So it’s root, root, root for the home team — but whether they win or lose, it’s all the same on www.cyclones.com.

The Athletic Department, in conjunction with University Netcasting Inc. has created a Web site for Iowa State sports fans interested in everything from volleyball to wrestling.

Kiron Andersen, the liaison to University Netcasting in the athletics department, praised University Netcasting in their exemplary production of the site.

“People have been really excited,” Andersen said. “We have a bulletin board system, and every athlete has a bio in the media guide.”

The site has been online since August 1997. In that time, it has become one of the most popular links on the ISU homepage.

Updates are timely and frequent. Any press release that goes out also “goes to the net” on cyclones.com, Anderson said.

“With the old site, it was on a university homepage and just had statistics and schedule updates. This is much more advanced,” Andersen said. “You can even download the fight song or songs from the pep band.”

How does cyclones.com get photos of sports, stories and current games so fast when they are not actually at ISU?

“We FTP everything to Netcasting,” Andersen said when explaining the transmission method for sending photos over the Internet.

When they receive files, they update within an hour or less, Andersen said.

Breaking sports news is not the only feature, though. Web browsers can access trivia games about current sports and news about ISU’s athletic glory.

“With the site, we also have a letter winner’s club for members of Iowa State athletics inducted into the hall of fame,” Andersen said.

Andersen said comments and criticism are welcome, and anything passed on to media relations would go to University Netcasting. You can also email them directly from cyclones.com.

“They also do the rest of the Big 12 conference, Florida State and some other schools,” Andersen said.

The other schools are updating regularly as well, Andersen said. You can find breaking results in Nebraska’s national rank and scores from the latest Colorado game.

Andersen’s conclusion for sports fans in general and for ISU fans, too — check out cyclones.com and University Netcasting.