Really Bad Day

A funny thing happened Sunday morning.  You probably didn't notice it, but I did.  The sun came up, the air was breathable, and there were no cats and dogs living together.  It is very reassuring to learn that after Iowa loses to Minnesota AND USC loses to Notre Dame in the same day, life will, in fact go on.  As RoJo dropped the wide open winning TD pass or as Mitch threw the final game ending interception, I prepared for the End of Days.

Anyway, I know that someone at work was happy about the Domers pulling off the first win over SC since 2001.  I snapped the photos above last month when I happened to park next to a contemporary of my college days.  My car is the one with the USC 93 plate . . . oh . . . you knew that already?  Good.

As an aside, Subarus are very common in Iowa City.  It has more to do wth the adverse weather conditions of the area rather than with the auto preference of a certain sexual orientation group common in our town. 
As described in a Subaru ad, here they dont ask what kind of car you drive, they ask what color is your Subaru. 

I just couldn't resist this one last dig at the Domers.  They have been through some long, lean years, and yet they never lose their spirit.  That is an admirable quality.  They may lose to Navy and Tulsa but they still have some of the best tailgaiting in the Midwest.  If you can't be successful, at least enjoy doing it poorly, as per the Cub fans.

Fight on,

Hans

Football in Exile, Part 2

Consistent with this week's Hans's thoughts, I too was in San Francisco on Saturday. Like Hans, in these situations, I "seek common ground; we seek out ones of our own kind."


To that end, I learned that we can add one more to Hans's list of SF "official bars": The Republic on Scott St. at the corner of Lombard. Owned by a Northwestern alum, the Republic hosts a weekly gathering of Cats fans, including this weekend for our annual "upset" of the Hawkeyes.

Thus, when I arrived at 9 a.m. for the game, I was not surprised to find a group of purple-clad fans already sipping on bloody mary's. (By the way, thank goodness I no longer live on the west coast. How do you folks handle such early games?). However, I was surprised by the sheer quantity of the purple-wearers.


As it turns out, this Saturday, The Republic was not just Ryan Field West. Rather, Saturday also marked the annual match-up of the purple-clad Williams College Ephs and the also-purple-clad Amherst College Lord Jeffs. (Another aside: if Wildcats is one of the most generic mascots, than Ephs and Lord Jeffs may be two of the most bizarre.)

Frankly, I didn't know they even televised the Amherst-Williams game. In fact, I didn't even know they had football teams. But, there they were, courtesy of the Republic and the New England Sports Network.


Thus, on Saturday, I spent the morning at the most obscure gathering of sports fans in America. Northwestern, Williams and Amherst. I love college football.


The Ephs rallied from a 10-10 halftime tie to carry the day in the 125th annual edition of Battle for Northwest Massachusetts by a final score of 31-16.


By the way, I don't know if housing both sides of a rivalry in the same bar is such a good idea. After NU beat Iowa, I headed to the Buena Vista, home of the first Irish Coffee in the US, for an Irish Coffee, obviously. There too was a large contingent of Iowa fans, clad in yellow and Ricky Stanzi jerseys. That I was accompanied by my mom may be the only reason my purple shirt made it out of there still on my back.


This week, it's on to Wrigley Field for the NU-Illinois game, which will host ESPN's Gameday crew. Did I mention I love college football?


Go Cats,


NoahG

Football in Exile

In our wide ranging travels, we often find ourselves in strange cities on game day, away from our beloved home stadium with its grilled bratwurst and autumn leaves. In these cases, we seek common ground; we seek out ones of our own kind. Throughout this country, the binding ties of University life have fostered regional alumni clubs and a network of “official bars” for the gathering of the faithful.


