Fascinating pod. So many things I want to know more about:

1. 46% year over year growth! That's crazy for an entire industry that is already well-established. Is that just the impact of NIL bringing new money into the industry?

2. Rutgers. The Big 10 didn't bring Rutgers in so that they could get "all the Rutgers" fans to watch Big 10 TV. It was so that they could get the fans of all their other teams who live in the New York area to watch when they play Rutgers (and others).

3. Equity Partners. I'm still unclear on what someone gets when they buy 10% of a program or conference. Do they simply get 10% of future revenue? Or 10% of just future profits? Are they "silent partners," or do they get some sort of controlling influence, such as related to consolidation of marketing?

4. Debt Load. Was debt load factored into valuation? Everything else being equal, a school with massive debt is worth much less than a school with no debt.

After one of the worst weeks in recent memory of Cyclone basketball, where do both teams go from here?

Andrew Harrington gives his opinion in this week's Monday Musings.
https://cyclonefanatic.com/2026/01/monday-musings-a-brutal-week-of-cyclone-basketball/

Iowa State returns to Hilton Coliseum Tuesday night riding a two-game losing streak.

Watch everything T.J. Otzelberger, Nate Heise and Dominykas Pleta said ahead of the matchup with UCF.
https://cyclonefanatic.com/2026/01/...r-nate-heise-and-dom-pleta-said-ahead-of-ucf/

On3 has Penn State at 14, Iowa at 21. Highest Big 12 is Texas Tech at 7, also BYU at 13, Utah at 16, Houston at 22 and Arizona at 25 for the Fall 2026 preseason poll.



Thought: Does that mean if Campbell hadn't left ISU (and took all those players), Iowa State would have been around #14?

Having a farming background and my love for Trees, I have combined the two for my next venture. Technically not garden, but rather Orchard, I decided to try to grow peach trees from seeds. After doing some research and watching some YouTube videos, and subsequently failing, I tweaked the method and tried my own. Early September of last year I cracked some pits to retrieve the seeds. After visually sorting them, I packed them in some moistened cedar shavings (with the idea that they have some natural bacterial/fungal resistance), put them in the back of the refrigerator in a sealed mayonnaise jar. This was an attempt to replicate the chilling hours (cold stratification) required for germination. A few days ago they started to sprout and my method turned out to be successful as 29 of 31 sprouted. I spent the morning potting them up and we’ll see what happens from here!

A+

Not as good as 28 Days Later. But better than the last 28 Years Later. The social commentary these movies focus on is something else. We all loved it.

Chris Williams & Brent Blum discuss Iowa State’s two-game losing skid. What seems to be the issue, and how can Iowa State fix it? A fresh look at the Big 12 standings. Jimmy Rogers picked up a nice piece to its secondary on Sunday. Finally, the women’s program is spiraling after losing five and a row. Analysis on all of that and more, courtesy of Mechdyne.

Iowa State got a late commitment to its 2026 transfer portal class in Montana safety Micah Harper. Read all about Harper below!

I don't think a loss to OSU surprised anyone. But I truly thought it would be of the 15-18 point variety. This was a three point hail storm.

I can't use this site anymore. Literally anytime I get on the message boards, after about 10 seconds, an entire page sized popup blends in with the website page. Anything I click on goes to the pop up ad site. I'm done.

CF Postgame: Chelsea Poppens and Lea Nelson react to Iowa State's fifth-straight loss. Courtesy of Karl Auto Group. https://cyclonefanatic.com/podcasts/cf-postgame-no-19-iowa-state-gets-blown-out-at-oklahoma-state/

Billboard released an article detailing the tracking Luminate (the tracking company Billboard uses to create all their charts) did for the entirety of 2025. I'll post a link to the whole thing but will copy a few bullet points as well.

• Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl was Luminate’s top album of 2025 in the U.S. It’s the fourth time Swift has captured Luminate’s year-end No. 1 album, and her second-consecutive title. She also had the year-end No. 1 album in 2024 with The Tortured Poets Department, in 2014 with 1989 and in 2009 with Fearless.
• For the first time since Luminate began tabulating the year’s top albums by equivalent album units in 2014, two albums exceeded 5 million units earned in a calendar year: The Life of a Showgirl (5.607 million) and Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem (5.125 million).
• On-demand audio streams drove 85% of all U.S. audio album consumption in 2025. Pure album sales (purchases of physical and digital download albums) totaled 14% of consumption and track sales accounted for 1%.
• Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” was the most-streamed song in the U.S. in 2025 by on-demand audio streams: 746.2 million.
• U.S. vinyl album sales increased for the 19th consecutive year, growing by 8.6% in to 47.9 million copies sold in 2025. (I found this stat particularly fascinating: 19 years of growth.)

CBS Sunday Morning did a feature on him today (video below). 1996 Iowa State Graduate in Urban Planning and Ceramics. The feature says he has invested more than $100 million in property in his Chicago neighborhood (he says a few BLOCKS worth).

Wonder if he has any interest in NIL?

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Iowa State (14-4, 2-4 Big 12) at Oklahoma State (15-4, 4-2 Big 12)

Gallagher-Iba Arena – Stillwater, Okla.

Sunday, January 18, 2026 – 12:00 p.m. CT

WATCH: FOX (PxP: Connor Onion, Analyst: Madison Hock)

LISTEN: Cyclone Radio Network (PxP: Noah Wolf, Analyst: Jamie Steyer Johnson)

LIVE STATS

Hey guys. I put this tweet out today about some of tomorrows entries:

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Jake Brend and Chris Williams react to No. 2 Iowa State losing to Cincinnati, courtesy of Karl Auto Group.

Just polling everyone's opinion

The slow starts are now an identity of this team. We need to do something to try and change this. Buchanan hasn't been good in conference play, do we try small ball and put Jefferson at the 5? Maybe try starting Batemon over Toure for a little offense? This team will be an early exit in the tournament if this doesn't change.

Gone is the best chance in two and a half decades to win a conference title... Gone is a 1 seed...

Seems to be an annual thing with the current system... Adding the tweet from Hammer that proves my suspension

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Looks like Nebraska is giving up on men’s football.

Chances will be high for the women’s flag football program.

vs




#2 IOWA STATE (16-1, 3-1 BIG 12)
Cincinnati (9-8, 1-3 BIG 12)
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17TH 1:00 P.M. CST
Fifth Third Arena / Cincinnati, OH


TV: Peacock / NBC sports network
Talent: Eric Rothman, pxp Brendan Haywood, analyst

Radio: Cyclone Radio Network (Varsity Network)
CRN Talent: John Walters (pxp); Eric Heft (analyst)

Here’s a vlog from an Iowa state fun, enjoy

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Jacqueline Cordova and Ben Visser return from their hiatus to reflect on the first half of the season for the Cyclones. Who has been the most impressive? Laying down expectations for March and more. Presented by Fareway Meat & Grocery.

Enjoy!