[NU Sports] Iowa, attendance and more

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Great post, Brad. Lots to respond to ...

> 1) On Iowa: The old dislike for Iowa was rooted, for
> me, in equal dislike for the detestable Hayden Fry,

I found Hayden fun in a cartoon villain way. Kinda
like SEC fans feel on Spurrier, I guess. And yes, it
was fun fun fun to beat Hayden!

> ... until Saturday. The constant cheap shots, the
> blows to the head, the late hits, Chad Greenway's
> victory dance on the sideline with 3:50 or so to
> play, and the fact that Basanez, a pretty 

That caught my ear too -- I didn't expect it from Baz
and didn't see too much from the stands. But from the
replay, I can hear why he's upset. It makes me wonder
what else went on down on the field.

> I'd still rather beat Illinois -- for me, they are
> always the rival, without exception -- Wisconsin and
> (because I live in Pennsylvania) Penn State, but I

After the Illini planted their flag around Hannibal,
my hate grew for them -- but I just don't think a lot
of that rivalry hate is there because a lot of
students didn't grow up in Illinois (you're PA, I'm
WI). But if the Illini return to form and bring their
fans in droves to get the state school/private school
vibe going again, I can see it heating up in a hurry.

> I have worlds of respect for Wisconsin's program and
> coaches and I love their hearty, happy, fun-loving
> fans; and generally classy Penn State is impossible

PSU fans are the friendliest I've found, bar none. As
for Wisconsin, I give them props on supporting their
team, clapping in unison better than any fans around
and making Camp Randall a true home field edge -- but
they can be just as rude, crude and obnoxious as the
Iowa fans and like the bumblebees, they come to our
house in droves. Like I said, the culinary delights of
my home state (brats, cheese, cheese curds, cheese
puffs, cheese sticks, fried cheese, cheese balls,
cheese slices, cheese wraps, etc.:) ) make up for a
lot but not enough. A hearty GO HOME! is in order for
both.

> 2) On attendance: Mr. Clark is absolutely right
> But there's something else: single-game tickets that
> cost $50! NU's season tickets are an excellent deal

Good point.

> a) I thought Battle played a solid game at CB; b)
> watching the dominating McGarigle is so much like
> watching Fitz in '95 and '96 it's scary; it's almost

Yup - he's fun to watch. If we could only have 11
McGarrigles ("mini Fitz" as I've taken to calling
him), we'd be set on D. And while we're not exactly
PSU's Linebacker U. yet, I see a nice tradition at LB
being built for the Cats -- Sutter, Fitz, Napo, Durr,
McGarrigle, Roach, etc. Now work on the D-line
(another Matt Rice would be great!!) and secondary
(again, with all our wideouts, we should be able to
find some cover corners!).

> factor?; d) I'd like to see more student-body left
> toss sweeps with Sutton; our WRs are excellent

Definitely! He still looked hesitant from that
Michigan fumble in the first half but when we ran that
one sweep the second half and he saw the hole and cut
up in an instant, you could feel Sutton's confidence
coming back.

> I'd kill to have Iowa's kick coverage teams; and f)

Amen! They were hitting HARD as well - I'm thankful
one didn't pop loose.

> much as I loved Zak Kustok, Brett Basanez has shown
> me
> even more leadership and moxie than Kustok did as a
> senior, and deserves every accolade he gets. I never

Which - if there is justice in this world - should be
a Silver Football and the Big Ten MVP award. Michael
Robinson and AJ Hawk will be contenders, but no person
has meant as much to his team's success this year.

> We have three more games to enjoy Basanez and
> McGarigle;
> treasure every minute of them, as these kids are
> special.
> 
Definitely. #14 and #41 are class acts and special
kids. I dunno if either will make it in the pros, but
I'm glad they went out in style on Senior Day!

GO CATS!!! BEAT THE BUCKS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


	
		
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