In December, 1992, I was sitting in the sports room of WRC-TV in Washington D.C.  That night I was assigned to watch a basketball game between the Charlotte Hornets and the Atlanta Hawks.  There were many people like me in the room — eager, young, hungry college type kids who wanted a break in the sports broadcasting field.

I was not particularly excited about my assignment that night but Charlotte did have a couple of former Georgetown Hoyas playing for them, Alonzo Mourning and David Wingate.  Maybe there was a chance my game would be used on the news that night, but I needed something exciting to happen.  Suddenly, Mourning had a dunk and Wingate scored a fast break basket.  The producer of the newscast that night asked if anybody had a good game for the highlights package on the news.  I piped up immediately.

I was now on the spot — my highlights were going to be used on the news that night.  Into the main editing room I went and there waiting for me was the Dean of Sports Broadcasting in Washington D.C. — George Michael.  This guy was one of the reasons I wanted to become a sports broadcaster.  Michael was putting together ESPN type highlights on his local newscast before there was an ESPN.  He showed the best games and was energetic about it.  He was exciting, he was vociferous, he was loud, he was bold.  Sound familar?

As I walked into that dark, smallish editing room, I was trembling as Michael sat down with his notepad and began to watch my highlights that I assembled.  He saw everything.  He wanted to know details.  One time, Michael told me, “If you don’t know for sure, don’t say anything.”  After seeing the Wingate fast break basket, he said, “That’s basketball!” as he scribbled down more notes.  He didn’t like the Mourning dunk but I told him I had another one cued up on a different tape.  He liked that one better.  He wrote more notes.  He asked me a couple more questions and then I was done.  As I walked out of the room, the producer just smiled and walked away.

The next day, I was back in the sports room, watching another nothing game.  George Michael usually hardly notices you when you’re an intern.  On this day, he noticed me.  “Hey man,” he said.  “Nice job yesterday.  You did a nice job, but I gotta tell ya, you are one cocky son of a ****.   But, by the time you are through here, you will know TV.”  And then he walked away.

On this Christmas Eve, George Michael passed away at the age of 70.  He was my childhood idol.  He was one of the reasons I am doing what I am doing.  Those words and that story will always stay with me and will always inspire me to be the best that I can be.   That was the first and most important compliment I ever received about my broadcasting career.  And it came from my idol.

You may know George Michael as the former host of the Sunday night show, “The Sports Machine” which KTIV used to air.  I’ll remember Michael as one of the best in the business, because he was one cocky son of a *****.

For more information, check out this link about the life of George Michael

http://www.comcast.net/articles/sports-general/20091224/US.Obit.Michael/

It was an easy night for the #5 North Star Girls Basketball team.  Not so for the boys.

First, the good news.  North rolled over Hull Western Christian 76-43 on Tuesday night.  Josee Jansen got hot from the outside, hitting 3 three-pointers in the second half, leading North with 20 points on route to a 33 point win.

Kari Ceasar finished with 17 points, including hitting 9 in a row from the free throw line.  Brittni Donaldson was also in double figures with 14 points.

This was my first look at North and the Stars seem to be really good but are missing something inside.  North does not have a player on their roster that is over 5′9″.  Rebounding could haunt North against really good teams.  The Wolfpack were not a really good team.

Still, Donaldson is very impressive.  The Junior can slash her way to the basket with the best of them.  There was one play where Abby Axthelm threw a lob to Donaldson on the baseline — she caught it and threw it in the basket in one fell swoop.  Kind of like an alley-oop except without the dunk.

It will be fun to watch the backcourt of Donaldson and Jansen this year and the next since they are both juniors.

Meanwhile, the North boys fell to the fourth ranked team in 2A, 56-51.  It was a back and forth game.  North led 28-17 in the 2nd quarter but the Wolfpack went on a 11-0 run to end the half to lead 28-25 at the break.  After North built a small lead in the third quarter, Hull went on a 8-0 run to take a 44-41 lead after three quarters.  Western went 6-8 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and used a pressure zone defense to force some mistakes to win it by 5.

