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Williams Blog: Orr's return equals big opportunity

Chris, I was a student at Iowa State when Orr was hired, I skipped class to go to the press conference. Back then we camped outside Hilton to get in the doors first and it was often a doublerheader with women's games. "My seat" was third row middle section behind the scorer's bench, so the ref could hear me when he came over to report a foul, yes the student seating was different back then. I was there when "Hilton Magic" was born, the night Barry Stevens jumper from the top of the key curled around the rim and fell to defeat a highly ranked mizzou in double OT. It was that night that Iowa State fans learned they could have an affect on the outcome of a game.

It eventually got where we always thought we had a chance no matter who came to town, Larry Brown never won there. I heard a well known commentator say on the air, "I think Iowa State would give the Lakers a good game in Hilton".

Your last sentence of your blog: "To all of the Cyclone Nation…Be loud. Be proud. And when you get to work on Thursday, you better not be able to talk." , sums it up perfectly, you always used to lose your voice at games.

I know this is the exact type of reminiscing you despise, but I don't know if things will ever return to that type of atmosphere. There are two things I think that really changed all of college basketball, television and timeouts. Nowadays with all the games on TV and with the big screen high def TVs, coupled with the cost of tickets, its alot easier for many to stay home and enjoy the view. Also another big change that happened several years ago now is the number of timeouts because of TV. It just breaks up the game so much more than before, and makes it harder for the crowd to sustain momentum.

Any way tomorrow night would be a great night for the Magic to return, hope we can hang in there and give the crowd something to remember
 
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man, that article got me PUMPED.

I was a student during Floyd's last year and LE's first year...not exactly great seasons. Then also during the two Big 12 Championship seasons. It can turn around FAST as evidenced by those four seasons. I think Hilton will start to rock again this year, and lead into bringing the house down in year two under CFH.
 
Chris, I understand you not being quite old enough to remember.....i barely do, I was in 1st grade in 86 when Hornacek and Co. took the team to the sweet 16 but I remember covering my ears at games because it was so loud. I remember getting to miss school to make the trip to Minneapolis (Hilton North back then) and watch ISU take down mighty Michigan. My dad and I would make the trips over for the saturday games, No one sat, The floors would shake, Your knees were weak from the excitement.

I think the two main reasons you don't see the same crowds as the past are: The teams have been VERY boring to watch or not good. Even when Larry won back to back titles, it was mostly defense and Fizer tearing up the lane. Orr's days they would run and run some more never taking a minute off. The other reason is this Cyclone Alley - I know there have been a hundred threads about it, but putting the students at the ends versus scattering them throughout the crowd makes the difference.

I am hoping that Fred can bring it back.
 
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ChrisMWilliams said:
Here are my thoughts on Johnny Orr's return to Ames and the big opportunity I feel it presents to the Cyclone Nation. I am super excited about tomorrow night.

Chris Williams' Blog on Iowa State Athletics: Johnny Orr's return equals one big opportunity | Cyclone Fanatic
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Imagine the loudest you hear it at Hilton on, say, an annual basis. It was that loud every night when Johnny was there. There was an energy that you could feel when you walked into the building. We were virtually unbeatable there.

Some used to say the only team that ran the fast break better than the Cyclones was the Lakers.
 
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+1,000,000 to the first four replies. Couldn't have said it better myself.

It. Was. Awesome.
 
It's all up to the students. When I was there (1986-1990), we had to enter a lottery to get tickets. That's how much demand there was. I think it can happen again with the style Hoiberg is playing. If we can start mixing in a few upsets (something McDermott never accomplished at Hilton), the students will want to be there. I don't know what Orr's home record was against Top 25 teams but it had to be pretty good.
 
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kilgore_trout said:
no need to insult the people who were there just because you weren't.

continue yapping.

ps. you're grounded.
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Come on man. Are you serious? You know that I'm not insulting anybody. Why in the world would a guy who runs a Cyclone fan site insult 80 percent of the fan base?

You obviously didn't understand the point of the column. I love hearing the old war stories (and thanks to you who have shared them above). I just don't like it when fingers get pointed at a younger generations of Cyclones for not "carrying the banner." Things are different. The point of the column was a cry to the entire fan base to come together tomorrow and get it done. Thanks for reading everybody.

p.s. I'm running away from home and never coming back. :cool:
 
Chris, I know you youngsters don't like to hear the way it used to be, but I have been going to games since Johnny was hired and unless you were there you can not know how much fun it was for years. Not just a few games, but years! I hope Fred does bring that back for you, you will know it when you experience it. My favorite times were when either Larry Brown or Billy Tubbs were in town, it really went nuts! But my all time favorite was the Iowa game with Lafester when the floor in the john was shaking between overtimes. The Morgan years were nothing, I just hope you get to have as much fun for one year as we had for 10 years with Johnny.
 
