Per CBS, the OT thriller between Iowa-Nebraska on Sunday was "the most-watched women’s college basketball conference tournament game ever on any network."

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The Caitlin Clark Effect continues to roll on and command huge viewership numbers.

I noticed the NFL Iowa guys getting 2 year deals.

A 4 year deal used to be a standard "multi-year contract", but these days it seems like that's more of a "long-term contract", relatively speaking.

Are these guys getting the best they can get? Strategically are they playing it smart and banking on being healthy in two years, then re-upping at a higher price?

Eric Carmen, whose plaintive vocals soared above the crunching guitars of the 1970s power-pop pioneers the Raspberries before his soft rock crooning made him a mainstay of 1980s music, has died. He was 74.
His death was announced on his website by his wife, Amy Carmen. She did not give a cause or specify where he died, saying only that he died “in his sleep, over the weekend.”
The Raspberries, which formed in Cleveland, burst onto the American rock scene in 1972 with their debut album, titled simply “The Raspberries,” featuring a raspberry-scented scratch-and-sniff sticker and their biggest hit, “Go All the Way,” a provocative song for its day, sung from the point of view of a young woman.
Dave Swanson of the website Ultimate Classic Rock called it “the definitive power pop song of all time,” as the emerging style, known for grafting bright ’60s-era vocal harmonies onto the heavy guitar riffs of the ’70s, would come to be called.
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“The opening Who-like blast leads into a very Beatles-esque verse, before landing in some forgotten Beach Boys chorus,” he wrote. “Thus was the magic of the Raspberries song craft. They were able to take the best parts and ideas from the previous decade, and morph them into something new, yet familiar.”

The Raspberries’ second album, “Fresh,” also released in 1972, would be its highest charting, at No. 36. It featured two Top 40 hits, “I Wanna Be With You” and “Let’s Pretend.”
How The Times decides who gets an obituary. There is no formula, scoring system or checklist in determining the news value of a life. We investigate, research and ask around before settling on our subjects. If you know of someone who might be a candidate for a Times obituary, please suggest it here.
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The band, known for its matching suits and clean image, was dismissed by some as passé.
“Almost every band had hair down to their waist and beards and ripped jeans and they looked like a bunch of hippies, and I wanted to get as far away from that as I could,” Mr. Carmen said in a 2017 interview with the Observer.
The band did earn some critical acclaim and cachet: John Lennon was photographed wearing a Raspberries shirt. Its influence on rock music would only grow over time.
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After the band broke up in 1975, Mr. Carmen went solo. He swerved into soft rock, quickly scoring a hit single with “All by Myself,” which peaked at No. 2.

In the 1980s, two of his biggest hits came from soundtracks. For 1984’s “Footloose,” he co-wrote “Almost Paradise,” which was recorded by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson, and he wrote and sang “Hungry Eyes,” from 1987’s “Dirty Dancing.” “Make Me Lose Control” reached No. 3 in 1988.
Mr. Carmen’s songs would be covered by artists as varied as Shaun Cassidy (“That’s Rock ’n Roll”), Celine Dion (“All By Myself”) and John Travolta (“Never Gonna Fall in Love Again”). In 1989, he began appearing with Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band.
The Raspberries reunited in 2004. A show from that tour was featured on a 28-song live album in 2017, “Raspberries Pop Art Live. The liner notes were written by the filmmaker Cameron Crowe, who featured “Go All the Way” in his 2000 movie “Almost Famous.”
Mr. Carmen was sanguine about the impact of the Raspberries.
“Rock critics got it and 16-year-old girls got it, but you know, the 18-year-old guy who liked Megadeth was never going to like the same record his sister did,” he said in the 2017 interview, before recounting the first time he met Bruce Springsteen.

​

​

“I walked in his dressing room before a show and he was writing out the set list and we both looked at each other for a couple of minutes — I was very uncomfortable being on the fan end, so I felt a little stupid. But Bruce looked at me and he goes, ‘You know, while I was writing “The River” all I listened to was Woody Guthrie and the Raspberries’ greatest hits.’”

