Once again late, but here it is. The Friday Five:

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not?
Yeah, I kind of do. My wife doesn’t much care for it, though. I usually do the grocery shopping and the “weekly stuff” shopping. And I kind of like going through the mall and such. Just wish I had a ton more money! I like going because I can get the stuff I want; KC will get me stuff that she doesn’t use/eat and gets either the wrong stuff or wrong brand of stuff. Yeah, I know it is petty, but it is important to me.

2. What was the last thing you purchased?
Friday, we went to the Tanger Outlet center and I bought a new shirt for work and a pair of flannel lined jeans at the Eddie Bauer Outlet.

3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?
Depends upon the mood I’m in. Usually I get frustrated because shopping in an actual store either doesn’t have my size (XXL/XT) or exactly what I am looking for. I have had better luck recently, but still get frustrated in malls a lot.

4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?
Allowance? Are you crazy? My dad was a teacher and my mom didn’t work outside the home until I was in eighth grade. Allowance? That would have been like getting blood from a stone.

5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing?
I purchased Breezomatic a hard drive on line trying to save a few dollars. The place I purchased it was not entirely truthful in their description and I tried to save a measly $5 instead of going with my reputable hardware dealer on line and getting a quality drive.

The Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Louisville Cardinals 70-69 in overtime today. My goodness what an exciting game! Louisville tried to keep the game up tempo and Iowa tried to keep the game at a slower pace. Depending upon which part of the game you were watching determined which of the two tempos you watched. In the end a slower, get-it-in-the-middle, let-your-big-man-touch-the-ball game won. I kind of liked that. Yeah, there were some threes shot, but what allowed the Hawks to win was superb interior passing and pounding the ball inside.

Greg Brunner was the hero of the day; he had 26 points, most of them inside just punishing the Cardinal defenders. He also had a key block near the end of the overtime that stopped Louisville from scoring. Brody Boyd came through with some nice outside shooting to score 22. Pierre Pierce and Jeff Horner struggled through poor shooting (they were a combined 4-19) but played pretty good floor games. Jared Reiner, while he didn’t score much with only 9 points, did manage to force both of Louisville’s centers into foul trouble and eventually both of them fouled out. While that doesn’t seem like much, it does open the middle when Iowa tried to attack the basket with its guards.

Francisco Garcia got a lot of pre-game press, but was only 4-10 from the field – not so good for a “sharpshooter” from outside. In fact, he only had one field goal at half time. He ended up with 17. Luke Whitehead finished with 18 to lead Louisville.

While Louisville was much more athletic they were NOT better basketball players. Many times they seemed to come down and simply rely on their athleticism instead of playing basketball. I personally like that because too much of the game today is decided by which team has better athletes and not who plays better basketball. Today the better athletes lost. I’m definitely liking the way the Hawks played defense as well. Louisville is known for its ability to shoot threes and shot just 41% from the field (to the Hawks’ 45%). Iowa will definitely need to improve its free throw shooting, or should I call it foul shot shooting? At 13-24 it is definitely foul shots they are shooting and not free throws. (Anyone that knows me knows that I believe there is a difference between a free throw and a foul shot. When Larry Bird shot it was a free throw; when Shaq shoots it is a foul shot.)

Good win, though, Hawks.

Got back this afternoon. Had a real nice meal yesterday. I was pretty much pumpkin pied out and KC’s aunt brought in some French Silk pie – BOO YA! I had two slices of that heaven! Lots of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cranberry gel. Oh yeah, I ate too much.

This morning KC’s mom had me fix her bathroom sink – the stopper handle wouldn’t work. Pretty easy to take it apart, clean it out and put it back together. I did nave to go to an Ace Hardware store to get some plumber’s putty in order to make the seal watertight. Yeah, that’s right – I am a handy man. If you can’t be handsome, at least be handy! – from Red Green. And anyone who knows me knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that I am NOT handsome. I wasn’t beat with the ugly stick – I had the entire tree fall on me.

This afternoon we stopped at the Tanger Outlet Center on our way home from Des Moines. I may have to go there more often. They have an Eddie Bauer Outlet store now. Definitely a place to go! Also, every time I go there I go to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory! Anyway, we checked out some stuff and got a few Christmas presents before making the rest of the trek home. All in all, a nice holiday.

