#oniowapod — Let’s shake on a great Christmas holiday

Land of Ten's Scott Dochterman and I tried to talk sanely about the handshake thing.

Do you want to know why national media people will run with this? 1) Fran McCaffery has a reputation for hotheaded antics. He just does. Admit it. So, national media people will fill 15 minutes of whatever blah, blah, blah show and that will be that.

It's up to you how you deal with that 15 minutes. The majority of you are probably cool with McCaffery. And why not? He's elevated what was a horrible, smoldering crater (the arena is literally a crater) of a program. Has he reached the Sweet 16? No. Can he? Yes. Will he? Remains to be seen and the new reality of what Iowa basketball is a whole other podcast/blop post (yes, 'blop' post).

The majority of you see what McCaffery has built and you're going to have his back. You see a lineup that might soon be filled with four freshmen and, hey, you're excited for the possibilities. And why not?

Those of you who follow Iowa basketball closely know that the eye of most of McCaffery's hurricane moments has been his fierce protective nature for his players. Stugotz and the national media people don't know that. They're going to throw McCaffery into the stove to steam the train down the tracks for 15 minutes.

For me as a sprotswriter and blop poster, whatever kills a day, man. This killed a day. Tomorrow the question will be the odd man out in the lineup when Tyler Cook returns. Cordell Pemsl? Maybe. Ahmad Wagner? Probably.

The minority opinion falls along the lines of sportsmanship. The counter to that is emotion. Do you really want Hurricane Fran going through a handshake line in category 4? You don't.

I once killed a day writing about football coaching handshakes.

Here's that post.

Here's the best quote, from former Penn State coach Bill O'Brien: 'With all due respect to your question, I think we're talking about a lot of nothing right here.'

Next.

— How fired is Minnesota coach Tracy Claeys? Pretty fired or just fired fired?

— Coaches swear during games and Santa isn't real. We move on.

— Great hoops question from Laura. Well done.

— Bob Stoops and Joe Mixon. Yes, that changed my perception of Stoops.

— Over/under on Iowa football coaching staff changes for 2017?

— Favorite Christmas gifts? Scott's had to do with football. Mine was an actual football. Surprise!

— Buckeye Fitzy gave us a pretty good over/under on Big Ten bowl victories. You'll have to listen to that one.

— Players skipping bowl games? It's dollars vs. sentiment. For me, sentiment can step off.

— From Jerry: How does Iowa get to where Wisconsin is in football?

Really great question.

Personal note: This has been a hugely difficult fall for me. Scott's been the best. I think he was just being generous with me on today's Bears-Packers discussion. (Seriously, it's nice to know someone has my back.)