Evidently he was at 60-40 that it would get done but now is down to 50-50. On one hand, if something isn't passed to regulate college sports then I'm not sure it will survive the decade. On the other hand, Ted Cruz and I seem to be on the same side of an issue here and now I feel like I need to take a shower and then go to church.

Does anyone have any details?

With a second key deadline looming at week’s end in the Iowa Legislature, there remain many significant proposals with work still to do in just a few days if they are to remain available for further consideration in this year’s session.



Defining “man” and “woman” in state law; helping schools arm teachers and other staff; creating legal penalties for causing a pregnancy to end, which could also impact fertility treatments — these are among high-profile proposals needing at least a little more legislative approval if they are to remain on the track to become law this year.


Even the one issue that has dominated the 2024 session like no other — Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to overhaul the way the state’s nine area education agencies are operated and funded — still needs legislative attention by the end of this week.




All of these proposals and hundreds more face the second legislative deadline of the 2024 session: the second funnel. By the end of this week, legislation must be approved by one full chamber — either the Iowa House or Senate — and at least a committee in the opposite chamber in order to remain eligible for consideration moving forward.


Any bill that fails to garner that much legislative support will be considered “dead.” However, leaders in the majority party have the ability to resurrect the “dead” bills through multiple legislative tools. And sometimes they do.


The funnel deadline does not apply to bills that deal with tax policy, the state budget or other spending measures. So bills that deal with, for example, increasing the salaries of public school teachers and support staff, Reynolds’ proposed streamlining of the state’s mental and behavioral health systems, or statehouse Republicans’ plans to further decrease state income taxes, are not subject to this week’s deadline.


The following bills and topics are among the many that state lawmakers must advance at some point this week if the bills are to survive this second funnel:

Area education agencies​

In her Jan. 9 Condition of the State address to the Iowa Legislature, Reynolds set the tone for the next four months when she called for dramatic changes to the operating and funding structures of Iowa’s area education agencies.


Since that day, Reynolds has unveiled her proposal and offered changes after hearing feedback from educators and parents, and majority party Republicans in the Iowa Senate and Iowa House have introduced their own proposals.


Instead of allowing state funding to go directly to the AEAs, as is currently the case, Reynolds has proposed giving school districts more direct control over special education funding, and moving oversight of AEAs to the state education department instead of local boards.


Senate Republicans’ proposal is similar to the governor’s, but keeps some of that state funding moving straight to the AEAs and calls for the Iowa Department of Education to work with the AEAs on a new oversight structure.


House Republicans went a completely different route. The House bill keeps AEAs as the sole provider of special education support. While state funding for special education services would go to the school districts, schools would be required to use that funding on services provided by the AEAs.


House Republicans passed their plan out of the chamber — barely, on a 53-41 vote with nine Republicans voting against it. Shortly after the House’s passage, the Senate was scheduled to debate the bill. But in an unusual move, it was pulled from the debate calendar and has not been seen since.

Gender identity​

Legislation proposed by Reynolds that would define “man” and “woman” in Iowa Code based on a person’s sex assigned at birth has yet to advance out of the House.


House Republicans passed the bill out of committee last month over the protests of transgender Iowans and civil rights activists who called it discriminatory, arguing it would lead to the "erasure" of transgender and nonbinary people from Iowa Code. But lawmakers have yet to take up the bill on the House floor and send it off to the Senate.


House File 2389 defines “man” and “woman” and several other terms in Iowa Code based on a person’s sex assigned at birth. The bill would also allow transgender people to be excluded from sex-segregated spaces like bathrooms and women’s shelters.


It would also require transgender Iowans to list both their sex assigned at birth and their post-transition sex on their birth certificate.


Reynolds and Republicans said women and men possess unique biological differences, and that the bill was necessary to protect the health, safety and rights of women in spaces like domestic violence shelters and rape crisis center.


However, both the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence are registered opposed to the bill.


LGBTQ and civil rights advocates said the bill is another attack on transgender Iowans, and its use of pro-segregation language should raise alarm. It says the term “equal” does not mean “same” and that “separate accommodations are not inherently unequal.”

Submitted my list of B1G Player Awards for the 2023-2024 season to our Purdue site, who put the list together between us and a variety of other B1G Rivals' sites.

