Thanks to the readers

Got quite a bit of feedback from my opinion column in Tuesday's paper calling out Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard for not taking any blame for the hiring of Gene Chizik as football coach. I'd say it was about half and half, as far agreeing with it and disagreeing with it. Thanks to all for responding.

Thought I'd share an e-mail I got from one of the respondents. I think he kind of disagreed with me, but I'm not real sure. What do you think?

"What a disgrace you are the journalistic profession and to the other, mostly decent sportswriters at the Gazette. Once again you have latched on to an opportunity to make sophomoric and infantile insults in an effort to kick the Cyclones while they are down. It's not professional. It's not clever. It's really quite sad and distasteful. I hope you never aspire to be more than a local hawk lapdog and blatant Cyclone hater, because it's clear to this long time Gazette reader, that you have no other skills.

"Maybe the one bright spot in all of this …. is how you really have the opposite effect of that for which you strive. In all your efforts to degrade , belittle and minimize the Cyclones, you just give weight to the true significance of the ISU Cyclones. Otherwise, you wouldn't have to spend so much effort trying to prove the opposite.

"I know this probably gives you pleasure to know you've ticked off another Cyclone fan. You're most likely grinning ear to ear with nerdy delight. In the future, I suggest you just write “Hawks rule, Cyclones drool” and leave it at that. It packs the same intellectual punch as your other masterpieces, it will arouse the same drunken cry of “GO HAWKS” in trailer parks throughout eastern Iowa, and it will save you considerable time.

"(don't waste your time with a reply – it will be ignored)"

At any rate, I make sport of people and teams, including Iowa State, from time to time in our Saturday "Pick 'Ems" during the football season. Actually, most of us on the panel do because it's supposed to be a light-hearted endeavor.

However, if you can't see that Jamie Pollard's two biggest hires thus far at Iowa State have not turned out very well, then you need to take off the cardinal and gold pom-poms and find a dose or reality. Quickly.

OK, what I am supposed to say now? Oh, yeah: "Hawkeyes rule, Cyclones drool."

Actually I'm a big Coppin State fan, so can I say "Eagles rule, Cyclones drool" instead?