Friday, September 12, 2014

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?

Wednesday, September 3, 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

Ida County
July 17, 2012 - July 23, 2012
2432 Hwy 59
Ida Grove, IA 51445

Crawford County
July 18, 2012 - July 23, 2012
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

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