These were my selections:

First Team
Jahmir Young, Maryland
Boo Buie, Northwestern
Tyson Walker, Michigan State
Dawson Garcia, Minnesota
Zach Edey, Purdue

Second Team
AJ Storr, Wisconsin
Payton Sandfort, Iowa
Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois
Malik Reneau, Indiana
Marcus Domask, Illinois

Third team
Braden Smith, Purdue
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State
Dug McDaniel, Michigan
Tony Perkins, Iowa
Kel'el Ware, Indiana

Player of the Year - Zach Edey, Purdue
Defensive Player of the Year - Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers
Coach of the Year - Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska
Freshman of the Year - Owen Freeman, Iowa
6th Man of the Year - Nick Martinelli, Northwestern

Any recs for best Italian?
Best basic American restaurant?

Nothing too fancy or stuffy. Comfortable atmosphere with good food.

Really liked Centro when I was in town. First time at that place.

Looking to give gift certificates to some people who took good care of my Mom.

Anyone who posts Olive Garden gets @FAUlty Gator ’s maggot leg.

TIA here:

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Check this out & watch:

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Women's AP Top 25 (3/11)
1. South Carolina (35) (32-0)
2. Iowa (29-4)
3. USC (26-5)
4. Stanford (28-5)
5. Texas (28-4)
6. UCLA (25-6)
7. Ohio State (25-5)
8. LSU (28-5)
9. Notre Dame (26-6)
10. Connecticut (28-5)
11. North Carolina State (27-6)
12. Oregon State (24-7)
13. Virginia Tech (24-7)
14. Gonzaga (29-2)
15. Indiana (24-5)
16. Kansas State (25-6)
17. Oklahoma (22-8)
18. Colorado (22-9)
19. Baylor (24-7)
20. Utah (22-10)
21. UNLV (27-2)
22. Syracuse (23-7)
23. Creighton (25-5)
24. Louisville (24-9)
25. Fairfield (28-1)

Others Receiving Votes
Princeton, Nebraska, Mississippi, West Virginia, Iowa State, Columbia, Toledo, Tennessee, Florida State, Kansas, Richmond, Duke, Jackson State

============================

Women's Coaches Poll (3/12)
1. South Carolina (32) (32-0)
2. Iowa (29-4)
3. USC (26-5)
4. Texas (29-4)
5. Stanford (28-5)
6. LSU (28-5)
7. Connecticut (29-5)
8. UCLA (25-6)
9. Ohio State (25-5)
10. Notre Dame (26-6)
11. North Carolina State (27-6)
12. Gonzaga (30-2)
13. Virginia Tech (24-7)
14. Oregon State (24-7)
15. Indiana (24-5)
16. Kansas State (25-7)
17. Colorado (22-9)
18. Baylor (24-7)
19. UNLV (28-2)
20. Oklahoma (22-9)
21. Creighton (25-5)
22. Utah (22-10)
23. Syracuse (23-7)
24. Princeton (23-4)
25. Louisville (24-9)

Others Receiving Votes
Iowa State, Fairfield, West Virginia, Richmond, Tennessee, Toledo, Ball State, Nebraska, Jackson State, Marshall, Mississippi

============================

NCAA Women's NET (3/11)
1. South Carolina
2. Connecticut
3. Texas
4. Stanford
5. Iowa
6. UCLA
7. Notre Dame
8. LSU
9. Ohio State
10. USC
11. Gonzaga
12. Utah
13. North Carolina State
14. Indiana
15. Kansas State
16. Colorado
17. Oregon State
18. Baylor
19. Virginia Tech
20. Duke
21. West Virginia
22. Michigan State
23. Louisville
24. Creighton
25. Oklahoma
--------------------------
26. Nebraska
27. Penn State
32. Maryland
47. Michigan
49. Illinois
66. Minnesota
71. Purdue
126. Wisconsin
154. Rutgers
189. Northwestern

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Freeman was co-Freshman of the Year by Big Ten coaches (with IU's Macknenzie Mgbako) and solo Freshman of the Year by Big Ten media.

BRUTAL!!!!

....was a stand in? DIdn't look like her unless she grew 4 inches taller.

Seemed like a lot.

That, to me, seems to be a major reason for the defeat.

