THE REMATCH

The stage is set, Canada Vs. USA Part II. Last Sunday the US beat Canada in their sport, on their soil. The US will try to do it again on Sunday on NBC at 3pm ET. Hockey to Canada is Football to America. How would we feel if Canada beat us in Football. It would hurt, and wouldn't make sense to us. That is how they felt last Sunday. It received the highest TV rating in Canada history. On paper this Canada team is very impressive, and should beat the US, but the game is played on ice and not paper. After Canada's defeat to the US, they placed Roberto Luongo in goal replacing Martin Brodeur who was struggling. Canada also changed up their lines and played very well against Germany, Russia, and Slovakia. The US went on to beat Switzerland, and Finland. The US came out explosive against the Finns like Canada did against the high powered Russians. The intensity will be real, and the crowd will be unreal. The US will be booed throughout the game, and the crowd will be deafening when Canada scores a goal. This game is a good thing for the NHL, and for the US. I don't remember so much buzz about a hockey game. As a hockey fan I love it, and I get to share it with my family. I never thought I could have a hockey party. I have done it many times for football games, but nothing else. I am excited to have my family over to watch our country play for Gold against the Nation that bleeds it. For the US to beat Canada twice in the Olympics in their country would be like the 24-time Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens moving to Kansas City. It would be a blow to all Canadians. The pressure is on Canada, and as Herb Brooks said in 1980, "Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the" Canadians "have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it."

Quarter Finals Begin in Olympic Hockey

The big game today is Russia Vs. Canada on CNBC-HD at 6pm Central time. If you don't normally watch hockey, but the Olympic hockey has pulled you in a bit, especially with US beating Canada last Sunday. Well, you are in for a treat tonight. Both teams are loaded with NHL stars, and if you pay any attention to the NHL, their has been a rivalry created between the 2 biggest stars Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh and Alexander Ovechkin of Washington. Now they bring that rivalry to the Olympics representing their countries, and loser goes home. Crosby will lead the Canadians and Ovechkin will lead the Russians in tonight's explosive, high intensity, fast paced game. This will be a very exciting game, and fun to watch.

Team USA will play Switzerland at 2pm on NBC to start the Quarterfinals, The US has beaten them in group play, but its now elimination rounds and the smaller nations play for these type of games, so US needs to be play well today. Last night was an example of scares as 0-4 Latvia took Czech Republic to overtime. Latvia may have had one player on their team if that who plays in the NHL. So US needs a win today to move to the semi-finals.

USA Hockey

How Great was it to see the USA Hockey team beat the favored Canadians 5-3 last night in Vancouver. The US outplayed Canada to the puck, played very focused, and mistake free. Ryan Miller played very well for US in goal, and Brodeur has been struggling a little bit for Canada. Its expected that Canada will be switching to Roberto Luongo as their goalie for their game with Germany on Tuesday. USA has won Group A, and will get a bye as Canada has to play Germany, in which they should win, and then they will play Russia who is a very skilled team as well. If Canada beats Russia, then they would have to play most likely Sweden who is very good as well. Canada has put themselves in a tough situation to win Gold. US will have to deal with Slovakia or Czech Republic along the way which are good teams, but not the Russians or Swedes. This was an upset, beating Canada in their house and their country. But its still nothing like the college players that filled the US team in Lake Placid that beat Russia (USSR at the time). These teams today are loaded with NHL talent. Canada has the flashy names, but US has some solid players as well. The Miracle team in Lake Placid beat a Russian machine that destroyed every team in its path including an NHL all-star squad in an exhibition game. Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the Miracle team in Lake Placid in 1980. Hopefully the 2010 US team will continue to play well, and beat Switzerland later this week. Team USA is a much younger group than what they sent to Torino in 2006, and they are playing a lot better too.

Iowa Basketball

Boy, this is a subject that makes me sick to my stomach. You know that feeling when you go to a good restaurant, have an outstanding meal, and on the way home your stomach starts to turn on you. You start to get warm, you freak out when the stoplights turn red, and the closer you get home, the more your stomach hurts. You get to your front door and bull rush through that door like Adrian Clayborn and hit the bathroom door like it has a cyclone logo on it. Well, that is how I feel when I hear, see, and watch anything to do with Iowa Basketball. You may question my loyalty as a Hawkeye here, and that is fine its a free country, but I am not the only Hawkeye you could question.

