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The New Big XII: Iowa State · Talkin' Tech

• 0:39
  SPEAKER_04: All righty, we are here with our buddy Travis Holm.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_04: He is contributor to the Tailgatesociety.com and basically just, you know, Cyclone Heart Throb over here, Travis Clones on Twitter.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_04: Travis, what's up, man?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_05: Doing all right.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_05: How are you?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_04: Doing well as always.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we brought you on here to talk about the new Big 12.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_04: We brought Joe Goodman on here to talk about the Baylor perspective.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: Now we want to get the Iowa State perspective, and we couldn't have thanked we couldn't have thought of anybody else but you to bring on for that.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_04: So we appreciate you coming on, man.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: Special guest number one of the pod as well.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: So kind of a uh bit of a uh roundabout there because Travis was our very first guest we've ever had on the pod.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_04: We didn't have Kyle on before Travis.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think we had Travis on first.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like we did.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Travis, you get that award no matter if it's true or not.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's just say it is for uh the sake of the episode.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: Well, now we're bringing it right back up with having you back on.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_04: So we appreciate it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_04: But um, all right, man.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_04: So let's start with the first question talking about the new Big 12 as a whole, perception versus performance.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_04: How do you think the new Big 12 will be perceived nationally?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_04: How do you think they will fare against the other power conferences in the coming years?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_05: Well, perception's kind of a nasty, nasty animal to deal with, um, as we've all learned over the last year.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_05: Um, the this league's gonna need to perform well in bowl games and recruiting and non-con games, because at the end of the day, none of our schools are in Big 12 markets anymore.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I'm used to that, having lived in the Des Moines area now and Omaha, those are mostly Big Ten markets.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but now Dallas is an SEC market and San Antonio is an SEC market and Oklahoma City and so on.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_05: So outside of Kansas City and West Virginia, pretty much those are the only two that are gonna have kind of a bias toward the Big 12.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_05: And as we learned, especially with ESPN and entities like that, it's not a pro Big 12 um narrative out there right now.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_05: So we're gonna have to perform above what we think we can in order for the perception to be what it should be.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_05: I think um retaining our coaches, keeping our coaches, and continuing to dominate in basketball.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm talking this has to continue.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_05: I think that's kind of where we have to go in the next 10 years, especially when it comes to being able to negotiate media rents in the future.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's an interesting point to bring up.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: The the the big markets, such as like Dallas and San Antonio and all that, and how the perception may shift from these places being a big 12 town or an SEC town.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: But are these cities really one way or the other to begin with?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know, it's just it's such a hodgepodge of fans.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, Longhorns and Aggies have uh have more fans than say a Texas Tech and a Baylor.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: But do you really think that it it has that much of a bearing on the results that we'll see in the future?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_05: On the results, at first, no.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_05: I think uh I think where that could show is in recruiting.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, because at the end of the day, what you hear on the news is uh if if you're 15 years old and all you hear and you know and you're defensive back and you live in let's even say West Des Moines, Iowa, and you know the Big 12 doesn't play defense, you know, are you gonna want to play for Iowa State or you're gonna play for Iowa?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_05: You know, if you're uh if you're uh uh you know, same position and you live in you know Grand Prairie, Texas, you know, before you were thinking, oh my god, I get to play, you know, in the Big 12.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_05: And now it's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_05: Is anyone gonna see my games?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_05: You know, things like that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_05: So um how that gets perceived is probably gonna be most seen on the recruiting uh front.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: Do you not think it's a same crap, different day with us then?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: Because I mean the Big 12 is already pretty disrespected in the general media sense.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of people see us as a pretty weak concert, a concert conference now, even though we know we're a very strong conference, but obviously talking heads, they know who to push, and that's the SAC in the Big Ten.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then everyone else just kind of falls in.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't really even matter what order you put it in.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: And it's funny to see even the ACC get more respect in the Big 12, but that's only because they can have national championship teams.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it just it's it I do you not think that it might just be kind of a continuation of what it already is, more so than a collapse of what is the as of of what is there?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I could I mean I would say it'd probably be more of a steady degradation kind of uh uh unless someone really changes the narrative.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we're talking, you know, if if a Big 12 school wins a national championship in football or something like that, I think I think people would shut up quite quickly.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_05: I think I think another thing that we kind of actually need to look at is um what happens in um Southern California too.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um if you look at USC, if if Lincoln Riley continues to flounder there, for instance, you know, or he if he not him flounder, but if USC continues to flounder with him, um, because I think I think that the narrative on the Pac-12 would probably improve greatly if USC risen rose again.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_05: I think that the ACC's narrative would improve if um they became more of a um a multi-power league again, because right now they're just one.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_05: So um I think that's the big thing because right now we just don't have a um a power, I guess.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_05: And that really is what kind of leads people to think a league is powerful, obviously.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, I think back to the Big Ten even in 2011, Michigan State and Wisconsin were the two best teams and they were good, but they weren't they didn't have a blue and yellow M, you know, right or a big red O.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_05: So people thought the Big Ten was down when those teams were good.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it was Kirk Cousins against Russell Wilson, they're not exactly bad quarterbacks, are they?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_05: No, you know, so um so I mean perception can often be wrong, but I think the perception is really going to be a struggle in the next 10 years in the Big 12.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it reminds me of the Baylor TCU days of the Big 12, whenever those teams were spectacular.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: And but obviously everyone wants to think the Big 12 was down because these two teams were able to control the conference.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: And it I it's it's it's an interesting thing that you know you brought up the point that uh the conferences rely on their powerhouses rising up.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: And for years, people have saying what the Big 12 has been missing is a competent Longhorn team.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: And obviously that's part of the truth, and uh as much as we would hate to admit it, but it it's just it's it's frustrating to see this Longhorn team who could never get their uh S together in a quote unquote weaker conference to move on to the SEC world, they'll just get their lunch pounded every day um against better blue bloods.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's just it's frustrating as a Big 12 fan, isn't it?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, it's I mean it's uh you know, and I'm and I'm not naive to the fact that the SEC is uh a step up in competition.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I I'm not really trying as a Big 12 fan to be perceived in competition with the SEC, they are the Super League, and it I'm not really afraid to admit that.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_05: But when it comes to the other three, that's where I think that the Big 12 is still gonna be able to stack up competitively.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_05: And and that's even with the Big Ten, keep in mind, because even if I mean Purdue is still not gonna win a shit ton of football games if they have 60 million dollars a year compared to R30, you know.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: I just don't there, you know, Texas has proven that money doesn't win football games, you know, culture does.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_05: And that's why I keep saying that we have to keep our coaches because it does seem like we have a really solid stable of coaches right now, at least um the coaches who are uh have been around a little while in this league, which um there's been some turnover, but it does seem like we have a good stable of them.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, and I think everything both of y'all said rings true.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, the ultimate thing you're looking at is the TV deal here, what's coming up with the next Big 12.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: That's what I think of when I think of you know the perception of this conference and not having a good look is not going to get us a good TV deal, and therefore we're gonna make less money, and that's gonna happen with our two biggest programs financially leaving.