A little love here, Gary Barta?

Weird news out of the UI yesterday... FireKirkFerentz.com, FireLisaBluder.com, and FireGaryBarta.com are no longer available for purchase. As a matter of fact, if you click on the sites, you'll be taken to an interesting destination. Go on, try it.

Yep--the athletic department bought the domains themselves. Interesting move, Barta. On one hand, it's a pre-emptive strike that may be tactically brilliant over the next few years. On the other hand, you're a (very) public university, and word got out awfully quickly about the purchase. Any other shaky votes of confidence you want to give your boys? Why don't you renew Kirk Ferentz's parking spot at the practice facility through, say, mid-October? That'd be about as supportive.

(Also, readers, if you think I'm not bitter that I didn't even get a warning--much less a cease and desist letter--from the athletic department, you're crazy.)

It occurred to me today that it's easily possible that Gary Barta hasn't seen this page yet. Gary. I know you google yourself (I mean search for yourself on google.com; that's not a euphemism for bedroom behavior) on a regular basis. Everyone does! And there I am, on the very first page of results! Just give it a click, you'll enjoy yourself (once again, not a euphemism, I'm just talking computers). Hell, I'll even give you your very own post to say whatever you want. Win-win. What do you say, Barta? Come on by.

[EDIT: The inimitable Wizard of Odds broke this story.]

Quick Gel Friends note

Check out the Big Ten Wonk--he's starting the annual A Wonkalypse Now 7-day-a-week marathon that'll last through the national championship game. There's no better resource for Big 10 basketball than the Wonk.

Also, see if you can't figure out the answer to his quiz question that tops today's article. If you can't, you should definitely (ahem) check (AHEM) out (I AM DRAWING ATTENTION TO MYSELF) the answer tomorrow (ME), specifically who answered it correctly (ME ME ME OH GOD ITS ME).

I'll have some road/neutral stuff for you kids later today if everything goes well.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit

I felt awfully dirty on Thursday when I signed up for (sigh) a message board account on the Iowa-specific Rivals.com site (I'm not going to name it, but it rhymes with BawkeyeBeport.com) and started posting. That place is where only fools and 8th graders dare tread.

But then, without any direct pimping on my part--only a quiet link in my signature that simply said "Steve Alford's Hair Gel"-- my traffic exploded. It went well until Friday night, when I noticed that they had removed my ability to have a signature.

Because of that direct attack on the Hair Gel and its resultant 80% loss in traffic (yeah), I am officially disallowing any links to rivals.com on this site. You made this bed, BawkeyeBeport, now you bang a morbidly obese chick in it.

God damn it.

The good news? Back up to #6 in the prestigious Fire Steve Alford search hierarchy. Hey petitionspot.com-- you're fucking mine.

Great news from the Google front

[GOOGLE USERS: Click HERE to access the main page.]

My website is already the #6 Google response for a search of: fire steve alford.

Now, mind you--I don't think I've ever advocated his firing on this page, per se; he's screwed the program up pretty badly, but I don't know who we'd bring in to replace him, or what that new coach would even be able to do with a team built around, uh, Tyler Smith and Seth Gorney.

I do, however, recognize an opportunity for increased traffic when I see it. So on that note, I'm going to get in some more mentions of "fire steve alford" without actually requesting his termination. Observe:

I don't know if we should Fire Steve Alford.
A lot of people want to Fire Steve Alford.
In 1981, as the world enjoyed the movie Chariots of Fire, Steve Alford tirelessly practiced his jump shot.
If he were a caveman who discovered Fire, Steve Alford would be very popular among his peers, but probably long dead by now.
Whenever I listen to that one Man in Motion song by John Parr that mention's St. Elmo's Fire, Steve Alford comes to mind. I don't know why.

That ought to do the trick.