A bill to clarify that “fantasy” sports leagues are legal in Iowa has cleared the Senate State Government Committee. Senator Rick Bertrand of Sioux City steered the bill through committee. “Right now in Iowa gaming is defined as a game of chance,” Bertrand says. “And what this bill does is it classifies fantasy sports as a game of skill, not chance so it does not need any type of licensing as long the prizes are established and made known in advance.”

In “fantasy sports” leagues, participants pretend to be the owner of a team made up of real players. These “fantasy” franchises get points based on the statistics the real players rack up, like the number of touchdowns a quarterback throws during a game. The fantasy sports industry is seeking to legalize the games in Iowa this year, as state law prevents players from winning cash or prizes above the value of what they paid to participate in a fantasy sports league.

“This is not an expansion of gaming of any sort,” Bertrand says. “This basically provides clarity.” The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates 33-and-a-half million people in the U.S. and Canada played fantasy sports in 2013. During Monday afternoon’s committee meeting Senator Tod Bowman of Maquoketa — a former high school wrestling coach — asked Bertrand if some of these fantasy teams involve amateur athletes.

“If Senator Feenstra and I wanted to be involved in an NCAA wrestling fantasy league, that would be legal under this?” Bowman asked. Bertrand interjected: “You may be the only two, but I’m not sure.” That prompted laughter in the committee room. “We’ll say it’s basketball. In all seriousness, would this be legal with the NCAA?” Bowman asked. Bertrand replied: “….It looks like professional sports is all I see.” However, some fantasy teams do involve college athletes.

There are a number of online sites that help players manage fantasy teams and fantasy sports have become big business for websites run by professional sports leagues as well as E-S-P-N and C-B-S Sports. No Iowan has been prosecuted for playing fantasy sports games despite existing state law. The industry estimates a quarter of a million Iowans play fantasy sports.

(Radio Iowa)

BOYS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye 10:

• Glenwood 72, Creston 60
• Red Oak 70, Southwest Valley 62
• Shenandoah 71, Fremont Mills 61

Western Iowa:

• A-H-S-T 53, Riverside 46
• IKM-Manning 78, Logan-Magnolia 47
• Tri-Center 56, Audubon 40
• Underwood 58, Griswold 53

Rolling Valley:

• Adair-Casey 53, Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 40
• Ar-We-Va 50, Glidden-Ralston 35
• Boyer Valley 75, Charter Oak-Ute 39
• Paton-Churdan 63, Woodbine 52
• West Harrison 72, CAM 53

Other:

• Diagonal 93, Essex 64
• Lenox 66, Stanton 64

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye 10:

• Lewis Central 59, Kuemper Catholic 51
• Red Oak 66, Southwest Valley 39
• Shenandoah 51, Fremont Mills 42

Western Iowa:

• IKM-Manning 73, Logan-Magnolia 28
• Riverside 34, A-H-S-T 30
• Tri-Center 39, Audubon 38
• Underwood 51, Griswold 29

Rolling Valley:

• Adair-Casey 36, Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 33
• Ar-We-Va 70, Glidden-Ralston 25
• West Harrison 52, CAM 44
• Paton-Churdan 59, Woodbine 52

Other:

• Sergeant Bluff-Luton 63, Thomas Jefferson 11
• Stanton 60, Lenox 35

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Lisa Bluder is now the school’s winningest coach. The Hawkeyes (19-6, 7-4 Big Ten) beat Northwestern 90-84 on Monday night to give Bluder her 270th victory at Iowa, surpassing the mark set by C. Vivian Stringer.

Bluder has a record of 270-163 in her 14 seasons with the Hawkeyes. She is one of just 13 active Division I coaches with more than 600 wins. Bluder graduated from Northern Iowa and previously coached at Drake and NAIA school St. Ambrose.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Remi Dibo scored a career-high 20 points to lead West Virginia to a 102-77 victory over No. 11 Iowa State on Monday night, the Cyclones’ most lopsided loss of the season. Juwan Staten added 19 points and Eron Harris and Terry Henderson each had 16 for the Mountaineers (15-10, 7-5 Big 12). Iowa State (18-5, 6-5) had five players in double figures, led by Georges Niang’s 17 points.

The Cyclones fell behind by double digits midway through the first half and trailed by as many as 32 points late in the game. West Virginia hit a season-high for points and improved to 2-1 amid a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents heading into a matchup Saturday at No. 19 Texas.

Chris Parks and Rod Christensen have the call of the game played at Creston High School.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

ATLANTA – Iowa State women’s basketball senior Hallie Christofferson has been added to the Wade Trophy list, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), on behalf of the Wade Trophy Coalition, announced today.

Christofferson is one of 35 collegiate women’s basketball players named to the prestigious Wade Trophy list. Christofferson was also one of 10 additions to the midseason list. This season, the senior is averaging 18.7 points per contest, which ranks second in the Big 12, and 7.4 rebounds.

Christofferson recently became just the eighth player in Cyclone history to reach 1,500 career points and sits eighth in Iowa State history with 1,568 points. Christofferson is a two-time Academic All- Big 12 honoree and was also named an ISU Scholar Athlete last season.

The Wade Trophy Coalition presents The Wade Trophy to the nation’s most outstanding NCAA Division I women’s basketball player each year – one who not only excels athletically but also serves as a positive role model both on and off the court.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State senior forward Melvin Ejim’s 48-point, 18-rebound performance against TCU was one of the top performances in the history of the Big 12 Conference and on Monday he was recognized as the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week. It is his second honor of the season.

Ejim’s 48 points were a Big 12 record and his 18 rebounds a career high. He also broke the Big 12 record for field goals, making 20-of-24 attempts. The 48 points was also an ISU record for a regulation game and the second-most points ever scored in a game (LaFester Rhodes, 54 vs. Iowa).

Ejim, who is leading the Big 12 in scoring with 19.8 points per game, scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds earlier in the week in ISU’s thrilling triple-OT win at Oklahoma State. That win snapped an 18-game losing streak in Stillwater that dated back to 1988.

Kansas State’s Marcus Foster was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week.

Ejim and the Cyclones are back in action tonight at West Virginia at 6 p.m. (CT).

w/ Jim Field

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Iowa State women were outscored at Texas 14-3 to finish the game in a 71-64 loss to the Longhorns in a game ISU led until the final couple of minutes.The Cyclones led by as many as eight points in the second half but were held to one field goal in the final seven minutes asd they fall to 5-7 in the Big 12.

The Cyclones have the week off before hosting Kansas on Saturday. Nikki Moody led ISU with 19 points as the Cyclones fall to 16-7 overall.

The death of a 13-year-old boy in a snowmobile accident in northwest Iowa is bringing attention to off-road vehicle safety. The teenager, Raymond Gatzemeyer of Fonda, died last Wednesday when he hit a rope suspended between the pillars of a bridge. David Downing, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says such dangers are common when crossing someone’s property. “Often during the year those landowners make changes to the property, they may put up a cable between a gate, they may have a suspension wire coming down off a corner post, and those types of hazards are unmarked,” Downing says.

There are plenty of places to ride in Iowa that are safe, according to Downing. “We have more than 8,000 miles of designated snowmobile trails in the state,” Downing says, “and those trails are groomed and they’re marked so you know where the hazards are. That’s why we always recommend that folks stay on those trails.” At the time of the accident, Gatzemeyer was with three other people, two who were on snowmobiles and one who was operating an ATV. They were not injured. It’s unclear why there was a rope attached to the bridge pillars. Gatzemeyer was wearing a helmet. Downing made his comments on Iowa Public Radio’s “River to River” program.

(Radio Iowa)