Bigger Rift: Ferentz/Barta & Iowa Fans, Or Perception & Reality?
by Adam Jacobi on Dec 14, 2010 11:38 PM CST
in Iowa Hawkeyes Football
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PrintWelp, today's Kirk Ferentz and Gary Barta press conference/evade-a-thon came and went, and while it might not have been satisfying to some (especially the rubbernecking types who really wanted things to get worse in order to validate their preconceptions), it was at least a way for Barta and Ferentz to address the horrible rumors surrounding the program in their own way. For better or worse.
Still, it was certainly just a little surreal to see Gary Barta up there talking about Iowa's drug testing policy for an aggregate of about half an hour, all while Kirk Ferentz groused about the Internet like some sort of neo-Luddite (except, y'know, he was right this time) and 80% of the reporters danced around the words "drug dealer."
So, how does the UI's official website title its transcript of the press conference?
Ferentz, Barta Talk Football
Okay, let's just ignore "adressed." Typos happen. We need to talk about "Ferentz, Barta Talk Football." Talk football? That's like saying The Wire is about wire.
The last thing Barta and Ferentz were talking about was football. Well, okay, that's not the last thing they were talking about--that would be something totally random like how many Four Lokos a Clydesdale can put down before things get a little too real--but as someone (and I wish I could remember who) pointed out, nobody was asking Ferentz about any fourth quarters yesterday, were they? Those guys wish they were talking football. They were talking drug policy and message control in the wake of a pretty large failure on both fronts. And of course, the UI's going to try to deflect the focus on that reality when it comes to sending press releases, but don't out-and-out lie to us, guys.
Ah, but that's not the only transparently ridiculous measure of damage control the UI did today.
HawkeyeSports.com, which is the 1980s-era Pravda of Iowa athletics, also issued a "State of the Union" after the press conference, excoriating pretty much everybody who has ever used the Internet for their role in this debacle, and if that sounds like an exaggeration, please, read on:
Here's a message for all the weblogs, internet forums, wikis and podcasts: the state of the University of Iowa football program is in excellent hands and the UI athletic program remains one of the nation's most proactive in terms of drug-testing.
[...] Never a fan of the internet or social media, Ferentz felt the need to clear the air with a press conference after reporters began calling parents of current Hawkeye players.
"That's really one of the reasons we got together today," Ferentz said. "I learned of some phone calls that were placed to some of our parents, some of the alarming content, just ridiculous questions they were asked. I'm not a huge fan of the social networks, but so much misinformation out there. I have no idea what's out there other than the feedback I got from maybe some parents; seemed like it was time to address this."
Now, look. As I mentioned earlier, Ferentz has a point; the disparity between what actually happened and what the rumors--which were as doom-filled as they were inescapable--suggested was imminent was so vast that Ferentz and Barta really had no choice but to hold this presser. If anything, they should have done it sooner. I heard things like 20 or even 27 suspensions coming, a massive drug ring involving [INSERT PRETTY MUCH ANY BLACK PLAYER REALLY] and several "prominate" local businessmen, every single player that was tested after DJK's arrest flunking his drug test, and more.
People, these things aren't true. They're lurid and shocking and the type of thing you hear and want to tell everybody about, but if Kirk Ferentz wants to turn this whole thing into a referendum on social media, he's going to win that fight without breaking a sweat. Message boards and social media are not reliable sources of good information. We don't report on them here at BHGP, we sure as hell don't at CBS unless it's from other professional media members, and we don't think any of you readers should be taking these rumors at face value until they're validated by someone with an actual professional reputation to uphold.
That said, this isn't the first time Ferentz has taken this tack, and the more the Internet proliferates as a medium of communication, the more he's going to come off as out of touch. Granted, that's hardly his primary concern now or ever, but he can easily hate the Internet without getting together with Barta and Iowa's lawyers to write that anti-Internet jeremiad thinly veiled as a "state of the union." Plenty of boosters, season ticket holders, and students use the Internet too, and they probably don't enjoy being told by the coach of their favorite team that they're awful people for wanting to find out more about the most jarring arrest in program history since Cedric Everson and Abe Satterfield allegedly sexually assaulted that freshman girl back in 2007. If Iowa wants to stem the tide of unsourced rumors, it needs to do a better job of setting the record straight offline and online, to old and new media members, and more quickly than holding some press conference and sending a bitchy press release six days after the shit started going down.
So whose side am I on? What's the point of picking one? The UI athletic department, for all its advances in using the Internet to promote its teams, proved itself to be extremely ill-equipped to deal with negative information and how fans cope with it online. And the way those fans cope with an absence of information is to pass along the worst things they hear. This is that fishbowl that drove Lute Olsen and his family out of Iowa City thirty years ago, and it's ridiculous. As athletic professionals, Barta and Ferentz need to be able to manage that. As supporters of the Hawkeyes, fans need to be able to keep their heads and not tell as many people as possible that DJK dealt drugs to all his friends while the staff pretended not to notice. Can we do that? Can we act like adults on both sides of the equation when there's even a hint of crisis? Please?
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Wait, wait...
The Wire isn’t about 12 gauge copper wire?
Going, going, going, going, going, going, going, going.... Alright, I'll stop for now.
I had to go back and watch the first 3 seasons after someone explained that to me
Ceci n'est pas un blogue.
by Adam Jacobi on Dec 14, 2010 11:45 PM CST up reply actions
I've never seen it.
Is it worthy of my attention?
Going, going, going, going, going, going, going, going.... Alright, I'll stop for now.
by EnergizerHawk on Dec 14, 2010 11:55 PM CST up reply actions
I'm working my way through the first season through Netflix right now
I would say yes, without a doubt. I also hear that it gets much better from here.
I'm doing the same w/ Netflix, and through four of five discs in Season 2...
…which I have enjoyed immensely. And, I’m told Season 2 is the weakest of the bunch.
Ceci n'est pas un blogue.
by Adam Jacobi on Dec 15, 2010 12:18 AM CST up reply actions
Season 2 isn't the weakest
it’s just that a lot of hardcore fans don’t like that it takes a break from the core “street” characters around whom much of the other 4 seasons revolve. When you finish the series you’ll look back on season 2 as a vital, if not entirely cohesive, entry into the Baltimore underworld. Plus, it’s got Ziggy feeding a duck liquor, how could that not be excellent?
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 11:37 AM CST up reply actions
Only if you like the best cops/gangs/drugs/politics tv show ever made.
Its really, really good.
“Omar’s coming…”
by HawkeyeRecon on Dec 15, 2010 7:39 AM CST up reply actions
Best TV drama ever made, period.
I spent half my life's earnings on wine, women & song. The other half I wasted.
by therealCatnuts on Dec 15, 2010 8:46 AM CST up reply actions
Beg to differ.
The Soprano’s had higher highs but also had much lower lows. The Wire was as consistently excellent as I’ve ever seen. Now had Deadwood actually ever had a proper ending then I might be willing to retract that…
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 11:39 AM CST up reply actions
This, a million times this
I still haven’t watched the last two episodes of Deadwood, just so it doesn’t ruin it for me.
I didn't order assholes with my whiskey
by White Lightning on Dec 15, 2010 6:04 PM CST up reply actions
Indeeeeed.
One of the best lines of all time. So simple, so awesome.
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.
Omar's coming!!!!!!
The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer in the dell
by HawkeyeRecon on Dec 15, 2010 8:54 AM CST up reply actions
The funny part of this particular thread?
I have a “Stuff White People Like” daily calendar. Today’s entry just happens to be The Wire. The conversation above is almost verbatim today’s entry. To wit,
Though white people have a natural aversion to television, there are some exceptions. For white people to like a TV show it helps if it is: critically acclaimed, low-rated, shown on premium cable, and available as a DVD box set.
The latter is important so that white people can order it from Netflix and tell their friends "they are really into and I watched ten episodes in a row in the weekend. I’m almost caught up."
If you attempt to talk about an episode they have not seen yet, they will scream and cover their ears. In white culture, giving away information about a film or TV series is considered as rude as spitting on your mothers grave. It is an unforgivable offense.
Recent series that have fallen into this category include The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and most recently The Wire.
For the past three years, whenever you say "The Wire" white people are required to respond by saying "it’s the best show on television." Try it the next time you see a white person! Though now they might say "it WAS the best show on television."
So why do they love it so much? It all comes down to authenticity. A long time ago, someone started a rumor that when The Wire is on TV, actual police wires go quiet because all the dealers are watching the show. Though this is not true, it seems plausible enough to white people and has imbued the show with the needed authenticity to be deemed acceptable.
The popularity of this show among white people has create a unique opportunity for personal gain.
If you need to impress a white person, tell them you are from Baltimore. They will immediately ask you about The Wire and how accurate it is. You should confirm that it is "like a documentary of the streets," the white person will then slowly shake their head and say "man" or "wow." You will be seen in an entirely new light.
If you are not from Baltimore but the white person you are talking to is, they might start asking you a lot of questions. In this situation, you should just say you left when you were young but you still have a lot of cousins there but you don’t like to go back to visit. This will remove all doubts and they can go back to telling you about how John from Accounting needs to "stop snitching" about their two hour lunch breaks.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
I missed a little of your response
because my shorties were holla’n downstairs and then I had to re-up my coffee cup.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 11:42 AM CST up reply actions
You honkies make me sick!
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:03 PM CST up reply actions
@HoyaGoon:
That is hilarious. I wish I owned a copy of that calendar. Almost as much as I wish I knew what it was like to be from West Baltimore.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 4:50 PM CST up reply actions
So
Anybody got a little white kid version of the “That’s Racist” gif?
by HawkeyeInExile on Dec 15, 2010 6:26 PM CST up reply actions
That's racist, sort of!
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 6:50 PM CST up reply actions
So where do you get a calender like that
I have a few people that I could give that to that would find that absolutely hilarious.
When I grow up I wanna be like Koeppel Knievel
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/
I don’t actually know if they sell calendars, but that’s the website
by Bryce Carlson on Dec 15, 2010 9:29 PM CST up reply actions
"They're not people, James Ingram. They're Jimmy Buffett fans."
by SomeJerkPoster on Dec 15, 2010 6:53 PM CST up reply actions
I can't help but wonder...
Is the Iowa Internet Rumor machine especially sensitive, given the tight-lipped nature of this program?
Given the Lute example, I'd say that's not a cause
Then again, I don’t remember if the athletic department was this tight lipped.
There have been rumors about everyone, perhaps except Gable and Dr. Tom.
I recall rumors that [name redacted] was having an affair with his secretary. I can only imagine the possible rumors of the George Raveling era.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 4:52 PM CST up reply actions
Well said, Adam.
I’m as guilty of getting caught in (and sorta perpetuating) the rumortornado as anyone. I’m glad cooler heads finally prevailed, and that things stayed pretty sane (and mostly very hilarious) here in the comment/panic threads. A lot of it was just shitty timing – people had a whole weekend to freak out and fluff the rumormonster and to think up awesome drug puns.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 14, 2010 11:56 PM CST reply actions
And for all the students out there like me
This has been a very effective form of procrastination from doing any true studying. So thank you for that rumormongering interwebz?
by A True Americanzi on Dec 15, 2010 12:49 AM CST up reply actions
Lots of time on your hands
…plus trying to explain away shitting the bed all year(sans Michigan State) = Rumor Milling Boom
Now if only we could profit from such production…kind of like those fucking magazines that say Arnold knocked up Oprah and whatever other nonsense they print.
Who's this "we"?
Ceci n'est pas un blogue.
by Adam Jacobi on Dec 15, 2010 12:11 AM CST up reply actions
Easy Thunder
I’m not saying BHGP here, I’m talkin the entire Hawkeye Fanbase Factory that went nuts for the last few days.
He also dominated Iowa State
so….ya know…….there’s that. still remember the iowa state fan going “woooo, were comin back baby!!!”
by justsomehawkeyefan on Dec 15, 2010 12:23 AM CST up reply actions
Thanks for that..
Thinking about that made me feel so much better… and those three chubby dootz bags in red body paint and capes that were most likely beaten up after the game?
Ah yes, fond memories of the psycho ISU fan whoi sat next to me.
He stormed off at half time after some dissed the ISU band.
“Not the band, man, not the band.”
by Stay thirsty, my friends. on Dec 15, 2010 11:07 AM CST up reply actions
Deal with it.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 5:08 PM CST up reply actions
There is profit
Both for this website and hawkeyenation for all the increased web traffic all the worriers brought in, checking up every 10 minutes for some new “breaking info” someone’s dad told them about over the weekend.
