Women's softball is off to a great start. Just won a game this afternoon against Villanova 4-3. Looks like Villanova had runners on 2nd and 3rd in the final inning with one out. Freshman pitcher Jasso struck out two batters in a row to end the game. Had to be exciting for our team. Good to see an ISU program on the upswing. Well done, ladies!

Too lazy to look up, but does anyone know if there are any Cyclones on any XFL teams?

The CF consensus pick has moved to a very impressive 9-3 so far in conference play, we got a tight one for tomorrow.

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I don't mind too much the videos in the forum discussion pages, but the resulting pop-outs annoy me terribly. How do I disable the video pop-outs from appearing as I scroll past the videos?

The stuck bolt thread got me thinking about repairs or projects I've attempted that have ended up in worse shape due to ability or loss of temper.

Last year, I was doing some landscaping. I was scoring and chiseling some pavers for a decorative path. I was struggling with one unique cut, mis-cutting it twice. On the third attempt, the paver split, I mashed my finger and it set me off. I ended up cursing and throwing the paver to the side.... right into a flower pot stand, knocking it over and smashing one of the pots.

What "repairs" have you made worse?

I think I would be selling my house and everything in it.

Audio Commentary - NSFW

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Good morning! What are the worst love songs of all time? I've got several...

"More Than Words" by Extreme - Nothing says romance like singing, "Right, saying you love me is nowhere near enough, put out."

"Angel" by Shaggy - It's catchy, but "shorty, you're my angel" makes me laugh every single time.

"My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion - it's just so awful.

"Picture" by Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock - I can't stand either of them separately, but this duet is just SO trashy.

Who needs a significant other anyway!? Am I right?!

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WR Jaylin Noel, offer 6/8/19, visits 9/1/18; 6/8/19; 9/14/19; 2/1/20.

https://longhornswire.usatoday.com/...s-kai-jones-and-jase-febres-to-miss-isu-game/

If Jericho Sims is really out I could see Solo or Conditt going off. With their other injuries these teams could actually be evenly matched.

I would like to get this established now. Where Steve Prohm is concerned, we have a tendency to "define mediocrity downwards". By that I mean, if 8 years ago I would have told the Cyclone fan base that we would have a coach who would have a 13-win season and a 10-win season and still be retained, they would have been absolutely shocked. Yet now that it has actually happened, many are actually in favor of the retention.

I would like to know what the floor is for next season. If we wait until next season to define it, I think it will get lowered and lowered and lowered to the point where there is virtually no floor at all, for the sake of retaining him no matter what.

Man I can't stand DeSouza. As usual he probably get suspended from 1 practice if the NCAA has anything to do with this.

https://es.pn/2TKX65S via @ESPN App http://espn.com/app

Hey CF... need your help. Have a long bolt I'm trying to remove, probably about 5" long or so. It runs through the mount shown in the picture and caps off with a nut on the other end.

I have the nut removed, the bolt spins (with a lot of force) but is wedged into that mount so good I can't get it out. Unfortunately, the end of the bolt is not in a spot that is easily accessible to use a punch and hammer, unless the punch is something like 2 feet long. I've managed to get it about 3/4" out using a long punch so far but I don't have the angle to continue pushing it down in the mount. I believe the bolt is slightly bent due to circumstances leading to its removal. There is full access to the bolt hex head.

How would you remove it? I'm thinking to heat the mount with a torch and using a slide hammer for my next try. What say you?

Using Title IX is an intriguing application of the law for equality in competition events.

",,,The suit was filed against the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and the boards of education in Bloomfield, Cromwell, Glastonbury, Canton and Danbury, the Associated Press reports. It argues that the policy "directly violates the requirements of Title IX," a federal regulation designed to protect equal educational opportunities for women and girls.,,"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/connec...-transgender-athletes-competing-girls-sports/

Wrote a column on tonight's win over the Longhorns, which will help Iowa State's seeding in both Kansas City and the NCAA's:

https://cyclonefanatic.com/2020/02/ferguson-win-over-texas-will-pay-major-dividends-for-cyclones/

Just like in football, if a team struggles in basketball, some assistants get the boot. After this year, who is safe and what assistant coaches may be let go?

