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IT'S NOT PLAGIARISM IF YOU LINK TO IT MANS THE BATTLE STATIONS

Boom.

By Mike Jones

Have you ever wanted to party on a battleship? C'mon, you know it's on your bucket list. Well, you can! The USS Iowa will be holding a pep rally for the Hawkeyes on December 31st from 12 PM to 5 PM. Technically, the pep rally isn't ON the battleship but you can tour the ship, which is now a museum at the Port of Los Angeles. Cool stuff about the USS Iowa:

  • It is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleship
  • It tops out at 33 knots or 38 miles per hour
  • It's almost as long as three football fields

It also has a lot of guns, as seen here:

The coolest part is that residents of Iowa get free admission year round because y'know, go Iowa awesome.

Keep on Trucking

Chances are you've never heard of Mike and Jeff Riggan until to a few days ago. I know I didn't until I heard their names mentioned on IPR. The Riggans have been driving the Iowa Football semi truck, appropriately named the Hawkeye Hauler since 1983. Here's a photo in case you've never seen the beast:

Mike started driving it in the 1980's with a friend and now he drives it with his son Jeff, who runs a Twitter account that has surged in popularity as he's live Tweeted the semi's journey cross country to Pasadena. The most interesting part about the operation? Mike and Jeff Riggan do this for free. They volunteer their own time to drive the Hauler. That's dedication right there.

Still Need Tickets?

Well, if you do, former Hawkeye Julian Vandervelde can help you out. Julian is auctioning off two tickets to the Rose Bowlin benefit of Brenden McGee, a Moline teenager who is fighting cancer. The current bid is $1,100 and the auction ends at 8PM CST tonight. Oh, and even if you don't feel like bidding you should still check out Brenden's Facebook page and show your support.

Bullets:

  • Hawkeyes Nation has a nice piece on the bond between Desmond King and his mother, Yvette Powell. She'll be in Pasadena cheering him on.
  • Yes Forbes, we are very aware that the prices for Rose Bowl tickets are inflated.
  • Did Troy Williams save Indiana's basketball season? The answer is no. Because when Tom Crean is your coach your season can never be salvaged. If you hadn't heard, Indiana beat Notre Dame this weekend and moved to 9-3 on the year. Other games of note were Purdue finally losing to Butler, Ohio State beating Kentucky and Northwestern beating DePaul to move to 10-1. Purdue, Northwestern and Penn State have all won eight games or more. Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio State are 7-5 or worse. Rutgers, naturally, has a losing record.
  • The Big Ten Championship Game was the 6th most watched college football game in 2015 (bowls aside). Iowa vs. Nebraska was 21st. The most watched football game? The SEC Championship between Alabama and Florida. I feel sorry for whoever dedicated hours of their life to the pile of garbage.

Finally, LOL STEVE HARVEY:

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