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JRE1975 said:
Chris, I know you youngsters don't like to hear the way it used to be, but I have been going to games since Johnny was hired and unless you were there you can not know how much fun it was for years. Not just a few games, but years! I hope Fred does bring that back for you, you will know it when you experience it. My favorite times were when either Larry Brown or Billy Tubbs were in town, it really went nuts! But my all time favorite was the Iowa game with Lafester when the floor in the john was shaking between overtimes. The Morgan years were nothing, I just hope you get to have as much fun for one year as we had for 10 years with Johnny.
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I agree! Thanks for sharing.
 
I'm the same age as CW and I love hearing the stories from Hilton Magic's glory days. I went to a few games during the later years of that period but its hard to remember. Frankly, it gives me hope that it can return. Will it be the same? Heck no. But it can come back in a good way. Look at some of the other teams in our conference that have gone nuts in the past couple years (K State). It will happen again.
 
Goldfinger said:
Chris, I was a student at Iowa State when Orr was hired, I skipped class to go to the press conference. Back then we camped outside Hilton to get in the doors first and it was often a doublerheader with women's games. "My seat" was third row middle section behind the scorer's bench, so the ref could hear me when he came over to report a foul, yes the student seating was different back then. I was there when "Hilton Magic" was born, the night Barry Stevens jumper from the top of the key curled around the rim and fell to defeat a highly ranked mizzou in double OT. It was that night that Iowa State fans learned they could have an affect on the outcome of a game.

It eventually got where we always thought we had a chance no matter who came to town, Larry Brown never won there. I heard a well known commentator say on the air, "I think Iowa State would give the Lakers a good game in Hilton".

Your last sentence of your blog: "To all of the Cyclone Nation…Be loud. Be proud. And when you get to work on Thursday, you better not be able to talk." , sums it up perfectly, you always used to lose your voice at games.

I know this is the exact type of reminiscing you despise, but I don't know if things will ever return to that type of atmosphere. There are two things I think that really changed all of college basketball, television and timeouts. Nowadays with all the games on TV and with the big screen high def TVs, coupled with the cost of tickets, its alot easier for many to stay home and enjoy the view. Also another big change that happened several years ago now is the number of timeouts because of TV. It just breaks up the game so much more than before, and makes it harder for the crowd to sustain momentum.

Any way tomorrow night would be a great night for the Magic to return, hope we can hang in there and give the crowd something to remember
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+1

I agree that the number of structured timeouts because of TV, and coaches that are better at utilizing timeouts to quite the crowd make it almost impossible to replicate the energy that could be generated during long runs.

I will add that transition defenses have improved as well.

It was a fun time.
 
The only thing worse to watch than bad basketball is boring basketball, both of which we've had for the last few years.

BUT- I think we're only a few key games away from having the Magic back. Part of the reason the younger generation doen't have the fire is because they've never seen the result in person. If the younger generation sees an under-manned ISU team beat KU based on momentum tomorrow, they will have seen the Magic, and it will grow that much more.

Thanks for the write-up Chris - sure got me excited!! Go State.
 
obviously?

you go to your room, young man. rudeness is not tolerated here.




ChrisMWilliams said:
Come on man. Are you serious? You know that I'm not insulting anybody. Why in the world would a guy who runs a Cyclone fan site insult 80 percent of the fan base?

You obviously didn't understand the point of the column. I love hearing the old war stories (and thanks to you who have shared them above). I just don't like it when fingers get pointed at a younger generations of Cyclones for not "carrying the banner." Things are different. The point of the column was a cry to the entire fan base to come together tomorrow and get it done. Thanks for reading everybody.

p.s. I'm running away from home and never coming back. :cool:
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ISUPoker said:
There was also a lot less to do back then, compared to now. And tickets were dirt cheap back then, compared to now.
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I was just going to say the exact same thing. I don't think it's specific to Cyclone basketball. There just was not as much to do back then. There were no iPods, internet, cell phones, xBoxes or WII, etc. A lot of us still only had three channels back then. The only instant gratification was BEING THERE.

If Larry Brown was bringing his #1 Jayhawks to town on a Wednesday night, it didn't matter if Dad had to work the next morning and you had to be at school. You got in the car and drove four hours round-trip and saw it with your own eyes. Then you went home with your ears still ringing.
 
ruxCYtable said:
I was just going to say the exact same thing. I don't think it's specific to Cyclone basketball. There just was not as much to do back then. There were no iPods, internet, cell phones, xBoxes or WII, etc. A lot of us still only had three channels back then. The only instant gratification was BEING THERE.

If Larry Brown was bringing his #1 Jayhawks to town on a Wednesday night, it didn't matter if Dad had to work the next morning and you had to be at school. You got in the car and drove four hours round-trip and saw it with your own eyes. Then you went home with your ears still ringing.
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I had to take my homework with me back in the day and do it at timeouts.
 
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