FB: American Rivers Conference

[Bird Dog]

Re:  Replacement for Cornell

I was at Central yesterday and they had an NAIA plaque in their trophy case. ?was Central once an NAIA school? 

Did the IIAC  raid the NAIA and could it be done again?

[5 Words or Less]

Something for orange lovers:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkfDAnW8ZbA

[DuffMan]

I caught a broadcast of the Midland's wrestling tournament on TV this weekend and noticed Wartburg's Byron Tate in the finals.  Pretty darn impressive!

[doolittledog]

Re:  Replacement for Cornell

I was at Central yesterday and they had an NAIA plaque in their trophy case. ?was Central once an NAIA school? 

Did the IIAC  raid the NAIA and could it be done again?

I believe that before the NCAA created D3 around 1973 that they just had University and College divisions.  Small schools were considered in the College Division and then schools could also be members of the NAIA, which was more organized towards small schools. 

I think once the NCAA created D3 that the IIAC moved at that time to be a member of D3 and not be associated with the NAIA any more.  But I am just sort of half guessing here.

If, and I mean if, Cornell does leave our conference...I'm still holding out hope they reverse course.  I would hope the IIAC would add both Iowa Wesleyan and Waldorf.  Iowa Wesleyan expressed interest a couple of years ago and I think Waldorf would make more sense as a D3 school. 

[DBQ1965]

Kudos to ArizonaDutchman 1 for winning the IIAC branch of College Bowl Mania.  Well done!

And kudos also to Mrs. Doolittledog for winning the women's division

[AZDutchman]

I was becoming settled with the thought of ending in dead last (in the nation)....

and for my next trick I will pull a rabbit out of my hat! 

[AUPepBand]

I don't have any IIAC football related news...I just don't want us to go too many days between posts so here are some "you might be from Iowa" jokes.

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Iowa

If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Iowa

If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Iowa

If you often switch from 'Heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you might live in Iowa

If you install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked, you might live in Iowa

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them, you might live in Iowa

If you find 0 degrees to be 'a little chilly', you might live in Iowa

If you were unaware that there is a legal drinking age, you  might live in Iowa City , Iowa

If your idea of going out to eat is a tail gate party every Saturday, you definitely live in Iowa

When Pep has traveled west and folks see the New York plates, they ask Pep what it's like living in the city. So's Pep tells 'em he doesn't know, he only gets into the big city about once a week to get groceries....Hornell, that is. Most folks think Pep says Cornell like the college 'cause most haven't heard of Hornell, even though it's the only city less than 45 miles away.

Fact is, where Pep comes from (as an indication, Alfred's Empire 8 rivals call our town "Mayberry"), it's a whole lot more like Iowa than New York City, excepting of course here we've got the dang hills we must gerrymander (that ain't the right word but you know what I mean) around. Heck, in Iowa, if you can hold the wheel straight, you can drive five miles with your eyes shut!

But Pep is thinking Alfred would fit nicely in the IIAC if y'all happen to be losing a member. Cornell is it? They must be going back to growing ivy on their buildings, eh? Them Ivy League schools are pretty snooty. Got a lot of nerve up and leaving some fine foes like Central, Wartburg, Simpson, (a friend of Pep's now in Milton, WI near Whitewater was a Simpson grad and did grad work at Alfred, then went to minister's school at Bethel), Dubuque and Coe. Pep's son has a coe right now so he's taking some medicine and going to bed. He'd best feel better in the morning 'cause he can't afford to miss another school day, unless of course they cancel 'cause of the accumulation of snow.

So anyway, like Pep was saying...seems like I'd feel more at home in Iowa than New York. Maybe that's why I got so attached to that 1992 Grand Caravan LE...I mean, after all, it came from Iowa. Pep flew from Syracuse to Detroit, then on to Des Moines (that was the answer to a missed question on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? recently...and I'd have gotten $5000 'cause I knew it meant "of the monks.") back just before that terrorist attack destroyed our World Trade Center in 2001. That reminds me. On 9/11/10 I was visiting Pep Jr. in Arlington, VA where he lives in one of those tall apartment buildings which they call "The Towers." And you wanna guess what his apartment number is? Yup, you got it, #911. But I digress.

