Ben Bruns: Mission Statement

[Senolcyc]

And this stance is exactly the opposite of why the fan base wanted McCarney fired, and if there ever comes a time that this line of thinking is all that ISU will ever shoot for, then at that time perhaps it will be time for me to jump off the ISU bandwagon.

Let's just say, for the sake of my Cyclone fanhood, I am absolutely glad that you and no one else like you is the ISU AD or any of the football coaches...

:no:

Guarantee you that Pollard and Rhoads consider making a bowl game a success. Call Rhoads up, tell him last year was a failure, then come back and let us know how that phone call went. Would love to hear about it.

What I hear you saying is that you are only a Cyclone fan because you dream of something bigger someday and that nothing ISU has done so far has been good enough for you. You would quit being a Cyclone fan if not for that dream of ISU doing something it's never done before. Nothing to date has been good enough, correct?

 

[Wesley]

I think the player we are missing most is James Smith. He doesn;t get enough credit on here. Also not having that third LB hurts. Last year we had 3 very reliable LBs with Smith, Raven, and Garin. Matt being injured is hurting us.

Having no large replacement LBs has went on to hurt us more. Our 200 pounder LB has been dinged up because he is not big enough.

 

[aeroclone]

I would like to see this also as long as it doesnt close the door to that access by revealing too much.

And maybe that is the issue here. If so, it is what it is and you have to play that game. But when CW announced that BB was coming on to write a blog for the site, everybody was ranting and raving about how he is a no-nonsense call it like it is even if it ruffles some feathers type of guy. I was really excited to see something like that from a guy that honestly knows a lot more about what is going on on the field than any of us.

To this point though, I don't feel like he has provided anything more than I could get from Blum or CW or half the posters on the site. Great, so a former player agrees with what the rest of the fan base already knows. So what? Take that to the next level, tell us what we don't know and what we as average fans can't see.

 

[CtownCyclone]

Okay, I guess I will be the first one to pee in the Cheerios here. What is with the Ben Bruns love fest on this website? Every piece of work he puts up on here there is a big long thread proclaiming Ben to be the man and patting him on the back for telling it how it is and telling us how we all need Ben.

What the heck are you guys reading in there that is driving you to stand up and cheer? There isn't a single thing mentioned in that blog that hasn't been discussed to death on this board already. If I went and started a new thread right now with a couple of the points from this latest blog I give it 5 posts before somebody posts the picture of the dude with a stick standing over a dead horse. And I have felt the same way about every one of his blogs so far.

He has written nothing this season that made me stand back and say, wow, I had never thought of that before, that was really thought provoking. So our offense is anemic and our d-line is getting no push and leaving our secondary in coverage too long. Was anybody else floored to hear that? The only difference I can see here is that it is coming from a former player and a program insider. But seeing as this is nothing earth-shattering, I don't think he really needs that credibility to make the point.

Ben issued a challenge to the team, and I think it was a good one. I would say the same to Ben. You are a former player, you are a program insider, you have press credentials and behind the scenes access. Dig deeper, push harder, and get the info and hard hitting analysis that I can't get sitting on my couch watching the game and surfing random posts on CF.

/rant

The difference between you starting a thread and Ben writing about it is that he has experience. It is one thing to sit in your living room watching TV and complaining about us not doing enough. It's another thing for a former player like Ben who has experienced the lowest of the lows and the highest (for ISU) of the highs. I will agree that nothing really new was stated in the post. But his word carries a little more weight than a thread post.

 

[jburke]

This is probably my favorite blog that Ben has ever written for us. Perfect words at the perfect time. Enjoy.

Iowa State Football: Ben Bruns' mission statement | Cyclone Fanatic

Great read, I have total trust in this coaching staff, what hurts the most this year is sitting through these last 2 games, when in comparison to last year our worst loses were Iowa, Okie State, and A&M and those where nowhere close to the 40+ pt shellacking we took the past 2 weeks.... I know if you look at previous Saturdays we played decent 1st quarters only giving up 10 last week and winning against Utah... Our Defense is on the field way too much..... Somebody on the offense needs to start producing......

 

[jdoggivjc]

Guarantee you that Pollard and Rhoads consider making a bowl game a success. Call Rhoads up, tell him last year was a failure, then come back and let us know how that phone call went. Would love to hear about it.

What I hear you saying is that you are only a Cyclone fan because you dream of something bigger someday and that nothing ISU has done so far has been good enough for you. You would quit being a Cyclone fan if not for that dream of ISU doing something it's never done before. Nothing to date has been good enough, correct?

Wow - what a cluster **** your reading comprehension skills must be.