Damek Tomscha was on fire for the Stars.  The senior guard had only three three-pointers coming into the night but erupted with 4 3’s alone in the third quarter to keep North in the game.  Tomscha had 6 triples on the night and finished with a game high 24 points.

Meanwhile, will somebody please explain Dylan Ohl to me.  Here is a kid who has a ton of talent but makes crazy mistakes at the same time.  Ohl showed flashes on Tuesday night — like hitting a three pointer in the 2nd quarter then stealing a pass and going down for a dunk.  But in the 4th quarter, Ohl made 2 key turnovers late in the game.  Ohl finished with 10 points.

North is a good basketball team — much better than last year.  However, they do run into mistakes.  If Tomscha continues to shoot lights out then the Stars have a chance to challenge East for the state tourney berth out of their substate.  The Black Raiders are still the favorite but North is playing some tough competition on their schedule that could bear some fruit.

Happy Holidays everybody.

There’s a lot of talent in Jeff Vanderloo’s stable.

East steamrolled past Sgt. Bluff-Luton on Saturday night, winning 93-68 and staying unbeaten at 4-0.

Quinton Behlers led the Black Raiders with 20 points.  The guard got hot in the 2nd quarter, hitting 3 straight 3 pointers, finishing with 11 points in the quarter.  Behlers was active all over the floor but was outstanding offensively, complimenting East’s inside strength on the perimeter.

East’s “Twin Towers” of Adam Woodbury and Jeff Sponder both finished in double figures.  Woodbury had 19 points and hardly played in the 4th quarter.  Sponder finished with 12 points.  Jordan Thomas got on track for East with 15 points.

The Warriors were led by Derek Jensen with 22 points; Logan Shine had 14 and Ross Chettinger added 12.  SB-L fell to 1-2.

East has tremendous athleticism and more importantly has balance on the offensive side.  Woodbury and Sponder are a force inside while Thomas and Behlers give East an outside shooting threat that opponents have to deal with.  Then Vanderloo can go to his bench and bring in Ben Moes, Quinton James, Jordan Menard, Mike Krantz, and Alex Imming who turn the game into a track meet.

The Black Raiders do have a difficult schedule after the first of the year. playing South Sioux City, Cherokee, Hull Western Christian, West, North, and Heelan in successive weeks after the winter holiday.  Pretty tough road ahead for East but they have the horses to race ahead of the pack amongst the 4A teams in the MRAC.

The Warriors have some talent that should serve them well in the War Eagle Conference but SB-L is getting a taste of what is to come next year when they join the Missouri River.

Imagine the inside of the clubhouse at a major golf tournament.  Inside the locker room, several random PGA golfers are sitting around, chewing the fat.  Here’s what part of the conversation might sound like:

Golfer 1:  “Hey did any of you guys see the babe that Tiger was with last night?”

Golfer 2:  “No!  What’d she look like?”

Golfer 1:  “Oh my goodness!  What a piece of work!  She was perfect in all respects!  (deleted explanation)”

Golfer 3:  “How does Tiger get away with that?”

Golfer 2:  “If Elin finds out about this, the phit will hit the shan!”

You may laugh, but it is very probable that inside the PGA Tour, there were loose lips about Tiger’s lifestyle.  Professional sports is no different than the office — gossip runs rampant.  Golfers talk with other golfers and I am sure a golfer talked with a member of the regular press that covers the PGA.  They simply sat on the story because Tiger is Tiger and if you anger the man, you’ll face the icy stare of Woods and you’re cut off.

Now, the story is out.  Tiger is a ladies man.  Apparently his nickname applies to his love life just like his golf game.  He obviously has cheated on his wife and might have gone to elaborate methods to do so.  Tiger has announced he will take an indefinate leave from golf to rebuild his family.  That’s all well and good but at some point Tiger is going to have to talk publicly about this.  He is going to have to have a sit down interview with somebody.

