Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - CR Gazette Hawkeye football beat writer Leah Vann joins the show to discuss her journey, love of football, and what she has in store for football coverage

Episode Date: January 5, 2021

We are honored to be joined by the most recent addition to the Cedar Rapids Gazette sports team, Leah Vann, who will be the Iowa football beat reporter. She talks about her inspirational journey to this point, how she fell in love with football, and what her plans are for covering our beloved Hawkeyes.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Tuesday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another show today, and I'm especially excited about this show because I am joined by Cedar Rapids Gazette

Iowa football beat writer, Leah Vann. The newest member of the Iowa Hawkeye media community, Leah is going to be a phenomenal addition to the team, and she actually starts next week. So be on the lookout for all of her great stuff that she's going to be putting out for the Cedar Rapids Gazette. We'll talk. I don't need to explain it. She's going to be telling all about what her plan is going forward on this show. So we're honored to be joined by Leah Vann. Let's not waste any more time though. The one last thing I'll say is if you

love the show, give us that five-star review. Make sure to subscribe wherever you download this podcast app. And let's get into this awesome show that I've been really excited to share with you with Leah Vann right now. All right. I'm honored to be joined here by the newest Hawkeye football beat writer, Leah Vann. Leah, how's it going? Going well. How are you? I'm doing well. Are you excited? I mean, it's about what, 10 days, 12 days away till you're officially on the staff. Yeah, I think it's, is it 11 maybe? I don't know. I'm thrilled. I'm really, really excited to get started. That's awesome. And you just finished up grad school at Northwestern, correct? Yes. How did you land on Northwestern? I mean, that's an Iowa country. Northwestern isn't exactly our favorite spot. Oh, I know. I'm familiar.

I feel like anybody who plays Iowa is just not your favorite. I feel like anybody who plays Iowa is just not your favorite. I mean, it's a long story. I always knew that I wanted to go to grad school for journalism, and it was just a matter of when and where. I looked at Columbia and Northwestern, and, of course, Northwestern is kind of known in sports media world as the place to go, and J.A. Adande is head of the program there. So I decided that it was probably going to be the best fit for me after I got into both schools. And, you know,

I very much am happy with the choice that I made. And it was great because I had like a whole sports cohort, which I really didn't know what I'd be getting at Columbia, which was more of like a news focused program. That's awesome. Yeah. Anytime you can be learning from, from J.A. Adande, that's a pretty good opportunity. And obviously Northwestern just being a fantastic school, regardless of my feelings towards them and football and basketball, a fantastic school to go to nonetheless. I also will say Melissa Isaacson, who I had as a professor for two classes and for my master's project advisor is a University of Iowa alumna. So I learned from the best. Yeah, there's a connection there. I love it. I love it. So you're originally from Texas.

You sounds like you grew up wanting to, you know, talk sports, talk football, that kind of thing. Is that correct? That is correct. That's awesome. And obviously growing up in Texas, what part of Texas were you from? Um, I'm from outside of the Fort Worth area. I was born in Fort Worth, but I really grew up in a town called Aledo, Texas, which is a little bit Southwest. It's a big time football town. So, um, you know, high school football was basically all there was. Yeah. I want to get to, so you wrote an awesome article about Friday night lights and it resonated with me because I am a huge Friday night lights fan. I watched the movie. I read the book when I was heck it had to been 10 at that time. I keep thinking about like the late

1990s or early two thousands. I think I was 10, read the book, obviously watched the series, which doesn't have anything to really do with the book about 20 times. So, but before we get to that, the idea of playing high school football in Texas. So Iowa, you know, we think that Iowa high school football is fantastic, but can you just give me an idea of just how insane, and that might not be the right word, but Texas high school football is. is no it is very much insane um and i covered iowa high school football and i very much enjoyed covering iowa high school football and i think the culture is similar right you have small towns that really rally together um and cheer for a team but in texas that's like 20,000 fans per regular season game or more depending on what school you go to but for my school was like around that much and I mean I tell people that