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and that's I mean, that in itself stinks, but it's it's who watches the games.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_04: And unfortunately, Texas Tech, Iowa State, uh, Baylor, all those don't have the eyeballs that UT and OU have, despite them, well, OU being, you know, what OU is, but besides UT not being great in in football for the last decade.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_04: So uh, you know, that part of it stinks.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_04: But, you know, I I wanted to ask this question because performance of you know this conference moving forward in the Big 12, in my eyes, is not going to change that much.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_04: You know, oh you obviously losing OU in football is is gonna burn a little bit because you know they were a powerhouse for so many years, but you know, five win UT and then bringing in a playoff contender in Cincinnati, Houston, who always puts together a good program, UCF, who has had good programs recently, uh BYU, who just has has been had great years in the past.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_04: So uh from that perspective, I think we're gonna be fine performance-wise.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_04: It's just we're not gonna be perceived that way.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, like it kind of brought back to what I was saying earlier.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's not that way now.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we put together some really great teams.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: The Big 12 performs very well in the postseason, usually every year.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it's just we get the same excuses.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, uh, oh, those teams that lost, the Big 12 didn't want to be there.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, they play with the starters, the others didn't.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's a frustrating, frustrating mountain that's hard to get over.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I really think that the glass ceiling to break through any of that trash talk is unfortunately national champions.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I I really don't know if the Big 12 will have the ability to do that anymore anymore.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just I I think we'll be putting teams in the playoff, but there is just going to, I I hate to admit this, but I feel like there is going to be a talent disparity to really to there's only a few teams in the country that can do that.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's the it's some logos that do it, unfortunately.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and uh just I I don't know if the Big 12 will contain a team in the current state it is to do that.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe a team will bust out and surprise everybody, like the UCF, or they're the new big dog in Florida or something like that, right?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: Or Cincinnati or BYU becomes this true Notre Dame of Mormons where they have the ability to do this.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: But I I as of right now, I I just think it's a perception we're gonna have to deal with for uh for basically ever.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, probably.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_05: And I mean, but I mean, I I I guess I'm just not that worried about stacking up against the SEC because the big thing can't do that either.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: That's how I feel too.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_04: So let's get into Iowa State specifically, because they are part of the new Big 12, just like us, and we're happy to have y'all.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_04: But how do you, Travis, believe that Iowa State's athletic programs are gonna fare in the new look Big 12?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_05: Well, Iowa State finished second in the Big 12 this year in overall uh athletic standing.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: So right now, whatever's working is working.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um you know, and then in the major sports, we've had two sweets, two sweet 16s and a Fiesta Bowl win in the last 16 months.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_05: So um obviously things are going well.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: I think that there's a lot of level footing right now between the 12 schools that are kind of in the league or about to be in the league.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: Um I'm really curious to see what happens with more money for Central Florida, Houston, and Cincinnati in particular, because they're in good recruiting grounds.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_05: Um better than Iowa State is for sure.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm curious to see if we're actually kind of waking them up or not.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, they might rise above us, and that wouldn't really surprise me, especially Central Florida and Houston in particular, just because those are those are prime recruiting cities, you know.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um, from an NIL side, I'm actually kind of more than moderately concerned.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, you know, and I'll talk about this a little later, just about how Iowa State's kind of a fan-focused place where you know, we have a a large group of season ticket holders, you know, who fill Jack Trice every week, you know, 60,000 fans, but those are your 250 donors who tack that on top of their season tickets, not uh, you know, not suite holders, you know, not club, you know, members, things like that.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um, from that perspective, I worry because you know it's kind of uh um working class blue-collar fan base, and we don't and and I do worry.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we lost Tyrese Hunter because we wouldn't pay him$750,000.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_05: So if if that's how this goes, then I do have some concerns.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it it sure is trending that way when you're seeing uh you know players leave programs that are already in good situations, like Tyrese Hunter.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_04: You're coming off a uh uh Sweet 16.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_04: Did y'all make the Elite Eight this year?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_04: I forgot.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_04: Sweet 16 team.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, new coach, you're the you're the point guard and you're leaving for money.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah, I think that's a very concerning thing for for all of our schools that are in the Big 12.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_04: I I do think it's interesting that you brought up Houston, Cincinnati, UCF, because they are in major recruiting hotbeds and potentially can really rise up as programs.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, and that could hurt an Iowa State or a Texas Tech, because now Houston growing up in the Houston area, we recruit that very heavily, trying to get obviously our main focus is kind of DFW, but we still get a lot of Houston guys.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: And so um, you know, from that perspective, it could hurt Texas Tech, but we also have a Texas leaving, and you know, we weren't really competing with them in the first place for recruits.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_04: So, but Cincinnati rising up, they're now two power teams in the state of Ohio.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, that's a huge recruiting hotbed.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_04: So that that's an interesting perspective.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_05: Well, that that probably helps us out a little bit because we're already recruiting Ohio.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, it's um luckily for us on the recruiting end, we don't really recruit the Big 12 footprint anyway.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_05: So um, basketball, we actually recruit Milwaukee and Minneapolis harder than about anywhere.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_05: And then the football, we're recruiting Ohio in the Midwest.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_05: So um, I guess from that regard, we're probably in the same spot as we were, we were ever, you know.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's got I'm kind of surprised to hear you express concern.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: I kind of know I know I'm kind of backstapping here with the NIL situation.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_03: I would have thought uh with the NIL deal, uh a school like an Iowa State would be happy about this situation to offer players a little more than they could before.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I uh obviously, you know, recruit recruit recruiting for an Iowa State, you know, you're you're obviously trying to get guys that are maybe considering them or or like an Iowa, and maybe an Iowa and then an ideal maybe helps put you on more even ground with them.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so you don't you don't feel that way?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: You feel like it's gonna be a detriment to an Iowa an Iowa State?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we got to find the money.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, that's what it comes down to.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um, the corporate donor base at Iowa State is pretty poor.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_05: We're we're last in the Big 12 in corporate donations.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_05: So, and naturally you that the so we already don't have that money, and that's kind of what that's where a lot of the NIL money is getting kind of not transferred from, but it's being replaced from.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_05: Technically, they don't happen together, wink wink.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_05: But they do.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, yeah, NIL is definitely wild west right now.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, not sure, you know, it's it obviously for our programs, it hasn't trended the best way in uh the last uh year or so, but you know, we'll see where it comes.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_04: And maybe maybe there's the next billionaire coming out of Iowa State who just loses the athletics and puts it all in.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we have a few certain donors of tech that really put in a lot of money and a lot of you know, really nice donations to facilities and all that stuff.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_04: And um, you know, I I I think that can happen with Iowa State, just uh needs needs to get those couple people, you know.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe the a cyclone will invent the computer number two.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's y'all got the first.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_05: Or I'll just sit outside of Warren Buffett's house about five miles away from me and just put there.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_04: You go.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_04: Just there's nothing wrong with begging, man.