If You Build It, They Will Come

 I've been playing around with the open version of Chat GPT, and it strikes me that this tool is going to be super helpful and also super dangerous at the same time. Nothing you probably haven't read a million times already, but the vast amounts of knowledge that is available through that interface, and its ability to condense it and spit it back to us in a way that process information better is going to help out many people across many spectrums of work. Of course, I'm going to use it for dumb little ideas.  My favorite prompt so far has been "I want to create a board game based off the movie Die Hard With a Vengeance. Can you create set of rules for gameplay for this?".  Which it did, and with a few tweaks would be a fun game.  But, more specific to this blog, I've begun querying it for new Iowa Connections, because having thousands of collections doesn't mean I can't add a few more names. Here's the problem, Chat GPT lies to me often and with su...

        Profile Dr. Jamie Williams was a former tight end from Davenport (with Roger Craig ), who played at Nebraska and then 12 years in the pros.  He was drafted in the 1983 draft* by the Giants**.  He won the Super Bowl with the 49ers.  Jamie didn't stop just because he retired.  He completed a Doctorate of Education in Organization and Leadership, and now works at the University of Maryland. * Iowa connections in the 1983 draft: Roger Craig (2nd Davenport),  Jamie Williams (3rd Davenport), Karl Nelson (3rd ISU), Pat Dunsmore (4th Drake), Brett Miller (5th UofI), Reggie Roby (6th UofI), Mark Bortz (8th UofI) ** Drafted by the Giants, but never played there.  Played first season with St. Louis (Cardinals), then five with Houston (Oilers), 5 in San Fransisco, and 1 in Los Angeles (Raiders).  Personal Notes Nothing terribly enlightening here today, just an acknowledgement that I enjoyed reading his Wikipedia page and seeing "Dr. Jam...

 I've already posted the ICY cards for Men's basketball and Women's basketball.  However, I have missed a bunch of cards that should have been included.  More awards (Clark), a new hire (Baranczyk) but mostly I just missed those Iowa players who left to play outside of Iowa.  Here's the rest (I hope) of the 2021 NCAA basketball cards.

        Profile Roger Craig was a running back for the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Raiders, and Minnesota Vikings and had a HOF worthy career (missed out on election in 2020*).  Craig was the first RB to rush and receive for a 1000 yds in a season, and is one of three rbs to lead the league in receptions.  He won three Super Bowls with the 49ers.  He was born in Davenport, and went to high school at Central High School**.   * Other Iowa connections eligible for that call: Alex Karras, Duke Slator, Jimmy Johnson, Dallas Clark, Merton Hanks, Reggie Roby, and Bob Sanders.  ** NFL Players from Central : Julian Vandervelde, Austin Howard, Jamie Williams, Jim Jensen, and Jim Hester. Personal Notes Remember Nebraska?  There was a time back in the day when it was the biggest program in the midwest, and this is where Iowans used to go when they wanted to be competitive for national titles.  Trev Alberts , Roger Craig, Jaime Willia...

       Profile Mike Busch was a third baseman for the Dodgers, drafted in the 4th round in 1990.  Also, Mike Busch was an All-American tight end* from Iowa State drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1990.  He chose baseball** and played two years in the majors, and has done some coaching in his post playing career.  He was born in Davenport. * In case you are wondering what kind of stats a TE needed to be first team in 1989: 23 passes for 375 yards (16.3-yard average) and two touchdowns.  Must have be a heck of a blocker ** In case you thought it was rare to be drafted in multiple sports, here are the non MLBers drafted in the 1990 MLB draft: NFL (Chris Weinke, Jeff Brohm, Mark Fields, Kerry Collins, Greg McMurtry, Rodney Peete), NBA (Bimbo Coles, Scott Burrell, Dino Philyaw) Personal Notes Mike Busch is semi famous for being the first replacement players to make it to the pros.  He was never admitted to the MLBPA because of this, and will ...

     Profile Gayle Hopkins was a track athlete from Davenport who went on to have a successful career at Arizona and competed in the 1964 Olympics*.  Gayle broke Jesse Owens' long jump record at the Drake Relays**. * Olympics were held in Tokyo, and introduced Judo and Volleyball as medal events.  ** I mean any time you get to mention "broke Jesse Owens' ... record", that means you're pretty good Personal Notes When building my personal database, I've used a bunch of resources, starting with Wikipedia, BaseballReference, Football Reference, etc.  The additions I enjoy the most are the random ones I find reading an article about someone else.  I was researching James Jones for a previous post, and they were mentioning other famous athletes from Davenport, including Gayle Hopkins.  I bring up his wikipedia page and find it having very little info, so I had to dig to find he was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, raised in Iowa, and attended college in Colora...