Sports Then and Now

Iowa Football begins in September, until then fans only speculate about how good the Hawks will be in 2010.

Are you ready for some Hawkeye football?  It is not for the faint of heart or fair-weather fans.  You are either a rock or you are not.  There is no fence riding or “boohooing.”  You gotta wear a snarl and be ready for a blow to the gut––as disappointment can hit at any moment.

What you must understand from the outset is that Iowa is all about defense.  While lack of “Big D” can undermine most college football programs, defense remains the heart and soul of the University of Iowa’s recent favorable football fortunes.

Just look at last year. You had to have a strong heart and nerves of steel to weather the tsunami peaks and valleys that characterized an Iowa victory in 2009.  The Hawkeyes eked by week after week, securing four wins by three points or less. Herald the defense!

Penn State's offense was smothered by a swarming Iowa defense in 2009 in Happy Valley.

The Hawkeyes also came back in the second half in their games against Penn State and Wisconsin to secure wins.

Another heart-stopper came on the last minute touchdown pass to steal the game away at Michigan State as time expired.

Finally, what about holding on until Iowa scored four touchdowns in the last quarter to suffocate the Hoosier’s hopes for an upset?

Sedatives du jour became the cocktail before each Iowa kickoff.

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If the NCAA Basketball Tournament expands, Northern Iowa would likely need to win two games before getting a chance at a top seed like Kansas.

I guess it is debatable as to whether sports were ever really about the fans, but in case you help out some naïve believe that fans mattered, you need look no further than decisions that are being made by the NCAA to realize that cash is king and everything else doesn’t really matter in today’s sports world.

Over the last several decades, football and basketball have developed into the marquee sports for college athletics. The Division I men’s basketball championship has evolved into “March Madness” and captivates millions of Americans in a three week love affair with office pools and Cinderella stories.

Few people like the current Division I college football championship structure of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), but there is no denying the immense popularity of the sport.

A multitude of fans and critics have spent years calling for the NCAA to create a system for college football that is more like the playoff system used in college basketball and in football for all other divisions of college football.

Conversely, whenever it has been suggested that the NCAA basketball tournament might increase the number of teams, the debate is more divided with a majority seemly believing the status quo is working and adding to the field would cheapen the tournament and hurt the magic.

So, you can guess which championship looks like it will undergo some major revisions for next year.

Let me give you a hint, it isn’t the one that currently keeps most of the money with the “big boy” conferences.

Yes, in a greed play reminiscent of a robber going back into the bank because he forgot to take the bankers watch, the NCAA powers appear poised to increase the number of teams in the NCAA Basketball Tournament to 96. Read the rest of this entry →

While John Calipari may be on the verge of his third Final Four, according to NCAA records, his teams have never been there.

As the amount of time superstar athletes spend in college has dwindled over the last couple decades, the NCAA and high profile member schools have recognized that it is coaches and not the players that will ensure long-term success and continued billion dollar television payouts.

What that has created is a culture where often the most powerful person on campus is not the President or even the Athletic Director, but instead the marquee football or basketball coach.

The salaries for top-level head coaches have grown to the point where many of them are paid more money than it takes to run some entire departments at the colleges they represent.

These mega-salaries have come with a price. The pressure on coaches to win now is so great that it appears the days of coaches staying 20 or 30 years at the same institution is going the way of the two-handed bounce pass.

While there still are a few coaches enjoying success that have been at the same school for more than two decades like  Joe Paterno and Frank Beamer in college football and Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski in basketball, they are becoming the exception, rather than the rule.

Instead, the hot coaches are those like Lane Kiffin, Nick Saban and John Calipari who are little more than mercenaries hopping from job to job and pillaging all the riches during their stop.

The tale of Calipari, who is poised to reach the final four with a young Kentucky team that features a number of freshmen seemingly destined to spend just one year in college basketball, is a perfect example of how while schools certainly want to run a clean program, the most important thing is winning on the court. Read the rest of this entry →

As was the case for most of the 2010 season, the Sports Then and Now College Football Zultan proved that his skill for prognosticating was superior to nearly all who dared challenge his greatness.

