Another year at Iowa brings another year of Iowa football. As the weather starts to get chilly it can only mean that football season is underway. How do you think the Hawkeyes will do this year?
Bryant Balasa's Iowa
Friday, September 12, 2014
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Any Given Saturday
Any Given Saturday
Did the University of Iowa really lose to Central Michigan? They answer is yes, and I just read a very entertaining article that talks about big time college coaches. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa's head coach, makes a cool $3.65 million a year. For this, Iowa fans were treated to a 1-point loss to the Chippewas. On Iowa.. and go Hawks!
Friday, September 21, 2012
Coaching and Linebackers Have Lead Cyclones to Success
On the eve of the 2009 college football season, new Iowa
State Head Coach Paul Rhoads made a promise: we will be successful.
Immediately. With the Cyclones having dropped the last 10 games of the 2008
season and the wounds from previous coach Gene Chizik having departed for a
more prestigious job at Auburn, it was a difficult promise for the team's fan
base to believe.
It didn't matter, though; Rhoads went right on ahead and did
it. His squad eked out a winning record of 7-6 and went on to defeat Minnesota
in the Insight Bowl. Four years later, Iowa State is off to a 3-0 start and is
13th in the Nation in scoring defense, allowing an average of just
10.7 points per game.
What's more, they have not surrendered a touchdown in two
weeks. They let up 16 points in the first quarter of Week 1 to Tulsa but have
only allowed 16 more in the 11 quarters since.
How are they doing it? Rhoads' coaching and focus on winning
is certainly at the center of Iowa State's success, but it's not the only
reason they now find themselves on the other side of .500. A pair of
linebackers recruited in the coach's first season, Jake Knott and A.J. Klein,
have grown into one the top defensive duos in the nation.
''Coach Rhoads has been preaching since Day 1 about changing
the culture. To be a part of that and to be the foundation of that is huge,''
Knott recently told the Associated Press.
After receiving interest from only a few schools coming out
of their respective high schools, the two decided to come to Iowa State and
were surprisingly inserted into the lineup in every game of their rookie
season. They became starters in 2010 and have been recording turnovers and big
hits ever since.
''It was kind of crazy how similar we were when we got
here,'' Klein said. ''Our work ethic is alike. Our communication is alike, and
I think that is because we're humble people. We come from humble beginnings. We
weren't blown up. We were overlooked by a lot of teams and we wanted to prove
ourselves.''
Prove themselves they have. As good as the two have been,
though, it takes 11 men working together to have a successful defense. Luckily
for Iowa State, the other nine on the field have followed in Klein and Knott's
footsteps.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Presidential Candidates Campaigning for Iowa's Latino Vote
The race for the White House is heating up as it enters the
home stretch, and the Barack Obama and Mitt Romney camps are scrambling to sway
every possible voter to their cause. In Iowa, that means appealing to the
growing Latino community. While the rest of the nation typically thinks of Iowa
a state populated almost entirely by white farmers, the reality is that it has become
more diverse over the last decade; the Washington
Post says the state's Latino population grew an astounding 84 percent from
2000-2010.
It isn't known precisely how many Latinos will turn out to
the Iowa booths on November 6, but the League of Latino United Citizens is
running a registration drive that it hopes will result in a 15,000 increase in
voters from the 2008 presidential election. That would translate to a total of
50,000 Latino voters in the state, comprising 3 percent of the total voting
populace. Those numbers might not appear large enough to make a significant
difference, but the most recent poll numbers suggest that the race is close
enough that those votes could be crucial to winning Iowa.
“The Latino vote could be a decisive factor in the next
election, at least here in Iowa,” Jose Zacarias, who emigrated there from
Mexico and housed Obama campaign workers for two weeks in the last election,
told the Post. “I see a lot of
enthusiasm.”
President Obama rode two thirds of the state's Latino voters
to victory in 2008. Romney's campaigners are doing everything possible to
prevent that from happening again. The Republicans have been pushing the idea
that Romney is better for the economy and can create more jobs, which they hope
appeals to unemployed Iowa Latinos. Meanwhile, Obama's camp asserts that their program
designed to help young illegal immigrants, the health care reform law and boosts
to college aid are in Latinos' best interests.
It's too early to tell which candidate's policies will win
over local Latinos or if doing so will be enough to push one candidate over the
other in the total Iowa vote count, so both sides will continue to campaign
heavily towards them in the coming weeks. Whatever happens, it should make for
an exciting race.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Update From Bryant Balasa - Iowa City Public Golf Courses
Here are four more golf courses in Iowa City and the surrounding
areas. All of these courses have been rated four or more stars by
golflink.com.
Quail Creek Golf Course
9 holes over 3,523 yards
Par: 36
Course Rating: 36.2
Slope Rating: 118
Blue Top Ridge Golf
Course
18 holes over 7,505 yards
Par: 72
Course Rating: 77.2
Slope Rating: 141
West Liberty Golf &
Country Club
18 holes over 3,057 yards
Par: 72
Course Rating: 67.8
Slope Rating: 109
Wellman Golf Club
9 holes over 2,593 yards
Par 36
Course Rating: 36.0
Slope Rating: 113
Check these out and if you have played any of them, leave feedback in the
comments section below.
