Chris Williams and Brent Blum are joined by Jake Brend to discuss the New York Times’ valuation on every Power 5 football team, they hit more on Curtis Jones‘ NBA future, bounce around the Big 12 for some hot topics on Texas Tech and Utah and react to the Farmageddon spread. All presented by Mechdyne Corporation.

The ISU Alumni Club of Denver is hosting our 36th Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament this Saturday with nearly 150 Cyclones heading out to City Park Golf Course! Our scholarship fund supports local Coloradans heading to Iowa State. We have some awesome auction packages this year from Cyclone celebrities along with some autographed gear from the Nuggets - check them out below!

A few items in the auction (bidding closes at 1:15pm MDT on Saturday 7/26 - we can ship to you):

• ISU at Colorado Football Ticket Package
• Round of Golf at the Country Club at Castle Pines with MLB World Series Champion + Cyclone Hall of Famer, Mike Myers
• 2024-25 ISU MBB team autographed Hilton floor piece
• Lipsey + Momcilovic Autographed Maui Invitational Jerseys
• 2024-25 Denver Nuggets team autographed jersey
• + lots more!

Bid Here -->
Hope you'll take a look. There is also an option to donate directly to our scholarship fund on the site for those interested - every little bit helps!
Finally, don't forget that all are welcome to stop by our events or football/basketball game watch parties if visiting Denver. With football season coming up, we're excited to be back at our main game watch bar, Society (1434 Blake St, downtown) in the Mile Cy City - more info on our website: denvercyclones.com

I avoid Starbucks when at home and typically go local. But I have been traveling a lot this summer, so I typically hit up Starbucks a couple times a week. The real draw for me is their Lemon Pound Cake- love it! A couple times I've gone mid-afternoon and asked fore a certain type of coffee based on the carafe behind the counter and the counter person just said they were out and offered what was available. No problem, I'm in it for the caffeine and could understand if a carafe ran out mid-afternoon and they were slow to make more.

Today I hit up a Starbucks in Western Colorado shortly before 11am and asked for a Sumatra (based on carafe) and the counter person said they ONLY serve Pikes Place after 10:30am. I was about ready to belt-out are you effing kidding me, this is a coffee shop!!! But I was polite. But if that's a nationwide practice, seems like a horrible business decision. Anyone else come across this?

In the last week I visited a McDonalds on an interstate where the bathrooms were locked and the counter person had to unlock the bathroom. Probably just a franchisee decision, but I hope its not a national trend.

Recently used AirBNB to book a condo stay. Afterward I received the ubiquitous customer service survey and rated the property 4 (on a 1 to 5 scale) in a couple areas. The host initially reached out to receive further clarification and there were a couple rounds of back & forth. At that point, I thought he was fulfilling his "Superhost" responsibilities. Finally, the host sent me a note saying I must not travel often (I do, over 60 days in the last year) and not understand the AirBNB rating sytem. Included with the note was canned one pager that hosts could provide customers. The one pager had multiple bullet points letting me know that I was destoying the properties and his repuation in AirBNB's view by gving a rating of anything less than a 5. Don't get me going on the worthlessness of a 5 point rating scale. But if a 4 is such a "jerk move" by the customer, why send out surveys? If this one-pager was the work of this one host, I would have written it off. But the document was obviously passed around among hosts and viewed as a gospel.

Has anyone else come across bizarre "business practices" in their travels this summer. I feel companies have lost their "Customer Focus".

Rant Over!! No Cubs tonight to give me purpose

I can’t believe I have to ask this but I’m at a loss. Some of you may remember my oldest (12) being threatened to be stabbed last year and nothing happening about it.

Well now my middle one is in KG and has been dealing with bullies since the first week. We found out last week when he came home with a full lunch and said he couldn’t eat. He said he was too upset about two other kids in his class punching him in the head during lunch. The lunch monitors did nothing. They do it in class and his teacher told him “tell them to stop”. He won’t bring his water bottle anymore because the kids made fun of him. A kid at recess told him he couldn’t play basketball or he’d “kick him in the nuts”.

I know kids were never immune to bullying but it seems the school system can’t do anything about it anymore. He’s a really gentle kid most of the time but he’s absolutely big and strong enough at his age that he could really hurt someone retaliating.

Where is the line between sticking up for himself and walking away? What can we pressure the school to do if this keeps happening? I don’t know what to tell him.

Let's go!

Hear everything that head coach T.J. Otzelberger, freshman forward Dominykas Pleta and freshman guard Jamarion Batemon had to say in the third media availability of the summer.

This is a real picture. Cops came to get him for credit card theft. They wanted to just take him outside but apparently he started to resist so they cuffed him and took him out. Lol!

Fishing Lake Amisk in Saskatchewan Canada the Week of July 4th.
20 Hour Drive from Ames (roughly)-
Staying at TD Amisk Resort-

I know they have quite a few Iowa Residents at camp each year.

Anyone on this board head up that direction, or been to the lake in the past few years or this year?

Any recommendations on presentations for lures.
Any hot spots on the lake.

Go State!

