Okay so this is going to be the quick hits version of The Hott Read. I cannot seem to sit down and write out anything lately so this is the best I can do.
-The Manti Te’o situation. The most ridiculous sports story since Tyson bit off Holyfield’s ear had me laughing until it hurt. After everything that we have heard here’s my conclusion…this is totally the fault of the coeds at Notre Dame. Ladies you have failed. How does the captain of the Notre Dame football team and runner-up for the Heisman end up dating on-line? Women of Notre Dame you should be as offended by this as I am disappointed in you. You’re telling me he had to go on-line and find a fake woman from Stanford to date, next you’ll tell me the starting QB at Alabama is dating a girl from Auburn…oh wait…well at least she’s real and smokin’.
-The Super Bowl. A power outage saved the Super Bowl. It wasn’t much of a game until Baltimore’s momentum was unplugged during the power outage at the Super Dome. My favorite remark came courtesy of Twitter “Oh shit, here comes Bane.” I really thought Kaepernick was going to pull it off and he almost did. No, it wasn’t pass interference on that last pass play for the 49ers but it was defensive holding. The deference here is you call holding which gives the 49ers half the distance to the goal and replay the down instead of a new set of downs. There is a difference between letting them play and not doing your job. The 49ers did a good enough job of screwing up that whole scenario with the play calling so giving them another down may not have changed the outcome but they deserved a fair shot and there is a reason defensive holding is against the rules.
*Correction* As my friend Bill pointed out defensive holding also results in an automatic first down, that should have been the call.
-Iowa Hawkeye football. February 6th was National Signing day for high school recruits across the nation and the only thing less impressive than the Iowa recruiting class was the Hawkeyes last season. Don’t get me wrong Iowa is far from one great recruiting class turning things around but Iowa went into last season with verbal commitments from two 4-star recruits and on signing day neither of those guys signed with Iowa. My biggest concern is the lack of any DE in the class. Iowa’s pass rush has been pretty pathetic the last couple of seasons and Iowa didn’t sign a single DE recruit, there is always the possibility that someone changes positions but there isn’t an impact recruit coming in at DE and Iowa needs impact at that position. The other notable thing about this class is the 5 WR’s Iowa signed. Four freshmen and a JUCO transfer probably means the coaching staff isn’t too impressed with the guys already on campus, I’m glad to know they noticed. One more quick thing, there are staff changes coming on the Hawkeye coaching staff and I’ll say more when we know who for sure is coming, going and who is coaching what position. I’m sure Coach Ferentz will have all of that sorted out…by May.
-Iowa Hawkeye basketball. The good news is that this team is close the bad news is that only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. They are so close to beating good teams it’s scary and unbelievably frustrating. If they were an average shooting team they would be unbeatable unfortunately they seem to consistently struggle with that. They have a decent shot at making the NCAA tournament but they have to win all the games they should win down the stretch and hopefully pull off an upset of two, I’m afraid their loss at Purdue is going to end up being their undoing in the eyes of the selection committee.
-So we are now into my favorite time of year leading up to my favorite sporting event of the year…the NFL Draft. Yep I’m a draft geek and I admit it. Just so you know I hate Todd McShay only slightly less than I hate Mel Kiper. I can’t stand Chris Berman hosting the draft on ESPN he has become unbearable and Mike Mayock from the NFL Network is the smartest draft analyst on the planet. A few things to note this draft is not one that your average NFL fan is going to know anything about because there are no quarterbacks or running backs worth drafting in the first round. Don’t misunderstand me there are QB’s that will go in the first round but none of them should go that early. Geno Smith, Matt Barkley and Mike Glennon all have a chance to get drafted in the first round but only because so many teams are desperate for QB’s (Arizona, Buffalo and Kansas City to name a few). If you only pay attention to the draft to see which Hawkeyes get drafted let me save you a few days, only Micah Hyde is getting drafted it will take an act of God for anyone else to go (sorry James Ferentz, you’ll get a shot but you are too small) and I’ll save all the scouts out there some time James Vandenberg and Keenan Davis are not worth your time.
If you have any draft questions for me just ask.
The Hott Read 
I thought defensive holding was 5 yards (or half the distance to the goal) and an automatic first down. Is that no longer the case?
I also think it is the Michigan State game that we didn’t finish that will keep us out. Sure the Purdue game was not a good loss. But the Michigan State (or IU or WISC the second time) game was a game we had and would have been a “tourney resume builder”
You are correct Bill and I added a correction, thanks. As for the Hawkeyes our lack of a signature win is definitely going to hurt us with the Selection Committee but I think they would be less likely to hold it against us if we beat everyone we should have and had more overall wins and conference wins. This conference is hard enough we can’t afford to lose to the teams in the bottom of the standings. We still have a chance but we need to take care of business.