the jack

Starting soon, like probably today, they will be getting construction crews out to The Jack to begin phase one of the Facility Master Plan. I can't wait until this "Phase I" is over, then we can move on to bowling in the south end zone, aptly titled Phase II.

They are upping the donation level for my seats next year though. It will be my eleventh season with season tickets, 6th in a row with the exact same seat (5-student section). I don't plan on giving it up so I will be donating more money, it's my duty or something.

If I didn't have buddies sitting all around me, I would think about heading to a better seat. Mainly because I embarrassed myself a couple times this year. Let's just say that the beer flowed like wine.

It's a good thing that most of the people around me change year after year. Maybe I'll get lucky and won't recognize too many people next year...

Here is some info on Phase I, (from isu):


Jack Trice Stadium - Phase I

The first part of the renovation to Jack Trice Stadium includes creation of 22 new suites and the expansion of two existing suites on the west side of the stadium – including the installation of operable windows in all of the current suites – widening the west side concourse and increasing the number of restrooms and concession stands, creating new and improved disabled seating sections on the west side and completely overhauling the club section on the east side. Funding of the project will come completely from the sale of stadium suites, club seats, increased ticket revenues and fund raising.

ksu is coming to town

Well, harvest is winding down so I can start posting some crap up here for... well basically my own enjoyment.

This weekend, K State is coming to town, and they bring their 5-3 record against our sweet 1-8 record. Their big win came against Texas. We don't really have a big win, we just have a win, and it was against a not very impressive iowa team. Just think if all of our games were played against teams of Iowa's caliber. (Not that there are that many teams in that realm) We could be looking at a possibility of a January bowl game!!! But no, we play in the Big 12.

As for the clones, we have been looking better lately. We came up short against Oklahoma two weeks ago, and our team pissed me off royally last week, shooting our selves multiple times in the foot at the start of the second half against Missouri.

On to Kansas State, they are looking good and people are not expecting much out of our clones Saturday. Their QB (Josh Freeman) could be the next Daunte Culpepper according to Chizik. (Not that that is a good thing) Also, I heard a radio jockey say something about how Ames is going to be wowed by this Freeman kid, and our defense will too, blah blah blah. I'm not quoting it word for word, but you get it -- some stupid thing to get people to call in or write his show, I won't bite. (Jon Miller)

I am sure this QB is good. He was a highly touted Nebraska recruit that royally f***ed them over and re-nigged to KSU. (I don't hold that against him, that is actually kind of funny)

I guess I can sit here (not knowing much about him) and state that I dislike Josh Freeman very much... and I will his Junior and Senior year too. It's fun to have a young rival QB to dislike! He can maybe fill the role that Brad Smith held down for so many years. Freaking Brad Smith. (While I'm thinking about it, I'm adding Chase Daniel to this list, don't like that guy either -- reason #1)

Anyways, sticking to Freeman, if Saturday goes like the experts say and he takes us to the woodshed, without hesitation I will upgrade that strong dislike to a hate. That's when college football gets really fun. Or it at least gives a one-win season a little pop and sizzle.

half and half

I am not going to talk about the ISU game. Well, maybe a little. I was at a wedding, so I didn't follow it too closely, except for calls from friends. From what I understand, we had the lead, and gave it away. Nothing like a bad snap on a punt that gets recovered by them in the end zone to lose the lead. Then getting your game winning field goal blocked. Special teams wins a game for us at home, and loses it for us on the road a week later. Great.

Maybe somebody who actually listened to the ISU game can fill me in on here about what happened. I refuse to listen to local radio, read local news, or watch local TV until this blows over. So far so good.

The Chiefs pulled out a win at home yesterday against the Vikings. Looks like we may have a #1 receiver for the first time in, like, a long time in D-Bowe.

For those that watched the Chiefs on TV, this is what they wouldn't show us when a fan ran on to the field. The KC Wolf rules, pretty hilarious.


(Thanks to Arrowhead Pride for the link)

one more ISU/IA post

I am copy/pasting a post from Paul Clark on cyclonereport.com. I am sick of hearing excuses from Iowa fans, especially the most popular one on how this game is ISU's super bowl, and how we only get up for this game, etc. etc. This should clear some things up for all of you.