There’s only one person who can save Tiger Woods right now and that’s Oprah.  Laugh again if you want but Oprah’s show would be the perfect venue for Tiger to admit his mistakes and move on with his life.  Oprah would not focus on all the crazy details of every affair that Tiger had.  She would fire some soft questions and some hard questions but would help Tiger start to rebuild his once squeaky clean reputation.  Oprah would help Tiger clear the air so he would not have to answer so many questions at every golf tournament he plays at next year.

As for his indiscretions, it is clear that Tiger is not perfect.  His personality was always sort of mystery — we never trully knew the real Tiger Woods.  There was always a wall built up by Nike, Gatorade, Buick, and the empire that Tiger created.  Now, several bricks in the wall have been torn down.  Whether they can be rebuilt will be up to Tiger.

Still, when Woods does play golf again, who in the gallery will be the first to shout, “Who you going out with tonight, Tiger?”

–

Brian Kelly is the new Head Football Coach at Notre Dame.  Kelly becomes in the 31st coach in the history of the Fighting Irish, one of the most storied football programs in the country.  The only problem is that none of the current college recruits buy into that.  The only thing recruits want is playing time and exposure so they get a chance at the NFL.

Notre Dame is one of the pack now.  They may have a nationwide network of alumni but so does everybody else.  Notre Dame plays every game on national television but so does everybody else.  Still, the Irish have been able to recruit talent — Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate are evidence of that.  The problem isn’t recruiting.  The problem is that Notre Dame has made bad hires for their last three head coaches.

Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis have combined to go 91-67 over the last 13 seasons.  That’s a winning percentage of .579.  Notre Dame does not tolerate mediocrity — much like Nebraska, Tennessee, or any other football program with a winning tradition.  Look what the Volunteers did to legend Phillip Fulmer last year after Tennessee went 5-7.  The Vols sent Fullmer packing.

Davie, Willingham, and Weis could not succeed to an acceptable level because they are not Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, and Urban Meyer.  Those three coaches have established dynasties in the current atmosphere of college football.  Does Kelly have the ability to win like those three?  Time will tell but coaching at Notre Dame will be much more challenging than coaching at Cincinnati.  The biggest challenge Kelly will have is dealing with higher academic standards at South Bend than he did with the Bearcats.

I also believe that there is impatience at Notre Dame.  They want the quick fix and Kelly is a quick fixer.  He turned around Central Michigan in three years.  He made Cincinnati a national championship contender in three years.  The Irish want the same quick fix.

I have a funny feeling they will be disappointed again.

The North Stars went on an 8-0 run to start the final quarter and a 4 point lead turned into a 12 point advantage.  West never recovered and the Stars topped the Wolverines 66-54 at the North gym on Thursday night.

Wesley Staten led all scorers with 38 points but no other West player scored more than 6 as the Wolverines fell to 0-2 to start the season.

North was led by Patrick Kurth with 20 points.  It may be early but Kurth and Heelan’s Chris Karpuk are the leading candidates for most improved player so far this season.  Kurth was a dominant force in the middle and West had nobody who could handle the 6′8″ Senior in the paint.

Danny Rudeen had a quiet 18 points and was stellar running the offense.  Damek Tomscha had an off-night but finished in double figures with 10 points.

Both teams played a sloppy first half — both teams had not practiced in a couple of days because of the snowstorm.  There were a lot of fouls — West had 6 players with 2 fouls apiece heading into halftime.  West led 12-9 after the first quarter but the Stars came out of the gates strong in the 2nd period to lead 30-23 at the half.  Rudeen had 9 points in the 2nd quarter to lead the comeback.

North’s lead grew to 11 but West mounted a comeback late in the third quarter as Staten had 2 straight 3 point plays to cut the lead to 47-43 after three quarters.

However, a Rudeen basket, a Tomscha jumper and lay-ups by Ryan Fraley and Jared Evers led to a 8-0 run to start the 4th quarter and North never looked back from there.  North improved to 2-0 while West fell to 0-2.

