Cyclones not so special

[TOMMYBOY]

That was the title of the Cyclone article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on Sunday! This title really got me enraged! Am I over reacting? Dose this seem to be a sour grapes response to last weeks win over the hawks? Sorry, I just need to vent alittle. This living in the heart of hawk land gets to me sometimes!

I went on to there web sight this morning and cannot find that title anywhere. I wonder if they had some bad responses and changed it?

[cytheguy]

The headline looks accurate to me. It's obviously tied to our poor special teams play in the 4th quarter, which was pathetic.

[twittkop]

That is the title that was printed in the paper.

You can read the electronic version of the paper for free at Tecnavia Web Platform. They have archives of the papers for the past ~4 weeks.

[ISUFan22]

Sometimes the truth hurts...

[TOMMYBOY]

Maybe I am over reacting. I think being surrounded by all the hawk fans is making me paranoid!

[clones_jer]

You're not over-reacting, the Hawks lost too - what headline did they get?

[SlyCy]

Here are some of the headlines from the wekeend covering the two losses.

Iowa headlines:

Big Ten opener bangs up Iowa

Hawks keep getting closer--Misadventures hurt Hawks

Progress, but no win--Hobbled Hawks not content to show growth in defeat

Badgers bust Hawkeyes--Hobbled Iowa team runs out of steam in 17-13 loss at Wisconsin

Iowa State headlines:

Special teams fizzle for Cyclones

Cyclones not so special--Kicking-game disasters cost Cyclones in loss--Special Teams meltdown

Rockets shoot past Iowa State--Inability to stop pass dooms Cyclones again


Mistakes give away Iowa State win


Although accurate most of the time there is a positive spin about the Hawks loss than a Cyclone loss. They go out of their way to make a cute and negative headline about the Cyclones. That's what makes them a buck. They are the biggest distributer of Hawkeye kool-aid to eastern Iowa.

I live in Cedar Rapids and it's not a paranoia...it's real.

[TOMMYBOY]

I wrote the Gazette this morning and I am impressed I have 2 responses already. I love how they say they don't have hawk fans writing for them. They could have fooled me.


Thanks for writing and I understand you frustration over the headline, but, believe me, it was not written by a Hawk fan taking a jab at the Cyclones. We do not have fans of any team writing headlines or stories for our paper. We insist on impartiality when it comes to coverage of any team, be that Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa or high school sports.

The headline simply refers to the Cyclones’ breakdown on special teams late in the game, a point made not by our writer or headline writer but by ISU Coach Gene Chizik.
Thanks again for writing. I appreciate any and all comments.

J.R. Ogden
Sports editor
The Gazette
(319) 368-8696
jr.ogden@gazettecommunications.com


Thank you for the note. The headline, in sports parlance, was
appropriate. The Cyclones' special teams produced a "comedy of errors,''
according to Coach Gene Chizik. It was his comment about the special
teams that was the reference for the headline, Cyclones not so special."

John Wagner, news correspondent for The Gazette, is not a Hawkeye fan
nor a Cyclone fan. He is, however, an experienced sports writer who has
covered many Big Twelve games.
Anyway, I appreciate your taking the time to write your concerns, which
have been shared with the sports department.
Regards,

MARK BOWDEN | EDITOR | GAZETTE COMMUNICATIONS
500 THIRD AVENUE SE, CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA 52406
(319) 398-5869 | CELL: (319) 360-8101 | FAX: (319) 398-5846
www.gazetteonline.com

[clonomaniac]

I don't know why its such a big deal. I didn't buy any newspapers on sunday, because I knew exactly what they would say about the cyclones. To say we are not so special is accurate. We seemed pretty special a week ago, and now we just don't seem that special - what's wrong with that. I will take an honest criticism over an article that got the Okie state coach all worked up any day.

[4VR4CY]

Originally Posted by TOMMYBOY

I wrote the Gazette this morning and I am impressed I have 2 responses already. I love how they say they don't have hawk fans writing for them. They could have fooled me.


Thanks for writing and I understand you frustration over the headline, but, believe me, it was not written by a Hawk fan taking a jab at the Cyclones. We do not have fans of any team writing headlines or stories for our paper. We insist on impartiality when it comes to coverage of any team, be that Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa or high school sports.

The headline simply refers to the Cyclones’ breakdown on special teams late in the game, a point made not by our writer or headline writer but by ISU Coach Gene Chizik.
Thanks again for writing. I appreciate any and all comments.

J.R. Ogden
Sports editor
The Gazette
(319) 368-8696
jr.ogden@gazettecommunications.com


Thank you for the note. The headline, in sports parlance, was
appropriate. The Cyclones' special teams produced a "comedy of errors,''
according to Coach Gene Chizik. It was his comment about the special
teams that was the reference for the headline, Cyclones not so special."

