BSpringsteen
Well-Known Member
The last time Iowa was a joke as a football program was over 30 years ago. No one in 2010 cares about how Iowa was in 1978.
To give everyone some historical context, back when Iowa was the joke that so many people on this board think we are destined to become again if we think THIS isn't good enough, this is what we are going back to.
Jimmy Carter was President.
I had just released my album Darkness on the Edge of Town and Born in the USA wasn't written yet.
The Soviet Union was a super power.
The miracle on ice was something that only happened while hockey players slept.
Michael Jordan hadn't stepped foot in Chapel Hill yet.
The folloowing professional sports teams didn't exist: Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens, and an insane number of NBA teams.
The point is, that was a long freaking time ago, and the idea that we are just little old Iowa and we should be happy with whatever it is we can get will guarantee us that our program is always a bit more like the one just north of Des Moines and not just west of Council Bluffs.
We play in the most visible conference in the country hands down. From a coverage standpoint, no other conference TOUCHES the Big 10.
We have outstanding facilities and we keep improving them.
We have a coach who makes sending kids to the NFL seem like a casual hobby.
Our campus is beautiful and the quality of life for the student body is excellent.
Iowa City is easily one of the great college towns in the country, much less the Big 10.
We have every advantage a program could ask for to be a TOP FLIGHT program.
And finally, we have the recruiting disadvantage myth. That's right, it is a MYTH.
Sure Iowa ranks 32 out of 50 states in producing Division 1 football players. However our neighboring states rank 32 - Wisconsin, 36 - NEBRASKA, 24-Missouri, 10-Illinois, and 30 Minnesota. No that isn't Ohio or Pennsylvania or Michigan, but the idea that we can't attract talent into Iowa City is a total fallacy perpetuated by the li'l ole Iowa camp.
Here is a link to those numbers: Finding football players - College Football - Rivals.com
Jon will point out that averaging 8-4 puts us in the top 20 category, and he is right. The point of this is not to suggest that 8-4 is bad, or that our program is not in good shape. Only an ignoramus would suggest that.
However it is fair to suggest that we are not lucky to have this. That there are plenty of schools that expect this to be the worst case scenario every year and we should be one of them. That you reap what you sow.
That we are no longer li'l ole Iowa.
That we are a big time program that is capable of this and much more.
That being disappointed in the output this year is ok and should be expected.
That a historical perspective that pre-dates the Reagan administration and the hostage crisis in Iran is about as irrelevant as an the Black Eyed Peas will be in about 15 years, and can no longer be used as a crutch for why we should be happy with anything we can get.
So Go Hawks, kick some Gopher ***, and let's start being IOWA!
Iowa - the school that bullies, that has the talent, the facilities, the quality of life, the coaching staff and all the other intangibles to be a CONSTANT contendor in the Big 10 west going into the last week of every season.
To suggest that we can't do this, is MUCH more unfair to the university and program we all love than to expect the Hawks to do it.
To give everyone some historical context, back when Iowa was the joke that so many people on this board think we are destined to become again if we think THIS isn't good enough, this is what we are going back to.
Jimmy Carter was President.
I had just released my album Darkness on the Edge of Town and Born in the USA wasn't written yet.
The Soviet Union was a super power.
The miracle on ice was something that only happened while hockey players slept.
Michael Jordan hadn't stepped foot in Chapel Hill yet.
The folloowing professional sports teams didn't exist: Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens, and an insane number of NBA teams.
The point is, that was a long freaking time ago, and the idea that we are just little old Iowa and we should be happy with whatever it is we can get will guarantee us that our program is always a bit more like the one just north of Des Moines and not just west of Council Bluffs.
We play in the most visible conference in the country hands down. From a coverage standpoint, no other conference TOUCHES the Big 10.
We have outstanding facilities and we keep improving them.
We have a coach who makes sending kids to the NFL seem like a casual hobby.
Our campus is beautiful and the quality of life for the student body is excellent.
Iowa City is easily one of the great college towns in the country, much less the Big 10.
We have every advantage a program could ask for to be a TOP FLIGHT program.
And finally, we have the recruiting disadvantage myth. That's right, it is a MYTH.
Sure Iowa ranks 32 out of 50 states in producing Division 1 football players. However our neighboring states rank 32 - Wisconsin, 36 - NEBRASKA, 24-Missouri, 10-Illinois, and 30 Minnesota. No that isn't Ohio or Pennsylvania or Michigan, but the idea that we can't attract talent into Iowa City is a total fallacy perpetuated by the li'l ole Iowa camp.
Here is a link to those numbers: Finding football players - College Football - Rivals.com
Jon will point out that averaging 8-4 puts us in the top 20 category, and he is right. The point of this is not to suggest that 8-4 is bad, or that our program is not in good shape. Only an ignoramus would suggest that.
However it is fair to suggest that we are not lucky to have this. That there are plenty of schools that expect this to be the worst case scenario every year and we should be one of them. That you reap what you sow.
That we are no longer li'l ole Iowa.
That we are a big time program that is capable of this and much more.
That being disappointed in the output this year is ok and should be expected.
That a historical perspective that pre-dates the Reagan administration and the hostage crisis in Iran is about as irrelevant as an the Black Eyed Peas will be in about 15 years, and can no longer be used as a crutch for why we should be happy with anything we can get.
So Go Hawks, kick some Gopher ***, and let's start being IOWA!
Iowa - the school that bullies, that has the talent, the facilities, the quality of life, the coaching staff and all the other intangibles to be a CONSTANT contendor in the Big 10 west going into the last week of every season.
To suggest that we can't do this, is MUCH more unfair to the university and program we all love than to expect the Hawks to do it.