Yep, you read that right.
After well over a decade here at SB Nation, we have decided to close this chapter of our journey and pursue other opportunities. We can’t share our plans just yet, but that news will be coming in the very near future, and we’re extremely excited to share it. But before we depart, we all wanted to give some thanks and memorialize such an influential and rewarding part of our lives.
Levi Stevenson – Managing Editor
I’d like to recap some of my favorite moments over the past 9 years, but I would be remiss if
I didn’t begin by thanking an absolutely preposterous number of people who have made this such an enjoyable experience.
Without a doubt, the biggest thanks of all go to you, our community of rabid Cyclone fans, who have made this such a rewarding experience over the years. We can’t thank you enough for making this site what it’s become.
I’d also like to thank Fitzy for giving my writing submission the time of day and making me feel like part of the group when I joined. Next, I’d like to thank Caroline Darney and Matt Brown. Their leadership while I was still finding my footing was invaluable. In general, I’d like to thank SB Nation for giving my staff and me the platform to write about our beloved Cyclones.
I’d also like to thank the crowd of people at various other SB Nation blogs and sites across sports media for reaching out and making this feel like a real community. A special shoutout goes to Melissa Triebwasser, formely of Frogs O’War and now of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, and Phillip Slavin of the Ten12 Podcast Network. Both have been incredible to work with over the years and I greatly appreciate their friendship.
I’d also like to thank my parents for encouraging me to be creative and to try every new thing I could. To my wife, Kiley, who could not be less interested in sports, thank you for minding my obsession with the Iowa State Cyclones and for being understanding and supportive when most of my nights from August to April are spent writing or podcasting.
Almost nine years ago, I joined Wide Right & Natty Lite as a contributor after responding to an article about the site looking for a new Managing Editor in anticipation of then-head honcho Kevin “Fitzy” Fitzpatrick stepping down. My first article, for no good reason whatsoever, was about why people should watch the Premier League. An article…about soccer…on a college sports site…in May.
Yeah, I don’t know either.
That fall, Fitzy officially stepped down, and I took over as the Managing Editor of Wide Right & Natty Lite. In that 2017 season, Matt Campbell’s upstart Iowa State Cyclones shocked the world in Norman, Oklahoma on their way to a 7-5 season, and firmly staked their claim as a team not to be fucked with. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my tenure at WRNL.
Maybe the first “big” article I took a shot at was analyzing Jon Heacock’s brand-spanking-new 3-3 stack defense that was giving the Big 12’s air raid offenses tons of problems. Matthias Schwartzkopf, Dan Becker, and I did a comprehensive look at the data, scheme, and personnel that made it work, and dubbed the Cyclone defense The Red Wedding, an ode to one of the most iconic scenes from what was the best show on TV at the time, Game of Thrones.
That next summer, we took on probably the most ambitious summer project up to that point (and probably since then) in the form of 100 Things Cyclone Fans Need to Forget Before They Die, a chronicling of many (but unfortunately not all) of the terrible things that have happened to us over the years and what makes us such a battle-hardened fanbase.
Around this same time, I got to start my own podcast with former Cyclones Marchie Murdock and Cole Netten called Down the Pipe & Natty Lite. I’ll always remember those early days trying to figure out the technical side of recording, editing, and publishing podcasts, as well as the numerous times we couldn’t get things to work or the audio quality just wasn’t there. Eventually, we got it (mostly) figured out, and the final product is a far cry better now than it ever used to be. Cole eventually decided to leave the show to focus on his video production business, and we’ve rotated a few cohosts through the years, but Marchie has always been there, and he’s become a dear friend of mine. This season, we added former ISU linebacker Jordan Harris to the mix, and he’s been awesome. I’m very much looking forward to watching him grow in that medium as well.
The (non-satire) article I’m probably most proud of, though, is my farewell to Brock Purdy as he concluded his illustrious career in Ames. Writing that was an emotional experience, and seeing Brock’s family react to the article along with Cyclone fans made it special for me.
I also tried my hand at some satire, which, on more than one occasion, got me a slap on the wrist from the mothership, but it was worth it. Some of my favorites include the potato pun-filled Cyclones Prepare for Annual “Hate Week” Matchup with Idaho, Baylor’s effort to liven up their stadium with shiplap, Kirk Ferentz taking a 23andMe test to find a new offensive coordinator, and Iowa State’s attempt at gamesmanship on the injury reports this past season. Two satire articles in particular stand out, though.
