'Times Are Tougher Than Hell for Some Of Us'

Mark Robinson [pictured at the right] of Iowa City comments on the latest Gannett Co. newspaper messes in Des Moines and Iowa City, plus some other things that are on his mind, in this e-mail:

"Hi, Ron:

"The Iowa City paper to be printed in Cedar Rapids by the competition?

"What next? Dogs and cats getting it on? Gays going straight? The Hawkeyes coming anywhere close to winning a Big Ten basketball championship?

"Of course, the next corporate moves will turn several Iowa newspapers into weekly rags without home delivery. Well, I'm guessing, but it might take about 10 years. One will have to go down to the Hy-Vee or Fareway to pick it up. Those papers will feature stuff written by people who don't live in the central time zone.


"In other words, irrelevant. Marc Hansen will be writing a blog with Basu and Sean Keeler will be the lone delivery boy of the paper Iowa once depended upon [I think he deserves the job]. I will read Hansen's blog. Basu, not so much. Oh, they already have blogs?

"On job losses--

"I am the cynic. I am the guy who went to the job workshop last week in Coralville for people over 50 years of age. I expected perhaps 50 locals to show up, but there easily were 300 of us split half-and-half, women and men. There were men over 60 years of age who want to work, but can't land a job.

"Guess who were advising us on how to get jobs?

"Five Human Resources heads from Pearson, Mercy Hospital, Iowa City Hospitals, and a couple staffing agencies. They were all women around the age of 30. They were not telling me how to get a job, but they were telling me that getting hired at their companies was damned near impossible. You just can't get there from here was the message disguised in bullshit HR speak.

"Sure, the older lady who chaired the seminar told us up front that we 50+ folks are not 'old,' we have wisdom. Ron, my bullshit meter went off the chart.

"Who is a young HR lady going to hire? The 54-year-old guy with the credentials and a mortgage who used to make over 50 grand per year or the 22-year-old woman with a degree that will work for dirt just to pay off her education loans?

"Sorry for the negative vibe, Ron, but times are tougher than hell for some of us. At least, I managed to work the Hawkeyes into my message.

"Keep writing.

Mark Robinson
Iowa City

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for your thoughts, Mark. In an attempt to take a positive look at this whole thing, be glad the newspaper business didn't schedule that job workshop. What a chaotic experience that would've been. Hang in there].

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The Cubs and Cardinals open a semi-big four-game series today at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Cardinals appear to be a very good team that is well-managed, as usual, by Tony LaRussa, who is among the best two or three skippers in the business. The Cubs appear to be a bunch of underachieving malcontents who are managed by Lou Piniella, who seems to be at the give-up stage of his baseball career. That said, you would think St. Louis might win all four games in the series [including a day/night doubleheader Sunday] and open a huge lead in the National League Central. All I know is this: Whenever you expect something to happen in baseball, it rarely does. It is a very unpredictable sport.

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I was riding a train in Europe about 25 years ago when a guy who had attended the Running Of the Bulls [pictured at the left] in Pamplona, Spain, got onboard. I didn't know much about that event, so the guy gave me some information. It sounded like something I might want to see in the future. Now I don't want to be there. I have read news accounts of a bull goring a 27-year-old Spaniard to death yesterday. That's not something I need to see.

This Maybe Wasn't the Day To Bring Your Lunch To Work

If you noticed that people who work for the Des Moines Register showed up on time today -- or maybe even 5 minutes early -- there was a reason.

Today's the day more layoffs ordered by the parent Gannett Co. were disclosed. See the story at the right side of the page.

That probably means all the security guards were also in the building.

After all, there no doubt wrre reporters, editors, photographers and janitors -- of both the day and night variety -- to escort to the back door. Surely you remember what happened to fired cartoonist Brian Duffy during the most recent newsroom purge.

People whose bylines haven't been in the paper for a week, 10 days or more were in today's edition.

Some folks maybe came back from vacation to show up on the fourth floor at 8th & Locust.

Obviously, so the boss would notice.

