Go Hawks! Their season kicks off with four games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena:
Fri-Oct 25-Men's Basketball vs. Minnesota Duluth (EXH)
Mon Nov 4 Texas_A and M–Commerce
Thu Nov 7 Southern University
Tue Nov 12 South Dakota
For the past 5 years, I always think about getting season tickets for the mens games... and I never have bitten the bullet and done it.
This article is from July. Look at the structure of the URL - it has 2024, followed by a slash, then a 7, followed by a slash, then a 10, followed by a slash. The issue I have with this structure is that you will never actually have the months line up in chronological order because the 7 should be 07 to deal with the "10" for October, the "11" for November, and the "12" for December. Yes, little piddly crap like that gnaw at me on a daily basis.
For the first time in the better part of a decade, the Iowa Hawkeyes are poised to start a basketball season with only the head coach bearing the last name McCaffery. In today’s world of transfer portal madness and NIL funding, the Hawkeyes lost a trio of players to the portal after last year’s 19-15 finish, including coach McCaffery’s middle son Patrick. Pat (Butler) was joined in departing by PG Dasonte Bowen (St. Bonaventure) and Tony Perkins (Mizzou).
I am going to present a brief overview of my 200 Days project.
On Monday, January 18, 1993, I started to write in a black 200 page college ruled notebook to count down to our wedding day. I was living in the house I grew up in and I was so anxious to marry Karen. I decided to write that volume because I knew my life was in a phase that would never be repeated in my future and I wanted to capture what I was feeling. I decided that I wasn't going to expect any words to be added to my 200
Days notebook on our actual wedding day so I decided that I would use
August 6, 1993, as the final day on which I would write, a decision I
have carried forward with each 200 Days volume. I also decided that I would create a list of 200 topics and assign a topic to each page. I would write a single front of a page about the topic. Many of the pages in the first volume have a couple of sentences to indicate that the topic was irrelevant or that the topic didn't merit writing any words. I wrote about Karen (of course), my friends, my family, my job, and relevant news of the day.
It so happened that the first night I began writing about the countdown
to beginning a new chapter in my life was also the day that Chris
Street, a basketball player at the U of Iowa, was killed in a car crash. It was also in January 1993 when Metallica came to Carver-Hawkeye Arena and played a concert, which I attended.
On Tuesday, January 18, 1994, I started to write in a red 200 page college ruled notebook to count down to our first wedding anniversary. I was living in the apartment in Coralville that Karen had been living in prior to marrying me and I wanted to capture the magic of writing the first 200 Days volume again.
On Wednesday, January 18, 1995, I started to write in a blue 200 page
college ruled notebook to count down to our second wedding anniversary. A lot of changes were happening in life, such as we had purchased a house in North Liberty and no longer were living in the apartment in Coralville. Once again, I wanted to capture the magic of the previous two volumes. However, I realized during the writing of that volume, I was not actually recapturing anything from the previous two volumes. It was a burden to maintain a schedule that allowed me to write a 200 Days volume, a personal journal, and what would turn out to be my final spiral notebook of lyrics and poems.
Which is why it wasn't until Friday, January 18, 2013, before I attempted to write a 200 Days volume to document the countdown to our 20th wedding anniversary. So many changes in my life had happened in the 6375 days (17 years, 5 months, 1 week, 5 days) since I finished the third volume on Sunday, August 6, 1995, that I felt like the time was right to attempt another 200 Days volume.
When Thursday, January 18, 2018, arrived, I felt like writing another 200 Days volume to document the countdown to our 25th wedding anniversary made sense. Once again, there had been so many changes during the 1626 days (4 years, 5 months, 1 week, 5 days) between Tuesday, August 6, 2013 and Thursday, January 18, 2018.
All of that leads me to Wednesday, January 18, 2023, and the first day of yet another 200 Days volume. In a short 200 days (6 months, 2 weeks, 5 days), it will be Sunday, August 6, 2023, which is the night before being married to Karen for 30 years. I am going to temporarily not follow the guidelines of my 10 Year Project, which is how I have been writing my journals since January 1, 2012. I assign a month and year to each of the 5 sections in a 200 page notebook. For example, I could have a month of writing from 5 different years in the same 200 page notebook, meaning my journal writing is not done sequentially, which is what I did from May 1989 through December 31, 2011. My intention is to write this 200 Days volume as a part of the 10 Year Project, except I started a 200 page notebook today and I am going to write sequentially in as many 200 page notebooks as I need until August 6, 2023.
I am uncertain how often I will mention this 200 Days volume on this blog. However, since it is the first day of this volume, I felt it was relevant to write about what is happening outside of writing this blog.
