one wild day of football.

How fitting that the year of the dog, where the top five has lost to an unranked opponent a whopping 12 times, ends with the number 1 and number 2 teams both losing on the same night! Sure, we all expected Oklahoma to repeat its performance against Missouri, but no one saw the Pitt –WVU upset coming. I just checked the picker website- no had the guts to take that one. The loss of one team put Ohio State into the finals. The loss of the other team sends the BCS system crashing into swirling winds of the maelstrom.

As the games ended Saturday night (I fell asleep before the end of Hawaii-Washington, which is too bad because I really wanted to see that one and Brennan’s latest comeback was one for the record books), we had no idea who would play in the national championship game. What kind of a totally screwed up system is that? That is completely pathetic and unacceptable. Reece Davis and Chris Fowler on ESPN appropriately pointed out how ridiculous it is. After the LSU-Ohio State matchup was announced on Sunday night, Kirk Herbstreit had the audacity to say that “the system worked’.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE INSANE.

I will concede that given the bedlam among the top 5 this year and being forced to choose the two most deserving teams, LSU and Ohio State are correct. Ohio State is a conference champion with one loss and LSU’s losses were both in triple OT. But when asked who are the two best teams in the country right now, the voters on ESPN.com picked, in order, LSU, USC, and Georgia. And what about Hawaii? They do everything they can and finish undefeated and they are not allowed to compete for the title because they’ve “never been good before” and they “just run a system, not a real offense”? A two-loss team gets to play for the title in the one-round playoff we have and the nation’s only undefeated team gets left out?

DOES THIS MAKE SENSE TO ANYONE OUT THERE?

What if Hawaii actually beats Georgia? They can’t? OK- tell that to Pitt. Tell that to Stanford. Tell that to Notre Dame. Tell that to Syracuse. Tell that to Appalachian State. And, most importantly, tell that to the Boise State Broncos with their hook and ladder, statue of liberty, drop to a knee and propose Ian Johnson. And oh yeah- Hawaii beat Boise State this year to stay undefeated.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO DOESN”T GET IT?
Kansas has one loss. To Missouri. Kansas gets to go to the BCS. Missouri doesn’t . Kansas has one of the weakest schedules in the country (109th). Missouri played the 25th most difficult schedule. Missouri’s two losses were to the same team. That does not sound fair to me.

Missouri was the number 1 team. Oklahoma beat them soundly. Let me repeat that. Oklahoma beat the number 1 team in the country on Saturday night on national television on a neutral field and pretty much thumped them. And Oklahoma is does not get to play for the national title.

USC and Georgia are the hottest teams in the country right now. Each of them have early unforgivable losses that are keeping them out of the BCS championship (Stanford and South Carolina, respectively). Georgia didn’t even win their division. But the general media consensus is that these are two teams that you would not want to face in a playoff. Why? Because they are playing the best football right now! The polls are supposed to vote for the best team in the country. In the old system, we played out the year and then sat around and voted for the winner. In the old system, which is even more of a joke than the BCS, USC and Georgia would have reasonable chances at being picked champs. But this year they must accept that they weren’t the best teams in September and they need to play a more complete schedule next year.

The BCS has not worked more often than the “system working.” In the history of the BCS there have only been two years without controversy (Ohio State over Miami and Texas over USC). Other years, undefeated teams were left out (Auburn, Utah, Boise State), conference champions were bypassed for those not finishing first in the Big-12 (Oregon, USC). And the many times the “system” had to pick a 1-loss team to play the only undefeated team. Now it has to pick from among the two loss teams! We really need a playoff.

If we actually had a real playoff this year and you were on the selection committee (because this kind of thing is too important to leave to an artificial points formula and an amalgam of computers), which 8 teams would you pick? (8 teams was the top choice by the fans vote on ESPN.com. It beat out systems with less and more team). I think I have made reasonable arguments for LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Hawaii, and Georgia. I suppose I would add Virginia Tech and then let the committee squabble over West Virginia or Missouri (not Kansas) for the last spot.

Thank you all for letting me vent my cold fury. I have to go outside now- time to scrape ice off the front porch.

Fight On,

Hans

PS: Illinois? The Rose Bowl gets the first choice of the at-large teams and they pick the number 13 team that barely qualified for the BCS? The folks in Champaign will be happy, but the country as a whole is not going to care or tune into that one. Lawrence Jackson, Sedrick Ellis, and the rest of the USC defense will be happy to show Juice Williams the same hospitality enjoyed by Rudy Carpenter and Patrick Cowan in the last 2 weeks.

Last Man Standing

It is about time for me to make my annual rant about how we need a playoff in College Football. Sure, this year has been fun. And, yes, we have effectively been in a playoff these last few weeks with team after team "controlling their own destiny" for the finals only to have their hopes dased by some unranked upstart (Arkansas, Florida St, Rutgers, Arizona, etc, etc). But at this point, can you really say that West Virgina and Missouri are more deserving to play for the title than Georgia or Ohio State? And would you really want to face USC or LSU in a early round game?

I am not proposing a massive "December maddness" with 16 or 32 teams. Good Lord, no! And I don't think anyone who is serious about a divison 1-A playoff wants that. But a 4 or 8 team series is perfectly reasonable. And it wouldn't disrupt the bowls- just use the bowl games to host the playoff matches. I've been over this ground a dozen times and I know most of you agree with me, so I won't rehash the same old argument. But one piece of good news is that with the BCS bowls adding a game at New Years and repeating in the Sugar Bowl a week later, the infrastructure is finally in place for a 4 team or "plus one" system.

The 2007 season will definitely be remembered as the Year of the Dog. In the last 8 weeks, the number 2 team is a horrible 2 -6, and most of those losses were at home! Why have there been so many upsets? The usual suspects: 85 scholarships standard across the board and parity for one. Overconfidence and rivalries are often the seed of upsets. But another big factor is injuries. One ESPN analyst pointed to the Kansas-Missouri game with two healthy QB's and pointed out that as QB's have fallen to injuries, so has their team's run at the champtionsip. He believes the team the QB who lasts the longest (the last to get injured) will be left standing come Janurary 7th. I agree that key injuries have played an important role this year, but it's not just the quaterback:

1) Oregon: Dennis Dixon. This team is so bad without him, that should be enough evidence to give him the Heisman

2) Oklahoma: Bradford. One game he goes down hard, Texas Tech walks all over them. Unfortunately for Missouri, he's back in the saddle after gunning down the cowboys

3) LSU: Glenn Dorsey (LB): After seeing Arkansas get a running game going only after Dorsey left the game, I am beginning to agree with the Tiger fans that are promoting him for Heisman.

4) Cal: Nate Longshore: DeSean Jackson can't do much to help the Bears if Longshore can't throw him the ball.

5) USC: Sam Baker and most of the starting OL: Baker finally played in the first half against ASU. That was the part of the game where the USC offense looked like classic Boise State run and shoot and not the anemic slugs that struggled with Stanford and Arizona.

