Your Daily Dose of Newspaper Bashing: DMRegister.com

I don't want OPS to have all the fun...

The DMR has given its writers space for "blogs." These are generally used for mindless drivel, usually completed with a question put in boldface type. These questions get to the deep-seeded questions of life, such as, "Are the ISU placekicker's YouTube music videos good?" (Hint: No.) Of course, nobody answers.

Sean Keeler has already been targeted this week, but his "blog" posts from Big Ten media day were truly the greatest sign of where the state's largest newspaper has been heading for years. A quick recap:

July 31: Keeler toes the company line on the Big Ten Network (without mentioning a large number of Iowans likely won't even have a chance to get the network) and tells us Brett Bielema is funny without actually quoting anything within 12 miles of comedic. He finishes by telling us Ferentz is about to speak, then refusing to report on anything El Capitan had to say.

August 1: Keeler does something which is at the same time completely unbelievable and entirely predictable from the DMR. He somehow finds a way to turn Big Ten Media Day into a story about Iowa State. In other words, the ISU-related posts outnumber the Iowa-related posts AT BIG TEN MEDIA DAY.

A quick rundown of the subjects of Keeler's blog posts in the past month:

• Iowa State - 3
  
• Big Ten network - 2
  
• Barry Bonds - 2
  
• John Deere Classic -1
• Brett Bielema - 1
• The Cincinatti Post (which doesn't even exist anymore) - 1
• The University of Iowa (which does, at least outside of 7th and Locust) - 0

But, to give Keeler a break, maybe he's leaving the Iowa blogging to Randy Peterson. The creepy-looking Peterson (the tan of George Hamilton combined with the hair of Tony Kornheiser) told us on August 3 he would be "blogging" from Iowa media day. He then posted once on the event, just to tell us how he hates media day.

He also writes an inexplicable post on next season's (that's 2008) game against Maine, chastising anyone who fails to see the beauty and grandeur of Iowa throttling a I-AA team. Forget, for the moment, that Iowa played Montana last season without any serious complaint from ticketholders. Instead, focus on the fact that Peterson, like Nancy Clark before him, sets up a straw man and knocks him down; nobody is complaining about Maine yet, if only because we're too busy complaining about having to close against Western Michigan.

Just goes to show: If you want actual blogging on Iowa sports, the last place to look is the state's largest newspaper.

If you haven't been to HawkMania.com recently, you ought to

The state of Iowa, while a good source of writers, is far from an attractive destination. It is, no doubt, frustrating for parents to try to encourage their young children to read the newspaper, only to find out that their easily impressionable minds are subjected to hacks like Nancy Clark and Pat Harty (or even worse, us).

Child: "Daddy, daddy! I read the newspaper like you told me to, and I learned from Nancy Clark that the Hawkeyes start white receivers because Kirk Ferentz is racist!"
Father: "There is no hope for this world." (commits suicide)

That's why it's been refreshing to read Eric Page's comprehensive coverage of the Hawkeyes from the Big 10 media conference for the QC Sun-Times. His July 31 article on Jake Christensen, while drenched in unnecessary second-person perspective ("Curious now, you moved a little bit closer." is just creepy), is nonetheless the clear-cut best player profile to be written this season. Then there's the thankless task of providing analysis of an online poll that only about 200 people bothered voting in:

With Christensen, it’s obvious — as the quarterback goes, the team goes, right? But the guy is a first-year starter, and first-year starters — especially at quarterback — take time to develop in the Big Ten. So I can see a scenario where Christensen doesn’t have that great of a year, but Iowa still is able to have success. If the offensive line can gel and the running game can dominate and if the defense can shut down opponents and create turnovers, all the quarterback is going to have to do is not make mistakes, which wouldn’t necessarily make him a huge impact guy.

Sounds logical enough, right? Okay, but where has anything as sane as that been anywhere else in the state? Let's take a look at some gems from the DM Register's Sean Keeler and the ICPC's Pat Harty.

Harty's last article was about listening to Bryan Mattison. Naturally, the first quote doesn't come until 10 grafs in--and it's from linebacker Mike Klinkenborg. Even in that instance, though, the notion that Harty is a blithering retard is merely implicit. Never one for subtlety, though, Harty removes all doubt later in the same article:

Bryan also became agitated when I told him that some fans have asked me whether Ferentz has lost some of the magic that helped him rebuild the football program.

"I wouldn't even answer that question if I was you," Bryan said. "Coach Ferentz is one of the best coaches in the nation.

"If I knew what a magic touch was, I don't think he's lost it. Those people that ask that question don't know anything about football."

Good move, Harty. Ask a classy player to toss his coach under the team bus. The worst part is that Harty fucking enjoys doing that. He worded his question quite purposefully and carefully, characterizing the skeptics as "some fans," when a much more accurate description would be "some fans named Pat Harty." If he thought it was a terrible, baseless question, he wouldn't have asked it. He can explain it away with the notion that he's just "stirring the pot," but that's just a nice euphemism for "being a little shit."

Then there's Keeler, cramming football metaphors into a cable story with all the grace and nuance of a 32-DD breast enhancement surgery. From the story titled "Big Ten Network Needs To Punt":

Delany, the Big Ten’s commissioner, downplayed media concerns Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, declaring that negotiations between the Big Ten Network and major cable providers were simply “at halftime.”

Actually, there’s 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter, he’s down about three touchdowns, and the clock is ticking. If somebody doesn’t throw a Hail Mary, Iowa fans are going to be left in the dark.

So they have to punt, then throw a Hail Mary, then they'll be down by 14 late in the fourth quarter? What does that even mean?

At the very least, we've got Marc Morehouse up at the Gazette giving us what we really need to read over coffee and eggs:

However, a locker room sprint at the end of the first half against Ohio State in mid-September was more alarming to Paterno's ego.

"I didn't get sick. I got diarrhea,'' the 80-year-old Paterno said.

God bless you, Morehouse. You've put me in a good enough mood to spare everyone the Pat Harty Avalanche.

Here's a puppy instead. You're all so lucky.