73 must be well below IL's average.

Which means, if Iowa makes those shots at the rim (or most) they would have won the game.

BIG opportunity missed.

Why is this on an Iowa board? . . . we'll he's been a good coach for a long time. I'm from Michigan and CMU has kind of been my 2nd favorite team for a while.

Also, it's been rumored that Casey Cunningham would only leave PSU to return to his alma-mater. Whether that's true remains to be be seen. I figure he'd be a shoe-in for the job if he wanted it, but is that something that would actually happen?

I've heard that a lot of the magic at PSU is due to Casey. Do I know that? Nope. I'm just an unconnected jerk on a message board. lol. I just selfishly want him to be the coach in Mt. Pleasant (not the one in Iowa, lol) as it's somewhat local and he's one of the first college wrestlers I ever rooted for.

Would removing him from PSU remove 'some' of the magic there? Dunno, I'm just spitballing and speculating. Not that I want Iowa to be better due to another team falling, but that's kind of how these cycles happen. Minnesota was the juggernaut for the early 2000s. Then it was OSU, then a battle with a few teams while tOSU rose, then of course PSU, and 2 years where Iowa climbed to the top.

It's only a few weeks until the coaching carousel kicks off. Let's hold on for the ride.

You're stranded on a deserted island. Who would you pick to be with?
Facts to consider:
Conversations
Survival Skills
Pro-creating

1)

Lauren Boebert​

2)

Katie Britt​

3)

Marjorie Taylor Greene​

4)

Sara Jacobs​

5)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez​

6)

Ilhan Omar​

Good movie coming out soon!

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Seen on facebook a post of an upcoming film March 13 on Flowrestling. I cant find much information about it. Anyone know if this is really something coming up? Would love to hear there story working together.

Link: D1Baseball

1. Arkansas (13-2)
2. LSU (14-2)
3. Oregon State (15-1)
4. Texas A&M (16-0)
5. Tennessee (16-1)
6. Duke (13-2)
7. Wake Forest (12-3)
8. Florida (10-5)
9. Vanderbilt (14-3)
10. Clemson (13-1)
11. East Carolina (10-4)
12. TCU (14-2)
13. North Carolina State (12-2)
14. Alabama (15-1)
15. North Carolina (14-2)
16. Coastal Carolina (14-2)
17. Virginia (13-3)
18. Auburn (12-3)
19. Dallas Baptist (13-2)
20. South Carolina (13-3)
21. Campbell (11-4)
22. UC-Irvine (13-1)
23. Texas (9-6)
24. Texas Tech (11-4)
25. UC-Santa Barbara (9-5)

==========================

Link: Perfect Game

1. Arkansas (13-2)
2. LSU (14-2)
3. Texas A&M (16-0)
4. Oregon State (15-1)
5. Duke (13-2)
6. Wake Forest (12-3)
7. Tennessee (16-1)
8. Vanderbilt (14-3)
9. TCU (14-2)
10. Clemson (13-1)
11. Florida (10-5)
12. Auburn (12-3)
13. Dallas Baptist (13-2)
14. Texas (9-6)
15. East Carolina (10-4)
16. North Carolina (14-2)
17. Virginia (14-3)
18. South Carolina (13-3)
19. Florida State (14-0)
20. North Carolina State (12-2)
21. Alabama (15-1)
22. UC-Irvine (13-1)
23. Coastal Carolina (14-2)
24. Campbell (11-4)
25. California (11-3)

Also Considered
Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Southern Mississippi, UC-Santa Barbara

Dropped Out
Texas Tech, Kentucky

===============================

Link: Baseball America

1. Arkansas (13-2)
2. LSU (14-2)
3. Duke (13-2)
4. Oregon State (15-1)
5. Texas A&M (16-0)
6. Tennessee (16-1)
7. Wake Forest (12-3)
8. Vanderbilt (14-3)
9. Clemson (13-1)
10. Florida (10-5)
11. TCU (14-2)
12. South Carolina (13-3)
13. East Carolina (10-4)
14. North Carolina (14-2)
15. Virginia (12-3)
16. North Carolina State (12-2)
17. Auburn (12-3)
18. Alabama (15-1)
19. UC-Irvine (13-1)
20. Dallas Baptist (13-2)
21. Florida State (14-0)
22. Coastal Carolina (14-2)
23. Texas (9-6)
24. Texas Tech (11-4)
25. Campbell (11-4)