Georgia should play West Virginia in the Orange Bowl and Missouri should get Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, then let the winners meet in New Orleans a week later. How sweet would that be!

Fight On,

Hans

PS: I told you the USC-ASU game on Thanksgiving would be the Pac-10 title game. Nice result, too. Now all we have to do is beat UCLA. Its like Deja Vu all over again.

A Butterfly in China

Dennis Dixon’s torn ACL will help Barack Obama win the Iowa caucus.

Outrageous? Possibly, but follow this twisted and convoluted trail of logic. Losing Dennis Dixon for the year bring the Oregon Ducks all the way down from the best in the nation to middle of pack in the Pac-10 (can someone explain to me why at the moment of injury he is immediately eliminated from the Heisman race?). This makes them vulnerable to mediocre teams like Arizona and, possibly this week, UCLA. Had Dixon remained healthy, his amazing feet and dazzling arm would have ensured the Ducks easy victories over both the Wildcats and Bruins. As it stands, however, Oregon permitted Arizona’s 5th win and may permit UCLA’s 6th, getting them both closer to previously improbable bowl bids. Before Dixon went down, it seemed certain that the Pac-10 would not have more than 5 teams qualify for post-season play. If the Pac-10 is unable to fill all 6 of their bowl tie-ins, then other at-large qualifying teams get a shot.

Iowa has qualified for a bowl by winning 6 games. But they lost their final match to Western Michigan, dropping their record to 6-6. Although they finished in the middle of the Big-10 with a 4-4 league record and are well known to carry a huge fan base that travels religiously, NCAA and Big-10 by-laws do not allow a 6-6 team to be selected ahead of a 7-5 team. There are 7 other Big-10 schools with better records than Iowa, effectively locking up the 7 bowl tie-ins that the league enjoys. If Arizona and UCLA fail to win a 6th game, Iowa, along with a few thousand Hawkeye faithful would likely be selected to take their place.

But a weakened Oregon team allows the Pac-10 their full allocation, keeping Hawkeye nation home for the holidays. Most Hawkeye fans plan their New Year’s holidays around the Iowa bowl game. The 2008 Iowa caucus is scheduled for the ridiculously early date of January 3rd. Had the Hawkeyes played in a game anywhere close to New Years (such as the expected Insight Bowl on December 31st), then a few thousand Iowans would have skipped the caucus in favor of a road trip to somewhere warm.

A big contingent of road-tripping Iowans consists of students and young urban professionals. This just happens to be Barack Obama’s best demographic- effectively his base of support. Had they been in Tempe, Hillary would have a bigger edge on caucus night.

All because of Dennis Dixon’s torn ACL.

Fight On,

Hans

The Year of the Dog

The year of the dog continues. I can't figure it out. Oregon and Oklahoma are the latest victims. At the rate we're going, 2 loss teams will have a shot at the finals!

This week is rivalry week- one of the best set of games in college football and a time to throw the records out the window. This translates to easy pickin' for the underdog poolers. But with the way this crazy year has been going, who knows?

Where will I be Thursday? At 7pm CST, I will be firmly planted on my couch watching the Pac-10 Championship from Tempe, Arizona. I really beleive that the winner will go to the Rose Bowl because with UCLA and Oregon State remaining on the schedule, a Dixon-less Orgeon is going down again.

Fight On and Beat the Devils,

Hans

Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

Remember all that romantic, sappy, nostalgic crap I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the perfect road trip? Midwestern college towns and changing leaves and bratwurst and all that?

Forgetaboutit.

The ultimate road trip for a gluttony of football watching is 48 hours in fabulous Las Vegas, NV. I managed to convince GoBlue and Wildcat (my step-brothers) to drive out to Vegas from LA to join me this weekend when I had to be there for a conference. The process of "convincing" them was me saying, "Do you want to go to Vegas to watch the Cal-USC game this weekend? " Apparently I had them at "Vegas".

I finished my official duties on Friday evening and went back to my hotel room at Bally's to dress for the night at the casinos; Dress jeans, grey/silver dress shirt, and sports coat. I met up with a few of the interns in my program and we headed out to the Hard Rock Casino, one of my favorites. We broke the ice with a little roulette: mathematically its a horrible game but I just can't resist. Then we decided to head downtown, so we went out to the taxi line. Since there were six of us, we would have to pay for two cabs. But for a few dollars more, we could all go together in a limo! Cab vs Limo: tough choice.

We emerged from the dark limo onto the outrageously dazzling lights of Fremont Street. The contrast enhanced the effect of awe. Just then my iphone buzzed with a text message from GoBlue: they had just left Barstow. I knew exactly what this meant and how much longer they had to drive. I gleefully informed my colleagues that my brothers had left Barstow!

I was met with completely blank stares.

Then I remembered that these were all Iowans who have only known Las Vegas as an airline destination. They have never experienced the privilege of fighting the I-15 from Southern California into Sin City. As a longtime veteran of this route, I knew the landmarks well. Close your eyes, Californians, and see if you can rattle them off in order:

1. I-10 and I-15 interchange in the Inland Empire (depending on your starting point)

2. Cajon Pass and the Mormon Rocks (movie and TV location- think Kirk versus the lizard man in the "Arena" episode of the original Star Trek. That was a different spot- Vasquez Rocks, but very similar)

3. Antelope Valley (zzzzzz . . . )

4. BARSTOW! (significant becuase it's the last In and Out before Nevada and a required pit stop)

5. Big Empty Mojave Desert (zzzzz . . . )

6. Baker, CA and the world's largest thermometer

7. Big Empty Mojave Desert (zzzzz . . . )

8. Zzyzx Road Exit (I kid you not- so weird it deserves its own wikipedia entryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzx,_California)

9. State Line at Primm, NV! (once a road sign, now a developed casino and amusement park)

10. The odd casinos at Jean, NV and the Nevada State Correctional Facility (don't pick up hitchhikers)

11. Crest the hill and see the cityscape of Vegas in neon and cesium light (the first light to be seen still the giant spotlight atop Luxor, but the change is less dramatic now that there are housing developments dozens of miles south of the strip)

As expected, a little over 2 hours after the message from Barstow, GoBlue and Wildcat arrived and dragged us back to Hard Rock, their favorite. . . OK, they didn't drag us back- I suggested it. More classic rock, more memorabilia, more beautiful people. Despite the tables being "unkind" to GoBlue, three AM arrived surprisingly fast. Once we realized that our friends from College GameDay would be coming to our city soon with a 7am wake up call (darn Pacific Time Zone), we switched from red bull/vodka to bottled water and headed back to the room.

GoBlue and I made it to breakfast following Corso's donning of the purple cow headgear from Williams college (first division III visit ever for Game Day). Wildcat was still recovering and did not share our requirement for Game Day Pancakes. As we shoveled in eggs and pancakes, we poured over the stat sheets and parlay cards, making countless notes with the keno crayon, conveniently provided at every table.

