Marble is pissed

SwirlinLingerie said:
This whole thing is incredibly sad. I grew up in the 80s in Iowa City. Was there ever a better time to be a Hawkeye fan? Was there ever a better time to be an elementary school kid in Iowa falling in love with the Hawkeyes? I doubt it. That era's imprint on us will last a lifetime.

The reason my young kids fight over who gets to be Jack Nunge and who gets to be Luka Garza while shooting baskets in the driveway in Seattle, Washington, is because I used to watch Roy F*cking Marble fly up and down the court for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

We're talking one of the biggest bad asses to ever put on the jersey. My favorite Marble memory is when Iowa beat #6 North Carolina in the Dean Smith Center (while UNC was still being coached by the legend!). This was when North Carolina was North Carolina. Big Ten teams didn't go to UNC and win. Nobody did. Iowa was only the second non-conference team to win there.

Anyway, Roy and BJ and Ed put on a show. In the final seconds in an extremely close game, Horton (a bad free throw shooter) was fouled. But Marble (because he was a good free throw shooter and he was Roy F*cking Marble) decided he was going to win this one for the Hawks. So he walked up to the line. Every other player on the court, including his teammates, were confused. As was Dean Smith. As were the referees. As were 22,000 screaming mad UNC fans. Again, this was the mecca of college basketball, two top 10 teams, and the final seconds of a game.

But not only did Roy Marble walk up to the line, he argued his ass off with the referees that the foul they called on UNC was against him, not Horton. Pandemonium broke out. Somehow, even with 22,000 fans screaming at the refs, Marble argued so vehemently that he even sold the refs on it. We're talking Eddie Hightower here! Eddie Hightower! So there was only one Roy F*cking Marble.

You want to talk Iowa basketball legends, you have to talk about Roy Marble. There is Luka Garza, and Ronnie Lester, and Roy Marble. There might be others, but you start with those three.

We knew about some of his issues even back when he was playing. But apparently they weren't problematic enough for the university to prevent him from playing and helping the school win all those games. And we still cheered for him as much as ever.

I don't gloss over his faults, particularly domestic abuse issues. Those are serious. But we aren't talking about whether the university should have hired him or used him in an official capacity. We're talking about letting fans celebrate one of the program's legends. In his dying days, Iowa's AD and administration should have let Marble and Iowa fans have a proper celebration. I don't care about the semantics of retiring a number or a jersey or whatever. But for all the joy Marble brought Iowa fans, the school should have let fans bring a little more joy to Marble in his dying days. Have a proper send-off for a legend - jersey retirement or not - and we aren't having this conversation this week.
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I commend you that your kids care about college basketball..

most kids i know don't follow college at all... its the NBA

college basketball in general has interest issues.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
This whole thing is incredibly sad. I grew up in the 80s in Iowa City. Was there ever a better time to be a Hawkeye fan? Was there ever a better time to be an elementary school kid in Iowa falling in love with the Hawkeyes? I doubt it. That era's imprint on us will last a lifetime.

The reason my young kids fight over who gets to be Jack Nunge and who gets to be Luka Garza while shooting baskets in the driveway in Seattle, Washington, is because I used to watch Roy F*cking Marble fly up and down the court for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

We're talking one of the biggest bad asses to ever put on the jersey. My favorite Marble memory is when Iowa beat #6 North Carolina in the Dean Smith Center (while UNC was still being coached by the legend!). This was when North Carolina was North Carolina. Big Ten teams didn't go to UNC and win. Nobody did. Iowa was only the second non-conference team to win there.

Anyway, Roy and BJ and Ed put on a show. In the final seconds in an extremely close game, Horton (a bad free throw shooter) was fouled. But Marble (because he was a good free throw shooter and he was Roy F*cking Marble) decided he was going to win this one for the Hawks. So he walked up to the line. Every other player on the court, including his teammates, were confused. As was Dean Smith. As were the referees. As were 22,000 screaming mad UNC fans. Again, this was the mecca of college basketball, two top 10 teams, and the final seconds of a game.

But not only did Roy Marble walk up to the line, he argued his ass off with the referees that the foul they called on UNC was against him, not Horton. Pandemonium broke out. Somehow, even with 22,000 fans screaming at the refs, Marble argued so vehemently that he even sold the refs on it. We're talking Eddie Hightower here! Eddie Hightower! So there was only one Roy F*cking Marble.

You want to talk Iowa basketball legends, you have to talk about Roy Marble. There is Luka Garza, and Ronnie Lester, and Roy Marble. There might be others, but you start with those three.

We knew about some of his issues even back when he was playing. But apparently they weren't problematic enough for the university to prevent him from playing and helping the school win all those games. And we still cheered for him as much as ever.

I don't gloss over his faults, particularly domestic abuse issues. Those are serious. But we aren't talking about whether the university should have hired him or used him in an official capacity. We're talking about letting fans celebrate one of the program's legends. In his dying days, Iowa's AD and administration should have let Marble and Iowa fans have a proper celebration. I don't care about the semantics of retiring a number or a jersey or whatever. But for all the joy Marble brought Iowa fans, the school should have let fans bring a little more joy to Marble in his dying days. Have a proper send-off for a legend - jersey retirement or not - and we aren't having this conversation this week.
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Ray Thompson blocked North Carolina's final shot in that game and it's a wonder Hightower didn't call him for a foul on it.

That was big time by Roy overall one of his best clutch performances for us. Davis decided we were going to crash the offensive glass in that game and boy did we ever. Marble, Thompson and Ed Horton were crashing so hard it was difficult to tell them apart.
 
Northside Hawk said:
Ray Thompson blocked North Carolina's final shot in that game and it's a wonder Hightower didn't call him for a foul on it.

That was big time by Roy overall one of his best clutch performances for us. Davis decided we were going to crash the offensive glass in that game and boy did we ever. Marble, Thompson and Ed Horton were crashing so hard it was difficult to tell them apart.
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What might have been with Ray....F Hunter Rawlings.
 
Ray Thompson was averaging around 22 points a game as a sophmore before he was declared academically ineligible. Man what could have been...
 
GesterHawk said:
You all are totally right. Hang Barta. In 2015 after the ceremony he should have said this when asked, "The reason his number or jersey have never been retired is because he was a drug addict during and after his time here and he likes to choke out women."
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At least he would have been point blank honest. I still think he should have his jersey retired and hung from the rafters.
 
1 day after Garza got honored and had his number retired and when the Hawks are preparing for (let’s hope) deep runs in both tournaments.. A dick move in my opinion.
 
Scott Leclair said:
1 day after Garza got honored and had his number retired and when the Hawks are preparing for (let’s hope) deep runs in both tournaments.. A dick move in my opinion.
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I disagree. This thing just finally blew up. It has been brewing for years. Marble's jersey should be retired just like B.J. Armstrong's is. Devyn is right to be pissed.
 
I will probably be in the minority on this, but I don't care the sport, the institution, or the athlete. I do NOT like retiring numbers. You wanna hang a basketball jersey in the rafters? Have at it! You want a ring of honor at your football stadium? Great! You want the outfield wall listing the greats? Fantastic!

But have some criteria: 2-time team all conference (one being first team), consensus All American, natty POY by X media, top 5 in some statistical category at graduation, GRADUATE!, et al .. .. Have a 5-year cooling off period .. ..

In the case of Iowa, call it a Sports Hall of Fame .. ..

I simply don't like retiring numbers .. ..

Simply my 2¢ .. ..
 
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