This will hopefully be my last post on this game as I am looking towards more important and more difficult games in conference play.

Here it is:

... This will crush one fallacy that is prevalent with Iowa fans and - more importantly - misinformed media people, regarding the Iowa State vs. Iowa game and in particular, the wins that ISU has posted in the last decade or so.

The fallacy is that ISU somehow musters a David-like performance to slay Iowa as Goliath. And it is, pure fiction and fantasy. Let me show you.

1998 - Iowa was indeed a huge favorite coming into the game. But Iowa wasn't very good, it was just that nobody realized it yet. Both teams went 3-8 and ISU won the head-to-head game. Superhuman effort? No, just one 3-8 team beating another.

1999 - Iowa went 1-10 and was a bad 1-10. Iowa State went 4-7 and was a good 4-7. This one is easy, the much better team won. Superhuman effort? No.

2000 - Iowa went 3-8 and Iowa State went 9-3. This one is beyond easy. The much, much, much better team won. Superhuman effort? No.

2001 - Played at the end of the year, the teams came in with identical 6-4 records. Neither had done anything throughout the year to distinguish itself from the other. It was a ridiculously even match-up that ISU won by three at home. Three points, as in the standard home field advantage. Superhuman effort? No, just one 6-4 team beating another.

2002 - Based on entire seasons, yes, Iowa was the better team. At the time of the game, it wasn't so clear. ISU went 6-1 and reached #9 in the country before tanking. Iowa State was better against Fla. State, Nebraska and Texas Tech than it was against Iowa. Superhuman effort? It really wasn't, but I will concede this one only based on final records of 7-7 vs. 10-2.

2005 - Iowa was rated no. 8 and a big favorite, but it shouldn't have been. As the seasons played out, Iowa State went 7-4 and Iowa went 7-4. So the teams were pretty even and ISU won at home, with a final margin bloated by being +4 on turnovers. Superhuman effort? No, just one 7-4 team beating another.

2007 - See 1998 and 2005. We thought we knew how good these teams were based on two weeks. Could be right, could be wrong, we'll see how the respective seasons unfold.

The factual reality is: only Iowa State's win in 2002 can be considered to fit the mold of an ISU team beating an Iowa team it shouldn't beat. And in context, even that one has asterisk qualities to it. In 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005, Iowa State was AS GOOD AS or BETTER THAN Iowa. Period and no one can make an intelligent argument against that statement.

shaggy pulls through

You all know this already, but ISU beat Iowa 15-13 Saturday, on the strength of Shaggy's 5 field goals, including the game winner with :01 on the clock.

In what turned out out to be a beautiful day, ISU had a 12-0 lead at the half, and only had one turnover. Fittingly, that turnover lead to the only TD of the game for either team, as Iowa shaved the lead to 12-7.

My MVP is easily Shaggy, although I think without R.J. Sumrall, we lose this game. He kept making big 3rd catch after big 3rd down catch.

My LVP has to be the guy running the clock! No reason why we should have left one second on the clock after Shaggy's kick, which was especially evident after Iowa almost took the last kick all the way back with no time on the clock. Where's the home field advantage when we need it, you know we won't get those breaks when we are on the road!

Overall, we played extremely well in all aspects, we didn't put any TD up, but we didn't really turn the ball over. Of course, having the lead all game coupled with a motivated Shaggy may have something to do with that. We didn't take risks, we instead took care of the ball, interesting strategy huh?

I'm glad the weekend is over, after entering the tailgate "staging area" at 7:00 pm Friday night, boozing the rest of the way, then getting torn up again at People's Saturday night after a 45 minute nap, I can use a break.

big runs

Thinking back about last Thursday's loss to Kent State does me very little good. But I thought I would pass this stat along to you:

Last year: we had 4 runs of 15 or more yards in the first 10 games.

Thursday: we had 4 runs of 15 or more yards in the first half.

Last year our line could have been considered "veteran" with a senior tailback running the ball. This year our line is "young" and our tailback is a JUCO transfer.

That stat my friends is a sign of improvement even as we lose experience. Of course, KSU adjusted and did a much better job of containing our running game in the second half. Either way, I love to see stats like that!!