This week, my job took me to San Francisco to speak at the Essentials of Emergency Medicine conference organized by Mel Herbert and USC. (Essentials of Emergency Medicine) I love San Francisco- it is consistently number 1 on my list of favorite worldwide cities (Chicago is #2 followed very closely by Paris and London, LA barely cracks the top 10). I am happy to just walk the streets and see the amazing people here, or taste the wonderful and expensive restaurants, or enjoy the gorgeous views of the bay. I have previously written about the City by the Bay in this blog. Check out “Coldest Winter”: (Coldest Winter)

On this trip, we spent the first few days attending the amazing conference, then going out to dinner and drinks in the evening.  The time was filled with wonderful, warm-fuzzy kind of moments.  We took the streetcar (photo above) to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner at the famous Alioto's, drinks at the Chieftan irish pub, family style dinner at Buca di Pepo, then drinks at Smuggler's Cove.  If you haven't been, Smuggler's Cove is an incredible bar specializing in rum drinks and dedicated to keeping the kitsch Tiki-bar style alive and well (Smuggler's Cove)  And they succeed.  Although it is decorated with the most awful collection of tiki torches, fishing nets, and a two-story waterfall, there is no doubt that it is very cool.  Its the kind of place that is hard to find and you are kinda nervous when you approach the nondescript blacked-out door.  But when you enter, you are very glad you came.  The staff was friendly, engaging, eager to work their rum magic, converting skeptics into fanatics.  I was doing great, pacing myself, trying rums from the far reaches of the Caribbean, and then I ordered a MaiTai.

Crap.

If you have read "Coldest Winter" you'll understand.  You would think I would have learned.

We were together the whole time, one big happy residency family, coming together as a team.  Then Game Day arrived.  Immediately following the conference, we split to the four winds across the hills of San Francisco, each heading for their own "official bar".*

• USC Trojans: Green's Sports Bar, Polk Street
• Nebraska Cornhuskers: Final-Final, Baker Street
• Iowa Hawkeyes: ALSO Final-Final, (boy, that's going to be awkward come next Thanksgiving)
• Oregon Ducks: The R Bar, Sutter and Polk
• Wisconsin Badgers: Ace's Bar, Sutter and Hyde
• Missouri Tigers: uh. . . well . . .they don't have a bar.  Our Tiger alum went along with the Husker and joined the fun at Final-Final.  

As we watched our respective games, Nebraska marched towards the Big 12 north championship, Wisconsin wore out Bucky's arms with a 83 drubbing of Indiana, USC completed its sweep of the Arizona schools, and Iowa got schooled YET AGAIN by Northwestern (poolers, if you haven't figured out to pick this game every year, you haven't been paying attention).  But all these games were overshadowed by what was happening just across the bay from us in Strawberry Canyon. 

Cal has struggled this season to say the least.  They are the only team that made the USC defense look good, and that's embarrassing.  So it seemed that the vaunted Oregon offense could take a week off before hosting Arizona next week.  This game was such a forgone conclusion that none of the usual networks carried the game; it was broadcast on Versus.  (By a remarkable coincidence, this is the same network that carried USC-Stanford two years ago when Stanford was a 45 point underdog.  And we all know how that one turned out)  As the game wore into the 3rd and 4th quarter and the Quack attack had still yet to emerge, more and more heads turned toward that game.  Sorry, Ducks, you should have lost that game; Cal had the winning field goal made before they had to re-kick it.  Oregon better take this second lease on life and run with it all the way to Glendale. 

Fight On,

Hans


*PS:This didn't really happen.  As you all know, the Wisconsin and Iowa games were played in the morning.  I would never let the truth get in the way of a good story.  But the official bar list is accurate.

Wierd Day

The family and I took a day-trip to Chicago last Saturday, and we were away from the TV for most of the games.  Thanks to the wonder of the internet, I was able to stay on top of all the pending upsets (thank you Dearl) and catch up on key events when I got home later that day (thank you ESPN).

I was entranced by the Iowa State - Nebraska tussle in Ames.  This game was particularly significant because it represented the last conference game between the two teams.  They may not play again for a decade or more.  The series, dating back to 1896 and played every year since 1920, has been owned by Nebraska, 85-17-2.  One of those precious few Cyclone wins came last year and spawned one of the greatest locker room celebrations ever (Locker Room Celebration Video).  How would this series end?  Would the Huskers keep rolling on the way to the Big 12 title game?  Or would Iowa State, fresh off of its only win over Texas in history, upset the mighty Big Red?  Go Blue and I thought it could happen, needing every 19 of the points the upset was worth. 