Armed with the collective wisdom of the underdog pool, the expert analysis of Kirk, Lee, and Chris, and our own shared knowledge, we developed individualized parlay strategies. We headed for the sports book. Where it lacks the plush seating of Bellagio or the expanse of Ceasar's, the pure functionality of the Bally's sports book is unparalleled. It is converted from a movie theatre that existed when Bally's was the original MGM Grand. In fact, my dad and I had been to that theatre; we watched the 1960 version of "The Time Machine" when we were there for a medical meeting over 25 years ago. The sloping floor and adjacent sports bar provide ample viewing space.



We had scoped out the ideal seat the night before and we were able to snag our first choice at about 10 AM. We settled into a corner table, in the first row of the sports bar overlooking the theatre. We were joined by the friendly folks from the Sooner Alumni Club. We placed our bets, ordered the first of many buckets of beer, and tried to get oriented to the media available.


On small screens below us, we had our choice of 4 channels. On giant screens above us, we had a view of about 4 more games. At any given moment, we could enjoy the action from 6 simultaneous events, not counting commercials. As one group in the bar would cheer, we would anxiously gaze around until we found the latest "Game Changing Performance." It quickly became disorienting, vertigo-inducing, and a general strain on already hungover brains. But it was so much fun we couldn't stop. Every hour brought more games of interest. Michigan-Wisconsin, Purdue- Michigan State, Alabama- Mississippi State, Tennessee- Arkansas, and Wake Forest-Clemson. Then, Kentucky-Vanderbilt and Notre Dame- Air Force. Then, Cincinnati-UConn, Georgia-Auburn, ASU- UCLA, and of course, Illinois - Ohio State (YES! GO ILLINI!). Then, Stanford-Washington State, Oklahoma- Baylor (much to the pleasure of Sooner Nation at the next table), and Miami- Virginia. Finally, Oklahoma State- Kansas and Cal-USC got started at 5pm. When it was all over, we managed to watch all or part of 24 games, sat for over 10 hours, and drank an unspecified number of buckets of beer.


Apparently, the Pac-10 fans were elsewhere in the city that day and Bally's was inundated with Big-12 fans. So USC-Cal was not the premiere game on the main screen as we had expected. We left the sports book at halftime of USC-Cal so we could enjoy the rest of that brilliant game in our hotel room, unfettered by the countless distractions of the sports book. But not before I collected my winnings for nailing a 5 team parlay! I would like to thank each and every one of the poolers for contributing valuable data towards my win. You rock.



How do you end such a gluttony of football? By driving to In and Out of course, to sober up on some cheeseburgers with grilled onions and the best fries in the west.



Fight On,

Hans



PS: Ohio State's loss puts us one step closer to Oregon-LSU in the BCS championship. But Kansas controls their own destiny and can jump to the top by winning out over Missouri and Oklahoma. Better fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a very bumpy night!

It's Beantown's World, We're Just Living In It

Thank you, Florida State.

Thank you for bringing one Boston team back down to earth. In the face of a raging Nor’ Easter, Matt “Ice” Ryan was following the script for yet another comeback when something entirely unexpected happened: he threw an interception that was returned for a game-clinching TD.

OOPS.

But Ryan’s small boo-boo aside, Boston is clearly ruling the sports world. Red Sox nation has replaced the Yankees as the world baseball brand in the face of their second World Series championship in 3 years. Tom Brady and the Patriots, despite being caught cheating earlier this year, are simply unbeatable, even by the defending Super Bowl champs (cost me a pick, darn it!). And now the NBA preview mags are picking the Celtics with their new trinity of stars (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce) as a favorite in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics are back? Heaven help us.

I grew up in Los Angeles in the heady NBA-revival days of the early 1980’s, when Larry Bird and the Celtics battled it out with Magic Johnson and the Lakers. When Kareem and Magic and Worthy finally defeated their nemesis in green in 1985, it was a turning point for the Lakers and for LA sports. The 80’s are now remembered as the decade of Showtime and raising banners at the Forum in Inglewood.

Growing up in LA, I was also fortunate to have outfield seats at Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS between the California Angels and the Boston Red Sox, the only baseball playoff game I have ever attended. My beloved Angels were a mere one strike away from their first World Series, when Angel reliever Donnie Moore served up a 2-2 meatball to Dave Henderson, sending the ball over my head in right field. Boston went on to win the game and the series, and a bitter taste has accompanied the Red Sox name ever since.

My boss at Iowa is an unabashed Patriots fan, even slipping Tom Brady references into department motivational talks. Enduring their Super Bowl dynasty has been uncomfortable, but I accepted it with the understanding that they were fading and the reign was finally over. Then came this undefeated season and a triumph over Peyton Manning and the Colts. Now New England is being labeled as the best offense in history. Crap.

So you can only imagine my glee when Boston College became the latest number 2 to fall in the BCS standings. I was not looking forward to a Boston College- Kansas BCS final. Can you imagine the ratings for that stinker?

Keep winning LSU. Keep winning Oregon. We can still get the SEC-Pac-10 battle we all want to see.

Fight On and Go Blue (on Nov 17th),

Hans

PS: Nebraska has the greatest fans in College Football. They deserve a better team than the one that gave up 76 to Kansas. Bye-bye, Callahan.

Just Wait Til Next Year

This month had been pretty consistent: a new team creeps into the top 5, then loses the next week. USC, South Florida, Cal, Kentucky, LSU. So everyone thought that Ohio State, Boston College, Oregon, or ASU would stumble this weekend. But a funny thing happened on the way to yet another weekly top 5 shake-up: everyone won. Even the three less-regarded unbeatens- UConn, Kansas, and Hawaii- managed to stay unbeaten. As a result, reading the BCS standings today was relatively boring by comparison.

OK- I'll admit it. Boston College actually deserves to be in the top 5 (not number 2- that should be ASU or LSU). For 56 minutes on Thursday in Blacksburg they looked lost and way out of Virginia Tech's league. But then Eagles QB Matt Ryan woke up and remembered which end of the football is up and led his team on two amazing touchdown drives, stunning the Hokie faithful into deafening silence.

OK- I'll admit it. And Chief, Geodog, and the rest of the State College clan will have to admit it. Ohio State deserves to be in the top 5 (and number 1 is fair). After thumping the Lions in the face of a white out in Happy Valley, they may not have another tough game before playing Michigan on the road to end the season. The Buckeyes are closer to New Orleans than anyone else. But in this crazy year of the dog, anything can still happen.

As ASU and Oregon prepare for this week’s game of the century, both can still dream of playing in the Rose Bowl or even the BCS Championship. And Oklahoma is eying Kansas for the Big 12 championship or maybe more. Will it be UConn or West Virginia in the Big East? But other teams, including my beloved Trojans, have lost that magical 2nd conference game, virtually eliminating them from the league title and certainly eliminating from them from BCS consideration. Fans of the Trojans, Hokies, Gators, Bears, and Lions have switched to “Wait til Next Year’ mode. They talk about returning starters, holes to fill on the defensive line, and that great transfer prospect we’re all dying to see in Spring ball.

