Merged - Big 12 Aftermath Thread

[Fryowa]

I always loved the "Tavernhock" thing...on several levels.

1. It's a defacto admission that IOWA is a bigger, more appealing and recognizable brand to the average sports fan.

2. It's an admission that only an ISU grad is foolish enough to be a clone fan. Nobody else would want to identify with the program.

3. It's yet another example of twisted clone pretzel logic desperately contrived to make them feel better about their second tier status....and they're blissfully unaware (a common theme) of how transparent it is.

Semi-serious question since I know you're a grad...

When I go to Clown forums I constantly see bitching about tavernhocks and even about their own fans who aren't grads. Like there's some sort of club you have to join to be a real fan.

As an Iowa grad do you ever find yourself looking down on Hawk fans who went to school somewhere else or maybe not at all? I mean, I don't ever remember a time when my grandpa and dad etc. weren't bonkers about the Hawks which made me the same way. And I'm making my kid the same way. I went to Briar Cliff in Sioux City (my dad and grandpa never went to college), and I don't ever doubt being a Hawk fan because I graduated somewhere else. To me it's the more the fuckin merrier as long as you're ride or die through good and bad. I guess I just think that this is a Hawkeye State in a deeper sense of the word and it goes a whole lot deeper than who you paid your tuition to.

 

[BryceC]

SC has been in a bad spot pretty much forever. They had a tinge of success about a decade ago, but that was literally the high water mark for their program. They've only been in the SEC since the '90's and I think they hadn't won a solitary bowl game until the mid '90's. I seriously think their program might be worse than ISU and with Georgia, Florida and Tennessee in their division and Clemson 90 minutes away there is absolutely no hope for them.

I've only been to one game and the atmosphere was insane, though. The ring of success or whatever inside the stadium highlighting accomplishments is the biggest joke I've ever seen. Seriously, Northwestern's is better. But the fan base, holy shit, it is intense.

This is what made me say SC:

Gamecocks to start grad assistant Noland at QB

Zeb Noland, who had a year of eligibility remaining when he took a job as a graduate assistant on Shane Beamer's coaching staff at South Carolina, will be the Gamecocks' starting quarterback for the opener.

www.espn.com

A guy who couldn't start at ISU, transferred to NDSU, couldn't start there, went to SC as a grad assistant is now going to be their game 1 starter after an injury to the defacto starter. Noland is a good kid but man that program is just in a terrible place right now.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Semi-serious question since I know you're a grad...

When I go to Clown forums I constantly see bitching about tavernhocks and even about their own fans who aren't grads. Like there's some sort of club you have to join to be a real fan.

As an Iowa grad do you ever find yourself looking down on Hawk fans who went to school somewhere else or maybe not at all? I mean, I don't ever remember a time when my grandpa and dad etc. weren't bonkers about the Hawks which made me the same way. And I'm making my kid the same way. I went to Briar Cliff in Sioux City (my dad and grandpa never went to college), and I don't ever doubt being a Hawk fan because I graduated somewhere else. To me it's the more the fuckin merrier as long as you're ride or die through good and bad. I guess I just think that this is a Hawkeye State in a deeper sense of the word and it goes a whole lot deeper than who you paid your tuition to.

Look down my nose?...Naw. Big tent, baby. If you're from IOWA...wouldn't it make sense that you'd be an IOWA fan?

That said, I do take pride in being what I consider a "tier 1" Hawkeye fan. Grew up an IOWA fan (my first football game was the day they named our stadium "Kinnick") graduated from IOWA, marched in the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl (epic), did the 1980 Final Four and held season tickets for nearly 30 years...I'm one of those hard cores that makes the overnight road trip. Walking thru the entrance tunnel into the stadium on opening day puts a lump in my throat ...every year.

I do snicker a bit at the guy from Marshalltown who's a big New York Yankees fan (for example), talk about picking your spots. But if you're local/regional that would seem to be a real, organic love you have for your team. An Iowan would of course be an IOWA fan. Are they not allowed to be a college football fan simply because they didn't graduate from that school? Can a Coe graduate only cheer for Coe college? B.S.