Do I think making bowl games are great? Sure. Do I think JP and CPR think the same? Of course. However, if you think that JP and CPR are happy with making a bowl game once every three or four years because "that's all ISU is good for", then you must be on crack. And if this was the attitude of the ISU AD and coaches, then yes, it absolutely WOULD be a waste of my time to be a Cyclone fan. This is exactly the same line of thinking that makes idiotic Cyclone fans think that "hey, we should just drop down to the MAC right now - at least we'll win MAC championships" (which, historically, is highly debatable, by the way).

I don't want an AD or a football coach who thinks it's "good enough" to make a low-tier bowl game once every three or four years because that's all ISU is good for. I want ADs and coaches that strive to make bowl games EVERY YEAR and strive for better bowl games as years go by. Are they going to fall short some years? Of course, and I'm not going to throw anybody under the bus for that. However, if our AD isn't going to constantly strive to improve our athletics, if our AD is of the opinion of "yeah, we made a bowl game for the first time in 4 years - things are going great and it's now time to rest on our laurels, who cares if we suck for the next 3 years" - that attitude is not worth my time or money. And if you think I'm the only one of this opinion - where were all of the ISU fans through much of the 1980s and 1990s, and why are we still struggling with trying to build a fan base now as a result?

 

[mustangcy]

Great article.

But the first thing I thought of was...freaking Kansas State. We win that game, and we should have, we'd be sitting at 4 wins. We'd be looking down the barrel at beating KU and CU to get to CPR's second straight bowl. But now we've got to pick up a win somewhere that frankly I don't think we have in us. Makes the entire season to this point have a much, much different tone. That overthrown pass was huge...

 

[ISUFan22]

IMO, we could field an ISU all-star team and still would have lost to the 2010 OU team Saturday. It's not the fact that we lose, it's how we lost.

And even more, it's the fact that we lost (and again, how we lost) to K-State. How we lost to Utah. Only scoring 13 offensive points against UNI. Struggling to win our opener.

There are not many signs of improvement from 2009 to 2010, namely in the offense and I'm talking about comparing like-opponent games - not comparing an '09 game to a '10 game against Utah/OU.

By now we should see some improvements and better consistency - we're not. It really falls on the offensive/defensive lines - and filters out from there.

Without improved line recruiting, development and production - this program will continue to dwell in the bottom of the conference. Period.

 

[Senolcyc]

My reading skills are fine. You said what you said. You're an Iowa State fan only because you dream/wish/hope for greatness that ISU has never achieved and is doing nothing to achieve. Me, I'm there regardless, like through the 80s and 90s. What I don't need is the rah rah company line because I've heard it all before, multiple times. Talk is cheap and the actions have never backed it up.

 

[jdoggivjc]

My reading skills are fine. You said what you said. You're an Iowa State fan only because you dream/wish/hope for greatness that ISU has never achieved and is doing nothing to achieve. Me, I'm there regardless, like through the 80s and 90s. What I don't need is the rah rah company line because I've heard it all before, multiple times. Talk is cheap and the actions have never backed it up.

So just because we've never been there before we should never try to get there? You, sir, are the kind of fan that was probably a pig slopping in mud with the quality of ISU football that was played in the 1980s and 1990s. Me? Well, let's just say if we ever brought in another AD that was convinced that ISU in the '80s and '90s was good enough and wasn't going to try to accomplish more, then IT WOULD NOT BE WORTH MY TIME. Pardon me if it's unreasonable for the school that I graduate from and the school I love to strive for unprecedented success. Excuse me if I expect my team to go places its never been before. I didn't realize that reasonable fans would be happy with mediocrity. I guess the fans that wanted McCarney fired because of this exact thing that's being argued about right now were an exception rather than the rule, is that it?

If you're happy with **** that's served to you, then that's your problem. Me - I expect better, even if we've never had better before.

 

[djcubby]

Call Rhoads up, tell him last year was a failure, then come back and let us know how that phone call went. Would love to hear about it.

And you, my friend, can do the same. Go ahead and call him up and let him know that mediocrity is ok and all he needs to do is get to a minor bowl every now and then and you will be happy. Let me know how that one goes.

How many times since Rhoads has taken over the program has he used the phrase "continuous improvement"? Does that mean just making a bowl every now and then? Or does that mean striving for something better...hitting new heights...doing things that ISU football has never done before.

I don't remember him saying "continuous improvement...until we get to mediocre."

 

[jdoggivjc]

And you, my friend, can do the same. Go ahead and call him up and let him know that mediocrity is ok and all he needs to do is get to a minor bowl every now and then and you will be happy. Let me know how that one goes.

How many times since Rhoads has taken over the program has he used the phrase "continuous improvement"? Does that mean just making a bowl every now and then? Or does that mean striving for something better...hitting new heights...doing things that ISU football has never done before.

I don't remember him saying "continuous improvement...until we get to mediocre."

