Great Moments in 2000's Iowa Football, No. 4 -- The Rise and Fall of City Boyz, Inc.
by Patrick Vint on Jan 27, 2010 12:05 PM CST
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PrintWith the 2009 season complete, BHGP looks back at the ten most sublimely absurd moments of the past decade for this sublimely absurd team, counting them down over the next two weeks.
In August 2007, hope sprang eternal. Sure, Iowa was coming off back-to-back disappointments, finishing one game over .500 for those two years combined, but the talent level was high. The Hawkeyes returned wide receiver Dominique Douglas, who had been a third-team freshman All-American the season before. Arvell Nelson was listed as backup quarterback and being mentioned as a Banksian change-of-pace option behind center. Youngsters like James Cleveland and Anthony Bowman were cracking the offensive depth chart and competing for playing time.
Six months later, they were gone.
On August 20, Douglas and Bowman were arrested for stealing two credit cards, going to a computer at the athletic department, and ordering $2000 worth of hats. No, I'm not kidding. They were suspended that afternoon.
The next day, a warrant was issued for Nelson for failing to appear at a hearing on a traffic ticket. Later that afternoon, the pictures began to surface. We saw, and believed: These four had formed a group dubbed City Boyz, Inc. (and get that spelling right), dedicated to liquor, cash, bling, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. jackets. Because life is one fucking hustle, lawya.
The rest of the dominoes fell from there: Douglas was picked up for shoplifting DVD's out of a Wal-Mart and was officially kicked off the team by the end of September, reappearing in a new set of even-more-ridiculous pictures months later and eventually working his way into a Geico commercial. Cleveland -- who wore "88" wristbands through the 2007 season as a show of solidarity with a petty thief -- and Nelson were arrested in late February on drug charges and dismissed a week later. Bowman never saw another practice and quietly slinked off into the night. Just like that, they were gone, leaving behind a trail of empty Grey Goose bottles and cubic zirconium the likes of which Iowa City has never seen.
We miss them so much.
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Wow
I miss these cats and I never even knew em.
"We just forgot our pants. Nothing against the team or anything like that." -- take a guess
Remember
When a lot of black guys started wearing NASCAR jackets? That’s a trend I’ll never fully comprehend.
I check cheddar like a food inspector
Remember
When a lot of white guys started wearing FUBU? That’s a trend I’ll never fully comprehend.
"I know you're from Middle America, and sometimes you feel like you're representing more than just a school or a conference, maybe an entire group of American citizens out there."
by Twin Cities Hawk on Jan 27, 2010 4:36 PM CST up reply actions
They weren't wearing
FTBT?
"We just forgot our pants. Nothing against the team or anything like that." -- take a guess
Agreed.
I check cheddar like a food inspector
by SpanishJohnny on Jan 28, 2010 9:47 AM CST up reply actions
Say what you will about his extracurriculars...
on the field Douglas had skilz.
If you feel like singing along, don't.
James Taylor
Thank You
This was a very informative retrospective. Living on the ‘nebraska side" of Iowa I rarely get the details of these happenings. I see the little blurbs in the Omaha World Herald but never know details. I get merciless ribbing from the asshole cornhusker fans that I work with but never know all of what I am receiving a beating for. On that note this is a classic example of just how good of a head coach that the Iowa program has. If this very thing would have happened in Lincoln NE during the T.O. era, those players would have stayed in Lincoln. T.O. would hide the evidence of wrong doing and in the end those players would go on to help the big red machine continue to win games. Kudos to Kirk for having the moral toughness to say goodbye to great talent (At least in DD’s case) for the good of the team.
I learned a great many things in the Marines that helped me as a football coach. The Marines train men hard and to do things the right way, just as a football team must train. - Hayden Fry
by NileKinnickIronman on Jan 27, 2010 12:47 PM CST reply actions
asshole cornhusker can be rearranged in fun yet insightful ways.
asshole cornhusker ……cornhole asshusker……..asscorn holehusker…….
and some may say that they all could describe Nebraska fans…not that I would ever do that.
If you feel like singing along, don't.
James Taylor
The most amazing thing about them....
…..is that most of them think that their shit does not stink. Some of my best friends in the world are Husker fans, but when it comes to talking football I have stopped with them. Much like religion and politics are taboo on this site, college football is taboo with them. Most of them fail to realize that the national championships and being considered an elite program are over. But to most NU fans the clock stopped somewhere in the early moments of 1998.
I learned a great many things in the Marines that helped me as a football coach. The Marines train men hard and to do things the right way, just as a football team must train. - Hayden Fry
by NileKinnickIronman on Jan 27, 2010 3:09 PM CST up reply actions
I was in Lincoln at a bar the day of the Iowa/Ohio State game this year.