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_04: Hey Warren before cyclones, yes or no?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, he's a husker, that's the problem.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, not good, not good.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_04: Nebraska's got enough.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_04: They just stole uh who was it, Oshan Mathis, I think from TCU.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_04: They just they outbid UT for that one.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_04: So Nebraska's got to find enough NIL going on.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_04: But um talking about those new additions, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, were you were you happy with these additions?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_04: Would you have rather us gone a different direction?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, or how did you feel about these new uh new teams going to the Big 12?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I'd have preferred adding uh Notre Dame, USC, Florida, Ohio State, Clemson.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, so outside of uh adding uh those pie in the skies or you know going really crazy, adding uh Texas AM, Missouri, Colorado, and Nebraska, you know, outside of maybe those combinations, we got the best four we could get.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_05: So um I don't have any problems with it.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_05: They were the best four, and I think those are the four who we can mold into being power programs.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_05: At the end of the day, we want to be a power five league.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_05: And uh and there's still a case to be made that we're still probably gonna be the fourth most powerful league.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_05: So adding those four teams, um, two of them have been in a power five league, or I guess back when it was a power six, back when the big east had a football league, um, Cincinnati was in that league, and um, I believe Central Florida was for a brief time.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_05: So I I believe that all of them are in enough of a situation where they can be enough of a quote power so they can at least be in that so we can at least stay in that mid-range of conferences.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_05: You know, there's the top two, you know, the SEC uh obviously is one, you know, the Big Ten, two, and then where it was kind of a bit of a gap, and then there's kind of the ACC Big 12 and Pac-12, um, kind of at those next mid-range of power or maybe the lower range of power level.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_05: That being said, I think that those are the four that we could have added.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_05: And um, and I I do think that we can build upon them.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, and and Cincinnati and C UCF aren't the only ones that have had experience at the top level.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're talking about Houston, who spent a good amount of time in the Southwest conference, which is absolutely a power conference as well.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I feel like BYU has been waiting for this chance for forever, but obviously they just have some some baggage that unfortunately a lot of conferences had some issue taking on, uh, not to mention the more isolated areas.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I feel like these four have been ready for this.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I like you said, Travis, I don't think you could have picked a better group to do so.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I really like how you focused in on the molding part because I think the point is is no one's no one's taking these on thinking you've already just accepted equals to your programs.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: You're taking on potential.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: You're you're you're you're you're buying a whole lot of fans as well.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like the BYU network is enormous, it's nation, it's worldwide.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: The UCF is the biggest school in the nation, which is just unreal potential with fandom.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: And Cincinnati and Houston are also very big schools, and you know, obviously, Houston's in the probably the the biggest football city in the country, right?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: So it's and and and basketball's huge there as well.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: So it's just the potentials there is through the roof.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I just hope that these programs commit to making it happen for the rest of us as well.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, we were we were the only one I was really concerned about was Houston, and that was just from a selfish perspective of them taking some of our recruiting and all that type of stuff.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_04: But overall, for the conference sake, these four I thought were a great ad.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and to be honest, in the position that we were in, we weren't going to be swiping anybody from any other conference.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: So maybe that has potential in the future if we build on some championships, all that kind of stuff, who knows?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_04: But um, you know, I think these four were were nice additions.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, Travis, for you, rank these new cities of these new schools.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_04: So Provo, Cincinnati, Houston, Orlando, from most interesting to least interesting from your perspective.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_05: I'm most interested in Cincinnati.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it's kind of a it's it's a it's an older, more cultured city, you know, little grimy, but uh their campus is kind of neat, old, and traditional.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_05: So it kind of has the most, you know, old time college football feel to it.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_05: Really excited to make that trip.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it's it's it's not another school out of the planes, kind of like how we are.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_05: So that's um you know, that's pretty neat.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_05: Um, Houston's really convenient, so they're my number two.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_05: Um Hobby Airport's what 10 minutes from their campus on a good day.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_05: And um, you know, Southwest flies pretty much everywhere in the league.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_05: So um that's that's gonna be just handy.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_05: Um three is Provo.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um, that's gonna be very scenic, and I hear it's a good environment once you're in the stadium.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_05: Um, tailgating's not allowed though, so I'm still not I I don't know how sober cycling football is gonna be, so for some of the fans who travel there, but that'll be a new experience.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_05: And um Orlando doesn't do anything for me.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I don't have any kids, and you know, I don't when I go to Florida, I like clubs and beaches, not Disney and chain restaurants and stuff like that.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_05: So um Orlando is uh the least excited I am.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean we've played in Orlando twice in bowl games, and I've gone to none of them.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, that that stadium's off camping world or whatever over there.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, it's terrible.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think they play in camping world, they have their own.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: They don't play okay, it's called the bounce house, they have it on campus.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, but apparently, apparently uh people people when people rip on it, they call it like a glorified scaffolding stadium.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: And uh from the looks of it, it kind of looks that way.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: There's it doesn't look it doesn't look like it has any sort of personality to it at all, but obviously the potential part is the whole point.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: That place looks wild when they're good, so and that's the whole point.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's what we're buying.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and they they have a plan to expand that to like 65,000 seats.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_05: My my hope, my hope would be that for sure Central Florida and Houston do expand their stadium so that they look big time because Houston's doesn't look big time now at all either.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's surprisingly small.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: I I think I think the the general goal for these for these new goal uh for these new teams is to build a bigger stadium than at least TCU and probably Baylor.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: You probably want to be bigger than the private schools.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you you want to it's just that should probably be the bar to aim for whenever you're first getting things going.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: If you're asking me, Mr.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Consultants, like look like a big state school.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: Don't look smaller than the public than the private schools, you know.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, for sure.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, and I I I I I would guess that they when they were bidding for the Big 12 the first time, they probably had expansion plans in hand.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_05: And I would hope that by now those are a little more than just concepts, you know.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_05: I would hope I would hope those are action plans by now, you know, even if they're not so so obviously back to what's important then, Travis.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: So if I like that you pick Cincinnati number one, man.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't expect that to happen in any of the interviews.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I thought Provo was gonna be the most popular, if not Provo, then maybe uh Orlando.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: So interesting to see someone say something different.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: So does that mean Travis Helm is a Skyline chili guy?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_05: Are you a skyline chili guy?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_05: So the only time I've been to Cincinnati, I actually didn't have it.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_05: So I I don't know.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_05: So I'll I'll be the first to let you know.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_05: I'll do a I'll do I guess I'll I'll do a taste test when I'm there, but uh yeah, no, I I don't know.