First, my report on Fred Hoiberg leaving the Chicago Bulls to coach the Hilton Magic Legends TBT team was actually picked up (by mistake) by Yahoo’s news aggregator, marking the first time I got in trouble with SB Nation for a satire article being mistaken as real. It was a proud moment for me.
The second is probably my favorite article I’ve written, Brian Ferentz Overflows Toilets in Newly Renovated North Endzone After Late Night Chipotle Run.
I’m a serial “ideas guy” that loves to try fun and interesting things just to see if they stick, which means we’ve also had a few side projects that just didn’t work out for whatever reason.
Our live tailgate show Wide Right & Natty Live! was fun, but ultimately became too much of a hassle to try to set up a whole live podcast at a tailgate. Turns out drinking and playing bags is more fun. We even started up an eSports league to pass the time during COVID. That was a lot of fun, but, again, just became too much of a hassle once things started opening back up.
I’ve made plenty of mistakes and missteps during this journey, and they’ve all taught me countless lessons that I can take through life. I feel extremely lucky to have had those opportunities to grow and try to be a better friend, husband, and leader in the future.
I’ll never forget the shear panic I felt one morning when we accidentally spoiled the commitment of Jalen Coleman-Lands, thinking that it had already become official news because it was such a poorly kept secret at that point.
I got a text from Jared Stansbury about ten minutes after we published the article that Steve Prohm was furious, and I spent the next hour hurriedly doing everything I could to erase every possible trace of that article from the internet. I can look back on it now and laugh since JCL ended up being a mostly do-nothing player on a bad team for a coach that got fired a year or two later, but that was a harsh lesson learned and a few grey hairs earned.
But more than anything I’ve written or recorded, I’m most proud of the team we built at Wide Right & Natty Lite, which you’ll hear from below. I feel beyond lucky to have worked with them, and couldn’t be prouder of everything they have and will accomplish in their lives both as Cyclone fans and as people.
I’m deeply proud of people like Aiden Wyatt, Jake Brend, Dylan Coon, David Braga, Thom Turner, and Nigel Dyson, and all of the others that have have been able to turn their experience with WRNL into careers in the journalism and media industries. You all did more than enough on your own to be absolute all-stars in your fields, but I’m glad I got to be at least a small part of it and witness the outstanding people you’ve become.
I’m equally proud of everyone on staff that simply writes and podcasts about the Cyclones as a hobby. There’s just a preposterous amount of talent and knowledge in this group, and I’m glad that you all have found a way to express and share that with the world.
Matthias Schwartzkopf – Not Managing Editor
Fuck The Hawkeyes!
Express and share that with the world.
I am embarking on my 10th year of WRNL, and it has been an absolute pleasure to write, podcast and create all other types of content for you, the Iowa State fans, to consume over the years. From hype tapes to The Night Cap, to meeting you all at football games and on bowl trips. It has been an absolute blast. While our journey is not over yet, this era of WRNL is coming to an end.
I eulogize myself below:
There comes a time in every great Cyclone story when the winds shift, the Busch Lights get warm, and someone decides it’s time to move on. Today, that time belongs to myself. I am officially saying goodbye to Wide Right Natty Lite, a sentence that feels both impossible and somehow long overdue.
If Wide Right Natty Lite is a barstool with Wi-Fi, I was the guy leaning back on two legs, confidently explaining why this is finally the year, while fully aware it might not be. My contributions weren’t always measured in word count or analytics, but in something far more important: conviction. Loud, unwavering, and usually correct in hindsight, after adjusting the argument slightly.
I didn’t just write or contribute I encompassed the ethos of WRNL. Equal parts optimism and scar tissue. Equal parts football intellect and “I watched the line play closely and I am now furious.” I understood, at a cellular level, what it meant to be an Iowa State fan: hope responsibly, panic immediately, and never, ever trust a double-digit lead.
Some will remember me for my Cyclone takes, delivered with confidence forged in decades of Big 12 chaos. Others will remember me for my uncanny ability to identify exactly which random opposing backup quarterback was about to have a career day against Iowa State. And some will remember me simply as the guy who could turn any conversation, football, basketball, weather, propane delivery logistics, into something that somehow circled back to Ames.
But what really made me a WRNL staple was that I got it. I knew this wasn’t just about sports. It was about community. About surviving heartbreak together. About laughing so you don’t scream. About knowing that if you can’t enjoy a win with a cheap beer and a little self-deprecation, you’re doing it wrong.
