To Brent Blum

[ChrisMWilliams]

I've said this numerous times and I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

Brent Blum is the most talented person I've ever met in this business. I'd kill for a third of the raw ability that he has. Iowa State is lucky to have him. I'm not just saying that because he's one of my best friends either.

 

[ISUcy08]

Can you look into posting your articles on Des Moines register? I am man enough to admit that I have a crush on the way you articulate Iowa State. You are among the very best writers or bloggers. My hats off to you! I love your articles, especially "Steady Rhoads".

I agree 100% that Paul Rhoads needs to stay as our head coach - even if we don't win any more games this season. Our head coach needs the same amount of support as Danny Mac got for many years. We are Iowa State, success does not come to us right away. We are not Texas. We need to keep our ego in check and give CPR more time.

Enough said. Go Blum! Go Cyclones!

Well, duh! Of course. If there are any ISU fans that want Rhoads fired after two seasons, they aren't very good fans. This small minority needs to realize we are Iowa State, and no coach is going to magically get us ten wins instantly.

 

[theshadow]

Do they cater more to Iowa than ISU? Slightly.

:biglaugh:

*They have a portion of their site called Hawk Central. It has its own URL, and own unique look.
*The "Cyclone Insider" is simply another sub-page of the Register's normal site, with the same formatting.

*The Register will send 7 people to cover an Iowa road game (in addition to the people that the ICPC sends, even though they're basically one and the same now), and 2 to cover an ISU home game.

*The Register devoted SIX PAGES of its Sunday edition to the Iowa-Arizona game...a game that ended after midnight, and well after the print deadline.

*The Register has huge ads touting Hawk Central -- "Love Kirk?", "Love Herky?", etc. Meanwhile, off in a corner somewhere -- "Oh yeah, we cover ISU too."

*The Register was one of nearly all of the Iowa media that could barely contain giddiness over the possible demise of the Big 12, the rise of the Big Ten, and the relegation of Iowa State to a non-BCS conference.

*The Register publishes stories about kids that Iowa is recruiting -- not commits or signees, mind you -- just kids they're looking at. Meanwhile, ISU gets two commits for football and it's "reportedly, two guys have committed to Iowa State, according to the internet."

 

[CYinPA]

:biglaugh:

*They have a portion of their site called Hawk Central. It has its own URL, and own unique look.
*The "Cyclone Insider" is simply another sub-page of the Register's normal site, with the same formatting.

*The Register will send 7 people to cover an Iowa road game (in addition to the people that the ICPC sends, even though they're basically one and the same now), and 2 to cover an ISU home game.

*The Register devoted SIX PAGES of its Sunday edition to the Iowa-Arizona game...a game that ended after midnight, and well after the print deadline.

*The Register has huge ads touting Hawk Central -- "Love Kirk?", "Love Herky?", etc. Meanwhile, off in a corner somewhere -- "Oh yeah, we cover ISU too."

*The Register was one of nearly all of the Iowa media that could barely contain giddiness over the possible demise of the Big 12, the rise of the Big Ten, and the relegation of Iowa State to a non-BCS conference.

*The Register publishes stories about kids that Iowa is recruiting -- not commits or signees, mind you -- just kids they're looking at. Meanwhile, ISU gets two commits for football and it's "reportedly, two guys have committed to Iowa State, according to the internet."

Quoted for truth.

 

[tellmac]

Des Moines Register needs some real people like Brent Blum. That's all I am saying. DMR is by the far the most biased organization I have seen around. We need to improve the media around and about Iowa State.

Try reading the Quad City Times.It is nothing more than a branch of the EIU athletic Dept!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really,Really BAD!!!!!

 

[theshadow]

That's almost all a load of crap. Take off your goggles. They cover ISU on the front page on a daily basis and it's not as negative as you think.

The Rag has absolutely NO bias against ISU. The only people that would ever think that are ISU fans because you guys want nothing but fantasy land articles written about your program.

They bring more people to cover Iowa for the simple reason- it's a bigger story. What do you expect? ISU is playing either a lousy team or someone they're going to get their brains beaten in by. Why would you spend money to send a bunch of reporters down to Oklahoma

Sorry, but there's just nothing positive about ISU football and never really has been. The truth sucks sometimes, but that's the truth.

Your reading comprehension obviously leaves a lot to be desired. I said nothing about sending reporters to Oklahoma -- I said a HOME game. That's right. They would rather foot the bill for 7 people to go out-of-state than for 2 people to drive 40 minutes.