To Grandmother’s house we go! We will be going to KC’s mom’s place tomorrow for a nice cozy Thanksgiving dinner. ZDog will be there; Breezomatic is already home for her fall break (you know how frickin’ PC public education is; can’t call it Thanksgiving break!) so she will be traveling to Des Moines with us. We will meet KC’s mom and her youngest brother there and chow down! Munch on some grindage! I plan to stuff myself silly! I hope all reading this have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Breezomatic came home from college tonight. She will return Sunday afternoon. That makes a 5-day weekend for her. Man, I wish I was back in college! We are getting ready for the trek to Des Moines to have Thanksgiving dinner at KC’s brother’s place. It will be really nice to see her family again. And, of course, it will be really nice to stuff myself silly again!

The Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Drake Bulldogs tonight 74-56. The Hawks were led by Pierre Pierce’s 17 points. Also in double figures were Jared Reiner (13), Greg Brunner (13) and Nick Dewitz (10). The Bulldogs only had one player in double figures, Nate Richie with 12. Iowa had a huge advantage inside as Drake has only 2 players over 6′7″ that played significant minutes, and the stats showed that as Iowa just pounded the ball inside (much to the seeming chagrin of Mac Macausland) and came up with many inside opportunities. What troubles me is that even with all the inside points, Iowa only shot 47% from the field – UGH! Also there were many careless turnovers; I guess you could attribute that to the score being so lopsided, but turnovers are never good.

Watching Drake’s offensive sets and defensive schemes was no different than watching the Davis-era Hawks, other than the talent level. They ran the same offenses, set the same pressure defenses, ran the same out of bounds plays even. I kinda feel bad for Tom as he only can go about 7 players deep; for the kind of game he coaches, he needs at least 9.

It wasn’t so much the game that was intriguing as the coaches. Steve Alford faced the man he replaced at Iowa, Tom Davis (now the coach for Drake). I said it when Davis was replaced: While I don’t like or agree with his offensive and defensive schemes, he does win a lot of games; I think that he was really given the short end of it when he was let go. Bob Bowlsby, the athletic director at Iowa, really made it known that Davis was not welcome. I do not recall if Davis was fired or if he resigned, but if he did resign it was under duress. I thought Bowlsby could have handled the situation with a lot more class; but, then again, he did the same thing to Hayden Fry. Not that I think Alford or Ferentz (Iowa football coach) have done bad jobs, it’s just that I got the impression that Bowlsby is a low-class/no-class heel.

Kudos to Da Goddess for her suggestion of a saline spray to ease my aching sinuses (sinii?). It worked like a charm! I haven’t shaken the cold completely, but my sinus area is not nearly so sore. That makes the whole thing more bearable. She had suggested using a brand called Ocean but I could not find it; so I got the Breathe Right brand – you know the nasal strip people. My sinuses are now not feeling so dry. I bow down and offer my praises to Da Goddess! (Do I need some burnt offering?!)

Another thing I don’t understand about this #*@#ing cold: Why is it that when I am past the worst of it I start to cough so hard my SHOULDERS hurt? The cough also has a kind of wheeze/whistle to it. JEEZ; I’ll be glad when this thing is over with. I missed work because of it today and I don’t like doing that. (I really like my job, REALLY!) I hope that now that I am in the hurting shoulders/wheezy cough stage that it will only be a couple of more days.

One more thing I don’t understand about this #*@#ing cold. Why is it that my eyes water a lot but my contacts irritate them like hell? I mean JEEZ; it’s not like I don’t have any eye lubrication. Hell, it’s leaking out the corners; almost looks as though I’m crying like a baby. Typically I can wear my contacts about 14 hours each day; why can’t I wear them for more than about 8 hours when I have this #*@#ing cold?

The Iowa mens basketball team won their opener against UNC-Asheville 107-80 this afternoon. It was an interesting game; Iowa has a lot of their team from last year back: Brody Boyd, Greg Brunner, Jeff Horner, Jared Reiner, Sean Sonderleiter and Kurt Spurgeon. They also have Glenn Worley, but he is out for a while with a broken hand; and Pierre Pierce who sat out last year with legal problems. Also, newcomers Jack Brownlee, Nick DeWitz, Erek Hansen, Mike Henderson, and Ben Rand fill out the active team. Adam Haluska will be redshirted after transferring from Iowa State (where he averaged nearly 10 points a game).