our football field was probably a little bit louder than Iowa State's I'm gonna get a lot of heat for that I know I will not on this podcast I'm'm right. 60,000 fans that came to our state championship game at AT&T stadium. So, um, you know, and then it was like our whole week was centered around it. And when it came to playoff football, we'd often be traveling like six hours to a playoff game. traveling like six hours to a playoff game. And so we'd get let out of school early on Friday so that everybody could make it to the football game. Right. So it was like, you know, it was just really our, it was our world and our town would shut down. You know, you go to the football game and afterwards you go to Whataburger. And if you're not familiar with Whataburger, it's a Texas, you know, fast food chain. And we'd all hang out there and get the latest gossip and, you know, whatever. So, I mean, it was what was beautiful about it is, you know, you have all these cliques in high school. But if you go to a football game and you stand in the student section, you're just a part of the student section, right?

Like it really is everybody coming together to cheer for the team. And it doesn't matter who you usually hang out with. You really got to stand with anybody and you got to experience, you know, being a student and cheering on your team and having that personal connection. And I guess I was fortunate because when I went at the time, we had the number one running back in the nation, the number one recruit in the nation, Gatorade player of the Year, Jonathan Gray. So there were a lot of cool things that happened around that, too. That's super cool. Yeah, I mean, you talk about that community and the camaraderie, and I feel like there can be a translation to that to Iowa as well, where it is a diverse group of people with all different backgrounds, but they all

come together to support the Hawks. I know personally, I live in Denver. Anytime I see anyone with an Iowa sticker, with an Iowa Hawkeye hat, it doesn't matter. It's go Hawks immediately. You have a friend that's there that has a shared sense of, you know, some sort of shared passion that they have. And I think it can almost be somewhat of a translation there to the Iowa Hawkeye. I also really appreciate the minor dig at Iowa State. I think anyone listening to this

will also appreciate that as well. So it seems like you've actually been to an Iowa State game. Is that correct? Yeah, I actually, I went to one when they played Texas back when I was living in Mason City. And of course, I'm not going to always like dig Iowa State. They're a very good team. They have a very good coach in Matt Campbell. And, you know, as a journalist, I will be unbiased and I will report on them and do my due diligence. But yeah, I went to Jack Trice and I was I got to sit like two rows up. The tickets were like so affordable.

I love that. I mean, it was great. To sit here at a Texas game, be like 400 bucks. I mean, it was great. I was like to sit here at a Texas game, be like 400 bucks. But yeah, you know, I just felt like it. I mean, maybe it was just the game because Texas did win the game, which is like not a very common occurrence these days. And maybe that's why it was kind of quiet to me. But yeah, I mean, I've also been to, you know, Northwestern's like Ryan field, which, you know, it's, it's cute. Right.

You are just a, I love the, the subtle digs at each, each of these stadiums is fantastic. Northwestern is honestly, I love that Northwestern football program, not to get into details. I love the program. I love Pat Fitzgerald. I have probably the most respect for Northwestern and what they do on the field over than any other team in the Big Ten outside of obviously Iowa, but that field is an embarrassment. I mean, come on. You got to do better, and you got to feel the stands a little bit better. You also mentioned Texas and the fact they don't win a lot. They got a big win last night against Colorado. Is Texas back next year? because there's already the hype train starting for 2021,

which is miserable. I can't handle it. Is it, are they back? Uh, you know, I, I'm an optimist and I want to say that they're back. Um, but I know, I know what going down that train feels like. Um, but I'm just going to say, yeah, I would think that there's, there's some potential there. Right. Because I saw a running game that I haven't seen in forever. Like Texas has not had a running game. We play the West coast offense. Right. And then like Casey Thompson is like quarterback, which out of the blue just throws a 73 yard pass. I was like, wow, I haven't seen deep balls like that in a very long time. So I don't know. I think there's a lot of potential to be good. I don't know if we'd be back because I think the

play calling needs to match the talent on the field. That's fair. Yeah. It's also tough when you have a fullback playing quarterback and Sam Ellinger, so can always make it a little bit, a little bit difficult there. Yeah. So Leah, you have quite an incredible background and kind of a journey to getting to where you are now. We don't have to touch on it too much if you don't want to, but you are a cancer survivor. It seems like that also kind of influenced your decision. Can you tell me a little bit about just Leah growing up, right? How did you get to this spot? All right. I need to quickly pause that conversation with Leah. We'll get back to in a second, but I want to make sure you are covered for all of your betting needs. And there's only one place that has you covered and only one place

