Rory McAvoy, May The Schwartzel Be With Ya, & Andy's Cardinal Agony

(Zach)

I had to go do an interview with the Iowa Energy and when I stepped out of watching the Masters, Rory McIlroy had a one shot lead.  When I got back to watching he was suddenly five shots back.  He should have listened to his caddie Romeo/Cheech and lay up with the seven iron instead of taking that 12.

McAvoy Thinks McIlroy's Final Round Was Painful

Kidding aside, maybe it was inevitable that a 21-year old would fade on final round Sunday.  And maybe it's inevitable that he will eventually have his day and win a Major, as several announcers were commenting.  Or maybe not.  Remember when we said that about a young pup named Sergio Garcia after he nearly beat Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship?  People said he'd have his day in the Major sun too.  That was in 1999.  You can NEVER count on winning Majors.

Speaking of Mr. Woods, I didn't think he had a prayer coming into the day.  Then after his front nine, I thought the rest of the field didn't have a prayer.  Either way, guessing the ratings spiked.  People who love or hate Tiger are like people who love or hate SoundOff.  If you love Tiger/SoundOff, you're watching anyway.  If you hate Tiger/SoundOff you'll curse it out and swear you'll never watch again, yet you'll be glued to your TV EVERY TIME.

The putter betrayed Tiger down the stretch as it did most all weekend long.  Is Woods back?  No.  He's shown flashes of his old greatness several times now, but he can't sustain it.  And it was a YOUNG field in contention for the title today.  In Tiger's prime veteran golfers would wilt when he made charges like the one he did today.  Further proof he's lost his invincibility when guys who look like they just got their drivers license are beating him.

So our winner is something called a Charl Schwartzel?  In Louis Oosthuizen fashion I'm sure he'll go back to anonymity soon, but at least we've got great headlines for this win.  I can see it now:  "Charl in Charge!"  "The Schwartz(el) Was With Him!"  As a SoundOff caller said best, maybe he can now afford to buy the letters E and S to put on the end of his first name.

Fred Hoiberg has some nice transfers and recruits coming in.  Will they pan out?  Who knows, but even if they don't, it won't cost Hoiberg.  The Mayor has more job security than ANY second year coach in America, and will get plenty of time to build ISU.  Personally, I think that's a good thing.  Unless you're a Lickliter-type and it's clear this thing ain't working, far to many coaches don't get enough time to rebuild programs thanks to fan bases and athletic departments that aren't patient.

I was warned about it before joining the WHO sports staff, and Andy's "Albert Pujols is leaving us" agony is everything it was advertised to be.  It's kind of like watching a train wreck in that super slow motion replay they show in baseball and football games.  I'm thinking about starting a pool on what Andy will do if (or should I say when?) Pujols is traded.  For my money, I think Andy will go all "Office Space" on a printer.   

Andy, Dave Price, and Bill Fennelly On July 31st

I wish my Rockies were in the NL Central division.  They'd have no problem winning that division because it stinks worse than the bathrooms at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln on Husker gameday.  And the kicker is, it's been that way for a while now.  Since the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006 (and don't forget they only won 83 games before they caught fire in the playoffs), four Central champs and one Wild Card team have gone 1-15 in the playoffs.  The worst teams in the NL seem to be clustered in the Central and, since you have to play every team in your division nearly 20 times, it's gotta be tough for the eventual champ to step up to teams out of the West and East who go through tougher gauntlets in the regular season (a big reason I think the 08' Cubs and 09' Cards flamed out).  The Reds will probably have an even easier road this year with all of St. Louis' problems.  

Spring (Football) Fever, Out Of The Woods, & What Is A Ke$ha?

(Zach)

Next Saturday both Iowa and Iowa State will hold their spring football scrimmage/practice/whatever they want to call it to make it not sound like a game.  Spoke with the Hawkeye football players for the second time today and new starting quarterback James Vandenberg for the first time.  He seems like a calm enough cat, but then again who doesn't in spring football?  He got thrown into some tough spots as a freshman in 2009 (IE starting at Ohio State), so you'd think he won't go in as wide-eyed.

It's natural to focus on QB but I'm guessing the success of this offense will hinge on whether or not the Marcus Coker we saw in the Insight Bowl is the Marcus Coker we're going to see this season. 

I really hope Paul Rhoads succeeds, and STAYS, in Ames.  It's hard not to get fired up listening to the guy speak, and that's just in his press conferences.  But it's going to be even more of an uphill battle in the Big 12-that's actually-10 now that they have to play the entire southern half of the league every year.



Speaking of conference realignment, with the release of the Big Ten future schedules, there is some talk of whether or not the Iowa-Iowa State football series will continue (Hawkeye Nation had an article on it recently:  http://www.hawkeyenation.com/football/end-of-cyhawk).  Essentially, it all comes down to the logistics of getting another home game, revenue sharing, and a bunch of crap no football fan really cares about.

Just play the game.  I don't care what side of the fence you're on, it is a showcase for the whole state of Iowa, and what exactly is the alternative?  Kinda doubt ISU or Iowa is going to fill that hole in their schedule with a big name opponent on a regular basis.  So guess what we're stuck with?  Instead of Cy-Hawk, we get even more of teams like Kent State, Northern Illinois, and Tennessee Tech.  Goody!

Unfortunately, with all the conference shuffling, rivalries seem to be a dying thing.  No more Nebraska-OU.  The "Holy War" between Utah and Brigham Young may be a thing of the past in two more years.  When I worked in North Dakota the two major state schools stopped playing each other when they were separated by classification and then conference.  In most of those cases there is really bad blood or strained relations between the schools and their administrations.  Iowa and ISU seem to be above that.

And, perhaps most importantly, what would we do with RVTV?  It would be a little cold to be in an RV in November for an Iowa-Nebraska or ISU-Missouri game.

We'll warm up for the spring games with the I-Cubs home opener a week from tonight.  Emphasis on the warm hopefully.  The cold and gloomy weather sure makes it seem like football season.




If they can't score, all I ask is that they fight

Too bad the Des Moines Buccaneers just missed out on the USHL playoffs.  They've won five of their last seven and seem to be playing some of their best hockey of the season.  At least that's what I hear because I literally haven't seen it.  I've been to three periods in two games this year, and the Bucs were outscored 5-0 while I was there.  After I left Des Moines outscored their opponents 12-1. 

Tiger Woods was Tiger Woods again on Friday, which leaves us with a question that seemed impossible a few years ago.  Can he finish?  It's easy to point to his personal life leading to the decline, but this actually started before the stuff hit the fan (or the Escalade hit the fire hydrant in his case).  Go back to the 2009 PGA Championship which was just up the road at Hazeltine.  After leading for 54 holes, Woods lost to YE Yang on the final day, the first time he'd ever blown a lead on the final day.  Over the last few years he's shown the field that he is vulnerable and, even worse, he seems to believe he's human on a Sunday.  Whatever happens this week it's going to be quite the show.

I'm pretty eclectic in my music.  AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Foo Fighters, Miles Davis, you name it.  I'd like to think I'll give just about any music a try.  That is unless I hear the same crappy stuff on every station. 

Enter something called Ke$ha.  Her latest "hit" single is titled "F*** Him, He's a DJ".  Talk about deep.  A group of high school girls at the mall talking about their favorite lip gloss would probably be more creative and sound the same.  If you're a fan of Kesha (her "music" is so bad I am dropping the $ sign), you do realize you're probably listening to Avril Lavigne singing hip-hop that's lip-synced by some random blonde girl right?

I'd pay $ to never hear her on the radio again