My brother, nephew, and I were in attendance this past Saturday.  It was clearly no banner day for our beloved Hawkeyes, but I can say that we were well represented.  My best guess would be between 6000-7000.  Lots of gold sprinkled throughout the stadium, even a few in the student section!  As loud as Beaver Stadium can get (and boy did it get loud, especially during the chant of "Beat, Iowa") those loyal Hawk fans in the upper deck made some noise!  

I always enjoy attending games in Happy Valley - usually because we are the victors - and this past experience was no different.  Kudos to the Penn State faithful.  They were gracious and welcoming hosts!  

So, what's up with jNWU hate week?  I realize that we are reeling from a piss-poor game where our boys should absolutely no motivation, spirit, or heart, but c'mon...  This is jNWU Hate Week!  

Let's do this!!!

In case you missed it, the Iowa wrestling squad came up 2 points shy of winning a fourth consecutive Big Ten Tournament title this weekend.  I'm sure that RossWBwill have an in-depth analysis of the tournament in its entirity up later today, but I wanted to take a minute to reflect what I saw Sunday afternoon. 

I watched Session IV from the comfort of my own home.  While I could complain about the B1G networks coverage of the final session (no coverage of the 3rd or 5th place matches at all? Except for the HWT 5th 3rd place match, which got a little corner of the screen intermittenly), I'll stick to what I saw on the TEEVEE. 

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via hawkcentral.com

I couldn't find a story online to pack-up what happened, nor do I have enough time to mine the Iowa City area police departments records to sort out what happened. 

Anyway, what the hell is going on with the fanbase?  Sure, the loss was disappointing, but from the picture, one would guess that this altercation began prior to on-field drama. 

For the record, had I been sitting in that section after Hicks helmet-to-helmet collision with ARob and some asshole fOSU fans cheered, I would have thrown some punches.

And the winner of this week's Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week award goes to IA QB #12.  The stat line from the game is exceptional (17-24, 248, 3/0).  Experience, it would seem, is really starting to payoff.  In the third quarter Stanzi hooked up with DJK one their third TD connection of the day.  I don't know if DJK was dialed up for that one, but as the Hawks came to line, it was apparent that UM was playing man-to-man on an obvious passing down.  Stanzi clearly noticed the defense and threw a great ball to DJK.

While there may have been more deserving offensive players this weekend, hell, even more deserving guys on our team, this kind of recognition is welcoming.

Source here Hawkeye Sports

 As an intripid lurker over at Hammer and Sickle Rail, I've noticed a trend in the FanPosts (and I'm not talking about their countdown to hoopy-ball tipoff).  They want a war and now they are calling for blood.

via assets.sbnation.com

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As a veteran of the Iraq war and various operations under the Global War on Terror umbrella, I can tell you that there are many more men and women deserving our nation's highest medal for valor and gallantry.  The total number, six in all from Iraq and Afghanistan, in no way reflects the heroism on display on a constant basis in these two theaters.  Regardless of one's personal opinions of these wars, these warriors deserve the highest of praise. 

Having said that, two sons of the Hawkeye State will soon be the seventh and eighth heroes of these two campaigns awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. 

SSG Sal Giunta will be the first living Medal of Honor rrecipient since the Vietnam War.  He hails from Hiawatha and attended Cedar Rapids Kennedy. His wife, Rose, briefly attended the University of Iowa before marrying Sal and moving to Italy, where Sal is stationed with the Army's elite 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.  

Admittedly, SSG Robert J. Miller was born in Harrisonburg, PA, but he chose to come to the University of Iowa as an aspiring gymnast.  Nevertheless, his affiliation to Iowa is something for all Iowans to be proud of.  SSG Miller died saving several of his Special Forces buddies in a desolate, Taliban-controlled valley in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

I realize this isn't a football related post, but with 9-11 just passed and our nation's most patriot QB and football team seems fitting here at BHGP.

 SSG Sal Giunta (left), SSG Rob Miller (right)

via www.google.com