Staten has clearly improved his defense for West but the Wolverines need to give him some help.  Freshman Marcel Dunson has the potential but is still raw and developing his offensive skills.  Zach Clarey can shoot from the outside but he needs the confidence to shoot more.  Destin Mace has some ability as well but was clearly outmatched by the size of North.

The Stars have a decent basketball team.  New Head Coach Joe Burkhart likes to play more uptempo than his precedessor and the Stars seemed to have reacted well to the new style.  North did not have a three-pointer the entire night and yet they won by 12 points.  Burkhart stresses transitional defense and rebounds and they both helped the Stars secure a conference win on Thursday night.

On Saturday, we will be at the East gym as the Black Raiders host Sgt. Bluff-Luton.  Pre-game at 7:05, tip at 7:30 on 1360 KSCJ.

It had appeared that that Iowa Hawkeyes were heading to the Fiesta Bowl after a fantastic 10-2 season.  Fiesta officials had previously indicated they would love to have the Hawks and would probably match them up with Boise St. — assuming Nebraska or somebody else would not screw it up.

However, the desire to pit the 2 top non-BCS conference teams — TCU and Boise St. — was too tempting to pass up.  So the Fiesta’s loss is the Orange’s gain as Iowa goes to Miami instead of Arizona.

The match-up of Iowa and Georgia Tech is far from glamorous but the Orange Bowl will take a guaranteed sellout instead.  The bowl game rembers Iowa fans from 2003 when 48,000 of them came to watch USC beat the Hawks.  Only 40,000 could get in the stadium.

I am not sure how well the Yellow Jacket fans support Tech but the travel is far less for the ACC Champs than for Iowa fans.  And whatever tickets are leftover, I am sure that Iowa fans will be more than happy to gobble up.  Iowa has to travel much farther but Hawkeye fans love to escape the tough Iowa winter to see the Hawks play in a bowl game each and every year.

I think the Fiesta will be hard pressed to sell their game out.  So it was an interesting decision to have TCU and Boise St. play each other and it may be a costly one.

The Hawkeye-Yellow Jacket match up will not be a ratings blockbuster but it will make the Orange Bowl money.

By the way, if you’re interested in going, there is a charter trip that my friends Marty Millard and Justin Barker of the Hawkeye Nation Kickoff Show are putting together.  Marty and JB are going to broadcast live from Miami and you can join them for the trip to see the Hawkeyes play in the Orange Bowl.

Go to the following link:

www.kscjhawkeyeradio.com

On Friday night, Heelan opened up defense of their 3A basketball crown with a 84-66 win over South Sioux City.  Before the game, we announced that Zach McCabe has been awarded the 2009 McClintock Insurance Football Player of the Year.

It was not an easy decision and it clearly boiled down to 2 choices — McCabe and East QB Ben Moes.  The best argument for Moes was that he set a city passing record, throwing for 2,629 yards while leading the Black Raiders to a Missouri River Athletic Conference title.  It was a great season for East and new Head Coach Bob Goodvin.

However, there were 2 major factors in deciding for McCabe:

1)  Each quarterback had a huge individual game but I had the chance to see McCabe’s performance against Sgt. Bluff-Luton while I did not get a chance to see Moes versus Urbandale.  Against the Warriors, McCabe was 26 of 49 passing for 465 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Its the 8th highest passing total in Iowa history and sets the standard for passing in a game in Sioux City.  So McCabe has a record of his own.

Moes was 30 of 46 passing for 416 yards and 3 TD versus Urbandale.  A great performance to be sure but just a tad below McCabe’s.

2)  Most important, McCabe was a terror on defense.  Not only that, McCabe played defensive line — unusual for a quarterback — and was a star.  McCabe finished with 81 tackles and had 22 tackles for loss.  He returned an interception back for a touchdown and forced 2 fumbles.  Head Coach Roger Jansen knew that McCabe was a talent on defense but he did not need him when he was a junior.  He was needed this season and McCabe flourished.

