Fanatics…it’s been a long time! I hope all is well in your lives and I must say it’s good to be back here on the World Wide Web. Over the past few years I have developed a very good relationship with Jeremy Lind. We’ve tried to work some sort of a partnership out for sometime and now it’s time to get going. I will be writing a featured blog on CF from now on.
The rules of this blog are very loose. It’s simple. There are none. I don’t know how often I will update it. I don’t know what it will be about. Obviously it will have a Cyclone slant to it but one thing I always tell people I love about CF is that it’s more than a Cyclone website. To me, it’s more of a site to visit if you want to know what’s going on in the world of sports in general. People post links, their favorite jokes and a whole lot more. While I’ll write a lot about the Clones, a lot will be about other stuff as well.
I want this to be interactive. If you think I’m a moron, tell me. I just might feel the same way about you. Let’s just keep it clean. Negative feedback is better than no feedback at all. Basically, Jeremy and I want to bring one more layer to Cyclone Fanatic and we hope you enjoy it.
I want to make it clear as well that I am not exclusively writing for CF at this point and time. You will also see me freelancing with outlets such as CycloneReport.com in the near future and other outlets as well. That means that if I report premium information about a recruit in another article on another website, I will not be at liberty to share that with you at CF. I apologize in advance.
I realize that some of you probably have no idea who I am so let me tell you a little bit about myself. I graduated from Iowa State with a degree in journalism last May. I’ve worked in the Iowa State media for almost four full years now in such outlets as CycloneNation.com, The Iowa State Daily, Mediacom, KXNO Radio, KASI Radio and the Ames Tribune. Right now, my full-time gig is at KMA Radio in Shenandoah, Iowa with my right hand man Brent Blum. Don’t be surprised if he pops in and posts here from now on as well.
Enough of an introduction, let’s get down to business and have some fun.
SPRING FOOTBALL
It’s crazy to think about but spring football is already here. The one area that has become the biggest hot-topic is this “quarterback controversy.†I believe it is a complete non-issue. Don’t get me wrong here. I absolutely love Phillip Bates. I covered his recruitment before he committed to Iowa State and have known him for some time. He is a class act. His father is a class act and we all know that Phillip can play. But Austen Arnaud should be the starting quarterback when the Cyclones take the field in 2008.
Here’s where it gets dicey though. Bates is an incredible athlete and he wants to play quarterback. He’s been solid on that stance from the get go. Let’s say that Bates enters the 2008 season as the back-up quarterback.
Do you play him at receiver too? I would. Let’s be honest here people. The Cyclones need all of the athletes on the field that they can possibly get at all times. Bates qualifies. He’s one of the best. ISU cannot afford to have a guy like him standing on the sideline calling in plays. He has to be out on the field. Bates is a big play threat in the middle of an unproven group of wide receivers. Yes, it’s a risk to have your backup quarterback going across the middle against a Big XII defense but it’s more of a risk to have one of your best players on the sideline.
I will say this. I don’t have a problem with Bates taking some snaps under center. How about using Bates in a Tim Tebow scenario? How about letting him take 20% of the snaps? I’m cool with that. But he needs to be on the field more than he is not.
OPENING DAY
I love baseball’s opening day. My favorite thing about it is how all of the sudden, so many random people really care about what happens. This isn’t only on Opening Day. It goes on for the first week or two of the regular season. Go to Welch Ave. Station in Ames on or near the start of the baseball season and you’ll see all sorts of people absolutely hanging on every pitch like it’s the seventh game of the Fall Classic. A month from now, that crowd will shrink from about 50 people to five. You know the type of guy I’m talking about too. The one who stumbles into class all ticked off that the Tigers just lost to the Royals like the season is now over. It’s not college football bro. Get over it. There are 162 games and one loss in early April doesn’t dictate your season.
Speaking of Opening Day, one of my immature yet hilarious friends posted this link on my facebook wall. If you want some good clean fun, be sure to check it out and make sure you’re sitting down.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzAR2Z52rNM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v<wbr>=dzAR2Z52rNM[/ame]
MORE BASEBALL NOTES
I mentioned above that I love my job. I’ve recently completed my spring training tour for KMA radio covering the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals. The trips to Arizona and Florida were amazing. I made some great contacts, got some solid interviews and all around had some fun. Of all of the unique and interesting tidbits of info I learned while in the Cards and Royals clubhouses’ one stood above the rest.
Tony La Russa is not a kind soul.
I hung around the Cardinals clubhouse covering his team for almost a week and I don’t think I saw him say anything nice once. He never smiled. He’s the Simon Cowell of Major League Baseball. The guy makes Wayne Morgan’s personality shine like David Letterman. Speaking of La Russa, how about these ESPN interviews with him, Bob Knight and “Wild†Bill Parcells.
If you didn’t see it, click here.
http://sports.espn.go.com<wbr>/broadband/video/videopage<wbr>?videoId=3318430
Now that’s entertainment. It was pretty sweet to get all of that knowledge together in one interview but it really bugged me how in the interview Knight kept saying the word “we†when referring to the Cardinals. You are not on the team Bob. Quit acting like it.
Hey…at least he’s not a golf instructor.