===============================

Link: USA Today Coaches Poll

1. Arkansas (18) (13-2)
2. LSU (6) (14-2)
3. Oregon State (1) (15-1)
4. Texas A&M (3) (16-0)
5. Wake Forest (3) (12-3)
6. Tennessee (16-1)
7. Duke (13-2)
8. TCU (14-2)
9. Clemson (13-1)
10. Vanderbilt (14-3)
11. Florida (10-5)
12. Alabama (15-1)
13. North Carolina (14-2)
14. North Carolina State (12-2)
15. Virginia (13-3)
16. East Carolina (10-4)
17. Coastal Carolina (14-2)
18. Dallas Baptist (13-2)
19. Auburn (12-3)
20t. UC-Irvine (13-1)
20t. South Carolina (13-3)
22. Florida State (14-0)
23. Campbell (11-4)
24. Texas (9-6)
25. Texas Tech (11-4)

Others Receiving Votes
Georgia, UC-Santa Barbara, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Oregon, UCLA, Miami (FL), California, Southern Mississippi, St. Louis, Northeastern, Louisiana Tech, Indiana State, Kansas, Indiana, Troy, UC-San Diego, Oklahoma, Kentucky

===============================

Link: NCBWA

1. Oregon State (14-1)
2. Arkansas (13-2)
3. LSU (14-2)
4. Texas A&M (16-0)
5. Tennessee (16-1)
6. Wake Forest (12-3)
7. Duke (13-2)
8. Clemson (13-1)
9. TCU (14-2)
10. Vanderbilt (14-3)
11. North Carolina (14-2)
12. North Carolina State (12-2)
13. Alabama (15-1)
14. East Carolina (10-4)
15. Florida (10-5)
16. Virginia (13-3)
17. Coastal Carolina (14-2)
18. Dallas Baptist (13-2)
19. Florida State (14-0)
20. Auburn (12-3)
21. South Carolina (13-3)
22. UC-Irvine (13-1)
23. Texas Tech (11-4)
24. Texas (9-6)
25. Georgia (16-1)

Others Receiving Votes (listed alphabetically)
Austin Peay, California, Campbell, Central Florida, Creighton, Georgia Tech, Illinois-Chicago, Incarnate Word, Indiana State, Jackson State, James Madison, Kansas, Kentucky, Long Beach State, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri State, Murray State, Nebraska, North Carolina A&T, Northeastern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, St. John's, St. Louis, South Alabama, Southern Mississippi, Troy, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego, Utah, Virginia Tech, Wichita State

Given that Mulkey, Reese, Staley, Cardosa are trash as are the rest of the SoCar and LSU teams, what is going to be the national narrative?

I love womens college basketball, especially Iowa and the Big 10. But lost on everyone tomorrow will be the fact that Iowa won their 3rd straight tourney, and those "scrappy" SEC teams really "fought one out".

Mulkey and Staley are garbage. Trash coaches coaching trash players. They have no redeeming value.

Iowa wrestling finished in a distant fourth place at the 2024 Big Ten Championships, the Hawkeyes' worst finish since 2017-18 and only the second time in head coach Tom Brands' 18 seasons in charge that Iowa has failed to finish in the top three. The Hawkeyes ended the tournament with 110.5 points. That left them 7.5 points behind Nebraska in third place, 13 points behind Michigan in second place, and a massive 60 points back of Big Ten champion Penn State. Iowa finished with zero individual champions, one runner-up (Zach Glazier at 197), three third-place finishers, a fourth-place finisher, and four fifth-place finishers.

The semifinal round was where the tournament went deeply awry for the Hawkeyes, although cracks had appeared before then as well. After an 8-1 showing in the first round (Aiden Riggins had Iowa's only loss at 184, while Drake Ayala had a bye at 125), the Hawkeyes went 6-3 in the quarterfinals, with Ayala and Caleb Rathjen getting upset at 125 and 149, respectively.

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