COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF

The 2006 (and into January 2007... I can feel it) season is about to begin for the Iowa State Cyclones! The Game starts at 7pm tonight - I assume Pitzen is already tailgating this morning. I'm half tempted to pay the $5 to listen to the game on Yahoo! radio. I might also have to look into Sirius radio subscription sometime so I can listen to the games.

The Cyclones return 10 Offensive Starters, and 4 Defensive Starters. Those are some good numbers considering we averaged some 28 points a game last year I believe. The defense took a hit, but I think they'll still be up for the challenge this year and will execute just as well as they have in the past. Our Offensive really clicked at the right times last year, and Stevie Hicks should be a lot closer to 100% this year. STE-VIE!!!

The boys in Cardinal and Gold have a lot tougher schedule this year though. 9 of the 12 teams we play came out of a bowl game appearance. This stat isn't as scary when you consider that over 50% of the teams out there will make a bowl appearance in the "IGotSlimed.com Bowl" or the "WTF.com Bowl" that plague the system. But this year has the Cyclones playing in 12 of the next 12 weekends. Yup, you heard correctly. No weeks off this year which I'm ok with. Any injuries could cost us though. We're playing AT Texas, AT Oklahoma and we'll whoop up the dumbasses in Iowa City this year to show how over-rated they are. So schedule aside, the entire success of this season comes down to one thing:

Mr. Dan McCarney. Senior Dan McCarney.... Monsignor... Dan McCarney. When the pressure is on, when you're leading the game... are you going to pull out the infamous "draw up the middle" and then punt the ball? We have an explosive offense that has proven their worth.... PLAY TO WIN!!! McCarney is still the worst coach out there because he never PLAYS TO WIN!!! That is why we continue to come up short in the big games - because he plays so conservatively in the 4th quarter and we play to hold a lead. You'll lose 3/4 of the time if that's the case. So McCarney... please play more aggressively for once in the 4th quarter. I'm tired of watching 14 point leads fade away late. I'm tired of relying on our defense every time to get us the win. That should not be the case this year.

So my prediction still stands... 12 games will finish us with a 9-3 record. I will predict every week as it comes, like tonight for instance. The Toledo Butt Rockets come to town and the Blue and Yellow will get spanked back to Ohio where they belong.

We'll be seeing a lot of celebrations this year in the Cyclone Endzone! Here's my favorite from last year to share with y'all:



That's right Todd Blythe.... we WILL be #1!!!

Song of the Day - Cyclone Fight Song will be going on through my head today. I can't find a decent, "non-marching band" mp3 or WAV out there of the fight song. I do have the one of the ISU singers but that's not cool for a cell phone. I just want to piss off my neighbor in the cubes at work (Stoen) that hates the Cyclones because he was educated poorly. Anyone? Anyone?

Video of the Day - Nothing Cyclones here, but I did see Club Dread this past weekend which is the 2nd movie by the Broken Lizard boys (think Super Troopers - Hazel's FAVORITE movie). It's not as funny as Super Troopers but does have it's moments. The dude that plays Farva actually plays the hero in this one! I did catch the name of the boat that sank off of the island.... the USS RamRod!!! Nice! Are you ready for Beerfest???

Webpage of the Day - Anyone want to travel to Southern Mississippi on Sept 9? We could see (not joking here) VANILLA ICE!!! Looks like he performs for about $10,000.... we need him at the next IBM celebration in the 105 degree heat. Instead of playing songs about the hot summer, we need a little Ice Ice Baby (too cold, too cold).

But How Does It Feel???