The Cyclones led for much of the game, until Nebraska pulled away, 24-10 in the 3rd quarter.  Knowing the Blackshirt's reputation for defense and the Cyclones lack of an explosive offense, I put away my phone and kissed those 19 points away.  Next thing I know, the game is in overtime, with Nebraska scoring first and kicking the convential PAT.  Iowa State scores on their series in OT and line up for the extra point.  But they go for the win and execute a fake.  The holder lofts a floater to a wide open tight end, but it is snagged by a leaping Blackshirt instead.  Game over.  Series over.  What a finish!

I give Paul Rhoads all the credit for going for two.  That's a great call and most of the Cyclones I have heard from agree.  In a way, this was the perfect ending for the series.  Nebraska needed a win to continue their march toward the title in their last year in the league.  And the Cyclones needed to give them a going away present.  Iowa State succeeded in everyone's hearts.  But not on the scoreboard.  Ross Mathiasen, one of my residents and a Husker, was at the game.  He said this week, "what a weird game."

Aparently, he didn't watch the USC- ASU game.

THAT was a weird game.  In the course of the evening, there was an interception returned for TD's by EACH team, a 100 yard kickoff return by ASU, a blocked extra point returned for 2 points by USC, a couple of missed field goals including hitting the post, and a blocked punt by USC.  Wow!  What a wild ride.  I am was very glad to see USC finally win a close one.

Another wild ride took place in Salt Lake City.  In what was billed as the biggest sporting event in Utah since the Olympics, TCU met Utah in a battle of undefeateds.  Unfortuantely for the Utah fans who had paid several hundred dollars for scalped tickets, the game was ugly early and often.  TCU dominated to become a clear legimate contender for the BCS championship.  There is no way that a one loss team (even from the SEC) will get in ahead of an undefeated TCU.

 Fight on.

Hans




TCU UTAH

Election Day

These Ducks are really, really good.


I spent Saturday night watching USC try to hang with Oregon; and they did, for about 2 and half quarters. But then the Duck offense kept rolling and Matt Barkley and company couldn’t keep up. As the Trojans struggled through the last few painful minutes, I switched over to Titanic, showing on TBS. How appropriate- a story about a excessively opulent anachronism that goes down in a hubris-laden disaster. On this same weekend last year I wrote that Oregon had ended the Carroll era at USC. Not only was I correct, but they are now the standard bearer for the conference. From a completely selfish standpoint, I am glad that the Pac-12 with the two divisions goes into effect next year. That way, we don’t have to play Oregon every year and only need to focus on beating our division opponents: UCLA, the Arizona schools, and Utah/Colorado. If this year is any indication, only Arizona and Utah poses a challenge. Utah will be a tough date and I expect the Utes to win that game for the next couple of years. Utah at Oregon will make a great Pac-12 championship




Iowa had a great game against Michigan State last weekend and climbed back into the Big-10 race. One play from the blowout made ESPN’s top plays for the day: a spectacular one-handed by receiver McNutt. But that was not the best play of the game! The most amazing play, one that is easily the play of the year so far for Iowa, was a bizarre hook and ladder pick-6 interception return for a TD. Check it out here: Sash to Hyde.  What is cool about this play is that pick-specialist Tyler Sash made the grab, and then tossed it behind him to Mica Hyde. Sash could have gone a long way on his own- there was plenty of open field in front of him. But he tossed it to Hyde anyway. Why? Obviously it was something they had practiced before. But also Mica’s brother happens to also play defense for Michigan State. So, Sash ensured that the Iowa Hyde brother got something to brag about over Christmas dinner!



As Iowa and Nebraska met their obligations in cutting the number of undefeated teams down to 5, I stumbled onto ESPN's sportsnation website: http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/polls .  They had a number of polls about the BCS "candidates": the 5 undefeated plus Alabama, asking who should be number 1, who is more deserving, Boise State or TCU, etc.  What is really fun with these polls is to click on the "view map" after you vote and see the regionalization of these topics.  When asked if a one-loss Alabama should be put ahead of an undefeated Boise State, the regions were very clear: everyone in the SEC thinks Alabama should be there and most of the rest of the country picked Boise State. There was one notable result: a majority of voters in Oregon chose Alabama!  I guess the Ducks dont want to lose to Boise State by a knockout like the start of last season!

Fight On,

Hans