The Wiz of Odds

Iowa Fans Take Game Day Experience to a New Level

Normally, Iowa fans are into harassing players from the opposing team, but Hawkeye defensive end Adrian Clayborn learned that's not always the case.

An Iowa City woman was arrested last Saturday during Iowa's game against Arkansas State for harassing Clayborn from the stands. Brittney Mears was seated in the front row of Kinnick Stadium behind the Hawkeye bench.

Clayborn told police he was "distracted and annoyed" by Mears' actions and she was eventually removed from the stadium and charged with third-degree harassment, a simple misdemeanor. It's not the first time Mears, left, has targeted Clayborn.

In June, Mears was warned against making contact with the player, but she continued to drive past Clayborn's workplace while staring at him.

In July, Mears allegedly sent Clayborn a vulgar text message. She was charged with third-degree harassment, eventually pleaded guilty and received a deferred judgment of a $100 fine, 10 days of community service and one year of probation.

Come and Drink the Kool-Aid, Hawkeye Fans

Seriously, Division I-AA Northern Iowa is good enough to be a "middle of the pack Big Ten team"? As former Los Angeles Times colleague Chris Dufrense wrote: "Watch out for Iowa this year in the Big Ten, people said. How about winning the Missouri Valley first?"

And this was a Northern Iowa team that played without its top receiver, started two true freshmen at cornerback and was without two of its top three running backs, including the starter.

Iowa

Are the Hawkeyes a team on the upswing? Judging by preseason rankings, it would appear the college football world thinks so. Iowa won 31 games from 2002-04, then went a pedestrian 19-18 from 2005-07. The team rebounded and finished 9-4 in 2008, including a victory over Penn State that denied the Nittany Lions a shot at the Bowl Championship Series title game. The Hawkeyes were the only Big Ten team to win a bowl game, drilling South Carolina, 31-10, in the Outback. Running back Shonn Greene is gone, but the returning members of the offensive line total a Big Ten-best 98 career starts. Thanks to Grant!

Ferentz Needs to Borrow a Page From Fry's Playbook

Iowa offensive tackle Kyle Calloway was arrested over the weekend for allegedly driving while intoxicated on a mo-ped. He is at least the 26th Hawkeye player known to have been charged or ticketed by police since April 2007.

The timing could not have been worse for coach Kirk Ferentz, whose comment earlier last week about media coverage of three players who were arrested in the spring for public intoxication raised eyebrows. One of those players happened to be his son, James.

"You talk about beating dead mules," Ferentz said. "For this to make front-page news in a major publication — it's a great state we live in."

Less than 72 hours after Ferentz blamed the messengers, Calloway got popped. Oops.

Minnesota Practicing Revisionist History?

The power of the press belongs to those who own it. In this case, it's Minnesota. (Scroll to bottom of post for update.)

The Golden Gophers' 2009 media and records book is now available, and it lists the team's all-time results. Under 2008, it correctly indicates that Minnesota had a 7-6 record, but lists only 12 games. Missing is a 55-0 loss to Iowa in the team's final game in the Metrodome.

Iowans won't soon forget that game. As Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette points out, Tim Brewster's team had six first downs and nine punts.

Podolak: 'I Was Overusing and Abusing Alcohol'

Iowa radio analyst Ed Podolak, talking for the first time about his battle with alcohol, said photos of him partying in Tampa that were posted on the Internet forced a life re-evaluation and characterized the incident as a "godsend."

"It caused a real change in my attitude as to how I was living," he said.

Podolak sought "professional treatment" after he was embarrassed by three photos taken of him during Iowa's trip to the Outback Bowl in January. The photos were posted on this site after they first appeared on an Iowa State message board.