WARNING *** VULGAR LANGUAGE IN THIS LINK *** IF YOU WILL BE OFFENDED **** DO NOT CLICK **** SERIOUSLY
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPE_FUZFeLM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v<wbr>=kPE_FUZFeLM[/ame]
The rules of this blog are very loose. It’s simple. There are none. I don’t know how often I will update it. I don’t know what it will be about. Obviously it will have a Cyclone slant to it but one thing I always tell people I love about CF is that it’s more than a Cyclone website. To me, it’s more of a site to visit if you want to know what’s going on in the world of sports in general. People post links, their favorite jokes and a whole lot more. While I’ll write a lot about the Clones, a lot will be about other stuff as well.
I want this to be interactive. If you think I’m a moron, tell me. I just might feel the same way about you. Let’s just keep it clean. Negative feedback is better than no feedback at all. Basically, Jeremy and I want to bring one more layer to Cyclone Fanatic and we hope you enjoy it.
I want to make it clear as well that I am not exclusively writing for CF at this point and time. You will also see me freelancing with outlets such as CycloneReport.com in the near future and other outlets as well. That means that if I report premium information about a recruit in another article on another website, I will not be at liberty to share that with you at CF. I apologize in advance.
I realize that some of you probably have no idea who I am so let me tell you a little bit about myself. I graduated from Iowa State with a degree in journalism last May. I’ve worked in the Iowa State media for almost four full years now in such outlets as CycloneNation.com, The Iowa State Daily, Mediacom, KXNO Radio, KASI Radio and the Ames Tribune. Right now, my full-time gig is at KMA Radio in Shenandoah, Iowa with my right hand man Brent Blum. Don’t be surprised if he pops in and posts here from now on as well.
Enough of an introduction, let’s get down to business and have some fun.
SPRING FOOTBALL
It’s crazy to think about but spring football is already here. The one area that has become the biggest hot-topic is this “quarterback controversy.†I believe it is a complete non-issue. Don’t get me wrong here. I absolutely love Phillip Bates. I covered his recruitment before he committed to Iowa State and have known him for some time. He is a class act. His father is a class act and we all know that Phillip can play. But Austen Arnaud should be the starting quarterback when the Cyclones take the field in 2008.
Here’s where it gets dicey though. Bates is an incredible athlete and he wants to play quarterback. He’s been solid on that stance from the get go. Let’s say that Bates enters the 2008 season as the back-up quarterback.
Do you play him at receiver too? I would. Let’s be honest here people. The Cyclones need all of the athletes on the field that they can possibly get at all times. Bates qualifies. He’s one of the best. ISU cannot afford to have a guy like him standing on the sideline calling in plays. He has to be out on the field. Bates is a big play threat in the middle of an unproven group of wide receivers. Yes, it’s a risk to have your backup quarterback going across the middle against a Big XII defense but it’s more of a risk to have one of your best players on the sideline.
I will say this. I don’t have a problem with Bates taking some snaps under center. How about using Bates in a Tim Tebow scenario? How about letting him take 20% of the snaps? I’m cool with that. But he needs to be on the field more than he is not.
OPENING DAY
I love baseball’s opening day. My favorite thing about it is how all of the sudden, so many random people really care about what happens. This isn’t only on Opening Day. It goes on for the first week or two of the regular season. Go to Welch Ave. Station in Ames on or near the start of the baseball season and you’ll see all sorts of people absolutely hanging on every pitch like it’s the seventh game of the Fall Classic. A month from now, that crowd will shrink from about 50 people to five. You know the type of guy I’m talking about too. The one who stumbles into class all ticked off that the Tigers just lost to the Royals like the season is now over. It’s not college football bro. Get over it. There are 162 games and one loss in early April doesn’t dictate your season.
Speaking of Opening Day, one of my immature yet hilarious friends posted this link on my facebook wall. If you want some good clean fun, be sure to check it out and make sure you’re sitting down.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzAR2Z52rNM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v<wbr>=dzAR2Z52rNM[/ame]
MORE BASEBALL NOTES
I mentioned above that I love my job. I’ve recently completed my spring training tour for KMA radio covering the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals. The trips to Arizona and Florida were amazing. I made some great contacts, got some solid interviews and all around had some fun. Of all of the unique and interesting tidbits of info I learned while in the Cards and Royals clubhouses’ one stood above the rest.
Tony La Russa is not a kind soul.
I hung around the Cardinals clubhouse covering his team for almost a week and I don’t think I saw him say anything nice once. He never smiled. He’s the Simon Cowell of Major League Baseball. The guy makes Wayne Morgan’s personality shine like David Letterman. Speaking of La Russa, how about these ESPN interviews with him, Bob Knight and “Wild†Bill Parcells.
If you didn’t see it, click here.
http://sports.espn.go.com<wbr>/broadband/video/videopage<wbr>?videoId=3318430
Now that’s entertainment. It was pretty sweet to get all of that knowledge together in one interview but it really bugged me how in the interview Knight kept saying the word “we†when referring to the Cardinals. You are not on the team Bob. Quit acting like it.
Hey…at least he’s not a golf instructor.
WARNING *** VULGAR LANGUAGE IN THIS LINK *** IF YOU WILL BE OFFENDED **** DO NOT CLICK **** SERIOUSLY
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPE_FUZFeLM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v<wbr>=kPE_FUZFeLM[/ame]
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