Homecoming at Iowa

Today begins Homecoming week at Iowa. The week-long celebration culminates in the football game Saturday night against Penn State. Among the many events are the Iowa Shout, Parade, Pep Rally and revelation of King and Queen. Different members of the Greek System got the week off to a good start by decorating the windows of many downtown businesses.

College Football Week 4

We'll celebrate the UCLA victory at Texas with Nicollete, a member of the UCLA Spirit Squads.....Texas may have lost, but Oklahoma's lackluster performance at Cincinnati also took some of the shine off this week's Red River Rivalry....Many more teams are hitting conference play, including all teams in the Big Ten. The best game in the conference is Wisconsin at Michigan State. The winner can be placed among the conference top teams, the loser will be fighting for respectability....Tennessee escaped with a narrow victory over Alabama-Birmingham. The Vol's chances for wins are becomming fewer.... As important as the game between Wisconsin and Michigan State is to the conference race, that isn't the only game played at Spartan Stadium. On the photo deck video coordinators from each school are facing each other for the Video Guy Fantasy Baseball Championship.

Night Out on the Town

Our emphasis this week is on the east coast and our nation's capital. Chadwick's sits on the banks of the Potomic River in the Georgetown area of Washington D.C. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The brunch is what attracted us to the restaurant.

Since it is located in the Georgetown area, one would think that Chadwick's is the real-life St. Elmos from the movie of a similar name. It has its own bar area, and an area upstairs for extra dining as well as another bar. Pictures line the walls of political figures of both parties. Definitely a place where a few policies were discussed over a few beers.

We enjoyed a great brunch giving us good reason to believe that all meals are delicious.

Throwback Saturday

Saturday's Iowa Football game with Ball State was termed a "throwback" to the year of 1960, the last year of Forest Evashevski as head coach of the Hawkeyes. The uniforms were the most notable momento to the the team of '60, but there were a few other ways to honor that team.

Although not a throwback to the 1960 team, Danan Hughes was the analyst on the Big Ten Network. He teamed with Wayne Larrivee who has announced games in the conference for over twenty years. Hughes was a member of the Hawkeyes in the late 80s and early 90s graduating after the '92 season. Hughes played both football and baseball in college and went on to play with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The black helmets with Tiger Hawks were replaced with gold helmets featuring black numbers. Each helmet sported the name of the player who wore that jersey in 1960. For those that didn't have a coordinating number, "Evy" was placed above the facemask in honor of the coach.

Greeting members of the media as the exited the press box elevator was the lifesize bobblehead of former Hawkeye coach, Forest Evashevski.

Hawkeyes defeat Cardinals

The Iowa football team wore the uniforms of the 1960 team and defeated the Ball State Cardinals, 45-0. The Carindals have not scored upon a Frentz-coached team since taking over in 1999. Game time temperatures were much differnt than a week ago in the desert.

Iowa - Arizona in Pictures

A little late in getting photos up from the weekend in Tucson. It was definitely a dry heat, but with a breeze on game night, the climate was very pleasant while in Arizona.

The J.W. Marriott in Tucson was the home for the Hawkeyes while in Tucson. A decent drive from Tucson, but a quiet place to get away from the buzz of the college town.

Cacti all over the grounds of the hotel

A name familiar to many Iowa fans. Former Iowa and Arizona basketball coach, Lute Olsen and his late wife have the court at the McKale Center named for them.

The McKale Center is home to Arizona basketball and volleyball. Located adjacent to Arizona Stadium, the Hawkeye basketball team of the '86 - '87 enjoyed success by beating Santa Clara and Texas El-Paso here in the NCAA Basketball Tournament First and Second Round.

The "Zona Zoo" is the official name of the Arizona Student Section. Students line up for general admission seating at this gate off the NE corner of the stadium

The origin of the term, "Bear Down." John Salmon, who was critically injured in an auto accident, proclaimed to his fellow student-athletes from his hospital bed to "Bear Down."

Sun setting on Arizona Stadium.

It was a "Red Out" for the Iowa game. All Arizona fans were encouraged to wear their Arizona red.

But the Hawkeye fans were prominent. At least 10,000 Hawkeye fans stood out in their gold shirts.

Arizona head coach, Mike Stoops prior to the kick off with Iowa. Stoops was one of three brothers who played at Iowa. Bobby is the head coach at Oklahoma while younger brother Mark is the defensive coordinator at Florida State.

Sun sets on the Tucson downtown district.

Joined by my colleague at the University of Arizona, Tim Cummins.

"The Herd" at the University of Iowa

The popular ESPN2 "Sports Nation" hosted by Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle makes a stop in Iowa City and at the University of Iowa as part of a week-long tour through Big Ten country. However before their popular show takes to the airways, Colin Cowherd hosted his ESPN Radio show which can be also seen live on ESPNU from Hubbard Park, on the campus of the University of Iowa.

The radio show attracted many students as they made their way to class, but the attention grabber is Sports Nation which will be televised live from the same location later in the day.

Cowherd took time to interact with the Iowa students during his commercial breaks as seen below.

Cowherd on his take of the National League Pennant Race and his favorite to make it to the World Series.

Cowherd talks about working with the beautiful Michelle Beadle and what his wife thinks about it.