My wife and I have a town home in Sarasota, FL that we're fortunate enough to enjoy 4 or 5 months every year. We're a few miles from a large church called "Bayside." Yesterday I was getting ready to head to church and it was a bit chilly so I decided to put on a sweater with a Iowa State logo on the chest. Turned out to be a good decision. The lead pastor was giving the sermon on "Challenge" and one of the first sentences out of his mouth was how much he's enjoyed following the story of Brock Purdy, to which about 10 people (my wife and I include) started cheering loudly in this auditorium of about 2500. He was amused, acknowledged us politely and continued his story saying how Brock went to Iowa State (to which we 10 started cheering loudly again). The pastor, again amused ,made some wise crack about us vocal fans and continued. What a great day to be in a crowd that large, be a proud Iowa Stater and proud Brock Purdy fan. If you'd like to see the sermon, Bayside posts them at www.mybayside.church. I'd try and do something myself but me trying to do it would go about as me well as trying to baptize a cat. So anyway, if you get a chance, watch it. You might enjoy it. In fact, watch the entire sermon. It was excellent.

I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out.

Rodney Dangerfield

Kansas, Baylor, and Kansas State are all on the road Saturday. Sure would be nice to see one or two of them get upset. ISU is at home, of course. The only home team we want to lose on Saturday is Texas against West Virginia.

Brent McMurphy CBS says Pac Commissioner headed to SMU this week, and looks like they and SDSU are a lock. Big 12 expansion may be dead for the near term.

As painful as it is, I guess we have to root for Kansas, right?

8 Teams in from the Big XII with 6 Top 4 seeds!

If that holds, the Big XII record in the dance will be .750.

That is one thing they never discuss when tracking how well each conference does in the dance. How high the conference seeding was for it's teams. Makes a huge difference in overall record in the dance.

Diz

Is it just me, or do the look like actors playing spacemen in a 1950's science fiction movie????

66-65 on a three-pointer at the buzzer.

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Linking a piece here from my Rivals Illinois high school football colleague...

LINK

Had a good week at the Senior Bowl.

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UCL tear. 6 month’s minimum rehab, perhaps longer if Tommy John required. Heard Dr. David Chao talking it about it on Sirius.

Will Cyclones wear gold on Saturday for KU? The white out looked cool but a significant number of Cyclones didn’t get the message.

Iowa State Media Relations

AMES, Iowa – Four Iowa State players received invitations to the 2023 NFL Combine, held February 28-March 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Players that will represent the Cyclones at the Combine will be MJ Anderson (DE), Xavier Hutchinson (WR), Anthony Johnson Jr. (DB) and Will McDonald IV (DE).

A total of 319 players received invites to this year’s NFL Combine, held annually by the National Football League for prospective draft picks to showcase their skills in front of NFL scouts.

Hutchinson was a record-setting receiver for the Cyclones, breaking the single-season (107) and career record (254) for receptions. He was a Biletnikoff Award finalist and an Associated Press First Team All-American in 2022.

McDonald IV broke the Cyclone record and tied the Big 12 career record with 34.0 sacks. He was a three-time First Team All-Big 12 selection by the league’s coaches and in 2021 earned First Team All-American honors from the Football Writers Association of America.

Johnson Jr. made the move from cornerback to safety for his senior season and earned Second Team All-Big 12 honors after finishing with 60 tackles and two interceptions. He broke the Iowa State and Big 12 record with 54 career starts.

In his only season playing at Iowa State, Anderson finished with 37 tackles and 3.5 sacks. He had nine tackles for a loss and recovered a fumble for the Cyclones in 2022. In the season finale, Anderson tallied a season-high eight tackles.

The NFL Network will broadcast each day of the Combine.

I booked a room at the Springhill Suites which is within walking distance to the stadium, for $150/night, which looks like their normal rate compared to surrounding nights. Once they realize ISU is coming to town, that might double or more. 11 minute walk.

Not sure if this has been discussed already and I missed it, but if you go to Big 12 sports website, there are several athletes getting recognition for Black History Month and ISU has a couple I've honestly never heard of. Holloway Smith (1926-1928), the 2nd Black football player at ISU after Jack Trice. John Crawford is the other one mentioned, who was the first Black MBB player at ISU in the mid 50's.

Jack Trice does get mention as well.

I am an extremely casual wrestling follower. Fan would be vastly overstating it. When I was in college, I enjoyed going to meets and the 1965 or 66 NCAA's, don't remember the year.

But it is a sport I don't really understand. Kind of like Hockey. Very exciting when my grandson is involved, but I don't understand it. Same with wrestling. Love it when ISU is involved but don't really get it.

So, a question for the many of you who do get it. Are we flattening like we did last year at NCAA time? Seems like we wrested better earlier than we have lately. But I don't know if that is true or, if it is, why it is true.

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I-State remains at the top for 2024 LB

I want to give Tre King some love, especially for his first half 10 points. A handful of nice midrange shots. Also five rebounds. Yesterday may have been his best game? He was definitely part of the difference in the first half.

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Cyclones in solid early position for 2024 RB

Sold

... that Hilton fans can have an impact on the success of the team. We are the only Big 12 team to have 0 losses at home in conference. I hope it stays that way, and we can win 1-2 on the road. Fun back half of the conference season.