CN Timeline - 1998

1998 wasn’t the most memorable of years in Cyclone Nation. But it was a year paving the way for greater times. To borrow a line from the Wizard of Oz (which was released on DVD in 1998) it was the Cardinal and Gold brick road to get to the Rainbow.

It was the year we were introduced to some guy in glasses from Utah, a lady named Frese who was always red hot, and a couple little known back-ups named Ennis and Sage. So pop some Britney Spears into the CD player, throw Armageddon up on the plasma, and practice your Mark McGwire home-run trot. 1998 is swinging for the fences. 

January 1- Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson and the Michigan Wolverines defeat Ryan Leaf and Washington State 21-16 in the Rose Bowl to claim a share of the National Championship.

January 2- In Tom Osborne’s final game Nebraska throttles Tennessee 42-17 in the Orange Bowl. Ahman Green rushes for over 200 yards and Peyton Manning is shut-down by the Blackshirt defense. Nebraska also claims a share of the National Championship.

January 3- Despite a then career high 26 points from Freshman Marcus Fizer, the Cyclones fall to Texas Tech 66-55 in their first Big 12 game of the season. It is ISU’s 6^th loss in nine games and drops them to 7-7 on the season. 

January 20- With a blizzard blowing outside of Hilton, the Cyclone women topple #5 Texas Tech 82-73. Stacy Frese knocked down seven 3’s, scoring 24 points while Freshman Megan Taylor added 20. The Cyclones’ 9^th win in a row vaults them into the rankings for the first time in school history

January 25- The Denver Broncos win Super Bowl XXXII, topping Green Bay 31-24. Terrell Davis is named MVP.

January 26- Bill Clinton demonstratively wags his finger: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman…Ms. Lewinsky.” Brent Blum learns a multitude of things from CNN that teachers, for whatever reason, aren’t comfortable discussing.

January 27- Thanks to a scoring explosion from Klay Edwards, Iowa State holds off Texas 85-82. Edwards scores 19 and Jerry Curry hits 4 bombs to move ISU to 3-4 in the Big 12 conference. 

January 28- Junior guard Delvin Washington leaves the ISU program to “focus on his academics.” Washington would never return. That leaves Freshmen Lee Love, Paris Corner, and LaMont Sides to handle the rock or at least pass to Jerry Curry so he could fire another ill-advised 3.

February 7- The Winter Olympics open in Nagano, Japan. The cult favorite sport of Curling makes its ever-anticipated return after being left out of the Olympics for over 70 years. The town of Bemidji, Minnesota aka “The Curling Capital of the World” stages a borderline riot in celebration. New on the docket are Snowboarding and Women’s Ice Hockey.

February 9- Iowa State drops their fourth straight, losing to Okie State and obnoxious point guard Doug Gottlieb 81-66. The ‘Clones fall to 3-8 in conference.

February 15- Dale Earnhardt wins his first Daytona 500.

February 17- Tara Lipinski wins the gold medal over fellow American Michelle Kwan after a thrilling long program. “Thrilling” may be a bit much, but I’m sure some enjoyed it.

February 20- The Czech Republic led by Dominik Hasek and Jaromir Jagr win the gold medal, shutting out Russia in the final game. Somewhere in Prague, the Czech version of Al Michaels screams, “Do you believe in quasi-miracles with the help of a dominant goalie and the world’s best scorer????…YES!!”

February 28- The Cyclones lose their final regular season game of the year to Nebraska 70-62. Cornhusker guards Tyronn Lue and Cookie “Don’t call me Cupcake” Belcher each score over 20 points in the win. ISU falls to 12-17 overall and 5-11 in the conference. It would be Tim Floyd’s final game as coach at Hilton Coliseum.

March 4- The ISU women open the Big 12 Conference Tournament as the #2 seed by hammering Texas A&M 88-68 in the quarterfinals to move to a jaw-dropping 24-6 on the season.