I loved watching Iowa Basketball growing up on Wednesday and Saturdays on KDSM. Tom Davis and the full-court press. They would go on runs, making the other team turn the ball over consistently, and Carver was rocking. One game that sticks out to me was Iowa was playing Indiana, probably early 90's to mid 90's and Indiana just kept turning the ball over and Iowa got a huge lead, and it was awesome to see Bob Knight's face. Iowa was consistently making NCAA appearances, and winning at least the first round game. But Iowa wanted more, The University thought Iowa could be a powerhouse, and that they should be in Final Four's and contending. So Tom Davis was shown the door, and still took the team to the NCAA Tournament on his way out. So Iowa went out to get the second coming, the young, good-looking, awesome resume, the one to lead Iowa to the promise land. So Iowa Brings in Steve Alford and everybody in the state of Iowa is thinking, we are going to the Final Four in a couple of years, we just landed the top most sought after coach in the country. I remember being at an Iowa Football game, and Alford walked out of the tunnel by the student section and everybody was chanting Final Four!, Final Four! He hadn't even coached yet, and we were already drinking the Kool-aid. Then he goes to Madison Square Garden and knocks off #1 UCONN. Iowa Basketball is going to be the real deal, we are on our way. Boom, the real Steve Alford shows up. We learn as the years go by, that he can bring in some talent, but go nowhere in the NCAA tournament, struggle in the Big Ten season, but he kept reeling us in on the magical Big Ten Tournament Championships to get us to be very optimistic for the next season, only to be let down again. It was never Alford's fault, it was the players, he threw them under the bus, and took no blame. A legend was replaced by a schmuck. Then he runs out the door on a Big Ten team for a Mountain West team and makes it sound like he has hit the Jackpot because finally he will no longer be at a Football school. Someone forgot to tell him that Iowa can be good at both at the same time, and he had the chance, because Iowa Football wasn't very pretty when he arrived. To me Steve Alford has ruined Iowa Basketball, its not all his fault, but it was the beginning of what we have today. Our facilities are the worst in the Big Ten when it comes to basketball, who would ever think Northwestern would be ahead of us. Facilities are a big part in recruiting and being a top program. The fans started to not show up and care at the end of Alford's era.

So Iowa goes out and gets another coach that is having success at a mid-major conference. Coach Lickliter came into a bad deal, Alford left the cupboard bare, and the facilities are still lacking, but ground is breaking to change that. The other thing that didn't help is coach Lick plays a different style, my comparison to this is look at Michigan football. Coach Rodriguez has totally changed their style, it proved itself at West Virginia, but it has been a struggle for the maize and blue. Coach Lick was successful at Butler with his style, but it has been a struggle at Iowa with players leaving, getting in trouble, and just bad basketball. Can he do it, not sure, but the clock is running out with poor attendance. Even though its very painful to watch, one thing that I have noticed is Coach Lick I believe has done more with less talent than Alford did with a lot of talent. Alford would lose by an avg. of 20 to 30 points a game to Michigan state at East Lansing. Coach Lick can take 6 guys to East Lansing and only lose by 7 pts.

Iowa basketball wanted to be bigger and better after the 1998-99 season because 1st round wins in the NCAA tournament weren't good enough anymore. And now, we would do anything to even make the NCAA tournament.

NHL Takes Break for Winter Olympics

The Olympics get started this weekend, and that means the NHL will take a 2 week break as well as players will represent their respective countries. The NBA, MLB, NFL don't have to deal with this. The NBA is the only other league that uses their players for the Olympics, but the summer Olympics are well after the NBA season. There is a lot of risk for both the NHL and NBA. The NBA could have a player get injured in the Olympics and then not play for the team that is paying their bills until late in the season. The NHL is a different deal. The NHL is in the second half of their season, and each team has about 20 games left to go. Its very much crunch time for the teams. So now they will leave their professional teams and join their nations team for those that are playing which are marquee players especially for Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. These players will start practicing and playing different styles, with better supporting players than what is on their NHL team, and be playing on a bigger sheet of ice as Olympic ice is bigger than NHL. The Olympics could really damage a team that has great chemistry right now and is playing good hockey by this break. I am a hockey fan, so I think its cool to have all these star players playing in the Olympics, but at the same time I wish it wasn't during the crunch time playoff run for these teams. Very odd situation that no other sport has to deal with.

I won't make a lot of predictions here, but some of these teams are loaded with NHL talent. Team USA always looks decent, but struggles every time, so don't get your hopes up for even a top 4 finish. Canada looks very strong, they were a huge disappointment last Olympics, but this time may be different as the Olympics are in Vancouver, Canada. I expect Canada to be in the Finals going for Gold. I think Russia may be the sleeper a bit with Ovechkin and company. The other team that will contend for the Gold with Canada will be Sweden. They always play very well in the Olympics, they play a very smooth style, and appear like they have been playing together since they were kids. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, and hopefully no one will get hurt and affects their NHL team's chances at the playoffs or title shot.

