This is mainly just to direct you to an interview Mike Hlas did with ex-Hawkeye basketballer Jarryd Cole, who is currently playing for Kevlavik in the Icelandic league. Cole seems to be adjusting well to playing in a new and very foreign environment, and has apparently displayed a remarkable openness to Icelandic culture:
One night we had a party to celebrate Icelandic culture and heritage and back in the day they used to eat rotten shark and sheep head and sheep testicles, so there was a buffet line of all that stuff there and it was horrible, but I tried it all. I think the natives took me in after they saw me try it all. They were impressed. They told me I could be a citizen now.
Really, go and read the whole interview. It's nice to know that Cole has landed on his feet and is playing basketball somewhere. You can check out the roster and some of his stats here or at the Kevlavik league page here. Apparently Jarryd leads the team with "9.9 fráköst í leik" and is second on the team at "19.3 stig í leik", which I'm assuming means he's doing something right (I'm pretty sure it's rebounds per game and points per game).
There's also a team page that is probably the Icelandic equivalent of BHGP but is unfortunately entirely in Icelandic. It does feature this awesome video, though (it's very recent -- February 18th -- so this apparently just happened). Look for:
There's a whole Youtube channel devoted to Kevlavik, too, if you're interested. Iceland was not, judging from the interview, Cole's first choice, but it looks like the fans are devoted and he is playing well. Plus, who knew a country of 300,000 people could support a 12-team basketball league? We hope the rest of the season goes well for him and want him to know that Iowa fans have learned, by his absence this year, just how much he did for the team while he was here.
Addendum:
For more Nordic-Iowa basketball action, AJ pointed me to this video of Doug Thomas dunking all over the Swedish league.
5 recs | 55 comments
The picture is amazing.
Enjoyable article.
Crowdog - February 21, 2012
It will haunt me
And it makes me want to listen to some Sugarcubes and Bjork for some odd reason.
PackerHawk - February 21, 2012
Yes, it's worth of a rec solely for the pic, which is brilliant.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Only ~317K People in Iceland
The Icelanders must really love basketball to be able to support a pro league with a population about the size of metro Des Moines. I like the international-soccer-style intros where they have young kids escort the players onto the court. Nice opportunities for the ‘up and comers’ of the game.
Space Hawkeye - February 21, 2012
Metro DSM is over 560k...
Even more impressive from the Icelanders
PackerHawk - February 21, 2012
Iceland is so far north its crazy
What do they pay you with in iceland?
waterboy31321 - February 21, 2012
Fish
PackerHawk - February 21, 2012
Lutefisk?
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Are the Icelanders into Lutefisk or is it just the Norwegians?
PackerHawk - February 22, 2012
ICELAND IS GREEN
GREENLAND IS ICE.
Stole that from a Robot Chicken episode.
mikjones24 - February 21, 2012
Comon
We learned that in the Mighty Ducks, #3 maybe?
isHawkeye - February 21, 2012
Mighty Ducks 3 was with the private school
2 was with the Olympic Team.
mikjones24 - February 21, 2012
Fucking dirty Icelanders.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
His roster
contains no less than 9 players with last names ending in “-sson”. Outstanding.
Angle's Dangle - February 21, 2012
I've heard it said
that Icelanders take their last name from father. So Bjork is Björk Guðmundsdóttir and her brother (if she has one) would be Malebjork Guðmundsson.
silkhawk - February 21, 2012
This was standard for most Scandanavian countries for a while
IIRC only Iceland still does it with any regularity. In my limited experience with Icelanders (not to be described in a family setting), they had some fascinating stuff going on. One of the most popular girls’ names literally means “every man’s whore” or something similar to that. Weird stuff.
therealCatnuts - February 21, 2012
Everybody has parents.
tyger1147 - February 21, 2012
I plan to party there one of these days...
KegMaster - February 21, 2012
Åska Doug!
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Pic from Cole's Twitter
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Is the ’54 hoosiers team hes playing against?
waterboy31321 - February 21, 2012
Icelandic people are so white
that they’re in black and white
PackerHawk - February 21, 2012
i like to say that they are so white, they are clear
waterboy31321 - February 21, 2012
They show up in the picture though
so they can’t be clear
PackerHawk - February 22, 2012
BOOO
Patrick Vint - February 22, 2012
More pics from Cole's Twitter. That arena looks pretty cool. Until HOCKEYBEAR demolishes it.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
They won the title this year, too.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Wow. Front row, third from viewer's left.
