March Madness



This from Coe.edu website Sarah (25) and Kayla Waskow (22) 2008 Dunkerton grads play at Coe. March Madness begins for them Friday night.


Coe to host first-round NCAA women's basketball tournament


After winning the first Iowa Conference Women's Basketball Tournament Championship in school history, the Kohawks will now participate in and host NCAA Tournament games for the first time. The Kohawks will face-off against the University of Minnesota-Morris on Friday evening. Other teams in the tournament at Eby Fieldhouse include Lewis & Clark and Howard Payne University.

The Armored Train

Throughout the years I have had students ask me if I went to Woodstock. I always tell them I was the only seven year old to hitchhike there. Although, the day after the Wadena Rock Festival my mom piled my cousin and me into the car to drive down to Wadena, Iowa about 45 miles south of Cresco to see the remnants of that festival.

I can remember the adults talking about what was going on there; music, dancing, and hippies. Those hippies were causing problems outside of a town about the size of Littleton. I have talked about my neighborhood on here before and we had music, dancing and hippies around us.

I can remember riding with my friend’s older brothers and sisters and listening to what my dad would call that “damn hippie music”. Years later I can recall many of those songs, one of those I recall was Cat Stevens (he is now called Yusuf Islam) singing “Peace Train”. Here it is enjoy.



News From the Capital

In every war one of the aggressor’s goals is to take the capital city of the enemy. Well in Iowa girls’ and boys’ basketball the goal of every team is to qualify for the State Basketball tournament held at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Although the Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School Girls’ Basketball team did not make the State Tournament this year, they and the West Marshall Girls' team are being honored at half –time of the second 2A semi-final game Thursday at the State Tournament for the national single game scoring record they set earlier in the season.

They are also being recognized at the Iowa Hall of Pride in Des Moines. It is a museum where they recognize communities and high schools from around the state and events that were special throughout those communities history. They are putting the basketball and a copy of the official score sheet from that game into the Hall of Pride.

If you missed the story here is the on line version from the Marshalltown Times-Republican.

National Scoring Record

The Paratrooper

In the early 1970's D.B. Cooper hijacked a commercial airline for $200,000 dollars and jumped out of the back stairwell of the airplane from about 10,000 feet. He was never caught. I can remember as an eleven year old kid being awed by this. All sorts of people were hijacking planes back then. The majority headed for Cuba.

Here is a story from seattlepi.com about the many theories of what happened to Cooper. One theory even had him as a woman. Click on the link below his picture. I hope you enjoy this.



D.B. Cooper

An Old War Horse

Angelo Dundee

Click the link above to read about boxxing trainer Angelo Dundee. He was a gentleman in a violent sport. Read his thoughts about Muhammad Ali in this interview from Fanhouse in October 2009.

Leave

The great Apache chief Lone Wolf

Friday is a day off. I get a free day for working two nights as well this week. Three days off, I may go to a college basketball game, walk a few miles down the river road, and even sleep an extra hour or two. Heck, I may even make a pilgrimage up to Cresco. Whatever I decide to do, this song comes to mind, and this video hits the dreams for those three days right on the head. Enjoy it. Here is Travis Tritt and “Great Day to be Alive”.



Foot Soldier

An email from Ron Rohn the Women’s Basketball Coach at Muhlenberg College in Allentown PA reminded me of the great Olympic Marathoner Abebe Bikila. He won the 1960 Olympic Marathon without any shoes, than he won again in 1964 with shoes. He was paralyzed in a terrible automobile accident before he died at the age of 41. Click on his name to read the story from Time Magazine.