First and foremost, my family passed it on. Was born in Ames and lived the first few months of my life in Pammel Court with my parents (both graduates). From that point, we always lived fairly close to Ames and began attending football games once JTS was opened with my parents and siblings and have attended them ever since (approaching 40 years). Fast forward, post-military, parents were still in central Iowa, and it was a convenient choice for college.
Siblings are both fans as well even though neither hold degrees from ISU (one even graduated from Iowa)!
Now with a wife and kids, the natural order of things has been to pass this along to them and have even added basketball games to the Cyclone slate. They are bigger fans than I am, which can require tempering.
To quote a T-shirt that we wear from time to time to football games, “It’s what we do.”
Have some stereotypical hawk fans as friends that have a hard time comprehending why I am into Iowa State and not root for Iowa in anything. Given their lack of connection to a university, I don’t have the heart, or the time, to explain it to them. Besides, they wouldn’t understand anyways.
The culture and connection our fanbase has to the university is what I really enjoy and this ultimately defines us. Think about where this could go if we had some sustained excellence on the field of play / court, etc. This is what excites me the most as a fan and an alumnus . My only concern is that this sustained success (or lack of humility) could transport us down the path of our EIU counterparts and ruin all the good stuff (culture) that we presently have.