I mean, some people I thought had already retired, or told to retire, had their names in the paper again.

The other half of Team Gannett in Iowa -- the Iowa City Press-Citizen -- announced four layoffs yesterday.

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By the way, even if someone survived today's round of layoffs, he or she won't be able to relax. There'll always be another one down the road. That's the Gannett Way.

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Kind of on the same subject, Romenesko reports that Slate V "has created a Sally Struthers-esque commercial for BuyOneAnyway, 'a foundation that encourages people like you to purchase newspapers daily even though no one wants to read them anymore.' The narrator tells us that 'for just pennies a day you can clothe, feed and shelter newspaper professionals' and that 'once payment is made we'll send you the name, bio and snail mail address of the newspaper professional your donations are supporting.'"

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Don't forget to vote for your favorite Hawkeye and Cyclone football player, even though I already wrote several days ago that Nile Kinnick and Troy Davis are the best. The reason you should vote is so people at the paper can think people are still reading it once in a while.

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But don't vote for Sarah Palin. For anything.

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Palin's name even came up at our sportswriters' lunch this week. A guy called her "an airhead." Imagine that.

Jokes and Other Stuff

As further illustration about how out of touch the mainstream media is with things, there are stories circulating in USA Today [now there's a heavyweight publication if I ever saw one] and other newspapers that say Sarah Palin is still popular with some Republicans.

Well, one or two Republicans anyway.

Anyone who thinks the outgoing governor of Alaska is popular with anyone other than her family has been vacationing in outer space.

Palin is a joke, and she'll continue to be a joke with the David Lettermans of the world until the next time the Republicans have to pick a leader.

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Another joke, of course, is Michael Jackson. Some will say I came along too early to appreciate him. Or maybe it was too late. But how that guy's death can be on page 1 of anything other than one of those publications you see at the checkout lane at Hy-Vee is beyond me.

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It's nice to know Shawn Johnson will be waving at people during the State Fair parade. Now that's wholesomeness if I ever saw it.

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The Albany [N.Y.] newspaper laid off its sports editor. Hmmm.

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Ryan Braun was right to be critical of his Milwaukee Brewers teammates and general manager Doug Melvin. The only problem was that he ripped the wrong part of the team. Braun said the pitchers were lousy. After watching the Brewers get mauled last night by the Cardinals, 5-0, he should have pointed the finger -- and I don't care which finger -- at himself and the other hitters.

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The Cubs really showed 'em last night with that 2-1 loss to a very ordinary Atlanta team. It looked like Ryan Dempster, the clown who broke his big toe by jumping over the dugout fence a few days earlier, was batting cleanup for them.

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Ny friend Paul Delger of Kanawha wrote a nice story for the Mason City Globe Gazette. Here it is, and the photo by Bryon Houlgrave of the Globe Gazette is at the right:

Mark Mullins intimately knows his new motorcycle. That’s because the Garner man crafted it himself from a bare steel frame.

After about four years of construction, he has a bike unlike any other.

“None of it looks like a factory machine,” said Mullins, a Realtor and casino security person. “Every piece on it is not typical.”

The bike features a complex electrical wiring system, stretched gas tanks, an over- length billet aluminum front end, an entire shop-built tail section, a wider-than-standard rear tire and a seat made from a grain scoop wrapped with a thrift store leather coat.

Mullins, 47, estimated the building project took at least 1,000-1,500 shop hours. He constructed the bike in his attached garage.

Most of the major parts were purchased on eBay or from a cycle shop in Anamosa.

“The whole bike basically showed up in a box one piece at a time,” Mullins said.

“The frame is from North Dakota, the gas tanks and front fender are from Colorado. The front fork is from Pennsylvania. The tires and rims are from Texas. The oil tank, headlight and brakes are from Florida.

“Lots of other parts, like the rear fender, fender braces, oil lines, gas tank mounts, etc., were all fabricated by me.

“I saved money anywhere I could on it,” he said. “I really enjoyed it because I’m a bargain hunter.”

Mullins said the bike is not for sale but judged its value at $30,000.

