As I emerge from a stuporous haze that was the long New Year's weekend, I believe it is safe to say that my life is now going to be a year or two shorter. Yikes. There were some ups and downs this weekend, so let's start with the ups:
1) New Year's Eve: It was great, with the exception of my total brutality. Champagne tasting at 7:30 until about 10:30 or so, and then off to Pint on Milwaukee for the party. I had a little too much party early on in the evening, and exhibited some flu-like symptoms later. Not impressive, and my condition did not allow me to have a lot of memorable social interaction at the main event. I am disappointed in myself for not fully enjoying such a fun event such as New Year's Eve. Awesome Rating: 7.75/10. I still had a lot of fun.
2) Sunday- New Year's Eve, Part II: An afternoon hangover brunch was just what the doctor ordered, and the crew grubbed at my house while we watched the Bears game. Then K-Rock and I tied it on in unsubtle fashion at a variety of establishments on Southport into the wee hours. I had a good old time on a night that was surprisingly lively considering it was January 1st. Awesome Rating: 8/10.
3) Monday- New Year's Eve, Part III: The crew assembled at my place at 7:15 AM Monday morning to begin preparations for the final football outing of the year as our beloved Hawkeyes were taking on Florida at the ungodly hour of 10:00 AM. We polished off the last, and highly symbolic, bottle of Dizzle along with the remains of the NYE supplies, got to the bar at 8:30, and were joined by an enormous and rowdy crew of Hawk fans. Great times for our last hurrah to the 2005 season. Already looking forward to 2006. Awesome Rating (excluding game outcome): 9/10.
And now for the downs:
3) The Bears got killed in the regular season finale against the Vikings, but rested all the starters and will be pretty darn healthy for the Divisional Playoff game in two weeks at Soldier Field. The defense lost the #1 ranking on the last day of the season, but we all know what this unit has done for the team, and we don't care about stats. We accomplished our main goal Sunday, which was get out of the Metrodome without any injuries. Awesome Rating: 3/10.
2) The Big Ten stinks at bowl games. With losses piling up and Wisconsin and Ohio State posting the only victories in the bowl season, our conference isn't doing a lot to garner national respect. The most embarrassing losses so far have been Michigan's loss to unranked Nebraska and Virginia handling Minnesota with the air attack. Right now we're 2-4 with Penn State yet to play. Let's try to maintain a little dignity here. Awesome Rating: 1/10.
1) The Hawkeyes were victims of sloppy defense, bad special teams play, and several TERRIBLE calls in a 31-24 defeat to Florida. There were a lot of things that went badly for the Hawks yesterday morning, so I'll just mention my three worst aspects and the three worst calls, and let you find out the rest. It's just too painful to bring up everything here.
Three worst things about the Hawks game:
3) We couldn't stop the run. When you can run at will, the pass opens up and then Chris Leak and Co. will kill you. And that's what they did.
2) Giving up big plays. A blocked Iowa punt that was returned for a TD, an INT return for a TD, and worst of all, a demoralizing TD drive in the final minute of the first half. We should have been down 17-10 at the half at worst; instead, it was 24-7.
1) Lack of execution. We missed a ton of tackles, managed 64 yards rushing, had to throw 55 times, couldn't stop a fake punt that Florida had the gall to try on their own 19-yard line (and the drive that was extended eventually resulted in a touchdown), and in general, executed our blocks and protections poorly. It's disappointing not only because it was the biggest factor in the loss, but because we finished the regular season playing our best football and Iowa is known for having solid fundamental execution in the three most important areas of the game: blocking, tackling, and minimizing mistakes. We looked lost out there.
Now, I know that officiating wasn't the only cause of the Iowa loss, but this was absolutely inexcusable. The Conference USA team did a TERRIBLE job officiating this game, most notably on a few key plays that didn't go Iowa's way. This is NOT sour grapes, and the ESPN crew calling the game pointed out the fallacy of each and every one of these calls (as did the replay, which clearly showed the error, but there was no review of any of them). With the possible exception of the Iwebema penalty, these were not disputed calls. They were plain wrong.
Here are my three worst calls of the game:
3) Kenny Iwebema's roughing personal foul in the first half. Ridiculous. He didn't throw Leak into the ground, he didn't hit him late, he just hit him. It was clean, and everyone knew it.
2) The out-of-bounds call on Ed Hinkel's first down catch in the first half. He was clearly in bounds, in the air, with room to spare between his body and the sideline. He was pushed out of bounds by a Florida defender and the pass was called incomplete. Ridiculous. And you can guess what happened after that call. Fourth down, an Iowa punt, and a Florida touchdown.
1) The inexcusable, idiotic, and plainly wrong offsides call on the last kickoff of the game. With 1:22 remaining and the Hawks down 31-24, they attempted and recovered an onside kick, leaving about 40 yards to paydirt that would tie the game (or give the Hawks a chance to win if they go for 2). The referees called Chad Greenway for being offsides when the ball was kicked, when the replay showed that he was CLEARLY at least a step behind the ball.
Did that call decide the game? No. There is no guarantee that we would have scored 7 points on that last drive. But we were driving the ball very well at that point (17 fourth quarter points) and the officials robbed Iowa of a legitimate chance to tie the game on a call that is rarely used and very easy to distinguish between a penalty or no penalty. The ref is standing on the line of scrimmage. It's easy to see if a player runs ahead of the kick. Greenway didn't. Iowa was robbed of a chance to complete a phenomenal comeback. We got screwed with our pants on, and it's sad to see a game end like that. Awesome Rating: 0.00/10.
In other news, I'm starting my first axe class at this place tonight, so my budding rock star career has gotten a boost. I'll let you know when my first album comes out.
Okay, Happy New Year everyone. The year is off to an inauspicious start for me, but that's largely a product of my own indulgence in New Year's celebrations, so I am not going to project it over the entirety of the year. May you have health, luck and success in 2006.
No comments:
Post a Comment