Iowa State fans, be proud. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Forget what you’ve heard about East Coast fans, they’ve got nothing on you.

In Iowa State’s 38-31 loss to Florida State Saturday in the Eddie Robinson Classic, 40,000 of you stood to applaud the Cyclones’ effort, showing you are indeed more genuine than I originally thought.

I apologize.

Of course, you’re also the same group of fans who booed legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden.

Not cool.

When a man wins 324 football games in his career and moves into second place on the Division I-A all-time win chart- regardless of the opponent- he deserves respect.

He had only nice comments to say about Iowa State and the fans after the game. I only wish he would of gotten the same consideration.

We’ll just have to chalk up that little episode as a result of temporary insanity – either that or that six pack I’m sure a lot of you drank in the parking lot before taking your seats.

Despite that brief lapse in judgment, Saturday’s display of fan support was still remarkable.

Even ISU head football coach Dan McCarney agreed.

“It’s just unbelievable,” McCarney said after the game. “I’ve been around a long time, 32 years now in Division I football. I’ve been with bowl teams, bowl championship teams and Rose Bowl champs. I think that’s about as impressive as anything I’ve seen.”

McCarney’s right. It was impressive.

Sitting up in the press box, I wasn’t able to hear much of the on-field noise – except the crowd. At one point, the fans directly above the box were pounding so hard on the ground and their seats that it sounded like thunder.

It may have been a little distracting, but as a die-hard fan of Duke basketball, Vikings’ football and Twins’ baseball, it was something I could appreciate.

After spending the summer in North Carolina where I watched fan after fan jump onto the Carolina Hurricanes’ bandwagon and then jump off right after the Canes lost the Stanley Cup to the Detroit Red Wings, I can now truly respect Midwest fans.

There aren’t many other places where fans show up an hour before a baseball game, which obviously is not going to sell out, just to get a good seat, or in Saturday’s case, 12 hours before a football game to tailgate.

It just doesn’t happen much.

For example, this summer I covered baseball for the Fayetteville Observer in Fayetteville, NC. Rarely did a game start with any more than one-fourth of the fans in their seats.

Fans came late, and they left early. And this was for the team leading the league in attendance. It was just the “in” thing to do.

I have to admit, I’ve never been impressed with ISU fans. It doesn’t do any good to have a big crowd if everyone sits on their hands. This weekend’s game was the exception.

One can only hope that kind of excitement continues.

Florida State felt what it was like to be surrounded by 40,000 fans, and it would be nice to see Kansas get the same treatment this Saturday when the two teams meet at Jack Trice Stadium.

Emily Arthur

is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Clark, S.D. She is the sports editor of the Daily.