"As of now, it’s on the national schedule for us to carry it," a spokeswoman at the network’s Chicago offices told me.

"We’re carrying the game," she said, meaning Fox Sports Net-Chicago, "but it’s also being offered to other (Fox) regions. It depends on what other programs they have."

The game will start at 11:30 a.m. and undoubtedly will be played in front of another overflow crowd of more than 51,000. Iowa State will be gunning for its sixth consecutive victory in the series after Iowa had won the previous 15 games.

Iowa State coach Dan McCarney told me two days ago that he wasn’t "hearing real good stuff" about network TV plans for the game. The reason, he said, was because there was many other marquee collegiate games scheduled around the nation that day.

"It’ll make that ($50) ticket to the game worth even more," McCarney said.

McCarney hadn’t heard that Fox Sports Net-Chicago planned to televise the game until I told him this morning.

"To me, it should be a no-brainer (that TV should carry the game)," he said. "But a lot of other head coaches might feel the same way about their matchups with somebody," he said.

"But our game features teams from two major conferences, teams going to bowl games, an intrastate rivalry and fans won’t be able to find a seat in the stadium. This rivalry has gone beyond local and regional interest—there’s a lot of national interest in it now."

• Sure, everyone expects Haluska to transfer to Iowa. But wouldn’t it be absolutely wild if he says he admires Drake’s strong academic standards and Tom Davis’ coaching and decides to become a Bulldog? Or if he transfers to Creighton?
• What if something totally unforeseen happens and Steve Alford would no longer be the Hawkeyes’ coach when Haluska—assuming he transfers to Iowa-- becomes eligible under NCAA transfer rules in the 2004-2005 season?
• What if Haluska says he feels sorry for embattled Larry Eustachy and decides to join Ol’ Turtleneck at his next collegiate coaching job?

A top 10 ranking and a buck might get you a half-gallon of gas at Casey’s.

Maisel has Oklahoma, coached by former Iowa player Bob Stoops, as his No. 1 team, and a number of other powers that will be playing games in our state are also among the top 25.

Stoops brings his Sooners to Jack Trice Stadium in Ames for an Oct. 4 game against Iowa State. Texas, which is Maisel’s No. 7 team, visits Ames on Oct. 18. Iowa State was courageous enough to make the Longhorns the homecoming foe for the Cyclones.

Kansas State, which is Maisel’s No. 10 team, plays at Iowa State on Nov. 8.

Iowa plays five teams that are in Maisel’s top 25. They are No. 3 (and defending national champion) Ohio State, which hosts the Hawkeyes on Oct. 18; No. 5 Michigan, which plays at Iowa on Oct. 4; No. 13 Arizona State, which is at Iowa on Sept. 20; No. 17 Purdue, which hosts Iowa on Nov. 8, and No. 24 Wisconsin, which hosts the Hawkeyes in the Nov. 22 regular-season finale.

In May, no Cub player has any business saying that Chicago is better than St. Louis or any other team. As the 1969 Cubs will testify, no Cub player has any business talking about how good the team is even in August or September.

Actually, Prior didn’t stop with the Cardinals.

"Personally, I think we’re better than everybody," he said. "If you don’t think that, then there’s no point in playing the game."

I agree. But keep it to yourself, Mark.

If this were college football or college anything else, his remarks would be on every bulletin board in the league.

And maybe they are by now.

Frankly, despite what Cubs manager Dusty Baker has done in injecting some life into the previously-lifeless franchise, despite the strong pitching Prior and Kerry Wood have provided and despite the fact the Cubs have been in first place in their division most of the season, I don’t think they’re the best team.

Indeed, they might be the fourth-best team. St. Louis has more batting punch than the Cubs and may even have more pitching. Houston is also a better team and Cincinnati may be, too.

You know and I know the Sox were merely postponing the inevitable.

Manager Jerry Manuel will be canned very soon. He may not even make to the All-Star break.

"Milka and I were in Des Moines in late April for the 60^th reunion of North High’s Class of ’43. Before going back to D.M., I looked for and found some of my old scrapbooks. I discovered a couple Register stories that I did on Drake basketball in—wow!—1943. The 60-year spread is interesting because heading into the 1943-44 season Drake also had a new coach—the Bulldogs’ track coach!

"Head Coach Bill Williams had left during the summer of wartime 1943 to join the American Red Cross. So M. E. (Bill) Easton, track coach and Drake Relays director, was thrown into the breach. My Drake season preview story ran Nov. 30, 1943. The 4-column headline said: ‘Bulldog Cagers Try Firewagon Attack.’ The 4-head drop said, ‘Freshmen to/Hold All Jobs/On First Five.’

"Remember, this was wartime. The roster accompanying the story listed 19 guys out for basketball—16 freshmen, one junior, two seniors. All were from Iowa except three guys—two from Los Angeles, whose heights were listed as 5-7 and 5-5, and a 5-9 fellow from Joliet, Ill.

"One of the seniors on the roster:

"Clark Mollenhoff, C-G, 6-2, Senior, Webster City, Ia.

"Yes, the great Mollenhoff, soon-to-be-whiz-bang Register courthouse reporter and national figure in the Register’s outstanding Washington Bureau. (Years later, Gartner fired him).

"Back to ‘firewagon’ basketball. I covered a Drake game on Jan. 5, 1944. The hed on the clipping says ‘Bulldogs Rout Simpson, 48-30.’ The drop hed reads, ‘Mollenhoff’s/13 Set Pace/For Winners.’ Firewagon, indeed.

"P.S. Between the dates of those two stories in November ’43 and January ’44, I turned 18 years old, eligibile for military service and not long for civilian life. Goodbye Bill Bryson and Brad Wilson, hello infantry!

"All the best.

"Harold."