That guy just has SCANNER written all over him. Lycurgus runs in fear of the elven features, sunken eyes, and that Scandinavian haircut (OY! That haircut.).
Eyeheartfreedumb - February 21, 2012
And got a sweet trophy.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Interview made it seem like that trophy is from an in-season tournament.
Sounded like something similar to the FA Cup.
The Mexican't - February 21, 2012
Ah.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
i want to drink beer from that
Patrick Vint - February 22, 2012
Man, Iowa players own those Nordic basketball leagues
rupertj - February 21, 2012
J.R. Angle is still waiting for his breakthrough.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
He was so sure that Iceland would have Smirnoff ICE.
YouCanPutYourEddsInIt - February 22, 2012
Wayjj tjo gjo Jjarryd and Djoug.
It’s alwajjs gjood to sii fjormer Hawks djoing well fjor themselvskis oversiis. I could go for some aquavit now.
codenameduchess - February 21, 2012
Hmm aquavit
/blacks out
PackerHawk - February 21, 2012
Don't turn around, uh-oh...
Der Bikarmeistarar’s in town, uh-oh!
/Falco’d
Congrats to Jarryd, another Hawkeye like Gatens who deserved more success than he got, sticking it out through 3 different coaches and bum knees and all.
IPeeBlackAndGold - February 21, 2012
And he pretty much carried Iowa to a win on his senior day
Here’s hoping Gatens can do the same.
PackerHawk - February 21, 2012
I have a new favorite athlete
That out-of-shape looking point guard with the headband on Cole’s team is fantastic. You think that guy doesn’t party???
H I McDonnough - February 21, 2012
I hope he doesn't have to play for Wolf Stansson, the dude is an asshole
waterboy31321 - February 21, 2012
Yes!
You beat me to it. Excellent Mighty Ducks 2 reference. What a prick.
Nickhawk08 - February 21, 2012
THE DENTIST!
RossWB - February 21, 2012
De-flating the beach ball was a buzz kill and such a dick move
What a bunch of pricks. To recap:
- The slash to Bombay’s bad knee.
- The elbow on the boards, freeing the Dentist to hammer the post.
- The late slash on Adam Banks that knocks him out for most of the tournament.
- Late, high checks all over the ice.
- A Boston Bruins-esque line of enforcers. Seriously, it’s a team full of Terry O’Reilly’s.
God I hated Team Iceland.
Nickhawk08 - February 21, 2012
You forgot the most important thing: THEY HATED AMERICA
/love it or leave it
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Good call
They didn’t like America. So they can go right ahead and fuck off.
The laugh from Gunner Stahl as he taunts someone from a cheap shot pretty much sums them up: Evil. Cheap shot artists. Anti-American.
Nickhawk08 - February 21, 2012
At least Gunner learned to have respect for his American Junior Goodwill Games superiors
“Les go shake der hahnds!”
Touchdown Iowa! - February 21, 2012
That video screams awesome
Good soundtrack, really ups the intensity/drama of the game.
I love #10 – walks out to center court, doesn’t jog like the rest of his teammates. A little overweight, purely an irrational confidence guy. He looks like any random guy you’d find at the Field House.
Basketball would be fun there – it looked like a small travelling party, maybe 50-100 people. Probably similar to the BHGP Purdue rager, no?
Nickhawk08 - February 21, 2012
It's amazing how much of your comment contains the things I wanted to write.
Yes, awesome video; any use of Justice is a-OK by me. The fans look like they know how to have a good time and, if you put a beard on the dude at the slots and replace the beer with a Kraken and Coke, you essentially have Ross (oh, but instead of a slot machine it’s an X-Box with FIFA 2012). Also, that guy would really have to hate Evanston.
Kyle McCann't - February 21, 2012
That sounds about right.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Justice, ABBA, and Queen -- that's a party.
Plus something I didn’t recognize at the start.
And, yeah, that crowd going to the game looked awfully similar to the BHGP crew that went to West Lafayette. Good times.
RossWB - February 21, 2012
Ratatat.
SomeJerkPoster - February 21, 2012
Now that you say that,
I will assume that they are all yelling the home team’s chears in a mocking, Icelandic fashion. Ah, good times.
Give Eddie a Beer - February 21, 2012
Sweet warm ups, Montell Jordan lives on.
BentNotBroken - February 21, 2012
Trivia bit
A belief in sprites and fairies is still pretty common in Iceland. So, when Icelanders are clearing ground for new construction they must first get the permission of the wee folk who live there. No permission? Build elsewhere, Bjorn Thorisson.
Blackheartnopants - February 22, 2012 via Android app
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