BTW, the ISU guys on the boards love to point out how much their fan base has grown over the last few years. Need I point out the obvious? That growth obviously wasn't from ISU grads. It's from "Tavern clowns". Can't have it both ways...unless you're a clone of course. Cherry picking has become a grad level class in Ames.

 

[Fryowa]

Look down my nose?...Naw. Big tent, baby. If you're from IOWA...wouldn't it make sense that you'd be an IOWA fan? ...whether you went to school there or not?

That said, I do take pride in being what I consider a "tier 1" Hawkeye fan. Grew up an IOWA fan (my first football game was the day they named our stadium "Kinnick") graduated from IOWA, marched in the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl (epic), did the 1980 Final Four and held season tickets for nearly 30 years...I'm one of those hard cores that makes the overnight road trip. Walking thru the entrance tunnel into the stadium puts a lump in my throat on opening day...every year.

I do snicker a bit at the guy from Lamoni who's a New York Yankees fan for example (talk about picking your spots) but if you're local/regional that would seem to be a real, organic love you have for your team. An Iowan would of course be an IOWA fan. Are they not allowed to be a college football fan simply because they didn't graduate from that school? B.S.

BTW, the ISU guys on the boards love to point out how much their fan base has grown over the last few years. Need I point out the obvious? That growth obviously wasn't from ISU grads. It's from "Tavern clowns". Can't have it both ways...unless you're a clone of course. Cherry picking has become a grad level class in Ames.

We're doing the full season this year for the first time. Usually it was just a couple games but I finally said F it and got tickets. My kid is 14 now so if we do it for the next few years it'll be something he really remembers and enjoys a lot.

I actually got wrestling season tickets as well for the year (we're huge wrestling fans). So I'll consider myself dedicated since that means 14 total trips to IC this year from 5 and a half hours away. Only live once.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

We're doing the full season this year for the first time. Usually it was just a couple games but I finally said F it and got tickets. My kid is 14 now so if we do it for the next few years it'll be something he really remembers and enjoys a lot.

I actually got wrestling season tickets as well for the year (we're huge wrestling fans). So I'll consider myself dedicated since that means 14 total trips to IC this year from 5 and a half hours away. Only live once.

5 1/2 hours...where you is? I'm in the Twin Cities. BTW, my kid graduated from the U of Minn (after taking the Oliver Martin route) She still talks about how great our IOWA football road trips were and follows the Hawks.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Look down my nose?...Naw. Big tent, baby. If you're from IOWA...wouldn't it make sense that you'd be an IOWA fan?

That said, I do take pride in being what I consider a "tier 1" Hawkeye fan. Grew up an IOWA fan (my first football game was the day they named our stadium "Kinnick") graduated from IOWA, marched in the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl (epic), did the 1980 Final Four and held season tickets for nearly 30 years...I'm one of those hard cores that makes the overnight road trip. Walking thru the entrance tunnel into the stadium on opening day puts a lump in my throat ...every year.

I do snicker a bit at the guy from Marshalltown who's a big New York Yankees fan (for example), talk about picking your spots. But if you're local/regional that would seem to be a real, organic love you have for your team. An Iowan would of course be an IOWA fan. Are they not allowed to be a college football fan simply because they didn't graduate from that school? Can a Coe graduate only cheer for Coe college? B.S.

BTW, the ISU guys on the boards love to point out how much their fan base has grown over the last few years. Need I point out the obvious? That growth obviously wasn't from ISU grads. It's from "Tavern clowns". Can't have it both ways...unless you're a clone of course. Cherry picking has become a grad level class in Ames.

Leave the guy from Marshalltown alone. There are national brands in pro sports. Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Cowboys, Stillers, Lakers, etc. Don't bust someone's balls for being a fan like that. The guy who warrants ridicule is the one who out of the blue becomes a Seahawks fan the year they win the Super Bowl or whatever.

 

[Fryowa]

5 1/2 hours...where you is? I'm in the Twin Cities. BTW, my kid graduated from the U of Minn (after taking the Oliver Martin route) She still talks about how great our IOWA football road trips were and follows the Hawks.

