I really hate losing with an unbridled passion that only a fellow “Type A” personality can understand. This single-minded drive to win probably explains everything from my four-digit blood pressure level to my devotion to video games.

My childhood is filled with stories of me cheating at card games, monopoly, dodge ball, etc., simply because I was a poor loser. At times, it seems like I’ll do anything to keep from losing.

The one simple thing that drives me to act in this irrational manner is that feeling. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever lost at something important. The massive heartburn that comes with losing. That sensation at the pit of your stomach that feels like a piece of flaming fruitcake.

This is the same pain that I get every time I had to talk to my friends at other universities this season. Although technically, I didn’t lose, the lack of success this year in both football and men’s basketball has hit me hard.

Before I get a Quick E declaring me to be the next Chad Calek, let me explain myself. Yes, the phenomenal accomplishments of our women’s team is commendable, but when arguing with students at other schools about athletic superiority, women’s sports don’t matter.

I’m sorry to be so blunt about it, but it is true. I’m not saying it shouldn’t matter, but it doesn’t. So I just roll with the punches.

And as I roll, one of the few things I can roll to is next year.

Next year we’ll be great! Next year will be our year!

True, we have been waiting for next year in football for about 20 years now. Sooner or later, you have to wonder whether we are ever going to get out of the rut. The endless circle of a mediocre team breeding mediocre recruits seems unbreakable.

But that’s for another time. Clearly when I yell out, “Wait for next year, you Hawkeye Heathens!” I am talking about basketball. We had an extremely good recruiting class last year, and they will all be one year older.

This will be of great help, because they will have a year of experience and a year of weightlifting under their collective belt. Can you imagine Paul Shirley if he had the pipes of Klay Edwards? All I can say is “WOW!” And I’m sure Marcus Fizer’s defense will be much improved next year after another nine months under the Floyd system.

Also, our current players will have been playing together for well over a year by the time we get to next season’s first tip-off. The team loses virtually no one this year (all apologies to Matt Knoll, of course) which means the chemistry has another year to develop. Chemistry, if you didn’t notice, was an aspect of ball playing that our good ol’ Cyclones seemed to lack this season.

Plus from what I hear (my sources, of course, must remain confidential), highly-touted swingman Gerrod Henderson might be coming to Ames after all next year.

And can you really doubt Tim Floyd’s ability to scrounge around and find ISU a top-notch floor leader/point guard — a definite need that this season’s team did not fill.

Speaking of Floyd, though, he is the only wild card for next season. As many of you probably know, the rumor that Floyd will be coaching next year for the Chicago Bulls and not our Iowa State Cyclones is running rampant. Many people feel that this is just an inevitable consequence of having a great coach.

I disagree.

We must not lose that man. I truly believe he is the best college coach in the land. Without him, ISU is going to face a difficult situation next year. Replacing Floyd is like replacing your kidneys — sure it’s feasible, but it is extremely undesirable.

Have you watched a game by focusing on Floyd’s tactics and not the players? He does some pretty ingenious stuff. Remember the game this year when, with about three minutes left, we were ahead by a small margin over a poor free-throw shooting team (sorry, I don’t remember exactly who it was)? Floyd subbed in a player whose sole purpose was to foul the other team’s center. He promptly missed about six charity shots in a row, securing the game for us.

And I think we are all aware of his tendency to commit technical fouls on purpose to rile up his players and get them out of the doldrums. It was a sign that we just didn’t have the horses to be competitive this year that Floyd waited until the final game to get his first technical.

No, losing Floyd is not an option. As a Cyclone fan, I am finishing this column with a plea for him to have pity on us and not leave. I urge you to do the same.

If you want Floyd to stick around, write a letter to the Daily. You could take many various angles on the issue. You could remind him about his daughter at Ames High and how traumatic moving is for teenagers. Or maybe you could point out how ice fishing is superior to bass fishing.

But whatever happens, we can’t lose hope. As the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” teaches us, with hope comes strength. If we can’t have hope that ISU can be successful next year in basketball (read: Beat the Hawks) without Floyd, then we have already lost.

However, it sure would help if he were around, not to mention it would lower my blood pressure.

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David Roepke is a freshman in journalism and mass communication and astronomy from Aurora.