March 5- The Cyclone men end their rebuilding season with a 74-55 loss to Missouri in the Big 12 Tourney. They finish at 12-18 on the season. Marcus Fizer is named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year after averaging 15 points and 7 boards over the course of the year.

March 9- Bill Fennelly’s group receives a 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, meaning Iowa State opens the NCAA’s with two games at Hilton Coliseum.

March 12- The Richmond Spiders upset 3^rd seed South Carolina 62-61 in the men’s NCAA’s.

March 13- In the shot heard around the greater Indiana area, Bryce Drew hit a last-second, falling-down three as time expired to lead his Crusaders past Ole’ Miss.

March 14- Senior Jayme Olson scores 16 of her 18 points in the second half as 4 seed Iowa State survives a scare from 13 seed Kent State 79-76 in front of 9200 at Hilton. 

March 16- Former Iowa coach C. Vivian Stringer and her Rutgers Scarlet Knights up-end the Cyclones 62-61 in front of the largest women’s crowd at the time (9700) in Hilton Coliseum. It ends the best season in the history of ISU women’s basketball.

March 21- The ISU wrestlers finish 6^th at the NCAA Championships. Four-time All-American Dwight Hinson finishes third at 126 and heavyweight Trenty Hynek places second. Iowa wins its fourth straight title.

March 23- Titanic ties a record after winning 11 Oscars. The other two films to share that distinction: “Ben-Hur” and “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” When hearing about this, Charlton Heston fought the urge to attack Leonardo DiCaprio with his dozens of rifles. 

March 27- The drug Viagra is approved by the FDA. Meanwhile, Rafael Palmeiro and Bob Dole prepare themselves for a life full of punch lines.

March 30- Kentucky and first-year head coach Tubby Smith defeat Utah to win the NCAA Championship 78-69. Jeff Sheppard is named Most Outstanding Player.

April 4- Iowa State players LaMont Sides, Walter Moore and Chris Ridens opt to leave the program in order to receive more playing time.

April 17- “Major League: Back to the Minors” opens at box offices. It is a huge disappointment as movie goers question how Pedro Cerrano isn’t involved in the project. Cerrano will forever be known as the best fastball hitter in baseball movie history. He is also a part in Blum’s favorite conversation in movie history. Let me indulge myself:

Cerrano: Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.
Eddie Harris: You know you might think about taking Jesus Christ as your savior instead of fooling around with all this stuff.
Roger Dorn: S***, Harris.
Cerrano: Jesus, I like him very much, but he no help with curveball.
Eddie Harris: You trying to say Jesus Christ can't hit a curveball?

That kills me every time. Thanks for bearing with me.

April 20- ISU finalizes its basketball recruiting class with the signing of “sharp-shooter” and JUCO All-American Rodney Hampton. Hampton joins fellow recruits Michael Nurse, Deionta Hagwood (I have no clue who that guy is) Dewayne Johns and Lamar Gregg. This was thought of as a top 20 class for Tim Floyd. Iowa State also receives the transfer of Freshman All-American guard Travis Spivey from Georgia Tech.

May 7- Apple unveils the iMac. Russian chess champion Kasparov has his people contact the iMac’s people in hopes of setting up a match to regain some integrity he lost in the defeat at the hands of the IBM “SuperComputer.” Locally, Brent Blum dominates the computer in Minesweeper.

May 14- Seinfeld airs its final episode. Chris Williams weeps like a 12 year old girl.

June 14- The Chicago Bulls win their third straight NBA title after beating the Utah Jazz in 6 games.

July 1- Armageddon implodes into theatres.

July 8- The Backstreet Boys album debuts at #1. Consider yourself lucky you weren’t in middle school like some during this period.

July 12- France defeats Brazil 3-0 to win the World Cup.

July 22- After two years of speculation, Tim Floyd resigns his post at Iowa State to become the Chicago Bulls Director of Basketball Operations (i.e. Jerry Krause’s boy).

