I don’t know how many of you have read The Natural by Bernard Malamud, but I’m sure that most of you have seen it’s movie adaptation featuring the likes of Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, and everyone’s favorite old guy Wilford Brimley. For many guys my age, The Natural was as formative as movies like The Sandlot, or Goonies. Oddly, I never really cared for the movie, even as my friends watched it over and over, something never really felt right about it,
I never really understood what it was until I took a class on Baseball and Film in college. (That class also introduced me to several other incredible books like “The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars and Motor Kings” by William Brashler, “Only the Ball was White” by Robert Peterson, and “The Universal Baseball Association, Inc.” By J. Henry Waugh, all worth your time, but I digress.)
I think the reason I never liked The Natural is because it always felt like it had the wrong ending. Throughout the entire movie forces conspire to tear down Roy Hobbes, and they nearly do on many occasions, but Roy will not be denied. When he belts that final homerun into the lights and the sparks coming flying down it’s the signal to all about the triumph of the American spirit, the proof that “you can’t keep a good man down”. It’s the ending that the producers knew that the American movie audience wanted, it’s the Hollywood ending. The problem is, that’s not at all what the story they spend the first two hours telling is about. The problem is, it’s not real, because Roy Hobbes isn’t a triumphal character, he’s Casey at the bat, and much like the fans of the Mudville 9, there was no joy in Mudville (or Field-turfville) on Saturday, because the Hawkeyes struck out.
So close, yet so far
I have not, and will not, rewatch a single minute of last Saturday’s loss to Oregon, as least not anytime soon. It’s still too close, too painful. When Mark Gronowski trotted 3 yards untouched into the endzone to give Iowa it’s first lead I screamed, I yelled, Jr. and I embraced in the way only true fans of any team can. Surely this defense, which has done so much so far this season could get one more stop. They had to, it was the ending America (or at least real fans of college football) wanted, the plucky underdogs taking down a team with more money, and more talent at nearly every position. We want the underdog to win because that’s what America is supposed to be, the land where, every once in a while, the underdog rises up and beats their betters. And let’s be honest, they almost did it, they got so close, but as the great Frank Robinson once said “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades”.
I’m not here to rag on the defense, they may have given up a lot of yards on the ground, and missed some tackles, but they held the #1 offense in the country to 16 points. That’s good enough to win any day of the week, and while they may have been the ones on the field at the end, the loss isn’t on them (at least not entirely). I mean, we’re talking about a game that was decided by the outcome of 4 plays, one of which is a pass that goes incomplete 99 times out of 100. Then there’s Wetjen’s fumble which was caused by one of the most well placed tackles I’ve seen in a while, if that defender hits him 1 inch in either direction, Kaden goes down, but Iowa still gets points on that drive. The (second) bad punt snap could have been a touchdown if not for Rhys Dakin not giving up on the play, and certainly didn’t put the Ducks out of reach (even if it turned out to be the difference). Then there’s the many kick of Atticus Sappington who had missed 3 of his last 6 kicks coming into Saturday and yet, as so many other kickers have done this year against Iowa, in terrible kicking conditions becomes Mr. Automatic and wins the game.
So many things had to go right for Oregon to win this game, and sadly they all did.
Down but not out
Iowa fans didn’t get their Hollywood ending on Saturday, but the playoff committee definitely saw something in this Iowa team. Iowa dropped just one spot in this weeks rankings to #21 (Oregon also only moved up 1 spot to #8), and while it is highly unlikely that they can claw their way back to the #12 spot even if they win out, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. For once, I am actually impressed with the committee. I was quite certain that Iowa would be dropped from the poll entirely, even if the matchup played out closer than statistics would have predicted, the #20 isn’t supposed to beat the #9 team, if they do it proves that the pollsters screwed up. But the #20 team pushing the #9 team (who honestly should have been #5 or #6, Oregon was punished far too harshly for their loss to Indiana) to the absolute brink and needing a last second field goal to win, that proves that the committee got it right, both times. Sure, you have reward the winners, but you can’t always unfairly punish the losers, and for once, the committee got it right. This Iowa team may just end up the best 3 loss team in the country.
Next up is USC (who dropped out of the CFP rankings after a win over Northwestern), another team with more money and more talent than Iowa, that is located in a place where Iowa has not played well historically (which is basically anywhere west of the Central time zone). I’m not going to spend any more time thinking about last weeks game, I’ve already shifted my existential dread to next week. I encourage you to do the same, though maybe without the dread.
As always, GO HAWKS!!!
