The ESPYs be damned, it’s time for a real awards show. Here to bring you this year’s highlights in Cyclone athletics is the 2006 Iowa State Daily Cyclone Awards, the ISDCYs.

CY was tied up, so I am here to present this year’s ISU athletic accolades of the season. The Cyclones have performed well this year, so let’s get to the awards.

Person of the Year: Jamie Pollard

No one has made more noise in the athletic department this year than new Athletic Director Jamie Pollard.

He came to Ames from Wisconsin and promptly set out a plan for rebuilding the ISU athletic department. Renovations and improvements to Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium are just the tip of the iceberg. Try getting in his way. Pollard won’t let you.

Best leg: Jamie Pollard

Pollard wins his second award of the night, this one for his booting of former men’s basketball coach Wayne Morgan. After three seasons, Morgan was canned by his new boss. With no inside game, the defection of his two top players to the NBA and Morgan’s apparent lack of coaching, Pollard cut his losses.

Was it a popular move on Pollard’s part? Not necessarily. Was it gutsy? Yes. Was it the right thing for the future of the Cyclone athletic department? Oh, yeah.

Moment of the Year I: Iowa State vs. Iowa, football

23-3. The final score says it all. This is the 2005-06 school year’s version of the Kennedy assassination or the “shock and awe” portion of Gulf War II. Everyone remembers where they were at this moment. It was the ISU football team’s greatest victory of the year, a complete domination of then-No. 8 Iowa.

Moment of the Year II: Iowa State vs. Iowa, basketball

On Dec. 9, 2005, Iowa State absolutely handled Iowa, sending the Hawkeyes and their Benedict Arnold impersonator crying all the way home to Iowa City.

That night was also my birthday. It was almost like Iowa State won the game especially for me. It was the best thing that happened that night.

Well, almost the best thing, but that’s another story entirely.

Heartbreak of the Year: Iowa State vs. Kansas, football

For the second consecutive season, I sat and watched the Cyclones chances to earn a trip to the Big 12 Championship game float away. This season, it was an overtime loss at Kansas. As Bret Culbertson’s field goal floated wide of the upright, I felt physically sick. I had ridden the Cyclone Express roller coaster all season, and sitting in fellow sports editor Brett McIntyre’s basement, I was ready to celebrate. It was going to be a glorious day, a high mark in my life as a fan of the Cyclone athletic department. Instead, I sat there heartbroken.

The following was the actual conversation that took place immediately after the game ended:

Grant: (standing, grabbing car keys) I’m leaving.

Brett: (vaulting out of his chair) No! Sit down! You are in no condition to stand, much less drive.

Grant: (staring blankly at a wall) I have to leave. I have to go.

Brett: (grabbing my shoulders, pushing me back onto the couch) No, you’re not going anywhere. Here, have some fudge. That should calm you down.

Nearly three hours later I was cleared by both Brett and his father to drive home. That’s how distraught I was.

– Grant Wall is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Fort Dodge.