July 24- Saving Private Ryan is released into theatres.

July 29- After a brief coaching search Iowa State A.D. Gene Smith announces the hiring of Utah State Coach Larry Eustachy. At his press conference Eustachy said: “This is not a stop for me. This is it for me. There will be no shortcuts. It will be very long-term for me.”

August 1- The NBA Owners begin a 181 game lockout which eventually cuts the 98-99 season to 50 games.

September 5- ISU opened the football season with a televised contest against TCU and new coach Dennis Franchione. The Cyclones took a 21-14 lead entering the fourth quarter thanks to TD passes from Todd Bandhauer to Andy Stensrud and Michael Brantley. But the Horned Frogs put up 17 4^th quarter points to win 31-21. TCU running backs Basil Mitchell and LaDanian Tomlinson ran wild for over 250 yards as TCU won for the first time in over a year and a half.

September 7- Google is founded, permitting people everywhere to look up dirt on their close friends and that cute girl down the hall.

September 8- “Trachsel delivers…lined into the corner..is it long enough??...Gone!!!..Mark McGwire has done it!!! 62!!!” Little known fact about that game: J.D. Drew played in his first career game when he pinch hit in the sixth. And more than likely tweaked his hamstring for the first time as well.

September 12- The Cyclones traveled to Iowa City as 30 point underdogs, losers of 15 straight against the Hawkeyes. The Hawks were coming off a trouncing of Central Michigan 38-0. It was supposed to get ugly in a hurry. But ISU held firm. Halfway into the first quarter the Cyclones forced a three and out. And for the first time in three years the Cyclones blocked a punt. Kevin Wilson deflected the punt and ISU recovered at the Iowa 13. Darren Davis needed only three plays to find the endzone. Minutes later, Iowa return specialist Kahlil Hill muffed a punt and Cyclone Dawan Anderson hopped on top of it. A Jamie Kohl field-goal made it 10-0. That is all the points ISU needed. A resurgent run-defense held Iowa to 42 yards rushing. Darren Davis pounded away for 244 yards and the sledgehammer Joe Parmentier plunged in for two scores. Iowa State cruised to a historic 27-9 win. It marked their first road win since Nov. 2, 1991, a streak of 31 games.

September 14- Brent Blum turns 14 and fails his driving permit test. He is extremely distraught and contemplating the merits of riding a bicycle the rest of his life.

September 19- The Cyclones return home and shut-out the Ball State Cardinals 38-0. It is ISU’s first shut-out in over 14 years. Double D rushes for 200 yards and 2 scores and Freshman Ennis Haywood records his first touchdown as a Cyclone, a tough earned nine-yard scamper.     

September 26- Cyclone WR Damien Groce had a monster day but it wasn’t enough to up-end Texas Tech. Groce caught 10 passes for 116 yards and three TD’s. ISU contained the lesser Ricky Willimas to under 130 yards, but Tech had too much firepower winning 31-24. Groce’s 3 TDs were the most by an ISU receiver in 48 years. 

October 3- This time around the Cyclones couldn’t handle Ricky Williams. The Texas Longhorn ran for 350 yards on 37 carries. Texas led 28-0 early, but ISU made it respectable cutting the lead to 47-33 on a Bandhauer to Chris Anthony connection. Texas tacked on another score to win 54-33. Bandhauer finished the day with 437 yards and 5 TDs on 30-62 passes, school records across the board. Anthony, Damien Groce, and J.J. Moses all had over 95 yards receiving. The 350 yards by Williams are the most ever by an individual against a Cyclone team. Maybe ISU should have had some “Magic Brownies” on hand to slow him down.

October 10- A tired Cyclone defense struggled to contain #21 Mizzou at Jack Trice. Devin West had 252 yards on 40 carries and 2 TDs as the Tigers waltzed to a 35-19 win. 

