Cedar Rapids could easily have been Columbus

Days like these remind me how close Cedar Rapids was to being Columbus.

Today brought news that Ohio State's football program had suspended star running back Carlos Hyde pending the outcome of student code of conduct and criminal investigations.

The female victim of an alleged assault by Hyde was struck at Sugar Bar in downtown Columbus in the early morning hours on Saturday.

On top of that, it's been reported that OSU cornerback Bradley Roby, perhaps the Big Ten's best defensive back and a preseason All-America in some publications, was arrested in Bloomington, Ind., over the weekend and is facing charges of battery resulting in bodily injury.

That news made for a tough Monday for the Buckeyes-loving people of Columbus. The one in Ohio.

Cedar Rapids was almost Columbus. In fact, it was called that from 1838 to 1841.

It probably would have been tough for all the ardent Iowa Hawkeyes fans in Cedar Rapids to live in a city that shared the same name as the home city of The Ohio State University.

But according to the book "A Dictionary of Iowa Place-Names" by Tom Savage, it was resurveyed and renamed in 1841. It was then called Cedar Rapids for -- get this -- the rapids in the Cedar River at the site.

And that's that.

Y'all come back, ya hear?