The rest of this year becomes about beating rivals (UCLA, Florida State, Stanford, Michigan State) and getting to a “decent” bowl. Of course, the definition of a decent bowl is different to different schools. For Florida and USC, anything played in December is a disappointment. For Iowa and Wisconsin, anywhere warm will be just fine. And for perennial powerhouses like Western Michigan or Arkansas State any 13th game is a miracle.

Still, it could be worse- you could be Notre Dame.

Fight On,

Hans

PS: The banner photo was taken in South Bend in October 2005, before a game that ended in a “push”

The Perfect Trip

Imagine the perfect road college football road trip.

It would have to take place on the Third Saturday of October: late enough into the season so that the conference races are shaping up but early enough so that plenty of expectations and questions remain. The weather would be clear and crisp; cool enough for a jacket in the morning and warm enough for short sleeves in the afternoon. The sky would be a robin’s egg blue, unadorned by clouds and infinite in its expanse. The leaves would be at peak color: red, gold, brown and crunching beneath your feet.

The game should be one between rivals. Not the bitter cross-town/cross-state backyard brawls that should only be scheduled in late November, but the competitive matches that grow out of geographic and demographic links between schools. A junior member of a state system playing its older predecessor (UCLA-Cal). Or a game within the round robin of the Pacific Northwest slugfest (Oregon-Washington). Or a legendary cross-border war in the South (Tennessee- Alabama). Or the annual battle between private schools that have valued Heismans over Nobels (USC- Notre Dame).

The match would have to take place on campus, not in a municipal pro stadium that just happens to be in the same city (sorry, South Florida and Tulane). The stadium should be at least 50 years old and feature a façade of brick; ivy covered walls are a plus. The field should have seen Heisman winners that “pushed” their teams to championship. Or great backfields that “galloped” their way into the history books on the backs of their workhorse offensive lines.

The game should be far enough away to require am overnight hotel stay. Ideally, the game takes place at a town where the college is the only significant feature of the town. Perhaps there is a major metropolis within an hour or two drive from the small college town; great for finding airports, 5 star hotels, and sushi bars, but separate enough so the focus is not distracted from the remote college town. Like how New York is close to Piscataway, NJ. Or how Tucson is not far from Phoenix. Or Lincoln is near Omaha. Or Madison and Milwaukee. Or Detroit and Ann Arbor. Or Chicago and South Bend.

The day would start with a hearty breakfast of game-day pancakes at a greasy spoon café. Fans would convoy to the small town, identifying their cars with alumni license plates or pom-poms spread along the back window. Honks at allies would be followed by flashing Hook ‘Em Horns or Tomahawk Chops or V for Victory. Arrival at campus should be about 3 hours before kickoff- enough time for beer and brats but not enough time to get so hammered you pass out and miss the game.

Tailgating would best be done in a field used for parking, rather than on a parking lot. Like the golf course at the Rose Bowl. Or Olive Court in Iowa City. Or the north visitor lots at Notre Dame. As the radio blares ESPN radio and the play-by-play from the game of a conference rival, the road trip participants would sit down to an elegant feast. Bratwurst (definitely not hot dogs) would be consumed along with chips, cookies, crackers, cheese, and plenty of wine or beer. Undergrads should stick to beer, preferably canned, cheap, and domestic. Alumni are expected to enjoy a bottle of wine (chardonnay from a bottle on the west coast and a generic red from a box in the Midwest).

About an hour before kickoff, strike the tailgating set and start walking to the stadium. On the way, pass through the most beautiful parts of campus and make a pilgrimage to the sites of the pre-game rituals. Kick the flagpoles on Figueroa on the USC campus. Visit Mike the tiger in his high-tech enclosure. Follow the footsteps of the players on the Gator Walk. See the sod-burial ground for road-dog victories by the Seminoles. And light a candle at the Grotto alongside St Mary’s lake at Notre Dame.

Get to the stadium before it starts (hear that, Minnesota?). Introduce yourself to your neighbors in the stands and marvel at the small-world stories that inevitably erupt. “You were at Mark’s Hall in Freshman year? Wow! So was I!” Stand for the National Anthem, watch the flag, think of our children in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sing along with your opponent. Once the whistle blows, however, nothing further is shared for the rest of the day. Shake your keys. Or make the hog call. Pass the Lion around the stands. Kiss your wife or girlfriend at each score. Fire the cannon from tightwad hill. Pound the world’s largest bass drum. Dance the Irish jig in the student section. Call for the horse while the band plays Conquest.

The experience of the road trip itself and the athletic contest on the field are two different but related items. Both should be enjoyed and valued as unique entities. But the sum of the two parts is so much greater than the whole. What is the perfect road trip? Traveling to South Bend the weekend the Trojans play the Irish is the standard by which all other road trips are measured.

Fight On,

Hans

PS: No, I was not “hedging my bets” by doubling on the Irish. I knew the underdog contest gods would never allow me to get 40 points in one week, so picking the Irish helped ensure that USC would emerge victorious. I consciously wasted two picks to guarantee a Trojan win. Yes, two picks is a small price to pay to avoid another Stanford.

PPS: Does anyone besides Kurt and Bill know the significance of the photo in the banner at the top of this blog?

Overrated and Underappreciated

As this wacky heaven-for-underdog season continues to amaze, some of us are cashing in on the insanity. A big pat on the back is due for JimKeats, betting that Louisville would right their ship against Cincinnati. I never would have picked the so-far pitiful Cardinals, much less doubled on it! Another surprise that almost came true (close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades) was San Jose State pulling a shocker on national TV on Friday night over Hawaii.

For the record, I had picked this game initially, but changed it at the last minute, so I was rooting for Hawaii big time. Not because I like Hawaii but because I did not want to spend the weekend feeling like a total idiot. Hawaii is an interesting team. They have a relatively minuscule recruiting budget, face 1000's of miles traveling to every road game, and their last two starting QB's are 1 - 2 in career passing yards in NCAA history.

June Jones, Hawaii alum, former NFL player, and former NFL coach, came "home" in 1999 to take over the head coaching job. He instituted his "run and shoot" offense and turned an 0-12 Warrior team into a 9-4 conference champ. Jones copes with his recruitment challenges by being willing to give a player a second chance. He doesn't shy away from troubled or broken homes, or even from players with criminal records. This year's key passing connection is between Colt Brennan and Davone Bess. Brennan was kicked out of Colorado for illegally entering a coed's home (the sexual assault charge was dropped). Jones learned of Bess by watching tape from a penal league game!

