Cykron

And speaking of Ohio, did you know: Many of the early settlers in Iowa were from Ohio. Our stadium is named after Jack Trice from Hiram, Ohio. He played high school for East Tech in Cleveland and came to Iowa State with his coach, Sam Willaman. My wife is from Akron (Bath Township, Revere High School). I guess this means that Ohio is a good place to be from! Take that however you want to.

David Montgomery is from Mount Healthy High School in Cincinnati.

Does the Akron program provide a depth chart? Or just a roster? I would much prefer to get one from the program itself rather than OurLads. Here is ours. Depth Chart for Week 3 Akron.pdf

We currently have 124 RSVP's for our tailgate, only a handful of whom I've ever met. Even some Zips fans. We have RSVP's from 124 people for the tailgate in Akron, even some Zips fans. And we have settled on a menu featuring Montechristo breakfast sandwiches (ham & cheese with cardinal and gold dipping sauces), Cyclone OJ (vodka, OJ, and a grenadine swirl), and more. Hope to see some of you there.

Speaking of our fan site, if you haven't already done so, you have to visit CycloneFanatic.com. As you can tell, I spend quite a bit of time on various fan websites. I have never seen anything remotely close to this site. It is huge (more than 10,000 active users) and it is a true community. The publisher of the site raises money for kids with special medical needs and we all rally to support the causes. You can get help with just about anything (with actual help mixed in amongst the clever comments). Of course, you have to expect trolls (mostly from Eastern Iowa University) and idiots (junior high kids and 40 year olds living in their mother's basements). The "ignore" tool is your best friend as it blocks their "contributions" from your view (until someone else replies to them). And there is even some really good football analysis and perspective. For instance, here is a really good piece on last Saturday's game with Eastern Iowa University. https://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/threads/the-sunday-after-iowa-instant-classic.230970/ And an interview with Head Coach Matt Campbell. https://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/threads/podcast-one-on-one-w-campbell-pre-akron.231001/ We have a wide variety of podcasts, such as ones by Jared Stansbury and Rob Gray that actually focus on football. We have CFTV breakdowns of previous games with Jeff Woody, the RB who scored our most famous TD in the double OT win over Oklahoma State in 2011. And the FAWcast (Friday After Work) is pretty much what all of us do at the bar on Friday nights during away games ("these guys will say anything"). The site is pretty generous in accepting users from other teams. Just don't be a jerk. Expect us to be overconfident. After all, we were the best 3-win team in the country last year! And we are a member of the Big 12 and you are in the MAC, so that means we are better, right? Cyclone Fanatic is a fan site. Don't expect it to be anything else. Our chief fanatic, Chris Williams (C-Dub) is fond of saying, "We aren't Cyclone fans because it is easy, we are Cyclone fans because it is awesome." Seriously, we have the most loyal fans as proved by statistics that compare attendance to wins over the last three years for all D1 football programs. We're #1, we're #1. The photo of tailgating below shows only about half of the official university tailgating lots. We look forward to seeing you in Ames next year. If you come, you are welcome at mine or any one of 1000 others, because it is really just one big tailgate. Seriously, if you aren't a jerk and you wish us good luck as you walk through the tailgate lots, you will be offered drinks dozens of times. Looking forward to seeing some of you there. I'm Cycsk.

Iowa State fans refer to this as strapping on your nut cup! We have been kicked in the groin so often. Exhibit B: The Kansas State game two seasons ago that was the final straw for the previous head coach. Our fan site even tried to make some nut cups with their logo on them, but got shut down by the trademark nazis.

A lot of us talk about #5 WR Allen Lazard as an NFL prospect. He is smart, has great size and shape, good route runner, but is a little slow. He is also a solid punt returner. And while he has made big plays for three years, he has also dropped easy catches in the first two games. He needs to have a spectacular rest of the season because I think his draft stock has gone down so far this year.

More important is that #5 Kamari Cotton-Moya didn't finish the game last week and seems unlikely to play this week. He is our hardest hitting DB and we are a much weaker defense against the run without him. Exhibit A: see the end of the game last Saturday.