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_05: I like old time cities though, too.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_04: So I think I was I was interested, I wanted to ask you this question specifically because we had Joe Goodman on for the Baylor part of this, and you know Joe.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_04: And he ranked them, I believe, Provo Houston, Orlando, Cincinnati.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_04: And so you being a Midwest guy, I was wondering if you knew a little more about if there's anything more to Cincinnati than maybe you know we were expecting.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_04: Because to me, I've I have no idea about Cincinnati.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_04: I've never been to Ohio, never been anywhere around there.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_04: I know people that are also from Ohio that hate the uh the city of Cincinnati.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's more sports, uh sports hate than anything.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_04: But um, yeah, so that was interesting.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well, and Joe does have family from Ohio too, so he might uh may have uh extra added biases there, one way or the other.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think he brought that up.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_04: He didn't he wasn't a big fan of Cincinnati, but um I do want to try the chili.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_04: We'll see if that ever happens, we'll see if I'll ever get up to Cincinnati.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_04: But uh, they're an interesting city for sure.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, all right, moving on to more back to the Big 12 divisions, pro, anti.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_04: What how do you feel towards divisions?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_05: I'm indifferent, really.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I I would probably if we went to divisions, I would want Iowa State, KUK State, and then the three Eastern schools, so Cincinnati, West Virginia, and UCF at one, and then you had the Texas schools, OSU and a BYU and a West.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_05: So I've seen hybrid models uh where you have three protected rivals and the rest is just random.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I'm fine with that.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but those are more designed for leagues that have 14 to 16 teams in them, even though it's never been done, obviously.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_05: But like obviously, I don't think Missouri has played in Baton Rouge yet in the SEC, and that's a 14-team league.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_05: It's just wrong.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_05: So I think that so I think there was a blogger, I don't know if it was Saturday down south or whoever it was, who actually came up with the idea of just having your three protected rivals and the rest just random games every year.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_05: That's on a rotating basis.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_05: It's a really good idea, but it's designed for leagues that are 14 to 16 teams to just so that you can avoid those kind of uh large scheduling gaps.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_05: Um, that being said, we've been at 12 before, and um, you know, we played uh Texas Tech two out of four years, so that it was not like we were completely unaccustomed to Lubbock and you were completely unaccustomed to us, like you still were around enough with divisions.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_05: So that's why I guess I'm kind of indifferent.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_05: Whatever they do, they'll do.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_05: Um, whatever, whatever allows us to um play Kansas and Kansas State every year, because we're just on an island, you know.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so whatever whatever you get us to play the Kansas schools and maybe Cincinnati or West Virginia, I'm fine with.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, man.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: I I think you have to do divisions because I think you really need to build up for that, build up that familiarity.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: So you have a foundation for the conference.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: You have the Texas schools have to play each other every year.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: There'd be no excuse not to make that happen because these are the fan bases that interact with each other just like you in the Kansas schools.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: It wouldn't make any sense uh other to do it otherwise.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I I think that's how you keep rivalries going.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's how you make it, you know, a conference championship game more interesting to have a north versus south rather than always repeating like we do now.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so that way then also you kind of cut out the complaining about who you played that year and how so-and-so-and-so kind of needs your path to the to the conference championship, kind of cut that out where it's like, well, it doesn't matter if the north is better than the south, it's just who you're in.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_03: So um I I I think divisions is kind of the no-brainer, in my opinion.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_05: Whatever preserves most prestigious rivalry in the Big 12, which is Farmageddon, we're all good.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_03: The but not the butt bowl, sorry?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: The the butt bowl.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_03: The butt bowl.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_04: Rivalries to me are gonna be a lot of jokes I could make here, but uh the the new rivalries are really interesting to me because you do get certain ones, Iowa State, Kansas State, but I really think the rivalry for us specifically is really gonna grow with Oklahoma State.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_04: Houston's gonna come into the fold, all sorts of stuff.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, for y'all though, your rival is Kansas State, correct?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, it'd be K U or K State, depending on the sport, but yeah, I mean we've we've played them since the beginning of college sports.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_05: So um, you know, we've uh we've been paired with them forever.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_05: And uh I would still say the most anticipated or most highly coveted ticket names at any given year is still the Kansas basketball game.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_05: There's just a vibe to it, and our fan base just knows how to be good at basketball more than they know how to be good at football.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_05: So you know that's obviously the biggest game of the year is Kansas and basketball, you know.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_05: And um, but that being said, Kansas State and football has um at as we've lost Missouri and we've lost Nebraska in particular, having that Kansas State game at home is big.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_05: And then this year, um I I was shocked how many Iowa State fans went to Manhattan this year.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_05: That I mean, that's still five hours from campus to campus.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_05: That being said, so I'm in western Iowa, far western Iowa, and I'm literally split distance-wise between Manhattan and Ames.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_05: So there's still some geographic semblance there that um, and plus we're we're just really familiar with each other, you know.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_05: There's a ton of alums in Kansas City for Iowa State, and obviously there's more of Kansas State and Kansas City, but so there's just there's just families that are kind of divided in their farm schools.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, definitely while we're we're on this note of you know keeping that familiarity together.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I think that's what I was most excited about adding Cincinnati for, besides just you know the recent success and story basketball program and all that is you get to give you you finally get to give a team to an Iowa State and a West Virginia that have been missing other teams around them.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: You kind of build a bit of a bridge in that upper Midwest between uh some Big 12 teams that actually makes a little more sense rather than feeling like West Virginia is on this absolute island in Iowa State's kind of drifting off, you know.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_03: So it's kind of I feel like it's kind of nice to have a bit of a tide.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think what do you all think with Cincinnati there?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_05: I I mean I obviously really like it.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um mostly for recruiting reasons, but yeah, West Virginia now doesn't feel out of place.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_05: I will say though, we've all we're actually closer to Morgantown than we are to Lubbock.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: So that's not surprising, you know.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_05: You guys are I think you guys kind of understand what it's like to be on an island, though, too.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_05: I've I've I've I've driven Highway 84, it's kind of lonely.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: For sure, yeah, for sure, for sure.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_04: But uh, you know, we have the Texas to our name, so it's like, okay, we also have four other teams in our state, you know, yeah, we're far from everybody, but you know, we're all Texas in the end.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_04: But um, yeah, that's interesting.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_04: Uh you do you see anything with Cincinnati growing there, rivalry-wise?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I mean, if if if we keep recruiting Ohio, I think that could be nasty.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I mean, if if if if you have a four-year high school rival, you know, if you go to, I don't know, high schools in Ohio.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_05: True.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_05: If if one of you is from Canton, one of your from uh Massalon or something like that, and those are those towns are like 10 miles apart, you know.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_05: If one of you goes to Cincinnati when he goes to Iowa State or when he goes to West Virginia, I mean, you know, that's I mean that that that builds, you know.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_05: I think uh we we've seen that from Texas schools in particular, you know.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_05: I remember there was a um back when I think it was Colt McCoy and who was your quarterback?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_05: Was it Graham Harrell?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_05: Graham Harrell.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_05: Weren't they high school rivals too?