As Hawaii tries vainly to become this year's Boise State (they will lose to Nevada on November 16th and possibly to Ian Johnson and the Broncos themselves the following week), they have received ample praise and criticism in the national press. Sure, they play lousy on the road. Maybe their defense is as bad as the numbers suggest. And, yes, their passing offense stats are boosted because they run a "system". Does this mean that Colt Brennan is not Heisman worthy? Perhaps.

So, with these questions in mind, I watched the Warriors battle back against the Spartans (Homer would be proud). Hawaii got the ball back, down by two scores, with about 6 minutes left. I thought, "that's plenty of time for these guys. Hawaii has scored more than that in 6 minutes before." How many teams in the country are so capable of that kind of productivity, that they are actually renown for it! When Brennan lined up under center with 60 yards to go for the tying score, I thought "Oh, no problem- I expect him to score." Think about that: Brennan is so effective at moving the ball, that we have come to expect him to make that winning drive. That's a level of mystique possessed by the likes of John Elway or Joe Montana.

Colt Brennan scored on that drive. And in overtime. And Hawaii won. A QB like that deserves a few votes for the Heisman.

Fight On,

Hans

The Darkest Day

The Darkest Day

Yesterday was likely the darkest day in the history of Los Angeles Football. The UCLA Bruins, vacillating between brilliant (40-14, Oregon St) to pathetic (44-6, Utah) this season, saw their second-string quarterback knocked out in the first quarter by the Irish defense and handed the reins to a walk-on Freshman. As one might expect with such inexperience leading the veteran offense, the Bruins put up a fight but could not overcome the 5 turnovers, giving Notre Dame their first win of the year. The Irish shocked the Rose Bowl crowd as 21 point underdogs, leaving the Domers undefeated in Pasadena in two tries (the last was in 1925 against Pop Warner and Stanford.)

Speaking of Stanford, Notre Dame’s upset was not the biggest of the day. Nor the biggest in Los Angeles! Just 13 miles down the road (I know the distance because I’ve made the drive a hundred times), the Stanford Cardinal pulled off the biggest upset in College Footbal History. One source (Yahoo Sports) put the Cardinal at 41 point dogs, easily topping Syracuse over Louisville (37 points) and smashing the previous record (Oregon State over Washington in the late 80’s at 36 points). As I mentioned in a previous post, Appalachian State – Michigan had no official spread but some sources put it at 28 points).

What happened to USC? Good question. Certainly the 92,000 in Baton Rouge did not care how it happened; they cheered louder for the announcement of the USC score than they did for one of LSU’s touchdowns in their comeback win over Florida. The Trojan defense came to play, but the offense didn’t. Stanford stayed close into the 4th quarter because USC couldn’t punch it into the endzone. USC QB John David Booty threw 4 picks, keeping the Cardinal’s hopes alive. Stanford made the best of the opportunity, converting a 4th and 20 with less than 2 minutes left to get to the Trojan 9. Tavita Pritchard, the Stanford QB in his first career start, tossed a perfect lob on the ensuing 4th and goal to score the winning TD.

As Coach Jim Harbaugh ran ecstatically onto the field in front of 85,000 stunned into silence, I was reminded of his somewhat bizarre comments at the Pac-10 media day in August. He called USC not only the best team in the league, but possibly “the best team of the history of college football.” No doubt his players have been focusing on their date the Trojans since then and Harbaugh had them primed to play their best. On the other side of the ball, USC tends to play the worst against teams they expect to handle easily (UW, Oregon State, ASU). USC’s lackadaisical approach to a supposed weak opponent cost them again- big time. Jim Harbaugh won this chess match- Pete Carroll would be the first to admit it.

This crazy, underdog-friendly season continues to surprise. Three top 10 teams lost, although number 5 Wisconsin’s stumble in Champaign-Urbana is not technically an upset. Illinois was actually a 3 point favorite. Still, I counted at least 3 national TV broadcasters label it as such. Some folks just don’t do their homework.

There were plenty of other upsets this weekend and many of them were in the Mid-American Conference. That’s the silly Ohio-based conference with such nationally known powers as Akron and Kent State. Saltzman, our Columbus, OH- based underdog pooler aside, who really knows anything about these teams? Seriously? But week after week, our poolers defy the odds makers and dip into the MAC pool. Desperate? Absolutely. Random? You bet. Effective? Count on it. It might just get me back into the race. Because lord knows I can’t predict the Pac-10 anymore!

Fight On,

Hans
PS: What does a die hard Trojan fan do to cope with the loss? Stumble to Kells, a classic Irish pub in downtown Seattle and drown his sorrows in Guinness to the tune of live traditional music. Sounds good, Vjohnson?

Every Dog's Day

"Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat will mew, and dog will have his day."

-Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1



Saturday, September 29, 2007 will live on in Underdog Pool lore as the Day of the Dogs. The "mainstream media" such as ESPN may dub it "Insanity Saturday", but we poolers know that there is nothing insane about the underdogs of the world rising up and having the day the bard prophesied so long ago. Congratulations to everyone who drank from the bountiful harvest of underdog points this weekend, but no one benefited more than GoBuffs, who racked up an underdog pool all-time record of 44 points on one game. Yes, he actually had the audacity to double on Colorado over Oklahoma!

The weekend began innocently enough, with the widely-expected upset of West Virginia at the hands of South Florida. The Bulls had little time, however, to bask in the national spotlight, as their win became old news by early Saturday afternoon. Illinois demonstrated that their 4-1 record is not a fluke by beating Penn State. But the collective jaws of the college football world fell to the ground when Colorado came all the way back from being down 24-7 to punch through a game winning field goal as time expired. It was the kind of shocker that drives announcers to the heights of irrational hyperbole: the FSN play-by-play broadcaster called it "the biggest upset this year". Actually, it was the third biggest. Syracuse set the bar high beating Louisville as 37 point underdogs (which may be the biggest upset in history). Although no line was officially posted for the Michigan-Appalachian State debacle, most blogs report it to have been at 23 - 27 points. The Colorado Buffaloes were "only" 22 point dogs!

It turned out that Oklahoma's collapse was merely the tipping point, triggering an avalanche of losses by top 13 teams: 7 in all (counting Oregon's loss to the higher ranked Cal). It was the most top 10 losses since 2005 and possibly the most top 13 losses ever. After this wild day, two things are for certain: the rankings on Monday will look very different and the national title race got a lot less muddy. LSU will be playing the Pac-10 champion in New Orleans (or an undefeated Big-10 team if Cal, USC, and ASU lose one game each). At this point, with USC struggling not to beat themselves in Seattle, running the table in the Pac-10 looks like an impossible task. It's a long season-there are many days left for the dogs to have!

