Source of hatred towards the Hawks

[ISUFan22]

I too am not a fan of Jim Zabel.

Man, I did love the days of Bob Brooks. When growing up a Hawk fan, there were no better words to hear on the radio than "Hey hey! Hawks win!"

Had the chance to meet Brooks a couple times when I was growing up. Great man. I still see/hear him do a commercial now and then - but Iowa broadcasts sure do miss him.

[iccyfan]

Interesting material. I live in Iowa City and both our vehicles carry ISU vanity plates. I frequently wear ISU apparel and my three kids practically live in it. I get some good-natured ribbing but for the most part have no problems whatsoever with being a Cyclone fan in hawkeye town!

I maintain that it's the remote hawkeye fans (especially central Iowa) who are the source of the animosity. This fall, we tailgated before the game in a lot north of Kinnick. A group of Regina HS cheerleaders came thru on a fundraiser; they sold an egg for $1 with the idea that the purchasor could throw it at them or break it on their head. My feminist wife was outraged at the whole scene, but came unhinged when a drunken loud group with Polk County plates bought a carton and positioned the girls such that they were throwing towards our slot. Sure enough, the second egg "missed" the girl and landed near us, splattering several people as the drunken louts laughed and sneered. I gave the thrower a dirty look and the guy stared me down, leaving me no choice but to go over for a conversation. I was never intending to brawl, but three of the tough guys stepped forward. I suggested they reposition the girls and when they declined, I accidentally knocked their egg carton from the tailgate table to the ground. Unlike them, I "apologized" for my clumsiness and walked back to our tailgate. They groused a little bit but that was the end of it.

To me this is an analogy for 75% of hawk fans; loud, obnoxious and drunken, brave with numbers on their side, but ultimately without substance! They're to be pitied not hated...

[URBCLONE]

Where to begin? Let's see...... The fans!

1. Took a few HS friends to the OU-ISU FB game in '84. First night game in JTS. ISU led #2 OU the entire game until Jamel Holloway broke an 80 yd run to win the game 12-10. My Hawk friend cheered for OU the entire time. He claimed that OU was one of his favorite teams. Of course, I've never heard him cheer for OU before or since.

2. First day of work at a new job. As I am being introduced to my new co-workers one of them mentions the upcoming ISU-Iowa game. He proceeds to ask me who I am cheering for. When I respond that I have an undergrad and grad degree from ISU he responds in disgust "Oh no, not another one of those! Man, how do you cheer for THAT school. Their players are all just a bunch of criminals."

3. Out with my wife looking at new homes. As I am out from an open house this tavern dweller is staring me down. I ask my wife if she notices as well and she does. I am puzzled as to what the problem is. As I drive past his dual-wheeled pickup, I notice the prominent Hawk sticker. Of course, we had ISU alumni stickers on our car.

I could go on: Jim Zabel, Hayden Fry, Tim Dwight catching a 50 yd TD pass in the fourth quarter when the score is already 56-14, but for me it is the ignorant and arrogant fans that I despise. I will take it from NU and KU, at least they legitimately have something to crow about.

[DaddyMac]

That pretty much does it for me as well.

Grew up part of the evil empire. Went to ISU. Family actually asked me what I was going to do? Who I was going to cheer for? I was dumb enough to say, "I'll cheer for Iowa and ISU, and when they play each other, I'm neutral".

Week 3 of my freshman semester I had to endure a complete assassination at the hands of the hawks and Nick Bell. Dealing with all the students and such pulled me out of my "neutral" dillusion. But through college and most of the 90's, I didn't really care about Iowa one way or another.

Once ISU came out of the 15 game streak and had some success, is when I started feeling the resentment from iowa fans. Ever sense KF and SA showed up at iowa, I've been able to pull for football somewhat, but hate basketball over there

Overall, I think what crystalized it most for me was the '02 season. I was was all set to sit down and pull for iowa against USC - who I have no real love for either. Until I saw that stinkin' sign "Hey 'Clones, this ain't Boise".