So back to that recently junked '92 Iowan Grand Caravan that served so well as an AU Pep Bandwagon for some nine years... I knew it was an Iowa van because I never felt obligated to lock the thing. And here in Mayberry, I go even farther and leave the dang keys in it, on account you just never know when someone might come along who needs a ride somewhere. It happens.

Back in 1995 I think it was, I left my first-ever mini-van, a 1985 (4-cyl. piece of #$@%) on the street not only with the keys in it, but also left it running, while I ran in the library to pick out some movies. (We don't have Blockbusters around here...we go to the library for our movie rentals). Some poor soul who had come down to Alfred to visit his girlfriend who was schooling here, didn't have a ride back home. So after the car he stole from the Uni-Mart had an empty tank, he dumped that in a nearby parking lot and jumped in my car. It got him all the way to Fulton, New York before he had to ditch it because it blew a rod and was leaking oil...I'd have warned him had I known he wanted to take it for a spin.

As it turned out, the insurance company gave me $3500 'cause the 1985 Caravan I'd been driving for 10 years was totaled. The guy who borrowed it was kind enough to leave one of the letters from his girlfriend in the van so I could correspond with him but I gave that to Officer O'Grady who I believe extended to him my apologies for the van's poor condition. With the $3500, I bought a dirty old burgundy smoke-puffing 1987 Caravan sans hubcaps for $2500 and paid a used car dealer to fix the smoking habit (a 3.0 V6) and clean up the body and drove that for about six years, selling it for $250 with 276,000+ miles. A blue 1991 Grand Caravan LE with wood grain was next which lasted just a short while as the frame proved to be pretty rusty but Pep's most comfortable vehicle ever, with the quad seating. So Pep went on the internet and found the 1992 Grand Caravan in Iowa and the rest is history.

Sorry for getting so long-winded here, but then, what else is there to do since they packed away the football gear? All the other Empire 8 posters don't hang around much anymore. Seems like they posted more when their teams were the ones in the playoffs. But Pep has always felt at home with the Iowa gang. (Pep works with a native Iowan whose husband played sousaphone in the Iowa State Marching Band...must have been a lousy experience 'cause anytime I inquire about his perhaps playing with the band, he turns around and walks away.) Winters can get cold in western New York, just like Iowa, so might just as well run some post patterns. You never know when you might make a catch.

On Saxon Warriors!

[Bird Dog]

This proves I'm an Iowan.  I can't believe I read the whole thing.

[dutchfan1]

This proves I'm an Iowan.  I can't believe I read the whole thing.

Ditto. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

Since you guys often discuss wrestling, some may be interested in the tragedy involving the Mount Union team bus and a snow plow.  Go to the OAC page for details and links.

[Bird Dog]

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Gorman family and the Mount Union Athletic Family.

[NewKnightDad]

Well it is official, I will have two Knights in the family next year.  This one will be playing softball for the Knights.

The coach looked at me a little funny when I started talking about pre-game tailgating. 

[doolittledog]

Well it is official, I will have two Knights in the family next year.  This one will be playing softball for the Knights.

The coach looked at me a little funny when I started talking about pre-game tailgating. 

Congrats on another IIAC child in your family. 

As for tailgating, any time is a good time for tailgating...I've considered tailgating before my kids play the wii at our house

[footballdaddy]

+k

[footballdaddy]

Well it is official, I will have two Knights in the family next year.  This one will be playing softball for the Knights.

The coach looked at me a little funny when I started talking about pre-game tailgating. 

Well we're keeping the ratio up. I'm graduating one while you're adding one. See you at the banquet.