Friday, October 21, 2005
Pretty in pink
In what has become an interesting football rivalry in recent years, Michigan travels to Iowa City tomorrow to face the Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium. Mercifully, the locker rooms that they change in will still be pink, despite the best efforts of the PC police.
My own contribution to ending the debate was an email sent to those abitrating the matter at the University of Iowa:
I am pleased that the whole absurd matter has resolved in a way I favor.
As for the game itself, it is pretty important for two teams that slipped up early in the season, but could each still salvage a conference championship if they win out and some other things break their way (like another Penn State loss, in the case of the Hawkeyes). Iowa, of course, was in a very similar position last year and did exactly that, as ESPN helpfully points out.
Of course Michigan is Michigan, even in a down year, and can never be taken lightly, but Iowa has played the Wolverines pretty close in recent years, and has been tough to beat at Kinnick.
I expect a tough game, but am excited to have an opportunity to actually see it. It seems that the approach of Hurricane Wilma has lead to the cancellation of the Miami-Georgia Tech game that otherwise would have been broadcast by local ABC affiliates here in Virginia. Iowa/Michigan will now get the nod down here in ACC country.
My own contribution to ending the debate was an email sent to those abitrating the matter at the University of Iowa:
I was raised in Iowa City while my father, John B. Henneman
Jr., was a member of the history department faculty. We
were football season ticket holders through some very bad
years.
As a lifelong Hawkeye fan, I respectfully submit my opinion
that the pink visitor's locker room, like the tigerhawk logo
itself, is an important legacy of the Fry era, has become
an icon of college football, and should be preserved.
I am pleased that the whole absurd matter has resolved in a way I favor.
As for the game itself, it is pretty important for two teams that slipped up early in the season, but could each still salvage a conference championship if they win out and some other things break their way (like another Penn State loss, in the case of the Hawkeyes). Iowa, of course, was in a very similar position last year and did exactly that, as ESPN helpfully points out.
See Iowa sitting there at 3-1 in the Big Ten (5-2 overall), tied with Wisconsin and Penn State for first place in a league where 9 of 11 teams are bunched within one game in the loss column?
That's exactly where the Hawkeyes were a year ago amid a numbingly efficient run of eight straight wins that closed the season and secured a piece of the conference title.
Of course Michigan is Michigan, even in a down year, and can never be taken lightly, but Iowa has played the Wolverines pretty close in recent years, and has been tough to beat at Kinnick.
The Wolverines inflicted a 30-17 thumping on Iowa last season in Ann Arbor to atone for two straight losses in the series.
Duplicating that at Kinnick won't be easy, though.
Iowa has won a school-record 22 straight at home and has seemingly plugged the defensive holes that leaked oil in the Big Ten opener at Ohio State.
I expect a tough game, but am excited to have an opportunity to actually see it. It seems that the approach of Hurricane Wilma has lead to the cancellation of the Miami-Georgia Tech game that otherwise would have been broadcast by local ABC affiliates here in Virginia. Iowa/Michigan will now get the nod down here in ACC country.
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