That's what happens when your state has tons of California transplants
K-State Podcaster Says Ames is Worst Road trip in Big 12!
- Thread starter GraniteStateClone
- Start date
Isn't this the radio guy though? He is with the travel party that does fly in/out of MHK as it is large enough to handle commercial jets. It is hit or miss if you can even use AMW for basketball depending on weather and what size plane you use.
He runs Go Powercat.com. He literally said he likes ISU fans and Ames is fine... just that he's been to too many cold games in Ames.
I'd bet the airport size/functionality is much more because of Fort Riley than it is Manhattan.
The visiting team hotel was a Holiday Inn on the edge of town.
Dude who sits in the press box complaining about weather. All-time laugher.
Since the Arrowhead series...
Games in Ames: 61, 72, 62, 40, 41, 60, 24
Games in Manhattan: 43, 55, 36, 59, 41, 68, 26
A bit of a hot take, but Ames is a very meh college town.
Campustown and Campustown bars kind of suck
Restaurants are primarily chain restaurants. Not enough local establishments.
Most of the restaurants and businesses are located in one area (South Duff). There is almost nothing in west Ames.
Not many other attractions besides Iowa State sports. It would be nice if CY Stephens and Hilton could get more shows and concerts.
edit: Campus is beautiful in the summer, some nice city parks and a few decent restaurants, but that is about it.
Campustown and Campustown bars kind of suck
Restaurants are primarily chain restaurants. Not enough local establishments.
Most of the restaurants and businesses are located in one area (South Duff). There is almost nothing in west Ames.
Not many other attractions besides Iowa State sports. It would be nice if CY Stephens and Hilton could get more shows and concerts.
edit: Campus is beautiful in the summer, some nice city parks and a few decent restaurants, but that is about it.
I'd love to know what Lawrence has that Ames doesn't. I was just in Lawrence back in March and it is a nice town but other than being slightly larger in population, I don't see anything uniquely special compared to the Ames/Manhattan/Stillwater types.
Ames has needed new leadership forever. It seems like every time another college town gets a new amenity that Ames should follow, our version is either half-baked or flat out not pursued.
Then I don't know what his problem is, because for football, every flight is chartered and whenever Iowa State plays at Oklahoma State or Texas Tech, they fly directly into Stillwater or Lubbock and I imagine K-State does the same.
I've traveled to a ton of college towns, and I think Ames holds up fine. There's definite room for improvement, but the extreme amount of negativity that some in our own fanbase bring towards it has always baffled me. I've never had trouble finding a good time there, and personally enjoyed the casualness of these so called "lesser" amenities. Maybe if you're comparing living there as an adult that it seems limited, I could get that, but there's no way to run out of things to do on a football weekend or good places to eat and drink. That's just plum ridiculous.
I've been to games at the following schools, so it's not like all I know is Ames:
Iowa
Mizzou
Nebraska
Kansas
Kansas State
Texas
Texas A&M
Baylor
TCU
Minnesota
West Virginia
OK State
Akron
UNI
I've also spent time in a lot of other college towns like Boulder, Madison, Bloomington (to name a few).
Our game day scene and overall community hold up just fine. There's a lot of "familiarity breeds contempt going on". When I talk to visiting fans, the response from at least 75% is that they enjoyed Ames a lot, both the town, and the gameday scene. Does that means Ames is doing as good as it can and wouldn't benefit from some different attitudes in the civic leadership? Absolutely not. But the handwringing and general negativity about it really strike me as weird, self defeating, unproductive, and ultimately inaccurate mindsets.
I've been to games at the following schools, so it's not like all I know is Ames:
Iowa
Mizzou
Nebraska
Kansas
Kansas State
Texas
Texas A&M
Baylor
TCU
Minnesota
West Virginia
OK State
Akron
UNI
I've also spent time in a lot of other college towns like Boulder, Madison, Bloomington (to name a few).
Our game day scene and overall community hold up just fine. There's a lot of "familiarity breeds contempt going on". When I talk to visiting fans, the response from at least 75% is that they enjoyed Ames a lot, both the town, and the gameday scene. Does that means Ames is doing as good as it can and wouldn't benefit from some different attitudes in the civic leadership? Absolutely not. But the handwringing and general negativity about it really strike me as weird, self defeating, unproductive, and ultimately inaccurate mindsets.
Nothing really. He's just a hater.
The only thing I see missing from Ames is that we've never really gotten back what we had in People's in terms of a music venue that size. Proximity to Des Moines definitely hurts there.
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No California transplants are adopting the Colorado Buffaloes lol. Nobody from California gives a **** about college sports.
These are just Boulder lifers who still have the arrogance from their heyday in the early 90s. Now that is mixed with a bitterness from being one of the worst teams in the country along with a renewed sense of importance with Deion as head coach.
Iowa State is a typical college town, and the campus is beautiful all year (not just summer).The neighborhoods around the area are nice, and everything but winter in Ames is great for students.
But I agree, Campustown is what's holding it back. It's small, old and run down. It's an eye sore that's only loved by the students attending and former students with nostalgia.
That said, gamedays in Ames are absolutely top tier.
Main Street in Ames leaves a bit to be desired too. Needs 2-3 more restaurants and a few more bars.
Downtown Ames has the aesthetic you'd want to see in Campustown, IMO. It's very pretty, and as a not-college kid, I enjoy the bars and restaurants there quite a bit.
If you total the places up between the two neighborhoods, Ames has a pretty damn solid selection of eating and drinking options, but the two neighborhoods being miles apart makes each feel lesser I think to some folks.
If you total the places up between the two neighborhoods, Ames has a pretty damn solid selection of eating and drinking options, but the two neighborhoods being miles apart makes each feel lesser I think to some folks.
I agree with this. The biggest problem with Ames is how it's set up. And that's because the university was separate from the city when it was first started. Duff is almost all chains. Main St is nice, but could be better. Campustown isn't great. Now we're going to build another entertainment district which will further dilute things. Not that I'm against Cytown, I'm all for it. Then there's pockets of places seemingly in the middle of nowhere like Sommerset and west Ames.
If you combined a few of those areas, you'd have a really good place, but that's not happening. I think that the key is improving Campustown. But then the issue is that property prices to own or lease are so expensive there. And, do you really want to pour money into a place where your main customers can't afford high end food and drinks plus get wasted and trash the place? Pretty tough to justify that.
