I Don't Have to Like Sally Mason to Love the Hawkeyes

Not much funny today, but no spleen or outrage either. In fact, this might just be boring, but it's something in my head that I wanted to see in print, so bear with me a moment. Toilet humor to return forthwith.

I have three favorite bumper stickers. One is this. Des Moines and proud, motherfuckers. The other two are political without being explicitly so, if that makes any sense. One says "I Eat Babies And I Vote," which floors me every time I think of it. The last says "I don't have to like my President to love my country," and it's that level of nuance that I try (and usually fail) to keep square in my mind.

Summer practices are going on at the UI, and the football season is scarcely more than two weeks away. With the impending season, the athletic department is publishing substantial amounts of Hawkaganda, including this article and this accompanying photo spread.

And you know what? Despite my bitter loathing of the UI's policies and secretiveness, I'm excited about this year's football team, and I feel sorry for those of you who aren't. I don't mean that in an aggressive, contentious way, either; I just wish everybody could look at pictures of these Hawkeyes, guys who haven't done a damned thing wrong themselves, and not get pumped as hell.

Note that we're not asking you to in any way excuse any of the questionable behavior that has prompted the Regents' current investigation. Far from it. We are, however, asking you to judge the two situations on their own separate merits and to join us as we watch a team that, quite frankly, can't be as bad as last year (NOTE: if they are, feel free to join us as we give up on words and just photoshop turds coming out of various coaches' mouths).

Either way, it's not fair to slag these guys for stuff other people did. Time to act like Hawkeye fans and like adults.

This and all other photos in this article courtesy of HawkeyeSports.com's exclusive coverage of summer practices. Get psyched.