If You Build It, They Will Come

        Profile Harrison Barnes is a two time Iowa 4A State Basketball champion from Ames*, who went on to the NBA being drafted by Golden State in the 2012 NBA draft**.  Harrison won a title with Golden State, and also won a gold medal in 2016.   * Harrison played with future NBAer Doug McDermott on the team ** Iowa Connections in the draft: Barnes (1.7 Ames), Royce White (1.16 ISU), Justin Hamilton (2.45 ISU)  Personal Notes Harrison Barnes is a fun guy to read about.  Born and raised in Ames, he has shown success all through his life.  Academic success, athletics success, business success, and life success.  I love this generation of young stars who have their athletic careers but put that privilege they have from it and use it to build careers outside of playing and use it to help others. Collection Notes I have 44/2279 (2%) cards in my collection.

        Profile Conor Dwyer was an Olympic swimmer that spent his first couple of years at the University of Iowa before transferring to Florida to complete his college career.  Conor won 2 gold medals and 1 bronze medal combined at the 2012* and 2016 Olympics.   * Other 2012 Iowa Olympic Competitors: Gabby Douglas (Des Moines) Gold Medals All-Around/Team Gymnastics ** Other 2016 Iowa Olympic Competitors: Matt Stutzman(Fairfield) Silver Medal Paralympics Archery Personal Notes So....he attended Iowa for two years and left for greener pastures and you still collect him?   Well, yes.  I can hold two thoughts in my head at the same time; that Iowa is a great state, and sometimes to succeed you need to leave Iowa.  I live in Ohio now due to my job, and I assume Conor left Iowa to attend a college that had a better program to help him achieve his dreams.  You can't fault that.   But...did you read his wikipedia page?  He g...

        Profile Steve Alford was a former All-American player at Indiana University before heading to the NBA for 4 years.  Steve played on the Men's Basketball team in the Olympics in 1984 winning the gold medal.  After his playing was over, he became a coach for a number of basketball teams**, notable the Iowa Hawkeyes (why else are we here) and currently at Nevada. * Jon Koncak (Cedar Rapids) was also on the team ** Missouri St, Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA and Nevada Personal Notes There are many "sport sins" that sports fans take judgement on.  Here in Ohio, Jim Tressel had the sin of punting too much (minor) and John Cooper had the sin of not beating Michigan (major).  You see it in Iowa as well, with ISU fans demanding only 1 win a year, against Iowa of course.   Steve Alford coached 8 seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes, but no longer coaches them so he must have committed a sports sin as most coaches do.  Most coaches fail some sort o...