Note that both sites have been clear that they dont encourage such behavior, but they still benefit nonetheless
I would estimate the increased traffic on BHGP due to this recent fiasco to be worth about $5.
Hardly a king’s ransom.
by HawkeyeRecon on Dec 15, 2010 1:45 PM CST up reply actions
Depends on what you use that $5 for
Can get you a decent lunch. Or the shittiest (and shortest) trip to the Champagne Room at Baby Dolls ever.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
5 bucks might get you a pinner from our buddy DRUGS.
"You don't become a Hawkeye fan, You're born with Black and Gold in your veins." - Me
by BStylin Hawkye on Dec 15, 2010 2:19 PM CST up reply actions
A footlong?
I suggest you buy a sandwich with your drug money Internet bucks.
So what if I tailgate to the NPR jazz station?
A footlong?
I suggest you buy a sandwich with your drug money Internet bucks.
So what if I tailgate to the NPR jazz station?
All old people secretly hate the internet
Generalizations are fun
by justsomehawkeyefan on Dec 15, 2010 12:21 AM CST reply actions
Get off my lawn!
It never gets to be easy.
Why the fuck doesn't it ever get to be easy?
by chitownhawkeye on Dec 15, 2010 12:45 AM CST up reply actions
I heard an interesting take on the radio in Cedar Rapids.
A local radio guy who was a member of the print media during Fry’s tenure said that in Fry’s day he would show up to a press conference like this and totally lambaste the media. Fry didn’t have quite the shitstorm to deal with as what Ferentz has and it sounds like he handled it with a much less “cool head”.
Furthermore, Ferentz knows more about the whole “people contacting players’ parents” situation than we do. This is the really disturbing thing that took place. My guess is that it was the same internet people who try to get close to potential recruits and call their homes during the recruiting process trying to get “inside information” and break a story. That is probably where much of Ferentz’s “wrath” is coming from and it is understandable, in my opinion.
I understand that much of this is just “the internet being the internet” and there isn’t much that can be done about that. Also, Ferentz seems to have even more disdain than most coaches for internet activities but there have been several occasions where I have seen social media comments from collegiate athletes and wondered why in the world these kids are allowed to do this. This comes to mind immediately.
That may be, but who uses Twitter for Android,
When they can download TweetDeck for free?
by The Mexican't on Dec 15, 2010 2:09 PM CST up reply actions
@HawkCP
It seems natural, especially after we see people make mistakes with it, to question whether they should be allowed to use social media when they have a certain job, or a scholly, or whatever.
But how on earth would they enforce it if they said “Hawkeye players can not use Facebook, or Twitter, etc.”
There are LAWS against underage drinking or drugs, and it seems like plenty of players are not following those. Now, you want Chigozie Ejiasi keeping a tally of whether or not a player uses facebook or twitter?
Also, I can’t imagine a policy like that helping recruiting.
Finally, I wanted to agree with you, and I might be closer to Ferentz than most (I might be the only one left with a pre-paid cell phone that can’t get photos, much less internet). But it is just not realistic to expect a college football team to crackdown on social media too much and still keep any players happy.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 5:17 PM CST up reply actions
Ex-fucking-zactly
If Iowa wants to stem the tide of unsourced rumors, it needs to do a better job of setting the record straight offline and online, to old and new media members, and more quickly than holding some press conference and sending a bitchy press release six days after the shit started going down.
I have no expectations of fans, nor spectators of this situation.
To have the ugliest ‘possession of marijuana’ misdemeanor of all time, have become (both rationally and predictably so), the water-cooler what-if rumor-mill for the past week, is a media/public relations shit-storm that men in their position should have never let get as far as it has.
Ferentz really needs to start taking some responsibility of some of these predicable fuck-alls.
Hawks for the win and falafels for the vagina
by DoYouLoveHawksorHate'Merica? on Dec 15, 2010 1:00 AM CST reply actions
Nice article. The take I got from all this was the parent contact is what sent Kirk over the edge.
My take was DJK fucked up and was gone.
Hampton why stay at Iowa all his time here has been pain and suffering with a few bright moments. Why would you want to stay at a place that reminds you of pain( Vivian anyone)
Arob hey I warned you once about going to class maybe this will get your attention.
I am reminded of the line from the John Wayne film " The Quiet Man" …
Mary Kate : What manner of man is it that I have married?
Hugh Forbes: A better one, I think, than you know, Mary Kate.
I think we fans are Mary Kate and don’t know what we have got.
KF did put out a concise, clear statement about DJK.
But the various rumors and possible transfers just built to a point where they had to have a presser.
If they really wanted to deflate rumors, I guess they could easily tell people what the presser was going to be about (explaining drug-testing policies). They didn’t and that is about the only thing I could fault them for. And the responsibility for that type of thing falls way more on the AD than the coach.
They really can’t do much when 10 or 15 message boards start up a sh!tstorm. And to be honest, I don’ think I want the Iowa athletic department responding to every rumor that gets 1000 comments or 5000 page-views.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 5:22 PM CST up reply actions
Saw it last night and it was outstanding
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 7:54 AM CST up reply actions
It was outstanding
Why? At the end the ghosts of John Wayne and Robert Duvall gunned everyone down.
"Southern PA - We don't boast about our weather, because we don't want you here." - SarcasmJam
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 8:17 AM CST up reply actions
It kept the humor and wit of the dialogue in the book without sacrificing the stark violence of, you know, killings
Also, John Wayne was a hack. Yeah, I said it.
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 8:38 AM CST up reply actions
Of course he was a hack.
I’m pretty sure he admitted that once.
There is no Robert Duvall or John Wayne or old, dramatic movie music, so it is inferior unless one is a revisionist.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 9:09 AM CST up reply actions
Wow
I just watched your clip and it illustrated how much better this True Grit is. Bridges delivered lines as they were written. Wayne randomly says his lines like he’s squinting at a cue card under his eye patch.
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 9:19 AM CST up reply actions
I swear I'm going to stalk you.
What’s next? “We should remake Dirty Harry with Matt Damon. Matt delivers his lines so much better.”
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 11:32 AM CST up reply actions
I had to get tetanus shots at the Winterset Hospital after being attacked by a dog.
They don’t even have a doctor in the building on the weekends; they had to call the guy in! I’m blaming John Wayne by association. Plus, I’d take Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman or the Big Lebowski over The Fighting Seabees, Hatari! or The Longest Day any day of the week.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 11:46 AM CST up reply actions
If you'd take The Big Letsleavebecausethismovieisgoingnowhere over The Longest Day, then it just proves you're a stuck up posh twit.
And perhaps even a communist.
Name me one Cohen Brother film with Sean Connery willingly playing a minor role, man.
Also, I kinda like the Cohen Brothers, but the only line that compares to “The enemy will give you no breaks. Send him to Hell.” is any scene from Fargo where Marge utters that glorious accent.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 1:43 PM CST up reply actions
The Big Lebowski is an amazing movie.
The Longest Day is very good as well. One has Nazi’s and one has nihilists.
“Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.”
by HawkeyeRecon on Dec 15, 2010 1:49 PM CST up reply actions
Big Lebowski is overrated
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great film, but too many guys under the age of 45 (now) are waaaaaay to into it. These being the same guys that had a movie poster of “Swingers” on their dorm-room door and spent all of freshmen year walking around saying “It’s money, baby!”
BTW, my favorite anecdote about Big Lebowski is that the Coen brothers wanted The Dude to have an iconic drink like the scotch-swilling detectives in film noir movies and deliberately selected a White Russian because they thought it was the most foul drink possible. So, to all the guys that immediately started drinking White Russians religiously after the movie was released, the Coen brothers are laughing at you.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
Then I guess I'm in the clear
because I hate White Russians (the drinks, not the people) and Swingers may be in my Top 10 Most Irritating Films list. The Big Lebowski is great but probably not even one of the Coen’s 3 best movies.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 2:09 PM CST up reply actions
Agreed.
“Fargo” is better.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:06 PM CST up reply actions
So is Raising Arizona
and I have a weird soft spot for both “The Man Who Wasn’t There” and “The Hudsucker Proxy”
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 4:07 PM CST up reply actions
I love TMWWT.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:25 PM CST up reply actions
A Serious Man is the worst movie I've seen in a decade
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 4:09 PM CST up reply actions
It's definitely terrible.
I was extremely excited to see it, but nearly walked into traffic once it was over.
by The Mexican't on Dec 15, 2010 4:36 PM CST up reply actions
"Lebowski"...
and Raising Arizona are both the type of movie that you either love, or quickly dismiss. You can tell there was plenty of effort put into the crafting of each, and yet, if it isn’t your thing, that effort won’t matter to you. I like both, and I think I like them both better than Fargo (although Fargo is decent-to-good).
I hate Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink, and I thought the No Country ending was almost as big a travesty as the final Sopranos episode.
I have a friend that won’t drink a standard light beer, but will order a $5 white russian. I laugh at him (although, I have never drank a white russian, so what do I know?) I should ask him his enjoyment of the beverage was related to the film.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 5:32 PM CST up reply actions
Freaking No Country
One of my favorite books ever and those smarmy assholes had to destroy the end of the movie.
FYI – if you liked No Country you should check out The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 7:19 PM CST up reply actions
so if the end of the movie wasn't like the book
how did it end, or is it worth going out and buying/checking out the book to read it myself?
When I grow up I wanna be like Koeppel Knievel
Meh
The movie is fairly true to the book except it cut out a bunch of rambling at the end. Both the movie and the book have the same big jump in the middle that leaves everyone scratching their head and wondering what the hell just happened.
by HawkeyeInExile on Dec 15, 2010 7:26 PM CST up reply actions
Ok, I'll take your word for it.
I thought the movie was decent, but it definitely was not my favorite Coen brothers movie.
When I grow up I wanna be like Koeppel Knievel
Tommy Lee Jones' character was not the protagonist in the book
Read the book is what I’d say
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 7:31 PM CST up reply actions
I decided
to make you a special project of mine.
Excuse me for my bellicosity. And spelling. Bellicosity and spelling.
by Blackheartnopants on Dec 15, 2010 9:21 PM CST up reply actions
The Coen's may consider White Russians "foul"
but I still say they’re delicious.
by The Mexican't on Dec 15, 2010 2:14 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah, they definitely have their place and time (in my belly, right now!)
When me and my then fiancee first watched that movie, we decided to make white Russians using a method I learned in college (not of that bourgeois mixing one drink at a time crap. So we bought a gallon of whole milk, dumped 3/5 of it down the drain, added a fifth of Kaluha and topped off with vodka.
It was a night to remember.
by The Final Gun on Dec 15, 2010 2:50 PM CST up reply actions
"It was a night to remember."
Or not, depending on how many you had.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
so what is a good movie then?
if The Big Lebowski isn’t one of them?
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shelby
twitter.com/dmbmeg
Maybe I'm not reading something properly.
Did anyone say it wasn’t good?
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:39 PM CST up reply actions
...Hoya Good just said it was overrated.
Also,
The Big Letsleavebefore…
???
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shelby
twitter.com/dmbmeg
But that doesn’t mean it’s not good. Good movies can seemingly be confused, in my opinion.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:42 PM CST up reply actions
you wanted to leave a good movie early cause it's going nowhere?
Am I missing something here?
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shelby
twitter.com/dmbmeg
I know it makes no sense.
I’m just not willing to say that movie isn’t good. I just don’t like it.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:44 PM CST up reply actions
I was just confused. Thanks for clarifying
I loved TBL, but I can also see how it’s not everyone’s taste. Keep in mind though I also saw Burlesque in the theaters and loved that too.
Show me how you burlesque, bitches!
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shelby
twitter.com/dmbmeg
sigh, Hoya Goon. Long day already, people.
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shelby
twitter.com/dmbmeg
Allow me to make a bad joke:
You were just channeling Mutombo.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:43 PM CST up reply actions
Jinx Rock?
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:44 PM CST up reply actions
No, that read like an Alonzo Mourning monologue:
Hoya good, Orange bad.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:43 PM CST up reply actions
Wasn't that his SAT score?
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:45 PM CST up reply actions
Someone needs to change their name to HoyaGood now.
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shelby
twitter.com/dmbmeg
I think Glenlivit is overrated
it doesn’t mean it isn’t good.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:42 PM CST up reply actions
Any Glen will do. Fat Tire will not.
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:49 PM CST up reply actions
THIS!!!
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:50 PM CST up reply actions
YES!
