Emotional Investment

[cycloneworld]

We have fans emotionally charged during games. We have podcast hosts battling fans and fans crapping on die hard Iowa State figures. Why does this year seem so different than previous years? The emotion seems elevated because we are good and expected to win? Is this “normal” for Top 15 teams and programs? Is it because fans are spending more money (tickets, AD donations, WeWill donations, etc) than ever before? This year has felt very different as an Iowa State fan.

Personally, I’ve felt way more emotionally invested in both football and basketball because I keep telling myself “these opportunities don’t come around very often for ISU and we better damn well capitalize” and its weird, I almost feel pressure watching the games rather than sitting back and enjoying them. Anyone else feel this way? I look back and football and think how great of a season it was but it didn’t feel that way watching games. Same with basketball – the emotional swings by fans have been huge.

For basketball, I wish we would have competed for a conference title or #1 seed but it wasn’t in the cards this year. And since we can’t do either one of those, I’m trying to put all of the “will this season be a success” eggs into the NCAA tournament and, at a much lower level, the Big 12 tournament. Losing to BYU or K-State this weekend doesn’t really change the opportunity in front of this team. If they win the Big 12 tournament and/or go to the Sweet 16 or beyond, I think we’d all agree it would be a big success. If we flame out in the first weekend, we’ll all consider it a very big missed opportunity.

 

[OscarBerkshire]

Can’t be disappointed if you have low expectations. Just ask my fiancée.

In all seriousness we believed preseason that this team could make a final four, contend for a regular season big 12 title, and be that one in a generation season that’s talked about like the 2000 season. (That season had the benefit of coming outta relative nowhere and also pre social media/message boards.)

When you have consistent success it’s not a surprise that people are going to want to see that next step. I don’t know why people are pretending Iowa state fans are that uniquely nice or kind or smart about sports. As a group we’re gonna average out to the average college sports fan, maybe slightly better since most of us actually went to the school.

This season relative to preseason expectations is a pretty big disappointment. If you disagree you are lying to yourself and this message board. Relative to history, sure it’s solid. But since Johnny Orr we’ve seen a LOT of solid teams.

 

[CycloneDaddy]

For basketball I thought this was a Final 4 team after Maui. I made myself believe this was going to be the year. What really grinds my gears is just the silly turnovers and lack of awareness from seasoned players.

 

[isufbcurt]

I like to think I have a unique perspective but maybe I don't. Having played I know how much the players are invested emotionally, mentally and physically.

So now as a fan, while I hate when we lose (because I always want my favorite and school to win) it isn't something that ruins my day or night (except if we lose to Iowa, then I'm pissed). I feel more disappointed for the players because I know how much they put in to it. For me the games over, listen to the post game show and move on with my list of things I need to do.

My wife however is way to emotionally invested imo, she rivals some of the posters in the game threads. I always have to talk her off the ledge after a loss because she doesn't understand how if we are supposed to be so good why we lose any game (unrealistic expectations). And she lets it ruin her day/night when we lose. But I can't get to upset because I am happy that since she's an Iowa grad she loves ISU athletics so much especially when she grew up everything hawk (I am obviously very good at brainwashing).

 

[NoCreativity]

I'm ready for a Final 4 run. It has never happened in my lifetime and I don't think it's asking too much.

Every game we lose in the regular season makes it that much more difficult unless things break our and there's chaos in our bracket, which rarely happens.

 

[isufbcurt]

For basketball I thought this was a Final 4 team after Maui. I made myself believe this was going to be the year. What really grinds my gears is just the silly turnovers and lack of awareness from seasoned players.

I'm not to hung up on the turnovers. We've won games with high turnovers and last night we had a low turnover night and turned them over 29 times and still lost. In most years turnovers would dictate how we play but for some reason this year it doesn't.

 

[Cychl82]

For basketball I thought this was a Final 4 team after Maui. I made myself believe this was going to be the year. What really grinds my gears is just the silly turnovers and lack of awareness from seasoned players.

I felt the same way and now I’m crossing my fingers for another Sweet 16

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

I had high hopes for both but have been much less emotionally invested since NIL has come in to play.

 

[baller1]

There are many posters that overreact to every game especially in the game threads. We probably have 0.5 NBA players (maybe Mommy, maybe Jefferson). Team tries really hard, like all the TJ teams have. Probably going to be a 3 seed, which is top 12 in the country. Try to avoid Auburn and Duke as long as possible and I think this team could still make the final 4.

 

[CloneJD]

A large portion of the world’s population are ass-hats

 

[3TrueFans]

People are ******* wild in game threads, talking **** about how the players have no pride, they’re not playing hard, they suck, etc. Then they’re like “oh I’ll gladly eat crow” when the player inevitably does something great as if that absolves them from being ******* losers.

 

[1TwistedCyclone]

Emotional investment for me is about the same year over year for all sports. What is changing for me is the sense of urgency for ISU sports continuing at the highest level. With NIL and conference consolidation, it feels like the squeeze is on; that we will soon be left at a weaker, lesser division. For me that demotion, for me, is going to hurt. It will not feel the same not being at the "adult table" in the future.

