Emotional night in the spotlight for Iowa

Thomas family on stage at the ESPYs. (image from espn.com)

Wednesday night’s ESPYs on ESPN were only worth tuning in for 2 things.

One to see the UNI Panther’s win the ESPY for Best Upset. The other was a TV network showing what is one of the best things about television, conveying emotion.

Seeing the feature on the Ed Thomas was powerful. It was narrated by Kiefer Sutherland.

Brett Favre introduced the set up piece and the presentation of the award to the Thomas family.

Todd, Jan and Aaron Thomas at the ESPYs. (image from espn.com)

The speech by Aaron Thomas was better than any Oscars acceptance speech. The Aplington-Parkersburg athletic director did his school, state and most importantly his father proud.

Here’s the link to the speech. It is well worth your time to view the speech.

You could see people in the crowd wiping away tears and a very somber tone was visible in the Nokia Theater.

I do have a copy of the feature piece done by ESPN, but until ESPN posts the story, there won’t be any copies online because you can’t upload copyrighted material. You will have to watch the replay of the broadcast. The first re-airing of the event is Thursday, June 15 at 8p Central on ESPN2. The next replay is Sunday at 2p Central on ESPN2.

UNI Men's basketball coach Ben Jacobson on stage at the ESPYs. (image from AP)

The Northern Iowa basketball category will be after the monologue and about the 3rd award given. The Thomas feature which includes a conversation with the Becker family will be shortly after that. Our IPTV interview with Joan Becker is here. We talked about forgiveness with her.

Here’s a link to the Des Moines Register story on the event.

Here’s a link to the Des Moines Register story.
Here’s the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier story.

WOI-TV in Des Moines had sports director John Walters and Dave Zawilinski in Los Angeles for the event. ABC5 is doing an entire show this Saturday at 630p. It will be a look behind the scenes at the ESPYs from the Iowa perspective. Dave says they have an interview with Favre.

KWWL-TV was there and is planning some behind the scenes stuff as well. We will post that when it becomes available.

Also give Sean Keeler’s blog a look at his takes from what the World Wide Leader did with the Iowa stories from Ali Farokhmanesh and Adam Koch to Todd and Aaron Thomas.

UNI and Ed Thomas at the ESPY’s

From the Sports Casualties blog, UNI players and their big heads.

It was a big night for northeast Iowa in Los Angeles.

The Northern Iowa men’s basketball team led by Ali Farakomanesh’s 3 point shooting prowess was up for the best upset of the year. The UNI Panthers shocked the nation with the upset of the Kansas Jayhawks.

Congrats to them as Ben Jacobsen got a chance at the national mic tonight.

But the big emotional part of the night focused on the town 20 miles to the west in Parkersburg. Ed Thomas’ family was presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. The piece ESPN ran was incredible. They talked to the Todd, Aaron and Jan Thomas. Also Mark Becker’s parents and brothers. A great piece of television to tell the country about an incredible pair of families.

A big night for Black Hawk and Grundy Counties in the national spotlight. I’ll post the videos as soon as ESPN does.

Childhood Obesity in Iowa – Links

Source: National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality

Iowa ranks 8 in overall prevalence with 26.5% of children considered either overweight or obese. That’s according to the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality.

Iowa kids are overweight and obese. So are kids from every other state in the United States. But that’s not the news about it. We know we have a problem, so how do we reverse the trend before we all end up with diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure?

That’s where Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Journal program comes in for your viewing and informing pleasure.

A little more background can be found here on a previous pre-show blog post.
Our panel included Tom Newton, the director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. Newton talked off-camera about efforts by IDPH employees. Some are now using standing desks and some sitting on exercise balls to help burn more calories and build core muscles while working.

Jim Hallihan of Live Healthy Iowa, The Iowa Sports Foundation and the Iowa Games was also on our panel. Hallihan was an assistant basketball coach at Iowa State University under Johnny Orr from 1982 to 1994. He coached new head Cyclone Fred Hoiberg during that time as well. Hallihan also wanted to mention Live Healthy Iowa Kids and how that impacts kids in this state.

