It’s not easy being green. No, wait, that’s the Grinch. Sorry, let me put down my Dad hat and put on my “IOWA IS A BLUE BLOOD IF YOU JUST BELIEVE IT” helmet.
Sheesh, this is heavier than I remember. This off season has been way too long and the last few years has been a slog. Ok, give me a second hereeeee.
ON!
“IT’S GREAT TO BE A HAWKEYE, SHONN GREENE DESERVED THE HEISMAN, KIRK FERENTZ IS AGING LIKE FINE WINE, TIM LESTER IS THE NEXT SHANNAHANNNNNN, PHIL PARKER COULD’VE BUILT ROME IN A DAY!”
Ah, there
we go. That’s better.
Now, what I was trying to say before having this ice cold BELIEF flow through my veins was it’s not easy being the optimist these days. Not in todays world. Not in this stage of my life. If you were to take a glimpse behind the curtain, it hasn’t all been rainbows and Hawkeyes despite what my exterior may present. It’s tough out here for a edging-ever-closer-to-40-year-old-salesman with dreams and aspirations and responsibilities and a family and friends and a career and a dream career that all deserve more of my time but often don’t get it.
And that says nothing of the overarching world that’s consistently and incessantly pushing against positivity.
It’s enough to make your head spin out of control and well, become a Grinch.
Perception is reality, after all. And if you look around, it can be pretty bleak.
It’s funny – recently my daughters have fallen head over heels for both the Sing and Sing 2 movies. They are very much in their “Superstar Era” and those little animals can put on a show (Thanks Buster Moon). My eldest daughter (and because she loves everything her older sister loves, my youngest) are absolutely in love with Scarlett Johansson’s porcupine rockstar, Ash. I’m guessing it’s her ability to stomp on the ground while looking cool in sunglasses that really sucks them in. But regardless, I’m pretty sure that they would figure out how to dig a hole to China if it meant they could meet her in real life.
Any ways, in Sing 2 Ash performs “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” with the real life Bono, aka Clay Callaway (a once upon a time rock star and now recluse lion) and friends, when you’re used to listening to Super Simple Songs, hearing computer generated animals rip U2 freaking rocks.
We listen to that song at least eight times a day. In the car. During breakfast, lunch and dinner. Right before bedtime. In the tub. Sometimes during bedtime.
If you’re in my house, there’s a good chance you are going to be listening to that song.
It’s a certified banger (1:15 mark):
I dare you not to sing along.
Yet, despite how awesome that version of the song is, do you have any idea how hard it is to have your phone light up with work email after work email, work text after work text, work call after work call, texts from friends and family all of which need to be handled NOW all the while your beautiful kids just want to dance around the kitchen as a song that tries to express the universal trials and tribulations and longing for meaning and fulfillment that come with the human experience reverberates through every hallway of your house?
It’s enough to make a man break down and cry and question his every outlook on life (something I’ve done on several occasions sitting on a toilet by myself wishing I could freeze everything).
How the hell can I keep going when everything is pulling me at the seams and what I want, what I wish for and what I need to accomplish are all at odds with each other?
Well, it’s quite simple, really.
You just gotta dream big dreams (Buster Moon for the win again)!
So dream I do. I dream and dream and dream and dream and when my mind starts to wander to far away places that push my love for this life in a negative path, I just simply, dream some more. I dream about my daughters futures. I dream about my future. I dream about wife’s future. I dream about my friends and families futures. I dream about Iowa’s future. And then I put them all together to tell myself a positive story about what the next year will look like.
My inner monologue rules. He does a lot of heavy lifting, but he always gets the job done.
Yes, it’s a trick. I know it and honestly, it’s the first time I’m actually admitting it to myself and to you all. But I like the way I see the world when I’m tricking myself into believing good things will happen to me.
It’s far better than the alternative.