NW Iowa. Way up in the corner. Put it this way...as a crow flies, I'm closer to Pierre, SD than to Iowa City.

Lincoln and Minneapolis are both way shorter drives.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Leave the guy from Marshalltown alone. There are national brands in pro sports. Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Cowboys, Stillers, Lakers, etc. Don't bust someone's balls for being a fan like that. The guy who warrants ridicule is the one who out of the blue becomes a Seahawks fan the year they win the Super Bowl or whatever.

Yeah...either way it's bandwagon stuff with no prior association.

It is interesting how fervently people will defend such fandoms though. I dated a chick years ago and when I teased her about being a Yankees fan (she was from Iowa, not Marshalltown) she lost her sh**.

 

[haydensly]

As an Iowa grad, I have no problem with anyone becoming a Hawk fan along the way. You grow up here and become attached, I get it. Iowa is a huge brand in this state, why would we turn anyone away?

What I do have a bit of a problem with is that the Alumni Association allows non-graduates to join. That seems counterintuitive to me. Total money grab.

 

[okeefe4prez]

As an Iowa grad, I have no problem with anyone becoming a Hawk fan along the way. You grow up here and become attached, I get it. Iowa is a huge brand in this state, why would we turn anyone away?

What I do have a bit of a problem with is that the Alumni Association allows non-graduates to join. That seems counterintuitive to me. Total money grab.

I think the alumni association thing is to try to build critical mass in far flung locales.

 

[BryceC]

FYI lots of rumors College Gameday will be back in Ames if we both win Navy-Air Force was picked up by CBS and CBS will be on location so it probably doesn't work now for Gameday.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

As an Iowa grad, I have no problem with anyone becoming a Hawk fan along the way. You grow up here and become attached, I get it. Iowa is a huge brand in this state, why would we turn anyone away?

What I do have a bit of a problem with is that the Alumni Association allows non-graduates to join. That seems counterintuitive to me. Total money grab.

Agreed. The alumni associate is ..by defintion...for alumni. Then again we live in an era where many terms no longer carry their basic meaning.

 

[Ree4]

Semi-serious question since I know you're a grad...

When I go to Clown forums I constantly see bitching about tavernhocks and even about their own fans who aren't grads. Like there's some sort of club you have to join to be a real fan.

As an Iowa grad do you ever find yourself looking down on Hawk fans who went to school somewhere else or maybe not at all? I mean, I don't ever remember a time when my grandpa and dad etc. weren't bonkers about the Hawks which made me the same way. And I'm making my kid the same way. I went to Briar Cliff in Sioux City (my dad and grandpa never went to college), and I don't ever doubt being a Hawk fan because I graduated somewhere else. To me it's the more the fuckin merrier as long as you're ride or die through good and bad. I guess I just think that this is a Hawkeye State in a deeper sense of the word and it goes a whole lot deeper than who you paid your tuition to.

As somebody who was born in Iowa City, lived in IC my whole life and a U of I grad, I would never ever look down my nose at non grad fans. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I grew up having Hawkeye fans as parents and neither of them have degrees from the U of I. Back in the day degrees were a lot more rare than they are now - up from ~6 % in 1950 to almost 37% now. Many fans these days became fans because of their families IMO - it's what I would consider "tradition". Something Iowa State fans simply can't understand because they've never had it.

Having a diverse and broad fanbase is what makes Iowa as successful as it is.

 

[Caven]

My uncle played football at ISU and so my family was a Cyclone family - but somehow I managed to grow up being a Hawk fan. I am sure it had to do with the fact that my best friend's family had season tickets to the Hawks and I got to go to a few games when I was younger. Got my dad to convert when I went to school at Iowa and even though we lived in Lincoln, my daughter grew up a Hawk fan because I always took her to the games. There is just something special about Kinnick (and the HMB if you are a marching band fan) that inspires us to bleed Black and Gold. I think it is even stronger now that we have the Wave. To bring it on topic - I think that with their stadium renovations and recent success that ISU might have been able to start to build that loyalty, but with what just happened to their conference they are about a decade too late for it to matter.