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they're yeah, they uh both in the DFW area.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_05: You know, so that's uh you know, I think I think that's how that could really grow.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_05: But um, I you know, I kind of wonder, um, because I'm not really a big fan of neutral games.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_05: I do wonder though, if like an initial game between Iowa State and Cincinnati, somewhere like um Soldier Field or something like that, just to really take the Big 12 in a direction it's never gone, you know, really allow two fan bases to just you know hate on each other.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_05: I think you know, could be something.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's that's definitely interesting.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and I heard this opinion, I forgot who, but yeah, the Big 12 to me has to start making some crazy moves here, has to start putting themselves out there, putting them on an on doing stuff that we have never really seen before.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, the first thing I thought of is streaming platforms, getting us on those, finding some different way to generate TV revenue that nobody's really tried yet, dip their dip their toes in.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah, doing doing those neutral site games, I mean, that's a surefire way.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_04: I hate them like you do, but uh, you know, that I understood why we did it with Baylor for so many years in at Jerry World because Dallas recruiting, you know, it's great for that.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_04: But uh to me, having both fan bases drive, it's it I I hate it, but I got why we did it.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, problem with the D I'm sorry, go ahead.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_05: I think it'd be hilarious if you guys did a Red River rivalry at at uh uh Texas Tech and OSU.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: I was just thinking that it's like do the yeah, do like do like a red call like the Red River redo or something, you know.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's just that that'd be really funny.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: Like, just to even it even generate for people being like, it's not the Red River rivalry, just to get me people mad about it.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's just funny, and that would be so fun to have with the Poge fans, just to be like the tongue in cheek, oh, you ready for the Red River game?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: You know, kind of thing.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_05: So what you gotta do though is you gotta call it the Red River shootout, though, because uh OU and Texas went they went like all PC on it.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_05: Uh yeah, and that was one point where I'm like, Yeah, just call it call it a shootout.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, yeah, and I mean the guns are there for both.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, we do the one, they do the two, they stole all of our stuff.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_04: I talked about it last time, but uh, but yeah, no, I think uh some of these rivalries are gonna grow and gonna be really interesting.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_04: Us in particular, I think Oklahoma State and Houston are gonna really become two of our main ones.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, it's it I'm glad y'all get to keep your current rival in Kansas State and possibly get something new in Cincinnati.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that part of it's good for the lead.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it would it it I it wouldn't be neat if if Iowa State and Cincinnati did do a neutral in Chicago and actually became something that's just not Big 12 territory, like yeah, you're really dipping your toes in something we've never been a part of.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_04: Like, yeah, so yeah, that would be cool.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um, okay, next up, Tristan came up with this question, uh, and I thought that was I thought it was super interesting.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um, general for Iowa State fans, is there a general allegiance to the Big 12, or is it more of, hey, when are we gonna get to the Big Ten?
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_04: We've been waiting for so long for it.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I mean, I I I think our chance to go to the Big Ten was probably uh 80 years ago.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_05: We'll be really honest.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_05: Um uh literally, this is kind of uh um kind of a sensitive topic because I think every Iowa State fan probably had a two to five percent dream that we'd still get invited to the Big Ten.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_05: But um, one of the prerequisites of uh joining the Big Ten is AAU, American Association of Universities membership, which we literally left two weeks ago um kind of to avoid an eviction vote.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_05: Um, there's some research policy there and um kind of a medical emphasis.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_05: That was what Iowa State kind of cited as the reasons.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_05: So it was kind of a divorce.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_05: So that dream's kind of dead, if I'm being really honest, um, even though that would have always been the best fit for Iowa State.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um, that being said, all of our fans, if there's an affinity for anything, it's the big eight and the former big eight members.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_05: You know, there's and while it was a smaller geographic and population footprint, uh, we never had political fights, there was never animosity.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it was just a good solid league, especially on the basketball end.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_05: You know, the the reason the Big 12 tournament is so successful in Kansas City isn't because of the Big 12, it's because that was where the Big Eight tournament was.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_05: And that was a party and it was and it has been for decades.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_05: So now we're kind of so we've always just kind of been inviting the Texas schools to Kansas City to join our party that was already there, you know.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_05: Um, that being said, I don't think there's much loyalty to the Big 12 because honestly, we had a good thing going.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_05: We welcomed the four Texas schools, and and while I don't consider tech one of the problems of the four, um, the ego with Texas, um, the whatever Texas AM has with Texas, you know, there's that fight, you know, and and Texas came in and started swinging the weight around when really and and and Delos Dodds has said this multiple times that the big eight saved those Texas four schools, like it was kind of an inbred one-state league that had no footprint and had no like media ground to stand on.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_05: And the big eight kind of saved them, but then as soon as Texas got in there, and Texas kind of let their ego get to them and act like they're blue blood when even before Mac Brown they weren't really, and they're not now, really.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_05: But they really caused a lot of problems, and that's ultimately why Nebraska left, and that was kind of the first domino to fall, you know.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_05: And so there's a lot of animosity there because I mean, I for as much as I enjoy not being in the crosshairs of Nebraska fans here.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I I miss playing them, I miss playing Missouri, I miss playing Colorado, right?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_05: You know, and so I would say my allegiance is still to them.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_05: And and if I'm being really honest, I would love like in December having a Big Eight classic or something in Kansas City where you have four former, you know, big eight schools against the four kind of remaining, even to kind of bring back that, you know, sentimental-ness, I guess you'd call it, you know, because I mean Kansas, Missouri is better than um probably any revelry I've been around.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_05: And what is it now?