2010 Iowa Hawkeye Recruiting Class

I believe this was a great class for the Iowa Hawkeyes. It will be interesting to see how these guys develop. Thats the one thing about Ferentz and Iowa is they are excellent at developing players. Just a few are Dallas Clark, Bob Sanders, Shonn Greene, and their is a bunch of former Hawks in the NFL on the offensive line that are doing great as well. The Hawks have turned Maryland into a pipeline for recruiting this year, which is great. The Hawks got Marcus Coker who is a 4 star recruit that fell for Iowa when Shonn Greene was their and Coker is built like Greene, and so lets hope he plays at that level too. Anthony Ferguson and Jim Poggi are the 2 others from Marlyand. Poggi is part of a group of linebackers coming in that appear to have potential to keep the great tradition of linebackers like Greenway, Hodge, Edds, and Angerer. I think CJ Fiedorowicz could play early in his career, he was a huge steal that is ranked as the number one Tight End in the nation by many and decommitted to Illinois to become a Hawkeye. AJ Derby is a Hometown kid that is a 4 star athlete that played QB and won the state title for Iowa City High and was being recruited by Florida. I always believe that its crucial that you get quality players from your territory, it would be a blow to the program to watch a 4 star leave Iowa City area to another school. Adrian Arrington did that several years ago being from Cedar Rapids and committed to Michigan over Iowa. All the high school accolades are over, you can throw all those stars out the window, these guys are part of the Iowa Hawkeye family now, and all those other things don't matter now. Its time to hit the weight room, the practice fields to prepare to be the best and to get to play in front of 70,000 fans at legendary Kinnick Stadium.

Here are the new members of the Hawkeye Football Program.

Name Ht. Wt. Pos. Hometown

Marcus Coker 6-0 225 RB Hyattsvile, Md.

Carl Davis 6-5 300 DT Sterling Heights, Mich.

A.J. Derby 6-4 220 QB Iowa City

Andrew Donnal 6-7 285 OL Whitehouse, Ohio

Anthony Ferguson 6-2 280 DT Baltimore, Md.

C.J. Fiedorowicz 6-7 240 TE Johnsburg, Ill.

Austin Gray 6-2 220 LB Warren, Mich.

Mike Hardy 6-5 260 DE Appleton, Wis.

Anthony Hitchens 6-1 200 DB Lorain, Ohio

De'Andre Johnson 5-8 210 RB Miami, Fla.

Donavan Johnson 6-2 245 DT Arlington, Texas

Christian Kirksey 6-2 200 LB St. Louis

B.J. Lowery 5-11 175 DB Cincinnati

Kevonte Martin-Manley 6-1 190 WR Pontiac, Mich.

Tanner Miller 6-2 200 DB Wellman

James Morris 6-2 215 LB Solon

Jim Poggi 6-2 215 LB Baltimore, Md.

Brandon Scherff 6-6 295 OL Denison

Don Shumpert 6-2 185 DB St. Louis

Louis Trinca-Pasat 6-3 235 DE Chicago

Austin Vier 6-7 220 ATH Huxley

Vikings Fumble Super Bowl Away

The Vikings had this game, and gave away gifts all night. The Vikings will be called the Minnesota Givers next season. Before I talk more about the Vikes, I just want to congratulate the Saints on going to their first Super Bowl in which they will be destroyed by the Colts. I am not a bitter Vikes fan, the Saints did nothing in the second half, the Vikes had 5 turnovers, and this great explosive Saints team still had to go to overtime at home to beat them. I will be the first to tell you that the Vikes would most likely be on the losing end vs. the Colts as well.
Alot of people want to place blame on Favre for throwing the interception late in the game. First off, Vikes were in that situation because of the dumb penalty of having 12 men in the huddle. Those keeping track, Favre made that same play vs. the Cowboys a week ago, this time it got intercepted, last week it was an awesome play. I feel bad for Favre that he came back last year because I think the interception against the Giants in the NFC Championship game in 2008 left a bad taste in his mouth, so he did the divorce with the Packers, a season with the Jets, and this year to get back to this point for the same thing to happen. But this is what I will tell you he was a warrior in that game last night. He took some very punishing hits, thought he broke his ankle, and was still making crazy throws. He is a gamer, and always will be. I will be the first to say, come back next year, see ya in Week 3 of Preseason, rest. Vikings made way too many mistakes, they should be in the Super Bowl. Adrian Peterson is such a threat to score everytime he touches the ball, but at the same time he may drop it on the turf. Because of Favre, the Vikings were in the NFC Championship, and players just couldn't hold on to the ball for whatever reason. The old saying is "in the game of football, whoever wins the turnover battle will win the game 9 out of 10 times". The Vikes should have gotten beaten worse than by 3 in overtime on the road at the Superdome, and that thought will sit in Favre's head that maybe, just maybe one more year.