Also on the panel was Brian Tate. He’s the Dean of Students at Des Moines North High School. Tate is a Hoover High alum and also coached football there after his before going to play at Simpson College. Tate was at Simpson from 1987-1989 which means he played under legendary coach Jim Williams at Simpson. That was after playing for some guy named Chet Culver, who was an assistant coach while Tate was a student and player at Hoover High.

Yes, the same Chet Culver that 3 republicans from Iowa want to unseat in the fall election. Terry Branstad, Rod Roberts and Bob Vander Plaats were at IPTV on Thursday for the final debate before the June 8th primary. You can watch that televised debate here sponsored by the Des Moines Register. If you want to compare to the last debate held by the Iowa Broadcast News Association, click here. The IBNA debate was held in Cedar Rapids on May 1.

Now back to Iowa kids. Tate and Hallihan are both members of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Nutrition.

Our discussion talked about serious this problem is now for our state and how it is everyone’s problem. It did take us 40 years to get here, but we need to continue to get kids in better shape, moderate their eating, changing eating habits and help families and communities better understand a healthy life.

Tate talked about how it takes a village to raise a child and the same approach needs to be used in fighting childhood obesity in Iowa and the nation.

You can view the entire program here. The show airs Friday at 630p on IPTV and Saturday morning at 830p on IPTV World.

Grundy Center, Iowa

Our discussion was set up by a visit to Grundy Center. We looked at the PE4Life program as it was shown to international visitors as part of the Global Forum For Physical Education. Rick Schupback was kind enough to spend some time with us to explain his, the administrators and the community’s role in teaching fitness for life and not just for the time during school. We also interviewed Shellie Pfohl, the Executive Director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Pfohl had been to Grundy Center for a visit before. She’s a Dubuque native and also graduated from the University of Northern Iowa. UNI also has graduate students come to Grundy Center as part of the PE4Life. Those students use the PE4Life program to further their learning  of teaching physical education.

You can view the feature on Grundy Center here.

Newton said after the broadcast that another success story is in George, Iowa. They have a new recreation trail that was built to surround the town. It is paved and open for all. Newton said the peer pressure for everyone to take part in physical activity has been a huge positive for the community. This includes an 82-year-old man who recently got a bike and now rides around town quite often.

Hallihan added that there are good things going on in northeast Iowa as the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative.

And a last discussion point off camera was the need for more community gardens to help grown fresh food to make them accessible to more people.

We closed the show with a clip from His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet and his visit to Cedar Falls and UNI. You can see the clip here.

Again, the entire Iowa Journal program is here.
Enjoy and please share with your friends.

Carroll and the Economy – links

Here’s a rundown of links for Thursday’s Iowa Journal program.

Downtown Carroll, Iowa

You can now watch the feature on Carroll, Iowa and their economic balance by clicking here.
The background post from me is here. That has lots of links to places featured in our story.

Our studio discussion with Joe Crookham of Musco Lighting, Charles Sukup of Sukup Manufacturing and Eric Lohmeier of NCP, Inc. can be found here. That discussion covers topics of big ideas, healthcare, liquidity of banks — especially mid-range/level banks in metro/rural Iowa and status reports of their business. Again, the link to the entire show can be found here.

If you want to watch a quick behind the scenes video of the technical crew getting ready for the Journal, here is that. The video is a little blurry, but the audio is good. You’ll see Brian, Dave, Deb and Judy. We don’t zoom in on Gretchen. So, Gretch, you’re in the clear.

You can still watch the Iowa Journal, Friday at 630p on Iowa Public Television. Later in the night, you can watch Governor Chet Culver on Iowa Press as he mentions Jesup, Iowa. What exactly did he say about Jesup? Tune in at 730p to find out.

Next week we are talking childhood obesity and looking at the PE4Life program in Grundy Center.

And finally, one last Carroll story to share. It was a sad day in Carroll following a crash involving a long-time nurse who was in an ambulance on a patient transport Thursday. A story can be found here from the Des Moines Register. One of the victims, Sheryl Stoolman, received the Iowa Hospitals Association’s “Hospital Heroes” award in 2007. She was one of the first recipients.

Media Reports: UNI to hire Doug Schwab as wrestling coach

KWWL-TV in Waterloo is reporting Monday night that Doug Schwab will be the University of Northern Iowa’s next wrestling coach. He’ll replace Brad Penrith.

