doesn't have a freaking clue nor care about ISU athletics? So I'm living in Washington DC right now, and I run into this guy in the apartment building last night who was an Ames native and graduated ISU 2 years ago. He saw my I-State sweatshirt and started up the conversation. He asked if I ever get back to Ames and I indicated that I was back over the holidays and caught the incredibly frustrating SDSU game... his response was "oh, they always lose" which sounded like a generalization of all ISU sports. I made a couple other sports references and he looked at me like I was talking in Farsi. My girlfriend (who is a Badger) even brought up the Elite 8 women's b-ball and v-ball teams, and the guy was on another planet. Now I realize sports aren't everyone's cup of tea and people have different interests.... but c'mon! dude was an Ames native. You can't not at least know remotely whats going on in a small town like Ames where they Clones are THE team. It made me contemplate how many passive, disinterested ISU alum are actually out there? I started to think that it's no wonder ISU has had sporadic support for athletics over the years. Don't get me wrong, there is a very loyal, hardcore group of fans for ISU, but what is that percentage of alums who never gave a hoot for ISU before, during, and after there time in Ames? were these people victims of the 80s era hayden fry-eiu football indoctrination happening the state? were they just eternal pessimists? Perhaps these were the people Pollard was talking about when he talked about expanding the fan base.