Facing a record number of challengers during the Sports Then and Now Bowl Challenge, Zultan overcame a sluggish start to pick winners in 13 of the 20 bowl matchups included in the contest.

Among the legions of entries, only seven participants were able to match the Zultan’s mark and just four contestants proved to be better at predicting the turbulent landscape of the college bowls than the omnipotent one.

Topping the masses was Nathan Meloy from Appleton, Wisconsin with an impressive 16 of 20. Ryan Sparrow from Channahon, Illinois, Dean Studt from Noblesville, Indiana and Jeff Coffey from Columbus, Ohio all finished with records of 14-6.

Not only did Nathan have the best score, but he also won the drawing for the $100 merchandise gift card. To be eligible for the drawing, contestants had to “Beat the Zultan” during the Bowl Challenge.

All participants were eligible to win one of two copies of the CD “Best of College Football Fight Songs.” Winning those CDs were Scott Carpenter of Rogers, Arkansas and Max Woodham from Johns Creek, Georgia.

Special thanks to the Zultan (JA Allen) for providing his expertise throughout the 2009 season. He will be resting up in preparation for an even better performance in 2010. Overall, more than 400 individuals from across the country (as well as a few international participants) participated in the “Top the Zultan” Challenge during the 2009 season.

Be sure to check Sports Then and Now throughout the year for not only great stories about current and past sports history, but also for exciting contests and interactive opportunities.

Currently, anyone who registers for the Sports Then and Now daily updates between now and January 15, 2010 will be eligible to win one of two copies of the book “When the Game Was Ours” featuring legendary NBA stars Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

The Iowa Hawkeyes hope to be lifting another trophy following the Orange Bowl.

Bowl season is upon us. In fact, some bowls have already taken place. Have you noticed yet?

I would assume not, because, at this point, most of the bowls played possessed little meaning for the noisy majority.

This does not detract from the devotion of those assembled in respective stadiums cheering on their home teams or those sitting raptly in front of television screens watching the action unfold in high definition on ESPN.

The bowl, regardless of stature, has meaning and consequence for the teams playing because it represents the culmination of a season of hard-fought victories—an award of merit allowing the team a chance to display its strengths during this postseason contest and hopefully to come away with a victory.

For teams playing in the higher ranking bowls scheduled later in bowl season, much more significance is attributed to the victory or the loss for individual programs and even conferences. Tangibles like TV ratings and likely exposure, recruiting and year-end rankings await the verdict—thumbs up or down.

What does it take to win a bowl game after a season of tests and close calls? On one hand it is complex because the preparation for the game is filled with disadvantages and distractions. But once a team settles its priorities, the rest comes naturally.

Then it becomes fairly simple. A team either has more talent, belief, and leadership to win or it does not. Read the rest of this entry →

More than 20 years after being given the "death penalty" by the NCAA, SMU football is heading back to a bowl game.

Illustrating that in college football even death isn’t permanent, the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs will take the field for the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl this week, 25 years after playing in their last bowl game and 23 years after their program was left for dead by the NCAA.

For an entire generation of fans, SMU is best known for having the only football program ever given the “death penalty” by the NCAA for repeated rules violations. However, to define the football history of the school only by the last 25 years is to neglect a rich and historic tradition that is an important part of college football history.

Though the football programs at Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Christian (TCU) are all older, it didn’t take long after starting football in 1915 for SMU to join them to form a dominant football juggernaut within the state of Texas. Between 1927 and 1941, each school claimed a share of at least one national championship.

In 1915, Texas and Texas A&M were among the founding members of the Southwest Conference. SMU joined the league in 1918 and soon was contending for league titles.

The first great football team at SMU was under the guidance of coach Ray Morrison in 1923. The Mustangs registered shutouts in seven of their nine games and outscored their opponents 207-9 while claiming their first SWC title with a perfect 9-0 record.

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