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wherever you get your podcast app. With that being said now, let's head on in to our conversation with Leah Vann. Yeah. I mean, I started watching football in like third grade, I think. My step, like my soon, I guess it was my soon to be stepped out at the time. Um, just always like watch the Cowboys every Sunday and then watch the Texas Longhorns on Saturday. And so I just kind of would join that him and my brother. And, you know, anytime I wanted to turn the channel to like Disney channel growing up, my brother would turn it to sports center. And so then I was all of a sudden just like watching sports center. And, um, pretty soon I was, you know, the one on the couch watching college football all

the time. Um, and this was before we even moved to Aledo. I was a huge football fan. And so it's actually kind of funny. So my real dad who passed away, um, went to the university of Michigan. So I actually grew up watching a lot of big 10 football, um, like probably more than your average Texan. Right. And, um, which was really fun because I always thought that big 10 football has this like very unique culture of tradition. Um, like there's trophies for all the different rivalries and there's like a lot of them, right. It's not just like two rivalries, which is what Texas has. Like, no, this is like, there's like 20. And so, yeah, I, I guess it was one of those things where, you know, I would be that kid who would go over to

my girlfriend's house and I'd be talking to their dad about football, you know, which is kind of like this natural thing. So, yeah, you know, fast forward, I grew up in Aledo where there's, you know, this obsession with Texas high school football, But also, you know, when I had cancer, I was diagnosed at 15. And I was a high school athlete, you know, I played volleyball, I ran track. And the football team was really there for me. um you know first I you know at first I do like the the visit they have to do right like the star football players come Jonathan Gray um you know the starting quarterback and a couple of other guys come and visit me with the little signed football in the hospital but what was interesting was that Jonathan Gray kept coming back and again he's like this highly touted recruit um big time player and he just keeps coming back and he'll bring like a different football player every time. And he just sit there and like, talk to me and visit me in the hospital.

And in addition to that, you know, I told the cheerleading captain one day that my favorite color was light blue. And all of a sudden I'm listening to the game on the radio and the entire stands is like wearing white blue and everybody's like wear light blue for Leah and I'm getting pictures all day of like the pep rally and so there was that was like really neat is that you know they were just honoring me and like remembering me and making me like like making me aware that you know they cared and that um they would always be there for me. And, um, so there was just like various acts of kindness by the football team. And then in

addition to that, I was, you know, tuning into every game. So I was obsessed, right? Like I'm listening to it on the radio and the hospital and I'm like screaming and all my nurses are telling me to shut up. And, um, you know, even my grandma, I got her into it, you know, like we were, we were gun ho. And, um, what was interesting was that year I got, you know, I find, I got released from my first round of chemo just in time for the state championship. And, um, someone had told the Dallas Cowboys about me and some box seat owner was like, why don't you put Leah in the box seats? Cause I had to be isolated. I had to wear a mask. You know, I couldn't be around people. Cause my immune system was low. They're like, why don't you put Leah in the box

seats? And like, we'll just give her the whole like box seat service and everything like food service and everything. And so I got to sit like in a box seat at AT&T stadium and watch my high school team win if win a high school football championship and so um and this whole time I'm keeping a blog that's you know supposed to be about my health but really it's just like an in-depth analysis of the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Bulls, and the Michigan Wolverines right so I'm really just like telling people about football and eventually, I'm sorry, this is a long winded story. This is amazing. No, keep going. But eventually I get a call from sports illustrated from a guy named Ben Glicksman. He's now at the ringer. And he said, Hey, like I heard that Jonathan gray has been visiting you