Now he is suffering from construction withdrawal.

“I’m a little sad the project is over,” Mullins said. “When I’m in the shop making a motorcycle it’s my game of golf.”

Although the building phase is completed, it may take a while before Mullins can ride his motorcycle on the road.

He has applied for a special construction title and registration from the state of Iowa. The state requires this so officials can watch for stolen bike parts. Mullins said that the permission could take from less than a month to several months.

Bike Basics

• 2 up and 2 out Classic Motor Works “Rustler” frame

• 2-inch over ball-milled front end

• Harley-Davidson “80” Evolution crate motor

• Chrome inner and outer primary chain drive final

• 200 mm. rear tire

N.L. Central Either Has 3 Or 4 Decent Teams, Or It's a Tightly-Bunched Division Of a Half-Dozen Very Ordinary Clubs; By the Way, No RAGBRAI for Me

If there's such a thing as a big week in the National League Central, this is it.

The way I look at it, there are three or four decent teams in the division, or it's a tightly-bunched division of a half-dozen very ordinary teams.

When they play against one another, of course, nobody knows how bad they are. Kind of like Big Ten basketball.

Anyway, first-place St. Louis opens a three-game series at second-place Milwaukee tonight, then the Cardinals and the best baseball player on the planet -- Albert Pujols [pictured at the right] -- come to Chicago for a four-game series that starts Friday.

At the same time the Cardinals are playing at Wrigley Field, the Brewers must play the Los Angeles Dodgers, who happen to be the best team in baseball.

Mark Robinson of Iowa City has several things -- including baseball -- on his mind in this e-mail:

Hi, Ron:

"I put a good 208,000 miles on my 1995 Olds Cutlass before the transmission gave up the ghost three years ago. That was one helluva car, I tell ya. Leather seats and the upgraded sound system along with satellite radio made it a dream machine. I do honor your Toyota.

"Your obsession with the St. Louis Cardinals is part and parcel of Cubs fans who are pissed off at how futile the Cubs' efforts have been in the last 100 years.

"Ron, you may want to go ballistic on the Cardinals and La Tony, but, like your Cubs, the Cardinals are going nowhere this season.

"The St. Louis media loves the Cards? Who knew?

"Do you recall, Ron a year before the Cards won the series that there were planes flying over Busch Stadium asking for LaRussa's head? Save our team, the banners read.

"My take:

"Tony is not the best manager. Duncan is not the best pitching coach. The Cards are a sub-par team.

"The St. Louis-Chicago rivalry is as good as the Boston-Yankees rivalry.

"Albert Pujols will be, in 10 years, considered the best player in the history of baseball."

Mark Robinson
Iowa City

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[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I spend entirely too much time listening to Al Hrabosky do commentary on the Cardinals' telecasts. What he says has an influence on my thoughts and my writing. The only way around this predicament is to wage a campaign to get Hrabosky fired. He is a sick man, and he makes me sick].

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Chuck Offenburger [pictured at the left], the outstanding columnist from Cooper, IA, read that I took a tentative ride the other day on my $20 no-frills, no-gears cruiser bicycle that I bought from a Target store in mid-December two or three years ago.

Here's what he wrote to me in an e-mail:

"Ron...

"Your readers need a photo of you on your new bicycle. Can you put Maxine to work on that? And we better by God see you wearing a helmet in that photo, too.

"RAGBRAI starts in two weeks. Are you thinking of getting ready and going on it? This year's ride overnights for the first time ever in Indianola, the hometown of Clarence Pickard, who really 'made' RAGBRAI. He was 83 years old when he rode the first ride across Iowa in 1972. When people saw that a fellow of Pickard's age could make it all the way across the state on a bicycle, everybody wanted t try it.

"You're just a pup compared to Pickard's 83 years when he first did it.

"Ride on, brother!"

