If You Build It, They Will Come

        Profile Mike Myers was pitcher for the Iowa State Cyclones who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 1990 Draft* and played for 9 teams.**  Mike won the 2004 World Series with the Boston Red Sox. * Mike Busch was the other Cyclone drafted in this draft, both in the 4th round. ** Though never with the Giants, he was taken by the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft, joining the Marlins before they had even played a professional game.  Personal Notes Mike Myers had a role in baseball that is now been legislated out of the game, and that is the LOOGY.  LOOGY stands for Lefty One Out GuY.  Mike would come in for a fearsome lefthander, try to get him out, and then he'd be done for the night.  However, MLB instituted a rule in 2020 that required a pitcher to face 3 batters or finish an inning.  While there were more famous LOOGYs, and more recent ones, I'm still going to declare this the Mike Myers rule.   Collection Notes I...

        Profile If you are making a list of Iowa State football players to profile, Troy Davis is near the top. Troy played for ISU from 1994 to 1996 and broke nearly every rushing record at the school.  He ran for over 2000 yards in consecutive years*, and finished in the top 5 for Heisman** twice.   After a few years in the NFL, Troy played  up in the CFL winning the Grey Cup with the Edmonton Eskimos. * 2000 yards in consecutive years is crazy (especially considering 11 games), but looking at college history, the mind is blown when looking at Barry Sanders' Heisman season when he rushed for 2850! ** Troy finished second his junior year behind Danny Wuerffel.  He also lost the Doak Walker Award to Bryan Hanspard, still baffling today. Personal Notes The CFL is another spot where you can gather cards of Iowa greats.  Here's what I have found: Iowa Hawkeyes - Kenny Ploen, Randy Duncan, Bob Jeter, Larry Ferguson, ...

        Profile Hakeem Butler is a wide receiver (tight end?) from Iowa State who was drafted in the 4th round of the 2019 NFL Draft* by the Arizona Cardinals.  Butler was a 2nd team All-Big 12 wide receiver** after setting a school record for most receiving yards in a season with 1318 yards.  Butler is currently on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad.   * Other Iowa Connections in the draft: T.J. Hockenson (1st UofI), Noah Fant (1st UofI), David Montgomery (3rd ISU), Butler (4th ISU), Anthony Nelson (4th UofI), Amani Hooker (4th UofI), Ross Pierschbacher (5th Cedar Falls) ** Other WRs from ISU in the NFL: Ike Harris, Otto Stowe, Luther Blue, J.J. Moses, Allan Lazard  Personal Notes Oh man, here it is a couple years into his career and I thought I'd be writing about how amazing it has been so far.  He has not shown it yet.  Hakeem was injured during the preseason of his rookie year and is already on his third team.  Wh...

   NFL Draft Iowa Connections I'll be filling these in as I post in the blog.  I'll link to the players as they each get a post.   2021 NEW! Chancey Golston, 3rd, Iowa Spencer Brown, 3rd, UNI Elerson Smith, 4th, UNI Kene Nwangwu, 4th, ISU Ihmir Smith-Marsette, 5th, Iowa Daviyon Nixon, 5th, Iowa Nick Niemann, 6th, Iowa Alaric Jackson, UDFA, Iowa Mekhi Sargent, UDFA, Iowa Cole Banwart, UDFA, Iowa Brandon Smith, UDFA, Iowa Jack Heflin, UDFA, Iowa Coy Cronk, UDFA, Iowa Shaun Beyer, UDFA, Iowa Barrington Wade, UDFA, Iowa Landon Akers, UDFA, ISU Dylan Soehner, UDFA, ISU JaQuan Bailey, UDFA, ISU Lawrence White, UDFA, ISU Manny Rugamba, UDFA, Iowa Romeo McKnight, UDFA, Iowa Briley Moore, UDFA, UNI 2020 Joe Burrow , 1st, Ames Tristin Wirfs, 1st, Iowa A.J. Epenesa , 2nd Iowa Michael Ojemudia, 3rd Iowa Geno Stone, 7th Iowa Nate Stanley, 7th Iowa Steven Wirtel, UDFA ISU Ray Lima, UDFA ISU Julian Good-Jones, UDFA ISU Kristian Welch, UDFA Iowa Dominique Dafney, UDFA West Des ...

 If your NFL team is out, it's nice to have a team to root for.  Below are the teams ranked by the thing that matters to this blog: the number of Iowa Connections.  TLDR Go Buffalo!  Boo New Orleans! Iowa Playoff Connections 2 - Tampa Bay : Tristan Wirfs / Anthony Nelson (Iowa) 4 - Buffalo : Ike Boettger /  AJ Epenesa  / Micah Hyde (Iowa), AJ Klein (ISU) 4 - Green Bay : Christian Kirksey / Josh Jackson (Iowa), Allen Lazard (ISU), Dominique Dafney (W. Des Moines) 3 - Kansas City : Ben Niemann / Anthony Hitchens (Iowa), Kelechi Osemele (ISU) 3 - Tennessee : Parker Hesse/ Desmond King / Amani Hooker (Iowa) 2 - Washington : Ross Pierschbacher (Cedar Falls), Brandon Scherff (Iowa) 2 - Los Angeles Rams : Austin Blythe / Jake Gervase (Iowa) 2 - Baltimore : LJ Fort (UNI), Kristian Welch (Iowa) 2 - Cleveland : Adrian Clayborn / Derrick Willies (Iowa) 2 - Chicago : David Montgomery (ISU), James Da...