I HAVE A DREAM

I have a dream that one day this Hawkeye nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “Fight, Fight, Fight for Iowa”.

I have a dream that one day on the Iowa River, the sons of former City High Little Hawks and the sons of former West High Trojans will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the city of Columbus, a city sweltering with the heat of ignorance, sweltering with the heat of mediocrity, will be transformed into an oasis of black and gold.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by standardized test scores, but by knowing the words to “In Heaven There Is No Beer”.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, up in Ann Arbor, with its yuppies, with its governor who has the worst unemployment in the nation -- one day right there in West Lafayette little Wolverine boys and Wolverine girls will be able to join hands with little Boilermaker boys and Boilermaker girls and realize that they collectively suck.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day Pagliai’s will become a national pizza chain, and the Lark Supper Club will be famous again, Iowa City, Coralville, and Cedar Rapids will never flood again, and Herky will win the Capital One Mascot Challenge" and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it how great the Hawks can be."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the Bloomington with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the despair of a Big 10 losing streak into a stone of hope for a 7 win season and a bowl bid. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our Hawkeye Nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to cheer together, to stand up for Stanzi, knowing that we will be BCS contenders again one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of Herky’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:
In Heaven there is no beer
(No beer?!)
That's why we drink it here
And when we're all gone from here
Our friends will be drinking all the beer.

And if we are to become a great Hawkeye Nation-this must become true.

I--O--W--A

Mentally We Are 6-0

I had a dream last night. I dreamt I was sitting in front of the TV watching Iowa and MSU. I knew the game was close and a field goal may tie or win the game. All of a sudden, the camera flashed to Mossbrucker-who may get comparisons to Nate Kaeding someday, sitting on the bench on a 4th and 1 from inside the 25.

Then my dreams flashed to a 1st and goal from the 8. A TD would win the game for the mighty Hawks. With the 6th best RB in the country in the backfield, I keep getting these nightmares of 4 straight passes to the endzone??

Then my crazy dream flashes to a missed field goal-ironically in the same place the Steelers play. The camera again flashes to Mossbrucker on the bench.

I woke up in a panic. I rolled over and asked my wife if all of this was a dream-she said, "No honey, your suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder". Yes friends, mentally we are 6-0 but the reality is far from that.

A co-contributor is working on his "Hawkeye Nation I Have a Dream" speech that should be out tomorrow or Tuesday. Reading the early exerpts makes me think it may be the best post EVER! Our buddies at Fire Kirk Ferentz Now seem to be having great success. We will try and poke in on what they are doing from time to time. We here at GHN will officially withhold our opinions on KF's employment until after the Indiana game-which you'll be seeing more of this week.

I appreciate a response I read talking of how we need to stop this "Poor Us" mentality and start expecting more from this team. When Florida lost to Ole Miss, no Gator fan went around feeling sorry for themselves, the players, coaches, or their season. No one said, "There's always next season, our guys tried their best". NO-They were TICKED because their title hopes may have went out the window. If we are going to make excuses for why mediocrity is ok, then that's what we will get. When we start demanding more, we'll get more. As parents, when we expect our kids to achieve, usually they do. When the worthless parents don't care about their kids and what they do, usually they don't perform well or succeed. Personally I like the fire that Fire Kirk Ferentz Now has started. Hawk fans are trying to make a statement-not about hating anyone personally-but showing that they expect more.

Get some rest Hawkeye Nation. We have been through a lot. I can't help but think if just a little cowbell might help us?? Any ideas should be considered at this point.

And the Winner Is.......Ken O'Keefe

We don't want to make a point on this blog to personally attack anyone. We are not looking at this post as an attack, but more of a scientific survey analysis based on the results of our extremely accurate reader poll.

Our readers have spoken and tbe blame (at least 67% of it) goes to Offensive Coordinator Ken O'Keefe. First and goal on the 8, a decent running back, an ok quarterback, at home, for homecoming, against Northwestern. You don't need to be James Van Allen to understand that, at worst, you have to have a 25% success rate in this situation. We came up with a big fat goose egg. Note to opposing defenses: We have 2 plays, 1) Run with Greene (or whoever it may be this weekend) and 2) Pass to DJK-Trey Stross and Andy Brodell as wildcards.