John Wagner, news correspondent for The Gazette, is not a Hawkeye fan
nor a Cyclone fan. He is, however, an experienced sports writer who has
covered many Big Twelve games.
Anyway, I appreciate your taking the time to write your concerns, which
have been shared with the sports department.
Regards,

MARK BOWDEN | EDITOR | GAZETTE COMMUNICATIONS
500 THIRD AVENUE SE, CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA 52406
(319) 398-5869 | CELL: (319) 360-8101 | FAX: (319) 398-5846
www.gazetteonline.com

Do these writers live in Iowa? If they do, and they are sports writers, they more than likely are fans of one team or another. You can say you are impartial as a writer, but if you are honest, you will say that you lean one way or another.

[TOMMYBOY]

This is my reply.

Thanks for the quick response. I am just annoyed at the negative headlines we get compared to the hawks when they loose. For example:
Iowa headlines:
Big Ten opener bangs up Iowa
Hawks keep getting closer--Misadventures hurt Hawks
Progress, but no win--Hobbled Hawks not content to show growth in defeat
Badgers bust Hawkeyes--Hobbled Iowa team runs out of steam in 17-13 loss at Wisconsin

Iowa State headlines:
Special teams fizzle for Cyclones
Cyclones not so special--Kicking-game disasters cost Cyclones in loss--Special Teams meltdown
Rockets shoot past Iowa State--Inability to stop pass dooms Cyclones again
We have meltdown's and are doomed but the hawks are showing growth and having Misadventures. See the difference? We may suck this year but we would like to hang on to the little hope we still have. It doesn't help to pick up the paper and see headlines like that. Just try to give us some hope.

[herbiedoobie]

And that, my friends, is why journalists tend to be such effective liars. If they ate nails, they'd poop screws, they are so crooked.

Good catch, Tommyboy!

[Cypwr]

Originally Posted by TOMMYBOY

I wrote the Gazette this morning and I am impressed I have 2 responses already. I love how they say they don't have hawk fans writing for them. They could have fooled me.


Thanks for writing and I understand you frustration over the headline, but, believe me, it was not written by a Hawk fan taking a jab at the Cyclones. We do not have fans of any team writing headlines or stories for our paper. We insist on impartiality when it comes to coverage of any team, be that Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa or high school sports.

The headline simply refers to the Cyclones’ breakdown on special teams late in the game, a point made not by our writer or headline writer but by ISU Coach Gene Chizik.
Thanks again for writing. I appreciate any and all comments.

J.R. Ogden
Sports editor
The Gazette
(319) 368-8696
jr.ogden@gazettecommunications.com


Thank you for the note. The headline, in sports parlance, was
appropriate. The Cyclones' special teams produced a "comedy of errors,''
according to Coach Gene Chizik. It was his comment about the special
teams that was the reference for the headline, Cyclones not so special."

John Wagner, news correspondent for The Gazette, is not a Hawkeye fan
nor a Cyclone fan. He is, however, an experienced sports writer who has
covered many Big Twelve games.
Anyway, I appreciate your taking the time to write your concerns, which
have been shared with the sports department.
Regards,

MARK BOWDEN | EDITOR | GAZETTE COMMUNICATIONS
500 THIRD AVENUE SE, CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA 52406
(319) 398-5869 | CELL: (319) 360-8101 | FAX: (319) 398-5846
www.gazetteonline.com

The headline writer and the story writer are not the same. This was talked about last year or the year before on an story in the Rag where a writer caught flack from Cyclone nation because of something a headline writer put on top of his work. I think it was on CR board with some input from a member over there that actually works for Gazette. It seems strange but that is the impression that they left. I guess what I am saying is you can not just say the guy writing the article is not a fan but the headline writer can not be a fan of a certain team either. Actually the first response states "We do not have fans of any team writing headlines or stories for our paper." but the second response only defends the story writer not the headline writer. I guess headline writers are trying to be clever and their job is to sell papers to their audience, which in the case of the Gazatte is Squawkeyes, so I understand why they do what they do. Now the Rag is different story all together.

[cys_av8r]

I think our special teams are special.

They should have been riding this home from Toledo:

[4VR4CY]

Originally Posted by Cypwr

The headline writer and the story writer are not the same. This was talked about last year or the year before on an story in the Rag where a writer caught flack from Cyclone nation because of something a headline writer put on top of his work. I think it was on CR board with some input from a member over there that actually works for Gazette. It seems strange but that is the impression that they left. I guess what I am saying is you can not just say the guy writing the article is not a fan but the headline writer can not be a fan of a certain team either. Actually the first response states "We do not have fans of any team writing headlines or stories for our paper." but the second response only defends the story writer not the headline writer. I guess headline writers are trying to be clever and their job is to sell papers to their audience, which in the case of the Gazatte is Squawkeyes, so I understand why they do what they do. Now the Rag is different story all together.

I still stand behind my previous post. I cannot believe that they are not fans of any team.