Cyclone Joy/Pain by Age

[Clonefan32]

While I know this isn't quite the point of the discussion, I was having a talk with another Cyclone fan around my age (late 30s) about how much less emotional investment we have than before. I can remember having all kinds of investment in my earlier years to individual games. Part of the change is, I'm sure, maturity and realizing it's really not that important in the grand scheme of things. But part of it is this new NIL landscape, especially in football. It's all so unattainable when you are so far outresourced that it becomes hard to really care.

Watch, drink some beer, have a fun time and after the game you move on.

 

[CyCrazy]

25 here and I’d say that’s about the ideal age in terms of experiencing some pretty crappy lows, but also the highest of highs.

Lol, 25 and seen lows?

 

[MeanDean]

68+ here. Didn't pay much attention to ISU until a student in '76. We didn't know how well we had it with Earle Bruce. Back to back wins over Nebraska. We as (young) fans weren't enamored with his 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense.

Best for me in no particular order:
'78 win over Iowa in IC (31-0) that I attended
Conference tourney win, Final Big 8 MBB
Championship (Reg season and Tourney) 2000
2000 Insight Bowl
2011 FB win over OSU on ESPN
2017 FB win at OU with 3rd string QB
2020 Fiesta Bowl

Too many lows. Been beat down so much. You younger fans can't know the dozens of times Lucy has pulled the football away at the last minute to break Cyclone fans' hearts.

I try to be optimistic but the lingering doubt never is going to go away. It's an emotional defense mechanism.

 

[jsb]

I'm 46 so my first memories of basketball are Orr. And football is a bit later with some Walden.

I've tried VERY hard over the years to focus on the good and not spend a lot of time on the bad. Luckily there has been very little bad in the last 10 years. Especially with football, I've tried to keep that in mind. I have had so much fun during some of the Rhoads years and nearly all of the Campbell years. When I'm disappointed in a football result, I really try and remind myself that there have been few times when I've felt really awful.

As far as basketball goes, I consider us lucky that our bad years (ignoring McDermott) were COVID years and it is easy to ignore and easy to forget those years. But everything else has been pretty incredible.

We are in a golden era. I know we all want a national championship or final 4 in basketball (I contend that the fact that we haven't lucked into a Final 4 with so many great teams is just freaking terrible luck) and we dream of the playoffs in football, but very few schools are consistently as good as we are in both sports. It's pretty great.

 

[crs8975]

My dad in his 70's: Huge Johnny Orr fan and still generally follows basketball. "Never trust Iowa State football, it'll break your heart every time".

Me 40's: Had to swear off football for a few years in college, held onto season tickets through some stinkers on the field and the court, but have enjoyed seeing everything build.

My kid in his early 20's: "This is basically our year to compete for national championships in football and basketball".

lol, they say it skips a generation after all.

 

[CloneFanInKC]

After listening to CW & Blum last night discussing how different ages of Cyclone fans have experienced varying levels of program success, I wanted to take a stab at quantifying it.

This is a first cut - basically takes winning percentage in FB (50%), MBB (35%), WBB (10%), & Wrestling (5%) and assumes that you first start "fandom" at 8 years of age.

Long short: The ISU sports experience has gradually improved over time, but the BEST experiences are those that are currently 18 & under. For them everything's been awesome with only minor success dips for their entire life.
Being younger than 40 also puts you in a relatively positive experience with some ups and downs.
Anyone over 40 has seen some dark ****
If you're older than 68 ... I'm so sorry.


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I appreciate you doing this, thanks.

 

[madguy30]

40s and feel like I can understand how wild it is that the football team being decent is the expectation, not the exception and basketball being very good and not just decent is the same.

I knew basketball way more than football because they were at least on TV regularly while it took until like the mid-2000s for that to happen for football in eastern Iowa.

 

[CyCrazy]

40s and feel like I can understand how wild it is that the football team being decent is the expectation, not the exception and basketball being very good and not just decent is the same.

I knew basketball way more than football because they were at least on TV regularly while it took until like the mid-2000s for that to happen for football in eastern Iowa.

Only good thing about no TV were no TV timeouts.

 

[NorthCyd]

You’re saying us younger fans merely adopted the darkness?

 

[nfrine]

I am old. I have experienced a lot of pain. The last 10 years are making the memory of that pain more distant.

 

[brentblum]

Great thread! Thanks for sharing!

 

[jsb]

Only good thing about no TV were no TV timeouts.

But in eastern Iowa in the 80's, it was hard to get the games even on the radio. My first sports memory is listening to Iowa football with my mom and we weren't Iowa fans. I assume there are many like me.

 

[Pope]

The 68 and older crowd saw national championships in two different sports.

Three: cross country (men's and women's), wrestling, men's gymnastics

 

[RING4CY]

Being younger than 40 also puts you in a relatively positive experience with some ups and downs.
Anyone over 40 has seen some dark ****

I turn 40 in three weeks.

 

[CyCrazy]

But in eastern Iowa in the 80's, it was hard to get the games even on the radio. My first sports memory is listening to Iowa football with my mom and we weren't Iowa fans. I assume there are many like me.

Pretty similar in NWIa except I had Huskerrrrr fans coming out my ears as well.

 

[HOTDON]

The inverse of this graph would be the Nut Punch Index, or NPI. That would more appropriately represent the experience of being a Cyclone fan over the age of 25. We're on the verge of having a whole generation of fans with soft taters that haven't felt the swift blow and ensuing breathlessness of a North title going wide right.

 

[bozclone]

I will be 59 soon. I attended my first football game at 5 years old. Criner and Walden were coaches during my college years. Orr brought so much joy. Somehow I am still an optimist. Our current status is amazing to me. I love the Cyclones and wear Cyclone gear weekly even though I have not lived in Iowa in 35 years

 

[AltoonaFish]

You’re saying us younger fans merely adopted the darkness?

My dad had season tickets for 50 years just to pass before seeing the 11 win season. My first memory was the streaker game in 93. Definitely born during the darkness here. Still can’t believe my dad probably missed less than 10 games in 50 years and it was darker at points than what i have experienced.

 

[Fishhead]

54. Moved to Iowa from Wisconsin after my dad was laid off and took a teaching job at Iowa State. I was welcomed by seeing Fry’s teams just crushing us. And my first basketball memory was the victory over Michigan in the second round of the tourney

 

[Peter]

Moved back to Iowa when I was 12 and my first intro to ISU football was the 0-10-1 season. Something about it galvanized me however and I became a fan. My grandpa was a professor at ISU and had amazing season tickets right at the 50 years line. He always took me to games and the next year we got to watch Troy Davis shred the conference.

My favored game honestly was McCarney’s first as head coach and we beat Ohio to break the winless streak. Troy came out of nowhere and went off for like 300 yard and 5 tds. Fans stormed the field and tore down the posts. You had the feeling like the program was gonna be good and you were just getting in on the ground floor.