Flip Flop and a Dead Horse

Ron Maly heaps praise on Paul Rhodes and the Cyclones, in an apparent turnaround from September when he compared Rhodes to Walden and Criner.

But nowhere do you read a "I've changed my mind about the guy" or "I was wrong".

Not surprising, coming from a guy who keeps beating up a coach he's asked exactly one question of in 15 years.

Peter

Slow

Let me get this straight.

A long-time Rag sportswriter and lifelong SUI fan waits 13 years to ask Bill Fennelly a question, and he gets pissy that Bill doesn't give him a response he likes.

Bill's a smart guy, and knows every member of the working press by name- I've seen him in action. I suspect Bill mistook Ron for the retiree that he is, assumed he wandered into the press room looking for free cookies, and took a "who-the-heck-is-this-guy" tone. Ron got what he deserved.

Ron probably had a chance or two to play the serious journalist with Bill back when he was working. Now that he has retired, he should stay in his comped seats in the stands.

Funny how Ron finds a reason to hate every ISU coach he runs into. It's just amazing.

Peter

Quick Burial

One loss to SUI and Maly starts throwing dirt on Rhodes' grave.

I suspect he gave KF more than two games before calling for his head. Just to jog your memory, KF endured losses of 46, 38, 35, 30, 24, 16, 7, 4 and 2 on the way to going 1-10 his first year. A 7 point loss to ISU was one of the few interesting games all season. But why brings facts into the conversation?

He also drops all the tired "ISU stinks" material he has been sitting on.

But he was always neutral when he was working. Uh huh.

Peter

Mistakes

For a guy who blogs about every typo in the DM Register, Maly should pay more attention to mistakes in his blog.

In repeating stories about ISU-SUI from George Wine, he includes several mistakes:

By the mid-1970s, however, political pressure grew and a four-year series of football games was contracted with Iowa State.

That's putting it mildly. When the Legislature is threatening the Regents, you have serious pressure at hand.

The first four games were played at Kinnick Stadium, but when Iowa State built a new stadium in the early ‘80s the series has been home-and-home.

The stadium now known as Jack Trice opened in 1974, three years before the series was renewed. Implying that ISU didn't have decent facilities is nice spin, but wrong again.

Then Ron writes:

We know Donnie Duncan, a former Iowa State coach, placed so much emphasis on the game against Iowa that his teams collapsed at midseason, and we know Ferentz has had trouble winning in Ames.

This is a convenient distortion. I've talked to a few players from the Duncan era, and the annual collapse resulted from a lack of off-season conditioning and bad team chemistry caused by coaches playing favorites- stars didn't have to practice or work out, scrubs did. The results showed up each November. The fact the ISU game was played in September helped cement the falsehood.

Watching UNI come within a point of Iowa sure beats watching the Hawkeyes have their way with the Ball States and Maines of the world.

Translation: We have to play home games against teams we don't care about. Since we didn't show up and still won, it was fun.

Peter

Floyd Days

Ron Maly actually has some nice things to say about ISU's past, and has a few interesting bits from that time period.

Peter

He Cares So Little He Devoted An Entire Blog To It

For a guy who doesn't care about Lucca Steiger, he sure devotes a lot of electrons to him.

The "Brackins will take all of the shots" dig was a nice backhand job- it will be agony watching a first team B12 player score 25+ a night. How will we bear it?

That was right up there with Hayden Fry's dig on an ISU QB back in the 80's: "He's a great player. We thought so much of him coming out of HS we asked him to walk-on."

Pardon, Ron, your bias is showing.

Peter

Perspective

Ron "I'm Not An Iowa Fan" Maly takes a few more swipes at ISU at the end of a surprisingly interesting wrestling post.

10 arrests for drunk and disorderly in Ames means it's VEISHEA. 10 arrests for D&D in Iowa City means it's Thursday. Pot, meet kettle.

Plus, the police called Walden, not Majors, in '88.

Pretty sloppy for a guy who posts about every grammatical error in the daily paper.

Peter

Thanks, Ron

Ron Maly thinks ISU football is so pathetic we should just hire a High School coach.

Why would anyone have ever given Ron flak about being an Gobla fan when he was employed?

Peterclone

Maly Cheap Shot #742

The Grumpy Old Sportswriter dropped this little nugget at the end of Saturday's post:

But what I also wanted to know was what he studied at Iowa State and when he got his degree -- or if he got a degree.

I also wanted to know what kind of job Hicks had after his education at Iowa State.

No mention of any of that in the Register -- or the Omaha World-Herald, for that matter.

Let me write what you really wanted to write:

What do you expect from a second rate football program at a second rate college like Silo Tech? Nobody who graduates from there finds work, let alone the athletes.

If you are going to make a cheap shot against the dead, just go all the way, OK?

Peterclone