I got off work last night, and the wife wanted pizza. I ordered it from my Little Caesar's App and walked out to the car to drive over. It's not far from where I work, so 3 minutes later I'm parked in front of Little Caesar's. The place is walk in only, and I've still got 15-20ish minutes to wait, so rather than stand inside awkwardly, I stay in my warm car, leaving the engine on, cuz it's cold why wouldn't I?

At this point in time, everything is fine. I pull out my phone, do some bs'ing on CF, check my Action App, make a few bets on my William Hill app etc all of a sudden, 20 minutes is up. I take my eyes off the screen for the first time in 20 minutes and discover that my dash is lit up like a Christmas tree. Check engine light and ABS lights were on, and a few others (should've grabbed a picture). I immediately shut my car off, went inside and grabbed my pizza, hoping that all would be well when I got back in the car. Maybe it was a daydream or something.

I get back to my car, and lo and behold all the lights were off....EXCEPT...the check engine light. Took it to Auto Zone and had them run a diagnostic on it, and they mentioned the only thing that came back on their little report was something about a brake light switch sensor. They couldn't tell me much else, but said it should be fine and reset my check engine light so that it is now turned off.

Internally, I'm still freaking out. Any car geeks out there have any advice for me?

Dennis Dodd of CBS, has a good article about what the Mel Tucker to MSU hire tells us about college football.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...colorado-to-recruiting-the-pac-12-and-beyond/

He makes several good points, but the best in my opinion is about how there is so much gnashing of teeth when suggestions are made to allow college athletes more freedom to change schools or make money, because of the "imbalance" that it would supposedly create between teams, and how ludicrous that argument is considering the massive degree of imbalance that already exists.
It seems like a no brainier to me, and yet so many will ignore/excuse that the imbalance exists while making their argument against the players.

Tucker's own quote from the article, with it's blatant hypocrisy, is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
"There is no transfer portal in the real world"
What? How do you figure? I would guess a majority of us on this board enjoy "unfettered free agency" in our careers. I could walk out of my job right now and go join another company. Some of us might have non-compete agreements, but to say that a transfer portal doesn't exist in the real world is ridiculous. It's called LinkedIn or Glassdoor or Indeed.

It's either ignorant or deliberately false for him to say something like that, and becomes massively hypocritical given what has transpired.

Can whatever imbalance people are afraid of happening really be all that different than what we have now?

Typically the lineup gets announced the first week of February, so the 2020 edition should be out soon. Got any predictions/wish lists of who might play this year?

- There are no tour dates listed for Alabama Shakes but I'd settle for just Brittany Howard in support of her solo album.
- Neil Young - Sam Summers' white whale
- Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
- Black Keys - dream big!
- Blind Pilot
- Leon Bridges
-Mipso
-Wild Rivers
- Birds of Chicago
- Michael Kiwanuka
- Peter Mulvey

I'd also be pretty happy for some alums to come back through - Gary Clark Jr or Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats would both be excellent headliners. And after the show St. Paul and the Broken Bones put on last year they ought to have a standing invitation.

CF consensus pick record: 8-3

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Ottertail Lake--West Central MN
Leaving in a Week (1/20).

Anyone been up that way to give any reports on fishing, or ice conditions, or recommendations on lures and bait and whatnot.

Past years we simply drive trucks to the heated shacks.
Fish mainly with minnows and jigging spoons.
Mostly Perch, with a few Walters and Pike mixed in.

With this years warm weather, we are hoping we can drive on the ice, and that perm shacks are available.
Food/restaurant recommendations too, thanks.

I tweeted this video of Dresser from a few weeks ago. I think it’s funny cause he’s just being Dresser.

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I spoke about it on Title IX POD. they had me on to talk about how I got to CF, wrestling and fun little tid bits. Go check it out.
https://cyclonefanatic.com/podcasts/title-ix-episode-13/