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We've always put up our Christmas outdoor lights and decorations during Thanksgiving weekend. And, in Florida, that usually meant you were wearing shorts and a T-shirt and sweating while doing it while wishing for cooler weather. So, imagine our surprise a couple of weeks ago when we saw our next-door neighbors taking down their Halloween decorations and immediately putting up their Christmas decorations. When the rubes from the Sunshine State asked "What's up with that?" we were informed that you better not wait too ...

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There will be a major news conference today that will be eagerly anticipated from the Midwest to the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. No, it will not be President Obama announcing a new strategy in Afghanistan. Nor will it be a spokesperson for the insurance industry giving a thumbs up to the national health care bill that passed the House of Representatives this week. And, mercifully, it will not be Kanye West striking back at the cheap shots he justifiably took during the Country Music Awards. Friday at 3 p.m.,  ...

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It's been 20 years since we all heard the question, "Is this heaven?" As well as the answer: "No, it's Iowa." This past Sunday, I took my recently arrived family to Dyersville to see the main site of "Field Of Dreams," the ballfield, white farm house and rows and rows of corn where the supposed Hall of Fame major-league players came and went. Happy to say, it still looks just like the film. Even the bleachers and lights are up. It was my second trip; I took my parents, ...

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I used to own EVERY Sports Illustrated from 1970 to 1997. Every pro football and college football preview. Every Summer and Winter Olympics special.  Every End of the Year double issue. And, yes, every Swimsuit issue. So, when I heard SI put Iowa  on its regional cover this week, I knew the plethora of "SI cover jinx" stories would come. We certainly had our share at The Gazette, Gazette Online and KCRG. But Hawkeye fans apparently don't care about such things and have been buying ...

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I have voted every Election Day since November 1976, when I cast a ballot for Gerald Ford for President as a 19-year-old junior at the University of Florida. My streak stopped this year because of all the things I had to do after relocating to Cedar Rapids in late August, I missed the deadline for registering for this election. No excuses. My bad, and I will register soon so I can cast a ballot  in the next election. I actually do not feel good about ...

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It's been a while since I blogged, which is the cardinal sin of this online venture. But after a week of flying to Tampa, packing up our house in Riverview, FL, driving 1,300 miles to Cedar Rapids (with a 7- and 4-year-old and one whining cat who refused to take his meds) and unpacking our stuff (we're about halfway there), we are in our rental house in Robins and now officially Iowans. My daughters will be attending St. Joseph's Elementary School ...

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For those who have been following this blog -- you know, all three of you -- a common theme has been talking about my family in Florida. Today, I fly to Tampa to bring my wife and daughters to Iowa as they join the Frigid Floridians Show in Cedar Rapids. We'll be packing up Wednesday and Thursday, pulling out on Friday and -- Lord willing and if the van does not break down -- arrive back here on Sunday. The passenger  list includes not only ...

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  I covered a high school football game last night for the first time in 26 years. I had forgotten how tough it is. After many years of college football and professional football coverage -- as well as other college and pro sports -- from the comfort and calmness of those respective press boxes, I suddenly was at Kingston Stadium on Friday night looking for the press box announcer doing play-by-play, a typed play-by-play after each quarter, instant replays and a post-game news ...

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Say what you will, but most of the free world is rooting for a Yankees-Dodgers World Series. No offense to the defending champion Phillies and the always tough Angels -- one third of whom have passed through Cedar Rapids, according to our Kernels beat man Jeff Johnson. But the team once located in Brooklyn and the team still located in the Bronx -- albeit at a new Yankee Stadium -- have a postseason rivalry that includes some of the most memorable games and ...

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I have to admit I had mixed emotions about Michael Vick's return to the NFL. On one paw, the one-time star quarterback deserved a chance to come back after serving 18 months in prison for his role in a dogfighting ring. Vick also paid a hefty price in terms of lost salary (he had signed a 10-year,  $130 million contract in 2004 with the Falcons), and lost endorsements as well as his reputation. On the other paw, Vick's actions -- and initial ...

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  I know I've been writing about the difference in weather between my former home in Florida and my new home in Iowa, but I thought I'd show you an example. While it has been unseasonably cold in Cedar Rapids for the past week, the opposite has been true in the Tampa Bay area. Check out the temperatures recorded in my Camry and my wife's Town & Country at the same time Sunday afternoon. While it actually was not over 100 degrees ...

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Two Iowa football fan-related items appeared in The Gazette this week. While they were as different as sand and snow, they both went to the issue of crowd behavior at athletic events. The first was a guest column written by University of Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta, asking Hawkeye fans to contribute to a great game-day experience by behaving, and reporting "fans engaging in inappropriate behavior" to security. The dreaded triple-header of college athletics -- rival game, homecoming, night kickoff -- means ...

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I've been good about not writing about my family in this blog, but I have to talk about my girls today. While I have been working up here since late August, my wife and two daughters have been in Florida while we have been trying to sell our house in the Tampa suburb of Riverview. The good news is that the house has been sold -- to a couple from Omaha, Nebraska who are retiring to The Sunshine State -- but my family will ...