I was sorely disappointed the first time I had Fat Tire. Not because it wasn’t a good beer, it is, but because it had been so built up by so many people that I fully expected it to make Ambrosia taste like piss water.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
I LOVED Fat Tire the first few (dozen) times I had it.
That love has decreased since. It’s okay, just not superterrificawesome.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 10:24 PM CST up reply actions
Fat Tire is easliy my favorites beer!
Too bad I live in a state where you can’t get the shit.
"The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride!" HST
Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
Hacker Pschorr Braumeister Pils
Three Floyds Robert the Bruce
St. Bernadus Abt 12
Drink those and then tell me that fat tire is still easliy your favorites beer.
Fat Tire isn’t even the best beer that NB makes. Try their 1554 Black Ale or their IPA
Brunettes not fighter jets
Just had 1554. Very good.
I’ll be honest; I’m a fan of Delerium Tremons or whatever it’s called.
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.
There has to be
a Stuff White People Like entry about craft beers, correct? I love that site.
I spent half my life's earnings on wine, women & song. The other half I wasted.
by therealCatnuts on Dec 16, 2010 10:54 AM CST up reply actions
I have tried most of those you have listed
except: Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock & St. Bernadus Abt 12.
Their 1554 Black Ale is a great beer, kinda forgot about that one. It has been awhile since I have had some. I have never tried their IPA.
That being said, I still say Fat Tire is my favorite beer.
"The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride!" HST
Don't get me wrong
I think Big Lebowski is great. I just don’t think it’s one of the greatest. movies. ever.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
Really, because if you love the Longest Day
then you think war is like Risk; organized, clean and easily put out of sight and mind when you’re finished with it. Many vets found the John Wayne war movies insulting to the sacrifices they’d made with their unrealistic, glossy portrayals of warfare. Yes, I’m aware that films were under certain restrictions, both social and technical, due to the time in which they were made. However, just because they are old doesn’t make them good. If you ever have the chance to see the documentary about Zannuck’s making of The Longest Day you may end up liking it much less.
You like movies that make you feel good, I like movies that are good. To each their own.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 2:03 PM CST up reply actions
I don't love The Longest Day. I like it. I like Fargo and O Brother more, as a matter of fact.
I just really don’t care at all for The Big Lebowski and find anything with Sean Connery superior. Excluding Red October, maybe, because I don’t like McTiernan that much.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:37 PM CST up reply actions
I like Sean Connery...a lot, even.
But Medicine Man? Highlander? League of Extraordinary Gentleman? C’mon…
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:39 PM CST up reply actions
I like cheesy movies.
So, yes to the first two.
I guess I will cede the last one because the last one never happened. The Big Lebowski is certainly better than a movie that doesn’t exist.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:41 PM CST up reply actions
Is that because you're trying to forget it
or because I omitted the “The” at the beginning of the title?
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:41 PM CST up reply actions
Both. Without question.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:42 PM CST up reply actions
Comparing Clint to John Wayne is like comparing 15 yr-aged Scotch to 15 yr-aged milk
And no one is talking about remaking Dirty Harry. Please.
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:32 PM CST up reply actions
No one is talking about remaking Dirty Harry yet. Clint is still alive.
There is not a doubt in my mind Hollywood will remake that movie about ten years after Clint dies.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:34 PM CST up reply actions
Well then we will table this discussion for 40 years
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:46 PM CST up reply actions
Certainly.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:46 PM CST up reply actions
PLEASE DO NOT REMAKE ANY CLINT EASTWOOD MOVIES AGAIN. EVER.
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Shelby
twitter.com/dmbmeg
I'd remake Million Dollar Baby
Only it’d be Billion Dollar Baby and it would be an actual baby knocking fools out.
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:53 PM CST up reply actions
As long as it uses the sound effects of the Six Million Dollar Man
"You don't become a Hawkeye fan, You're born with Black and Gold in your veins." - Me
by BStylin Hawkye on Dec 15, 2010 4:06 PM CST up reply actions
and you just got yourself a producer credit
None of that talking baby bullshit like those etrade commercials. An actual human baby will be trained to box and beaten (when necessary for the scene).
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 4:11 PM CST up reply actions
Any Which Way But Loose?
Excuse me for my bellicosity. And spelling. Bellicosity and spelling.
by Blackheartnopants on Dec 15, 2010 9:24 PM CST up reply actions
Now that you mention it
There has been a dearth of movies with a chimpanzee or orangutan sidekick lately.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
And something else
I think Leone was right about Clint. He’s kind of a statue. He plays the same character in every movie.
Just like someone else we were talking about…
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:38 PM CST up reply actions
I find myself in the unenviable position of discovering, only now, that I'm discussing movies with someone who's high as fuck
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:47 PM CST up reply actions
I've felt like I'm WaterlooChazz throughout this whole "debate".
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:49 PM CST up reply actions
Not exactly Lincoln/Douglas, to be sure
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:52 PM CST up reply actions
Cam Newton/Rich Rodriguez
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:52 PM CST up reply actions
Timmy/Jimmy
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:53 PM CST up reply actions
High DJK/Drunk Riley Reiff
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:54 PM CST up reply actions
Thanks for the pot-shot, ass.
I daresay that deserves a
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 5:42 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
And that is unlike Connery how?
Except for in “Last Crusade”, that’s a departure.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:48 PM CST up reply actions
Remember when Wesley Snipes
was a legitimate actor? Neither do I. Here Leavenworth has a GREAT theater program though.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
That's kinda my point.
I love Clint, Wayne, and Connery equally and I can’t fathom saying Clint is a better actor than Wayne. He just walks around and talks and shoots people and it’s awesome.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:49 PM CST up reply actions
I just want the remake
of Every Which Way But Loose.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:47 PM CST up reply actions
So long as I get to be a biker!
“Dems Black Widows!”
/scene
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:48 PM CST up reply actions
Who would play Clyde?
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:49 PM CST up reply actions
[looks 4 commets up thread]
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:51 PM CST up reply actions
Yeah...he's one hairy Scotsman.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:51 PM CST up reply actions
No. Bronco Billy.
So he can do another duet with Merle Haggard. shudder.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:50 PM CST up reply actions
Who would play Merle Haggard?
Steve Earle?
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:50 PM CST up reply actions
Who?
Merle Haggard. Period.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:51 PM CST up reply actions
I love Johnny Cash
but it’s funny as Hell when Haggard called him out on writing a prison song.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:53 PM CST up reply actions
Not as funny as when The Hag did impersonations of Johnny and three or four other guys at one concert.
His Hank Snow is perfect. Perfect.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:53 PM CST up reply actions
How's his Al Snow?
/obscure WWF’d
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:54 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
This blog needs more of that tag.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:55 PM CST up reply actions
Was that the guy with the sock?
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 3:55 PM CST up reply actions
That was Mankind/Cactus Jack/Mick Foley.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:56 PM CST up reply actions
My wresting knowledge is limited to yelling What at people.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 3:56 PM CST up reply actions
All I know
is that this particular thread is much more enjoyable than the rest of the grownup talk.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 4:00 PM CST up reply actions
I'm totally ignoring everything else.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 4:00 PM CST up reply actions
Oh, also, McCann't
Miami hired Al Golden, as I’m sure you know. Luther Campbell’s response was, IIRC, “We are the U and we hire who?”
Penn State – 1
Miami fans – 0
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 4:02 PM CST up reply actions
I'm surprised he isn't an Iowa fan:
“Me so Orney, me not play in long time”
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 4:04 PM CST up reply actions
Well, it'll turn out ok for him.
Golden already appears to be defeating us in recruiting.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 4:06 PM CST up reply actions
I'm familiar with Sable
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 4:00 PM CST up reply actions
She's a chestier, lamer knock-off
of Miss Elizabeth…OK, I really only know wrestling from ‘86-’92 and then again from ‘98-’99 (the year in Currier kind of made RAW unavoidable)
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 4:02 PM CST up reply actions
R.I.P.
[kisses fingers and points to sky]
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 4:12 PM CST up reply actions
Is Currier a dorm?
Because that pretty much fits my wrestling experience to a T.
"They're not people, James Ingram. They're Jimmy Buffett fans."
by SomeJerkPoster on Dec 15, 2010 7:13 PM CST up reply actions
Oh, and I would be about 99% accurate if challenged to a game of Dead or Alive: Pro Wrestlers
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 4:01 PM CST up reply actions
Head FTW
I didn't order assholes with my whiskey
by White Lightning on Dec 15, 2010 6:12 PM CST up reply actions
Fuck John Wayne.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:05 PM CST up reply actions
Soyuz nerushimy to you too, comrade.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 4:07 PM CST up reply actions
If I hadn't met you
I’d think you were Chuck D
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 4:08 PM CST up reply actions
Straight-out racist that sucka was simple & plain
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:10 PM CST up reply actions
wasnt he the park ranger
in “The God’s Must Be Crazy?”
If Sarah Palin were any smarter rocks would be in trouble
Ferentz's attitude; Seeming angry and incredulous about fans being...SUPRISE...interested in the team really gets under my skin
It’s like a bartender acting surprised about drunks. Or a trucker being shocked by traffic. Or a repairman getting furious at seeing things broken.
For god’s sake….it is part of the job.
Blaming the same fan support that caused the interest/rumors in this story; The flip-side of the same support that pays his paycheck, and gives him one of the cushiest coaching jobs in the country, just irritates the be-Jesus out of me.
He should really know that you take the good, You take the bad, You take them both, and there you have the facts of fucking life.
For christ sake….Mrs. Garrison could tell him this shit
Hawks for the win and falafels for the vagina
by DoYouLoveHawksorHate'Merica? on Dec 15, 2010 1:22 AM CST reply actions
So whose side am I on?
I am on the side of progress. Because to be on any other side is ludicrous and a sure but steady slow death.
Kirk Ferentz has probably never been to Mainz, Germany but if he had he would learn it was there that Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg invented mechanical movable type printing. And if Ferentz is going to be pissed at anyone, he needs to be pissed at that guy. Because the last I checked that is where mass communication technology started. Now, you don’t think a few people tried to slow down this train?
What happened yesterday struck me as a cruel metaphor for this football program in general. A coach, grumbling about technology, grumbling about people having opinions and attitudes and a means to express them publicly. A coach notorious for squelching his players and exerting a borderline medieval effort at controlling information thinking he could have his most high profile player he has ever coached get arrested and then wait almost a week to discuss it with any depth to anyone.
Kirk, you got what you deserved and frankly your ability to sign on with the times, to me, is going to be a direct reflection of your ability to grow as a football coach. Because know this, while we all know you don’t take kindly to all this fancy internet chatter, it is not going away. And while you don’t take kindly to progress it moves forward, with you or without you. No too much like other avenues of progress like, say, trickery as de rigueur in serious game planning or spread offenses or a fucking blitz or pitch play.
Time waits for no man and it has taken down many better coaches than you. Good luck trying to control the new media (you’ll lose that one) but I really wish you even better luck catching up with the inventiveness of your coaching colleagues.
"I wish you luck with a capital 'F'" - The Real Elvis.
by StoopsMyAss on Dec 15, 2010 6:50 AM CST reply actions 5 recs
As always
SMA you make some great points. I think it is safe to say that the fanbase feels this way as a whole.
"The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride!" HST
Agreed
And if he does want to avoid media he can always coach somewhere like Williams or Minnesota where no one cares about the football team. That is an option. The big buck jobs are commensurate with the scrutiny and attention you receive in said position.
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 7:58 AM CST up reply actions
Six days....he sat.
I’m fairly sure in pre-fucking-cable television days that would have been too long. Only in pre-fucking-cable television days Kirk could have remained oblivious while the entire recruiting class burned to the ground. There is some real interesting irony in all this.
"I wish you luck with a capital 'F'" - The Real Elvis.
He probably hates cable TV too.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:11 PM CST up reply actions
Also hates the talkies
Silent film is where it’s at for Kirk.
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 4:13 PM CST up reply actions
Yeah, but sometimes those live piano players at the nickelodeon gussy it up a little too much.
A fella’ can only take so many trilled notes and ragtime chords before he just can’t take it anymore.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:27 PM CST up reply actions
In fairness...
KF was expecting people (media, fans, and whoever was calling parents) to not be retarded, to not be dickheads, and to not be retarded dickheads.
Unfortunately, so many of us were listening to anything and everything. Some idiot (idiots?) were calling parents, and the media didn’t have any access at that time, and just added to the fire by posting player facebook comments. (Sorry Morehouse and Hlas, but that was semi-professional at best).
