I had to get my car worked on today, so I haven’t had much time around the computer, so here is a mini-post to update you on some of the things coming to No, It’s Iowa the rest of the week, as well as to highlight a couple new blogs to check out.
First off, there are two very big sporting events happening here in the Hawkeye state this week. The State Baseball Tournament got started over the weekend at Principal Park in Des Moines. Class 1A teams played on Friday and Saturday, Class 2A took the field today, with 3A playing tomorrow and 4A on Wednesday. Dubuque Hempstead has garnered the top seed in the 4A tourney, and I’ll be driving to the capital city to cover the game on Hump Day. Expect a post sometime in mid- to late-afternoon. In the meantime, you can follow the action at the tournament website.
In addition, the 35th Register’s Annual Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI, kicked off yesterday, as riders pedalled from Sioux City to Storm Lake. The ride will eventually wind its way to our neck of the woods, with stops in Waterloo, Manchester, and here in Dubuque later in the week. Expect some coverage of those stops here on the blog. I’ll be talking with Waterloo Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Executive Director Aaron Buzza, who is one of the folks spearheading the efforts to accomodate riders there. On Friday, I’m hoping to catch up with KCRG-TV Sports Director John Campbell, who is once again riding the route. I’ll chat with John on what kind of effort it takes to not only ride RAGBRAI, but cover the event at the same time. And on Saturday, I’ll have some video and pictures of the cyclists making their way into downtown Dubuque and performing the ceremonial “tire dip” into the Mississippi River.
Saturday night is also the championship of the Cascade semi-pro tournament, and if Cascade is playing for the title, I’ll be out there too. Stay tuned for all that.
In the meantime, I have two new submissions for the Bloggin’ Buddies feature. I had planned to do a much longer post on the guys at Black Heart, Gold Pants later on, but they managed to come up with an absolutely hilarious one of their “fake conversations” today. You can see that here. BHGP is by far one of the top Hawkeye blogs out there, and is definitely worth a consistent read. The guys that run the show over there have found a great way to balance the delivery of substantial Hawkeye news with the idiocy and hilarity of being an Iowa fan.
One brand spankin’ new blog to check out is Bare Knuckle Writers. If you enjoy tales of underage drunken debauchery – and who doesn’t? – then this week-old site is definitely for you. I suspect that it’s being run by a few of the guys who I follow on Twitter, but I haven’t been able to confirm that yet. Either way, they tell their stories pretty well, and for those of us that may have our fair share of youthful indiscretions in our past, it is fun to know we’re not alone. If you ever broke into your dad’s beer fridge to sneak sips of Old Milwaukee while listening to a Bone Thugs N Harmony CD with a few of your best 8th grade pals, BKW is definitely for you. Plus, they put a link to this blog on their homepage, so the least I can do is return the favor and try to send a few pageviews their way.