- Bryant Balasa
Friday, July 6, 2012
Iowa County Fairs for July!
It’s summertime and that means County Fair season! Eat some cotton candy,
kettle corn, and caramel apples and take in the sights and sounds of these
great fairs happening in Iowa in July:
Van Buren County
July 15-July 23,
2012
20493 Highway 1
Keosauqua, IA 52565
Keosauqua, IA 52565
Ida County
July 17, 2012 - July 23, 2012
2432 Hwy 59
Ida Grove, IA 51445
2432 Hwy 59
Ida Grove, IA 51445
Crawford County
July 18, 2012 - July 23, 2012
800 Hwy 39 North
Denison, IA 51442
800 Hwy 39 North
Denison, IA 51442
Polk County
July 18, 2012 -
July 23, 2012
East 30th Street &
University Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50317
Poweshiek County
July 18, 2012 -
July 23, 2012
425 East Street
Grinnell, IA 50112
Poweshiek County
Clarke County
July 18, 2012 -
July 23, 2012
2070 Hwy 34 West
Osceola, IA 50213
Decatur County
July 18, 2012 -
July 23, 2012
1700 NW Church
Street
Leon, IA 50144
Pocahontas County
July 19, 2012 -
July 23, 2012
310 NE 1st Street
Pocahontas, IA 50574
Story County
July 20, 2012 - July 25, 2012
220 H Avenue
Nevada, IA 50201
Jasper
County
July
20, 2012 - July 26, 2012
359 N Walnut
St
Colfax,
IA 50054
Mills
County
July
20, 2012 - July 25, 2012
Malvern,
IA
O'Brien
County
July
21, 2012 - July 26, 2012
555 3rd St NE
Primghar,
IA 51245
Union
County Fair
July
21, 2012 - July 26, 2012
901 E Filmore
St
Afton,
IA 50830
Louisa
County
July
22, 2012 - July 28, 2012
Lyon
County Fair
July
23, 2012 - July 26, 2012
400 S Tama St
Rock
Rapids, IA 51246
Grundy
County
July
23, 2012 - July 28, 2012
South
4th Street
Grundy
Center, IA 50638
Johnson
County
July
23, 2012 - July 26, 2012
4265 Oak
Crest Hill Rd SE
Iowa
City, IA 52246
Hamilton
County
July
24, 2012 - July 29, 2012
1200
Bluff Street
Webster
City, IA 50595
Dickinson
County
July
24, 2012 - July 28, 2012
1602
15th Street
Spirit
Lake, IA 51360
Hancock
County
July
24, 2012 - July 30, 2012
2210
Jewel Avenue
Britt,
IA 50423
Fayette
County Fair
July
24, 2012 - July 28, 2012
504 S Vine St
West
Union, IA 52175
Humboldt
County Fair
July
24, 2012 - July 30, 2012
311
6th Avenue North
Humboldt,
IA 50529
Black
Hawk County
July
24, 2012 - July 28, 2012
250
Ansborough Avenue
Waterloo,
IA 50701
Dubuque
County
July
24, 2012 - July 29, 2012
14569
Old Hwy Road
Dubuque,
IA 52002
Wayne
County
July
24, 2012 - July 30, 2012
Corydon,
IA
Page
County
July
24, 2012 - July 29, 2012
E Grant St
& S 6th St
Clarinda,
IA 51632
Plymouth
County
July
25, 2012 - July 29, 2012
500
4th Avenue NE
Le
Mars, IA 51031
Jackson
County
July
25, 2012 - July 29, 2012
1212
East Quarry Street
Maquoketa,
IA 52060
Benton
County
July
25, 2012 - July 29, 2012
1702 2nd Avenue
Vinton IA 52349
Vinton IA 52349
Audubon
County
July
25, 2012 - July 30, 2012
400
North Division Street West
West
Audubon, IA 50025
Cedar
County
July
25, 2012 - July 29, 2012
1195
220th Street
Tipton,
IA 52772
Warren
County
July
25, 2012 - July 30, 2012
Warren
County Fairgrounds
Indianola,
IA
Pottawattamie
County
July
25, 2012 - July 30, 2012
Westfair
Fairgrounds
Council
Bluffs, IA
Des
Moines County
July
25, 2012 - July 31, 2012
1500
West Agency Road
West
Burlington, IA 52655
Sac
County
July
26, 2012 - July 29, 2012
Park
Avenue
Sac
City, IA
Cass
County
July
26, 2012 - July 31, 2012
805
West 10th Street
Atlantic,
IA 50022
Monroe
County
July
27, 2012 - July 30, 2012
Hwy
5 North
Albia,
IA
Bremer
County
July
29, 2012 - August 4, 2012
515
5th Avenue SW
Waverly,
IA 50677
Kossuth
County
July
31, 2012 - August 5, 2012
700
East Fair Street
Algona,
IA 50511
Clayton
County
July
31, 2012 - August 6, 2012
26143 Ivory
Rd
Garnavillo, IA
52049
-
Bryant
Balasa
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