in the hospital. And I want to know if that's true. Right. And I said, yeah, it's very much true. And so, you know, I talked to him on the phone for an hour and I just told my mom, I was like, I don't know why he cares about my story so much. He's really just writing about Jonathan Gray. Right. And he writes this beautiful long story about, you know, how Jonathan had said in a post game interview that I was his inspiration on the field and you know, who I am and what I'm going through. And so I was written about in sports illustrated, which was the coolest thing ever, you know, and it was si.com, but you know, it was still very, very cool to me. Still awesome.

That was kind of the moment where, you know, I'd been blogging about all my favorite teams and then I got written about of the moment where, you know, I'd been blogging about all my favorite teams and then I got written about, I was like, you know, I kind of want to be a sports journalist. And, you know, I told my mom and at first she said, well, Leah, you're going to end up a bartender. And, you know, this is just not a very promising path, you know? And so I went to school as a pre-med major, right. I was, I majored in biology and I, I saw that through, through organic chemistry, through biochemistry. I got, you know, all the way to the second semester of my junior year. And I just, I was talking to my brother.

I was like, you know, I'm more driven to write for the school paper, which is what I was doing at the time, which I was like a very minute role. I was a blogger and then I've got to like the track and field beat, which again, not very popular, but nonetheless has full of Olympic athletes. And, um, I was like, you know, I just really love writing for the paper and I don't want to join any of the pre-med clubs because everybody sucks. And, you know, I don't want to volunteer at a hospital when I literally spent a lifetime in my, in the hospital, you know? And he goes, I don't know why you're messing around with this pre-med thing.

And he's like, I'll tell mom, but you go, you go for your dream. Right. And so that's kind of what ended up happening is I did. And I had, you know, I went and sought out a journalism professor who was quoted in the column that came out in the Gazette this week. And his name is Kevin Robbins. And I just said, hey, I want to take your advanced sports reporting class. I don't know anything about sports reporting other than what I've been doing for the paper. So I got a couple of things published from that class in the fall of my senior year. He's like time to apply to internships and none of the internships will

accept you without experience. So I was like, I'll just go for a full-time job. Right. So I applied across the country. I was willing to go anywhere and that anywhere was North Iowa. And so that was in Mason city. And I just, you know, right. I think it was like two or three weeks after graduating, I packed up my things and I just got a U-Haul and headed North. That is a, that is an amazing story. I'm trying to collect my thoughts as you kind of went through that. A couple of things I want to really long and I apologize. No, that was, that was fantastic.

When I say collect my thoughts are just so many things I want to say to that. I think, I think first start off with what you touched on with, you know, Jonathan Gray and visiting you at the hospital and being that inspiration and, um, and the meshing of life and sports, I think is what makes sports so amazing and why people can be so passionate about sports because it doesn't just start and stop with sports. It goes so far beyond that. My wife oftentimes will look at me after an Iowa game, they lose like, why are you care so much? I'm like, I don't understand how to explain it to you, but this is a big deal to me. And I'm very upset right now. I understand you want me to be happy, but, and you understand it's just a game, but to me, it's not just a game. And to a lot of people, it's not just a game. So I think that is, um, an incredible story,

kind of just highlighting how sports can help people throughout life. And then obviously your journey is phenomenal. Um, the fact that not only you are a cancer survivor with the support of your entire high school, right, and then deciding to pursue your dream, which is something that people weren't necessarily giving you all the, it sounds like, the gusto to go do, right? And then now here you are, and you're going to be writing for the Cedar Rapids Gazette covering Iowa Hawkeye football, which is pretty amazing. Getting to the Mason City piece though, was there anything, I mean, was the, have you ever been to Iowa first? Let me start that. Have you ever been to Iowa prior to going to the Mason City job? No. All right. So what was maybe the biggest culture shock or the biggest, wow, I'm in Iowa moment for you. All right. One more pause before we finish off our conversation with Leah.