From KWWL.com:

CEDAR FALLS (KWWL) — Sources have confirmed to KWWL that former Iowa national champion Doug Schwab will be named the next head wrestling coach at UNI. A press conference has been scheduled for noon on Thursday to make the formal introduction.

Schwab, a former Olympian, has been an assistant for the Hawkeyes the past 4 seasons. During that time, Iowa won 3 national and 3 Big Ten championships.

As a collegiate competitor, Schwab was a 3 time All-American from 1998-2001. The Osage native won a national title at 141 pounds in 1999.

Schwab will replace Brad Penrith, who was dismissed as the Panthers’ head man in early April.

Here’s the link story done by the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier.
Schwab has been on Iowa Public Television as many times as I have. Through his various appearances on our College Wrestling programs, he’s also been featured in our Olympic Iowans series produced by Judy Blank.

Here’s the link to our Iowa Journal story on the Olympic hopeful, wrestler Doug Schwab, then an assistant coach at the University of Iowa. He’s originally from Osage.

That show also featured Shawn Johnson. I think you’ve heard of her. She’s the olympic gold medal winning gymnast, Dancing with the Stars champion and now training to compete in the olympics and represent West Des Moines.

And also Lolo Jones was featured on this Iowa Journal. The track star is making another run at the olympics from her humble beginnings.

The discussion for this program brought in former Olympians Dan Gable and Natasha Kaiser-Brown and Dan Gable to give commentary.
You can watch the entire program here.

Day 11 – Little Boy’s Prayer

Noah and Levi have been dressed each day for school in clean clothes.

Noah finally gave me a weak moment tonight when he prayed for the volcano to stop so Mommy can come home.

Up until this point, I’ve not had Noah break down and that just about did it tonight for both of us. He has been a great little boy this entire ordeal, even if he doesn’t know exactly what is going on with Amy’s trip home from Holland.

Amy, Levi’s hair will look blond to you when you get back. Plus he’s really good at sitting up by himself and his laugh is contagious as always. Tonight I took the boys to Culver’s for supper like in Day 1 and to Target to get a few things. Thanks to Tammy for remembering us and the staff for being helpful.

Here’s what happened today. The image is from the BBC and shows flight patterns around the ash cloud. Impressive to say the least.

Ash, flight patterns and plans in the air. Image from BBC.

Amy, Gary and Robert loaded up in their rental car and headed south through France with a goal of Madrid, Spain. There were headed to Bordeaux tonight with the last 6-7 hour drive Wednesday to Spain. She says traffic wasn’t that heavy. We’re still hoping for a Thursday flight home.

Our story of travel trouble is not unique. Countless people are impacted by this volcano’s ash. As people try to get home to or from Europe, we just hope for a safe ending for all parties.

This has been called the worst air travel issues since 9-11. My friend Scott Harves reminded me of his story from that week in September. Scott was a segment producer for ESPN’s College Game Day. The schedule usually included travel to a college campus on Monday or Tuesday, shoot the story on Tuesday or early Wednesday and get back to Bristol to cram a story together for Saturday. That week in 2001, Scott was in Tallahassee, Florida and the campus of Florida State University. Scott was on the ground and already on campus when the attacks happened. Scott posted this note to me:

You reminded me of the time I got stuck in Florida for 9-11, spoke with Bobby Bowden for two days, games got postponed, ended up driving home Thursday/Friday that week.  That was creepy.

Again, everyone has a story now of where they were and where they were trying to get to.

Levi. I just wanted to put in another picture of Levi for fun. So, here you go.

We did get our story told in the Des Moines Register. Here is the link.. There’s an interesting line about how we’re learning as parents on this one. Marc Hansen wrote the story. Also in that story is Ryan Becker’s tale.

I also talked to WHO-TV 13. That story has yet to post, which means it probably won’t. I’ve got here on DVD, but won’t get that posted tonight. I’m wiped as Levi decided to wake up a couple of times overnight.

My old college professor Liz is also in Europe. She and her husband plus another couple are trying to get home as well. Liz reminded me to keep on top of the laundry. That is done. Liz is in Madrid and hopes to fly home Thursday.

By the way, this blog hasn’t had this much traffic since the posts about Ali Farokhmanesh or the TV Reporter wearing hats posts.

And the link fest wouldn’t be complete without a post from Kristin as she visited the farm over the weekend. Kristin starts with a reference to Noah’s joke telling ability.