I was hopeful about the 2021-2022 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team a year ago, on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. By now, the season has been over for about 2 months and attention is being directed to the 2022-2023 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team. However, before moving forward, here's a look back at what I thought a year ago: Way Too Early Optimistic Thoughts about the 2021-2022 Iowa Men's Basketball Team.
Also, question for Future Me - did I arrive at HSSB at 5 AM today and walk my up/around3 routine before beginning my Disaster Recovery and/or Knowledge Management work? Provide an answer below, please: Yes, I did
Was the 2021-2022 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team season a success or frustration? It was a season of highs and lows. The team was riding a wave. First, there was the frustrating loss at IL to end the season (a game that was within their grasp at the end of the game), followed by a series of successes. The team found a way to win 4 games in 4 days on the road to the Big 10 Championship!! Then, the team went into their first round game in the NCAA Tournament against Richmond. Iowa had a chance to win that game but, in they end, they lost and the team that I had picked to win the NCAA Championship was knocked out of the tournament - a true bracket burster! After the game, there was such compelling sadness & disappointment on the faces of Connor McCaffery & Jordan Bohannon at the post-game press conference - truly, their faces are burned in my mind and I don't think it is likely to be an image I will ever forget. Connor declared that it was the worst game they had played that season and barely could get his words out. Because of C-19 and being granted an extra year of eligibility, Connor has the option to return for the 2022-2023 season, despite going through Senior Night festivities on February 28, 2022. Doing so is why JoBo was sitting next to him. However, when he was asked about returning, it didn't sound like he would return.
Did I attend Carver-Hawkeye Arena games with either Fred (of Fred and Julie) or Brian Rock or Alex? Did I find a way to attend multiple games with all 3 of them? Did I attend any games with Jason Lest? I attended two games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, one with "just" Brunch and one with Brunch and Wubs.
Did I begin 6/2/2022 with my up/around3 routine before beginning my Disaster Recovery and/or Knowledge Management work? Yes, I did.
It is now 23 days (3 weeks, 2 days) until Alex and Hannah's June 25, 2022, wedding - who's ready to PARTY!! I am ready. I want to say, for the record, I believe the day will be totally awesome and exceed every expectation I could conceive in my head about their wedding day.
I'm really happy that Keegan Murray is getting some attention as the summer begins in 2022. As this article points out -
Leistikow: With more NBA Draft buzz, Keegan Murray is Iowa's summer star - the 2021-2022 Iowa Hawkeyes that take the court this fall will look a lot different than the 2020-2021 team. From the article (I added the numbered list to make the article text easier to read
None of last year’s starting five will be on the floor for the first practice:
Yet, for Keegan Murray, his brother, who didn't get a lot of playing time last season, "new blood arriving in big-man transfer Filip Rebraca and recent high school graduates Riley Mulvey and Payton Sandfort", Patrick McCaffery, Joe Toussaint, and anyone else I'm forgetting, the challenge will remain the same as it is for any basketball team: chemistry. Who is going to emerge as the leader, both in the locker room and on the floor? Who is going to help Rebraca, Mulvey, and Sandfort get used to college and model outstanding citizenship as well as a work ethic to accomplish any task in front of them, both in and out of the classroom? I believe that all teams, whether it is at the junior high, high school, college, or professional level, start the off-season on a level playing field. I don't believe that any triumphs - or defeats - follow a team from season to season. Sure, TV analysts like to bring up previous games between teams and to discuss history, but on the basketball court, every game starts tied at zero. It's up to each team member to help their team win.
That is why, on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, I am optimistic about the 2021-2022 Iowa Hawkeyes. If the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, as it has been over the last few weeks, I foresee Carver-Hawkeye Arena being loud and a very tough environment for an opponent to enter and win a game. Coach Fran is a competitor and I have no reason to believe he will not instill that sense of competition, that sense of putting in the work now will yield a fruitful season in March 2022.
I am going to revisit this post on Thursday, June 2, 2022. I will be curious whether the 2021-2022 Iowa Hawkeyes had a successful season or if it was an exercise in frustration to watch them. Sincerely, I hope it is a successful season and I hope that I attend many many games with either Fred (of Fred and Julie) or Brian Rock or Jason Lest or Alex.
Today, the Iowa men's basketball team plays their final game of the season when they host Northwestern at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Back on November 1, 2017, I read this article on the KRUI website: http://krui.fm/2017/11/01/iowa-basketball-can-spooky-march/.
I have no idea today, 11/2/2017, whether the Iowa men's basketball team has had a good season or a disappointing season. In either case, revisiting the article is probably worth the time doing so.