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Subscribe wherever you get your podcast at. And let's get back into our conversation with Leah and finish it off with this segment number three of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Oh man, there are many things, but I think winter the first like winter experience was a big culture shock for me so I bet it was funny because um you know I was like a member of a CrossFit gym there and you know some of the members of the CrossFit gym put together like a winter you know care package for me which it was super sweet. They got me like mittens and ice scraper and like a brush for brush the snow off and the shovel. And yeah, that was another thing is like

the Iowa hospitality is absurd. Like, I mean, I just, I mean, I come from Texas and we think we're nice. Right. I mean, we're tough, but we're nice. But Iowa nice is like a whole new level. And, you know, I was invited to two weddings within like four months of living there. make friends. And it was funny how, you know, I did come from this place where prep sports was king on a very large scale, but even in Iowa, even like the smallest schools just really, really loved their paper. And I thought it was amazing. Like how many people really engaged with the stories that I wrote and knew who I was. I'd go to the grocery store and they'd be like, oh, Hey Leah, I follow you on Twitter. And I was like, what is happening? I know I'm in a small town, but like, this is just crazy. So yeah, I think, I think the Iowa nice culture in the, uh, the winter were the most, um, biggest culture shocks for me. Yeah. That winter can be pretty brutal initially. And I understand

the, the Iowa high school sport scene. I mean, obviously I went to, I was, I'm from Iowa. I played high school sports, our news, our high school newspaper reporters, you know, those were, those were big guys. I mean, if you were getting interviewed from them and I, you know, I went to a small, it was a four a school, but a small school. But it was a big deal to get interviewed by a reporter and you always followed everything they're writing.

I still follow the guy today. Shout out to Troy Hyde. He's a fantastic guy. Yeah, no, I totally get that. And so interestingly enough, you have this brutal winter in Mason city and then you go to Steamboat, Colorado. So I live in Colorado. I live in Denver now. I'm very familiar with Steamboat, my favorite place to ski and snowboard in Colorado and probably America. But what was that experience like going to Steamboat and how did you end up there? Yeah, so I have a family friend at the Vale daily.

And when the job in Steamboat opened up, he sent me a message and he was like, hey, this job opened up. I know how much you love skiing and you would probably enjoy living in a ski town. So why don't you apply? And I got the job and it was kind of, it was kind of weird. Cause I was just going on my one year anniversary with the cloak is that, and you know, of course I took it because it's in a ski town

and it'd be so fun. And at, in like, at the time I was kind of running the sports section by myself because of, you know, things that were out of my control. And so I was, you know, I was kind of like, okay, you know, this is a really exciting opportunity. I probably should take it. And so, yeah, I went to Steamboat Springs. I was there for a year. Um, and I was a sports editor there. So I was in charge of the entire section and I also was a photographer and I really did not know how to take sports photos and just kind of learned on the job. Um, but it was definitely a very different experience. It was very cool to live in a ski town and, you know, go skiing in the morning and then

go work for the paper in the afternoon. Right. Um, and then there were some assignments where I really, I had to put on my skis and get on the mountain and go take photos of Alpine skiers. And, you know, you get to cover not just high school sports, but you also get to cover winter, like the future winter Olympians of America and, or other countries. And then you also get to cover the current Olympians. And then you also get to cover these outdoor adventurous or like I covered an ultra marathon. I covered a triathlon. Um, you know, it was, is very unique in that sense. Yeah. Quite a, quite a wide breadth of experience from a sporting world. You probably think going into sports media, you're thinking football, basketball, baseball, you get to Steamboat Springs, and it's almost anything but those sports, especially Steamboat being such an amazing community. And then you go to Northwestern, you're there for a couple of years doing grad school, and now you're here at Cedar Rapids Gazette. So let me ask you this

then. So what is kind of your vision with this job and what drew you to taking this job? Obviously, you're placing the Mark Morehouse, a fantastic writer for the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Yeah. So, I mean, I think ever since I started this journey, I would look at college football every Saturday and think I want to be there, you know, and people ask me, how could you leave Steamboat Springs, Colorado to like, how, why would you leave that job? Who is crazy enough to leave that job? Well, you know, I would still watch college football on Saturdays and, or like, you know, try to catch a game or two if I wasn't covering a ski thing. And I would sit there and I'd just be like, you know, I just,