By the way, here’s what is on the Iowa Journal this week.

Final Panther Points

Maucker Union store still selling UNI Panther gear. Photo by Paul Yeager.

We know the UNI Panthers run in the NCAA is over and that Cinderalla’s slipper broke. Regardless, thie 2009-2010 season will be talked about for a long time in Cedar Falls and beyond.

A few points of interest from my world.

No cable or internet

This one popped up during the game via Twitter. Erik Ullestad posted during the game that his parents lost cable and internet during the game. That meant no live tweeting from the hometown of the Panthers or commenting on Panther Fan Forums.

Luther over Wartburg?

We’ve talked about Ali Farokhmanesh and his connections to Wartburg. His mother is working at the W in Waverly and his father was an assistant volleyball coach. Cindy Fredrick was recently named head volleyball coach at Luther College. That is the enemy for Wartburg. During Friday’s game, Cindy’s new job was mentioned during the national telecast. Clear as day Luther College was uttered and not Wartburg. So, that was fun to watch go back and forth between Iowa Conference fans/alums during the game.

Campus calming down

And finally, I was on the University of Northern Iowa campus Sunday night. I’ll be here Monday for the Iowa High School Individual All-State speech contest. The pre-dinner was on campus in the Maucker Union. Friday night, that was the site of the on-campus watch party. If the Panthers would have won, our evening would have had some excitement. Instead, the Union was fairly empty and the March Madness is starting to wear off. But, you could find some t-shirts and SI’s for sale with Ali on the cover.

Monday’s event is in the McLeod Center. Maybe I’ll sneak onto the court to practice some 3-pointers.

Where did all this UNI purple come from?

To say that the state of Iowa is seeing purple is an understatement.

Panther-Mania is everywhere

Earlier this week I wrote about a battle in the Erickson household. Father Virg, now that’s funny to see in print, was the color analyst for the UNI Panther’s Men’s basketball team for years. He gave up the job around the turn of the century. Daughter Lis, worked for UNI’s Sports Information for a time and later at Michigan State. The two aren’t speaking to each other leading up to Friday’s game.

But, they do know how to exchange pictures.

This is the purple coat Virg had from his radio days working with Gary Rima. You know, Kaboom Rima? Thanks to our source for the picture. Those who know Virg, which goes beyond his Wartburg, Waterloo Columbus and Denver networks are enjoying this shot.

—UPDATE— Check the comments from Lis about the coat. The story goes WAY back into Panther radio history. Good stuff, Lis.

–Further update– The picture of the purple coat may be gone, but we still haven’t forgotten. Maybe someday he’ll retire and we’ll publish the photo again, but knowing Virg, he’ll work until the pine box arrives.

What pajamas does Superman wear?

Of course, the UNI Panther story is everywhere. And when the public radio folks do a story on you, that’s when you know you’ve made it as a sports story. During the National Public Radio show “All Things Considered” on Thursday, the UNI story was shared with the NPR audience. The story was reported by my former radio production teacher Pat Blank of Iowa Public Radio. Most of the story you know, but it is the last part of the piece you need to hear. It is a take on a classic Superman joke and Ali Farokhmanesh. Here’s Pat’s story.

Panther Nation grabs attention with their big heads

From the Sports Casualties blog, UNI players and their big heads.

And finally I got a comment after the last Panther Post about the SI cover jinx. Robbie at Sports Casualties wanted me to know about the Sports Casualties jinx. He called his piece the Cinderella Series: Dancing Panthers. This is a view from outside of Iowa and may be a little critical of the Panthers in spots, but overall is a fun read and different perspective on the team. There’s also a fun link you need to click into. Let’s say it is close to the picture of Leon Costello, from rival HS Wapsie Valley. If you like the Iowa State Fair, you may like the link that’s written about in the piece. Enjoy.

Game time is Friday night. Will be writing about this story on Saturday?

Even More UNI Panther Points

Front banner from the UNI Athletics site http://www.uni.edu/ncaa

The hits keep coming for the UNI Panthers and their men’s basketball team. Some good, some maybe not so good.

Radio Rocks
First, a few radio promos that you might enjoy, including Gary Rima. Sorry, I’m not able to pull out the individual clips. I don’t think Learfield would like that. Enjoy.