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_05: You know, yeah, um, yeah.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_05: So that's where my animosity is, really.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and you know, it it would have been cool if Oklahoma would have actually stuck with us, but um, in the modern era, Oklahoma needs Texas.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you know, I've driven I-35 in Oklahoma and there's no traffic heading north of Oklahoma City and all the traffic's heading south, right?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_05: You know, so they know where their bread's buttered, and so they've made their decision, but and it makes total sense to me.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_05: But um, my allegiance is to the big eight, you know.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm really surprised by that answer.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: I uh I'm I'm I'm shocked.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: I uh you know, to to hear you excuse Nebraska and OU and Missouri and Colorado from making their own decisions, uh just kind of putting all that blame on UT surprises me.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: I have obviously I have no allegiance towards UT or AM as far as I concern, they can get bent.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna obviously I'm gonna miss playing them, but I have I they they could rot in SEC hell with at the bottom of the division uh for all I care.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_05: The bracket left, I told I told their fans worse things than get bent.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_05: But um, no, I understood why they left.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_05: Now that being said, um the original Big 12 could have stuck together if uh some people actually decided to stick up to Texas or stand up against Texas.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_05: Um, there was enough weight in that league in its original form, in this league in its original form, where I think Texas could have been knocked down a bag.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_05: I really believe that.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_05: Even even though I think, yeah, so right when the first missile crisis happened, Texas had just come off of a national championship appearance in football.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_05: So I think they were riding high, yeah.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_05: And I think some were intimidated by that, sure, but man, I I I I still really wish that some schools would have just kind of stood up to them then, you know.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but I think I mean we could all we could all trace all of these problems back to Texas.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, we we hate them just as much as everybody else hates them, they're full of themselves, they make decisions based on them and not the rest.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, you know, that's why the Big 12 is what it is these days.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_04: And I actually think uh, you know, we've done a decent job with trying to patch it together and glue things back, and now we've had to do it twice.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, you know, I I guess it is what it is, but um, from from Texas leaving, I think is a good thing for the rest of us.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, we can all come together and you know, we get along much better with Iowa State, West Virginia, and them versus UT, uh, because UT is what they are.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_05: And I I made one more point on the loyalty thing.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I'll be honest with you, I don't think loyalty to a league is going to be a thing outside of the SEC or the Big Ten.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_05: When those two leagues are gonna be bringing in upwards of 70 and 80 million dollars a year per school, while the Pac 12 ACC and Big 12 are probably gonna be upwards of 30 million less per school than that.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_05: There's gonna be a lot of schools who are gonna wanna be who everyone's gonna wish they were in one of those two leagues.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_05: So I don't see a lot of loyalty in those in the ACC or the Pac 12 either.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_05: So um, you know, we can we can nitpick the Big 12 apart all we want to, but you know, and we are in the least advantageous position, but it's not like we're alone in that.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_05: You know, there's other people who there's other leagues who still have some of the same issues.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, no one watches Pac-12 games, they can't get a media deal, you know.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_05: And the ACC kind of seems to have an identity crisis, or they have football league or they have basketball league.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um, their commissioner signed a deal, a media deal through 2036 or something like that.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_04: That's a horrible deal.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_05: Terrible, you know.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_05: I you know, so what you know, I mean, so I for for as much as you guys might be shocked about Iowa State fans not really being loyal to the Big 12, you know, is anybody really loyal outside of you know Mississippi State to the SEC?
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I wasn't I wasn't too shocked by your answer because exactly teams like Missouri and Mississippi State are gonna just be counting their bills even though they never win anything, and they're gonna be happy doing that because they're making that much money.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_05: And Mississippi actually wins things, Missouri doesn't.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: That's true.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: Mississippi State's won uh baseball recently and all that.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_05: But yeah, Missouri, Missouri's irrelevant.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_05: They're a little engine that could, you know, while I feel like Missouri and um Arkansas in particular, they're just they're truly the ones who are just counting bills and just praying that Alabama doesn't wax them by 50.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: I it's just, you know, what at the end of the day, uh, the Big 12 is a victim of location, you know, and it's the the the this it's not just college sports, but this country is run by the coasts.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they make all the real decisions.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_03: So unfortunately, we're in the middle of America.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: We don't have a whole lot of big cities, and um a lot of our pre-brands were hitched to another.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_03: Texas Tech was hitched to UT, whether we like it or not.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: So we were being dragged along, and as was AM.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's not even it's not even a knock on us.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: And unfortunately, our hitch was to a monster, an egotistic monster that obviously was out for its own interest, way more so than than others.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I would say it was maybe hitched to Nebraska, and unfortunately, that hitch broke off.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just we're we're a victim of relocation in our trailer hitch here in the Big 12.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_03: And but I I feel like we have a pretty good thing going, all things considered.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean, I would I would tell you we've been hitched, uh, we've been hitched to a Big Ten team for 100 years.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_04: So we don't like to talk about those hot guys.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_04: But um, yeah, I mean, it's kind of a an uh like a group of misfit toys, you know, over here in the Big 12.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_04: And uh we're chugging along, we're trying to make it.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, you know, I'm I'm happy uh with the fan bases at least in the in the schools, and I think we all kind of get along pretty decently well uh when you're looking at the whole thing.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_04: So um, you know, the new Big 12, we'll see how it goes.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, I want to talk to you and end off here with some Iowa State stuff.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, just for potential fans that are listening in, don't know anything about Ames, don't know anything about Iowa.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, what first off, what's one thing you would say to a recruit if you had any sort of say-so uh up there to try to convince them in any sport, pick whatever you want to come to Iowa State?
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I got two things, and it's I I can't really not say the other.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_05: Um, the first is right now we just have two coaches at least two coaches, potentially three or four, who put athletes in the league at the other day.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_05: Uh TJ Alzelberger recruited Fred's best players.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_05: They're in the NBA now.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_05: We have uh rough uh upwards of eight players in the NBA right now.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_05: And if you guys saw the draft, Iowa State did very well in this NFL draft this year.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_05: So assuming we keep these coaches and these cultures going, you know, women's basketball is uh pretty good, wrestling's pretty good.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, we we have Olympic wrestlers, we have uh Olympic track athletes, we've I mean we have a you know we we've we've allowed a culture to be in place where if you dedicate your heart and soul to Iowa State, you can make it at the next level.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_05: You know, that's at the end of the day, that's that that's what all of our coaches want, you know.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_05: That being said, um Iowa State just has that fan base where you know, as long as the beer's flowing, the fans show up, you know, and and I think that not only can you achieve your dreams at Iowa State, but you have a fan base who's probably gonna stick with you through things a little more loyally than most other schools will, you know.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, there's there's lumps in college sports.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_05: Only 50% of teams can win every week, you know.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_05: And so lumps are gonna happen, and Iowa State fans have taken a few, probably too many of them.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_05: So there's at least understanding of that.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I think uh, I mean, I've I've seen a lot of just nastiness on like social media towards athletes when they lose a game.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_05: And these are these are programs that win 10 football games every year.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_05: You know, you're that's not gonna be an issue at Iowa State, you know.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_05: Not only you're gonna have a coach who cares about you, I can get you to the league if you follow, you know, what they're saying, you have a fan base who's pretty much gonna revere you forever, you know.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, I I you you know, Brock Curdy, decent quarterback, not a world beater by any means, but he's pretty much a living legend in Ames now, you know.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, um, then you think of guys like George Niang playing for the 76ers right now, you think of Matt Thomas on the Bulls, you think of Talen Horton Tucker on the Lakers, the list just goes on and on and on, you know, Monte Morris with the with the Nuggets.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_05: There's just so many cyclones in the pros right now.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, so and even with some coaching changes, it just continues.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, I mean, the it the culture at Iowa State speaks for itself.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_05: And um, there's been consistency at the top in terms of the athletic director, and we've had some good coaches, and it just seems like the culture and the fit is right to succeed and to have a backing that why not Iowa State?