Chuck Offenburger
Cooper, IA

[Here's what I wrote in an e-mail to Offenburger: "Chuck, thanks for the e-mail regarding bicycling as it pertains to me. After riding various kinds of bikes, dating to when I was 6 or so, I have now resumed straddling a no-frills cruiser that I bought new for $20 in mid-December at a West Des Moines Target store. I let the bike sit in my shed for a couple of years, then decided to have one of my neighbors inflate the tires. I am now in my infancy regarding bicycling again. I thought pedaling a bike would be good for me in addition to the large amount of walking I do. However, I have promised myself I will ride only in parking lots and on sidewalks. No street biking for me. It makes me nervous to hear the engine of a car behind me. I'm too damn old to risk being hit by a 15-year-old kid using his learners' permit to drive. I certainly know the bicycle rider always comes out second-best in one of those confrontations. So no RAGBRAI for this guy. By the way, I still have my 10-speed Raleigh with the skinny tires that I had when I used to bike to the Waveland tennis courts in Des Moines when guys like John Karras, Chuck Reynolds, Knox Craig and Bill Holden [a real name out of the past!] were playing tennis. I'm a bit tempted to buy new tires for the Raleigh and ride it again someday. But, like I said, only in a parking lot on a Sunday afternoon. I'll be keeping up with you pros on RAGBRAI in a few weeks. I hope Carolyn Washburn joins you on the route. Great hearing from you and keep writing great stuff!"]

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They've got some very short memories at the paper.

I mean, there was something in the business pages today that said the af2 league -- I think that's the football league in which the Barnstormrs now play -- might put its offices in Des Moines.

Listen, it seems like only yesterday when the somebody at the paper kept writing that the Arena League -- the real Arena League, that is -- might put its hall of fame, if there is such a thing, into a vacant building in downtown Des Moines.

I think the building in which the hall of fame was supposed to be located is still vacant. Or maybe it's burned to the ground.

So don't waste my time writing about the af2 league headquartering in Des Moines.

"Let's Think Of a Project That Lets 'Car Wash' Know We're Not Laying Around, Waiting To Be Sent To the Farm Department Or Escorted To the Back Door"

Thoughts after my 10 minutes with the paper yesterday and today:

In their never-ending efforts to get readers involved with the news, people involved with the Register's sports section had an embarrassingly-long promotional project yesterday that was headlined BEST OF THE BEST?

I mean, the size of the type was larger than when Nile Kinnick died. Larger than when Troy Davis was invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremonies in New York two years in succession.

I guess it was a slow-news day. When a promotion is announced in the first week of July to pick the best Hawkeye football player and the best Cyclone football player, you know there's not much going on.

It's a dumb question anyway. It sounds like an idea that was hatched at a Friday night beer-drinking session when some guy said, "Let's think of a project that lets Car Wash [that's what newsroom people call Carolyn Washburn, the editor] know we're not laying around, waiting to be sent to the farm department, the mailroom or out of the back door."

The answers to who's the best Hawkeye and who's the best Cyclone were answered in the previous century.

Nile Kinnick [pictured at the right] was the greatest Hawkeye, without a doubt. Hell, they named the stadium after the guy and put a large statue of him in front of the place, didn't they?

Kinnick won the 1939 Heisman Trophy, was a Phi Beta Kappa student and may have become a future president of the United States had his life not ended at 24 on June 2, 1943 in the crash of a Navy plane in the Caribbean Sea.

Troy Davis [pictured at the left] became the best Cyclone player ever when he rushed for 2,010 yards in 1995 and 2,185 in 1996. He was fifth in the Heisman voting in 1995 and second in '96.

Davis was a major reason Dan McCarney rescued an Iowa State football program that was being called a coaching graveyard. For that, Cyclone fans should be forever thankful.

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By the way, make sure you cast your vote in the newspaper's football poll. The sports department can't wait long to get that project in print. Another layoff is coming very quickly at the Register and all other Gannett Co. papers, so the people managing, and writing for, the sports department want to make sure they get the results before the grim reaper comes to escort them to the back door of the newsroom. After what happened to cartoonist Brian Duffy the last time there was a mass layoff, no one is safe.