There is one other point to be made.  I calculated the pass efficiency between McCabe and Moes which may or may not mean anything.  But it was interesting to learn that McCabe had a higher rating than Moes.  McCabe finished with a passer efficiency rating of 106.67.  Moes finished with a rating of 95.92.  That’s a pretty significant difference.  Here’s the final stats for the 2 quarterbacks:

McCabe:  170 completions, 277 attempts, 2,461 yards, 21 TD, 6 INT, 2 rushing TD, 106.67 efficiency

Moes:  210 completions, 324 attempts, 2,629 yards, 22 TD, 13 INT, 2 rushing TD, 95.92 efficiency

McCabe was such an outstanding football player on both sides of the ball that it was hard not to vote for him as our McClintock Insurance Player of the Year.

There were other outstanding players that deserve Honarable Mention:

Heelan Defensive Tackle George Wakeman.  He finished with 156 tackles, which far and away was the highest in the city this season.  Wakeman had 34.0 tackles for loss and had 2 interceptions.  He was definately the best defensive player in the city this year.

Heelan Wide Receiver Nick Berger.  69 catchs for 982 yards and 8 touchdowns.  Berger was a force on defense as well, finishing with 80 tackles and 2 interceptions (1 for a touchdown) and returned a fumble for a touchdown.

East Linebacker Brad Stapleton.  The force for the Black Raiders defense finished with 62 tackles and 1 interception.

East Wide Receiver Britt Anderson.  The primary target for Moes caught 75 passes for 923 yards and 6 touchdowns.  Anderson was a 2 way player as well with 54 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 2 forced fumbles.

North Defensive Lineman Tyler Lafave.  The leader on defense for the Stars led the team in tackles with 82, including an incredible 67 solo tackles.  Lafave also had 2 interceptions.

There is a report that a deranged Notre Dame fan took a swipe at Jimmy Clausen as he was leaving a South Bend restaurant.  Clausen was having dinner with his family and apparently some unruly Irish fan decided to take his frustrations on the Notre Dame troubles out on its quarterback in front of his parents.

Earlier this year, Buffalo Bills Kick Returner Leodis McKelvin had his lawn vandalized by upset fans after McKelvin fumbled a kickoff to give New England a come from behind win.

When does it end?  When do fans just stay fans and not look for retribution?

Let’s face it — we all get frustrated when our favorite team loses.  And often, fans are quick to find a scapegoat and heap their abuse on one individual.  Some fans will boo the home team in the home stadium.  On Sunday, Kansas City Chief fans were booing Matt Cassel in the first half but cheering him in the second as KC came back to beat the Steelers.

Sometime the booing is warranted.  Players make a lot of bonehead plays in a game.  Coaches make a lot of bonehead decisions in a game.  They deserve to be booed.

But no player or coach deserves to have their home vandalized.  And no player deserves to be punched in the eye while going out to eat with their family.

I could say that it is just a game but that would be meaningless.  With the amount of money involved in college and pro sports, its no longer just a game.  Its a profession.

However, there has to be a line drawn between the fans and the players and coaches.  Most fans would agree that the players are becoming more distant from the fans.  Its harder and harder to relate to the players.  But after hearing about the incidents above, can you blame them?

Its time for fans to know their place as fans.  You can boo the players as players and the coaches as coaches but you have to respect them as human beings.  In the case of McKelvin and Clausen, that did not happen.  God help us if it ever gets worse than a trashed yard and a black eye.

It always seems like the offense steals the headlines.  When history reflects on the 2009 Iowa Hawkeyes, it will be the defense that people should remember.

Iowa shut out Minnesota on Saturday afternoon at Kinnick Stadium, winning 12-0 on Senior Day, retaining Floyd of Rosedale, and finishing the regular season at 10-2.

The Hawkeyes did not win this game due to its offense.  Redshirt Freshman James Vandenberg played like one.  The back-up QB was just 11-24 passing for 117 yards and 1 interception.  It was more than the stats, however, as Vandenberg looked completely lost on the field.  The Gophers blitzed Vandenberg all over the field.  And when he did throw the football, he threw it behind receivers, he threw it too hard, and he overthrew it to open receivers.