I'm just not going to be happy until I'm covering college football. I'm just not, because this is what I came here. This is what I started this journey for. And this is the game I love. And I can't think of a place that I'd rather be than a football field every Saturday. And I think every, you know, I, I spent a year at grad school and, you know, I think they all told us since, you know, I graduated a pandemic, you know, you got to be willing to take news jobs know, you got to be willing to take news jobs. You've got to be willing to take, you know, kind of a wide range of jobs. It may not be what you want to do.

And I was like, OK, so I did apply to some of those jobs. I did make it to a couple of interview rounds, but I knew that's not where my heart was. And I think when you get to the final round and you don't get the job, there's a reason, right? And I saw, I think this was the only like football job really that I saw kind of come across the job boards. And I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. Of course it's in Iowa, right? Like, of course this could not be more perfect for me. Right. Um, I was like, I know people at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, you know, and I know, I know what I was like, and I know how much they love the Hawkeyes. And, um, it was funny. I still haven't been to a game at Kinnick, which that will change. Um, so, I mean, I just, I applied

and I, I mean, I felt like it was the easiest cover letter I've ever written in my life, you know, because I just, I just knew what to say. I just knew that I wanted this job. And, um, you know, I, I was still in the process of like, you know, kind of interviewing for a bunch of different jobs. And, um, the interview process with the Cedar Rapids Gazette took a very long time. Um, they were very particular and they were like, you know, here's, you know, we really want to make sure we get it right, which I did appreciate, you know? And I just remember I would sit again, I was sitting on the couch every Saturday and I was watching college football games. And I honestly, I had, I had like the worst time watching college football this year. And not only because players were playing in the midst of a pandemic, but also because I just sat there every Saturday, like ready to cry because I wasn't there.

I wasn't covering it. You know, it's what I wanted to do is what I went to grad school to do. And I was like, well, what the heck did I go to grad school for if I'm not there this Saturday? You know, if I'm not covering any of this and it was really it's really been a hard time. it's really been a hard time and so I saw this job you know and the final round of the interview process was like this very lengthy interview and basically me outlining you know what my plan would be on how to cover Iowa football and I think I spent like a total of 30 hours preparing for this interview you know watch the Iowa Illinois game and charted every single play and then I I came up with all the stories that I would write afterwards and then in the week leading up to the Wisconsin game and I came up

with what I'd write about in the offseason and so um ultimately I think that's what they liked was my plan and um you know I guess I can't reveal too much because I don't know which you know I don't know what they're gonna let me do I don't know what they're going to let me do. I don't know what they're going to want me to do. And obviously like there are other people in the sports staff I need to collaborate with. And I want to make sure that they're on board with how we're going to kind of change things up. But I really want to give this beat by more multimedia and inviting personal feel. Right. So, you know, whether that's through like newsletters or, you know, podcasts, whatnot, I don't know. But I mean, that's part of my vision is like also creating some more interactive graphics and stuff and really vamping up that recruiting

coverage, making it more exciting. And, you know, also I am a kind of person where I do, I do like the human interest stories. And I feel like I'm the kind of person where that's the thing that people can open up to me with. And that's something that I personally had experience with. And so I can really kind of get to the heart of people's passions. And so that's what I envision for this beat is to make it more multimedia and to also give people what they need you know their basic x's and o's and stuff like maybe a film room situation but also like you know telling some of those stories that are beyond the field and I know that Iowa certainly has a plethora of them that might be untapped. Yeah. Two things that, A, I love how the stars aligned, you know, your passion to what you