On Trojans! And ever since then, I've been to every ISU/Iowa game and am constantly reminded of the jack-arses over there. Last fall was a down right disgrace for iowa fans.

Somebody here had the perfect line. "99% of iowa fans give the rest a bad name"

[DaddyMac]

Can you name a game where Jim Zabel didn't go on a 10 minute rant about iowa getting screwed somehow? Bad call or something?

Answer - no.

I couldn't stand listening to him. You expect the guy to be a homer. Most college team announcers are - even Pete was.

But you never, ever got an accurate depiction of the game listening to him.

I don't remember the details, but I was helping a buddy re-roof his house 12 years ago or so. We were up there and had the iowa game tuned in (why? I don't know). Anyhow, they're playing PSU and something happens and Zabel goes absolutely ballastically nutz! Something about the iowa rb getting spun around by his face mask, pile-driven into the bleachers in the student section and then Joe-Pa climbed up there and gouged his eyes out - and nothing was called.

We (stupidly) hustle down the ladder, take a look on tv....

No foul.

[cydsho]

NICE!

I grew up a Hawk fan, but when I came to ISU in 92, I burned all those clothes. I would have to say it is all the Fans, and especially the fans that have never been to not only EUI, but any college! How can they be so loyal to a school that they have never been to!

Welcome to 90% of nebr fans. My family in-law are all huge fans but no one has ever attended the univ. I'll at least give them that nebr has a tremendous tradition. Iowa has what a couple of b10 titles and 3 losing Rose bowls over the last 25 years? Hardly room for the arrogance they have.

[CTTB78]

Grew up a Cyclone fan and never really thought or cared about the Hawkeyes all the way through college. Up until that time, their won in BB but were losers for 20 consecutive seasons in FB.
My hatred for Hawkeyes started with "good ole run up the score Raisin Face Hayden". His arrogance remains in Iowa City to this day.

[mike4cy]

I specifically remember the students that were attending ISU but were still loyal to EIU. They may be the most beligerant of the group.

Yep, I see those 5 people all of the time on campus. Usually decked out in UoI coat, sweatpants, sweatshirt, hat, socks, everything else you can imagine. What I do love is seeing them always walking by themselves to and from class, because you just know that they are too ignorant and full of themselves to ever try to make friends with the majority.

[mike4cy]

Welcome to 90% of nebr fans. My family in-law are all huge fans but no one has ever attended the univ. I'll at least give them that nebr has a tremendous tradition. Iowa has what a couple of b10 titles and 3 losing Rose bowls over the last 25 years? Hardly room for the arrogance they have.

The best is when they start spouting about their football "tradition." One blowout BCS bowl loss does not give you tradition.

[Rage On]

Where to begin? Let’s summarize it by saying that EIU fans are the worst. Everyone, other than EIU fans, knows it. Just ask fans from MN, WI, or IL.

My first experience with EIU fans was the most life-altering. My dad went to both EIU and ISU and when the series was renewed between the two schools in football he took the whole family to Iowa City for the game. We grew up as fans of both schools. My brother and I decided to wear ISU shirts to the game. I was 11 and my brother was 14. We were so excited for the game that we ran ahead of our family from our parking spot into the stadium. On our way in, EIU fans yelled, cussed, and threw beer bottles at us. Remember, we were just kids and actually liked both teams.

Of course I’ve witnessed other examples over the years of arrogance, disrespect, and rudeness on the part of EIU fans. I don’t care what people say about ISU fans, I have never seen them treat anybody nearly as bad as EIU fans treat others.

[URBCLONE]

The best is when they start spouting about their football "tradition." One blowout BCS bowl loss does not give you tradition.

Yeah, don't forget their 15-12 men's BB team is still in the hunt for a NCAA bid per all their talking heads. I guess their illustrious tradition and RPI of 89 qualifies them for a bid.

