It was on Feb. 9, 1946 that I went with another kid my age and his dad on the old Crandic train from Cedar Rapids to Iowa Fieldhouse on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City to watch the Hawkeyes play Purdue.

Iowa was coached by somebody named Pops. Purdue was coached by somebody named Piggy.

They don’t seem to have names like that for coaches anymore.

Pops was Pops Harrison, Piggy was Piggy Lambert.

It was a heck of a game that night, and it got me hooked on college basketball forever.

Pops knew how to get the Hawkeye crowd’s emotions into the game by climbing over the canvas that separated the coaches’ and players’ benches from the floor. When Pops climbed over that canvas, you knew he was pissed about something.

Murray Wier played for Iowa then, and he was an exciting little guy who made acrobatic shots. The fans loved that, too. And the best thing about that night for a couple of 11-year-old kids and the father of one of them was that Wier’s wild and crazy shots helped Iowa win the game, 43-41.

The point of all of this is that now, for the first time after those nearly 58 years of watching collegiate basketball, I have heard fans shout "Rapist! Rapist! Rapist!" to a player while he was shooting free throws.

It happened last night in Iowa State’s 84-76 victory over Iowa at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. The target of the Cyclone fans was Iowa’s Pierre Pierce, whose legal problems have been well documented.

The fans also chanted, "No means no!" to Pierce numerous times and booed him every time he got the ball.

The public address announcer finally told fans in the last half that their behavior could result in people being ejected from the arena. However, no warnings were issued in the first half, and it would have been absolutely ridiculous anyway to try to evict all of the fans who were engaging in the "Rapist!" and "No means no!" chants.

After all, it’s pretty tough to expect 14,092 fans, minus the few who were cheering for Iowa, to leave the building without having some problems.

Pierce and Coach Steve Alford tried to indicate that the fans’ behavior didn’t cause any problems for the 6-4 sophomore. I find that hard to believe. He didn’t make a shot in the first half—going 0-for-4 from the field and 0-for-1 at the free throw line.

For the game, he scored 12 points—4.9 below his average.

Call me old-fashioned but, after having nearly 24 hours to think about it, I’ve decided I like my collegiate basketball better when guys named Pops and Piggy are part of it and shouts of "Rapist!" aren’t.

"Do we get to vote on whether to fire Steve Alford?" Schallau asks.

"Even though I am a University of Iowa grad, and a consummate Hawkeye fan, I have not watched one minute of Iowa Hawkeye basketball during the 2003-2004 season, and I will not be watching one minute the rest of the season either.

"My reason: As long as Pierre Pierce is wearing an Iowa Hawkeye uniform, I will not be watching Iowa Hawkeye basketball. The guy should be doing ten years in State Prison."

[COMMENT: One thing about Al. He’s sure not reluctant to say what he thinks. Come to think of it, he’s much luckier than a lot of the rest of us. We had to watch the Iowa-Northwestern game, and he didn’t].

"In Florida, they have FireRonZook sweatshirts, t-shirts, even bibs," he writes. My question: If someone showed up at a Hawkeye home game wearing a FireSteveAlford t-shirt, do you think he would be thrown out of the place?"

[COMMENT: Well, Al, Iowa City can often be a weird place. Don’t forget, the fans don’t hesitate booing the Iowa head coach and the quarterback when things aren’t going right in football games at Kinnick Stadium. So my guess is that someone could indeed survive while wearing a FireSteveAlford sweatshirt at a basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. In fact, a number of fans might offer to buy the sweatshirt off the guy’s back for a premium price. Ron Zook, of course, is the beleaguered Florida football coach whose tam quit on him in its 37-17 loss to Iowa in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1].

"Mike Henderson, Nick DeWitz and Erek Hansen have been benched this season for poor schoolwork, but technically they were still eligible to play.

"Those games are lost to them in terms of eligibility.

"Pierre Pierce lost next to nothing. In fact, he was given a free pass.

"If DeWitz and Henderson are in the same boat, why put DeWitz in street clothes and Henderson in a uniform….and then hold Henderson out in a game in which we clearly needed him and in which was still eligible?

"Alford quote: ‘I’m old school enough. I don’t pay much attention to the rules that say you’re eligible until the start of the second semester. I want proof that you’ve done the job academically before you’re back in good standing with us.’

"As a basketball player at Iowa, criminals get off easier than poor students who are still eligible to play.

"What is the deal with Alford and grades? Looks like Hansen can be explained away, but DeWitz and Henderson? I can tell you from experience, it doesn’t take a Herculean effort to get through the first two years of college.

"I have a theory, but I will keep it to myself. For now."

"Ron: I can understand why you get e-mails from your readers about Alford, DeWitz and Henderson and any other athlete that flunks out. I can’t imagine being given the opportunity these players are given, and they let it slip away.

"Alford says they’re working with student services. I suppose that means they have personal tutors. How tough can it be, you go to college, you’d think somewhere along the line they know studying would be involved.

"Maybe they should have to do their freshman year as a student only, and if they can get through that then they can think about playing sports. I know most of the guys don’t have the grade problem, so of course that wouldn’t be fair to them.

"Life isn’t always fair, but some of those kids need a dose of reality. Send them to school, buy them books and they eat the covers. Excuse me while I jump off my soap box."

"Ron: Can you settle a morning coffee group small wager in Dubuque. You are the expert.

"Who were the original ‘Twin Towers’ for Iowa basketball? (We have Payne/Stokes believers and also Waite/Krafcisin believers).

"Ron: I was happy to see Iowa State get their two victories over Missouri and Nebraska. I was quite impressed with the play of the Cyclones’ two guards.

"But—as happens to all Iowa State teams—the Cyclones had to play some conference games on the road. The Colorado loss extends Iowa State’s string of conference road losses to 18.

"If the Cyclones lose to Baylor on the road, there is a real possibility that Iowa State will go ‘0-for-the-road’ for all of their Big 12 games this season.

"I hope that does not happen."

[COMMENT: Coach Wayne Morgan is confident his team will be able to win on the road, but some people, indeed, feel the Cyclones had better win Saturday night at Baylor to avoid another winless road record in the Big 12. Frankly, I feel Iowa State will have another good chance to win Feb. 11 at Kansas State and perhaps can knock off Nebraska on Feb. 28 at Lincoln].