I was wearing my Hawkeye hat and some guy started giving me shit about the Hawks losing earlier in the day. I said I was damn proud of the way they played even though they lost. He absolutely could not comprehend how I could be happy with my team even though they lost, and continued to ride me. I asked him how their game against Iowa State went. End of conversation.
by Kinnick Stadium is my Graceland on Jan 27, 2010 7:03 PM CST up reply actions
The only thing missing from that situation (especially in Douglas' case)
was Deion Sanders as the “mentor”.
"I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er." - Adrian Clayborn
by Smokin Herb Grigsby on Jan 27, 2010 3:14 PM CST reply actions
It's CITY BOYZ....
Starring…….Dominique Douglas, James Cleveland, Arvell Nelson, Anthony Bowman…..
And Deion Sanders, as “The Mentor.”
Put that on at 9 pm instead of Leno, and you’ve got yourself a hit.
"If you want to become a man--come to Iowa" All American IOWA LB PAT ANGERER, whose best friend is a dog.
by The Director on Jan 27, 2010 6:28 PM CST up reply actions
Really?
You ever see Noel Devine or Dez Bryant pulling this amateur horseshit?
I got more rhymes than Wade Lookingbill's got dunks
I apologize...
I suppose Travis Henry would’ve been the better choice.
"I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er." - Adrian Clayborn
by Smokin Herb Grigsby on Jan 28, 2010 1:54 AM CST up reply actions
Those facebook pictures were the straw that broke the camels back
or rivals back. It was the end of a longtime message board run for a lot of us. May you RIP BEOTCH.
Those times sucked cause
everywhere you went to talk about Iowa every other team fan would just rip on Iowa and talk shit about how Ferentz cant run a team or Iowa’s wheels were falling off. It also didnt help that Iowa wasnt good then either. Those were the dark days of the Aughts
"I believe I have the total package of speed, strength, and explosion," Adrian F@#kin Clayborn
It's unfair to characterize these young men
as irresponsible. No one ever points out that they had the wisdom and good judgment to incorporate City Boyz. Once they became City Boyz, Inc., they limited their liability (“bling” trading is a highly volatile enterprise), made capital easier to establish (um, just look at the pictures) and received a small business tax deduction (provided they claimed the Earnhardt jackets). I also heard they were able to set up a comprehensive health and dental plan that even covered complicated “grill” enhancements. In the end, it was their cut-rate photography for their publicity photos that did them in. Advertising is an investment, gentlemen!
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
This is only the 4th most ridiculous thing to happen in the past decade?
That’s ridiculous.
In the past 10 years, just four team owners have not paid a luxury tax and are not on pace to pay one this year: Donald Sterling, Jerry Reinsdorf, Chris Cohen (Golden State), Bob Johnson (Charlotte).
Two owners’ teams averaged an operating income of over +$10 million per year while their teams have lost over 60% of their games: Donald Sterling and Jerry Reinsdorf.
You clearly don't remember
Kirk Ferentz leaving to coach the Browns, Ravens, Cheifs and Seattle Sounders…
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Jan 27, 2010 6:29 PM CST up reply actions
Man, the only thing sadder would be a video of a sick puppy needing help or something
Barbara singing “Memories”, the pictures… now I can just see a sad little puppy with the runnies that needs a home.
My blog: http://www.gretainthebox.com
James Cleveland is now a team leader and mentor to younger players
At least that’s what I heard some announcer saying while watching a U of Houston game late in the season. Needless to say I was in a fit of laughter thinking about da City Boyz.
by Hank Thrasher on Jan 27, 2010 8:04 PM CST via mobile reply actions
Epilogue
Cleveland has done something. He had an excellent season at Houston, and has been a model citizen.
Douglas, on the other hand, got put back in the clink last summer for probation violation, then wrote a letter to the judge detailing how his punishment was curtailing his development as a man. Some people never get it.
Before you respond, let me remind you: Brian Cook called me smug, which makes me the Obama of smugness. I'm basically Smugbama.
by Patrick Vint on Jan 27, 2010 8:27 PM CST up reply actions
James Cleveland is happy to be home
"Gravity cannot be held responsible for Tiger's fall." -- Albert Einstein
Looks like ECU
got James Hardy’d
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Jan 29, 2010 2:55 AM CST up reply actions
Except that they won the game.
Which we could never do when Hardy went nutso.
"I want to be a cowboy. I don't want to be a panda. Pandas are boring, stupid and boring. Bad panda!"
Oy
I know my fellow black Hawkeyes are shaking their heads at these fools. Thank God we have Clayborn, Binns and McCann and their character. It’s a lot easier to recruit that way.
Damned if those pictures aren’t hilarious though.
by Guancous on Jan 27, 2010 9:30 PM CST via mobile reply actions
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