Congratulations to all the seniors. Thanks for all you have done for the IIAC.

Walston Hoover, What a great season. I know from personal experience your coaches and players are crushed but one of the saddest things in sports is that most of those who work so hard and passionatley will have their season end in disappointment. Coach Wilson is a great coach and you will be back.

Purple Heys, good luck to your son. I have enjoyed your posts over the years.

I am in shock. I had met Ed Thomas a few times through his brother Greg. How senseless and futile. My heart goes out to the family and to the AP community.

Where should I eat when visiting Des Moines?


Skip's on Fleur is my all time favorite. Try any of there steaks and the chicken nachos for an appetizer.

My Mt. Rushmore would be Kinnick, Bob Feller, Kurt Warner and Gable.
Gable has such an amazing track record as a high schoola and collegiate wreslter as well as a coach and ambassador for wrestling.
Warner has been a two time MVP and three time Super Bowl starter. I would argue this triumphs his rather ordinary high school and college careers.
Kinnick is synonymous with football in this state.
Bob Feller was a dominant pitcher when baseball was the game in America. I had the displeasure of meeting him once. I think a lot of people overlook him because he is such a pain in the butt, but his accomplishments are incredible.

I left off Shawn Johnson because the participation in her sport is so limited. I know the same argument could be made for Gable, but his feats are legendary internationally.

At Central I took introduction to basketball with Jack Walvrood. I learned some good drills and we had at least one three point shooting contest a week. I also took theory of coaching with Coach Walvrood. It was actually fairly tough but we usually ended up discussing his own team. He was brutally honest about them which was interesting.

Good luck to the Knights today. Hope all the fans have a great time and travel safe.

I have a great deal of respect for Willis. I got to meet and hand with him a few times several years ago and think he is a tremendous talent and a good guy.

The main complaints I have heard about Wartburg form other athletic departments have to do with the Vegas wrestling tournament and the way the Yordi situation was handled. Neither may be anything more than envy over Wartburg's success, but I was surprised how upset non-wrestling people were over the Vegas tourney.

I am disappointed in Central's play this year but I think that has to do with being an old alum. During Coach Schipper's dominant years in the 1980's it seemed like Central always lost a lot of seniors but had such great depth that the team truly did reload. The conference is just too balanced these days.
I think McMartin is a fantastic coach and the program is in much better shape than it was during the 2003 season. I also believe that Central fans may have to adjust to a "down" year being .500 rather than any year you don't win the conference.

We took our daughter to the water park in Pella on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was the closing weekend for the water park and it is a favorite of my wife and daughter. I did catch the first half of the Iowa game. I talked to a few Central football players at the water park on Sunday. I was joking with them that Coach Schipper would have only used the water park for conditioning.

I also heard some scuttlebut (not from the players) that Central may be moving one of their quarterbacks to another position to try and get their best athletes on the field. Don't know if this is true or just old grads gossiping.

Favorite shows (besides football and baseball):
Anthony Bourdain No Reservations
Dealiest Catch
Family Guy
Anything related to history

At the start of the summer I was ready to pick Coe to win the league. With Willis back I will now put Wartburg first. I think Willis is that good a coach.

Coe and Central will battle for second but I think Central lost to many seniors to beat either Coe or Wartburg. One thing that concerns me as a Central fan is that the Dutch won so many games the past couple of years on guts with some luck thrown in rather than on overwhelming talent. I just don't see a team with so many new starters having the cohesion to win as many close games.

I am going to drink the Kool Aid and pick Simpson to finish fourth. I thought they had some talent a year ago and maybe the coaching change will light the proper fires.

I think Loras will edge Dubuque for fifth. Dubuque had so much ability last year and didn't get it done.

Cornell over Luther for seventh.

My best prediction is that my predictions will be totally wrong.

One of my best friends played basketball at Wartburg in the late 80's. I can confirm the shower slide and numerous other activities which would now involve Homeland Security in the investigation. Those guys were awfully good basketball players but even better partiers.

Dubuque broke the streak. It was an early season game at Dubuque. The funny thing was Dubuque had a really talented team that year (1987) and the next year they were one of the worst teams I have seen in the league.

I need to ask a stupid question. Can a college tap into its endowment to pay for capital improvements or the debts arising from them?

There was a game in the early '90s where Central wore all red. I want to say it was against BV but I can't say for sure. Some of the lineman looked like overripe strawberries on the field that day.