Oh, Robbie Findley...

Here's your open thread for tonight, tomorrow, and really the entire weekend, most likely. We'll have open threads for the Iowa-Minnesota dual meet and the Iowa-Indiana basketball game on Sunday.

The standard open thread rules apply: no links to illegal online streams, no porn, no religion, no politics, no slurs, no douchebaggery.

[Photo credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall]

Iowa is going to wish they had this one back. In their first game back after a long layoff, the Hawks showed that they had forgotten everything they had learned during their brief mini-resurgence in January, played abysmal defense, and squandered another large lead. They made one of their weakest opponents look like an offensive juggernaut, and the scary thing was that they showed remarkably little passion doing so.

Consider this: Nebraska is 225th in the country in offensive efficiency, averaging .953 points every time down the floor. Against Iowa, the Cornhuskers averaged 1.29 points per possession, a figure that is miles above even what the best offensive teams in the country average. Iowa too had a great offensive game, too, averaging 1.19 points per possession, far better than their 1.05 season-long average, but the fact that the points were coming so easily was also the key to Iowa's downfall. The game seemed too easy for too long, and Iowa played like they never really took Nebraska seriously. It was a classic example of a team playing down to its competition, allowing them to stay a little too close for a little too long, then succumbing when that team got hot at just the right moment.

There was a time, midway through the first half, when Iowa could have turned the game into a blowout. Nebraska was playing like they expected it to be a blowout, looking listless on offense and turning the ball over, Iowa was scoring with ease, largely thanks to the brilliant play of Zach McCabe, the lead was 11, 31-20. Aaron White had a clear three lined up, and Carver was ready to explode, but the shot rimmed out and Nebraska got a layup on the subsequent possession to cut the lead to eight. Then Bryce Cartwright embarked on a series of baffling mistakes that helped bring the Cornhuskers back into the game.

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Trust me, it only seems like it's been a year since Iowa played a basketball game. It's actually just been nine days. Which is still a pretty long time, really. Anyway, they return to action this evening with a home game against the visiting Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Big Ten debutants have had a somewhat rocky go of things in their inaugural trip through the Big Ten schedule, going 2-6 so far. One of their wins was over a good Indiana team, though, and they've been frisky in several of their losses (including road games at Wisconsin and Illinois), so it would be a mistake to assume that they'll be an automatic pushover (there are no automatic pushovers in the league this year, frankly). Hopefully nine days of rest has the Iowa players rested and ready for action (and not rusty).

The game tips at 6pm CT and for the first time since the ill-fated Clemson game in December, Iowa is back on the ESPN family of networks: ESPNU to be precise. I am not sure if the game is also on ESPN3.com; ESPNU games occasionally aren't.

The standard open thread rules apply: no links to illegal online streams, no porn, no religion, no politics, no slurs, no douchebaggery. After the basketball festivities are done, feel free to use this as your Hamsterdam thread for the evening.

Go Iowa. Beat Nebraska.

IOWA CITY, IA (AP) -- In a move that shocked his friends, family, members of the University of Iowa administration, and fans of Iowa athletics, Kirk Ferentz, head coach of the Iowa football team, announced his plans to begin a second career as a human cannonball. Ferentz said he got the idea from his recent decision to participate in Saturday's "Arctic Plunge*" event benefiting the Hawkeye Wrestling Club. "Well, I was doing a few practice dips -- not in the Iowa River, of course, I'm not that crazy -- and the feeling was just so exhilarating. It was life-changing, really. I realized then that I had been just stuck in, you know, a little bit of a rut and I needed to just break free. Get free from everything that's been weighing me down lately. Like losing games this fall, or losing a few players this month, or gravity. I'm pretty sick of gravity, to tell you the truth."