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By now, you've certainly heard about controversial radio personality Rush Limbaugh and St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts heading a group that's interested in buying the Rams and keeping them in St. Louis. While NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, Checketts and the Blues declined to comment on Tuesday, Limbaugh, to no one's surprise, issued a statement. "Dave Checketts and I have made a bid to buy the Rams and we are continuing the process," Limbaugh said. Outside of saying he and Checketts would operate the team, Limbaugh declined to say anything more. ...

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Saturday night's Big Ten  showdown at  Kinnick Stadium between Iowa and Michigan has been designated a "Blackout" game by the Hawkeyes marketing team. The Iowa-Penn State game in Happy Valley on Sept. 26 was designated a "Whiteout" game by that school's marketing people. While the white was rather obvious during the night game at Beaver Stadium, I'm not sure the black-clad fans attending this weekend's game won't fade into the background. Begging the question -- Why not a "Gold" game? Then again, it's ...

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IOWA CITY -- Driving from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City for Saturday's Arkansas State-Iowa game, I noticed something rather strange. The clouds were hanging heavy, the air was cold and the leaves were starting to change colors. Toto, we're not in Florida anymore. The start of football season -- whether high school, college or professional -- always has been one of my favorite times of the year. I love the sport and have enjoyed covering it since I was in college. But it's ...

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It's rather obvious that the good people of Uganda do not watch The Oprah Winfrey Show. And, it's clear that the good people of Kenya do not think Michelle Obama is the second coming of Jackie Kennedy. For that matter, the good people of Cameroon could care less about Wrigley Field, the Billy Goat Tavern, Geno's Pizza, the Sears Tower or anything else that makes Chicago one of the greatest cities in the world. That was a big snub the International ...

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Part of my job as the Manager of Sports Content  is to make sure all the sports staffers at KCRG and The Gazette are using social media to connect with our audience and drive traffic to our sites. That means blogging and using Facebook and Twitter. I have been blogging for a long time. My wife made me sign up for Facebook when I moved up here and left her and my daughters behind in Florida while we were selling our house. Today, I finally joined the world of ...

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The month of October brings cooler weather (except in my former home state of Florida), fall foliage (except  in Florida) and Halloween (OK, they do celebrate that holiday in Florida). The 10th month of the year also brings a rise in the chatter surrounding the BCS and the polls that determine who will play for the national championship in January. The first Harris Poll, which is used to determine the BCS rankings, was released Sunday. Of course, the Associated Press poll and USA ...

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One of the people behind Penn State's success on the football field probably won't show up on the national broadcast Saturday night. His name could be mentioned when the announcers for the Iowa-Penn State game are talking about the Nittany Lions' offense, but it will be overshadowed by the thousand of references to Joe Pa. If you know the name of Penn State's offensive coordinator,  you either follow the program or you are a college football trivia champion. But it's a name and a person ...

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There are two places when it comes to Steven Orr Spurrier -- you either love him or hate him. The man who currently coaches South Carolina's football team earned that reputation while holding the same position at Florida in the 1990s. While leading the Gators to their first "official" Southeastern Conference championship and first National Championship, Spurrier constantly bantered with his peers in the league, consistently questioned the officiating and always gave enough great quotes to fill any reporter's notebook while angering fans ...

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Less than 20 months after being on top of the world, Plaxico Burress is sitting in a prison cell. He has no one to blame but himself, for not only being foolish enough to carry a loaded weapon into a crowded night club but for being stupid enough to accidentally shoot himself in the thigh. Tuesday in New York, the former Giants receiver was sentenced to two years in prison. He had been indicted on two counts of weapon possession and ...

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Believe it or not, Brett Favre and I go way back. I wrote a column on Favre when his Southern Miss team upset sixth-ranked Florida State in Jacksonville in September 1989, a victory sealed via a game-winning TD pass with 23 seconds remaining. I covered numerous Green Bay-Tampa Bay games, including the always enjoyable tete-a-tetes between Favre and Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp. And, I was in New Orleans for Super Bowl XXXI when Favre led the Pack to victory. Nonetheless, count me among ...

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IOWA CITY -- Iowa is 3-0, which is where any team would want to be  after playing three games of this young college football season. After barely surviving their opener with Northern Iowa, the Hawkeyes have recorded easier victories against Iowa State and Arizona, the latter via a 27-17 verdict Saturday at Kinnick Stadium that wasn't as close as those numbers indicate. However, the song has remained the same in all three games -- struggle in the first half and play better ...

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One of the story lines for Saturday's Arizona-Iowa game has been the presence  of two of the three famous Stoops Brothers on the Wildcats' coaching staff. Head coach Mike Stoops and younger brother Mark, the team's defensive coordinator, will be at Kinnick Stadium while older brother Bob will be coaching Oklahoma in its home game against Tulsa. In the spirit of brotherly love, we thought it would be fun to take a look at other famous brother acts in history. The only caveat is that there ...

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