I don't want fantasyland stories. I simply want the opportunity to have equal space and have a neutral presentation so the readers can decide for themselves.

Maybe you'd rather focus on headlines? We can do that, too.
"On 31st Try, Iowa State beats Iowa" -- from a wrestling story
"Two Defenses, One of them Good" -- from a football season preview
...and so on and so forth.

In today's Facebook/Twitter/text message world, many people will only read the headline and maybe the first graph. When you repeatedly publish headlines like the ones I've referenced, it doesn't take long to see where employees' allegiances lie. And it's not even necessarily the writers. It's the guy working the desk. It's the guy who writes the headlines. And, to paraphrase Mike Gundy, it's the editor who lets that garbage come out every day.

As for ISU never having had football success, you were obviously not around when Iowa was total and complete dog **** (for about 20 years) and ISU was going to bowl games.

 

[Frakk]

"Two Defenses, One of them Good" -- from a football season preview

Ummm.......is there something inaccurate about that??????

Iowa's defense is good. ISU's is bad. This is kinda common knowledge.

Like I said, you're just crying about this because you want them to misrepresent ISU because you know there's just not much positive they can really say without pretty much making stuff up.

 

[Frakk]

"On 31st Try, Iowa State beats Iowa" -- from a wrestling story

I don't like wrestling. Hate it, in fact. But I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with this headline? Did ISU lose to Iowa 31 in a row? I have no idea. I'm assuming that's what this headline is about. And if so, what's so bad about it? You lose 31 straight to an opponent and then win, that's a pretty solid headline. Don't you think something should be put into the headline of an article written about a team that finally beat an opponent they had lost to 31 straight times?

Give me a better headline for that....

"ISU outduels Hawks after 31 straight defeats"??? Is that better? To me, it's the same thing.

 

[theshadow]

"Two Defenses, One of them Good" -- from a football season preview

Ummm.......is there something inaccurate about that??????

Iowa's defense is good. ISU's is bad. This is kinda common knowledge.

Like I said, you're just crying about this because you want them to misrepresent ISU because you know there's just not much positive they can really say without pretty much making stuff up.

That wasn't from this year's preview, smart guy. Again with the reading comprehension.

You want (yet another) example, from this week? The Mackey Award list came out. Both Iowa and Iowa State were represented. Guess which guy got no mention. Exactly.

I don't want them to misrepresent Iowa State. I simply want them to represent Iowa State in some fashion other than as an afterthought. To not do so is to alienate a large percentage of readership and advertisers -- the people that pay the bills in the newspaper industry.

 

[theshadow]

Give me a better headline for that....

"Cyclones Upset Hawks"
"ISU Beats Iowa, xx-xx"

The reference to the losing streak in the headline was sophomoric, and it gave the impression that Iowa State was some slap team in the world of college wrestling.

 

[Frakk]

"That wasn't from this year's preview, smart guy. Again with the reading comprehension."

Actually, you should try a little reading comprehension, smart guy. NOWHERE did you mention that the headline WASN'T from this year. I just assumed it was.

 

[Frakk]

"Cyclones Upset Hawks"
"ISU Beats Iowa, xx-xx"

The reference to the losing streak in the headline was sophomoric, and it gave the impression that Iowa State was some slap team in the world of college wrestling.

Take off your freakin ISU goggles. My goodness. This is my point here. What on earth are you talking about? That headline indicates absolutely NO dig at ISU's program. When you lose to an opponent 30 straight years and then finally beat them, it would be stupid to not include that fact in your headline. The fact that someone that had lost to an opponent 30 straight times and then finally beat them IS the story.

If they put the headline "Cyclones Upset Hawks", you're crying about how the Register won't give ISU any credit and they just don't want to admit the better team won.

Can't any of you be objective at all? You're seeing biases in every word written and looking too much into them because you have yourself convinced that the world hates ISU. Geez....

Again, ISU being successful is good for Iowa sports media. What about this do you people not understand?

 

[theshadow]

"That wasn't from this year's preview, smart guy. Again with the reading comprehension."

Actually, you should try a little reading comprehension, smart guy. NOWHERE did you mention that the headline WASN'T from this year. I just assumed it was.

From "a" football preview -- not from "the 2010" football preview.

 

[Frakk]

From "a" football preview -- not from "the 2010" football preview.

Ok, but you did not indicate the year. And what year was it? I got news for you, Iowa has had a good defense for most of the last decade and ISU has had a bad defense for most of it.