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That brings me to Rekha Basu's essay in yesterday's opinion section about newspapers. It was headlined Reflecting on future of newspapers. The trouble is, people like Basu aren't part of the solution; they're a big part of the problem. She mentioned some of the daily newspapers that have closed, and wrote about the "layoffs and staffwide [unpaid] furloughs" at the Register. Unfortunately, she didn't offer any reasons why the business is in such sad shape. All she had to do was look in the mirror.

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A headline in today's sports section said Windy City teams get snubbed. Wrong. [The story, by the way, was from the Chicago Tribune]. The Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox got one player apiece named to the All-Star teams. They didn't deserve that. Both teams are very ordinary and don't have anyone who should be an All-Star. All you have to do is watch them play.


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See you later. It's too nice a day to be indoors. I'm ready for my walk.

Fat Tires and No Firecrackers

I'm getting ready to take a short bicycle ride on my $20 no-gears, no-frills Target cruiser with the fat tires.

By the way, that's fat, not flat.

But before I go, I want to write something about Grant Wood.

Not so much about the Iowa-born artist, but one of his paintings.

The one from 1931 that was titled "Young Corn," which is pictured.

The reason I want to say something about "Young Corn" is because it once was at Wilson Junior High School in Cedar Rapids. Wilson is where I attended junior high and high school.

The Cedar Ropids Gazette had a story the other day, written by Meredith Hines-Dochterman, that said "Young Corn" is among nearly 500 works of art in the Cedar Rapids school district's collection.

The story went on to say that the Cedar Rapids school district’s total art collection was recently appraised at about $16 million.

“'I’m not sure there are other districts with an art collection like this,' said Marcia Hughes, district spokeswoman.

"The collection began almost 100 years ago, when it became tradition for people to commission or donate art as memorials to district staff or students. The most valuable gift was given by Wilson Junior High students, who launched a penny drive to commission a painting by Wood in memory of a beloved teacher. Wood produced 'Young Corn' for $300 in 1931. It is currently appraised at $8 million.

I didn't attend seventh grade at Wilson until 1947, long after the penny drive to commission the painting by Wood. But I had at least one aunt and one uncle who may have attended Wilson in 1931.

For all I know, they participated in the penny drive.

However, I'm pretty certain "Young Corn" was at Wilson when I went to school there. And I'm glad it's worth $8 million now.

Meanwhile, some people are upset because another Grant Wood painting that hung on the wall across from the office has been removed from Wilson. It had been presented to Jenny Post, who was the principal before Pierre Tracy [who was the principal when I was at Wilson]. It's probably at the art museum, but that was her personal property.

That's a column for another day.

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I noticed that the St. Louis Cardinals paid a $3.1 million bonus to a 16-year-old kid from the Dominican Republic this week. That's interesting because the Cardinals have the reputation of being tight. I mean, really tight. They might spend $3.1 million on a 16-year-old outfielder, but they try to bring in 25-year-old pitchers with many years of experience at a bargain-basement price. I've going to have to ask Rev. Kendall Meyer about that.


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Meanwhile, I see the Los Angeles Times has promoted its sports editor [a guy named Randy Harvey] to associate editor of the paper. And the obituaries editor [Jon Thurber] is the new managing editor. Making the obits editor the managing editor might be a sign of the times in the newspaper business. He's used to dealing with a lot of dead things -- especially dead people.

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I didn't get to Missouri this year to get any firecrackers.


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I'll see you on my bike. By the way, it might have fat tires, but the sidewalls are white.

The Court Of Appeal

As Wimbledon entered the round of 16 this week under the newly-domed Centre Court, it triggered a number of thoughts, one being: Roger Knapp, I still can't quite believe he's gone.