Is KF have an attitude that is too anti-tech? Maybe. But it might be based on idea that many of us spend way too much time with our phones, our computers, our facebook walls, and our texting and twittering. He has a life, and he hopes you get one too.
Finally, sometimes I wonder what KF can do at this point that wouldn’t piss off Stoops, or HoyaGoon, or many others around here. If KF somehow ended the conflict in Afghanistan tomorrow, some of us would make posts that wondered why he didn’t do it 3 weeks ago.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 6:04 PM CST up reply actions
KF is getting a poor job review. It happens.
Last year, he got a sensational job review. Thankfully, that happens too!
"I wish you luck with a capital 'F'" - The Real Elvis.
I am glad you put it that way.
I like to think of it that way.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 7:13 PM CST up reply actions
Don't be so melodramatic
Just because I question some things/choices by Ferentz it doesn’t mean I don’t think he isn’t, generally, doing a good job. It’s just that he (and all of us in anything) could be doing better.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
agree with you Chazz
Not liking the China Syndrome-like meltdown that flamed out this week does not make one a caveman. I did not like it either. It was insanity that spread beyond social media.
by GMcNhawkeye on Dec 16, 2010 1:40 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
It could be worse
This reminds me of the 30 for 30 doc on SMU that aired this past weekend. The scrutiny of the program there was so high in the ‘80s because were two major metropolitan newspapers with awesome staffs battling each other for readers. In the big scheme of thing, KF doesn’t really have that tough of a media environment to deal with. There are two (three if you count the Register) smallish papers, fan sites, and message boards. It’s a small town, so gossip will get around, but it’s not like Woodward and Bernstein are on their ass.
People are pretty forgiving of the team here, so it seems like as long as they are forthright and stay in front of the rumors, fans will be satisfied.
by Horace E. Cow on Dec 15, 2010 8:35 AM CST up reply actions
Wait a minute!
You don’t think Woodward would write an article based on Nixon’s gnarled thumb versus John Dean’s manicures?
/sorry, Morehouse.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 5:52 PM CST up reply actions
What I think KF fails to understand
(First, great post SMA. Thumbs up, agree 110 percent).
Or maybe he doesn’t understand it well enough, is that the world outside the very small box he’s forced to live in as a major college football program coach has become much more complex since he started coaching in the 1980s.
I think there’s (let’s steal a Ferentzism here) “no question” that the days of being able to isolate the players and yourself from the media and the influence of the world at large probably ended right around the time KF was hired. Actually, probably before that, but the world of the Internet has exploded in the last decade; access is everywhere, and I see people far older than KF here in California madly texting on their Crackberries and iPhones and likely surfing as well. Whether you like it, or not, a more connected world is becoming the norm, not the abnormal, and recruiting and how you conduct the press relations of a program will change, or, as you’ve said, coaches that refuse to change will get eaten and spit out in small, very bloody chunks.
For $3 million plus per year, if I were Barta, I’d be bringing in – whether Kirk likes it, or not – some media coaches to work with the staff and AD and teach everyone how to deal with this strange new world that they’re living in. I look at the Iowa AD site and quite frankly, its pretty retarded IMHO, not very well organized, or set up. Don’t tell me that there’s not at least a couple of dozen hot shot internet geeks out there that are from Iowa, love it, and wouldn’t give a kidney to do some cutting edge site work. (Hell, I’d argue this site – where you guys are, for the most part, volunteering your time – is better than the site the AD has up now in terms of being an honest source of information when you have it confirmed. I’d also argue that high quality fan sites such as BHGP also function as a reality check on the ADs of not only Iowa, but other colleges as well).
I’m not saying Kirk has to quit being Kirk, but the AD needs and all of the programs need a response plan beyond silence when the rumors start flying out of control, and its not that big of a deal to put a plan/system in place to deal with this. After all, Kirk is a system guy, right?
But to think, like in your printing press/moveable type example, that you’re going to shut down the power of the Internet, this is just like China and Iran trying to block freedom of speech amongst their own citizens. Its a losing proposition once enough computers and sat phones are out there. People are going to figure out a way around the technological restrictions in those circumstances, and hell, here we are talking about NO technological restrictions.
I mean, I do appreciate the tough spot he’s and the AD department’s in when there’s an issue of wild rumor control like this and you can read the entire presser the other way, which is they took their time reacting because, well, the smoke and the fire were completely imaginary on the part of the fanbase.
(Now watch all of the shit blow up in the next week or after the bowl game).
One thing I think we can safely take to heart, the rumor mongering aside, is that in this age of nearly instant communications, its going to be extremely difficult for any athletic program anywhere to sweep a scandal under the rug once the collective camel herd’s noses are under the tent.
In some ways, this weird holding of the cards so close to the chest is a style of doing business, so to speak, that is going to be difficult to continue doing in a more connected world, because even if you are doing nothing more than being private, it makes it look as if you are hiding something.
Kirk could truly benefit – I think the entire program could benefit – from being a little more open and realizing that while the spreading of rumors by the fanbase is a dumb thing, we as a group are not stupid, and if you treat us like we are stupid, sooner or later this is going to come back and bite you hard in the ass big-time.
Again, for $3 million per year, I think we should expect better from the AD and KF in terms of treating the fanbase how they are getting treated with the paycheck. Respecting the fanbase (and that doesn’t mean caving to unreasonable demands) goes a long ways towards ensuring that fanbase doesn’t turn on you everytime a bird poops on the freshly washed car.
Guess what?! I got a fever, and the only prescription...is more cowbell!!
by The Bird Cult on Dec 15, 2010 9:55 AM CST up reply actions
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
You do raise some valid concerns, but let’s look at this realistically.
Where does the AD draw the line? Any tool with access to a computer can post a rumor about something, and any number of people can retweet it almost immediately. Is it on the AD to respond to each and every insinuation, however completely unfounded, in a timely manner? And how quickly is a timely manner? Over a weekend isn’t quick enough, obviously, given the amount of negative reaction. 24 hours? 12 hours?
Do you think the AD also has the responsibility to investigate whether there is any factual basis to damning rumors like this? How long do you think they should have to contact people and follow up on believable rumors to make sure there is no fire to the smoke? Should they come out and deny things right away and risk being made to look like an ass (*cough*Alford*cough)? Or should they hold a press conference where they say “we’re still looking into it,” which will accomplish nothing but add more garbage-fuel to dumpster fires like this latest spate of rumor-mongering?
I mean, where do you draw the line? Just because we can all readily access information, it doesn’t automatically follow that the AD is obliged to provide us with information at our whim. At some point, we, as consumers of information, need to learn to filter it ourselves.
Brunettes not fighter jets
The issue isn't responding to EVERY rumor or post
But instead staying ahead of things and providing information more readily than they do now. Rumors operate and thrive in a vaccuum, when there is nothing out there to compete with their retelling or contradict them. The problem with KF/Barta/Iowa in this case wasn’t what was said, it was the fact that nothing was said. I’m sorry, but in this day and age you can’t just sit back and ignore significant developments. And in the wake of a hugely popular and all-time player getting arrested for drugs, you have to expect that stories will be swirling. It is in your best interest to get out there and get ahead of the story, not wait for a shitstorm to brew up then try and beat down rumors. A good 80% of yesterday’s press conference could have taken place last week the day following DJK’s arrest. THAT is when a discussion of Iowa’s testing procedures and the like really would have helped. Instead, we got nothing so when subsequent events (that turned out to be unrelated) happened, people starting drawing connections that weren’t there. If you’re Ferentz/Barta and don’t realize that’s going to happen or can’t anticipate that, then there are some serious questions about your competency.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
With two minutes of work yesterday I discovered that one of the most pernicious sources of rumor yesterday was a website retweeting everything that was posted (even when it was self-identified as speculation) in a thread about Iowa football as fact.
From there it was quickly picked up by people watching a Twitter feed for #hawkeyes or #Iowa and spread like wildfire.
Here’s a thought. Maybe if Iowa football had a Twitter account they could have been watching these things develop along with the rest of the state and put things to rest quickly with one message saying: “It is not true that additional players have been suspended due to drug tests, press release forthcoming, press conference tomorrow.”
That would have spread like crazy too.
by The Final Gun on Dec 15, 2010 2:55 PM CST up reply actions
Wow
that is an amazingly simple, effective idea. Which means we’ll never do it. And too many people here today will say that we would be wrong to do it. And why are you asking so many questions?
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
Its almost as good of an idea as putting in a nickel package in obvious passing situations in the 4th quarter
Nah. That’d never work, so they’ll never do it.
Guess what?! I got a fever, and the only prescription...is more cowbell!!
by The Bird Cult on Dec 15, 2010 6:38 PM CST up reply actions
THIS WOULD BE UNACCEPTABLE BECAUSE TWITTERS IS BAD AND THE INTERNET AND THE DEVIL
ALSO VELCRO AND DUCK’S TAIL HAIRCUTS AND TEN-SPEED BIKES.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:12 PM CST up reply actions
The sad truth is that Iowa Football DOES have a Twitter account.
I follow it. They just post the same PR-type of things that Hawkeyesports.com does. like congratulating players when named All-Americans and the like. They obviously don’t have a good strategy around the use of their social media and/or really don’t know how to use it to their advantage.
Blame Harris.
"They're not people, James Ingram. They're Jimmy Buffett fans."
by SomeJerkPoster on Dec 15, 2010 7:18 PM CST up reply actions
RECC, BABY!
The presser came off as out of touch, defensive, and clueless. KF sounded old.
At least he didn't say ...
“I don’t care what the fans tweet on eBay.”
Excuse me for my bellicosity. And spelling. Bellicosity and spelling.
by Blackheartnopants on Dec 15, 2010 9:43 PM CST up reply actions
DJK is the most high profile player KF has coached?
Since G-Berg started this print shit I’ve never disasgreed with any statement further than this.
"GO HAWKS!" - only cure for Hawkeye Envy
by BentNotBroken on Dec 15, 2010 11:01 PM CST up reply actions
Perfect.
How many four lokos a Clydesdale can put down before things get a little too real.
Thank you for my best laugh in a long time.
by Third Generation Hawk on Dec 15, 2010 7:44 AM CST reply actions
But who will play Clint Eastwood?
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:13 PM CST up reply actions
Your mom.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 4:15 PM CST up reply actions
/You'd
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:28 PM CST up reply actions
The problem
The dire rumors didn’t magically appear out of thin air. Some fat loser with too much time on his hands who wanted notoriety typed them into a blog comment section or forum post. The problem is that the internets grant these nobodies a voice equal to that of trustworthy folks with real hearsay, and that “legitimate” news sources then have to follow them up as if they were actual rumors. Five different people you know come up to you and say “did you hear about…?” No, I didn’t hear about it. I read it from the same post from the exact same troglodyte that they did. But then you hear the same thing from so many people and it starts to be believable. In the days before the internet, you might hear something from someone at a bar who was trying to troll you. But you’d be able to see them face to face, and you’d probably see someone who was just looking for attention, or had had a few too many. I can’t abide laying this at the feet of the AD’s message control. It’s squarely the problem of those fans and journalists who eat this shit up, who desperately want apocalyptic rumors to be true to validate some ridiculous insecurity or agenda they have. Even moreso, it’s the fault of the “fans” who make the shit up. And, granted, the context of these rumors was one conducive to their propagation, but you have to step back and look at the big picture.
I remember when Drew Tate slipped on the ice and broke his leg before the bowl game. Remember that? Dozens of people at work spoke to me around the watercooler about how boned we were. My response was always the same, “until it comes from the mouths of the coaches, it’s not true.” And it turned out that it was just another stupid rumor. But it frightened me how many people believed it.
Everything on the internet is false until proven otherwise. And calling kids’ parents is not the way to prove otherwise. There’s a difference between journalism and gullibility. What people need to do is note the people that start these rumors, and when they don’t bear out, completely ignore and ridicule anything those people say in the future. Whoever first typed “I heard from someone close to the program that there are 27 players and a drug ring involving local businesses” needs to be a laughingstock. The problem is that those people will just slink back into the anonymity of an internet handle and keep on brewing up lies about Iowa football.
Brunettes not fighter jets
by rockyh on Dec 15, 2010 8:47 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
That's Fatist
Why does the loser always have to be fat?
Perhaps my best years are gone... but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.
by jebushchrist on Dec 15, 2010 8:54 AM CST up reply actions
Your mocking just reinforces my problem eating.