What happened to the days of having 30 receivers and 20 running backs to choose from (and yes some may respond by saying-in jail)? Speaking of, how about that Jail Break Screen that worked so well with Banks? Should we start with the trickeration? How about a flip to Greene who throws a bomb downfield? Something has to give here. MSU and the rest of the Big 10 will be ready for us. Our 2 (or 3) plays will not cut it. It seemed like in years past, we saw 2-3 of the same plays each game. The rest was tailor made to our competition. If Ferentz and O'Keefe weren't such close friends, he may be a little more worried about his job. Until Ferentz leaves, I think we are stuck Hawkeye Nation. You know whose job is relatively safe right now? Norm Parker. Until someone runs 40 up on us, the defense looks great. If an opponent scores under 25, USUALLY we can top that. With as much overtime as the defense has been working, allowing 21-22 points a game is pretty good given the circumstances. Someone find a legal way to get the defense some mini-golf coupons at Colonial Lanes (God Bless the Colonial Lanes) in lieu of overtime work.

Tomorrow we will turn our attention to the enemy-Sparty in particular. In the mean time, we welcome the banter with regards to Ken O'Keefe.

Time to Move Forward

This is true in far more ways than one. It's time to start looking ahead to Michigan State. Check back each day for updates. You can also set an RSS Feed for those that are into that. Here is the tentative list of articles that GHN contributors will put out this week:

Tuesday-Response to Blog Poll "Root of Offensive Troubles"
Wednesday-Sparty: Behind the Dress
Thursday-Anti-Michigan University Day (since we don't play Michigan this year, we have to do all the Michigan bashing during MSU week). By the way, we do appreciate all of the Michiganders and Michiganians that check in. We know that for some reason God played a mean trick on you all and stuck you up there in Canada South. That being said, there are some gorgeous places of scenery in Michigan. I had the pleasure of golfing at TreeTops in Gaylord (insert Michigan joke here-yes this is the name of the town) one October day....BEAUTIFUL!
Friday-MSU Preview
Saturday-Wrap Up After Game

In the future, we would like to try a live blog chat during a game for those that can not watch it. If you are interested, let us know. If enough people are interested (we don't need actual names or anything, just a count), we'll try to get one on here in the upcoming weeks.

The following article was taken from www.HawkCentral.com . It gives the preliminary details of the Hawkeye Huddle this weekend:

Hawkeye fans attending the Iowa-Michigan State football game on Saturday, Oct. 4, are invited to attend the “Hawkeye Huddle” prior to kickoff. The event will be held from 9-11 a.m. Eastern time at the East Lansing Marriott at University Place, 300 M.A.C. Ave., East Lansing, Mich. Admission to the Huddle is free and includes cash refreshments, snacks and Hawk Shop door prizes. University of Iowa cheerleaders and Herky will also be in attendance.Kickoff is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. Eastern time at Spartan Stadium.


Enjoy the week Hawk Fans!

Salue to Our Hawkeye Fans in Uniform

This site is not that old. We are amazed at the amount of people who have visited so far. Until yesterday, we were not aware of some of the special people that frequent our site.

I read on some message boards and in emails that some of our service men and women have checked our site out from overseas. These men and women, with the little free time they have, get online to listen to the Iowa game and check out sites like ours. Let me say what an honor it is to have those folks on our site.

I don't care if you are for or against the war--America needs to respect our troops. They signed up to put their collective arses on the line so that you and I can have the freedom, to say, gripe about our football team. Not only is it cool to have soldiers in Iraq and other areas on our site, but it is great that they are proud of the Hawks just like all of us.

We salute the brave men and women who are overseas doing what most of us could never have the guts to do. We pray for your safe return and we hope that this site, in some small way, helps keep you connected to the Hawks (during this frustrating season), and more importantly, the U.S.A.

Hawkeye Radio Stations

For those who are do not get ESPN Classic, here is a website listing Iowa radio stations that carry the game. Personally-I choose 1040 WHO. You get the classic Iowa voices of radio and the reception is good.

http://radiotime.com/affiliate/a_37654/station/Iowa_Hawkeyes_Radio_Stations.aspx

Great Place to Watch the Game

I had the privilidge of going to The Other Place in Kansas City over the summer. That got me thinking, besides Kinnick Stadium, where is the best place to watch a Hawkeye football game? I welcome the thoughts.

Global Hawkeye Nation

This is a blog experiment to see just how far the Hawkeye Nation spreads. Feel free to add yourself to the map. We have put a Clustr Map on the side in case our big map ever disappears for some reason. More updates will be coming soon.