So far this season I can say that I am a fan of J.J. Bass. I will admit this though: I liked Stevie Hicks.

I feel like I was pressured into that by my wife though, who likes the fact his name sounds like Stevie Nicks.

choices choices

Well, here they are, the three helmet choices (click to enlarge):

I am not ready to make a decision just yet. I like the cyclones one for now, but that can change.

You can go to cyclones.com and vote. They also have descriptions of why each one would be suitable. You should all go there and check em out and vote.

My gut reaction? I love em all. I can't wait to see em in person!

For those of you who don't feel like it, here are the descriptions (click to enlarge):

white helmets?

Some of you may have heard Jamie Pollard talking on 1460 on the way into work this morning. (He mentioned he was wearing a black cowboy hat and black boots, etc. etc. and showed a cow for charity at the state fair and won the showmanship award. -- interesting)

Anyways, the big thing that was mentioned was the new uniforms. He said there will be three options up on cyclones.com today. He also mentioned... get ready for it... white helmets. He also keeps talking about getting away from Red and Yellow and going to Cardinal and Gold. I like that.

I don't know what to think about the helmets just yet, but I will post again when I see the options pop up online.

the van strikes again!

Thanks to my esteemed colleague, BWalk, this link has been found on SI.com portraying our lovely van and beer pong table. With a couple of sweet BEAT IOWA shirts showing up as well.

I remember SI being there that day, and they took a lot of pics, but I don't remember actually seeing any of the pics till now. But I have burned a lot of brain cells in my day, so maybe I forgot. I wonder where I was during that pic? Probably whopping up on some Hawkeyes on a flip-cup table.

About the beer pong table, I always wonder what other people think about it. We play differently than most:

1. We have a "quarter rack" where you can put whatever you want on there to mark your spot in line to challenge the winner.
   
2. 2-man teams, alternate shots.
   
3. You have to bounce the ball at least once, and no you can't swat it with your hands.
   
4. The cups are spaced out instead of all together, making it more challenging.
   
• 6 cups, 2 beers - Standard.
  
5. There is a shot glass in the middle of the cups, full of the booze of the day.
• If you hit the shot glass - game over.
• Losing team drinks all cups and shots
6. If the ball doesn't cross half-court, your must drop-trou and walk around the table
7. A girl can show her rack to get one cup removed, but it can only be used once per game.
• I don't think it can be used to clear the last cup

The van is hopefully going to get some work done before the first game. The highest priority we have is figuring out how to re-attach or driver's seat to the floor. We also need to figure out how to get our passenger door to open from the inside. The paint is really starting to fade, but we are going to start storing it inside during the off season from here on out.

Here is the pic from SI.com:

i'm coming undone

The ISU/Iowa smack has started on our various fantasy message boards. A few hawkeye fans are hedging their bets a little on this year's rivalry game.

The word uncertainty comes up. As in, since nobody knows what Chizik is gonna do, we can blindside teams such as Iowa and narrowly escape with a victory. My aren't we lucky.

Not knowing what Chizik has in store is no doubt an advantage for our team. But if ISU has anything pointing in it's direction for this year's cy-hawk game, the inability of Captain Kirk to scout our coaches is not the most important one.

The biggest asset ISU has this year is ME.

And Josh, and Luke, and Bob, and Gleason, and Crooks and Jerry and Goodner and Trygstad and Nate and First Down Guy and everybody else who is punch drunk on cardinal and gold kool-aid not sporting the herky apparel.

I am not foolish enough to think that Iowa will really truly only have 4,000 fans attending, even if that's all they are alotted. Honestly, there is a portion of our season ticket base that are only ISU fans when we aren't playing Iowa anyways, so you know what colors those bastards will be wearing.

JP's plan has stopped wishy-washy ISU fans from buying extra tickets and selling them to Satan's minions. If they want to let a Hawkeye in, then they themselves must give up their seat. Hope it was worth it. You just sold your soul.

I have had people from back home call and ask me for tickets, because I usually know how to get them. This year, I tell them to buy a season ticket or go on ebay. That's it. Unless you start your own company, get successful enough to afford a Cyclone Tent, then get your 50 tickets or whatever that comes along with it.

