The B1G Football Championship Trophy

2011 marks the first official Championship game for the Big Ten Conference, and the trophy that goes to the winner was on display today in Chicago. Here it is pictured with a couple of employees of the conference. In the middle is Jay Reid, the Video Coordinator for the conference office and his assistant on the left, Omar Ahmed.

College Football Week 1

If you haven't heard, it is finally "Game Week." If you are a fan of college football, you've had to have heard that many times over the last few days. College football fans have been anxiously waiting for the start of the 2011 season. Every year there is anticipation for the upcoming season, but all fans want to the news to come from the field and not be the headline story of the nightly news. But at some time during the year we should expect more stories to headline the news and not the sports. Perhaps not news to other programs, but the NCAA discussing how it will handle the existing troublesome schools. Miami is sure to face severe penalties, LSU continues to learn more about the legal troubles their starting quarterback has gotten into, and Ohio State will most likely learn of its future before the possibility of appearing in an inaugural Big Ten Championship Game.

But I'm looking forward to a few different story lines:

• How different will Wisconsin's offense be with Russell Wilson leading it.
• Will Michigan exceed national expectations in Brady Hoke's first season
• Will Nebraska live up to its fans' expectations as they enter their first season in the Big Ten
• When will the Big 12 look to add teams to their conference before having to react to a current member leaving.
• What will be that one BCS conference that doesn't live up to its BCS bowl birth.
• And who will be the one team ranked low at the beginning of the season, but will be there at the end to vie for the National Championship birth.

The Big Ten starts it off on Thursday and Friday. Two "should be" wins for the conference against programs that have had all Summer to prepare for their spot to knock off a top-dog.

Night Out on the Town

A new season, and the Night Out on the Town feature returns. Tonight's takes us back to one final look at Iowa's bowl site of 2010. Tempe is not only home to the Insight Bowl, but also to Arizona State University and its entertainment district, Mill Ave. Mill Ave is very close to Sun Devil Stadium, the home to the Insight Bowl as well as the Arizona State football team and past Super Bowls. Having the stadium this close to the main street on campus creates a very festive atmosphere on game days and nights. I'm sure one of those popular spots on a football weekend is Canteen Modern Tequila Bar.

While tequila isn't the only beverage served at Canteen, it is the drink of choice. But for a Midwesterner two aspects of the establishment stand out - 1. is the bar that sits inside and out, and 2. being around a clientele that is made up of mostly natives and southern Californians.

In such a warm climate indoor / outdoor bars are popular in the Valley. However what I liked about Canteen was the bar lined the outdoor wall of the building. Citizens could "belly" up to the bar while seated on the sidewalk, a sidewalk that was also gated off to keep just anyone to walk up.

In the Phoenix Metro area, many Iowans have transplanted to one of the many suburbs. There are many bars and restaurants that are either run by Iowans or are the home to Iowa Football watch parties. Canteen was one of the few places we attended that was frequented by those originally from the area. Not that I didn't want to be around friends and family, but it is refreshing to meet different people with different backgrounds creating interesting conversations. Canteen provided a different atmosphere than what this Iowan was used to.

Of course when you go it is necessary to try a shot of tequila. Earlier in the 2010 season the schedule found us further south in Tucson. At our hotel bar a few of my staff tried the house tequila which was drier and smoother. And at a time when Avion became popular from the popular HBO series, Entourage, we found ours to be very similar to what was described on the show. The same could be said for the tequila being poured at Canteen. Of course when you call yourself a tequila bar, the best is expected.

A Week Away

One week from today the Iowa Hawkeyes will enter Kinnick Stadium to begin the 2011 season. Over 70,000 fans will enter to see what the new version of the football team has to offer, and if their expectations will be met. It is the first year of the new expanded Big Ten Conference which includes divisional play as well as the addition of Nebraska. But fans of the Hawkeyes will see a few new additions to the home of Iowa Football. Banners have appeared on the exterior of the stadium since early August. Pictures of Fry, Keading, Banks, Gallery and Kinnick greet the black and gold upon entering the gates. And if you look closely you will see each corner of the stadium is designated differently ranging from bowls to all-Americans, to champions and the popular saying founded by Coach Hayden Fry, America Needs Farmers.

Those corners are also represented once inside Kinnick. Displays signifying these different distinctions are found around the different corresponding areas. The south end zone consists of both all-Americans and championships.

And along the top of the north end zone, each bowl the Hawkeyes have played in is displayed alongside the popular ANF logos. Not seen are the retired numbers and the players for who they were retired for. Those can be found in the NE corner, just off the playing surface.

The Cy-Hawk Trophy

It isn't what it looks like, it is what it represents.

This isn't a post defending the new Cy-Hawk Trophy - a trophy given out to the winner of the Iowa Iowa State football game - introduced last week by Iowa Corn. It depicts a family that makes a living from the farm they maintain. The Dad has his crop of corn while the Mom, Son and Child look on. This trophy has created quite a stir among fans of both universities which has led to a press conference by Iowa Corn tomorrow afternoon.