 

[rochclone]

I'm ready for a Final 4 run. It has never happened in my lifetime and I don't think it's asking too much.

Every game we lose in the regular season makes it that much more difficult unless things break our and there's chaos in our bracket, which rarely happens.

You don’t think it’s asking too much for a final 4. My man we invest in both the Mbb and cfb programs at a top 40-50 program level. We pay our coaches the same way. We get financial support from fans at a 50-65 program type level.
Expecting a final 4 in your lifetime leads to some of the emotional reactions we are seeing enjoy the book and the chapters (each year) and hopefully you get an opportunity to see it. But expecting a Final 4 in your lifetime is probably a 10-15% chance IMO.

 

[ClubCy]

I would venture to guess we aren’t even in the top 30 of craziest/unrealistic/jump off the ledge fanbases when things goes sideways.

 

[ClonesFTW]

I would venture to guess we aren’t even in the top 30 of craziest/unrealistic/jump off the ledge fanbases when things goes sideways.

This. Anyone who thinks our message board is bad during games should go check out SEC boards during football season - not even comparable.

 

[jsb]

Game threads are garbage and while I don’t always avoid them, I do about 90% of the time. By the time I’m in a game thread it’s kind of gone the opposite way.

But, yes, expectations drive a ton of it. The expectations we were fed with this team was final 4. I bet if we went back and listened to podcasts early in the season, we would have heard Sweet 16 would be a disappointment.

I’ve mentioned before that our basketball program is weird. We have a ton of Sweet 16s over the past 15 years but yet haven’t gotten over the hump of going further. Teams with far less success have gotten to elite 8s or final 4s. So I think that weird bad luck plays into some of the handwringing this year. It reminds me of 2021 football. Both are very good seasons when matched against history but injuries and other factors kind of screwed with it b

 

[CYDJ]

Can’t be disappointed if you have low expectations. Just ask my fiancée.

In all seriousness we believed preseason that this team could make a final four, contend for a regular season big 12 title, and be that one in a generation season that’s talked about like the 2000 season. (That season had the benefit of coming outta relative nowhere and also pre social media/message boards.)

When you have consistent success it’s not a surprise that people are going to want to see that next step. I don’t know why people are pretending Iowa state fans are that uniquely nice or kind or smart about sports. As a group we’re gonna average out to the average college sports fan, maybe slightly better since most of us actually went to the school.

This season relative to preseason expectations is a pretty big disappointment. If you disagree you are lying to yourself and this message board. Relative to history, sure it’s solid. But since Johnny Orr we’ve seen a LOT of solid teams.

Funny you think 2000 was before message boards. There were message boards, just not this one. Heck, there were pretty strong Listserves as far back as 1996. People were pissing all over each other about why in the hell Tim Floyd would go to the Bulls. I got in a heated argument with a pretty good friend of mine and didn;t even know it was him at the time. This is not really a new thing.

People (Including AND DEFINITELY ME) have been wrapped up in Cyclone sports through good and bad seasons for YEARS. There may be a little less certainty about the future so it might seem existential now vs. there will always be another year in the good ol' Big 8 though.

 

[Gunnerclone]

i think we have the best chance to get to a final four since 2000. I’ll take that all day every day. I don’t even really care about the season anymore. And the Big 12 tourney is even losing its luster for me. Everything is about the real tourney because that’s how we keep
Propelling forward. Anything less than the Sweet 16 is going to be tough to swallow. Get to the Sweet 16 and I’ll always be happy because I know that means we’re still going to keep rising.

 

[Bigman38]

I like to think I have a unique perspective but maybe I don't. Having played I know how much the players are invested emotionally, mentally and physically.

So now as a fan, while I hate when we lose (because I always want my favorite and school to win) it isn't something that ruins my day or night (except if we lose to Iowa, then I'm pissed). I feel more disappointed for the players because I know how much they put in to it. For me the games over, listen to the post game show and move on with my list of things I need to do.

My wife however is way to emotionally invested imo, she rivals some of the posters in the game threads. I always have to talk her off the ledge after a loss because she doesn't understand how if we are supposed to be so good why we lose any game (unrealistic expectations). And she lets it ruin her day/night when we lose. But I can't get to upset because I am happy that since she's an Iowa grad she loves ISU athletics so much especially when she grew up everything hawk (I am obviously very good at brainwashing).

Was able to move onto this mindset in the last few years and has improved my enjoyment 10x.

What really helps my mood after a bad game is reading the game thread and open letter type threads to make fun of the posters who have melted down over it.

 

[ClubCy]

For basketball I can say that I don’t get too up or too down. So many games in so little time, it’s easy to move on from a bad by playing well a couple days later. All we have to do is play decent to good for 3 games in a row to make it to an elite 8 and after that what happens will happen. I do not care about the conference tournament this year, fwiw.

I was more emotionally invested in the back half the football season. I wanted that 10 win season so bad and when it started to feel like it was slipping away it was not a good feeling. It was hard for me to even enjoy the Utah game despite winning. That’s fandom I guess.