Cyclone Student Section

[SvrWxCy]

First off, the idea that the tickets are ridiculously priced, check out the new thread I just started: http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/mens-basketball/114541-student-ticket-prices-cyclone-alley.html

Thirdly, due to the fact that the student sections are GA, their attendance or lack thereof is a lot more pronounced. If a section is 10-20% empty in the rest of the parquet, it doesnt look nearly as bad because those seats are scattered. In the student section however, since everyone pushes to the front, you're left with one gaping hole of seats. It creates an impression of bad attendance even if its no worse than the rest of the arena.

This is something that I think could be changed, although it might be considered a 'pain' for some it would end up being a lot better in the scheme of things for athletics as a whole and sad to say, Nebraska already uses it by the sounds of things.

Each student ticket must be 'validated' to indicate that the student will be attending that game, now Nebby charged for this, and ISU could too; simply lower the ticket price as a whole to $100 than charge $2 to validate. This would allow the university to sell left-over spots of the upper deck as general admission for the general public. While this may not always help, it could easily help when most of Hilton is full except for the upper deck student section (which I know has happened).

 

[IcSyU]

I've got no vested interest in CA, but I will bet a LOT of money says if we were winning games, no one would give a ****. Students ******** about ticket prices is kinda funny. Don't wanna pay the $30 to sit in the lower level? Fine, don't. Pay $100 and get season tickets to ALL of the games (break included). Any college student ******** about $12 for CA is a moron. HOWEVER, the $18 for SA is a ******* joke.

 

[alarson]

IMO, the best thing would be for CA to be optional and to just do the the game watches and road trips and not be in charge of the student section.

Yep. Change it back to what it was its first year or two- one side CA, the other side just regular GA student seating.

 

[gwoodclone]

Great post, outside of the first line. I really enjoyed the Hoiberg jerseys. I believe CA has really cut down on props this year too by the way. It seemed like last year they were giving out dumb wrist bands or those yelling funnels every game.

The jerseys were a great prop, no argument there. If CA is going to do props, they should do a couple things like that a year rather than the 'stupid' things like the suspenders or the red hair things each game.

 

[alarson]

Im not sure if you went to College or not but when you are paying tens of thousands of[b dollars per year to get an education you would think that mens bball tickets could be a little lower. .

They already are. Do you have any idea what is paid by everyone else to sit in the parquet and arena circle? $495 plus a minimum $2500 yearly membership to the cyclone club. Student ticket prices are fine. The segregation of students into two groups, however, is not.

 

[IowaStateClones]

They already are. Do you have any idea what is paid by everyone else to sit in the parquet and arena circle? $495 plus a minimum $2500 yearly membership to the cyclone club. Student ticket prices are fine. The segregation of students into two groups, however, is not.

You get payed tens of thousands of dollars per year. We PAY tens of thousands of dollars per year.

 

[IcSyU]

You get payed tens of thousands of dollars per year. We PAY tens of thousands of dollars per year.

Start at DMACC and save money then. Iowa State tuition, while ridiculous, is a supply/demand function. Until there is accountability for spending, it'll keep going up.

 

[alarson]

You get payed tens of thousands of dollars per year. We PAY tens of thousands of dollars per year.

And im saying you already get a significant discount that acknowledges that

 

[cayin]

We talk a lot about here, but has any of the issues with CA been discussed with Pollard? The thing is, even Pollard has no idea what a sleeping giant the Hilton crowd can be. He has no idea what kind of noise, excitement and energy that building can have during a game. ISU has not had the roof come off since maybe 2004. If he knew it's potential and actually experienced it, maybe it would motivate him to set the place up to take advantage of it. For example, remember when the students were sprinkled throughout the arena? It brought extra energy to a lot of sections, which brought more energy to other neighboring sections and so on. Oh, maybe it is about the wins, maybe not. I remember back in 1994 ISU was undermanned from an injury to their main big man. The team only won two conference games, but the place absolutely rocked the whole conference season. Games against highly ranked OSU with Big Country, Kansas and conference champion Missouri went down to the wire. The crowd was big help in getting that undermanned team to play up.

 

[CyAg]

You get payed tens of thousands of dollars per year. We PAY tens of thousands of dollars per year.

If you are paying your own tuition great!. Regardless this argument and line of reasoning is not valid.

1. Tuition is payment for an education, not for sports tickets. And in many cases it is others paying the tuition besides the student (or at least a percentage of).

2. While I do not know if the poster is getting "PAYED" that much, he does get paid, and he probably also paid tuition.

Winning will solve a lot of this.

 

[ISU4ME]

1-11 Im sorry i cant get exCYded For that. this year is over wrap it up. if the team on the floor does not give the effort how am I supposed to give effort. I am Done going to games for the rest of the year I cant stand to watch them lose.

By far the dumbest post on this board I have seen in a long time. You clearly were not at the game or even watched it on tv.

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

You get payed tens of thousands of dollars per year. We PAY tens of thousands of dollars per year.

