College football: Rome, Des Moines, bread, circuses

Stuff is coming at us fast these days, even in sports.

Michigan's football team is taking a trip to Rome in April, but not during spring break. The Wolverines will hold three spring practices there.

'I am excited that our student-athletes will be able to take advantage of this amazing educational opportunity, be exposed to another culture and be ambassadors for the United States and the University of Michigan during our visit to Rome,' Harbaugh said.

Yeah, that's why he's doing it. For the educational opportunity, the exposure to another culture, and to be ambassadors.

Go Blu!

By the way, Michigan's second 'Signing With the Stars' extravaganza is next Wednesday.

If it's at all like last year's it will be a bit more glitzy than the online TV show Iowa's football program is debuting the same day, called 'Swarm17.' The Iowa release:

Swarm17, a signing day special to introduce the newest recruits of the University of Iowa football program to Hawkeye fans, will air Wednesday, Feb. 1, on Iowa's official athletics website, hawkeyesports.com.

Swarm17 will air from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. CT, on All-Access on hawkeyesports.com, and will be available free of charge.

Gary Dolphin, the radio voice of the Iowa Hawkeyes, will host the show, which will feature interviews with head coach Kirk Ferentz, defensive coordinator Phil Parker, offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, and additional members of the Iowa football staff.

The show will include video highlights of each of the student-athletes who sign their National Letter of Intent that day, and interviews with former Hawkeye football players. Aaron Taylor, founder of the Joe Moore Award, will be in Iowa City to officially present the Joe Moore trophy to members of the team, and will be interviewed on the show to discuss the award.

Swarm17 will be shot live from the indoor practice facility that is part of the Stew and LeNore Hansen Football Performance Center.

That doesn't sound as cool

as having Tom Brady and Derek Jeter show up like they did for Harbaugh's big show last February. But if Iowa says it's taking its team to Barcelona or Paris or Vienna for a few days in the spring, it will have something going.

What does it cost to fly a football team to Europe these days, by the way? Does the coach sit in coach?

Will the team use Airbnb for lodging? I'm guessing youth hostels aren't part of the travel arrangements.

Coincidentally, the term 'bread and circuses' originated in Rome.

If the trip is a bit on the extravagant side — I know, who could imagine such a concept? — at least the players will reap some of the extravagance. Michigan's assistant coaches are certainly getting their shares of the goodies at home, as this story details.

Meanwhile, bigger issues are here on the homefront. Tuesday, Iowa Rep. Peter Cownie (R-West Des Moines) introduced a bill with this stated intent:

Prohibit the institutions of higher education under its control from scheduling during their regular intercollegiate sports calendar any intercollegiate football game to occur on a Friday.

That's Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa. But the focus is on Iowa since the Big Ten announced last November that it would play six Friday night games per season, and Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta said Iowa would have a few of those over the years, but only on Labor Day weekend.

So an Iowa state representative wants to do something about it because the college games would bump into Friday night high school games, and he said 'Some traditions I think are sacred in this state.'

Sometimes, the word 'sacred' tends to get exaggerated. Cownie's bill is going nowhere, but he's getting some attention here and in other circles. So ... well done?

Anyway, Cownie brought this matter to the legislature on the same day hundreds of members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement gathered at the Iowa Capitol Building while legislation to block funding to Planned Parenthood advanced in the Iowa Senate.

We're living in interesting times. I can understand how a getaway to Rome would look pretty good.