Fight On,
Hans

Stoking the Fires of an Uncivil War

Did you happen to see the cover of Sports Illustrated this week? It’s just another chapter in the ongoing media war between the SEC and the Pac-10. More significantly, it perpetuates a festering wound that LSU fans have carried and nurtured since 2003. For a comprehensive review of the rivalry between LSU and USC, teams that have not played in recent memory, check out this outstanding article from Stewart Mandel:

https://mail.healthcare.uiowa.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/stewart_mandel/07/06/miles.usc/index.html

The basic plot of this story is simple: LSU fans celebrated their winning of the crystal football in 2003 when they beat up on an Oklahoma team that should not have been in the BCS finals, and then fumed with indignation when the national media focused attention on USC for winning the AP National Championship in the Rose Bowl. Sharing their hard-won championship with anyone was simply unthinkable. When Sports Illustrated issued dual covers, declaring Matt Leinart and the Trojans to be the champs to half of the magazine’s circulation, the Bayou Bengals went ballistic. The letters to the editor flooded in. USC fans, who had gotten over their stunning exclusion from the BCS championship despite being number 1 in both polls, were very happy about being able to win their first title in 25 years in the same stadium and against the same opponent as their last time in 1978.

But the Tiger fans never got over it. I read SI consistently for the next three years. Every week that story appeared about Pete Carroll or Matt Leinart or Reggie Bush, LSU fan was right there, with a snippy, bitter letter to the editor. SI, tickled pink about the attention, happily printed the reactionary delusions, actively maintaining the fires in the petulant bellies of the LSU crybabies.

What really pisses off the Tigers most of all is that Trojan fans just don’t care. We split the 2003 title and won the 2004 title. Vince Young single-handedly kept us from the 2005 championship. LSU? Oh, yeah- they’re pretty good and they deserved the trophy they won in 2003. We won our title in Pasadena- our second home- couldn’t ask for much more.

The latest chapter in this rather one-sided hatred erupted this last summer. As the pre-season polls were consistently placing USC number 1 and LSU number 2, Les Miles made his now famous sarcastic comments about the quality of the Pac-10. Oregon, ASU, and Cal have thanked Miles for the motivational speech, much to Tennessee’s chagrin.

LSU looked excellent tonight against a very good South Carolina team. USC rolled again over Washington State at home. There is only one solution to this incredibly annoying unrequited bitterness. Keep winning, Tigers. Keep winning, Trojans. We have an appointment to get together January 7th in New Orleans.

I can’t wait.

Fight On,

Hans

PS: Big congrats to Syracuse for pulling off the second-largest upset of the year in their win over Louisville. And if anyone out there even considered picking this game, you are totally insane and know absolutely nothing about college football, I guess that’s why we play the game!

The Red State

Imagine a city of almost one million people. Then, imagine that this town has no NFL, no NBA, no NHL, and no MLB team (sorry, soccer fans, MLS doesn't count). Furthermore, the entire state has but one Division 1-A school. When you are the only game in town, it's not surprising that your fan base is passionate and dedicated. But when you are talking about the University of Nebraska, the fans of "Big Red" take it to a whole new level.

Omaha and its environs account for almost one million residents. This represents the bulk of Nebraska's population. Nearby Lincoln, the state capitol and state's second largest city, is home to the University. On game days, Memorial Stadium itself becomes Nebraska's third largest city. By the way, I could only think of one other state with no major league pro teams and only one division 1-A (aka "Bowl Divison") team: Hawaii. Let me know if think of any more (Arkansas? Iffy- Arkansas State is technically bowl division).

USC's visit to Lincoln marked the first time a number 1 ranked team visited Nebraska since 1978 (the last number 1 team to play in Lincoln was Nebraska itself in 2000). This, combined with Nebraska's recent return to footbal competitiveness, made this game one of the most anticipated in almost 30 years. No pressure, Trojans.

I was not about to miss this "opportunity of a lifetime", so I packed the car full of diet Dr Pepper's and my laptop and headed out to Omaha, about 4 hours from home in Iowa City. I met up with step-brother Steve (GoBlue) there, and we traveled the last 40 miles to Lincoln. Founded in 1854 as Lancaster, the town was re-named in honor of the Civil War president when the state entered the union in 1867. At first glance, it looks like any typical prairie-state railroad hub: trainyards, broad streets in a simple grid, and 1920's era brick architecture lining the heart of downtown. Growing like a modernist tumor out the tradititional downtown, the campus of UN-L (University of Nebraska at Lincoln) sprawls northward and is dotted with both modern concrete and the expected neo-classical edifices.

One of the 57 rules of college football is to take at least one road trip without hotel reservations. In this case, that rule actually helped us. Downtown has been sold out for at least 6 months, but we thought we would try a last-minute glance at Priceline.com. Sure enough, a late cancelation or sudden release of blocked rooms allowed us in at the Holiday Inn, only 3 blocks from the stadium. Following a recommendation from Kellen Huston (University of Iowa College of Medicine class of 2009 and former Nebraska Blackshirt), we stumbled over to Lazlo's Brewery, located in the heart of the Haymarket district.

I am not sure why, but it seems like every town has its former seedy wharehouse district that has been transformed into trendy shops and coffee houses. Lincoln is no exception. Better yet, our hotel rested on edge of the Haymarket district, within easy crawling distance of the many bars. Priceline, I love you. Lazlo's food was tasty but not quite delicious. Since we were in the land of the great cattle ranches, we felt compelled to order steaks. In Pulp Fiction (My and Steve's favorite movie), the Jack Rabbit Slim's waiter asks Vincent Vega, "How do you like your steak: bloody as hell or burnt to a crisp?" The friendly servers at Lazlo's allowed us to choose from a slightly wider range of meat temperatures, but I was left out of one little local habit: Lincoln locals prefer their cow still bleeding. If you want your steak medium, you'd better tell them to burn it. If you prefer it a little pink, don't ask for the convential "medium rare". Linolnites only hear the second word in that phrase. Seriously, this is not just an error on the part of Lazlo's kitchen: the trend was confirmed after a converstaion with the waiting staff at another brewery the next day!

We awoke Saturday morning to an impressive sight: a sea of red draped behind ESPN Game Day crew. Other locales call for Game Day to broadcast from the Quad or a park or main street. Only Nebraska requires the capacity of Memorial Stadium for a 9:00 am preview show! They set up their stage on the field and filled the west grandstands with tens of thousands of red-clad Husker crazies. Lee Corso rightly called them the "Greatest Fans in All of College Football", right before he stabbed them in the back and picked USC over Nebraska!

Walking through the campus on Saturday afternoon, we were amazed by the Husker's sense of hospitality. Everywhere we went, we were greeted by "thanks for coming" and "good luck tonight" and "welcome to Nebraska" and "please have another beer." People were so nice it was actually creepy!

Fans of the Big Red do tailgating right. Starting early in day, the surface lots fill with Big Red cars and trucks, many with flat screen TV's set up on the tailgate. Some fans set up buffet tables and others fired up amplifers for some live music. Whereas many stadiums boast prolific tailgaiting traditions, I was particularly impressed by the high quality of each tailgate party I attended. Other schools have greater numbers (Penn State), greater debauchery (Iowa and Michigan), or greater sophistcation (USC and Washington), but the detail and quality on a tailgate by tailgate basis in Lincoln is unparalelled.