"They're not people, James Ingram. They're Jimmy Buffett fans."
by SomeJerkPoster on Dec 15, 2010 7:20 PM CST up reply actions
I'm more in line with rockyh on this than most of the commenters here, I think
Pardon me if I missed your precise points, but I agree that the rumor mill is its own beast and it’s not the coaches’ job to sniff out every little rumor. That’s the reason we have real media (for now), and the responsibility of fans to sort through the “my cousin’s friend is their roommate” bullshit, or at least take it with a pound of salt before going apeshit about it.
I thought Ferentz did a masterful job of nipping a complete rumor in the bud in about 36 hours, Sunday night to Tuesday morning. That’s pretty damn fast. Not Twitter-fast, it’s fucking lightning fast for real news and message control.
I spent half my life's earnings on wine, women & song. The other half I wasted.
by therealCatnuts on Dec 15, 2010 8:57 AM CST up reply actions
Yeah, generally agree, but
the part that was missing from the press release suspending DJK was reassuring the fans, students, recruits that they have a testing program in place. My first thought when DJK tested positive for the cops was, “doesn’t the school/NCAA test?, how’d he get by that?” If they include something in the suspension release that players are tested regularly, then I think it goes a long way in damage prevention and avoids the 90 min lecture on testing protocol.
I agree with you and rockyh that these “friend of a friend whose roommate dated a player” sources are their own beast. You have to take that for what it is and take a “I’ll believe it when I see it” approach.
Everyone knows God is a Hawkeye
I dunno about that
I look at the Gazette and they had no less than 3 stories about the U of I’s drug policy, how they spend $70k a year on testing the football program, etc. The day after the arrest, Fred Mims put out a news release stating exactly what you are asking for.
Brunettes not fighter jets
Yeah.
It’s not Ferentz’s fault a bunch of idiots acted like idiots and then we all believed it. It’s not a failure of the program to ‘update for the times’ because some dummies made up some reports and then it blew up into whatever happened over the past few days. Its funny how little the damage was, but people are still upset at the coaching staff because of the rumors they helped start and perpetuate.
by DisplacedHawkeye82 on Dec 15, 2010 10:50 AM CST up reply actions
Not fair, but still their responsibility.
It’s not a failure of the program to ‘update for the times’ because some dummies made up some reports and then it blew up into whatever happened over the past few days.
If I were the manager of a restaurant and some local food critic or rival restauranteur started spreading rumors that we served dog or had a roach infestation then it would be completely unfair. But it would also be my responsibility to stand up and get the word out that the allegations are false and not just let them spread and multiply because I’m somehow “above” it.
The rampant rumors, regardless of who is at fault, were having a negative effect on the program; while you see very little in the way of other suspensions or transfers or what have you, to think that there are head coaches and assistants of rival schools not insinuating at larger problems at the UI while on the recruiting trail is naive. KF & GB should have been way out in front of this one.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 11:56 AM CST up reply actions
Way out in front how?
You still have no idea what exactly happened or why it happened. Maybe the Athletic Department was waiting one day to see exactly what was happening before they decided to address it. Because everyone here complaining about how they didn’t do anything faster would then complain about how they were lying to us because they misttated something or didn’t have their facts exactly right. Plus the majority of the statements regarding drug tests was released after the DJK fiasco. Plus, Ferentz probably didn’t want to publicly bury DJK anymore than he had to based on how Ferentz has always treated problem players.
by DisplacedHawkeye82 on Dec 15, 2010 2:41 PM CST up reply actions
I can tell you which restaraunts in IC/C'ville have had infestations or other health citations
I have a relative who was a Johnson county health inspector. :)
The difference in your analogy is that the food critic is a journalist. If they’re actively spreading rumors, they are being very unethical. The same for the rival.
In your analogy, the rumor would have been started by Pat Harty and spread by Mark Dantonio. We’re not talking about people with any real expertise on the program or authority as information brokers spreading these rumors, nor any people with a vested interest in breaking the story. These are normal schlub hawk fans.
Brunettes not fighter jets
Point taken.
Although because of the current proliferation of information, both genuine and manufactured, it would have been nice to see men paid to lead do just that. If a plane crashes the FAA doesn’t wait a month and a half to comment just so they have every question answered, they make an initial statement saying what they know and what they are doing about it. Clearly there was still much to be investigated, but in the world of cut-throat recruiting the prolonged silence made the program look more vulnerable than it should have. Obviously potential recruits have access to social media and opposing coaches would at the very least capitalize on that uncertainty if not overtly engage in the spreading of innuendo.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 3:01 PM CST up reply actions
I really wish that Ferentz would realize this whole internet thing
isn’t some fad. It can be used as a tool in recruiting as well as keeping tabs on players. Facebook’s creater was just named Time’s man of the year. Time to step into the 21st century.
I think I like that better...
than the one below. Talk about a face made for books:
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 6:42 PM CST up reply actions
I don't want BHGP to act like adults ever
Drunken, irrational venting threads, references to genetalia, language that would make George Carlin blush, that’s what I need out of the Pants.
I've got the brains. You've got the looks. Let's make lots of money.
Your mom makes George Carlin blush.
"...And, in all fairness, officiating in the Big Ten is awful." - John Feinstein
by ReadingRambler on Dec 15, 2010 9:09 AM CST up reply actions
One issue that was conspicuously NOT addressed?
Whether Brandon Wegher is still having Elvis’s baby. I have to say silence, here, means “yes.” Or, “whipplestein.”
Solutions
This is so simple to fix, and of course it never will be
Barta, Ferentz, et al need to realize that the internet always has and always will be filled with rumors, lies and worse. This will never, ever change. The Athletic Department needs to either hire or assign somebody to keep an eye on what’s going on and react quickly to get the “official story” out there. They can create accounts and post like everybody else and they can reach out to the people who run the blogs to set things straight.
Imagine the shit storm that would have been avoided if Adam or Patrick could have reached out and gotten a response on what was going on in a timely manner because they had a relationship with the UI. Or if this person was known to be a UI staffer and started posting with “hey, this is all being blown out of proportion, here are links to our student athlete drug testing policies, these other rumors just aren’t true” and whatnot.
Times change. Social media is a new reality that institutions like the UI better start adapting to. They don’t even seem to have figured out the internet thing. The news cycle is 24 hours now, guys. We’re not waiting until the morning paper to find stuff out. You need to get the message crafted and delivered really fast these days or this is not the last presser you’ll need to straighten things out. And by delivered, I don’t mean posting a story on their own website, I mean reaching out and projecting the story to the sites people are reading all the time.
"If you need a rah-rah speech at halftime, you’re playing the wrong sport." - Pat Angerer
by Flakbait on Dec 15, 2010 9:46 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Also very true
But we as news consumers can do a lot to mitigate the amount of noise by filtering some of it out ourselves.
Brunettes not fighter jets
We can
and some of us do. But as the signal – noise ratio skews too far towards noise, things get out of hand very quickly. The UI needs to start moving faster on this stuff.
"If you need a rah-rah speech at halftime, you’re playing the wrong sport." - Pat Angerer
I don't know
about the idea that they need to get in touch with the blogs and the news services rather than posting a story on their own website. Yeah it would be nice but your likely talking about a very small difference in the amount of time for the info to move. When the rumors started flying the hawkeyesports site was probably getting hundreds of hits per minute with people checking for updates and once one blogger saw the update it would spread as fast/faster than the rumors. I think the only fault of the administration here was not being quicker with its news releases. When the DJK thing broke they should have got some obvious answers out there right away, such as the drug testing policy. Could Kirk being more involved with Twitter, Facebook, blogs, help him keep a finger on the pulse of the program…. absolutely… Is it causing him to lose football games… absolutely not. Also, if UI wants someone to distribute press releases to blogs and websites… i’m available.
"If you're easily offended, we thank you for stopping by but ask that you turn your browser elsewhere." -- BHGP Disclaimer
by SaturdayMorningKegStanzis on Dec 15, 2010 11:24 AM CST up reply actions
The one thing that you need to know about the Intarweb...
…is that there will ALWAYS be content about you. The only question is whether it’s content that YOU put there, or content that SOMEONE ELSE puts there. If KF and the Iowa football program refuse to be prompt and transparent with information, others will fill that void. If you don’t like that, wear a helmet.
They spent 6 days trying to figure out what the hell to do!
The program isn’t squeaky clean…what college program is? I love KF but he seemed detached during the presser, like he was thinking “why the fuck am I here?”. And I might be wearing my tinfoil hat, but I tend to believe the “problem” runs much deeper than DJK, Hampton, and A-Rob going to class, but that’s just me.
Meanwhile where the hell is my Templeton?
I got my Templeton last Friday
If you don’t have it yet, you’re probably looking at early 2011.
by Hank Thrasher on Dec 15, 2010 2:04 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
The question I demand an answer to
Is who the hell told you about the prominate local businessman? I’m guessing it’s the same clued-in person who would say that Iowa had a dominate defense in 2009.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
That's rediculous!
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:15 PM CST up reply actions
I read somewhere recently that if you're angry, it means you lost.
I thought that was helpful.
The superheated attention and frantic speculation about Iowa football happens to be the very emotion that pays this guy $4mm per year. In the pros, you just shut up and utter cliches. In a small, media-isolated, college town, you are living in a village culture. It’s not reasonable to say to oneself, “If I were the coach of the Pats, I wouldn’t have to put up with this crap.”
What pays KF’s salary?
A sold-out Kinnick, annual payouts from bowls, and the Big Ten Network. I believe yesterday’s press conference was about two things: a) make sure people aren’t horrified by scuttlebutt, and turned off either the bowl or their season tickets; b) saving the recruiting class.
I’ve stated before that what we have is what we’re going to have: this regime is middle-aged, no longer becoming, but just continuing. We’re not going to shake up the staff, we’re not going to stop running end-arounds for six yards, and we’re not going to look very good unless we have a Greenway or Edds guy covering the wheel routes, which no other team in the country attempts to do.
But we will have problems if the coach is churlish because his salary is paid by the very impulse that drives him batty. Public attention pays the freight. Figure it out.
The only thing that I find appalling in all of this the AD trying to charge money for a press conference, and the newspeak of the SID’s next day summary. These people are just bureaucrats, riding the coattails of, and sucking up to, a very successful football coach. They should be helping him instead. Stoops is correct, the staff needs to get with the program.
We play tackle football, most of the time.
I agree with you here
Although I would clarify “staff” to mean EVERYONE there – not just Ferentz. You mentioned in previous threads about leadership concepts. Isn’t Barta Ferentz’s boss? Shouldn’t handling this type of thing be HIS responsibility? I would think a simple hiring of a “social media specialist” to make sure this type of information is disseminated to the right places in a quick way to serve as a bridge between the press releases and press conferences would solve this pretty simply.
Furthermore, it would allow Ferentz the ability to delegate some of what he shows so much disdain for to someone that is specifically trained to handle it.
To me, a key piece of leadership is knowing what you either can’t do or aren’t willing to do and hiring someone who is able to handle it. I see this whole shitstorm as Barta’s responsibility far more than Ferentz’s – it’s Ferentz’s job to get his team ready for the bowl game at this point. Then, we can have press conferences with Ferentz to talk about the fourth quarter failings this year.
No, because
Barta is a movie producer, Ferentz is the director. The producers take out the trash and have nothing — nothing — without the director who makes the blockbusters. Ferentz runs this football program and Ferentz is the golden goose that pays for everything else.
We play tackle football, most of the time.
You may be right
I don’t know how the dynamics of the athletic department work from an organizational standpoint – if Barta is the “boss” then it’s his job. If Ferentz is, then it’s his. Either way, one of them needs to hire a specialist to handle it because they both suck at it.
It's got to be someone else
It’s probably the job of someone in the Sports Information or Marketing department. Obviously KF has much better things to be doing right now (ie: prep for Mizzou), and Barta is not going to be the one trolling around facebook/blogs to look for rumors that are out there. This is likely going to be done by someone who can look at all the information and synthesize it, so that it can be presented to Ferentz/Barta and dealt with accordingly.
If that had been done, this whole mess wouldn’t have gotten so far. A timely, accurate, and most of all honest response could have been given before this got so out of hand.
by One Night Stanzi on Dec 15, 2010 11:41 AM CST up reply actions
I think we're saying the same thing
Barta/Ferentz/whoever is the boss isn’t a) good at it and b) possessing the time/desire/ability to do it. So, be a leader and delegate the responsibility to someone. Obviously, since it isn’t happening and never has happened, they don’t have that someone on staff yet. That means hire someone.