Random thoughts as I read my USA Today from Tuesday:

* Bob Dylan has another album. Trying to figure out who looks more freakish scary - Dylan or Bowie.
* US wins the Little League World Series..... That's the only true "World" Series that I think the US could win at this point. I put Dominican Republic on the top of my list of favorites to win if we did a real "World" Series
* Speaking of "Not-Guilty by terms of Insanity"... That should be the plea for this Karr guy. Why would you say that you did it when there is so much evidence saying you didn't do it. What a nutcase. The guy needs some serious help.
* Iowa Governor Vilsack (insert Beavis and Butthead type of joke here) is still contemplating a run for President. I think the guy is an idiot and doesn't stand a chance. Not sure who tells these folks that they should run but I think that money could be spent better somewhere else.
* Winchester, KY makes the National news due to a Mercury Spill. A student dropped a thermometer and the high school was "locked down". Bet that was scary to hear with the modern day occurrences of shootings and such.
* US Open was held up by rain all day yesterday. So they showed a replay of the Agassi/Blake Quarterfinal match from 2005 and wow was it incredible to relive that set. I taped the last set so I have one of the most incredible service return shots I've ever seen by Agassi (down 4-5 [a break] in the 5th set, from the backhand side). I'll work on putting it online this weekend.
* I do like this "instant replay" system they are using on the main two courts (Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium for those that are curious).
* Strong rumors that Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick are an item (after he "casually" went to watch her match the other day). How many people around the world (both male and female) is that going to crush if it's true?
* The Emmys are announced and......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
* I still don't like listening to Styx - although Jim is trying to change that in the lab every day.
* Kick off is tomorrow.... can you feel the excitement? I am on day 3 of wearing my Cyclone Pride during Cyclone Pride Clothing Week (self declared) - where's your shirt?

Song of the Day - Thanks to Wyatt, I have a copy of EMF's Unbelievable again (couldn't find the other copy in my records anywhere.... records being "electronic paper trail" not those black things with grooves that spin in circles while you hear a bunch of static.

Video of the Day - I watched RVthis weekend (with Robin Williams and JO-JO... yes, she does sing at the end) and it was not very good. Definitely not getting Williams another Oscar nod anytime soon. I still think it would be cool to have a full sized RV though.

Webpage of the Day - a fun and addictive game called "You Got Song'd".... random questions in random categories about random songs. I scored a 240 in the Movie Themes category and a 200 in Video Game Music.... still trying out all of the other categories.

Representin' The 5-0-7

Congrats to my cousin Erin and her engagement. Another wedding to add to the 2007 calendar!

In an exciting match last night - Andre Agassi defeated some Pavel guy. One down, six to go! It had 3 tie-breakers and Agassi was even down 0-4 in the third but then he finally started to look loose and kicked ass back to the days I remember of his abilities. If he can stay loose through the tournament, he actually could cause trouble for the seeded players. He plays again Thursday. Gotta love those middle of the night matches that are unique to the US Open. This match finished around 11:30 last night - 20,000+ fans were standing on their feet for Agassi on match point.... don't usually see that at all in a tournament, let alone in a first round match.

Today is the anniversary of some of the devastation in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina. Stop and say a prayer today for the families who had their lives changed by this thing and still continue to recover - mentally, physically, emotionally. It's still unfortunate that Michael Brown still insists he "was right" and the entire Bush administration screwed up yet will never admit it. Sometime in order to fix the future, you have to admit wrong in the past. Hell-of-a-job!

This week is my self declared Cyclone Shirt week. I have some 20 shirts that say Iowa State or have Cyclone colors.... so I'm wearing one every day this week in anticipation of our awesome season ahead. What's different from every other week when I wear Cyclone stuff? Well that's a good question... one that I really don't have an answer to. This week is just a concentrated effort to do so, unlike some weeks when it just happens by chance. Cyclone preview is coming, don't worry. I still stick by my 9-3 prediction though.

Have a great Tuesday!

Song of the Day - Just for Jim, he's in a Styx mood so I'll list the three songs by Styx that I can tolerate. Mr. Robato, Come Sail Away (makes me think of Cartman EVERY time now!), and The Best Of Times. Are you happy now Jim?

Video of the Day - Gotta see this to believe it. The new technology to help those of you whom have parallel parking trouble... IS HERE! I was a little freaked watching this video, but a Lexus can now park itself. No joke!

Webpage of the Day - Top 50 searched items on Wikipedia the past 3 days. I thought #7 was cool for obvious reasons:) There were some searches that I can't mention and wonder why someone would search for them..... but to each his or her own.