It's Great To Be A Hawkeye

 I was at my local golf driving range a couple weeks ago talking with three high school kids who were football players at a local high school. During the course of our conversation I mentioned I used to coach football in Iowa and the subject of dominance in that sport came up. I mentioned there was a school in Des Moines Iowa that had won something like 9 out of 10 state championships a couple years back. They weren't all that impressed until I said there was a quite famous athlete who came out of that school and her name is Caitlin Clark. Right away they recognized her name.

Now, I ask you, five years ago how many people knew the bio of any female college basketball player? Furthermore, how many even cared? Well, Ms. Clark has not only caused women's basketball to explode in popularity in Iowa but it has spread across the country and into Europe. The women's team recently returned from playing exhibitions across the pond and her fame had even spread to far flung eastern European countries. 

What personally amazes me most is I used to scoff at women's sports. I found them boring. I recall in the 1980's when I was coaching a 9th grade boys basketball team in Illinois. The girls coach asked if my team would scrimmage the varsity girls squad. We defeated them by 30 points and we could have done it playing in wheel chairs. I rest my case.

Caitlin Clark will be a senior this upcoming season at the Univ. of Iowa but you already knew that because----well, just because she's that famous. Anyway, it was announced this past week that every women's Hawkeye basketball game is a sellout for the 2023-2024 season. Every single game will have all 15,000 seats sold out. There is such a demand to watch Clark perform her magic the University has scheduled an exhibition game against DePaul University in October and it will take place in Kinnick Stadium which is the home of the Iowa Hawkeye football team. That, in itself, is heady stuff.

If you enjoy watching a basketball player consistently make 3 point baskets from a few feet across half court you'll be amazed at Clark's shooting prowess. If you appreciate what are called 'no look' passes you'll marvel at this lass. Clark plays the game the way it's inventor, Dr. James Naismith, drew it up.

And remember, 15,000 ticket paying patrons will fill the Hawkeye fieldhouse every time she walks on the floor and it doesn't matter if they're playing the Univ. of Tennessee or a team of 5th graders from The St. Paul School for the Gifted.