wanted to do. You waited, you found the opportunity and it's an amazing opportunity. So I love that. B, what you have envisioned, you know, and obviously you can only tell me so much. I totally understand that, but I'm really excited to see what you can do with the Cedar Rapids Gazette. It's going to be a lot of fun. You're absolutely right. There is a ton of untapped stories. I feel like, especially with especially Iowa and the fact that there's so many players that are unheralded coming out of high school or are so famous within, you know, the Iowa Hawkeye community, but are doing other things outside of it. I think it's going to be a really cool opportunity and an avenue to explore outside of just, as you said,

the X's and O's and the game breakdowns and whatnot. So I'm really excited to see that. That is going to be phenomenal stuff. Leah, what is, if you had to take one other thing, like what is the one thing you're most excited about though, for covering Iowa football? Oh, I'm excited to go to the games. I'm excited to cross off all these different Big Ten stadiums. I think that's going to be thrilling,

and I'm hoping that maybe we get this virus under control and we're able to have fans again so I can have that full experience, that full visual of like what it's like to be at these places. And if not this year, maybe, you know, the upcoming year, like 2022, you know? But yeah, I think it was funny, not funny, but I had a friend who actually recently passed away and he, he asked me a couple of days before and he said, Hey Leah, like if you could

live anywhere in the world, where would you be? And I said, anywhere where I can stand on a football field every day. So I'm excited for that. That's amazing. Yeah. I don't know if funny is the right, the right word there, but very coincidental. You said funny. And I was like, you know, naturally you start smiling and I heard that. I was like, all right, but it is a very coincidental. You said funny. And I was like, you know, naturally you start smiling. And I heard that. I was like, all right, but it is a very cool story. Nonetheless that, you know, you just wanted to be in this spot. And I think your passion is so obvious and evident, and that's going to take you so far. And we're,

I think the Iowa Hawkeye community I speak for, for all of us, but we're really excited to see the work you do. And as you cover the Iowa football beat is going to be a lot of, a lot of fun stuff, especially right now we have, um, recruiting is almost wrapped up for this year, but recruiting never ends in Iowa Hawkeye community. We have the NFL draft and Iowa has a ton of guys that are going to be, you know, going to the draft. And then next year is going to be, I'm pretty excited for next year. I think if we can get some growth from Spencer Petras, it is going to be a fantastic year. Leah Van, where can people find you at though? They're,

they're excited for your content. You're starting the 11th, I believe. Where can they find you from now until then? And then after that, My Twitter is at L van underscore sports and it's van is like a mini van, but with two ends. So I already have a ton of new followers, so it's really exciting. Also like kind of nerve wracking. Yeah. I mean, I'm a Twitter girl, so just follow me on there. My other social media is like kind of private.

So I'd prefer that, you know, only people that know me personally follow me on Instagram and Facebook. So, um, don't take offense to that. If I reject. Good, good to know. I love it. Well, Leah, it was a pleasure having you on very excited to see the stuff you put out there. Um, have a fantastic day and we'll talk to you later. Awesome. Thank you,

Andrew. All right, y'all. And that will do it for our show today. I hope you enjoyed getting to know the newest member of Hawkeye Media and the soon-to-be beat reporter covering the Iowa Hawkeyes on the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Leah Vann. Make sure to follow her at LVann underscore sports. That's L-V-A-N-N underscore sports on Twitter. She does a phenomenal job of not just covering the sports side of it, but everything that encompasses the sports side of it. I hope you really enjoyed, though, getting to know her, getting to understand her background and her story, which is remarkable to say the least. Really excited to have her as an addition in the Hawkeye media world. And she's going to be doing a phenomenal job covering our Iowa Hawkeyes every single day.

So make sure to give Leah a follow, LVAN underscore sports. And check out her work as she joins the Cedar Rapids Gazette at the beginning of next week. Stay tuned, y'all, for our next show on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. We'll be back tomorrow with Matt Vandenberg joining the show, talking about this Iowa Hawkeye football season in review. And that will do it for our show. If you loved the episode, though, give us that five-star review. Subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast app

and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Hawkeye Nation, have a fantastic Tuesday. And let's go Hawks.