Hockey Nightmare, Gene Goes Green, New iPhone

(Chris)

I have no rooting interest in the Stanley Cup Finals, other than the fact that I'm rooting like H-E-double-hockey-sticks that the game doesn't go to overtime. Right now it's 0-0, late in the 2nd. The reason: no matter how many OT's this thing goes, I'll be waiting here to do the news. I was anchoring the night of June 2, 2008 -- when the Penguins and Red Wings went THREE overtimes. The sportscast hit at 1:34am.

Speaking of 2008, it's more of the same for the poor folks at Drake Stadium. When the NCAA Track and Field Championships were here, in '08, Central Iowa was dealing with record flooding. This year, record rain.

I finally got my new grill...2 weeks in the making. On Memorial Day, I made the mistake of buying an Infrared grill (no flame). I took that back, and got an actual grill. However, it took them 5 days to put it together, and another 5 days to deliver the thing. Luckily the wife and I were able to haul it up 3 flights of stairs, this afternoon, and we cooked some mean kabobs on it, earlier tonight. It was well worth the wait.

Gene Chizik is now firmly entrenched in a big ol' pile of cash. The 'Chiz' gets a raise of $1.3 million, after winning the national title, at Auburn. He's now making $3.5 million a year. That's a lot -- but it's still not more than Kirk Ferentz. The head Hawk is making $3.65 million per season. Now that's a lot of Chizik Coins. Interestingly enough, both Chizik, and Ferentz, lost 19 games a piece, in their first two seasons at ISU and Iowa, respectively.

I've ditched the Blackberry. I'm not the owner of an iPhone 4, but it wasn't an easy decision. I mainly use my phone to send texts. I was so good at texting on my full keyboard Blackberry, that I could type without looking at the keys, and type faster than National Texting Champion, Kate Moore (Des Moines native). The problem with the iPhone is, it's a touch screen. Not only am I unable to feel the buttons, the buttons are extremely small. I feel like I'm trying to once again teach myself how to walk. So why go with the iPhone if I'm just going to complain? The apps are pretty freakin' cool.

Things aren't getting easier for Mark Phelps. Many Drake fans believe he's already a lame duck, after three lackluster seasons. Now, Phelps has lost his top assistant. Kareem Richardson is headed to Xavier. Who knows how much of an impact this will have on the program, but I doubt it will help. Maybe the out-of-work Keno Davis will come back and be a part of Phelps' staff. Kidding.