Reader Says Register Article On Hawks Going To Music City Bowl Is 'Fodder For Laughter Around the State;' Nice Job By Majerus On Iowa's ESPN2 Telecast

Here we go again.

Iowans are throwing darts at the Des Moines Register, this time because of an article that was in today's sports section about where the Hawkeye football team might be playing its bowl game.

"I know you have enough on your plate, courtesy of the Register, but the story it had today on Iowa maybe going to the Music City Bowl seems to be fodder for laughter around the state," a knowledgeable man tells me in an e-mail. "As if there's any way the BCS is going to take Oregon over Ohio State."

Andrew Logue's story, headlined, "Will the Hawkeyes duck into Nashville?," said it's possible the Hawkeyes could wind up in the Music City Bowl at Nashville if Oregon receives an invitation to the Bowl Championship Series.

Logue then added that "most projections have the 25th-ranked Hawkeyes traveling to San Antonio, Texas, for an Alamo Bowl showdown with Nebraska or Oklahoma."

Another man, who is familiar with both the college football and news businesses, tells me that "even if Oregon were picked for the BCS, which is highly unlikely now, Iowa would not drop to the Music City Bowl.

"The only reason the Sun Bowl says it wants Northwestern is because that's probably going to happen....the Register should have played up the Iowa-Nebraska possibility early in the week. Everybody else did.

"That's almost a sure-fire cinch now. The lack of bowl stories [in the Register] Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was stupid."

I feel somewhat sorry for Logue, a hard-working, pleasant young man who has been loaded down with Iowa football and basketball assignments in recent weeks. His bosses have had him going off in all directions, so it's no wonder he can't keep up with what's happening in the bowl scenario. The guy needs someone to help him out.

Sad. Very sad.

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I know not everyone cares for the TV work of Rick Majerus, but I liked the job he did as the ESPN2 analyst last night for the Iowa-North Carolina State game.

Majerus can be serious, he can be funny. When he was a basketball coach, he did that pretty well, too.

He occasionally bombards viewers with too much complicated coaching strategy -- probably because he envisions himself being still on the bench, where he was for so many years at places like Utah and Marquette.

I thought he added a lot to last night's telecast of a game that was about as graceful as a ballet performed by someone in steel-toed work boots.

Majerus [pictured at the upper right] was very humorous when describing his conversation Tuesday night with Iowa basketball player Greg Brunner [upper left]. Majerus, who obviously never misses a high-calorie meal, was talking about how Brunner dropped some pounds by watching his intake of burgers and fries.

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Speaking of food, I've been getting some feedback from readers who noticed that I was raving about the $1.50 bag of super-sized popcorn at the Valley-Dowling girls and boys basketball games the other night.

An eastern Iowa reader says it's possible to get a large popcorn for 50 cents in at least one small-town gym.

That happens to me a lot. I get what I think is a good deal at Wal-Mart, then somebody tells me Target has it a dollar cheaper.

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