FB: American Rivers Conference

[Ash Park]

All the Loras/UD talk makes me think of other conference rivals.  Is the Wart/Luther rivalry still strong as it used to be?  I haven't heard much about it since the days of planes dropping flyers onto Wart's campus, etc.

UD/Loras...
Luther/Wartburg...
Coe/Cornell...
What was the bigger rivalry...Central/William Penn or Central/Simpson?
Did Upper Iowa have rivalries with Wartburg and Luther?  Anyone have any stories???
Does Buena Vista have any rivalries?

I believe BV and Upper Iowa was a rivalry...they called it..the Porno Bowl 

[Fannosaurus Rex]

Coming off the bye week for Wartburg and not a lot to report.  I hope we get some guys back this week and can be closer to healthy and full strength.It will be a knock down drag out slobber knocker Saturday in Waverly that is for sure.  The last three years the winner has been the visiting team, I hope we can break that trend this year.

So are you saying Central won't face the same team that lost to Simpson?  I knew that Wartburg gang would find a way to cheat.  I kid I kid!

[OhIowa]

I know you're mostly right Willie but I have actually have heard that some of the Chlapaty support of UD stems from his hate of Loras.  It must be really strong if that's the case, but I've heard that from some pretty good sources.  I wonder if there are any other colleges that are less than a mile apart that compete against each other in the same conference.  It has to be a pretty unique situation. 

I agree that the conversation seems a little slower than normal especially from Coe and Wart fans that usually roam the board.  I guess they don't know the feeling of following a pretty bad team.   I am looking forward to seeing the outcome of the Cent/Wart game, should be an entertaining one.

From the few times that I have met Joe and Linda Chlapaty I feel safe in saying they are donating money towards an institution they love and feel grateful that UD took in a kid who was the first in his family to go to college and he was able to take what he learned there and go on to a very successful life.  They also are big donors to Nationwide Childrens Hospital and to Lutheran Services as well as Marietta College. 

Doolittle, you are correct in that Chlapaty has been very generous to other places, such as Marietta College.  While I was a GA there, they were major donors towards the construction of the new library.  Now that I am back in Marietta coaching at the high school, I again see the generous gifts he has made to the college.  They just finished a roughly $5 million stadium renovation that the Chlapaty's had a major hand in.  We play our high school games at the stadium, and it is top notch.  Nothing compared to what UD put in place, but still top of the line.  I hear also that they layout of the press box, locker rooms, etc. that we have is very similar to that in Dubuque. 

[OhIowa]

All the Loras/UD talk makes me think of other conference rivals.  Is the Wart/Luther rivalry still strong as it used to be?  I haven't heard much about it since the days of planes dropping flyers onto Wart's campus, etc.

UD/Loras...
Luther/Wartburg...
Coe/Cornell...
What was the bigger rivalry...Central/William Penn or Central/Simpson?
Did Upper Iowa have rivalries with Wartburg and Luther?  Anyone have any stories???
Does Buena Vista have any rivalries?

I believe BV and Upper Iowa was a rivalry...they called it..the Porno Bowl 

Continuing the rivalry talk, are there any traveling trophies that go around in the conference?  I believe in my second year at Cornell, John Campbell at KCRG wanted to start a traveling trophy for Cornell and Coe.  Although it would not have traveled any since then, it would be a cool addition the the game.

I'm sure there has been talk in the past about pranks pulled for rivalry games, but what are some of the more memorable ones any of you guys pulled or heard of?  We always tried to put purple kool-aid in the fountain at Coe, but it was always shut down for the winter by the time the game rolled around.  A few of us wanted to do something to the Teke (sp?) House, but never had the guts to pull it off.

[warthog]

Continuing the rivalry talk, are there any traveling trophies that go around in the conference?  I believe in my second year at Cornell, John Campbell at KCRG wanted to start a traveling trophy for Cornell and Coe.  Although it would not have traveled any since then, it would be a cool addition the the game.

I'm sure there has been talk in the past about pranks pulled for rivalry games, but what are some of the more memorable ones any of you guys pulled or heard of?  We always tried to put purple kool-aid in the fountain at Coe, but it was always shut down for the winter by the time the game rolled around.  A few of us wanted to do something to the Teke (sp?) House, but never had the guts to pull it off.

Upper Iowa and Wartburg played for an old bell.  If I remember correctly it was a bell off a steam locamotive.  It probably now resides permanently in Waverly.