While Vandenberg struggled, the defense picked up the slack.  The Gophers only managed 201 yards of total offense and Adam Weber looked worse than Vandenberg.  The Junior QB was 14 of 40 passing for 153 yards and was running for his life.

The Gophers did have a chance to put some points on the board, driving to the 2 yard line early in the 4th quarter.  However, the Hawks defense came through with a goal line stand, stuffing Minnesota on 4 straight plays to perserve the shutout.

Once again, Norm Parker’s bunch did not blitz all game long and the line of Adrian Clayborn, Broderick Binns, Karl Klug, and Christian Ballard stunted their way all game long, fighting through the big Gopher offensive line, sacking Weber 5 times.

A.J. Edds and Pat Angerer played like seniors do in their final home game — great.  Shaun Prater broke up a pass in the end zone on the goal line stand after being called for pass interference just moments earlier.  There was no shortgage of defensive stars.   While the Iowa offense sputtered, Kirk Ferentz had to keep turning to his defense to make a stop and they responded every time.

There is no doubt that offense steals the headlines.  Nobody talks about defenses when it comes to the Heisman trophy or other awards.  It seems like most people are impressed with points — particularly pollsters and bowl officials.  Skeptics this season have said that Iowa plays down to their competition.

It is true that Iowa has only one blowout this season (35-3 over Iowa St.).  It is true that the offense has been incredibly inconsistent all season long.  It is true that Iowa is still a young football team — starting only 5 seniors.

It is also true that Iowa has one of the best defenses in the country.  Iowa wins games and its the defense that leads the way.  That means low scoring games.  That means a lot of winning ugly.

While that style is not glamorous, it will be good enough to get Iowa into a BCS bowl.  And it will be the defense that will lead them there.

–

Bowl Talk

Fiesta and Orange Bowl officials were at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, scouting out the Hawkeyes as a possible BCS at-large team.  With the reputation that Iowa fans have at following their team to bowl games, there is no surprise that the Hawkeyes are a leading contender to making a trip to either Tempe or Miami.

There are 3 teams that could spoil Iowa fans travel plans.  One is Oklahoma St.  Should the Cowboys beat rival Oklahoma next week, OSU could induce the Fiesta Bowl to select them instead of the Hawks.

The second is Nebraska.  The Huskers will play Texas in the Big 12 Championship and a Big Red win would knock the ‘Horns into an at-large bid (which would knock OSU out because a conference cannot have 3 BCS bowl teams).

The third is Clemson.  The Tigers will play Georgia Tech in the ACC title game and if they can win, the Yellow Jackets would go into a pool of teams for an at-large BCS bid.

Should any of those events take place, the final at-large bid would likely fall to either Iowa, Penn St. or Boise St.  You would think the Hawkeyes would get the bid over the Nittany Lions because they beat them.  However, the BCS might be forced to take an unbeaten Bronco team over the Hawks.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Two games into the 2009-2010 season and Hawkeye fans are already looking forward to spring football.  What is this — Nebraska?

Iowa is 0-2 in men’s basketball.  The Hawks looked miserable in their first 2 games — losses to Texas San Antonio and Duquesne.  At HOME!  This has not happened since 1962!

The fact of the matter is that Iowa just does not have an elite player right now.  Head Coach Todd Lickliter has made some strides with in state recruiting but in order to win Big Ten titles, you have to venture out of state to land star players.

Anthony Tucker is the only Iowa player averaging in double figures in scoring.  And barely — he’s averaging 10.5 points in the first 2 games.  Iowa’s best outside shooter is Matt Gatens.  The problem is that he currently is the only outside shooter that Iowa has.  So teams attack him defensively and make it difficult for Gatens to shoot the rock.

On Tuesday, former Heelan Crusader Brennan Cougill got some good minutes and produced.  Cougill had 8 points in 14 minutes.  He’ll get a chance to play this year as Iowa needs to find ways to score.  If Gatens is covered on the outside, it should open up things on the inside.  That should help Cougill.

They say that you are supposed to support your team through thick and thin.  Well, there’s a lot of thin with Iowa this year.