Fran sounds like he did when Adam Woodbury was signed... And did he thrive? Sure, he started games. He came in as the big catch that North Carolina wanted but Fran swooped in and swayed him from being a Tar Heel. I can't tell you what he scored in every game - I hate numbers and that kind of statistics is too close to math for my brain. So, in generalities [(which yes, I criticized the writer who wrote about 'filler' without being specific, but this is not a music review so pipe down! (GRIN)], I remember these things about AW as a player:
He missed free throws.
He either fouled out or was a non-factor in critical games.
He got a reputation for being a 'dirty' player.
The bottom line is that he was not the savior that Fran proclaimed he would be. That's not on Fran - don't get me wrong - that's on Woodbury, who may be the sweetest / likeable guy on the planet - I've never met him. In the end, though, I personally label his career as an Iowa Hawkeye basketball player "underachieving" to the extent that when I read Fran touting Joe Wieskamp in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, I get nervous. This lead-off sentence of an article about Wieskamp conjures up memories of Woodbury:
IOWA CITY, Ia. — Joe Wieskamp is good enough to compete for a starting role on next year’s Iowa basketball team, coach Fran McCaffery said Thursday in his first public comments about the coveted recruit from Muscatine.
Maybe Wieskamp will come in and be the dominant player Woodbury was supposed to be. I hope so. Having a special player at Carver-Hawkeye Arena makes going to basketball games fun and worth fighting the crowd. The Iowa men's team begin their season tonight against Chicago State. I wish them well this season as well as in all future seasons.
Today is the Iowa men's basketball home finale against Penn State. The team is on a 3 game win streak, defeating Indiana, Maryland, and Wisconsin. The Maryland and Wisconsin games are significant because they were outside the comfort of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. There are two seniors on the team - Peter Jok and ... Jones, who has been hindered by injuries throughout his career. He has not been a significant contributor to the team this season. I hope Iowa wins today and I hope they go at least two games 'in' when the Big Ten Tournament begins as doing so is likely the only way they play after today. The "experts" have stated that the team will not make the NCAA Tournament. I'm really hoping they do, somehow, play in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT tournament.
Who's ready for some Iowa Hawkeye men's basketball?!? I AM!! Here's the 2016-17 Big Ten Men's Schedule and, unlike last year when there was not a single Saturday evening game, there are two this year.
I happened to come across this. It made me realize I remember NOTHING about this concert from when I was 19 years, 6 months, 2 weeks, 2 days old. The only reason I remember that I was there that night is is because I saw a friend of mine, Steve Devereaux, who asked me if I could give his friend, Scott, a ride home. It had been a couple of years, hell, maybe a decade, since I had seen Steve. He was a year older than me and lived in the house across the street from me on Red Bud Road. He had gone to a different elementary school and then we ended up at the same high school. I recall seeing him in the hallways in high school, we were not buddies.
Looking back on the situation, I really had no reason to help him. There was no compelling reason to do so, but I did. Scott lived in Marion and having never met Scott before, I agreed to give him a ride home. I am 99% sure I went to the concert with Serbi, but he lived in Palo, which was on the opposite side of the world, compared to Marion. Maybe I drove him home first and then went to Marion (it would be less of a "go around your elbow to get to your ass" itinerary going that route). I really just do not remember. More about Scott in a moment.
I can say that I don't think I had a drop of booze that night, which makes me even more disgusted that I can't recall details of that concert. I mean, this is Metallica, M E T A L L I C A and this was my first time seeing them in concert! I vaguely remember the Cult opened for them and that I found out later that Matt Sorum, who went on to play with Guns-n-Roses & Velvet Revolver, was the Cult's drummer when I saw them that night.
The funny thing about Scott is that he eventually became the lead singer for Assume, the first band I was in. The crazy thing is that I never heard him sing. EVER. He worked at Menard's and would say at band practice that he needed to buy a microphone. Fast forward to 1998, when I worked at QDS, I met Gail, his dad. I mentioned to Gail that his son had been the lead singer in the first band I was ever in. The look on Gail's face was priceless - I chuckle when I see it in my mind. "He sang? I never knew that."
So, while I don't know what tunes Metallica played on that night, I have to believe I liked the concert. After all, "And Justice for All" has never wavered in being my all-time favorite Metallica album. It's so odd to me that this year - November 5, 2016 - will mark 10,000 days since I saw Metallica in concert for the first time. Since then, of course, I've seen them 3 additional times:
November 1991 at the Five Seasons Center (the same venue I saw them play in 1989) in Cedar Rapids
January 1993 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City
August 2003 at the Mark in Moline, IL
I did find out that they played these songs the next night in Bonner Springs, KS:
