January 1- Prince’s “Let’s party like it’s 1999” finally gets it’s due. New year’s Bowl game results include: Wisconsin 38 UCLA 31. Ohio State 24 Texas A&M 14. Florida 31 Syracuse 10.

January 3- In the midst of a snowstorm that pounds the Midwest; Larry Eustachy coaches his first Big 12 conference game against Oklahoma. The Sooners came out as cold as the weather scoring 15 1^st half points and ISU led 24-15. But a 20-2 run by OU early in the 2^nd was too much to overcome. Eduardo Najera scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half. Final: Sooners 56 Cyclones 52.  

January 4- Tee Martin connected with Peerless Price four times for 179 yards and 2 TDs as the Tennessee Vols upend the Florida State Seminoles in the National Championship. Peyton Manning feigns happiness, but silently sulks inside after realizing Tee Martin won a Championship and he didn’t. 

January 8- Cyclone guard Lee Love quits. And in this case, “Love was indeed lost.”

January 9- ISU loses for the 17^th straight time in Lawrence, Kansas. Eric Chenowith scores 17. The Cyclones fall to 9-7 and 0-3 in the Big 12.

January 11- Georgia Tech transfer Travis Spivey is suspended after being arrested after striking an employee at Hardee’s at 2:11 a.m. This proves nothing good happens after 2’ o’clock at the Hardee’s on South Duff. Sadly, the legendary Hardee’s is now a Panera Bread. Charges would later be dropped.

January 13- Michael Jordan retires for the second time. Tim Floyd inherits a team whose best players are Randy Brown, Toni Kukoc, and Dickey Simpkins. Nice.

January 16- The #14 ISU women win their 9^th straight game and improve to 13-1 on the season after dispatching Texas A&M 77-60.

January 23- The men win their third straight game, defeating Texas Tech 70-62. Martin Rancik scores 19 points and sophomore Marcus Fizer hits his first three of his collegiate career.

January 31- The Broncos collect their second straight Super Bowl as they had no trouble with the Atlanta Falcons 34-19. John Elway becomes the oldest to ever win the MVP. Somewhere in Minnesota, Gary Anderson practices chip-shot field goals.

February 3- Dan McCarney announces the signing of 27 new players. Some of the names include: Hiawatha Rutland, Michael Wagner, Kory Pence, Jamaul Montgomery, Matt Word, Johnny Smith III, and Marc Timmons. And some I’ve never heard of: Ron Veal, Jr. (QB) Julian Cummings (LB) Scott Horne (CB) Rocco Rinaldi (K) However, the then headliner was DL Casey Shelton out of Valley (WDM). McCarney said of Shelton: “Shelton is 260 pounds and a real big catch. There is only two other players I have been this excited about after signing them out of high school, and they are Reggie Roby and John Alt.” Shelton would later be moved to OL.

February 8- The Cyclones drop their fourth straight, falling 59-57 at Nebraska. The Huskers’ Venson Hamilton goes for 20 and 13.

February 14- With a 6-2 victory over Nebraska’s Cody Strand, #2 rated Cael Sanderson improves to 30-0 and #6 ISU defeated #12 Arizona State 27-7. It would be the last time Cael Sanderson would wrestle rated anything other than #1.

February 24- Thanks to a career high six threes and 27 points from Brian Grawer, the Missouri Tigers easily put away Iowa State in Columbia 75-64. Marcus Fizer, the conference’s second leading scorer had 24 in the loss. Iowa State has lost 6 of their last 7 and fell to 14-14 on the season.  

February 28- With a national audience watching on CBS, the Cyclones once again came out sluggish trailing Kansas 32-22 at halftime. Kansas extended the lead to 40-28 with 15 minutes remaining. But the Jayhawks would only score 10 more points. With 54 seconds left, a Marcus Fizer tomahawk dunk gave ISU its first lead of the game 52-50. And that was all they needed, winning by that same score. The 18 second half points were the fewest ever scored in a half by Kansas under Roy Williams and the 50 points were the fewest in a league game for the Jayhawks under Williams. Kansas wouldn’t win against ISU until February 2002.

March 4- Ninth seeded Iowa State fell to Colorado on Thursday of the Big 12 tournament. Jacquay “The Cyclone Killer” Walls had 20. Iowa State finished 15-15 on the year and 6-11 in conference play.

March 6- The Cyclone women couldn’t hold off Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship game. Bill Fennelly’s group finished the regular season 22-7.  

March 7- The Duke Blue Devils destroy UNC 96-73 completing on of the most dominating regular seasons in NCAA history, finishing 32-1. The lone loss came on a last second shot to Cinci back in the Great Alaska shootout. Only three of their games were single digit differentials. They received the #1 seed in the NCAA’s along with UCONN, Michigan State, and Auburn. 

March 12- 14 seed Weber State and Harold Arceneaux’s 36 points shock UNC 76-74. 5 seed Iowa handles UAB 77-64. 45-year-old Jess Settles leads the Hawks with 17 points, and then cashes a social security check on the way out of the arena.

March 13- The 4-seed Cyclone women cruise to a 74-61 win over Santa Clara in Hilton.

March 15- Angie Welle’s 21 points help the Cyclones to a 85-70 victory against Oregon to advance to their first ever Sweet 16. Next up #1 UCONN.

March 19- Rip Hamilton’s 24 points and Khalid El-Amin’s 21 did in the Iowa Hawkeyes and Dr. Tom Davis. UCONN put away Iowa 78-68 in the good Doc’s final game as a lame-duck coach. Meanwhile, on the other coast Steve Alford’s SW Missouri State Bears fell to Duke 78-61 in the sweet 16. It would be his final game as a Bear. Alford or Iowa haven’t returned to the Sweet 16 since.

March 20-Cael Sanderson capped his storybook freshman season with a 6-1 win over Minnesota’s Brandon Eggum to win the National Championship at 184 pounds. He was also named Most Outstanding Wrestler. Cole Sanderson finished second and Joe Heskett third as ISU placed 4^th overall. Iowa won their fifth straight title.

March 20- Down six to #1 seed UCONN with five minutes to play, Iowa State looked like their run would come to an end. Then the 3-ball came alive. Successive bombs from Monica Huelman, Tracy Gahan, Stacy Frese, Megan Taylor, and Frese again pushed ISU out in front with 2 minutes to play. UCONN couldn’t recover as the Cyclones won their biggest game in program history 65-58 to advance to the final 8. Huskies coach Geno Auriema said afterward: “You feel liked you got kicked in the gut. It hurts.”   

March 22- Kelly and Coco Miller proved to be too lethal for the Cyclones. The Georgia Bulldog twins combined to score 49 points and helped give UGA a 31-10 lead to open the game. ISU couldn’t recover, losing 89-71 in the game to make the Final Four. The Cyclones finished 25-8 on the great season.

March 24- The McDonald’s All American game is held at Iowa State. Alums from that game include: Nick Collison, Jay Williams, Carlos Boozer, Casey Jacobson, and game MVP Jonathan Bender.

March 27- Your men’s Final Four: Duke 68 Michigan State 62; UCONN 64 Ohio State 58.

March 28- It turned into one of the great finals of all time. The infallible Blue Devils trailed the Huskies 77-74 with 20 seconds left. Duke gave the ball to All-American captain Trajan Langdon. And as the ticks neared zero the guard was whistled for traveling. Ballgame. Upset. The Most Outstanding Player was Rip Hamilton.

March 31- The Matrix makes its way into theatres. Millions go to watch the state-of-the-art special effects. Brent Blum goes to make fun of Keanu Reeves’ over dramatic pauses: “I…Am….The ….One….But……Why???”

April 9- Larry Eustachy signs four guards in his first recruiting class: Richard Evans, Thomas Watkins, Brandon Hawkins, and some guy named Jamaal Tinsley.

April 18- The Great One, Wayne Gretzky plays his final game in the NHL.

April 20- Tragedy strikes Littleton, Colorado as 12 teenagers and one teacher are slain by two classmates, who then take their own lives in the Columbine High School Massacre.

May 3 -The Dow Jones closes above 11,000 for the first time. Seven years and one month later and it closes almost exactly the same.

