For whatever reason I have always enjoyed picking up a newspaper from another city and reading about Iowa State. Whether it's at the Big 12 tournament or randomly on vacation, seeing a story on the Cyclones from a place other than the Register or the Ames Tribune is a different experience. I even consider Cedar Rapids and Iowa City foreign territory because once you get past Grinnell on I-80, it's a whole new world. (Half of you now have that damn Alladin song in your head. Click on the link for the Ichiro version, it will make the song bearable. Trust me.)

It made the Cyclones feel bigger in that fourth grade, "Hey that girl in gym class noticed me because I dominated in kick ball" type of way. Now, with everything online (tip of the cap to Mr. Gore) you can check other papers relatively quickly. And today was no different.

Eric Petersen from the CR Gazette has a good look at the acquaintance of Craig Brackins and Nebraska's slasher Ade Dagunduro. This type of story happens at least once a year and we all do it. The convo is always something like this:

Reporter A: "Talk about Nebraska's quick forwards like Dagunduro."
CB: "Well, he's a good player and good friend of mine. I know it'll be fun."
Reporter B: "Do you ever chat with him during the season?"
CB: "Every once in a while, we text a couple times a week."
Reporter B (Now thinking he's got a deep throat like scoop) : "What did he say in the text?"

Of course, the reporter is hoping for some Mike Tyson, "I'm going to eat your children" quote, but it always came across to me like teenage girls talking about the slow dance with Billy at the mixer to an R Kelly song. Craig is a good guy to interview and EP from the Gazette is a cool dude. I probably would have done the same story, we just can't help ourselves. "What did you say" is always a goto question no matter the circumstance.

- Profile on Diante "Goofy" Garrett from the Omaha World Herald, via the Ames Tribune. Not sure who wrote it though...usually this information is useful to put underneath the headline. Good profile, nonetheless.

-Good piece from Blair Kerkhoff of the KC Star on the Big 12's non-conference success: "This year, only Iowa State in the Big 12 played four road games on enemy floors. The Cyclones split those games, and that experience had to help Iowa State hang with seventh-ranked Texas in Austin on Saturday."

-More from Kerkhoff on Dan McCarney : "There’s one major-college football coaching job available. Boston College is still looking, and it appears there’s a Florida coach on the Eagles’ radar screen, offensive coordinator Steve Addazio. But there’s another on the Gators staff who should be at the top of any list: Dan McCarney."

-Rick Brown from the Register on the new 3 point line: "Iowa State was the worst 3-point shooting team in the Big 12 Conference last season at 31.3 percent This season, the Cyclones are fifth at 36.5 percent. Iowa State is making an average of 7.9 3-pointers a game, ahead of the school record 6.7 set in 2005-06."

- And one, extremely unrelated Iowa State story about the Knicks Eddy "I'm not touching that towel" Curry.