So our advantage this year is going to be the hawkeyes actually feeling like visitors in Jack Trice. Now if next year we could get rid of the TRUE VERMIN, the Husker fans, we would be golden. Yep, like Hello Dave.

loyal sons forever true

ESPN.com is currently ranking the top 119 football teams for this season. So far they have numbers 101-119, 75-100, and 51-75 completed.

I will admit that when I didn't see ISU in the 75-100 mark (which was what the ESPN front page linked me to) I then clicked down to the 101-119 mark to see if we truly got shafted. Man these magazines/internet/etc media guys must be getting me bearish for thinking so low of my beloved Cyclones. I feel like I let my team down...

ANYWAYS. They had ISU at no. 66. Nothing shocking here. Same 'ol same 'ol. They did say something that I am extremely proud of though:

"To Iowa State's credit, the program does have a very loyal following. Last season, the Cyclones were one of about 15 programs in the country to average an attendance mark that was more than 100 percent of stadium capacity. (Iowa State's attendance for the season was 323,197. Its cumulative stadium capacity for the seven home dates was 320,698.)"

That's pretty awesome. And that's with the Texas and Oklahoma games on the road! You take our fan base, start rattling off a few successful seasons, pull in some good recruits and we can start kicking some serious ass!

black is whack

Well, not a whole lot of exciting things came out of the Big 12 Media Day. A lot of coach speak, plus we found out that Chizik doesn't like to lose. But there was a little bit of drama about the helmet on the table.

To the untrained eye, you may not notice a whole lot. The absolute first thing I noticed was that the facemask wasn't white! That pisses me off, I always loved the white facemask, mainly because the Chiefs have the same white bars. But not only is it not white, it looks freaking black!!

There are a few possible explanations for this travesty:

1. The picture I see is distorted, and the color is actually Navy, Seneca-style.
• They are changing back to the old colors.
• The Big 12 grabbed the wrong helmet
• ISU's helmets are under construction, so we had to grab an old one.
2. We are changing to a black facemask

If #2 is correct, I may puke right now. I don't want the inside tags of our jerseys to have black writing on them let alone have our masks be black!! If we are ever responsible for putting black and gold on an ISU player's uniform at the same time, somebody needs to lose their job.

I may boycott all black clothing from here on out to protest this if it is true. For now, I will believe it is trick photography and a grave mistake by somebody either in the Big 12, or in the ISU athletic office.

Keep it real!

14 games this year

I have a few more things to post today on ISU. If you can't tell, I am getting pumped for football. I hope to be able to watch all 14 games this season, hopefully being in person for 9 of them...

Cyclonenation.com has a free interview up with Alvin "Ace" Bowen. (link) Some very interesting things, but my take on everything is that our teams believes and expects to win every game. All I can say, is it's about time.

I heard today that Mike Taylor will definitely NOT be playing for us next year. Believe it.

OK, OK: "where did you hear it from?" This may sound stupid, but a buddy here at work has a friend who recently spent approximately four hours with Chizik and McDermott, and McDermott told him then. So no, Mac didn't tell me, but this source is supposed to be extremely reliable.

From that same conversation, Chizik was asked about this year's FB team and gave a one word answer: "Intense". I can't wait.

I am getting way too excited way too early for this year's team. I need to temper my expectations, especially with the question marks on our o-line, but I think we will surprise some people this year. Our defense will keep us close in every game.

Lastly, does anybody think that Jim Rome is a Cyclone fan? Whenever he says "Clones, listen up" my ears perk up and I pay attention. It's like he's gonna talk about how much stronger and faster Todd Blythe is this year. (Which is true)

we are isu tailgaters

I'm sure most of you have already seen this, it has been bouncing around the web for a little while, but here it is:



I don't dig the whole "We are Iowa State" thing so much, mainly because it sounds like "We are Marshall" (I never did see that movie)

I would like to make my own commercial with the exact same "sound" backing it (Chizik's little speech), only with pics of us boozing in the van, taping up (coozies to wrists), getting a pre-tailgate speech, etc. etc.

Here is the text of the commercial that we would use word for word for our commercial:

Why do we play the game? We play for our school, our fans and our teammates. We play to win. We play to improve ourselves, to make goals and strive for them. Passion. We play for the challenge. Honor. Discipline. The chance to do great things. We play because it's more than a game. We are Iowa State.