Iowa's marketing dept.
Couldn’t sell water to a person dying of thirst. They’re still wondering why Carver is half empty. It’s not 1985 anymore…though I still do love me some Huey Lewis & the News.
Incidentally, we have no idea
who failed the emergency drug tests last week.
We also learned from the doc dump that 700 SUI athletes were subjected to a total of 800-odd drug tests last year. Who else is laughing with me at the inefficacy of that, if the real concern is running a drug-free program?
Everyone knows that I could care less who smokes in his home at 8 p.m. with friends, if they still make their 6 a.m. workouts with Doyle. But don’t tell me that, if your goal is to prohibit what I don’t care about, that a 1.1 chance of being tested once per year is anything but window dressing. This is how bureaucracies lie, is my view.
We play tackle football, most of the time.
Our Coach aka Mr Peanut
Ever notice how often Ferentz starts a sentence with “in a nutshell…” I think he has earned the title Mr Peanut or Coach Peanut. Both for his “in a nutshell” line, and they deep thinker he is when it comes to game planning. Can you tell I am fed up with what is going on??? Screw the nutshell.
From Coach Peanut
’ll pass it over to Kirk.
COACH FERENTZ: I’ll comment on the two players we released yesterday, update on that.
Basically in a nutshell we had a player who has decided to transfer. Got another player that will not be accompanying the team to the bowl site or practicing this weekend. So he’s been suspended basically throughout the next period until we start classes. It will be his choice to rejoin the team or not at that point.
SMA is write on,,,,, but there are a couple of points i would like to add
First I care about the kids more than Captain Kirk, KoK or Farta
I know what my dad would have done to me if i had been privileged to be a jock at a D1 program as distinguished as UI and the media started calling him about alleged scewups by me or the guys I hung with. KFC or KF ain’t got a clue about extra crispy
Or had I been the parent on the end of the line (even though my charming daughter was a journalism grad) my simple response would have been to call Farta and simply ask why is it a program so revered can’t just tell the truth?
simply put, the truth, no matter how ugly it is, is much better than spin and grin
Just ask Nixon (although this is nowhere near as important)
If we have honesty then we naturally develop trust and respect NOT from the position, but from the actions. No matter how bad it is, just tell us honestly what happened and what you are going to do to try not to do it again.
As I tell my boss, this isn’t 1980 and we can use more than one font in a document. The UI web site is worse than lame, and if it were used properly imagine (apologies to Lennon … and Groucho too) You have rumors when there is no truth. And I will bet next week’s check they wouldn’t have to pony up KF’s salary to get ur done.
Finally, give the chance, I would look every player in the eye and ask them to remember why they became a hawk. Those values are so much more important than the mistakes other have made.
In spite of all that has happened I feel the kids can do it.
If Sarah Palin were any smarter rocks would be in trouble
caring is creepy
First I care about the kids more than Captain Kirk, KoK or Farta
"If you're easily offended, we thank you for stopping by but ask that you turn your browser elsewhere." -- BHGP Disclaimer
by SaturdayMorningKegStanzis on Dec 15, 2010 11:40 AM CST up reply actions
Wouldn't it be nice.....
if Ferentz would say "yeah, this season was a disappointment to me too. I understand why the fans are down. Instead, he makes it sound like the primary reason this year went south is unrealistic expectations of the fanbase and the press. One thing is very consistent about this coaching staff. They can’t fucking handle it when Iowa is expected to be very good preseason. He’s getting paid a lot more than some coaches who do just fine coaching a team that was ranked high in the pre-season. Instead of blaming all of us, he should be asking himself why he can’t coach under that pressure, why he can’t win traveling west, why is KOK still here………..
Forwarded to me in an email, just sharing.
An extensive list of arrests in Iowa sports over the years.
Name, sport, arrested for (date of alleged crime):
■Montel Marion, UI wrestling, drunken driving (2010); public intoxication/disorderly conduct (2008); willful injury (2005)
■Broderick Binns, UI football, drunken driving (2010)
■Jewel Hampton, UI football, public intoxication (2010)
■Jordan Bernstine, UI football, public intoxication (2010)
■James Ferentz, UI football, public intoxication (2009); possession of alcohol under the legal age (2008)
■Adrian Clayborn, UI football, assault causing injury (2009)
■Zachary Derby, UI football, public intoxication (2009)
■Anthony Tucker, UI football, public intoxication (2009)
■Kyle Calloway, UI football, drunken driving (2009)
■Shaun Prater, UI football, drunken driving (2009)
■Tyler Christensen, UI football, public intoxication/criminal mischief (2009)
■Anthony Tucker, UI basketball, public intoxication (2008)
■Harold Dalton, UI football, interference with officials acts/disorderly conduct/public intoxication (2008)
■Dezman Moses, UI football, public intoxication (2008)
■Riley Reiff, UI football, public intoxication and interference with official acts (2008)
■James Cleveland, UI football, drug tax stamp violation and unlawful possession of prescription drugs (2008)
■Ryan Donahue, UI football, possession of alcohol under legal age (2008)
■Arvell Nelson, UI football, possession of marijuana (2008); driving while suspended (2007)
■Colby Covington, UI wrestling, drunken driving/eluding police (2008)
■Cody Hundertmark, UI football, possession of alcohol under legal age (2008)
■Abe Satterfield, UI football, sexual assault (2007)
■Cedric Everson, UI football, sexual assault (2007)
■Dana Brown, UI football, domestic abuse assault (2007)
■Clint Huntrods, UI football, interference with official acts/public intoxication/urination in public (2007)
■Mark Perry, UI wrestling, driving under suspension, public
intoxication (2007)
■Alex Tsirtsis, UI wrestling, public intoxication (2007)
■Ricky Stanzi, UI football, possession of alcohol under legal age (2007)
■Dominique Douglas, UI football, unauthorized use of credit cards (2007)
■Anthony Bowman, UI football, unauthorized use of credit cards (2007)
■Ryan Bain, UI football, interference with official acts/public intoxication/disorderly conduct (2007);
■Bradley Fletcher, UI football, drunken driving (2007)
■Lance Tillison, UI football, drunken driving (2007)
■Ben Evans, UI football, drunken driving (2007)
■Tyler Gerstandt, UI football, possession of alcohol under legal age (2007)
■Brandon Myers, UI football, interference with official acts/public
intoxication (2007)
■Austin Postler, UI football, drunken driving (2006)
■Ed Miles, UI football, assault (2006)
■Michael Henderson, UI baskeball, theft (2006)
■Tyler Smith, UI baskeball, theft (2006)
■Corey Roberston, UI football, drunken driving (2006)
■Antwan Allen, UI football, assault causing injury (2005)
■Pierre Pierce, UI basketball, burglary/false imprisonment/assault with intent to commit sexual abuse/criminal trespass (2005); sexual assault (2002)
■Justin Edwards, UI football, drunken driving (2005)
■Ruben Chavez, UI wrestling, interference with official acts/providing alcohol to minors/possession of alcohol under the legal age/driving while barred (2004)
■Paul Summers, UI gymnastics, sexual exploitation of a minor/child pornography (2004)
■Paul Wilson, UI football, indecent exposure (2004)
■George Eshareturi, UI football, public intoxication/disorderly conduct/assault (2004)
■Matthew Roth, UI football, public intoxication and use of Iowa driver’s license belonging to another person (2003)
■Anthony Watson, UI wrestling, public intoxication, marijuana possession (2003)
■Sam Aiello, UI football, assault causing injury (2003)
■Chris Smith, UI football, disorderly conduct (2003)
■Benny Sapp, UI football, public intoxication/disorderly conduct/interference with official acts (2002)
■C.J. Barkema, UI football, public intoxication/criminal mischief (2002)
■Brody Boyd, UI basketball, possession of alcohol under legal age (2002)
■Sean Sonderleiter, UI basketball, marijuana possession (2002)
■Derreck Robinson, UI football, marijuana possession (2002)
■Bob Sanders, UI football, drunken driving (2002)
■Siaka Massaquoi, UI football, drunken driving/driving on a suspended license/providing false information to law enforcement officers (2002); drunken driving (2001)
■C.J. Jones, UI football, drunken driving (2001)
■Maurice Brown, UI football, drunken driving (2001); assault causing injury (2000)
■Frederick Barr, UI football, assault causing injury (2000)
■Rob Thein, UI football, assault causing injury/public intoxication (2000)
■Dustin DeVries, UI football, drunken driving (2000)
■Ben Sobieski, UI football, public intoxication (2000); public intoxication/public urination/ unlawful use of a driver’s license (1998)
■Ryan Loftin, UI football, extortion and theft [playbook] (1999)
■Chad Deal, UI football, disorderly conduct (1999)
■Evan Wardell, UI football, drunk driving (1999)
■David Walters, UI football, phone card fraud/possession of alcohol under legal age (1998)
■Darius Brown, UI football, phone card fraud (1998)
■Jerry Montgomery, UI football, phone card fraud (1998)
■Lee Weber, UI wrestling, public intoxication/possession of alcohol
under the legal age/unlawful use of a driver’s license (1998)
■Aron Klein, UI football, criminal mischief (1998); public intoxication (1997)
■Katie Panhorst, UI volleyball, possession of alcohol under the legal age (1998)
■Laura Lepley, UI soccer, public intoxication/unlawful use of a driver’s license (1998)
■Zeron Flemister, UI football, public intoxication (1998); drunk driving/eluding police/reckless driving (1996)
■Sam Okey, UI basketball, drunken driving (1998)
■Kasey Gilliss, UI wrestling, false use of a driver’s license/possession of alcohol under the legal age, public intoxication (1998)
■Eric Thigpen, UI football, domestic assault with injury (1998)
■Jason Lathrum, UI swimming, possession of a controlled substance/interference with official acts (1998)
■Allyn Secor, UI swimming, possession of a controlled substance/interference with official acts (1998)
■Ryan Sorensen, UI swimming, possession of a controlled substance/interference with official acts (1998)
■Robbie Crockett, UI football, criminal sexual conduct (1998)
■Randy Reiners, UI football, drunken driving (1998)
■Mike Christensen, UI wrestling, drunken driving (1997)
■Chris Kingsbury, UI basketball, public intoxication, trespass (1995)
■Marcus "Tex" Montgomery, UI football, domestic assault with injury (1995)
■Greg Helmers, UI basketball, theft (1994)
■Scott Plate, UI football, serious domestic assault (1994)
■Joe Williams, UI wrestling, assault (1994)
■John Carter, UI basketball, assault (1994)
■Toney Bates, UI football, assault (1993)
■Ernest Crank, UI football, drunken driving (1992)
■John Kline, UI football, assault causing injury (1992)
■Jay Webb, UI basketball, assault (1992)
■Jason Olejniczak, UI football, criminal mischief (1992)
■Edward Polly, UI fooball, disorderly conduct (1990); assault (1989)
■Ray Thompson, public intoxication/simple assault/interference with official acts (1989) [from Dec. 2, 1989 Gazette: "arresting officer Kevin Berg…said Thompson asked Berg if Berg knew who he was and Berg said no… Thompson said he was someone who was a household name"]
by Stay thirsty, my friends. on Dec 15, 2010 12:23 PM CST reply actions
This isn't a complete list.
I’m sure Bob Sanders murdered about a half-dozen players on the field during his Hawkeye career.
Honestly, though, I’m sure that you could come up with similar lists for many, many other schools. It’s just that we pay closer attention to our team than others and it will always be magnified in our eyes.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Dec 15, 2010 12:31 PM CST up reply actions
These are all rumors!!!
That list came from the internet, it can’t be true!!
Hey Dolph, you look like I need a beer.
by Give Eddie a Beer on Dec 15, 2010 2:28 PM CST up reply actions
And I don't believe that.
I bet you do believe everything you read, you rumormongering bastard.
So what if I tailgate to the NPR jazz station?
@ Stay Thirsty:
Alex Karras wants to know why he isn’t on your list? Weren’t his barfights just as important as anyone elses?
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 6:53 PM CST up reply actions
Not my content, just passing along what was passed to moi.
Whereas I make no claim to the veracity or completeness of said content.
Is it a crime to punch a horse?
by Stay thirsty, my friends. on Dec 16, 2010 9:04 AM CST up reply actions
Only if you walk into a saloon directly before or after.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 16, 2010 10:51 PM CST up reply actions
It's interesting
that since Ferentz showed up, the alcohol related arrests have gone through the roof.