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_05: You know.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's good.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's good.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, the one or not one, but some of the good things about you know, knowing you for so long is really getting invested in some cyclone Twitter stuff.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_04: And the love that y'all gave to Brock Purdy after he made, you know, certain mistakes in certain games, uh, it it's it's unmatched.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I think with both of our schools, we have that in common.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_04: We really, really love the athletes that's that put on the red and black or uh, you know, the the cyclone colors and uh just really embrace them as one of our own.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_04: And we hate it when they leave, as you can, as you may have seen with uh the recent Kevin McCullough news and and with Tyrese Hunter and all that kind of stuff.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_04: But man, we support the crap out of you when you're here and you're and you're putting on our our logo.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_04: So um that's really cool from Iowa State.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think Iowa State and Texas they kind of have this thing in common where we're we're we're we're happy to have you here.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like we expect you to be here kind of thing, you know, where you'll often see with bigger programs where it's like, oh, well, you know, it's just you I don't know if you deserve the right to be wearing that that that logo.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we're just well, we're pumped that you chose to wear it instead.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_03: So it's just I think that's kind of the difference.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and and you know, I mean, success just speaks for itself at this point, you know.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_05: And and you know, for once I can just speak so confidently about the ability of Iowa State coaches to do what they're supposed to do and the fans to do what they're supposed to do.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we're just in a good spot right now, and you know, and uh 12 years ago when the first missile crisis happened, we weren't.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_05: So um, no, I mean, there's even with all of this uncertainty with the league, there's there's still never never been a better time to be in Ames Iowa and in Iowa state.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_05: So it's a it's a good feeling to have.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta tell you, we we kind of like the inverse crisis missile crisis situations going on, man.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_03: Y'all are y'all are on top of a mountain, um, at least relatively speaking, and we were we were freaking in the freaking dumps.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, we have we picked the worst time to be at a program low in football, you know, to have to have the Big 12 potentially sinking below the surface.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_03: Be like, could you imagine if you saw a baler or someone go off without us kind of thing?
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like that would just be a meltdown mode, and it just it would be unexcusable.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm just I'm glad that we kept things together enough to where it's not an issue.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_03: But man, I I think we know what kind of stress you're feeling.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well, and there's there's still a there's still the name Texas in your name.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean that's true, you know.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_05: You know, and and and it's kind of interesting because you know, imagine if there was a Midwestern state the size of Texas, let's just say, that happened to cover Chicago, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee, but it also included Ames and Des Moines, you know.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the per the perception would be, oh, well, we're in the same state as Chicago and Minneapolis, you know.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_05: We're five hours from Chicago, we're two and a half from Minneapolis, two and a half from Kansas City.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_05: So, like everyone's like, Oh, Iowa's this deserted island.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_05: It's like, well, we're not really that far.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_05: There's just state lines in the way.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_05: So um, but you know, that that perception's kind of been against Iowa State just because you know our states are smaller up in this region, right?
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I uh yeah, I don't see us redrawing those anytime soon.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't think that's on the table.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_04: Spoken like a true Midwesterner over there, yeah.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_04: No, yeah.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, interesting, interesting perspective.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, final question here for you, Travis.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, visiting fans coming to Ames, what are the best spots?
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_04: Food, bars, whatever you can recommend.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_04: What you got for us?
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_05: Everyone says Hickory Park.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I call it a quasi barbecue joint.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_05: It's just a massive restaurant operation, it's really solid food, and they they funnel a lot of people in and out of there and a lot of food really quick and affordably.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_05: It's an impressive restaurant operation, so everyone has to go there.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but that being said, it's probably the third or fourth third or fourth best barbecue joint in kind of the rough Ames area, 15 miles or so.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um, there's a place called cornbread, and that's really good.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_05: And uh there's no A in cornbread, it's like your bread with corn.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_03: Ah, that's uh I see I see the resemblance.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_05: So and then there's a place called Whatcha Smoke in Barbecue, it's in Luther, Iowa, which is about uh 15 minutes outside of Ames.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_05: And um, that one's actually a little more Texas style barbecue, but it's pretty good.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_05: And then there's a place called Jethro's, which is a Des Moines barbecue chain that also has an Ames location, and it's objectively pretty good.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_05: So um I know I know Texans love barbecue, so if they need to feel at home, that's kind of where you want to go.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_05: Um, if you want to be a little more exotic, um in Campus Town, there's a Brazilian burger joint called Cafe Potel Air or Cafe B for short.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_05: Um, they have the stiffest drinks I've ever had in my life.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um if you if you expect to stand up after a meal, just be careful with those.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_05: Um but it that's a that's a phenomenal restaurant.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_05: Um you know, if you're if you're not looking for you know your basic uh sports bar vibe, that's kind of where you go.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, and if you're if you're and then if you're drunk in campus town, you know, or downtown, because they have these carts everywhere, there's the super dog cart, which is uh a hot dog on a fresh bun with mustard ketchup, cheese bacon, lace chips, and like this secret pineapple sauce that they put something else into.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know if it's cilantro that they put in it or something, but it's a different vibe to it.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and then they toast it, and it's really good.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_05: And as long as the windshield's above zero, that cart stays open.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_04: So okay, that's chilly.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, so it's uh it's good food, and uh they've uh you know they've they've done good business for probably 25 years now.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_03: Where where was where was young?
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_03: I have a test due tomorrow, but it don't matter.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_03: Travis getting his whistle wet on a Thursday night in Ames, Iowa.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_03: Or where were you putting some long neck bat long necks back with the boys?