 

[ssckelley]

There is just something special about Kinnick (and the HMB if you are a marching band fan) that inspires us to bleed Black and Gold.

The Boom! I can't wait to hear the marching band this Saturday. But I've got an extra special reason to be anxious as it will be my sons first appearance in the band.

I agree, there is something special going to the games in Kinnick.

 

[trj]

As somebody who was born in Iowa City, lived in IC my whole life and a U of I grad, I would never ever look down my nose at non grad fans. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I grew up having Hawkeye fans as parents and neither of them have degrees from the U of I. Back in the day degrees were a lot more rare than they are now - up from ~6 % in 1950 to almost 37% now. Many fans these days became fans because of their families IMO - it's what I would consider "tradition". Something Iowa State fans simply can't understand because they've never had it.

Having a diverse and broad fanbase is what makes Iowa as successful as it is.

This X a million. The whole Tavernhawk thing is so dumb. Who fucking cares if your fanbase are alums or not.

 

[kicker22]

This X a million. The whole Tavernhawk thing is so dumb. Who fucking cares if your fanbase are alums or not.

I totally agree. What is the problem with having a program appealing enough for people that didn't attend to want to support it. The other side of the coin would be if I ended up at ISU for anything other than athletics how do I get to the point where I'd become a die hard ISU fan?

I guess if I grew up cheering for mediocrity and setting the bar low it'd be very easy drink the kool-aid, but as an ISU fan I sure as shit wouldn't find myself calling out fans of another fanbase and trying to belittle them for supporting a superior program.

 

[LoyalSon]

Look down my nose?...Naw. Big tent, baby. If you're from IOWA...wouldn't it make sense that you'd be an IOWA fan?

That said, I do take pride in being what I consider a "tier 1" Hawkeye fan. Grew up an IOWA fan (my first football game was the day they named our stadium "Kinnick") graduated from IOWA, marched in the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl (epic), did the 1980 Final Four and held season tickets for nearly 30 years...I'm one of those hard cores that makes the overnight road trip. Walking thru the entrance tunnel into the stadium on opening day puts a lump in my throat ...every year.

I do snicker a bit at the guy from Marshalltown who's a big New York Yankees fan (for example), talk about picking your spots. But if you're local/regional that would seem to be a real, organic love you have for your team. An Iowan would of course be an IOWA fan. Are they not allowed to be a college football fan simply because they didn't graduate from that school? Can a Coe graduate only cheer for Coe college? B.S.

BTW, the ISU guys on the boards love to point out how much their fan base has grown over the last few years. Need I point out the obvious? That growth obviously wasn't from ISU grads. It's from "Tavern clowns". Can't have it both ways...unless you're a clone of course. Cherry picking has become a grad level class in Ames.

Your notion of being a "tier 1" Hawkeye fan is interesting. I've never thought of it that way, but I guess it describes me as well. "Tier 1" to me is essentially the antithesis of a bandwagon fan.

I've been a Hawkeye fan since my older brother started at Iowa when I was in fifth grade. Although I went to an Iowa Conference (I refuse to say American Rivers Conference) school for undergrad, I have masters and law degrees from Iowa, and have had season tickets for 30+ years. The University of Iowa is in my DNA, and that wouldn't change if the Hawkeyes never won another game. I am an Iowan and a Hawkeye.

All that being said, I completely agree with the "big tent" philosophy. You don't have to be a graduate to identify with and support the Hawkeyes. (Although I think to be a true Hawkeye fan you must know the words to the Iowa Fight Song!)

 

[okeefe4prez]

Your notion of being a "tier 1" Hawkeye fan is interesting. I've never thought of it that way, but I guess it describes me as well. "Tier 1" to me is essentially the antithesis of a bandwagon fan.

I've been a Hawkeye fan since my older brother started at Iowa when I was in fifth grade.

Is this a joke? You consider yourself "Tier 1" and you didn't start being a Hawk fan until fifth grade? Get a grip, son. If you weren't a Hawk fan out of the womb you are forever stuck at Tier 2 absent winning an athletic letter in a revenue producing sport.

 

[ssckelley]

Crap, there are tiers of fans??? I’m probably like tier 10.