For example, I could tell you that on this very day, that Iowa has inarguably a very difficult schedule. If you digest college football media whatsoever, you know that Penn State is a BIG favorite right now to win the whole damn thing, Oregon is a team that’s mentioned in the same breath, Iowa State has a sour taste in their mouth and a returning quarterback that diced us up last season when it mattered most, Curt Cignetti just came off one of the most surprising seasons in College Football history and is talking a big game yet again after hitting the transfer portal hard, traveling to Los Angeles and playing against a USC team that needs to protect their head football coach is a trap, Nebraska is in YeAr tHReE oF tHe mAtT rHuLe ERa aNd ThAT MeAnS sOmETHinG DAgGunIT, and Jonathan Smith is a freaking awesome football coach that schemed up a way to beat our every loving backside last season.
OR rather, I could tell you that they don’t have to play Michigan or Ohio State, both Penn State and Oregon are having to play in the house of Pink Nightmares and there’s no way that this team is losing both of those (not with all three phases at Par OR BETTER), Iowa State lost a TON of talent on both sides of the football including the people CATCHING the returning quarterbacks passes that diced us up last season when it mattered most, Curt Cignetti can drink a nice warm glass of shut the hell up after playing one of the easiest schedules in College Football history and only returning eight players from last season, taking a four-hour flight and switching ONE time zone to play a lack luster USC team led by a sputtering Lincoln Riley who didn’t get nearly enough talent in from the transfer portal isn’t anything to fear, Nebraska is NeBrAsKA and Iowa has an offense that can dice up a unit that seemingly will take a step back and will undoubtedly match anything Dana Holgorsen’s and Dylan Raiola’s output will be (at minimum) and Jonathan Smith is a freaking awesome football coach that schemed up a way to beat our ever loving backside last season and Phil Parker has 1000000% festered on that very point for an entire year now and will seek his revenge and may the football Gods have mercy on his soul.
Chose your own adventure, but you know which version of that I believe.
On top of that, in the history of the Kirk Ferentz Era, the Iowa teams that are nationally underrated to start the season are generally the ones to look out for. Extra points if nobody believes in them AND Kirk Ferentz is smiling a lot and talking about leadership (something that is happening RIGHT NOW). We’re still a meme to the college football world and that’s PERFECT. Meme away folks. Tell your kids all about an undefeated Iowa har har har. Have a blast doing it! But as you do it, just know that Tim Lester took a meaningful step forward with the offense last season with you and me at quarterback and Phil Parker hasn’t given up more than 20-points per game in NINE years.
They can punt. They can kick. They can play defense. AND THEY CAN SCORE?!
HEH!
OH! Did I mention that Iowa might have one of the best offensive lines going into the season with two guys on the Freaks List (and neither of them were Gennings Dunker)?
Oh! And did I mention that they have an actual quarterback room now including one guy that has passed for over 10,000 yards and is 49-6 as a starter?
Oh! And did I mention that they like their WIDE RECIEVERS THIS YEAR! Best unit since 2019? Some people are saying…
Oh! And did I mention that Addison Ostrenga is going to be the latest in a long line of dominant tight ends that have come out of this program and that Zach Ortwerth is going to turn some heads too.
Oh! And did I mention that Jazz Patterson and Kamari Moulton will take over the mantle from Kaleb Johnson and put on their own firework display and easily run teams into the ground (5.3 yards per carry between them last year).
Oh! And did you see this tweet from Jake Butt?
If the entire offseason conversation is strictly based “on paper”, well, dream or no dream, Iowa is significantly better as a whole than they have been since 2019. That would be REALLY frightening if I saw that little yellow bird on the schedule.
Iowa is and will always be a tough as nails, developmental program but what everyone continues to forget is that they have also taken a step into this new age of college football by accepting the new rules and utilizing them to get important and impactful transfers while simultaneously holding onto the dudes they are developing while ALSO building an offensive scheme that can actually be fully unleashed this season now that they actually have DUDES that can play in it.
Is 10-2 and a playoff birth a dream? Honestly, after all of that, I just don’t think it is. I think it is going to be the reality.
THIS is a good football team that is coached by even better people.
I may need to dream up dreams for the rest of my 2025, but when it comes to Iowa, I just don’t need to dream it to see it – I’ve found what I’m looking for.
“I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you”