I think we can turn every one of those lines into something about tailgating. Tying it in with beer pong would be pretty easy. That would be sweet.

JP is God's gift to ballroom notoriety

Jamie Pollard. Jamie freaking Pollard! -- I have heard someone ask the question: "How does he fit his giant balls through the doors at the Jacobsen building?"

To that, I do not know. I do know that he won't back down on this ISU/IOWA game ticket thing. For those of you who haven't seen this article in the rag, Jamie is at it again.

Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy (D) tried to purchase 175 tickets for that game from the ISU ticket office. Jamie told him to buy 175 season tickets.

Billyness at it's best. But also a non-story, Jamie is just doing what he said he would do.

Either way, Murphy then went and bought 175 of IOWA's 4,000 ticket allotment. Ha freaking ha.

We've had Iowa fans claiming to buy ISU season tickets so they can go to that game, and purposely NOT SELL the rest of the tickets, so the Jack will have bald spots throughout. Those same Hawk fans have now been proven too dumb to buy their own allotment?

I know I know, those tickets go based on donor level. Either way, I don't care if we sell out Jack Trice or not come September 15th, as long as there are 4,000 or less hawkeye fans in the stadium.

For the rest of the hawk fans that think they will be able to buy tickets at the gate (seeing how they believe it won't be sold out) -- after you get rejected, come stop by the best tailgate in the country and get your ass handed to you in a little beer pong, maybe some bags, maybe some flip-cup.

eaTme

Read this post on CrossCyed. Actually, if you don't want to get pissy, then don't.

It starts off talking about Tom Dienhart from the Sporting News and the lack of respect he is giving Coach Chizik. He claims to list the best coaches in NCAA without taking program strength into consideration. I call BS, and so does this column. If you couldn't guess by my tone, he has us ranked quite a ways down there.

Then it shows a bunch of posts from aTm idiots talking about the Big 12 and how they should leave for the SEC, or how the Big 12 should get rid of a bunch of the North schools. They may make a little bit of sense, but F*** those guys!! I am following CrossCyed's lead and officially making them my most hated team from the south. FEEL MY WRATH!!!

spring game

Well, I didn't make it to the spring game this year. Instead I was 93 sheets to the wind as a groomsman in a buddy's wedding.

To give a recap from what I read on cyclones.com, it sounds like just about any other spring game. Jason Harris had an 81 yard TD run, and surprise surprise, our defense gave up an 81 yard TD run in that very same game.

That's why spring games are worthless (except for the TG8N, of course) For every good side, there's the equal and opposite negative. The good thing is that our first team was doing all of the good things, and our backups were the ones getting beat. Somehow, I feel that's how most spring games go across the country.

I haven't heard yet how the tailgate went, if anyone was there, I would love to hear about it.

My only comment is that Chizik was wearing blue, and I don't dig that near as much. Get him some Cardinal & Gold attire STAT!!

FU(K THE HAWKS!

07 will be heaven

I posted on my other/old site our 2007 ISU FB Schedule a while back. Here it is for all of the blog only peeps to see:

Sept. 01, 2007

KENT STATE AT IOWA STATE

Sept. 08, 2007

NORTHERN IOWA AT IOWA STATE

Sept. 15, 2007

AT

Sept. 22, 2007

IOWA STATE AT TOLEDO

Sept. 29, 2007

AT

Oct. 06, 2007

AT

Oct. 13, 2007

AT

Oct. 20, 2007

AT

Oct. 27, 2007

AT

Nov. 03, 2007

AT

Nov. 10, 2007

AT

Nov. 17, 2007

AT

252 lbs get bolted

I know this may be old news, but did anybody see that our new defensive coordinator, the architect of the "Dead Bolt" defense at Troy, Wayne Bolt recently lost 252 pounds!!!

It looks like Bolt had Roux-En-Y gastric bypass surgery. In that article he talks how at one time, having that weight on was beneficial to him as an athlete and how after you are done playing, you need to lose it, or it will kill you. I mean, it's not called morbid obesity for nothing. Take a look at these before and after photos.