You're arguing with someone that was perfectly happy with the product he was seeing in the 1980s and 1990s.

 

[Senolcyc]

Never said I was happy with the 80s and 90s. I said I stayed a fan and went to games throughout. My allegiance isn't contingent on anything. I'm an Iowa State alum and a Cyclone fan.

You're all worked up and really not comprehending what I am saying at all. Good day.

 

[cyatheart]

And you, my friend, can do the same. Go ahead and call him up and let him know that mediocrity is ok and all he needs to do is get to a minor bowl every now and then and you will be happy. Let me know how that one goes.

How many times since Rhoads has taken over the program has he used the phrase "continuous improvement"? Does that mean just making a bowl every now and then? Or does that mean striving for something better...hitting new heights...doing things that ISU football has never done before.

I don't remember him saying "continuous improvement...until we get to mediocre."

You are both right. There is room for both type of fans and one isn't better than the other. It's great to wish for BCS games. I know I do. And it is great to have appropriate expectations. I also have that.

I am certain both of you are happy when the Clones win and bumbed when they lose, so there is a lot of common ground

I sat through a lot of bad football in the 80's and 90's as well, and I don't think I am a better fan than anyone else because of it. I went because it was fun to go, got to see some great players and teams. I had hope then, just like I do now, and I had fun at the games then, just like I do now.

 

[aeroclone]

The difference between you starting a thread and Ben writing about it is that he has experience. It is one thing to sit in your living room watching TV and complaining about us not doing enough. It's another thing for a former player like Ben who has experienced the lowest of the lows and the highest (for ISU) of the highs. I will agree that nothing really new was stated in the post. But his word carries a little more weight than a thread post.

I just wish he would use his experience to tell me the things that a novice like myself doesn't see. It is like a civil engineer coming to me and telling me that New Orleans flooded. Sure, you are the expert, but that doesn't give me squat in the end. Tell me how it failed, why it failed, how you would go about changing it in the future. All the stuff that the average joe just doesn't know.

Ben has this rep around here about having all this knowledge and breaking it down and telling it how it is, but I haven't seen anything to date to show that he has delivered on that. He has lived up to his Cyclone Fanatic reputation about as well as Bo Williams.

 

[RossHallHero]

I just wish he would use his experience to tell me the things that a novice like myself doesn't see. It is like a civil engineer coming to me and telling me that New Orleans flooded. Sure, you are the expert, but that doesn't give me squat in the end. Tell me how it failed, why it failed, how you would go about changing it in the future. All the stuff that the average joe just doesn't know.

Ben has this rep around here about having all this knowledge and breaking it down and telling it how it is, but I haven't seen anything to date to show that he has delivered on that. He has lived up to his Cyclone Fanatic reputation about as well as Bo Williams.

I have to agree with you on this.

He could post nothing but questions marks and people on here would scream with glee.

I thought his post was kind of a rah, rah type thing that served no purpose. If he wants to tell the players this stuff, tell the players.

Peoples' reactions to his blogs remind me a little of when The City initially started posting here.

 

[cyatheart]

I have to agree with you on this.

He could post nothing but questions marks and people on here would scream with glee.

I thought his post was kind of a rah, rah type thing that served no purpose. If he wants to tell the players this stuff, tell the players.

Peoples' reactions to his blogs remind me a little of when The City initially started posting here.

Yeah, a lot like that....except Ben Bruns was an All American here. Honestly, not one single thread can start without people ********. If you are going to ***** about Ben Bruns posting an article, then you are going to ***** if we go 13-0 and only win the national championship but fail to cover the spread.

 

[justcynn]

Love the emotion, love the intent. But this same type of thing has been written lots of times by lots of ISU people before, and nothing ever changes. I'll enjoy the minor bowl seasons when they come along. Never will expect anything more.

I don't recall a Cyclone Alumn All Amercian that played on a 1-10 team and then led the team to its first bowl victory ever writing anything like this before - for that reason alone - I appreciate his perspective and insights. Minor bowls are better than no bowls. With out minor bowls we will NEVER have a chance to build a program that goes to a Major bowl.

 

[OL63]

I just wish he would use his experience to tell me the things that a novice like myself doesn't see. It is like a civil engineer coming to me and telling me that New Orleans flooded. Sure, you are the expert, but that doesn't give me squat in the end. Tell me how it failed, why it failed, how you would go about changing it in the future. All the stuff that the average joe just doesn't know.

Ben has this rep around here about having all this knowledge and breaking it down and telling it how it is, but I haven't seen anything to date to show that he has delivered on that. He has lived up to his Cyclone Fanatic reputation about as well as Bo Williams.

Sent you a PM with my phone number.

 

[cy8]

I liked it a lot.