My observations of Roger started in my old tennis days in high school, among the most fun times in my life. Not to sound like a codger who can't escape the past, but a typical summer evening in Indianola consisted of heading to the Simpson College courts and hitting tennis balls all night. Lots of people in town played tennis. College faculty, teenagers, women's groups, musicians (two top players on our team were horn players who have gone on to outstanding jazz performance and university teaching careers). Heck, a first date with a girl from Lincoln, that big school in the big city, consisted of bringing her down to Indianola to play some tennis. Even my good friend in college, a state tournament high school golfer from Kennedy in Cedar Rapids, loved playing tennis, and could hit the ball very well. That was an era of where two-thirds of the men's U.S. Open tennis field were U.S. players, a far cry from where the U.S. is today on the men's tour.

And among us tennis rats in towns across Iowa, the tennis hero to all of us was Roger Knapp. Any sports nut who's been around for a spell in this state probably knows of Roger. His untimely passing a year ago spring in Florida at age 48 from an aortal aneurysm was and still is a jolt.

I was on the Indianola High School tennis team--playing in the lofty No. 3 doubles slot--when Roger played for Des Moines Hoover. He was the first freshman to win the state tennis title, and played at a level well beyond the prevailing talent level in Iowa. He moved to California after his sophomore year so he could play year-round. I believe he lived in the La Jolla area, and ended up playing for tennis powerhouse USC, lettering all four years. He briefly made it onto the men's pro tour, and if I recall, his biggest win was over Henri Leconte in England, a world top-10 player at the time. Some people mentioned he was one heck of a basketball player as well, and could have done some damage as a Huskie roundballer if he hadn't specialized in tennis.

Knapp played an exhibition match against his pro coach, Pancho Segura, on an outdoor court at Southridge Mall (the Jordan Creek of Des Moines during that time) in the early 1980s. Pancho, with his two-handed forehand, beat him. I don't know if Knapp was trying that hard or not, but he was just as great of sport after that kind of humiliation as when he was beating up on poor, sacrificial high schoolers.

Whenever Hoover came to town for a meet, Knapp would unfold his 6-foot 4-inch frame out of the team van and run onto the court and introduce himself to his next victim. "Hi, I'm Roger," he'd cheerfully say. As if he even needed to say who he was. He would then proceed to methodically dismantle the poor sap while the rest of us tennis underlings looked on in awe. His racket in high school was the old Wilson T-2000. Can you imagine using that racket today? It'd be like hitting a fastball with a wiffle bat. Knapp's Herculean left arm turned that old-school relic into a nuclear launcher.

Tennis is a great sport, dependent on individual skill, athleticism and endurance. Tennis participation, down for so many years, may be making a comeback. And a great rivalry may be taking shape, akin to the Borg/McEnroe era, between Federer and Nadal. A New York Times Magazine monster-size feature on Rafael Nadal a couple of weeks ago talked about the pro tennis world being absolutely agog over Nadal's "reverse forehand" stroke (in addition to being agog over his triceps). That forehand technique is unique; instead of following through over the opposite shoulder, Nadal's forehand stroke violently whips up over his same-side shoulder. Most pro players put topspin on their forehand shot that comes in anywhere from 1800 to 2700 revolutions per minute, according to the article. Nadal's reverse forehand has been "clocked" spinning at 4900 RPM, making the ball rebound like a hyperkinetic Tazmanian Devil when it lands on the court.

I miss Knapp, I miss Dick Enberg calling Wimbledon with Bud Collins on TV, and the occasional pro exhibtion match that would come to Des Moines (remember Borg playing at Vets Auditorium?) But I love watching Nadal, Federer (who may be the best ever), and the Williams sisters. I understand Roosevelt's Charlie Caris, a three-time state champ headed to Georgetown, has as good of game as has been seen around here in a long time. Maybe tennis in this country never was in decline. Maybe, as the Ryder Cup has shown in golf, the rest of the world has caught up with us.

--Craig S. Maltby, APR

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Roger Knapp, who was Drake's men's tennis coach from 1989 to 1993, died March 30, 2008 in Sarasota, Fla. Knapp coached the Bulldogs to consecutive Missouri Valley Conference championships in 1992 and 1993. He transformed a program that owned a 3-20 record when he joined Drake in 1989 into a perennial power in the conference with nationally-ranked players. Craig Maltby lives in Clive].