June 4- Brent Blum and Chris Williams graduate the eighth grade. High school girls in Clarinda and Waukee openly celebrate the coming attractions. Or so the legend goes.

June 6- Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged me invades theaters.

Dr. Evil: “Mini Me? Mini Me? For God's sake would someone put a fricken bell on him or something.”

June 12- Texas governor George Bush announces his intentions to run for the White House. 

June 19- The Dallas Stars defeat the Buffalo Sabres in triple overtime of game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals to win their first Stanley Cup. Brett Hull scores the controversial cup-winning goal to seal the victory.

June 24- Travis Spivey is charged with sexual assault and is suspended once again from the basketball team. He would later plead guilty to a lesser charge and be dismissed from the program.

June 25- San Antonio takes down New York in five games to win the NBA finals in the strike-shortened year.

July 25- Lance Armstrong wins his first Tour de France.

August 1- Christina Aguilera’s “I’m a Genie in a bottle” opens at #1 on the charts.

August 2- “I See Dead People.” The Sixth Sense is released into theatres.

August 8- Philbinmania sweeps the United States as Who wants to be a Millionaire unleashes its entertaining attack on televison sets. It also set off a spawn of hilarious imitators, including a show called “Greed” which was hosted by Chuck Woolery’s chin and forehead.

August  23- Senior center Tony Rampton opts to leave the basketball program in pursuit of making the New Zealand national team.

September 2- Iowa State opened the 1999 season on a Thursday night against Indiana State. The giant question was who would emerge under center: Program verteran Sage Rosenfels or JUCO transfer Derrick Walker? It became apparent early on. Sage took the second play from scrimmage 52 yards on a bootleg for the score. Senior Darren Davis and sophomore Ennis Haywood each ran for over 100 yards and ISU relaxed to a 33-7 win.

September 11- The Cyclones blitzed to a 14-0 lead over Iowa after one quarter, thanks to a Darren Davis TD run and a Rosenfels to Damien Groce 80 yard connection. The defense was stingy as well, holding Iowa to 230 yards. Darren Davis outgained the Hawks under new head coach Kirk Ferentz by himself, gaining 235 yards on the ground. The final: Cyclones 17 Hawkeyes 10. 

September 18- Iowa State’s suddenly resurgent defense stepped up to the task again. This time in Sin City. The D held UNLV to only 218 yards. Darren Davis once again surpassed the 200 yard plateau as the ‘Clones shut-out the Rebels and gave coach John Robinson his first loss with UNLV 24-0. After week 3, the Cyclones led the nation in rushing and were in the top 5 in rush and scoring defense.

September 25- At halftime against #15 K-State, it looked like 1999 would be the breakthrough year for Dan McCarney’s football team. Darren Davis carried 17 times for 131 yards and 2 TDs in the first half, and Rosenfels along with J.J. Moses added rushing TD’s as the Cyclones outgained the ranked Wildcats 332-102 in the half. They led 28-7. The men in cardinal wouldn’t score again. Slowly the lead whittled to 14, then 7 after a 94 yard David Allen punt return. The offense stayed stagnant. A Frank Murphy 18 yard gallop with 10 minutes to play tied it up. And finally with 2 minutes left, K-State scored the final blow on a one yard dive. Final:Wildcats 35 Cyclones 28.

October 9- After a week off to lick their wounds, #4 Nebraska layed some fresh ones on the Cyclones in Lincoln. Eric Crouch threw for two TDs, ran for another, the Huskers had a blocked punt recovered for a TD, Dan Alexander and Corell Buckhalter each rushed for a TD and before you knew it, the score was 49-0. ISU tacked on two late scores to make it a 49-14 final.

October 12- The sixth billionth person is born in Bosnia according to the UN. Who calculates that? Talk about a lot of pressure for that kid to live up to. I can imagine his conversations 23 years down the line at a local establishment.

6^th billion dude: “Hey good lookin’, you know what they call me.

Female: “Umm…in the way.”

6^th billion dude: “No..you’re looking at Mr. Six Billion. I’m pretty much Adam of Adam and Eve, only like six billion times cooler.”