Luther often successfully filled the Wartburg fountain with blue dye and bubbles.  They also smuggled a baby pig dressed in a Wartburg cheerleaders uniform into a basketball game.  The Martin Luther statue in Decorah would occasionally end up with a fresh coat of orange paint.  Luther's Carlson Field had a "W" at midfield for many years that came as a result of a deadly mixture of gasoline, salt, and the herbacide Atrazine.  I read that eventually they got tired of looking at it and dug down four feet and replaced the soil.

I don't know that either Luther or Wartburg had an especially strong rivalry with the Peacocks. Occasionally someone would slip into Fayette and pull off a prank using the other schools colors.  That way the UIU students would retaliate at either Luther or Wartburg not knowing that it was the other school that caused the original mischief.  I was in on one of those raids on a Tuesday prior to a Luther/UIU football game.  Call us lazy, but it was quicker to drive over to Fayette than Decorah.

[steelhawk]

I've been awfully quiet on the postboard for much of the season. I don't believe in giving constant individual "props" to players.

But, in case anyone hasn't been following closely and if my math is correct, Michael Zweifel currently has 425 Receptions, 5581 Yards, and 50 TD's in his college career. The All-Time NCAA (All Divisions- D-I; D-IAA; D-II; D-III) Reception Record stands at 436.

I think this accomplishment is great for the IIAC.  However, I still think it is fishy that he gets to play four games last year before his season-ending "injury," and those statistics count eventhough he was awarded a medical redshirt for the year.  Without those four games he doesn't break the record.

[Fannosaurus Rex]

I can't give you any good rivalry pranks, but I know way back in my day, the week before either WmPenn or Simpson played at Central, the fraternities would post round the clock guards on the football field to prevent any vandalism.  I had the beejeezus scared out of me one late night when I was passing by after a rigorous session at the library or someplace, and I was challenged by a bunch of guys skulking in the dark.

[Alfredeneumann]

All the Loras/UD talk makes me think of other conference rivals.  Is the Wart/Luther rivalry still strong as it used to be?  I haven't heard much about it since the days of planes dropping flyers onto Wart's campus, etc.

The leaflet drop was the other way around.  Wartburg students flew over Luther.  One of my favorite pranks involved one of the little Warthogs. A group of Wartburg students posed as a church youth group from Minnesota and got game tickets, free food, and a tour of the Luther campus.  During the tour they posted little Wartburg stickers around campus and took pictures of the stickers and themselves without the tour guide catching on.  Another great prank was pulled off by the Wartburg student run radio station.  They got into the Luther homecoming parade by passing themselves off as some sort of socially conscientious group.  In the middle of the parade they "cut the cheese" ala Animal House and revealed themselves.  All the time they were transmitting live reports from the Luther parade back to the station at Wartburg.

Here is the parade video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHYnI29XMw4

[badgerwarhawk]

I think this accomplishment is great for the IIAC.  However, I still think it is fishy that he gets to play four games last year before his season-ending "injury," and those statistics count eventhough he was awarded a medical redshirt for the year.  Without those four games he doesn't break the record.

There's nothing fishy about it.  It's a career record.  His medical redshirt had to have been granted by the NCAA so those games are a part of his career.  Other records are also held by players who played in additional games (i.e. Nate Kmic holds the all time rushing record and played in 20 additional games in his career.)   

And why do you put "injury" in quotes.  Your not quoting anyone and to get a medical redshirt he would have had to submit documentation that the injury was legit. 

[Klompen]

Penn was a much bigger rivalry than Simpson because of distance.  Simpson saw Central as a rival of that nature long before Central considered it a rivalry.  There were lots of pranks back in the day eith Penn, but Simpson has never really become a big rival because most of the time the games are not of significance unless it is softall.  WB probably carries a rivalry factor as much as Simpson because with football always being the crown jewel of Central sports, that is where the competition has been for most of the past few years.  It just carries over to other sports as a Big Game kind of rivalry, but I don't think Simpson and Central will ever be like Central and Penn were.

[Willie University]

I think this accomplishment is great for the IIAC.  However, I still think it is fishy that he gets to play four games last year before his season-ending "injury," and those statistics count eventhough he was awarded a medical redshirt for the year.  Without those four games he doesn't break the record.

There's nothing fishy about it.  It's a career record.  His medical redshirt had to have been granted by the NCAA so those games are a part of his career.  Other records are also held by players who played in additional games (i.e. Nate Kmic holds the all time rushing record and played in 20 additional games in his career.)   

And why do you put "injury" in quotes.  Your not quoting anyone and to get a medical redshirt he would have had to submit documentation that the injury was legit. 