Ferentz elaborated on his grudge with gravity. "I'm just sick and tired of gravity. It's been a thorn in my side and a weight on my back for as long as I can remember. It's always keeping me down. People says I punt a lot because I'm a conservative football coach that's scared of his own shadow, which is absolutely untrue. For one thing, I dismissed my shadow for a violation of team rules. For another thing, I punt the ball so much because I like seeing the ball fly through the air in its attempt to deny gravity. Every time I hope that this will be the time that the ball breaks free from gravity's chains and just floats away forever.When I was here in the '80s, I saw a few punts from Reggie Roby that I was sure were going to make it into space. I've been trying to recapture that feeling ever since.

"Also, that whole 'keep your nose to the grindstone' expression? It's not about hard work, it's about the oppressive weight of gravity and its denial of man's inherent desire for freedom. And I, for one, am done giving in to gravity's demands. I want to fly through the air, free and unfettered, and if it takes a cannon and a few pounds of gunpower to do it, so be it."

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"Thanks to the rise of social media, news is no longer gathered exclusively by reporters and turned into a story but emerges from an ecosystem in which journalists, sources, readers and viewers exchange information."

- The Economist, July 7, 2011

By now you may have read the story about a high school football player in New Jersey named Yuri Wright. If you have, that's pretty impressive because Yuri Wright's story has come to light at a time when there are so many Super Bowl and Joe Paterno news stories as to black out the sun, or at the very least, create a total eclipse of any high school football story, and especially the Yuri Wright story.

Yuri Wright (via cdn.bleacherreport.net)

If you haven't read about Yuri Wright here is the deal: A high school football player at an all-boys Catholic high school in New Jersey, which happens to be a national football powerhouse, uses Twitter to publish his daily thoughts. Along the way the football player tweets a string of racist, sexist, and graphically explicit messages, which his high school deems to be so inappropriate they expel him from school before he completes his senior year. This story has become somewhat of a national news story because, I believe, Yuri Wright is a 4-star recruiting prospect and several big time schools that were recruiting him got wind of his expulsion and his crude and offensive tweets and rescinded his scholarship offer. Most notable among those schools is Michigan, but they were not alone.

However, not every university rescinded their offer of a college education to Yuri Wright. In fact, just yesterday Yuri committed to The University of Colorado. Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated wrote about all this earlier this week attempting to, I assume, turn Yuri's story into, more or less, a cautionary tale for prospective recruits about the dangers of tweeting distasteful things. Staples, of course, writes for big corporate media organization and so it is not completely surprising that his slant on the Yuri Wright story represents the point of view commonly espoused by powerful institutions. As Staples wrote:

"Wright committed to Colorado this week. This is not a reason to rip Colorado. Wright didn't commit a crime, after all. Still, the words we type have consequences. The maintenance of my own Twitter feed is not a job requirement, but SI would fire me in a heartbeat if I began unleashing streams of profanity on Twitter. My Twitter feed reflects my personal opinions, but those opinions reflect upon my employer."

Of course Yuri Wright does not work for his high school. He's not employed as a football player (per se) at his private high school, although I guess he might have been there thanks to some sort of financial aid package that was a consequence of possessing above average football prowess. The point is, Staples and others who've made note of Yuri Wright have all contextualized his story in a rather predictable way: Student makes haphazard use of social media and needs to learn to keep his offensive thoughts to himself because words that offend have serious consequence. And all that is well and good, but does little to try to understand the larger picture.

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Friend of the Pants Scott Dochterman wrote an interesting article about the basketball team yesterday, one loaded with information and well worth your time. There are a few points that particularly stood out, though, and warrant a little more focused discussion.

One, about that "Chairgate" incident...

McCaffery’s fire has spilled over to the court. He’s earned seven technical fouls this year and grabbed headlines for slamming a chair following a technical at Michigan State. The incident drew national attention and prompted a letter from Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany.

Barta said he’s received "incredible feedback" on the subject, many of which called for McCaffery’s firing.