You don't pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend basketball games. That's the difference.

 

[isudizzle13]

Cyclone Alley is a great idea but it's leadership is flawed on what creates a great gameday atmosphere.

Novelty sunglasses, suspenders, and weird hats don't create great atmosphere. I think giving away the Hoiberg jerseys, or towels are great ONCE IN A WHILE, when the prop is significant, unlike suspenders.

Other posters have said it, but some leeway should be in place for students that don't wish to wear the shirts every game. As an lifelong Iowa State fan I have a bunch of cool retro Iowa State gear that I wish I could have busted out at Iowa State games. Perhaps have students show a keychain similar to the schedule keychains that the athletic department gives out rather than having to wear their shirt to allow students to dress how they like and express their fandom freely.

I don't know who came up with the Interlude dance at UNI and frankly I don't care, but do something like this. Cyclone Alley leadership should be coming up with cheers and fun ways to keep the students loud and involved. I was actually told to "quiet down" a few times by Cyclone Alley leadership because "you're making us look silly". What was I doing? Cyclone Aerobics. Seriously? These people should be leading cheers and coming up with creative ways to keep students involved, not worried about looking silly. What made old student sections great? They were made up of college students, not clones of these "leaders" that don't find it cool to cheer.

This is my biggest problem with Cyclone Alley. The "leadership" always had the front row when I was a student. THEY DIDN'T CHEER! I don't know how interviews are done for these positions, but I wish I was in charge of them. These people should try and come up with some cool traditions for CA, be creative. Look at the Utah State's "I believe" chant. It's epic. The UNI Interlude dance? Sweet. Morale of the story is to just do something. It's sickening to watch people sit during timeouts, that's a prime time to DO SOMETHING, keep the old farts involved. It's a shame to watch an entire game at Hilton where the student section starts ZERO cheers other than yelling "OHHHH" for the first 4 possessions of the game.

I remember I went to the Cyclone Basketball camp every year growing up. I asked Clint Varley (my coach for the week) if he really thought home court advantage existed outside of shooting on familiar hoops. He told me that it definitely does because of the pride students show in their University. Knowing that students cared, win or lose, meant something to him. He felt that if they lost that he was really letting the fans down because the players could feel how much it meant to them. He told me that sometimes players on the team did things at home that he'd never seen them do in practice, and he swears that they were aided by the fans' passion.

Fans that passionate should be leading our student section, not people who don't cheer. That energy is infectious, but nobody is starting it right now. DO SOMETHING CYCLONE ALLEY. Your job does not end with handing out suspenders.

 

[IcSyU]

Like I stated earlier in this thread, I don't have a reason to defend CAC, but you're flat out wrong isudizzle13. I will all but guarantee you no CAC member told you to shut up because most of them (looking at you bigcyfan82) have no room to talk. I will also tell you I've never had a problem getting into CA by just showing them my shirt no matter how I was dressed. People are looking for excuses that just aren't there.

The old student sections were great because Iowa State won basketball games. I've been a student since 2007-2008 and I have yet to see Iowa State beat a ranked team in Hilton Coliseum. I have seen Iowa State beat 1 ranked team period. Show me ONE school that has the same winning percentage in conference play that we do over the past 5 years and has a great student section. Don't waste your time looking because you won't find one.

Fans feed off players as much as players feed off fans. Iowa State starting every game down 10-2 isn't going to win you many fans. Always playing from behind will do the same. Having a 2 point lead with a minute to go doesn't go very far when every person in the building is thinking, "here we go again...how will we lose it this time?"

 

[isudizzle13]

Like I stated earlier in this thread, I don't have a reason to defend CAC, but you're flat out wrong isudizzle13. I will all but guarantee you no CAC member told you to shut up because most of them (looking at you bigcyfan82) have no room to talk. I will also tell you I've never had a problem getting into CA by just showing them my shirt no matter how I was dressed. People are looking for excuses that just aren't there.

First of all, don't tell me I'm wrong when the situation happened TO ME. I was told BY SOMEONE WEARING A CYCLONE ALLEY NAMETAG, that I was making them look silly when simply doing Cyclone Aerobics and screaming the I-S-U when appropriate. So don't be that guy that claims I'm lying when it happened to me. Just because you don't want to believe it happened, doesn't make it so. Quit being ignorant.

Also, your statement about "players feed off of fans as much as fans feed off of players" is dead on. So fans, whether up 10-2 or down 10-2 need to provide energy. Not just quit because the team came out slow.

You're right, the student section used to be great back when the team was winning games. But as someone who attended games since the late 80's (although I was too young to remember some) I can guarantee you that there were games we won because the student section willed the team to victory. I remember being down more than 10-2 and having the student section still cheering loudly. 1-11 in the Big XII is not an excuse. If you're a fan, cheer. Simple. Want to lead the student section? Try cheering.

 

[isudizzle13]

To be honest, maybe my roommate and I did look silly considering a majority of Cyclone Alley was seated while they should have been doing Cyclone Aerobics.