The most impressive tailgate set-up by far belonged to our friend and Nebraska football alumnus Kellen. He and his friends "circled the wagons" and drew 5 RV's into a square, filling the center with tables, chairs, and four big-screen TV's. One of the RV's was the single most outrageous piece of college football paraphenalia I have ever seen. It was a Big-Rig 18 wheeler cab welded onto a luxury RV base. Decked out with 7 TV's, custom hardwood floors, signed Nebraska memorbilia, and a margarita machine working overtime, the owner had no shortage of admirers. The neon "Nebraska Football" sign in the window is the icing on the cake.

Finally, it came time to stop talking about it and get to playing the game. We filed into the 84,000 seat stadium in time to enjoy the Star Spangled banner, a jet flyover, and a video tribute to the vaunted Blackshirt defense. By this time, the Red Sea was had been whipped into such a frenzy that I couldn't hear the person sitting next to me. I had heard that Nebraska can be a touch place to play. They are not kidding. Any rumors you heard about this being the loudest stadium in the country are probably true (with all due respect to Oregon and LSU). Fortunately, USC managed to keep the game plan simple and the offensive line made short work of the Blackshirts, literally running away with a 49 - 31 win (49 - 17 before the starters were pulled).

We excused ourselves from the packed stands, politely declined the many offers of a post-game party (how nice are these people? After we stomped them 49 - 31 they are inviting the Trojan fans out for a few drinks downtown!), and thanked the locals for their over-the-top hospitality.

It was my first visit to Lincoln and I will make sure it is not my last.

Fight On,

Hans

Dining with the Governor in Jeans

First and foremost, check out this fantastic list of 57 rules of college football from ESPN.com: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=rules/070905
What a great list! They pretty much capture the spirit of being a college football fan but, as the article says, they are looking for 43 more to round out the list. Please post your suggestions on our “Bark Like a Dog” bulletin board: http://artemis.ess.ucla.edu/~bmoore/cgi-bin/dogs/bb.pl

Second, what a great weekend of college football! As I looked over the picks this week, I saw a handful of potential upsets jump out at me. Some weeks are like that: a dog lover’s paradise. The challenge, of course, is finding the rose among the thorns and getting the picks right. Most of us (and many radio talk show hosts) were proved wrong by Texas when they overcame a 10 – 0 halftime deficit and stomped the TCU Horned Frogs 34 -10. But other gems came to fruition: Oregon driving the nails into Lloyd Carr’s coffin, Washington ending the longest winning streak in the nation and proving what I’ve been saying all summer (they’re the dark horse in the Pac-10), Spurrier sticking to UGA between the hedges (if you know what I mean), and South Florida shocking Auburn (only the genius of Tom Barbour managed to see that last one coming). Also, I think we should give credit to Wake Forest almost catching Nebraska looking ahead to USC and Miami (OH) almost proving that Minnesota can’t play the MAC.

The games yesterday helped answer some questions about the course of the year. Should LSU really be number 1 over USC? Is Oklahoma as good as everyone thinks? Is the ACC as bad as everyone thinks? Did Michigan and Notre Dame suffer fluke losses in the first week? Who besides Cal and UCLA will challenge USC this year in the Pac-10? (The answers, in case you’re keeping track at home, are yes, yes, yes, no and Washington). I’ll save you a trip to the schedule page: “U-dub” plays host to USC on September 29th and Cal will visit the stadium on the shores of Lake Washington on November 17th.

Finally, I feel compelled to let you all in on an amusing anecdote that occurred Friday evening even though it is only peripherally related to football. I was attending the Iowa Medical Society board meeting in Des Moines and was unsure of the proper attire. Hedging my bets, I showed up in nice jeans, a dress shirt with French cuffs (and my lucky Frank Lloyd Wright cufflinks), and a sport coat. Seeing that the other attendees were dressed rather casual, I removed the sport coat and fit right in. The meeting agenda listed dinner off site, at a place in Des Moines called “Terrace Hill”. Sounds like a decent restaurant, I thought, and maintained my outfit of jeans and a dress shirt. After all, that was better than what most people were wearing.

When I arrived at Terrace Hill, I immediately sensed something was not right. It was an old mansion, one of those house museums that Babs likes so much. As I walked up to the house, not sure how to get in and being unable to locate the tent with the catered dinner I was expecting, I noticed some children’s toys in the backyard. It’s odd for a house museum to have small kids. At that moment, a state trooper appeared out of nowhere and asked me, “May I help you, sir?” He said it in that tone of voice that was both helpful and friendly as well as full of authority that clearly said, “I’ll kick your ass from here to the state capitol if you don’t answer immediately.” It’s that tone of voice that only highway patrolmen and bouncers can really achieve correctly. I responded that I was lost and looking for a dinner party, so he quickly and pleasantly showed me to the side door of the mansion.

Ushered inside, I found a delectable spread of appetizers and alcoholic beverages waiting for me. Also present was my fellow physicians from the meeting, except they had all changed into suits! Oops. Sorry- I didn’t get the memo. When I go out in Vegas with Geodg, khouse, and GoBlue!, I always get the memo about khaki slacks and a blue collared shirt. But this time I wasn’t clued into the dress code. No problem. I just attached myself to an appropriate accessory- Jack Daniels on the rocks- and my outfit suddenly all made sense and flowed together. It said, “cool, outdoorsy ER doc that doesn’t care what other people think”. Which is mostly true.

Fascinated by the spectacular décor of the house, I struck up a conversation with the curator. He explained some of the brief history of this “most famous residence in Iowa” (DING! uh-oh, there is something here that all the Hawkeyes understand but the clueless outsider from Southern Cal hasn’t figured out yet). “Built in 1869, this 18,000 square foot. . . BLAH . . . BLAH . . . BLAH . . .and since 1971 has served as the Governor’s residence.” DING! Uh-oh, that’s why everyone got dressed up. Oh well, no problem, I’ll just keep playing the “cool, outdoorsy ER doc” card and roll with it. It’s not like governor is going to show up just because we’re having a party at his house.

At that moment, one of the conference organizers said, “Hey, everyone, here’s the guy whose place we’re crashing!” DING! Uh-oh. Governor Culver walked his 6’4” frame into the room. His impressive size reminded us that he played football for Virginia Tech in the 1990’s (see, I said this story was peripherally related to football). It turns out he’s a very nice and hospitable person- definitely the kind of guy you would want to go out for a beer with. Just the perfect personality to the lead the Hawkeye state. We talked about access to health care, about the Hawkeye game with Syracuse (35 – 0, Iowa played awesome!), but mostly about his 5 year old son’s birthday planned for Sunday. The family, along with several “Uncle State Troopers”, is headed for “Jumping Jack’s”, a sort of Chuck E. Cheese’s for fans of inflatable bouncy houses. We posed for photos to document our meeting and my flagrant fashion faux pas.