October 16- It looked like another blow-out road loss for the Cyclones. Missouri scored twice in the first quarter and took control of the game in Columbia. But the feisty Cyclones fought back. The defense stiffened and Davis scored twice from inside the five yard line to tie it up at half. With 3 minutes left in the 3^rd Rosenfels scored on a naked boot to make it 21-14. Mike McKnight made a clutch field goal and ISU held off a late Tiger rally to win their first conference road game in eight years, a 29 game stretch. Final Cyclones 24 Tigers 21.

Octoebr 23- Mike McKnight made two 1^st quarter field goals to give ISU a 6-0 lead over Colorado in Ames. The Buffs countered with 16 second quarter points and led 16-12 at the break. Neither team would score again. ISU fell to 4-3 on the season, a major blow to their bowl hopes. DD had 171 yards rushing in the loss.

October 25- Payne Stewart dies tragically in a plane accident.

October 27- The Yankees sweep the Braves to win their 2^nd straight world title. Mariano Rivera wins the MVP.

October 30- ISU made a serious run at #12 ranked Texas in Ames. The Cyclones took a 20-17 lead into halftime over Major Applewhite’s Longhorns. The lead went back and forth until Texas picked up and ISU fumble, returning it 5 yards for a TD to take a 41-27 lead. The Cyclones responded. J.J. Moses took the ensuing kick-off 80 yards and Ennis Haywood capped the drive with an 8 yard gallop. The Clones then forced a 3 and out. 66 yards later and Darren Davis dove into the end zone for the tie with 2 minutes on the clock. It was too much time for Major Applewhite. He orchestrated a six play, 71 yard drive all the way down to the ISU one. They would kick a chip shot winner from there to survive 44-41.

November 6- The Cyclones took the early lead in Lubbock Texas after a DD 2 yard TD run. Mick McKnight missed the PAT. And Iowa State never recovered. 21 straight Red Raider points put the game out of reach. Tech hangs on against the demoralized ‘Clones 28-16.

November 11- In his first game at Iowa, Steve Alford and the Hawkeyes stun #1 UCONN 70-68. Hawkeye fans predict 13 straight NCAA Championships. Unfortunately, they would win only 13 more games the rest of the year. Sorry.

November 13- Iowa State needed to win their final two games to become bowl eligible for the first time in 22 years. It didn’t happen. Josh Heupel and Quentin Griffin helped the Sooners jump to a 17-0 lead. Iowa State cut it to 2 TDs but couldn’t get any closer falling 31-10 in their final home game of 1999. The Sooners held DD to 53 yards his lowest of the year.

November 19- Larry Eustachy’s second year got off to an awful start. New crappy point guard (sarcasm) Jamaal Tinsley went 1-11 and had five turnovers and fellow new backcourt mate Kantrail Horton finished 2-13 with 5 more TOs, as ISU scored a putrid 44 points in a loss to Drake 48-44. It was no doubt going to be a long, boring year. In fact, ISU may never win another game. 

November 20- ISU trailed Kansas 28-14 and seemed like they had given up on the year. But this group, frustrated by the blown chances of the year, fought back. A Rosenfels run and a Rosenfels to Mike Brantley pass pulled ISU to within 3 with 3:00 left. The defense held firm as Reggie Hayward forced a fumble in Kansas territory, giving the Cyclones one last chance. Rosenfels converted on a fourth down to keep the last-ditch drive alive. Only to have Mike McKnight’s game-tying field goal stuffed back in his face. Kansas 31 Iowa State 28. The Cyclones finished the heart-breaking year 4-7.     

December 11- The new-look Cyclones were aright after all. Kantrail Horton scored 20 points and grabbed 11 boards as the 7-2 Clones never trailed in their first match-up against Steve Alford and his Iowa Hawkeyes. Final score: 79-66. This prompted a raucous celebration in which Marcus Fizer created a sign proclaiming, “Coach Eustachy is #1.”

December 28- Iowa State ends the millennium with their eight straight win, after defeating Maryland-Eastern Shore 81-55. This prompts several questions: How good is this 11-2 Cyclone team? And..Maryland has a Western shore?