ISU basketball will always be > ISU football --> http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/rumors

[mcblogerson]

I love them both but we'll never win a football championship, in basketball we could one day.

[Incyte]

You think the bb program will do better if I drop my ff season tickets? Wtf is going on?!

[UNIGuy4Cy]

I like ISU basketball but outside of 10 teams across America there is no real excitement for basketball until March Madness. The regular season is long and there are 2-3 games a week. Impossible to keep up with.

[ruxCYtable]

Love both.

But football drives the bus for the whole department.

[Bader]

Does anyone really care about basketball? I mean I like ISU basketball but outside of 10 team across America there is no real excitement for basketball until March Madness. The regular season is long and there are 2-3 games a week. Impossible to keep up with.

Nobody should be surprised this is your opinion. Shouldn't you look forward to 2-3 meltdowns per week throughout the winter?

[UNIGuy4Cy]

I would trade the last 30 years in basketball for 30 better years in football. Would give up all NCAA tourney appearances for having a couple BCS appearance.

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Nobody should be surprised this is your opinion. Shouldn't you look forward to 2-3 meltdowns per week throughout the winter?

I meltdown about basketball? Where/when was this?

[allenj32]

Not sure I...or fans in general....agree.

Football attendance: 7 games x 54,000 = 378,000
Basketball attendance: 15 games x 13,000 = 195,000

Since 98-99

Iowa State MBB: 257-193 (.571)
NCAA Tourney Record: 13-14 (.481)

Iowa State FB: 79-102 (.436)
Bowl Record: 3-8 (.272)


This is why Iowa State MBB will always thrive over FB. Going to games just to go to the game is one thing. I like tailgating and I attend 3-4 FB games/yr. I will always cheer for them, but FB will never compete or even come close to MBB for me. I want to cheer for a team who will compete every game and has a chance to win. Until recent, FB has never competed much with the "top teams" in the Big 12 or Big 8. Cyclone FB has always thrived on "mediocrity" and I think until we have a 10-win season, that's why fans will continue to expect. 7-5 is a "decent" season at best. Not "outstanding" and NOT "championship caliber". MBB won't ever "settle" on a "decent" season. Coach Rhodes has us going in the right direction, but Iowa State basketball will always prosper in winning over football.

[bawbie]

I think I understand what the OP is trying to say, although he's saying is very VERY poorly.

ISU MBB is much closer to a national title than ISU FB, and that will probably remain so for the foreseeable future, because of the inherent power structures of each sport.

I think it's enlightening to look at the expectations of each of these programs, given that they are both on the rise. Coming into this year, the best reasonable expectations of the football team were that they might win 8 games and go to a slightly less crappy bowl. No one reasonably expected a BCS berth.

Looking at basketball, it's easy to see how this team may have a path to a 4-seed or so, and then you are favored to get to the sweet sixteen and as many teams have shown recently, anything can happen at that point.

At least for me, that's why I find myself more excited for basketball season than football. It's easier to see the path to success. There are a lot of reasons for this, from the institutional road blocks that the NCAA puts to up to seemingly prevent any team that isn't a power from becoming one, to just the roster size and the amount of time it takes to "remake" a roster.

I think that is a reasonable analysis. I think that differs from the OP, though, in the fact that I'm not using words like "never", "prosper" and "greater than".

[leroycyclone]

Love both.
But football drives the bus for the whole department.

I prefer that we excel in all sports and in the classroom too. Finish higher each year in the Learfield Sports Directors Cup. Fill Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton, get wrestling back into the championship chase, win in cross country, win in volleyball and maybe baseball can make a comeback too. I wonder how many colleges have football attendance at 54,000 per game, men's ball at 13,000 and women's ball at 10,000 in the same year. Not many, if any at all.

[Luth4Cy]

It's pretty simple, basketball is where we have history, get a decent amount of positive media coverage, have a historical arena, etc. Football is where the money is. We need both. I think a couple years ago right before the last Nebraska game there was a Register column suggesting we terminate our football program. Anybody have a link to this?

[Bader]

Since 98-99

Iowa State MBB: 257-193 (.571)
NCAA Tourney Record: 13-14 (.481)

Iowa State FB: 79-102 (.436)
Bowl Record: 3-8 (.272)


This is why Iowa State MBB will always thrive over FB. Going to games just to go to the game is one thing. I like tailgating and I attend 3-4 FB games/yr. I will always cheer for them, but FB will never compete or even come close to MBB for me. I want to cheer for a team who will compete every game and has a chance to win. Until recent, FB has never competed much with the "top teams" in the Big 12 or Big 8. Cyclone FB has always thrived on "mediocrity" and I think until we have a 10-win season, that's why fans will continue to expect. 7-5 is a "decent" season at best. Not "outstanding" and NOT "championship caliber". MBB won't ever "settle" on a "decent" season. Coach Rhodes has us going in the right direction, but Iowa State basketball will always prosper in winning over football.

*Rhoads. MBB "settled" for 5 years in your sample size. You could make this same argument for any school that isn't a blue blood football school. It is much much easier to be competitive in basketball. I'm not sure why you're trying so hard to give the football team continued backhanded compliments

[CykoAGR]

Football will lose on the High School level. One of these days people will figure out that their sons are getting physically maimed in football and they will decide they can't afford the health insurance and the risk it is to keep patching their sons back together. I should know about that, I was one of them. I heard recently about a major college football player who committed suicide. He had already been diagnosed with depression from a brain injury that he had received playing high school football. I knew a young man who died in football practice. I am not saying that he might not have died elsewhere, but that was where they discovered his heart condition. Soccer makes more sense to me.

I realize that some people might be offended by this, but I mean no ill will. I played football and like watching it. The trouble is, those really violent hits make me cringe, because I really don't enjoy seeing the person taking a chance on some permanent damage to his body.

Football is a violent sport, there are strides being made every year to help protect players from severe injuries. Will they ever go away probably not.

The mentions that you make about kids with heart conditions are tragic stories that could occur in any sport that requires moderate or greater physical exertion. There are stories about BBall players collapsing on the court etc. Unfortunately that is a health screening issue and has nothing to do with Football, BBall or sports, it is about the inability to detect conditions.

You are welcome to your opinion but the millions of fans that pay $$ for tickets and television subscriptions to watch Football would argue that its not going anywhere.

How many soccer or XC meets/games do you see on TV? Look around at what is going on in the B1G, money is driving college sports and there is noooooooo waaaaaay that colleges are going to get rid of the Football cash cow.

[bawbie]

Since 98-99

Iowa State MBB: 257-193 (.571)
NCAA Tourney Record: 13-14 (.481)

Iowa State FB: 79-102 (.436)
Bowl Record: 3-8 (.272)


This is why Iowa State MBB will always thrive over FB. Going to games just to go to the game is one thing. I like tailgating and I attend 3-4 FB games/yr. I will always cheer for them, but FB will never compete or even come close to MBB for me. I want to cheer for a team who will compete every game and has a chance to win. Until recent, FB has never competed much with the "top teams" in the Big 12 or Big 8. Cyclone FB has always thrived on "mediocrity" and I think until we have a 10-win season, that's why fans will continue to expect. 7-5 is a "decent" season at best. Not "outstanding" and NOT "championship caliber". MBB won't ever "settle" on a "decent" season. Coach Rhodes has us going in the right direction, but Iowa State basketball will always prosper in winning over football.

New rule: You can only attempt to tear down the football program if you can spell the coaches name correctly. Otherwise you must STFU.

[Cycl1]

Something must really be bugging the OP. Member for 11 months, Goes off and doubles post total in one day screaming about hating football or something, in multiple forums, with the same post.