New Name in Iowa Governor's Race?

Here's a name I hadn't heard much about in the Iowa governor's race for next year: Troy Cook. Cook worked in the 2002 initial episode of the Bob Vander Plaats, Republican candidate for governor, trilogy. He has been working in the insurance business. Cook told me he has talked with some Republican insiders about "several races", the other race presumably Iowa's Third Congressional District, now held by Democrat Leonard Boswell. Boswell long ago left little doubt about whether he would run again in 2010. He announced he would run on election night in 2008.

Congrats to a guy from my hometown. Carlos Zambrano, "The Big Z", of the Chicago Cubs, pulled his hamstring running out a bunt. He is supposed to be on the disabled list for three weeks. And that means Randy Wells got the call up from the Iowa Cubs Triple "A" baseball team in Des Moines. Wells grew up in Belleville, Illinois. He actually got drafted as a catcher, but later switched to pitcher in the minor leagues. Good luck, Randy! Just don't do too well to hurt my Cardinals.

Speaking of my Cards, their center fielder, Rick Ankiel, had an ugly, face-first crash into the wall as he made an amazing catch. Here's the first video I can find of it. You'll have to ignore the guy doing the highlights, who shows absolutely no empathy in his fake-voiced play-by-play.