Saying something is "fishy" is kind of like that same type of song and dance as others have said.....other WR's in the NCAA would have enough receptions to break the record if they were thrown the ball as much .....B.S.

Whenever someone is great, there will also be people trying to bring them down in one way or another. Jealously? Envy? Who knows and who cares? But, the bottom line is he is a very talented football player and he deserves whatever honors he earns. If you think for one second that he isn't also one of the hardest working student-athletes on the field, you are crazy. In the classroom, in the weight room, in the film room, on the field. You don't get to this level of success without putting in the work.

I've met him and he is also about the most modest person you could know which makes it even that much better.

Willie U

[DoubleDomer]

All the Loras/UD talk makes me think of other conference rivals.  Is the Wart/Luther rivalry still strong as it used to be?  I haven't heard much about it since the days of planes dropping flyers onto Wart's campus, etc.

The leaflet drop was the other way around.  Wartburg students flew over Luther.  One of my favorite pranks involved one of the little Warthogs. A group of Wartburg students posed as a church youth group from Minnesota and got game tickets, free food, and a tour of the Luther campus.  During the tour they posted little Wartburg stickers around campus and took pictures of the stickers and themselves without the tour guide catching on.  Another great prank was pulled off by the Wartburg student run radio station.  They got into the Luther homecoming parade by passing themselves off as some sort of socially conscientious group.  In the middle of the parade they "cut the cheese" ala Animal House and revealed themselves.  All the time they were transmitting live reports from the Luther parade back to the station at Wartburg.

Here is the parade video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHYnI29XMw4

As far as proximity of rivals, there can't be any that match Claremont McKenna vs. Pomona out in the SCIAC.  The distance between campuses: 0.  The distance between fields: 800 feet.  When they play at Pomona, CMC dresses in its home locker room and walks to Merritt Field--and adjourns to its home locker room at half. (My oldest is an OT at Claremont; he can see the Pomona field from his dorm room.)  On top of all that, the two schools are academic peers, so the hatred runs deep. The play the last game of the season for ironically-named "Peace Pipe."  It gets pretty bitter.

As for Luther and the Warts, history (as we Luther alumni will gladly tell you) will record that LUTHER pioneered both the pilfering prank and the field prank--stealing the suit of armor right from under the noses of the Warts in 1959 and hauling it up to Decorah for unveiling at a Luther-Wartburg basketball game (or so my mother, Luther '61, assures me), AND first marking the Wartburg field with an "LC" in (I think) 1965, several years before the Warts unleashed their atrazine revenge.  Go Norse.

[Klompen]

It is what it is.  Zweifel is a great athlete who gets thrown the ball a lot because he is so very capable of catching it in any given situation.  Mark Kac always got the ball more than anyone else because he was capable of getting the yards on the ground.  When you have a good player you use that player.  Is MZ at an advantage because he got those extra games last year, yes, just as Mark Kac was able to play two extra games and one down before being injured at WB and coming back for a 5th year.  Is it an advantage to have the extra games, sure, but it is splitting hairs to point it out.  Every team that gets to the playoffs gets extra games for individual stats too. 

[doolittledog]

As far as proximity of rivals, there can't be any that match Claremont McKenna vs. Pomona out in the SCIAC.  The distance between campuses: 0.  The distance between fields: 800 feet.  When they play at Pomona, CMC dresses in its home locker room and walks to Merritt Field--and adjourns to its home locker room at half. (My oldest is an OT at Claremont; he can see the Pomona field from his dorm room.)  On top of all that, the two schools are academic peers, so the hatred runs deep. The play the last game of the season for ironically-named "Peace Pipe."  It gets pretty bitter.

I had forgot about CMC and Pomona/Pitzer pretty much sharing a campus.  Others that I can think of is St. Olaf and Carleton in Northfield, Mn, both members of the MIAC.  There is also Illinois College and MacMurray in Jacksonville, IL.  Though they are in different athletic conferences.  I'm guessing there are some D3 schools in the Twin Cities and in the Chicagoland area that have close proximities. 

[DBQ1965]

From the "for what its worth" department ... acknowledging the old saying that "liars figure and figures lie" ... here are the current Massey ratings for IIAC schools:

44  Dubuque
60  Central
66  Wartburg
81  Coe
104  Simpson
142  Luther
159  BV
187  Loras
193  Cornell

As a side note, there are 9 west region teams rated ahead of UD.  Things will settle out over the next few weeks when Conference championships are firmly decided.  There already is debate going on in some of the other rooms over Pool B and Pool C candidates.