Ok, so I’m a cool outdoorsy ER doc. Sue me. I don’t care what other people think. . . mostly.

Fight On,

Hans

http://www.terracehill.org/

12 hours, 8 courses, 10 games, and One Appalachian State

A Tasting Menu for the First Day of College Football

0800 Food: Start with a classic: The Original Game Day Pancakes with butter, maple syrup, and orange juice
0900 Games: College Game Day live from Blacksburg, VA. Emotional and passionate: the right way to start the year.

1100 Food: Leftover pizza with beer. The true undergrad-dorm room- hangover helper is cold pizza and cheap beer, but I haven’t be able to handle it that way since freshman year. (OK, so I warmed the pizza in the microwave and the beer was Goose Island Belgian-style Ale. Sue me.)
1100 Games: East Carolina at Virginia Tech, Colorado State at Colorado, but not Appalachian State at Michigan! Despite getting the game plan and expanded football cable package, no one in their right mind put Appalachian State at Michigan on the menu. What an amazing upset! Too big even for the underdog pool (no spread was posted). Sorry Steve!

1400 Food: Bucky Badger’s Orange Dip with Pretzel Sticks. This is basically cream cheese with ketchup and French dressing. This sounds weird, but it actually tastes good, just like mama Stanberg’s Cranberry Relish (if you understand that joke, you listen to too much NPR).
1430 Games: Georgia Tech at Notre Dame, Washington State at Wisconsin, UCLA at Stanford, and Iowa “at” Nothern Illinois. This was hardly a road game for the Hawkeyes. Fully 28% of the undergrads at Iowa are from Chicago. Everyone- and I mean everyone- went home for this game. ESPN called Soldier Field “Kinnick Stadium East.”

1500 Food: Bratwurst boiled for 2 hours in beer and then grilled to perfection, with mustard and sauerkraut, washed down with Sierra Nevada pale ale.
1600 Games: Arizona at BYU, Toledo at Purdue
1700 Food: Homemade guacamole and salsa with blue corn chips.

1930 Food: Chili con Carne made from scratch, dressed with sharp cheddar cheese and baguette chips.
1930 Game: Tennessee at California. WOW! What a great game! Maybe Les Miles of LSU will show a little more respect for the Pac-10. Then again, maybe not.
2000 Food: Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies

2100 Food: Turtle ice cream cake from Whitey’s, Iowa’s favorite local ice cream purveyor
2130 Game: Idaho at USC. Hardly a spectacular performance, but it was nice to the see the Coliseum packed full even for such a cupcake opponent

2300: Falling asleep and dreaming of New Orleans on January 7th

Fight On,
Hans

The Anticipation is Killing Me!

I see the cities on the envelopes of the pool entries: Columbus, Pasadena, Iowa City, State College, Los Angeles, Tempe . . . and I think football. Others may read them as towns, the post office may read them as zip codes, and I read them as Ohio State, UCLA, Iowa, Penn State, USC, and ASU. Or Buckeyes, Bruins, Hawkeyes, Nittany Lions, Trojans, and Sun Devils.

This morning I sat in front of my giant screen HDTV and watched the ESPN College Game Day preview show. The voices of Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Mark May and the others were music to my ears- like hearing the return of long-lost relatives from a sabbatical painfully prolonged. Even though not a single football has been snapped this season, every highlight featured on the show was a tantalizing glimpse that had me yearning for more.

This afternoon I had my traditional start-of-the-season "football haircut." The Hawkeye Barbershop was packed with students and faculty getting ready for the new school year (classes start Monday). The gossip was all about the hometown Hawkeyes, the recent credit card fraud scandal with a couple of wide receivers, and the upcoming road trip to Chicago that will essentially be an Iowa home game only 4 hours from campus. As I've said before, Iowa City is just a far west suburb of Chicago. The Hawkeye Barbershop gets football schedule posters from each Big-10 team and has them signed by each coach at the Big-10 media day (usually in Chicago). As I sit in the chair, getting my hair trimmed by the talented Kelly (who trimmed Coach Kirk Ferentz the same AM), I study each poster, looking for the cupcakes, the tough games, the rivalries, and, most importantly, the potential upsets.

Because this pool is all about the dogs, baby!

First games are Thursday. I can't wait. Can you?

Fight On,

Hans

PS: My traditional sign off, "Fight On" is a long standing motto of USC, and the title of our fight song. Yet some yahoo in State College decided to make it the slogan for this year's Penn State schedule poster. To the Lions: you suck. Be more original.

The Peak of Summer

Summer has peaked.


The best measure of the summer season is the garden. I know we've peaked because the tomatoes are finally ready to eat, the dill has gone to seed, and we have more squash than we know what to do with. Seriously- I actually have squash coming out of my . . . well . . . you know. When we went to the Farmer's Market tonight, every table was selling squash of every conceivable shape and color. There is so much flipping squash here that we have to struggle with inventing new ways to eat it.


Then there is the corn. Ahhh . . . the corn. Iowa sweet corn is the reason we endure 90 degree heat with 90% humidity. When the first local corn goes on sale, everyone's diet changes. Before, we ate barbequed pork, grilled steaks, and more flipping squash. When the corn shows up, a few ears will do . . . every night. It's that good. And best of all we can leave the squash for the goats and chickens.


I rode all of RAGBRAI this year (the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa), a bike across all of Iowa from the Missouri River to the Mississippi. It was fantastic- great company, music, bike riding, Lance Armstrong, perfect weather, beautiful scenery (except Western Iowa which is way boring and flat), and lots of wonderful food. As I wrote last year, it's like biking through a state fair. The most amazing thing about the ride is the outpouring of hospitality that we see in every little farm town the ride passes through. Every 4-H club, every rotary club, every cub scout troop, and every church group turns out with a table full of pies, brats, pork, cinnamon rolls, steaks, funnel cakes, waffles, pancakes, and, of course, sweet corn. Thankfully, no squash. The best roadside stand was a farmer who pulled up his combine full of freshly picked corn, laid out of huge charcoal grill, and had a vat of melted butter. Get this- for a dollar, the guy grabs an ear out of his bin, throws it on the grill, and then peels it and dips it in the butter. After the first 10 ears, the paramedics had to drag me off the lawn where I had succumbed to a fat laden sweet corn coma.


But just like any great movie, we eventually must arrive at Act III. The protagonist has reached his nadir, and begins to rally towards the triumphant climax. Summer is finally at Act III. The corn will only last a few more precious weeks. The beautiful and dramatic Midwestern thunderstorms will become less frequent. The remaining herbs will wilt and prepare for their long winter ordeal. The humidity in the air will fade, giving rise to cool mornings and perfectly warm, pleasant evenings. And it will be time for football!


The underdog pool is coming soon. See you in a few weeks! Enjoy the squash.