Give it Away, Give it Away, Give it Away Now. Indiana has agreed to sell its 2010 home game against Penn State for $3 million. The game will be played at FedEx Field in Washington, DC. I'll leave the ramifications to Indiana football to Crimson Quarry, other than to point out that someone needs to buy Fred Glass a globe:
"This is a unique opportunity to partner with an outstanding organization like the Washington Redskins to bring Hoosier football to within an afternoon's drive of all our fans and tens of thousands of alumni that live along the eastern seaboard," Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass said.
Bloomington, Indiana to Washington, DC is 646 miles and an estimated 10 hours and 44 minutes by car, so the game will have to be played above the Arctic Circle on the summer solstice if it's going to be "an afternoon's drive" for Indiana fans.
Brian is correct: Anyone who has a shot at the Big Ten championship in 2010 should be irate. This is not an Indiana home game, and the details of the deal prove as much: Indiana is responsible for selling just 7000 tickets to a 91,000 seat stadium. The rest will presumably be filled by Penn State supporters who made the 3-hour drive from Happy Valley or took the slow train from Philly. In essence, Indiana gets three times its usual take for a game in Bloomington, Penn State gets an additional home game, and the rest of the conference gets screwed. In a year where Michigan hits year three under Rodriguez (with his first true recruiting class getting a year under their belts), Michigan State returns its core, Iowa returns virtually everyone and flips that brutal road schedule into the conference's most favorable draw (well, at least until now), and Ohio State remains Ohio State, Indiana might have given the Nittany Lions an unfair leg up in the most competitive conference race in a decade.
In The Year 2000...
Unfortunately, virtually every newspaper still in existence still believe this report as the truth.
Caring is Creepy. Iowa picks up 2010 football commit #11 - and halfback #1 - in the form of Marcus Coker, a 6'0", 230 lb. Shonn Greene clone out of DeMatha High in suburban Washington D.C. Coker (3 stars, #51 HB from Scout; 3 stars, NR HB at Rivals) chose Iowa out of a final three of Minnesota and Wake Forest, and with alleged offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Maryland, and Stanford.
Coker represents the latest score in Iowa's recent foray into the D.C. area, spearheaded by linebackers coach Darrell Wilson. Previously fallow ground for Iowa, the District has now given the Hawkeyes three recruits for 2010. Jim Poggi and Anthony Ferguson both play at Gilman, which plays in the same conference as DeMatha and beat them last season despite 148 yards and two touchdowns from their soon-to-be teammate.
This one might not be a done deal, though. It wasn't that long ago that Coker told the recruiting sites Wake Forest was in the lead (right up until they told him they planned to use him at fullback). Then there was the persistent rumor earlier this summer that Coker had committed to Minnesota. Throw in this bit of information:
He had never been to either of the Big Ten schools -- or even their respective states -- before a recent trip with his mother during which they drove 20-plus hours to visit....
"I'd never even heard of Iowa [previously]. Those are two of the last places I thought I would be."
...and this starts to look like Jason Ford or Nate Guillory all over again. If he stays, it's a good get.
Footnotes:
- Three UNI players will be suspended for the season opener at Kinnick: Backup quarterback Zach Davis, backup left guard Evan "Tickles" Tecklenburg, and the girl who played Marissa on The OC will not play.
- Amari Spievey gets fluffed. The money quote: "I felt like when I got kicked off, I was letting God down because I was wasting my talent. I could have easily gave up but I wouldn’t be able to look at myself if I did that. All this talent and I’m sitting on the couch or working. I had to come back and play." I feel like that every day, Amari.
- Cracked chronicles the 15 most ridiculous boasts in the history of rap music. Jay-Z deserves at least three spots and Macho Man Randy Savage is underrated, but I can't argue with anything else on that list.
- Speaking of music, this is awesome.