So you're mad about the truth?

 

[CycloneErik]

Not at all actually. Not sure why you say that.
I just laugh when people say things like the OP. When I quit journalism and moved to Des Moines, everybody would say "you should go work at the Register" or "you should freelance for the Register" or something to that effect.
Like I could just walk in and ask where my desk is at.

You don't ask. Just pick the best desk and move on.

 

[theshadow]

That headline indicates absolutely NO dig at ISU's program. When you lose to an opponent 30 straight years and then finally beat them, it would be stupid to not include that fact in your headline. The fact that someone that had lost to an opponent 30 straight times and then finally beat them IS the story.

If they put the headline "Cyclones Upset Hawks", you're crying about how the Register won't give ISU any credit and they just don't want to admit the better team won.

No, if it said "Cyclones Upset Hawks," then that would have given Iowa State credit and any argument that it didn't would have been pointless.

Cyclones Upset Hawks, xx-xx = 27 characters
On 31st Try, ISU beats Iowa = 27 characters

Two headlines. Same length. Same event. Same story. Way different tone and initial impression.

 

[Frakk]

Again, there is NO negative tone towards ISU in that. You really got the Clone blinders on. Wow.

What you're not understanding is how to write a headline. It needs to be catchy and accurately reflect the story. The story would be the fact that ISU beat an opponent after 30 straight losses. How can a journalist possibly avoid making that the story? And beyond that, it's a much more eye-catching headline. "Cyclones Upset Hawks" is High School Newspaper-ish.

You can't avoid the 30 straight losses reference in the headline. "Cyclones Upset Hawks" doesn't give the reader the real story. It would seem to them that this was just another upset that happens on a weekly basis in college sports. Pulling an upset on a team you have lost to 30 straight years is a whole other level.

Might not wanna get into journalism. Just sayin'....

 

[YellowSnow]

Again, there is NO negative tone towards ISU in that. You really got the Clone blinders on. Wow.

What you're not understanding is how to write a headline. It needs to be catchy and accurately reflect the story. The story would be the fact that ISU beat an opponent after 30 straight losses. How can a journalist possibly avoid making that the story? And beyond that, it's a much more eye-catching headline. "Cyclones Upset Hawks" is High School Newspaper-ish.

You can't avoid the 30 straight losses reference in the headline. "Cyclones Upset Hawks" doesn't give the reader the real story. It would seem to them that this was just another upset that happens on a weekly basis in college sports. Pulling an upset on a team you have lost to 30 straight years is a whole other level.

Might not wanna get into journalism. Just sayin'....

How about a headline for when Iowa ended State's football win streak?

"On fifth try, Ferenz finally beats State"

Would you be ok with something along those lines?

Maybe...

"ISU dispatches Hawks for five in a row"

That would have been a good one for the 2002 game...

 

[cyrocksmypants]

I've read Blum for a long time. He seems like a fine person, but I just don't care for his writing style at all. It's usually all over the place. When he gets to the point he's trying to make, he usually makes a good point, it just takes half the article for him to finally get there. Again, some people like that style, I just prefer my sports columns to be about sports. I could care less if you want to add a Jersey Shore joke or other pop culture joke in there.

As for the Rag, some of you guys are absolutely ridiculous. Is the paper well run? No. Is the paper well written? Not really. Did a once respectable paper run down the crapper? Pretty much. But to pretend like they have some kind of agenda against ISU is a joke. Do they cover Iowa more? Yeah. And do you know why? Because probably 70 percent of the fans in the state are Iowa fans. You're going to cater to the masses, and until ISU can start to even that number out a little bit, it's going to stay that way.

 

[cy2win]

Take off your freakin ISU goggles. My goodness. This is my point here. What on earth are you talking about? That headline indicates absolutely NO dig at ISU's program. When you lose to an opponent 30 straight years and then finally beat them, it would be stupid to not include that fact in your headline. The fact that someone that had lost to an opponent 30 straight times and then finally beat them IS the story.

If they put the headline "Cyclones Upset Hawks", you're crying about how the Register won't give ISU any credit and they just don't want to admit the better team won.

Can't any of you be objective at all? You're seeing biases in every word written and looking too much into them because you have yourself convinced that the world hates ISU. Geez....

Again, ISU being successful is good for Iowa sports media. What about this do you people not understand?

Exactly mother ******....so how about these headlines:

"CYCLONES DOMINATE LONGHORNS"

"HAWKEYES WUSS OUT AGAINST BADGERS"