"I got just as much feedback and just as passionate about the fact that I didn’t support him enough," said Barta, who later added, "we’ve moved on. It’s over." (emphasis added)

I still think Barta's handling of "Chairgate" was fairly terrible -- the fact that he didn't utter a peep about it until B1G grand poobah Jim Delany groused about it makes him look like nothing more than Delany's stooge and a guy who won't stand up for his coaches in public. If he wants to tell McCaffery to tone it down in private, fine. But in public he should stand by his man -- not back up the bus after Jim Delany has already thrown his coach under it. (It's even more baffling that this incident earned a public rebuke from Barta when Rhabdogate earned no public criticism of either Ferentz or Doyle. Of course, Delany himself was also fairly mum on that one, so there's little ability for the marionette to move when the puppetmaster is motionless.)

But more importantly... some people actually wanted Barta to fire McCaffery for that incident? Are you fucking kidding me? I suppose he should have just done this instead; it would have been the more gentlemanly way to behave. It's one thing to debate the tactical merits of McCaffery's technical(s) or to grumble about the minor public embarrassment they might bring... but to want him fired for that? I can't even comprehend the mindset of those fans -- nor do I want to.

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Departures, in Order of Importance

1. Eric Guthrie, P; Replaced All-Big Ten punter Ryan Donahue with solid results: his 41.7 yard average was good for 47th best in the nation and 2nd best in the Big Ten (behind Nebraska). He pinned 18 kicks inside the 20-yard line and he (and his coverage) forced 22 fair catches. There was a bad punt here and there, but for the most part Eric Guthrie did quite an admirable job in his one year as starting punter.

2. Jordan Bernstine, KR; When healthy, Bernstine was Iowa's leading kick returner and he too had pretty solid numbers: 30 returns for 713 yards and a 23.8 yard average, good for 7th best among returners in the Big Ten. (As a team, Iowa was also 7th best in the Big Ten in kickoff returns.) Although he came close a few times (most notably against Indiana) Bernstine never broke a return for a touchdown.

What's Left, Also in Order of Importance

1. Mike Meyer, K; Meyer regressed from his efforts a year ago (he made 14/17 kicks in 2010, but just 14/20 in 2011), with a particularly ghastly showing against Minnesota (0/2, including a 24-yard miss). He started brightly, making his first seven kicks in a row in 2011, but faltered after that, making just seven of his remaining thirteen field goal attempts. His kickoffs also underwelmed: he had the fewest touchabcks of any kicker in the league (4) and his 63.1 yard average was good for just 7th in the conference. On the bright side, no blocked or missed extra points (44/44) this year!

2. Jonny Mullings, P; So long as Kirk Ferentz remains head coach here, field position figures to remain a critical part of the equation for Iowa, so having a quality punter will remain important. Mullings is the most experienced option available, having redshirted in 2010 and sat behind Guthrie last year. Unfortunately, the early reviews of our favorite Aussie heartthrob have not been kind; his release is, by most accounts, painfully slow -- which is a recipe for block city in actual football games.

3. Micah Hyde, PR; Hyde was Iowa's "leading" punt returner in 2011, with 13 returns for 106 yards. Yes -- 13 whole returns, basically one a game. No wonder Iowa finished dead last in the Big Ten in opponent punting. Hyde had a long return of 30 (in the UL-Monroe game, I believe), so his other 12 returns went for a whopping 76 yards. Mind you, as uninspiring as Hyde's numbers were, they were still far from the worst in the Big Ten (his 8.2 yard average was actually tied for 4th best in the conference). Of course, as that opponent punting stat hints at, the biggest problem with Hyde wasn't the punts he actually tried to return -- it was the ones he just let sail overhead, gifting the other team a few extra yards on each kick. I was all-in on the Hyde4PuntReturner idea last fall (his interception returns suggested the sort of skills that would fit well at punt returner), but after last season's yawn-inducing results, I wouldn't be opposed to a new face back there in 2012.

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