I hope he can use this when coaching his players. Something along the lines of "if I can lose 252 pounds, you can do this". I think I'd listen to him.

Even if that strategy doesn't work, at least he still isn't 500 pounds. Not only would that be unhealthy for Wayne, but I can't imagine him being able to coach or be respected as a disciplinarian.

Kind of on-topic, but kind of not: We bought an elliptical machine and I have not even come close to using it enough. I say I will every day, but then I go home and watch ESPN and eat string cheese till it's time to eat supper.

Expanding on that thought, does anybody think these will work?

an early isu fb preview

There is an extremely early preview of your ISU cyclone football team up on the Sunday Morning Quarterback Blog. (Thanks to CrossCyed for the link.

I think it is awful early to read these kind of things, but as everybody knows, it is a slow time of year for FB. So I guess it is time for everybody to root for the Mets as they make their run at an undefeated season!! (Currently 1-0 you know)

Meanwhile, if you are too lazy to read it yourself, (you should read it, it's good), here are a couple of takes:

• I didn't realize how far we fell from 2005 to 2006, but basically we sucked BIG TIME last year.
  
• He brings up the "BS" holding call against MU. That kinda pisses me off, although he is telling the truth. I was pumped for that win, mainly because I loved Mac.
• He is skeptical about Chizik and how much change he really can make in Ames. Which I say, good -- I don't want people to see us coming, I think we will beat some GOOD TEAMS this year. (And probably lose to some shitty ones)
• He compares Meyer to Aaron Brooks -- Not sure I like this comparison, for one, I am not a fan of Aaron Brooks, and for two, he thinks Meyer is like AB because they are both good runners. I don't think either of them are.
  
• He watches Seneca's run on YouTube, then says he needs to get rid of the ball. I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic, but initially I take offense because Seneca was a God and saying otherwise is blasphemy.
  
• His final prediction, ISU finishes 6-6.
  

runnin after the rebels

Since UNLV has made the sweet sixteen, and tonight have a shot to beat Oregon and advance to the elite eight, it got me thinking about our trip to Vegas next fall.

What trip? Well in case you haven't checked next year's schedule, our football team is playing on the road at UNLV on Saturday September 20th, 2008. Now THAT'S something that deserves an internet countdown.

I cannot imagine combining sin city with the best tailgaters in the nation. It brings up a lot of questions. Do you think anybody will sleep? Will anybody be sober? Will anybody wear clothes? Will Gameday show up? Will we be coming off an undefeated season? Who's bringing the beer pong table? Can you bring a beer pong table on an airplane?

I think that we need to start thinking about this soon!! I mean, which hotel should we stay at? I don't pretend to know a lot about Vegas but I would like to think that the strip is where we want to be. We need to coordinate this and take over a casino with Cardinal and Gold flavor!!!

We will undoubtedly have to drive to the tailgate and game, unless they are hiding UNLV's stadium underneath the Luxor. If Walt Disney built Vegas, they would have.

I wish I could order my tickets now. There is one thing that sucks, freaking harvest. Oh well, you only live once. Let's hope everybody is free that weekend, and nobody is tied down. Hell -- Hawk fans can even come along, you never know, they might actually learn a thing or twenty.

I am going to Vegas on June 1st, I will start asking around, I'm sure they are already preparing the town for us. After all, it's not often a city gets lucky enough to have the best fans and the best tailgaters in it's city limits.

GO CYCLONES!!!

green is gross

This makes me sick. Mac is wearing his new colors as the Defensive Line Coach and Assistant Head Coach at the University of South Florida.

Although he looks tan, which means he's happy. If you didn't know, all tan people are happy. Or something.

Spring practice started the other day, and all reports show that Chizik will win the Big 12 North title with this team.

Seriously though, all reports from the practices so far show that both the coaches and the players seem excited to be there. Which shouldn't be a surprise, but nonetheless, good to hear.

I did hear on KXNO the other day about how Chizik is proud of everybody that made it through his rigorous off-season conditioning program. There were a few guys that couldn't handle it, from what I hear it was Navy Seal type shit. It sounds like he is preaching discipline, respect, etc. which is fine with me.

I can't wait for football season to start, I need to get one of those countdown's on here.