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_03: Like, where was the dive?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, the dive was Welch Avenue Station.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_05: Uh the bartender well, especially the summertime because I I always lived in Ames through the summers, and the bartender there was a Cardinals fan, and sometimes it was hard to find that because it's Cubs territory, so he he'd always get those games on, and he always had some uh strong mixed drinks too.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_05: So Welchav is Welch Av Station's kind of a 1980s basement dive bar, it's got a pizza pit up top.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_05: Um, there's another place called Astas E S T A S.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_05: It's Spanish for the place.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_05: They got good, um, they got good uh uh fried taco shells, you know, and just it's just a solid sports bar.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_05: So um those were kind of the two Astas and Wolf Jab Station.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um you know, some of the other places were like dance floors and stuff, and I don't know.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_05: I I can barely walk out of football stadium, so I uh dancer.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_04: Understandable, yeah, absolutely.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_04: Well, if we ever make it up to Ames, which is on the list, it's on the list.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I absolutely love to go up there.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you and and others have talked about the tailgating scene up there, how great it is.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, so we appreciate those recommendations.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean the the best thing you can do is just make friends with an Iowa State fan because uh uh the tailgate scene, everyone's got a grill, everyone's got a TV, everyone's got bushlight.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_05: So love it.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_05: You'll get you'll get fed and you'll get liquored up if you just make friends and don't be a dick.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think we're pretty good at that.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_04: We we can do that, and we have some uh we have some experience in that department.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_05: So to be honest, iowans are so ridiculously nice that they'll probably be nice, they'll probably give you food even if you are a dick, but they'll probably just like glare at you.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_05: Passive aggressiveness is like the official language of the Midwest.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_04: They'll they'll give you the hot dog except without the lathe chips on it, so it's not nearly as good.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_05: If you're rude to the super dog lady, she will not serve you.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_05: I have seen her break up so many fights over the she's not someone to be messed with.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_05: She's like the one non-Midwest, she's the one non-Iowa nice person.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you don't mess with her.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, don't mess with super dog lady, and uh, you know, we'll make some friends.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_05: No ma'am, here's your tip.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_05: But everyone else, everyone else, passive aggressive, just be nice to them.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_04: Well, right on, man.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_04: We we hope to make it up there someday and hopefully attend the game with you so you can show us the spots.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but here on the talk and tech pod, we always do a song of the week.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_04: We always do recommendations for the listeners just after they listen here to go jam with some with some good music.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_04: And so, Travis, we asked you what is your song of the week?
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_05: I can't not go with 90s country babes.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_05: I just can't do it.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_05: And it's uh I don't know if it's quite 90s, it might be early 2000s, but uh stare Evans born to fly.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, because sometimes you just gotta ask people, how do you keep your feet on the ground when you were born to fly?
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_06: How do you keep your feet on the ground when you know what you want to be?
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's deep.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I I fully endorse the bae part of the 90s uh sentence there with Sarah Nevins.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_03: She is she is quite okay to look at, I would say.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um all right, Tristan, what do you got?
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna go with an Oklahoma City group, a uh, you know, a sort of mid Midland rock country group here with uh Quittin Time by Jason Scott.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's just a fun, you just got off work on Friday and he had to have a beer, and it's just kind of it's a funny Quentin time song that you're just ready to get the weekend going.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I like the supporting the smaller local guys, you know.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_04: You're always here to give us some smaller guys, smaller gals, smaller bands uh recommendations.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_04: So we appreciate that about you.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_04: Travis, I don't remember, I don't know if you remember last time you were on the pod.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_04: Uh you gave us a nice stadium jam.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_04: You gave us Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down, uh, which is obviously a jam.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but my song of the week this time is going to fit that theme.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_04: Another stadium song, all timer.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we just had over here in Baton Rouge, we just had Garth Brooks in town sold out Tiger Stadium.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't get to go, but I'm near it and I heard it.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_04: And it was ridiculous.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_04: The videos coming out uh from that stadium was stupid.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_04: It was ridiculous.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_04: And of course, what song gets the Louisianans going, but Callin Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks?
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_04: And uh that one, I if you have not checked it out, go on Twitter, go on YouTube, uh, go check out him putting on that song.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_04: It was it was unreal.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_05: That's one of the staples.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_05: I got to see Garth at uh Memorial Stadium in Lincoln last summer, and that was uh that was an incredible experience.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean Andy Garth Brooks is always good, but um, yeah, that was my third time seeing him in concert, actually.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_05: So wow, always, always, always good for Garth songs.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_04: So thought we'd give one.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if we've done a Garth Brooks song before.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we haven't, man.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_03: We haven't.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_03: We haven't done a George Strait song.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's because we're scared.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he's an all-timer.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_04: We can't, I mean, not that Garth isn't, but yeah, it's it's scary to do all timers, yeah.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're like what song can you pick and what occasion?
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, it's got to fit a theme for me.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but uh, but Travis, man, we appreciate you coming on.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_04: Please plug everything you would like to do right now.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_05: My my my my Twitter feed is at Travis Clones.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I actually haven't done um anything recently with the Tailgate Society, but um, I think that'll be uh um picking up again soon.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_05: There you go.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_05: With that being said, just uh don't be a stranger on Twitter.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_05: I come with the takes, but uh I um I'm not uh opposed to others.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_05: So and uh yeah, let's just uh let's let's keep these good uh these good jobs rolling into the next uh decade or so as a league because I think uh I think uh you know we we we we took we took a hit, but I think we need to embrace the weird, we need to embrace the fun, we need to embrace the loyal.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_05: And at the end of the day, you know, our schools are the greatest places on the face of the earth.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_05: So uh let's just uh let's just keep uh let's just keep rolling with them.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_03: How do you even top that, man?
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_03: I I I love that interview, and it's been too long since we've had you on.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we'll definitely have to uh get you on for the upcoming baseball series.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I mean football game next fall.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll we'll definitely have to have you on, man.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's it's it's always great getting you on the podcast because it's like it's nice hearing from you, corn boys.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_05: The corn boys, oh boy.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, so Texas Tech fans have have gotten uh a love for Cyclone Larry in the past uh couple years.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_04: So we're giving you another Iowa State fan here to follow on Twitter at Travis Clones.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_04: But uh Travis again, we appreciate you having you on, man.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_05: My pleasure.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh wow, first of all, uh got a lot of respect for Steven and Tristan.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh their program, tough guys, just uh a lot of fun.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love the game of basketball, but also love West Texas.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I love Steven and Tristan.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm extremely proud.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know where we go from here.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm thinking I'm just gonna sit back down.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna get any better than this.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_01: I would like to thank uh Steven and Tristan.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is incredible.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_04: These guys have a passion and a love for this school.