SI Cover Jinx?

Upcoming cover of Sports Illustrated featuring Northern Iowa.

The Panthers were in Sports Illustrated earlier this season. It was a nice piece about the team. But this time, it may be more than Panther nation can handle. Here comes the cover. Will the cover jinx be in place?
Ali Farokhmanesh is on the cover with that same great photo as seen in Monday’s More UNI Extra Points.

Here’s a link to the Des Moines Register’s Ultimate Ali gallery.

Any of these story lines come true yet from Saturday’s UNI Panthers Extra Points post?

Hitler Gets the News of UNI’s win
And finally, what good story would not be complete without a Hitler – Panther/Kansas YouTube video. This one does get a little spicy, so be warned.

Or if that one doesn’t play, try this one. It is a bit different. This is the Hitler response to the Kansas loss to UNI. Again, pronounce that U-N-I.

And maybe I can teach Noah how to say Kaboom instead of this tired joke.

More UNI Extra Points

Here we go. A week of national attention for the UNI Panthers. By the way, if you’re not from Iowa, you can call them U-N -I, not uni like uni-cycle. Apparently, this team is being called all sorts of No. Iowa, No. IA. N IA, North Iowa, you get the picture.

Lots of good stuff over the weekend. I’ll post some links here, but there’s plenty to add on to this post from Saturday night.

Virg and Lis

For the Erickson clan, this will be a tense week. Father Virg is the former color analyst for the Panther Radio Network. Daughter Lis worked for UNI and Michigan State sports information. Lis spent time getting to know many of the Spartan Nation and their men’s team. Lis has often told me, Coach Tom Izzo knows how to coach in March. So, I think there will no phone call between Virg and Lis this week and Lis won’t say who she’s pulling for in fairness to both camps.

SoundOff full of Panther Calls

SoundOff on WHO-TV was good Sunday night with Keith Murphy and Chris Hassel. Chris was on the team charter that arrived home to Waterloo at 230 AM Sunday.

JT “The Nutt” is the show’s in-booth producer on Sunday nights. Keith said it best at the end that JT was the bandwagon for UNI before anyone knew one existed. JT is an alum who’s extremely excited, to say the least about his team. I think JT just got his lifetime dream, to have all callers on SoundOff be talking about the Panthers.

SO did their normal Look A Like segment. Here’s my own.

NBC 26 reporter Chad Doran

Chad Doran of NBC 26 in Green Bay. Chad is a former news photographer in Davenport at KWQC-TV. He did cover the Illini in the Final Four which was in St. Louis. I’m just saying.

or

Adam Koch of UNI. 

Adam Koch of UNI

Rima on the Radio
Here’s some audio from the UNI Panther Radio Network. Oh Baby, I love this team from Gary Rima. I think he uses every cliché in the book. Enjoy. Thanks to our north Iowa friends for the feed. Sorry, Kaboom, not included.

Ali Farokhmanesh's late three-pointer helped Northern Iowa upset Kansas 69-67. Darren Carroll/SI Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/

Ali in the DaNation

Ali Farokhmanesh is living the dream, doing interviews on national programs. One such interview was on the Dan Patrick Radio Show Monday morning. Ali was good and continues to show why the nation is starting to pull for this team.

Here’s part of the interview in text form:

Q&A with Ali Farokhmanesh

DP:The shot with just over 30 seconds to go against Kansas … did you ever think, what if I don’t make it?
AF:Honestly no. If that would have crossed my mind, I probably wouldn’t have made it. I just went into the shot with confidence and luckily it went in.

DP:But the shot defied logic, didn’t it?
AF:Uh, yeah probably. I just think once he backed off so far, I thought there was probably enough differential between the clock that they’re probably going to play off the possession. We had turned the ball over three times in a row, so I was just thinking it was probably going to be a turnover or that wide-open shot.

DP:When did you know it was going in?
AF:Honestly when I let it go, it didn’t feel that good. … Just because the previous five shots before that I hadn’t made.  Once I let that go, it was kind of iffy.

DP:What did coach [Ben Jacobson] say to you?
AF:Great shot.

Read More:http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/danpatrick/#ixzz0ixuwHfrW

Here’s the full interview and the audio/video to go with it. Enjoy.