During my latest work trip to the state of New York I was finally able to make it into New York City. All the other times I had been there my time was always spent on Long Island. I have no complaints about the Island but the city is well, The City.
Can you believe December is already here again? The last year has been both fun and fast with two young kiddos on the move. Our pictures over the last year should tell the story.. We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and the best for the New Year. XOXO!
At the beginning of 2010 I had no ambitions on running a marathon. June rolls around and I guess my wife had heard enough complaining from me in regards to how stressed out I was all the time. She knows if I’m working out regularly my stress tends to vanish so she signed me up with a program at Luke’s Locker in Allen called Allen Fit. She had trained with Luke’s in Houston several years ago and stated she loved their programs. I had even went on quite a few runs with them back in my triathlon training days. Heck, why not, I could do the half or the full. Deep down I knew I was going to do the full so the full is the group I stood proudly with on that early Saturday morning in June.
Seriously we had to give back Floyd, Seriously? We lost to Minnesota and with a late drive again. This team has become hard to watch. How in the heck did we beat MSU by 30, how? Were did that team go? MSU is a good team. I’m hoping we don’t go to Florida again for a Bowl game. This team does not deserve it and I would hate to see us play a good SEC team. Maybe the Insight Bowl or better yet they could come down here to Texas and play.
Game Ball(s) – DJK
Game Jock(s) – B Greenwood
Thanksgiving day started out early with a 7am wakeup call for my brother-in-law and I as we made our annual pilgrimage to downtown Dallas to run in the Turkey Trot. 8 miles in fairly cold and windy conditions with 40,000 other turkey eaters.
I believe it has often been said and I think I heard the broadcasters mention this as well, “Great Players make Great Plays in Great Games”. Well if anyone was wondering if Iowa had any great players I think we all have our answer. Another game were our offense could not do enough and our defense could not do enough when it counted. Looking back at the start of the season I had this game pegged as either sending us to the Championship or sending us to the Rose Bowl. Either way it would have been a BCS game. Man those were good times!
Game Ball(s) – M McNutt, M Coker
Game Jock(s) – A Clayburn
This is going to be tough to write. Even with 2 losses, I still thought, as most probably did, that this was the best 2 loss team in the country. Still an outside chance at the Big Ten Title and a BCS Rose Bowl. Then comes the Indiana game, maybe the Hawks still are great. Maybe this was just a let down game which in the end they were incredibly lucky to win. However, with this loss to Northwestern, the defense looked horrible, the offense looked stagnate, and the coaching looked baffled. I no longer think they are even the best 7-3 team in the country. The defensive line looked tired and slow. One of the best defensive lines in the country, What? As I said in a Facebook post, “Kiper just took Ballard and Clayborn off his draft board due to the “Haynesworth’s Condition†“. Secondary was not much better. At some point, after giving receivers 10yd cushions all day, you have to learn to jump a route. Offense was just as inept, Northwestern’s pass defense is one of the worst in the Big Ten, but they could not expose them. When they did, they dropped balls, missed targets or ran poor routes. It is tough and I will admit I bought into the early season hype. Reality has a way of fixing these things. The Hawks are not one of the best in the country. The Hawks are not great, but the Hawks are still really good. I just hope really good is enough to beat a great Buckeye team next week.
Game Ball(s) – Kickoff/Punt Coverage, A Robinson
Game Jock(s) – Everyone Else
Whew! It is always bad when you leave a gaming having won yet your really feel like you lost. I know a win is a win, but really is it? Indiana out played us on offense and defense. Our defense looked good, but their’s looked better. Our offense looked good but they passed the ball just as well if not better than we did. I really could not get a grip on Iowa’s offensive game plan. I liked how they came out and established the run in the first half. You have Freshman RB making his first start. You need to lay down the playing rules and we did. However, Indiana’s pass defense is one of the worst in the country. Mix it up throw the ball down the field. If running the ball was the plan, which I’m fine with, why abandon it in the 2nd half? The Hawks avoided a devastating loss here by a dropped ball in the endzone. The defense and offense were just good enough today. Can we send this tape to Northwestern?
Game Ball(s) – M Coker, M McNutt, J Morris
Game Jock(s) – K O’Keefe, M Meyer
Our Christmas Card