The list goes back to 1989, there are only 2 public intox’s and 3 DUI’s under Hayden. Now, I don’t believe that the players were that much better for Fry so I’m wondering how much was covered up during his time at the helm. There were stories that football players arrested for booze were taken to his house rather than jail.
"If you need a rah-rah speech at halftime, you’re playing the wrong sport." - Pat Angerer
Since the late 90's the university and city have waged an anti alcohol campaign.
Coincidence?
by HawkeyeRecon on Dec 15, 2010 1:53 PM CST up reply actions
Change "university and city" to "MAAD and the entire nation"
and I think you’re right. Not that I’m condoning drunk driving, but the current atmosphere sometimes makes the Temperance Movement look muted.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
Hmm
I guess everyone has a little different view of that. I, for one, think drunk driving isn’t punished nearly severely enough.
Please note that the internet does not, as of yet, have a sarcasm font.
I agree
But there’s also this hysteria that treats drunk driving like it is the single greatest crime against mankind EVER (or at least since Disco). Punishments should be more severe for being out of control. But drinking 1-2 beers with dinner also shouldn’t land you in jail.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
So you sort of, um, don't agree with benvious.
(I agree with you.)
by The Final Gun on Dec 15, 2010 2:57 PM CST up reply actions
If you get busted for being in a bar underage in Iowa City, you get fined over $700
and that’s for just being there. If you get a PAULA on top of that, you’re over $1000. Drunk driving fine in Iowa is around $1000 as well, I think. You also lose your license for a while. One of those fines is either too high, or the other too low.
Hey Dolph, you look like I need a beer.
by Give Eddie a Beer on Dec 15, 2010 2:42 PM CST up reply actions
Not sure how many it would affect
but the legal limit for drunk driving changed from 0.10 to 0.08 somewhere around 2002 or 2003. Without seeing what each of them blew, hard telling if this even mattered.
Everyone knows God is a Hawkeye
The increase in arrests under Ferentz has nothing to do with different coaching philosophies or information control
and everything to do with a tremendous shift in the culture of law-enforcement.
by The Final Gun on Dec 15, 2010 2:59 PM CST up reply actions
That's impressive but also meaningless.
I particularly enjoy the “extortion” charge against the guy for stealing a playbook. And let’s not forget the guys who got in a fight while drinking PBR! Whooo! Football players drink beer and punch back!
Please don’t excoriate me, I don’t condone drunk driving.
We play tackle football, most of the time.
Well, that's not entirely true.
A cop who busts a guy for riding a moped while loaded is an idiot.
We play tackle football, most of the time.
I once had a case
Where the cops arrested a guy for boating under the influence. His boat? One of these
by Joe Hamilton's Chauffeur on Dec 15, 2010 1:34 PM CST up reply actions
Agreed - the drunk driving thing is bad
And believe me, you’ll never find someone more against drunk driving than me. Trying to blame THAT on the athletic department, however, is just retarded. That’s society’s fault.
Who the hell would buy Iowa's playbook?
One only needs to watch the Big Ten Vault to get fully understand Iowa’s playbook.
by hawkeye_heartattack on Dec 15, 2010 1:49 PM CST up reply actions
Especially from 1999
that was no party
"If you need a rah-rah speech at halftime, you’re playing the wrong sport." - Pat Angerer
An interesting list
While at an initial glance, that looks disconcerting, a closer inspection reveals something interesting. I grouped these into four categories: Drunk Driving, Being a college student (public intox, possession underage), something BAD (things like sexual assault), and whatevers (possessing weed, Clayborn’s assault, getting into a fight etc. would fall into this category)
Drunk Driving – 22 times
Being a college student – 38 times
BAD things – 16 times
Whatevers – 21 times
In a span of 20 years? I’m unimpressed now. That’s all athletes, all sports. What are there, 800 athletes at Iowa each year? Give me a cross section of ANY 800 college students per year and you’ll end up with a list like this.
You'll end up with a much bigger list than this.
When I think of all the people I knew in college who got busted for drinking underage, fights, etc. this list seems small.
by HawkeyeRecon on Dec 15, 2010 2:00 PM CST up reply actions
How many University of Iowa students were arrested in that same time period? Would pasting that list blow up the internet? Probably So
"You taught me a lesson, I was going to give someone the benefit of doubt, and I almost did, then something said, no don't, don't, its not for you, its not my thing" Larry David,
That a bogus comparison
Now if you were to take a sample of male students of the right age range and compare, that could be OK. I don’t know how much you would need to control for more specific factors like socioeconimic background.
"If you need a rah-rah speech at halftime, you’re playing the wrong sport." - Pat Angerer
You don't. It's the Internet.
You just copy and paste EVERYTHING. This isn’t goddamn statistics class, boy!
So what if I tailgate to the NPR jazz station?
Katie Panhorst and Laura Lepley have destroyed Hawkeye sports' reputation!
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 4:20 PM CST up reply actions
Anyone look at these and think
Ahh, Hawkeye memories…who can forget Helmers’s computer theft, Okey’s DUI, Loftin’s playbook extortion, Sonderleiter’s weed possession (didn’t he get busted for leaving a parking lot without paying too?), Boyd’s PAULA, Sapp’s disorderly conduct, Aiello’s cable bill beatdown, Bain’s hat trick (more impressive than his playing time), CBI, Huntrods getting kicked off the team as a senior (another record broken by DJK with aplomb), Cleveland’s tax stamp violation, and Ferentz’s ‘awkward moment at the dinner table’-causing offenses?
"They're not people, James Ingram. They're Jimmy Buffett fans."
by SomeJerkPoster on Dec 15, 2010 7:35 PM CST up reply actions
Woah woah woah
Since when do you count a PAULA as getting arrested? It’s just getting a ticket, like when you are caught speeding. It’s a stretch to include them on a list of “arrests.”
by Bryce Carlson on Dec 15, 2010 9:30 PM CST up reply actions
Q.E.D.
The Gazette
IOWA CITY — Male student athletes at the University of Iowa had lower rates of arrest and citation than members of UI fraternities every year for the past five years.
The arrest and citation rate in Iowa City of male athletes during the 2008-09 academic year — 10.5 percent — was nearly the same as the rate for male students living in residence halls, 10.1 percent.
Overall, 8.3 percent of the UI’s male undergraduates were charged with one or more non-traffic criminal offenses in Iowa City from Aug. 1, 2008 through May 20, 2009, according to figures gathered by the UI Student Services office. That’s compared to 5.5 percent of the overall undergraduate population, and 4 percent of the total UI student body.
I couldn’t find the real think on the gazette, but the post comes from here
Basically, football players are not better or no worse than the rest of us.
Stanzi got a PAULA? I don't remember that one.
Only anti-establishment hippies think they can get away with lawbreaking.
"You think you can take me? Go ahead on. It's your move." -- Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III
by IPeeBlackAndGold on Dec 16, 2010 11:23 AM CST up reply actions
Mark Zuckerberg named Time 'Person of Year'
Uh, earth to Kirk: A new day dawning my friend.
"I wish you luck with a capital 'F'" - The Real Elvis.
MZ is an asshole of the first order.
I would suggest that KF just check with Brian and take direction on how to deal with this stuff.
We play tackle football, most of the time.
In defense of Zuckerberg,
He IS giving half his money to charity. Although by the time he dies that could be half of nothing.
That may be true but is besides the point
I am not going to hold my breath waiting for KF to tweet. I am not going to hold my breath waiting for him to engage any form of social media or even sit down with Dolphin and talk about what kind of things he does in the off-season. He’ll get passed by, as many do, by those coaches in the Big Ten who latch on to the new forms and embrace new ideas that give them an edge in recruiting, game planning, and so forth. And, frankly, I can live with Kirk being stodgy and old school.
Here is what I cannot live with—him hoping to turn back the hands of time. His waxing poetic about the days of stamps and ink pads. Him acting like a fool at a press conference that takes place a FULL week after a major incident in which a record setting player gets in trouble, and during a time when there is NOTHING going on with the football team. Oh, wait, yes there is one thing going on, the selling of BOWL TICKETS.
I went to bed last night still thinking Iowa had a reasonably smart coach who, if he buckles down, will emerge from this season of underachievement with new successes and I woke up hoping I did not see a coach just draw a line in the sand, and do so on the same day the conference he coaches in just put out a press release on its new world order.
If he can’t handle the notion that social media will spread gossip and rumour (my mother sent her first email 1 1/2 years ago and she understands this), then can he handle a conference that has a championship game and divisions?
I am being facetious, kind of. But the guy worries me sometimes.
Finally, I hope everyone heard Ferentz say that Iowa is not an elite team. He didn’t say it directly, I reread his exact comments to be sure I heard him and it did read differently than it sounded, but he said Iowa cannot win 11 games every year. But when I heard it, it sounded like he was saying last year was the exception. And he said it like he was upset that people thought he could repeat it this year.
"I wish you luck with a capital 'F'" - The Real Elvis.
he was upset that people thought he could repeat it this year
That pisses me off as bad as his “those are your expectations, not ours” crap.
We all know Iowa isn’t the type of school that isn’t going to win 10+ for an extended period, but this year they shit the bed and if he doesn’t realize that, it’s time for a new coach. I suspect he does though and as Jacobi said, he could at least acknowledge that he’s as disappointed as we are.
"If you need a rah-rah speech at halftime, you’re playing the wrong sport." - Pat Angerer
by Flakbait on Dec 15, 2010 1:47 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
exactly
My biggest disappiontment is that he doesn’t care if the team wins all its games or not. If he did, he would actually set that as a team goal, not just “winning the Big X”.
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.
He (KF) feels the same way...
that I’ve been talking about. Iowa is not yet an elite program, and it has taken plenty of hard work and luck to even get just below the elite level.
We will not win 11 games a year forever. Almost nobody does. Just ask the Longhorns.
Iowa’s future football success is not based on tweets and Ferentz shedding his stodginess. It will continue to be based on: player development, execution, plenty of hard work, and a little luck. One underachieving year does not mean that an era is over. Iowa football will still do OK-to-very good if Ferentz avoids the evolution that so many want. Just like Iowa football could evolve and get super-techy, and then have a 4-8 year.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 7:11 PM CST up reply actions
I still don't get this
He is a football coach… I don’t get what advantage being on facebook/twitter gives him on the field. He needs to focus on developing players and preparing for games (his ability to do this is up for debate a bit after this year).
I am quite sure the football program has a marketing department and a person to look into the lives of student athletes that utilize these tools. I think he has delegated some of these responsibilities (as he should) and if he doesn’t want to get all that involved with it and it bothers him because he likes to control the message and facebook/twitter make that nearly impossible I guess I understand that. i really just don’t think that his disconnect with technology says much if anything about his abilities as a football coach.
"If you're easily offended, we thank you for stopping by but ask that you turn your browser elsewhere." -- BHGP Disclaimer
by SaturdayMorningKegStanzis on Dec 15, 2010 12:57 PM CST up reply actions
It's not that he doesn't like them
it’s his undertone that none of us should either.
"If you need a rah-rah speech at halftime, you’re playing the wrong sport." - Pat Angerer
It gives a coach who employs them a competitive advantage
KF doesn’t need to be the world’s most popular Tweeter, he just needs to learn that these things aren’t inherently “bad”, that they provide another avenue to reach fans/recruits and the media. Some of them he may choose to not to employ, but it would behoove him to keep an open mind on some of the stuff, to find what works for him. His Luddite response to all social media, and the internet in general, is like saying refusing to watch game film because back in the day George Halas didn’t have access to it.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
and I should mention
that when I say “I don’t get it” I mean I don’t get it. I generally agree with your analysis of the program so maybe a little explanation on why Kirk needs to be so involved with Social Media?
"If you're easily offended, we thank you for stopping by but ask that you turn your browser elsewhere." -- BHGP Disclaimer
by SaturdayMorningKegStanzis on Dec 15, 2010 1:00 PM CST up reply actions
He doesn't
It’s people wanting answers and not getting them. Used to be you called in to a radio show or randomly ran into KF at the Kwik-E-Mart and asked him a question. Now we have the bullhorn of Twitter and everyone thinks their question or concern is valid. This is one instance where they were certainly not, and even the answers given will never be enough. Get over ourselves, internet denizens.
I spent half my life's earnings on wine, women & song. The other half I wasted.
by therealCatnuts on Dec 15, 2010 1:24 PM CST up reply actions
Earth to internet zealots
Just because we now have easier access to public figures does not mean they are any less human or deserving of privacy, second chances, and the right to think things through for more than 5 minutes before releasing their final statement.