[acs4isu]

This is an easy one... 15 years of listening to hawk fans run their mouths about how great they were and how much we sucked. We knew we sucked, but to have your nose rubbed in it year after year tends to grate on one's nerves. Each year, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion who was going to win. ISU wasn't going to win. Yet, hawk fan felt the need to tell me how much ISU blows, how much Ames sucks, yadda yadda yadda. I could handle losing to a superior team, I just got sick of being reminded how superior the hawks were. The old saying "if you kick a nice dog long enough, eventually he'll get mean" came into play. I hated everything about the hawks, and never wanted to see them win. The arrogance was something I could live with, but when it was coupled with the attitude that ISU can NEVER be good, simply because we were ISU, thats what pushed me over the edge.

[mramseyISU]

I grew up a Mizzou fan. I personally hate Kansas and Nebraska Fans way more than Hawk fans. I came to ISU because I was to dumb to get into the UM engineering school. While I was at ISU I grew to hate the Hawks though.

[Cydar]

I grew up in SW Iowa. It seems people were either Hawkeye fans or, dare I say it, Cornhusker fans. In high school I watched the Hawkeyes, basically because everyone else did. Then I came to ISU for engineering and everything changed. I never really did read the DM Register in High School as The Omaha World Herald did a much better job of covering sports in SW Iowa. When I started reading the Register I noticed how much bias there was towards the Hawks, especially from Ron Maly and Buck Turnbull. Marc Hansen seemed to be a bandwagon jumper depending on what team was doing well. My dislike for the Hawks started there, especially when they would make any trouble from ISU athletics front page news of the sports section and bury any problems with Iowa toward the back half.

One day I saw Hayden Fry on TV. This was after ISU Football was put on scholarship reduction from what happened with Jim Criner. He was moaning about the lack of players he had due to injury. I thought to myself: "You gotta be kidding! You think you got it bad? What gives you the right to b*tch when we now have fewer scholarships to give out than you do?"

There are many other things that made me hate the Hawkeyes, including some of the arrogant Hawk fans that I've met. Heck Marvin Pomerantz and the Board of Regents got me angry when they decided they wanted to Universities to specific programs and eliminate any duplication of programs. I thought that really crippled ISU back then, particularly the Business Program.Then I saw buried near the obituary section that Pomerantz (I think he's an Iowa Grad), before his first retirement from the board, donated a fairly large sum of money to the Hawkeyes!

If you ever want a current reason to dislike the Hawks, watch some of the sports talk show programming on Mediacom Connections 22. The Talking Sports (I'm not sure if that's the correct name) on Tuesdays at 6:30 should be renamed "Talking Iowa Hawkeyes with some ISU, UNI, Drake, and some sports just so we can name the show Talking Sports". Rob Brooks (son of Bob Brooks) and some other Hawkeye homer host the show. The Co-Host (and once in awhile there is a guest co-host, Jerry Kiwala) really shows his ignorance towards ISU athletics and the Big 12. And then there is Tom Kakert(?) with Hawk Talk and I remember him saying that he hates ISU...

[CyFanInRI]

Can you name a game where Jim Zabel didn't go on a 10 minute rant about iowa getting screwed somehow? Bad call or something?

Answer - no.

I couldn't stand listening to him. You expect the guy to be a homer. Most college team announcers are - even Pete was.

But you never, ever got an accurate depiction of the game listening to him.

I don't remember the details, but I was helping a buddy re-roof his house 12 years ago or so. We were up there and had the iowa game tuned in (why? I don't know). Anyhow, they're playing PSU and something happens and Zabel goes absolutely ballastically nutz! Something about the iowa rb getting spun around by his face mask, pile-driven into the bleachers in the student section and then Joe-Pa climbed up there and gouged his eyes out - and nothing was called.

We (stupidly) hustle down the ladder, take a look on tv....

No foul.

That is a perfect description Jim Zabel's play-by-play.

Like you said, you expect a certain amount of partiality from the home team announcer, but in Jim's case it was ridiculous. He could make a Hawkeye gain of 1 yard sound like an 80 yard run for a touchdown.

When I was forced to listen to him I would just translate everything he said into the exact opposite in order to come out with an accurate picture of what the game was really like.