Iowa defended better than they did last year. They seemed to get out into people’s faces when they shot the treys. Also, their inside game showed some nice improvement with good boxouts before going to the ball on rebounds. With this being the first game of the season, I can’t make too much of a comment on how the team will be, but they have to be better than last year as they will at least have a bench. Last year’s bench players were barely DIII ability.

As I said, they defended better than last year – this led to more fast-break opportunities, thus better shooting percentage. The announcers, our local guys Larry Morgan and Mac Macausland, did their typical job. Mac Macausland seems to think that guard play is all that is needed to win. (Who did this guy pay to keep coming back for this job? He is not even as good as mediocre.) Unfortunately that is the way most fans think. Flashy outside shooting and dribbling all over the place is kind of fun to watch, but EVERY team that wins championships has great inside play. Guys who grind it out in the paint; who aren’t afraid to get the rebounds in traffic to start fast breaks; who set the picks so those little guys can shoot their treys; who simply control the lane offensively and defensively. We may be able to do that kind of thing this year.

Good win, Hawks; keep working hard. The Big 10 season will be upon us before we know it.

I watched the fight scene at the end of the movie “The Quiet Man” again. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with this movie. It is truly a classic. It was made in 1952, directed by the legendary John Ford, set in Ireland, and stars John Wayne (he was born in Winterset, Iowa, with the name Marion Morrison) and Maureen O’Hara (who was born in Ireland). It is a wonderful story about an Irish-American boxer Sean Thornton (Wayne) who, after killing an opponent in a boxing match, leaves boxing and tries to reclaim his roots. Along the way he befriends almost everyone, tries to learn the local customs, and falls for Mary Kate Danaher (O’Hara). Predictably one who he does not befriend is Mary Kate’s brother Will Danaher (played extremely well by Victor McLaglen). Check out some of the direct quotes from characters in the movie here. The fight scene at the end of the movie is between Sean and Will as they try to settle their “differences” even has a built in audience – coming by bus, “t’ousan’s of ‘em!”. Some of the parts are just priceless (every time Wayne goes down, someone is there to throw a bucket of water in his face to revive him – his response: “Thanks!” – EVERY TIME!) I really like the entire movie; it has breathtaking views of the Irish scenery and it is probably one of Wayne’s best works. IMDB rates this #235 of the top 250 movies of all time. Every time I watch this lengthy fight scene, I see something new (I’ve probably seen it about 30 times) and appreciate the detail and acting ability of the era even more.

The Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin today, 27-21. This finishes their regular season at 9-3. As much as I have ragged on Nathan Chandler and his inabilities I have to tip my hat. To finish 9-3 was great after losing the talent we lost last year to graduation and the NFL.

The game was played in a cold misting rain. It got colder as the game went; the announcers at one point in the second half said it was 39 degrees on the field. Combine that with the misting rain and that seems to be a good reason that Chandler was only 8-27. Unfortunately he also had two interceptions and one fumble. There were times when he simply didn’t look much like a quarterback. Of course, Wisconsin went through three quarterbacks (the Hawkeyes’ defense knocked the first two out of the game on good, hard, clean hits) and went a combined 14-31 and had three picks. The offense looked OK other than the bad passing percentage; the Hawks rushed for 207 yards led by Fred Russell’s 140, compared to Wisconsin’s 169.

The whole thing seemed to be two games. The Hawks scored first on a reverse to Ramon “Razor” Ochoa. Wisconsin then scored two straight TDs as a direct result of the two Chandler INTs. At that point I thought we were going to give the game away, but in the second half the Black and Gold got it together and played well.

It was an exciting finish as Iowa couldn’t move the ball on their last possession and Wisconsin then marched down to the 6 yard line. However, inexperience was what ended up beating them as time expired with them only getting off a weak crossing pattern play that fell incomplete.

Congratulations to the Hawkeyes on their season. Now we get to play wait-and-see to find out where we go for a bowl game. Go Hawks!