I spent half my life's earnings on wine, women & song. The other half I wasted.
by therealCatnuts on Dec 15, 2010 1:21 PM CST up reply actions
True to extent
But if you don’t want to answer to the public, maybe you shouldn’t take that $4M per year job.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
Reply to public, yes
But reply to every rumor? Not only is that impossible and a waste of the department’s time, but it always just opens up more cans of worms and more questions. You can never give skeptics or yelling people enough information to make them quiet down and reasonably accept reasonable answers, and it only makes their yells and skepticism louder when you try.
This one was handled very well by KF & Barta, and in in extremely quick fashion as well: 36 hours.
I spent half my life's earnings on wine, women & song. The other half I wasted.
by therealCatnuts on Dec 15, 2010 3:27 PM CST up reply actions
Lingering Question
Has anyone addressed theories to why Iowa admitted willfully that their drug testing program sucks? I just thought it was a bizarre admission that had no elaboration or clarification.
NCAA programs just do not admit that and if they do, they would have concrete evidence to point someone out who beat the test and tell us exactly what they have done to prevent it from happening again.
“We think someone might have done something but we dont know who or have proof and no we will not tell you. And we fixed it.” How is that a proper explanation for anything?
It just smells fishy like there is either more coming out or they are scared to what is on DJK’s computer and could come out in his case.
As for Coach Ferentz, I do not think people want him to Tweet or Post Messages on facebook but its his contempt for anything new that is probably why he approves of running the same 1950’s reverse play over and over.
"You taught me a lesson, I was going to give someone the benefit of doubt, and I almost did, then something said, no don't, don't, its not for you, its not my thing" Larry David,
His contempt is justified.
Rumor-spreading of the most irresponsible kind is a problem. Saying you don’t like the results of something doesn’t make you a luddite anymore than people saying sitting in front of a television all day is bad are yearning for the days of radio. Just because something is new doesn’t mean it is automatically good or bad. There are good and bad aspects of both. And this was a bad aspect.
I use a cell phone everyday. I am glad I have a cellphone. I’m glad I have text messaging. It annoys me when people talk on their phone or text during a movie. I must be a luddite! Give me a break.
by DisplacedHawkeye82 on Dec 15, 2010 2:52 PM CST up reply actions
he doesn't have to like it
But this act of him constantly bemoaning its existence and wishing it would go away has become tiresome. He may as well go out to the beach and demand that the tide not come in. It will be just as successful
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
Being a luddite is not the issue
acting as if people talking on the Internet is something new is the issue. Instead of whining about it, get out ahead of it. Have a press conference the day after the arrest and say something along the lines of, “hey we have a great drug testing policy and here is how it works, and we are as surprised as everyone that our star player is sitting in jail. But our testing suggests that this should be an isolated incident.”
You have a cell phone, right? So someone calls you…do you need six days to call them back? Well, if you do your excuse can’t be because you could’t find a phone or because you weren’t home to get the message.
"I wish you luck with a capital 'F'" - The Real Elvis.
He gave a press release about the DJK incident almost immediately. Not six days later. Drug testing info was available.
It said DJK was kicked off the team. Done. No new information about DJK was relayed in the press conference six days later. DJK is still kicked off the team. Kirk is disappointed. Drug testing is implemented (also relayed to the media). You have no idea what happened or transpired from the minute of DJK’s arrest to the minute of the press conference. Sometimes it takes six days to decide what to do. It was ONE day since the rumors about Hampton and A-Rob started up and that was the impetus for the majority of the rumors, not DJK. And I’m sure they wanted to get their ducks in a row, have a statement written out and figure out what to say about A-Rob and Hampton.
And yeah, I have a cell phone. Useful device. That doesn’t mean I can’t comment about the negative aspects of a cellphone soceity anymore than I can’t complain about TMZ and Deadspin’s tabloidish, unethical moments just because I like the internet. Kirk was absolutely right about the irresponsibility of people on social networks spreading this info.
by DisplacedHawkeye82 on Dec 15, 2010 3:03 PM CST up reply actions
I was commenting on how that device might have changed your behavior
and all you have to do is look on this site the day of the DJK press release, it was running like the bulls in Pamplona. The first question that was being engaged was, “So how many druggies are we going to see come out of the woodwork.” Also, it wasn’t just the irresponsible blogs and social media, within a couple of days the mainstream press was wondering.
Look, no one is arguing that rumourmongering isn’t a problem with social media. That has been very much supported by about every single member here. The issue, as far as I can see, is that complaining about rumours on the Internet is like complaining about rain the fall. It happens, buy an umbrella, watch the weather. Deal with it.
"I wish you luck with a capital 'F'" - The Real Elvis.
Right.
Don’t choose to walk through the rain without an umbrella or a raincoat and then say, “This rain is a bitch, and it’s really crappy. It shouldn’t rain.”*
At the very least, you accept that it’s raining and you have no control over the rain. The you get a raincoat. Next step would be an umbrella. If you want to be way out in front, you get immediate updates for weather, learn meteorology, buy the World’s Best umbrella from Hammacher Schlemmer, but marginal return might not be worth it of course.
And if you don’t want to even accept that in your world it’s raining, well, you stay indoors. You move to the Sahara. You don’t look out the window.
What you don’t do, if you’re any sort of responsible human being with a good head on your shoulders, is continue to go out in the rain in your T-Shirt and complain about how it’s raining.
/metaphor’d too far? or too perfect?
*Ferentz has about the same control over one then the other.
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.
If I'm taking the time to learn Meteorology, I'm going to become a weatherman and get paid to be wrong over 50% of the time.
"You don't become a Hawkeye fan, You're born with Black and Gold in your veins." - Me
by BStylin Hawkye on Dec 15, 2010 3:57 PM CST up reply actions
And then buy that umbrella.
"You don't become a Hawkeye fan, You're born with Black and Gold in your veins." - Me
by BStylin Hawkye on Dec 15, 2010 3:57 PM CST up reply actions
Rain isn't caused by people dumping buckets of water on you from above.
It’s an act of God. Rumor-mongering isn’t. It might be unstoppable, but its not beyond the pale to say “Hey, life would be better without all this rumor mongering”. Because it would.
by DisplacedHawkeye82 on Dec 15, 2010 4:09 PM CST up reply actions
They were explaining how come DJK didn't get caught.
He admitted to using and seemingly failed a drug test, but the school didn’t catch him. They are saying that the drug testing might need to be tightened up because of that.
by DisplacedHawkeye82 on Dec 15, 2010 2:53 PM CST up reply actions
Am I the only person
who thinks DJK just had rotten timing? As far as the drugs in his system (not his possession of them), could be explained by when he was arrested, i.e. after the end of the regular season. From the news reports that came out, it seems to be the case that DJK admitted to having smoked/snorted in a very short time (1-2 days) before the arrest. Was the football team even practicing during this period? Maybe Bryce Carlson can weigh in as he would probably know what the practice schedule was better than anyone.
Granted, this requires reading the best light into everything, but I can’t shake the feeling that DJK was merely relaxing/partying in some time off, little different than a player who goes out to the bar on a night when they don’t have practice the next day.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
The majority of cocaine users use it less than 5 times monthly.
I know, I know — the after school specials are all very convincing that – once you’re been a room with drugs – you immediately become worthless to society and use it all the time.
(Against cocaine use. Not a user.)
by The Final Gun on Dec 15, 2010 3:19 PM CST up reply actions
All I'm saying
is that FAC doesn’t usually include booger sugar and valium. It’s not the same thing. It’s more dangerous and much more illegal.
Brunettes not fighter jets
Yes, it's much more illegal and (probably) dangerous.
But FAC does include those things more often than you’d think for a decent portion of the student population. I’ve (to my knowledge) never been in the presence of illegal prescription drugs or cocaine, but their use is pretty widespread in Iowa City (and most college towns).
by The Final Gun on Dec 15, 2010 3:46 PM CST up reply actions
Maybe he was using it as a study aid
I know if you had drug tested my law school class during finals you would have found all sorts of prescription drugs and/or other stimulants that people didn’t have a prescription for or were something you couldn’t get prescribed.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
I would tell you what I know re: DJK and coke
But I’m kind of tired of getting crucified for sharing the truth.
by Bryce Carlson on Dec 15, 2010 5:23 PM CST up reply actions
As a few have said
We appreciate the info you’ve shared on this topic previously – it was perhaps the tone or context of the delivery that led people to believe you were saying more than what was actually said. Is that your fault? Not necessarily, but perhaps some of it can be put on you. If you have info to share, we’d like to hear it – it’s our job to decide for ourselves if you’re sharing legit info or if you’re full of bull.
Please note that the internet does not, as of yet, have a sarcasm font.
I would be sooooooooo happy if I learned that Bryce Carlson's true identity is
Mary Ferentz.
So just shut your face and take a seat, 'cause after all, you're just talking meat.
by Bucketochicken on Dec 15, 2010 5:52 PM CST up reply actions
While the testing methodology may have flaws
This is testing beyond what both the NCAA and Big Ten administer. The 800-900 student athletes tested by the university last year was in addition to the NCAA and Big Ten, and done on the university’s own dime. Sure it can be improved, I just don’t think all of the outrage is called for when we are already going above and beyond what is required.
by Hank Thrasher on Dec 15, 2010 2:53 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
I know I'm scared of what's on DJK's computer
Not speculating or rumor mongering, just saying I’m a little nervous as to the complete unknown.
Everyone knows God is a Hawkeye
great writeup
And interesting takes from the usual bright minds around here. Not that anybody cares, but I was the one who mentioned that the fourth quarter meltdowns and the defensive/special teams coaching situation were of greater import than drugs/transferring, which will pass with time. We are a forgiving society, these are just kids, they were wrong, we’ll all move on.
As the people with a brain are saying, and as with most things in life, there is a nuanced middle ground here somewhere between NOCOMPUTERZEVERHAVENTYOUSEENTHEMATRIX! and some kind of utopian version of minority report sponsored by Facebook where everyone knows everything thanks to continuous implanted devices spitting out GPS/feeling updates.
The administration would do well to at least start trying to find that balance and we would do well to be (ever so slightly) more mate, responsible adult members of a kickass university community.
I've been in love (truly) with five women, the Spanish Republic and the 4th Infantry Division.
by sailorjerry on Dec 15, 2010 3:42 PM CST via mobile reply actions
^more mature
I've been in love (truly) with five women, the Spanish Republic and the 4th Infantry Division.
by sailorjerry on Dec 15, 2010 3:43 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
Talk about not knowing your customers:
As supporters of the Hawkeyes, fans need to be able to keep their heads and not tell as many people as possible that DJK dealt drugs to all his friends while the staff pretended not to notice. Can we do that? Can we act like adults on both sides of the equation when there’s even a hint of crisis? Please?
It is the internet. I don’t post random rumors, but I think I was one of the first on here to assume Bernstine might be part of “the crew.”
Obviously, OPS-AJ is correct in that we should all have a bit more tact. But, reading the commentors on here (yes, especially me) already showed that this episode wasn’t going to be pretty or polite.
And, it is hard to have rumors that gain any traction if one of the best players just gets with the program.
/Blame DJK’d
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
This has nothing to do with anything
but I just got done playing against Kent McCausland in our wendesday night bball league in waterloo, he can still shoot the 3 ball, we got beat by 30
He was my hero!
In like sixth grade. I saw him (and Settles and the rest of the gang) play in some seniors thing in Harlan with a bunch of high school guys, and I got his autograph. It made my year. And then I never heard anything about him again until your post.
He is probably the basketball player from Waterloo...
with the most distinguished college career in the last 20 or 25 years. Mike Henderson and Carlton Reed are from Waterloo, but Reed never did much in college, and Henderson was never truly good in college.
Shooters never die, I guess.
I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.
-- Judge Smails
by WaterlooChazz on Dec 15, 2010 10:30 PM CST up reply actions
■David Walters, UI football, phone card fraud/possession of alcohol under legal age (1998)
■Darius Brown, UI football, phone card fraud (1998)
■Jerry Montgomery, UI football, phone card fraud (1998)
Rumor has it DJK, Jewel Hampton and Adam Robinson may have been using stolen phone cards and the whole drug bust was a coverup.
Go Hawks!
Did anyone listen to last nights KF radio show at COK?
I hope Mrs. F isn’t the jealous type as Coach KF was serviced by quite a few callers.
by Stay thirsty, my friends. on Dec 16, 2010 9:07 AM CST reply actions
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