I was in Canton a few weeks ago and discovered this delightful gem: http://www.fishersfoods.com/wine-and-beer/ This place is fantastic. It is hard to believe that it is in a grocery store.

There are a few other lots that I would have preferred, but they offered me Lot 4 and I thought it would be good. It is a little difficult to get into the lot (it is not really at the corner like on the parking map), but I like the fact that it has a large grassy area between the lot and Buchtel. We may have to put out a few signs to help direct people through Lot 13 which has to be entered via Carroll St.

We have reserved Lot 4 (and gave a nice little contribution to the university) so that we could have a designated tailgate spot for the Iowa State game. We should have a good group gathered there. As stated above, "friendly Zips fans" are welcome.

I'm in Canton for business for a few days. Hope to go to Infocision Stadium sometime on Thursday or Friday to scope out tailgating lots. Can't wait to come for "real."

Thanks. Funny how that both of us got our nicknames in rather tangential ways. I love the way you guys have embraced it. It is certainly unique.

I suspect that you are correct. It did seem that expectations shot up way too high too early for him. He has a ton of potential, but it is really, really tough to step right in and play on the offensive line. I was hoping to get an update based on info from Fall camp.

I've heard the you are named the Zips because of a zipper on a rubber boot. Is that true? How did that happen? It seems a bit unfortunate. Is it a nickname that you have grown to be fond of? And what are some of the best jokes you have heard about it? And where does the kangaroo fit in? Inquiring minds want to know.

Just added an avatar. This is "Cy" and it is a cardinal-colored cyclone! Or as we sometimes, say, "bird in a blender." About 100 years ago, we played Northwestern and a reporter said we came into Evanston like a cyclone . . . and it stuck. I personally prefer something that is more clearly cyclone-related, but kids love our Cy mascot who is about 7-feet tall and cute (the original Cy was taller and angry-looking). Tons of fans have vanity plates like JOE4CY. One of my personal favorites is CYNTIST. Oh, those wacky faculty! Maybe someday our engineering school will come up with a remote control cyclone-looking drone that they can maneuver around the stadium on game-day!

What is the latest on Mike Miranda from Stow? I heard good things from Spring camp, but nothing from Fall camp. Is he going to see much playing time for Penn State as a true freshman?

This thread has just taken a nice turn toward the heart of Iowa State football fans . . . liquor store hours! What are the tailgate rules about alcohol? Any funky "open container" laws? Any problem serving mixed drinks (e.g. Cyclone OJ, Cyclone Sunrises, Coffee with Bailey's) in cups?

That may be an old joke to you guys, but I didn't think of it. And it is hilarious. For those of us who just parachute into Akron occasionally, the unique use of the word "rubber" still catches me off-guard sometimes. "Oh, yeah, the rubber used for tires."

Just called and bought $15 general admission tickets. Don't even think that they charged me a service or shipping fee. Nice. P.S. I just sold some upper deck corner tickets for our game with (Eastern) Iowa University for $125 each.

Good one! I go to Akron several times a year and am familiar with the Rubber Bowl. And have read the articles about its "renovation." We each have our stadium heritages. Ours is the only D-1 stadium in the country named after an African-American (Jack Trice, cool story, link below). Yours was named after a prophylactic. We both have good reasons to be proud. And that is about as trash-talking as I get! http://www.kagavi.com/the-jack-trice-story/

Stay tuned. We will be having a good-sized tailgate for Iowa State fans.

We will be watching at our tailgate in Ames, Iowa. The better you do, the bigger our game with you will be!

I'm not much of an NFL fan and don't know much about Jason Taylor, but he is one impressive dude! He seems like what we dream that all our players will become.

Here is a link to a really unfortunate story about the Iowa State defensive line coach losing his son in a motorcycle accident in Toledo a week or so ago. So sad. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/iowa-state/randy-peterson/2017/07/31/iowa-state-assistant-eli-rasheed-practicing-heavy-heart-after-death-son/526030001/