HOW A FRANCHISE IS BORN
On September 29, 2026, during a Senate hearing, Senator Eric Schmitt tried to corner former special counsel Jack Smith over supposedly attending an Atlanta Hawks game in Atlanta. There was just one problem: Smith had actually attended the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball game β in College Park, Maryland. Wrong birds. Wrong city.
Enter Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who used her questioning time to do what the world's most expensive fact-checking department couldn't: she made them put the poster back up, confirmed Iowa beat Maryland 93-85 in College Park on February 3, 2024 β Caitlin Clark dropped 38 β and told Schmitt he owed Smith an apology. He refused. The moment went viral anyway.
AP, The Washington Post, and Forbes all covered the Hawks/Hawkeyes mix-up. And somewhere in the confusion, a franchise was born: a team from Atlanta that plays in College Park, roots for the Hawks, flies with the Hawkeyes, and has been undefeated since yesterday.
Atlanta • Iowa • Maryland • It's complicated.