 

[IcSyU]

First of all, don't tell me I'm wrong when the situation happened TO ME. I was told BY SOMEONE WEARING A CYCLONE ALLEY NAMETAG, that I was making them look silly when simply doing Cyclone Aerobics and screaming the I-S-U when appropriate. So don't be that idiot that claims I'm lying when it happened to me. Just because you don't want to believe it happened, doesn't make it so. Quit being ignorant.

Also, your statement about "players feed off of fans as much as fans feed off of players" is dead on. So fans, whether up 10-2 or down 10-2 need to provide energy. Not just quit because the team came out slow.

You're right, the student section used to be great back when the team was winning games. But as someone who attended games since the late 80's (although I was too young to remember some) I can guarantee you that there were games we won because the student section willed the team to victory. I remember being down more than 10-2 and having the student section still cheering loudly. 1-11 in the Big XII is not an excuse. If you're a fan, cheer. Simple. Want to lead the student section? Try cheering.

And guess what? My statement holds as much water as yours. Neither of us has any credibility, but I have the hardest time seeing someone say "stop cheering."

And I won't argue there are times the students have been a big part of willing the team to victory, but I also know from experience that people have revisionist memories. People get on students for not showing up to see Delta State Community Technical Trade School University when the students haven't ever shown up in full force for those kinds of games. People get on students for not making enough noise and how much better the student section used to be. Guess what? Student sections from the early 80s on came into Hilton expecting to win. How many students currently on campus have even seen Iowa State beat a ranked team at Hilton?

Believe what you want, but 1-11 in the Big 12 is absolutely an excuse. If you're a fringe fan and not a die hard, how do you justify spending 3-4 hours of your Saturday afternoon at a game you know you're going to watch Iowa State lose at? Its not the die hards you have to worry about showing up. Iowa State could be 0-fer right now and I'd still be at the game. Would the people across the aisle from me be there? I HIGHLY doubt it.

Iowa State fans are extremely patient, and maybe to a point too patient. No other team in the country would have our attendance given how abysmal the program has been for the past 5 years. Look at Iowa. Students all get in free and can bring a friend and we STILL have more students at games than they do. Nebraska has always sucked at basketball, and it shows in their student attendance. Kansas State didn't have squat for students a few years ago. A Michael Beasley/Bill Walker/Denis Clemente/Jacob Pullen later, students can't wait to get into the Octagon.

 

[Treytros]

I was disappointed in the cyclone Alley attendance versus. About half of each side was full and we had a ranked team coming in here to try and beat. Of about a school itching to around 30,000 students we had maybe 1,000 at the game. I would love to push for seating around the whole court, but dang call your friends and get out there. It really looked sad, its one of the first things that was glaring right from the opening tip.

 

[isudizzle13]

And guess what? My statement holds as much water as yours. Neither of us has any credibility, but I have the hardest time seeing someone say "stop cheering."

Fair enough, I understand your point. Still happened :smile:

Believe what you want, but 1-11 in the Big 12 is absolutely an excuse. If you're a fringe fan and not a die hard, how do you justify spending 3-4 hours of your Saturday afternoon at a game you know you're going to watch Iowa State lose at? Its not the die hards you have to worry about showing up. Iowa State could be 0-fer right now and I'd still be at the game. Would the people across the aisle from me be there? I HIGHLY doubt it.

I agree that 1-11 is an excuse to not show up if you're a fringe fan. If you're at the game, I don't see 1-11 as an excuse to not cheer. My problem with CA isn't the attendance (as it is with some others) I just wish they would step up and be loud. 270 Loud students is better than 2,700 students sitting on their hands.

Iowa State fans are extremely patient, and maybe to a point too patient. No other team in the country would have our attendance given how abysmal the program has been for the past 5 years. Look at Iowa. Students all get in free and can bring a friend and we STILL have more students at games than they do. Nebraska has always sucked at basketball, and it shows in their student attendance. Kansas State didn't have squat for students a few years ago. A Michael Beasley/Bill Walker/Denis Clemente/Jacob Pullen later, students can't wait to get into the Octagon.

Overall, I really agree with your post. I get that 1-11 drags attendance down. Iowa State has great fans, and some loud ones. I just wish that those in charge of the student section were more concerned with being loud and cheering hard. If you put some of the best fans on the leadership of CA and started some creative traditions I think CA would be great. I wish CA was more substance (cheering) than fluff (props) but better yet, both.

 

[jahfg]

If CA wasn't run by a bunch of dorks, it would probably be better. CA has a reputation around campus. It is basically for freshman and sophomores. When I was a freshman (2005-06), there were plenty of upperclassmen that went to the basketball games. They could sit on the opposite end of CA and still get good seats. When CA took over both sides, the upperclassmen were relegated to the upper deck. Combine that with a bunch of losing basketball, and now we have half the campus not showing up to the games. Why would they? It isn't "cool" to go to basketball games and that is an attitude that in my experience, has developed in the past five years.