 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
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Open scrimmage No. 2 — Getting down to business
Caption: Iowa's Brett Van Sloten (left) tangles with Carl Davis during a Kid's Day scrimmage at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG)
So, early this morning via the official Iowa football Twitter account, the UI announced a second kids day.
You could kind of see this coming.
After last week’s practice, I asked Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz about the intentions behind the open scrimmage for fans in Kinnick Stadium. It clearly wasn’t intended to be a showcase, coming off nine straight days of practice and a two-a-day the day before.
“If we had enough time, I’d probably do another fan day next Saturday,” Ferentz said. “I’d be in trouble with the administration, because they need a lot of people to open the stadium. Especially for our younger guys, it’s important for them to have fans here.
“Not that it’s a sellout, but it’s a big deal for the younger guys, just to have the music playing and all that stuff that distracts them, typically. We’ll have to create some of that, because we’re a young team right now.”
Ask and you shall receive. Open scrimmage this Saturday at Kinnick. Gates open at 11.
Here’s the release from UI sports info:
IOWA WILL HOLD OPEN FOOTBALL PRACTICE SATURDAY
IOWA CITY, Iowa – - The University of Iowa football team will stage an open practice on Saturday, August 18, in Kinnick Stadium. Kinnick Stadium will open at 11 a.m. with practice scheduled from 12:15 to 2:15 p.m.
Fans planning to attend should enter Kinnick Stadium at Gate E. Limited football posters, schedule cards and magnets will be available inside Gate E.
Regular season game-day search procedures will be in place. Fans will have access to only the west grandstands. There will be no autograph session following practice and concession stands will not be open.
Fans are reminded, the possession of an open container of beer or wine or consumption of hard liquor on University property, including parking lots, is prohibited by law. Law enforcement officers will be asking fans to empty containers and citations will be issued, if the case arises.
Free parking will be available in Lot 43 west of Kinnick Stadium, Lot 75 south of Carver-Hawkeye Arena and Lot 46 west of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The normal fee will be charged in the parking ramps. There is no reserved parking available and parking will not be available in Krause Family Pavilion.
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Not to be all snarky or anything, but if Kirk believes having a couple thousand people in the seats is all that important, he could pick up the tab himself. It’ll be interesting to see how this works, if the weather cooperates again, and exactly how many people bother to show up. Maybe a better plan would be to have the engineering college develop a Kinnick Stadium hologram with 70,000 folks and play crowd noise through that marvelous sound system that has pushed the Hawkeye Marching Band into a minor, support status.
sanji, I usually can agree with or at least relate to your views, but these ARE pretty snarky. We both know he could care less about the costs of opening the stadium but it’s pretty obvious he truly believes having “gameday” distractions going on all over will help the team.
Hey, after all the Belichickian years of media/fan relations, the guy just did a 3-part bio piece with Morehouse, only glares at Hlas’s questions occasionally now during pressers, and is opening practice a SECOND time in EIGHT DAYS. And while I haven’t attended an I-Club function for awhile, I’m told by trusted family and friends that he’s been more energetic and engaging this past year than at any time in the past. This bodes well for Hawkeye fans young through old – those who just want to be around/more knowledgeable of the program than they have been able to be the past 14 years.
sanji…to which tab are you referring???
The tab for the fans to get in? – which is free. Or the tab on the “extra” operating costs to have fans in the stadium? – which is covered by the athletic administration which is self-sustaining because of the football program.
sanji azad said, “… marvelous sound system that has pushed the Hawkeye Marching Band into a minor, support status.” Not to be to snakry back a you, but I have a lot of trouble working up any sympathy for the Hawkeye Marching Band, when they pulled the same stunt themselves in contributing to the colapse of the Iowa Highlander Marching Band years ago. Every friggin school in the country has a marching band. Gee whizz. So What! The HIghlanders were special and the Iowa Marching Band pursued a plan of harrassment and belittling of the Highlander until there was too little support to keep the HIghlanders marching. Let’s hope the Iowa Marching band enjoys a comparable experience. Payback is a biotch!
A voting member of the Old Guard.
Things to look for:
1. Is BJ Lowery in pads?
2. Is Rogers in pads?
3. If either the above are dressed, are either looking a step slow? (i.e. how bad of sprains are we talkin’ about)
4. Is the DL continuing to make progress?
5. If the Lowery is out and if Castillo is slowed by his hamstring “issues,” then how are Draper and Buford looking?
6. Is Alston in pads? If so, does he look a step slow? (i.e. how is his sprain lookin’?)
7. Is MacMillan’s had in good enough condition to practice?
8. Are the WRs and TEs letting the ball hit the turf?
9. Do we have RBs who look capable of toting the rock?
10. Are the QBs and the WRs on the same page with regard to making their reads?