2-Years Strong

Jeremy · 02-22-2008, 10:58 AM

2-Years Strong - CycloneFanatic Is Here To Stay

As of today we've hit the formal two-year anniversary of CycloneFanatic.com! It was a short two years ago that a site was created with no other objective than to give Cyclone fans a place to gather and converse. After four major face-lifts, three major platform changes and three server migrations, we've gone through just about all the bumps we should have to and yet we're still around and still setting traffic records weekly. None of it could ever have been possible without the tremendous support of all of our members. Each and every one of you deserves a huge pat on the back for helping make CycloneFanatic the place it is today!

When I first created CycloneFanatic I was completely set back by the sheer number of individuals that wanted a completely free place to gather. Instead of having a small site of maybe a couple hundred, we grew into a community of tens of thousands. We started with thousands of page views a day on a shared server and quickly grew into having server issues because of the millions of page views a month that were being generated. After moving to different platforms and different dedicated servers, we finally settled on the current platform and server about a year ago. For the most part the ride has been fairly smooth since (knock on wood). We still experience growing pains every once in a while but overall things have been running well for quite some time.

With members and visitors from every state and just about every country I've ever heard of, and a few I never would have expected, you could say Cyclone Athletics has entered the global market in new ways. Instead of relying only on press releases for information, Cyclone fans the world over have embraced CycloneFanatic and made it their de-facto source to keep in touch with those closer to the University and programs than they could possibly be geographically. Hopefully by giving new life to those long-distance fans, Iowa State can get a few more donations from past alums that have since moved away from central Iowa. By keeping people connected and excited about Cyclone Athletics, it's my hope that the future will be brighter with more and more donors and supporters from every corner of the world.

While it has been anything but a perfectly smooth ride the past two years, I will be the first to admit that I personally have grown up a lot from what has taken place. I hope that I'm not the only one that has learned new things about the great Cyclones that have come before us and about a few of the smaller club teams that don't get nearly enough publicity. It's amazing to think of the things I've learned over the past two years that I probably would have never known if it wasn't for the vast member-base we have here at CycloneFanatic. By sharing in a common goal, we've helped solidify what I feel is the best fan-base in all of Collegiate Athletics. We might not be the biggest fan-base in pure numbers, but we're certainly the loudest and most dedicated of any I've ever seen.

The past two years has been the most eventful 24 months there's ever been in all of Iowa State Cyclone Athletics history. With all the coaching changes, donation and fund-raising records, goals and milestones that have taken place, it's quite amazing to think of all that we've had to talk about and debate since CycloneFanatic started. While there's no denying that the number of events, stories and controversies surrounding Iowa State has contributed to the site's growth, the overall success can still only be attributed to the many dedicated members and moderators that have joined the site. Without a team of dedicated members and moderators to keep the foundation solid, there would be no place to talk about that which we love so dearly.

At this point in time we have members that were players, coaches or employees at Iowa State during every year for the past half century and members that were students or fans for far longer. It's quite amazing to read some of the emails that I receive from past athletes or life-long fans from every generation. While the internet has always been thought of as a youth oriented medium, we have members of all ages and backgrounds. It's with the knowledge of all of the vast philosophical, generational and cultural difference that we've strived to keep CycloneFanatic as clean as possible of those things that typically give message boards and communities a bad name. Hopefully as we round the two-year milestone it reminds all of us just how far reaching the Cyclone fan-base truly is.

While I could go on forever about how great it's been being around all of you and sharing in the knowledge of such a vast cross-section of the fan-base, I'm going to simply say Thank You! Thank You for being the second best thing in my life (wife and family come first) and thank you for being such a big part of the daily motivation that I have to get up every morning. Two years ago I was just another fan looking for a place to converse with other Cyclone diehards - today I'm a proud member of the best community of fans I've ever seen!

Thank you for all that each of you have done, not only for CycloneFanatic, but most importantly for Cyclone Athletics. It's a tremendously competitive world we live in and it's amazing to see the success of Cyclone Athletics and CycloneFanatic. Here's to a bright and beautiful future ahead!

Go Cyclones!

Thanks,

Jeremy Lind
CycloneFanatic.com

ISUFan22 · 02-22-2008, 11:00 AM

Congrats!

cys_av8r · 02-22-2008, 11:00 AM

GOOD STUFF. Now we have to start working on potty training....

cycloneworld · 02-22-2008, 11:04 AM

Happy birthday CF! Congrats!

CyRide3 · 02-22-2008, 11:06 AM

It's a nice place to spend time. I stopped in briefly last summer to find out information about a recruit and I'm here to stay....Congrautlations!
Go Cyclones!!!