January 25, 2008
GROB: The Hawkeyes vs. Paula Abdul
By JAMES GROB, Courier sports editor
I want to go on American Idol. I really can’t sing or dance especially well, but I still think I could charm that Paula into voting for me.
She’s a sweetie.
I’m guessing I’d have some problems with that Simon fellow – he’s one tough cookie — but I believe that if I could make it past the auditions, I could convince all the Iowans who are watching to vote for me out of a sense of home-state pride.
I know they’ll be watching, because they sure won’t be watching the Hawkeyes.
Did you see that Iowa basketball game last night? Probably not, unless you’re one of the six or seven people statewide who can get the Big Ten Network on their television.
If you’re like me, you had to settle for listening to “Dolph and Hanson” call the game on the radio. Either that, or you watched the Cyclones. Or maybe even American Idol.
I don’t personally understand all that much about the battle between the Big Ten and all the cable companies. It seems to me to be something like really rich people fighting with other really rich people for the money in the pockets of people who don’t have much to spare.
I do understand that the fact that most Iowans cannot watch the Hawkeye games on television this season is nothing short of a tragedy. For nearly 35 years, Hawkeye basketball has been delivered into our living rooms every winter.
After dinner, the conversation usually went like this:
“Are you done with your homework?”
“Yes.”
“Good. The Hawks are on.”
I enjoyed the games with my whole family. Dad liked the way Kevin Boyle hustled on defense and got after people. Mom thought Lute Olson was quite a hunk. I liked Ronnie Lester. When his bum knee was healthy, he was the best college point guard I ever watched.
Those guys in the black and gold on my TV all became a part of my family. We’d watch them play, we’d read about them in the paper the next morning and relive what we’d seen. We’d learn all we could about those guys. We knew every player on the roster, even the scrubs, who never even got into the games.
That’s the power of television.
Right now, I don’t even know Iowa’s starting five off the top of my head — and it’s my job to know them. If any one of Iowa’s current basketball players walked up to me this very minute, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t recognize him. I might not even recognize the coach at first. No TV, no publicity, no recognition.
Every season in the old days, there was a little joy and a little heartache in our living room, caused by the Iowa basketball team. And at least once every season, those darn refs would rob us of a win. We’d watch their mistakes on instant replay. I learned most of the Big Ten referee’s names, too.
At first glance, there was no reason for us to be loyal to the University of Iowa. My parents didn’t go to school there — they weren’t even from Iowa originally. But there the Hawkeyes were twice a week all winter long — in color on our TV — so we all became Hawkeye fans. Eventually, we’d even drive to Iowa City and watch them in the old Field House a couple times a year. Later on, we experienced Carver-Hawkeye Arena. We’d go watch the football team at Kinnick, too, at least once a year.
My sister and I both ended up going to college there. Neither of us were college athletes, but to say that our passion for Iowa athletics had nothing to do with us attending the University of Iowa would be a lie.
And now, we have the Big Ten Network, which may turn out to be the dumbest idea in the history of the world. The Iowa Hawkeyes are attempting to rebuild the program with a bright new coach, but no one in Iowa gets to watch.
No one’s going to be falling in love with the Hawkeyes this season. No kid is going to hurry up and finish his homework in time to watch the game. No one’s going to be inspired to drive over to Iowa City to watch these guys in black and gold up close and personal.
It’s bad for the Iowa basketball program, it’s bad for the University as a whole, and it’s bad for Iowans.
Oh well. I guess there’s always American Idol. That Paula’s a cutie.