I've heard many say it has nothing to do with football. I've also heard it isn't a complete representation of the State of Iowa.

In 2004 Iowans were posed with a question of what they wanted on the back of their US Commissioned quarter which went into circulation later that year. The above artwork won out promoting the value of education in the state. Discussions ranged from education to farming to big business to honoring the Sullivan Brothers, a collective family all lost during the war. All great ideas which went to the vote of the citizens of Iowa.

The difference between the quarter and the Cy-Hawk Trophy? People of Iowa had a say in what the quarter would be. The trophy was ridiculed shortly after it was unveiled by those same citizens. This could've been avoided had Iowa Corn solicited input from the fans.

I think Iowa Corn could've done better with the design.  The idea was innocent, trying to be representative of the work ethic of Iowans. But it has been compared with statues found at a Hallmark Store and not something a winning football team would be proud to carry across the field.

Does it have anything to do with football? No. But had we not inherited a tradition of teams carrying an axe, pig or telephone across the field, what would those have to do with football?

Tomorrow Iowa Corn has scheduled a press conference. We're guessing it is to announce changes to its current trophy design. One social media site suggested placing Nile Kinnick and Jack Trice on top of a block with all of the scores. But what does that have to do with Iowa Corn, the company sponsoring the trophy and giving each institution money to benefit their athletic departments. I'm sure many would be willing to get a tattoo of Iowa Corn on their arm if it meant much money in return to them.

We all have ideas on what the new trophy should look like. Mine is to place an outline of the state of Iowa on top of square base. The corners would have an ear of corn, book (representing education), and a building (representing business). The 4th corner could be reserved for the corporate sponsor. And instead of placing scores over the year on the base, I'd place the words "Hawkeye State" or "Cyclone State" with the final score for each year. Something a little different than other trophies. But I'm sure they would be those who would disagree with this design as well.

But at the end of the day what matters is who wins the in-state rivalry. Over the years many fans didn't completely know what the old trophy looked like (and I'm not sure what was wrong with the old one), but took pride it was their team that won the game. No matter what the new trophy looks like, it will still come down to who wins and the final score. As it doesn't matter what the trophy looks like, it is what it represents.

Kid's Day at Iowa

Three weeks shy of the first game on the Iowa Football schedule, Hawkeye fans were treated to an open scrimmage and autographs afterwards for fans of all ages. A beautiful day in Iowa City brought out many of the Hawkeye faithful to get their first look at what the 2011 team can do. The Spring Game in April was played on a miserable Iowa weather day, and without the incoming freshman class. But today was a picture perfect day on the Iowa Campus as most of this year's team was in pads for the annual scrimmage.

Iowa Broadcaster Adds to Responsibilities

Iowa has been very fortunate to have had great announcing teams broadcasts their sports teams. Prior to 1997 fans were able to choose between a number of different personalities. Names like Jim Zabel, Bob Brooks, Gene Claussen, Frosty Mitchell, Ron Gonder were found in various places around the dial and Hawkeye fans found that one voice to bring Hawkeye athletics into their homes, cars and corn fields. And in both basketball and football the analysts describing the action have been among the best in the Big Ten, if not the nation. Fans enjoy hearing their teams broken down by former Iowa athletes in Ed Podolak and Bobby Hanson.

In 1997 the multiple networks were down to one, and Gary Dolphin was brought in to describe the action to all of Iowa. The deal with Learfield Communications was common at the time as Iowa was one of the last schools who didn't have exclusive rights with one network. And while some fans were disappointed their favorite guy was no longer calling the games, it did provide more teams at Iowa the opportunity to find their way into the airwaves of the state of Iowa, as well as many of the surrounding states.

Forgotten by many was the duo elevated from one of Learfield's Flagship stations to call women's basketball. Iowa natives Mike Grimm and Karen Schulte were the voices of Lisa Bluder's first season at Iowa, and an historic one that found the Iowa ladies win the Big Ten Tournament title and become a four seed in the NCAA tournament. Grimm and Schulte didn't broadcast the most popular sport, but may have been the best announcing team of the entire Iowa network.

The Manchester native, Grimm has moved on since the 2001 season. In 2006 he was named the play by play person of Minneosta Golden Gopher Men's Basketball team. And as of yesterday he has now added the football duties as well. Quite a journey for a young man who was calling eastern Iowa high school football as recently as ten years ago.

Below is a quick video of him and Schulte calling pieces of the 2001 first round game versus Oregon. The game was broadcast back to Oregon with their local announcers. But we were able to tap into that broadcast with the radio call of Grimm and Schulte. It was a rough trip for Mike as he was battling a bad cold, so bad that he did every little trick to keep his voice ready to go for a three hour game. (The video is the tv broadcast with the Learfield Network Radio feed over it).