October 21- The New York Yankees sweep the San Diego Padres to win the World Series. Scott Brosius is named MVP. Yes, that Scott Brosius. He, Pat Borders, Livan Hernandez and John Wetteland all won MVP’s in the ‘90s. Not the best decade for World Series heroes.

October 24- Iowa State’s bad luck in Manhattan got worse. The Cyclones were man-handled at #4 K-State, losing 52-7. Michael Bishop threw for 3 TDs and 216 yards in one half.

October 28- Britney Spears releases the single, “Hit me Baby one More Time.” People are in an uproar over the innuendo in the song. If only they knew eight years later she would be the mother of two of Kevin Fedderline’s offspring, they may have gone easier on the poor girl.

October 31- This one hurt. A Darren Davis score with 6 minutes to play gave ISU a 14-10 lead in Norman. With under 1:30 to play OU’s Jake Sills threw a balloon of a pass right into the hands of ISU safety Dustin Avey. Avey let it drop to the ground. On the next play Sills finds a streaking Gerald Williams for the 44 yard TD to win the game. ISU falls to 2-6. And as Pete Taylor would say in that frustrated tone: “Good Night.”

November 7- Iowa State turned the ball over 4 times on a snowy track in Ames and ISU lost 42-7 to #14 Nebraska. After Bandhauer’s 3^rd pick, little-known Sage Rosenfels replaced him and threw his first pass as a Cyclone.

November 14- Colorado’s Marcus Stiggers took a reverse on the first play of the game 55 yards to the ISU 20. It set the tone for another long day. The Buffs would score four times in the 1^st half and led 23-0 at intermission. Carl Gomez punted the ball 10 times for ISU and CB JaMarcus Powers was ejected after taking a swing at a CU player and throwing his helmet on the turf. The frustrated Cyclones limped to a 37-8 loss, their 28^th straight road conference loss.

November 21- The long year for Dan McCarney’s group ended with a high note. After a Kansas TD with 6 minutes left gave them a 20-13 lead, Todd Bandhauer decided he would not lose his final game. He led an 8 play 80 yard drive, capped off by a 5 yard Davis TD to tie it up. Kansas and head coach Terry Allen opted to try to convert a 4^th and 1 from their own 36, only to be shoved back by James Reed and the ISU defense. Senior Jamie Kohl nailed a 47 yard game winning field goal, proving that Cyclone kickers are in fact legally allowed to make game-winning field goals. The Cyclones finished the 1998 campaign at 3-8. 

November 23- In Larry Eustachy’s 1^st game at ISU, the Cyclones faced the always dangerous Chicago State Cougars. Thanks to a 16-0 1^st half run, the Clones eased to a 79-48 win. Marcus Fizer and Martin Rancik had 19 and 18 points respectively.

November 26- Michael Nurse hit a buzzer-beating OT shot to beat St. Mary’s in the Great Alaska Shootout 74-72. Fizer had 30.

November 27- In a second round match-up in the GAS, ISU met up with Kenyon Martin and #15 Cinci.  ISU led 45-44 with 7 minutes to play, but couldn’t hold on as the Bearcats won 60-52.

December 12- ISU (6-2) traveled east to 7-1 Iowa, who was coming off a huge win at Kansas, a win that snapped KU’s 62 game home winning streak. The Hawks frustrated Marcus Fizer holding him scoreless in the first half thanks to Jacob Jaacks’ Rodman-like defense. With 15 minutes to play, a frustrated Fizer did what all Cyclone fans wanted and hit Jaacks in the face. He was rewarded with a technical foul and a seat on the bench next to Larry Eustachy for the remainder of the game. Iowa would cruise home winning 74-54. Dean Oliver scored 20 and J.R. “The pump fake” Koch scored 14.

December 29- In the final game of 1998, Fizer put up 26 points and 15 rebounds over NAIA school Southern-New Orleans. ISU recoreded their second biggest beat-down in school history, winning 112-43. The ‘Clones entered 1999 with a 9-4 record.