Oh, did something happen today?
First and foremost, an enormous thanks to Josh Helmholdt and the entire Rivals.com crew for the work they did bringing us onboard. They make transitions look easy, but this was a big lift in not a lot of time.
Second, we’ve put together a bit of a mission statement to let you all know how things will — and won’t — be changing around here. Short version is this: we'll be reporting, we'll be doing recruiting, and all your cool stuff stays.
Last, as lead publisher, I owe it to you all to make a personal introduction. Many of you likely already know who I am, but in case not: I’m Adam Jacobi. Says right there by the post. Born and raised in Iowa quite a few years ago, currently a proud resident of Des Moines, and I’ve lived nearly my entire life in this state. And for just about my entire adult life, in one form or another, I’ve been writing about the Hawkeyes.
Go Iowa Awesome has been a labor of love for Ross, Pat and me for 7 1/2 years. Before that it was Black Heart Gold Pants for about the same amount of time. Before that it was The Hawkeye Compulsion and Steve Alford’s Hair Gel on Blogspot. Before that it was the Daily Iowan. Before that it was TheInsiders.com. Before that it was The Hawks Nest message board. I’ve been blessed with opportunities to write for various national outlets along the way, but make no mistake: the Iowa Hawkeyes have always been my north star.
My two favorite sports are football and basketball (men’s and women’s) — and once the Cubs are good again I’ll pick baseball back up too. Not a whole lot of things I actively dislike, but video review is atop that short list. Seriously, I think it makes every sport outside of tennis less entertaining and erodes confidence in referees to a catastrophic degree.
Like anyone else in their 40s, I think music was better decades ago and 99% of the new stuff sucks. These kids don't know about the Beastie Boys or Led Zeppelin. I will make esoteric, dated pop culture references that only like three other people get. This does not deter me in any way.
But at the end of the day, it always comes back to Iowa. The state, the university, the team. And the fact that we're inheriting a community like this makes me incredibly stoked and filled with gratitude. Even if they wouldn't let me use the name Frank Stallone.
