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8/19/11

New Cy-Hawk Trophy?????






 

Yikes: New Cy-Hawk Trophy Revealed .... as seen on www.hawkeyenation.com

 Yikes was the nicest word I could put in the headline.
I wanted to write a few other words like ‘Joke’ or ‘what the hell were they thinking’ and things like that.  But it wouldn’t fit in there, so we went with yikes.
Here is a link to a photo of the new trophy, revealed Friday at the Iowa State fair.
Pause to let it sink in.
Here is a quote from the press release from Iowa Corn: “This is literally a work of art representing the people and characteristics that are uniquely Iowan.” said Craig Floss, CEO for Iowa Corn.  “Just as the trophy reads, we are honest, hard working, family and community orientated people. Iowa’s corn farmers are proud to bring this work of art to the new Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series football game and we look forward to sharing it with the people of Iowa.”
First, let me lay down a few caveats…Iowa agriculture put food on our family’s table from the moment of my birth until I was a senior in high school.  My father has worked in the Growmark/FS organization since 1979, and Oscar Meyer before that.  He is the son of a farmer.  So I am very appreciative of every sector of the Iowa agriculture scene, and have met some of the folks over at Iowa Corn and they are great people.
That being meant and said, this trophy looks like it should go to the winner of a Lutheran Pie Bakeoff winner in Decorah, not for the winner of the Iowa-Iowa State football game.
Arthur Fonzarelli called and said the CyHawk Series has jumped the shark.
Craig’s comment above about the trophy being a work of art is accurate.  My criticisms are not of the artistic nature…it’s a fine sculpture…it’s a fine piece of art.
BUT FOOTBALL TEAMS DONT PLAY FOR ARTWORK!
What in the wide, wide world of sports has happened to us?  Heck, let’s not even keep score any more and call each game a tie, that way everyone can feel good about themselves.
Come on…do we get a do over?  Can we hit the reset button?
The Land Grant Trophy called and all it could do was laugh.
Iowa and Wisconsin play for a bull, and I guess you could call it artwork.  There was certainly craft that went into it’s creation…but it seemed to fit…it’s worth showcasing in a football trophy case.  It goes well with Floyd.
This?  Bring back the old CyHawk.  Yeah, I said it, and I couldn’t stand that trophy, as it looked like something you’d buy off the rack at Scheel’s, if they sold generic trophies.
I am sure that someone is going to send me an email or place a phone call to me about this, but it’s just my gut reaction…sometimes gut reactions are best left on the cutting room floor, but not for this..not when they decided to scrap tradition, even if that tradition didn’t look good, and they had a chance to do something else.
A grain bin, a tractor, a corn belt, a pig sticker…anything…except a real piece of art.
Oh, you think it’s just me?  Here are some comments sent to my twitter account from Iowa and Iowa State fans after they got their first glimpse:
OK I grew up on a farm & work in ag. That trophy is DUMB! Do something w/ a fball that looks like a corn cob if u want ag.-Jason McKibben
They should give that piece of **** to the loser of the game, so they have to live a year of embarrassment with it on display-Jesse Robertson
looks like a lawn ornament to me.. I can’t picture a 300lb lineman running across to hoist it after another Hawk victory! -Greg Moss
is that an Isabel Bloom? My mom loves those things…-Nathan Deklotz
How would you like to haul that hunk of metal into Pawnstars and find out u spent more in gas than it’s worth.-Andrew Fettkether
Maybe the LOSING team should take the trophy?  Or would that be too humiliating? – Todd Roush
that is a terrible trophy! Looks like it should be with the rest of the Precious Moments in the china cabinet.-Britt Nielsen
Seriously…puked in my mouth a little. I expect the winning team running over to grab it and stopping and staring at it – anonymous
You can’t run across the field to get it, you have to skip while holding hands – Jim Blakley
Mitch King would have ran across the field, grabbed it, and thrown it on the ground to stomp it! -Andy Scott
the best part will be when the winning team just walks off the field without running over to grab that abomination.-Josh Erickson
That looks like something you win for winning some reality show on Bravo!-Andy Scott
I could post about 50 more as of 15 minutes after the photo was released, but I will stop now, after posting this link to Cyclone fan reactions on CycloneFanatic.com
To close, I will simply say: I love the state of Iowa, I love what Iowa Corn does for farmers and I am thankful of the work farmers do for us.
But this aint intramurals brother, it’s college football.