On Thursday’s edition of CFTV, Jake Brend has a report from the Sukup Men’s Basketball Complex for a summer media availability. Cyclone Fanatic heard from freshmen Jamarion Batemon and Dominykas Pleta as well as T.J. Otzelberger. Batemon talked about how he takes pride of his defensive abilities and Pleta is still adjusting to life in America on and off the court.

April 22 - In a major move that would allow schools to start directly paying their athletes, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors proposed deleting 153 rules from its handbook as part of nine potential legislative changes at a Monday meeting.
The proposals are pending approval of the $2.8 billion House settlement reached last year of three separate antitrust cases against the NCAA and college sports' power conferences. The proposals include name image and likeness compensation and regulation, a change from scholarship limits to roster limits, eligibility standards and the creation of a legal entity to oversee enforcement of the updated athlete compensation rules in Division I.

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14. Iowa State Cyclones​

Swing game: vs. Arizona, Sept. 27

The Hawkeyes have a Big 12 game to open the season against Kansas State, so there is no easing into the season -- and that's before factoring in Iowa coming to town Sept. 6. So Cyclones fans won't have to wait long before having a decent sense of what to expect this year. Let's go ahead and assume they beat South Dakota and Arkansas State and could be 2-2, 3-1 or 4-0 headed in the fifth game against Arizona. The result of that game against the Wildcats would significantly shape expectations for the rest of the way. -- Bonagura

We watch a ton of Food Network shows and this one just came as a shock.

RIP to a great chef and TV personality.

Pre-sale just started and I thought I had it, but seem not to have it

Place to share your earworms. Maybe it will help chase them away.

On Wednesday’s edition of Cyclone Fanatic Daily, Jake Brend dives into the cornerback position as GM Derek Hoodjer gives his insight, Curtis Jones talks about his NBA breakthrough and the ISU Volleyball team unveils new Cyclone script uniforms.

After only 20 days of commitment, 2026 three-star guard Marcus Zelee announces his decommitment from Iowa State.

I've been following all the social media hubbub about Lindsay and Stevie the past few weeks. Sounds like they are re-releasing an old album they did together back in 1973 before Fleetwood Mac was formed. Crying in the Night has been dropped on streaming.

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This week we launch our annual albums-by-decade series.

For part 1, this week, post your favorite LPs released in 1965 and/or 1975. (Those years only, NOT the entire decade.)

Include 2-4 sound clips. In addition to the tracks, we encourage you to expound on why the album is meaningful, including personal history of your relationship with the record and its music.

Choices should focus on studio albums. Avoid greatest hits/live LPs/compilations. We’ll allow it, but it should be a definitive element of an artist’s body of work that isn’t otherwise generally available from studio output.

If someone posts an album on your list before you get to it, you still may reference it, but use different song clips.

(You can find dozens of best/favorite album lists, by year released, online.)

And, If you’re more singles-oriented, you may substitute top singles from either of those years.

(In subsequent weeks, we’ll do 85/95 and 05/15)

• Last week’s OTN: Bound to Fail. It can be found here: https://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/threads/on-that-note-bound-to-fail.293113/

Your hosts for OTN are @cyclones500, @CycloneRulzzz and me.

Lately I saw one of those dumb accounts like "Iowa State Girls" Instagram and posted a "hilarious" video (someone linked to Facebook). It was a drunk of coeds hanging out in the Gold Star Hallway in the Memorial Union and being well, drunk, and stomping around on the zodiak and basically playing it like hopscotch.

I graduated in 2007 and the video actually made me pretty ******* pissed off. I started to wonder, what if students think about the zodiac throughout the years.

So, do you walk through or around go the zodiac in the Memorial Union?

The Zodiac​

Architect/designer William T. Proudfoot chose to incorporate the ancient symbols of the zodiac into the north entry floor -- classic Greek/Roman mythology for a classic-Greek/Roman-style building. In the 20's, the zodiac was not as well known as it is now. Proudfoot planned for intentional wearing away of the bronze forms by placing them above the surface of the floor - to be sculpted further by building users until, eventually, they would be the same level as the floor. We know that by 1929, students had decided that if you stepped on the zodiac, it was unlucky – that you'd flunk your next test. Rumor has it that the students created this "curse" because they liked the raised effect of the zodiac and they wanted to preserve the zodiac signs even though it went against what the architect originally intended. Now most students, hedging their bets, walk around. If you accidentally invoke the curse, you can throw a coin in the fountain to take it away!

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Anyone hear about an Ankeny water ban for this weekend? Hear tons of rumors but see now news.

Grant Mahoney and Jeff Woody react to the Big 12 preseason selections before welcoming on Kansas State Head Basketball Coach Jerome Tang to discuss his career in the Big 12, his journey to Kansas State, his favorite Iowa State teams, and more. Presented by Kelderman Manufacturing.

Former Cyclone and now Denver Nuggets guard Curtis Jones joins Jake Brend on the CycloneFanatic Summer Series to discuss his new NBA contract, his time in the NBA Summer League and some of his favorite moments in a Cyclone uniform. The Summer Series is brought to you by Fareway Meat & Grocery and Netusil Financial Services by Raymond James.