Wide Right Natty Lite has always thrived on personalities, on people who care deeply but don’t take themselves too seriously. I walked that line sometimes tightly. I could be dead serious about linebacker play and immediately pivot to a joke that derailed the entire thread. That’s a skill. An art, even.
As I move on to our next adventure, presumably continuing to be right about Iowa State five minutes after kickoff. This isn’t goodbye forever. It’s more of a “see you in the mentions” and at our next gig. Because once you’ve been Wide Right Natty Lite, you don’t really leave. You just post less, yell at the TV the same amount, and remain spiritually online at all times.
Matthew Nelson – Wide Right Natty Dipshit Guy
The above title was bestowed upon me in 2016 by X (then Twitter) user HawkeyePacker81, who has since deleted his account (sad!), and I feel that it really fits me quite well.
I’ve been around here for 10 years now, making me the most senior (I think??) member of the current staff.
My journey with WRNL began in 2015 after finishing college and starting my graduate program at Nebraska, meaning I was bored and in desperate need of Cyclone content. I responded to a request for writers put out by the staff with my first article ever, highlighting the importance of Hoiberg’s team trip to Spain in 2015.
I’d be remiss to not start by thanking CanAzn, KnowDan, ClonesJer, and JWilly (if you want WRNL lore, check out this oral history from 2020). They gave me a chance, trained me minimally, hazed me often (which I needed), and created a fun as hell atmosphere around here. Fitzy and Levi both did tremendous jobs as editors, and put up with a lot from me (and I mean A LOT), and I’m grateful to both of them. Levi especially, who had to navigate some shitty changes that happened around us but kept the ship headed in the right direction.
WRNL was always the home for the passionate and bizarre, a delightful intersection between the two. Before (Redacted) purchased SB Nation and changed everything (comments, crack down on satire articles, etc.), we had an incredible run of fun and not-so-serious content at a time when the serious ISU content wasn’t all that, well. Fun.
By far, one of the best days I’ve ever had on the internet (or just anytime really) was when America Needs Another Lawyer (ANAL) was dropped, leading to a riotous day online. My phone was a mess all day as people sniffed out what we had done and called/texted/faxed us with hilarious responses. If you weren’t there to see it, I feel bad for you. Here it is in all it’s glory.
A few fun projects I’m incredibly proud of are as follows:
- Iowa State – Drake Rivalry Renewed
- Clone Cone Machine Commits to Iowa State
- 2019 Spring Game Preemptively Canceled Due to Weather
- A Day in the Life of Fran McCaffery, a funny look at how Fran would get through a normal day (angrily)
- Gary Barta Asks Taxpayers to Fund Settlements, reveling in Iowa lawsuit shenanigans
- Gary Barta Upset at DMR for Only Covering Iowa Lawsuits
- Gary Barta Nearing Settlement Goal of $10,000,000
- Iowa Announces Quarterback Change, an article about Tory Taylor replacing Spencer Petras at QB
- Fran McCaffery Forces Son into Transfer Portal, written by
JakeLevi and caused quite a stir - Colin Cowherd Arrested for Accepting Fake ID, an Iowa Football Fake ID article
- Joel Lanning: Iowa State’s Swiss Army Knife
There were also some serious projects that I worked on. One of those was interviewing walk-on players early in the CPR tenure, including my neighbor Jared Weaver, Josh Jahlas, and Cyclone legend Levi Peters. When CPR was terminated, I spent time looking at some candidates ISU might hire, and I’m happy (now sad) to report that CMC did in fact make the list. That article got a ton of traction, nothing draws eyes like a coaching search. And finally, the first episode of the Litecast dropped back in 2018, something Austin Keeney and I are proud to keep infrequently churning out.
Wide Right and Natty Lite has been a dear, dear love of mine for these 10 years. I look forward to continuing to do what ever it is that we do here wherever it is that we will all end up doing it, and ask that you have some patience with us all as we figure this next chapter out.
KnowDan – WRNL OG
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written anything of substance, so when Levi asked me to share a few words on the closing of this chapter of WRNL, I really had to sit down and reflect on what would matter. And when you started this thing, you don’t have to limit yourself to the prescribed two paragraphs.
I still have a lot of pride wrapped up in how this fleeting idea in May 2010 morphed into a voice for the voiceless – the cynical Boomers and Gen Xers who did not feel represented by the mainstream Cyclone coverage and the Millenials who were willing to talk about it. We were all tired of the missed field goals to go to championship games, the recruits who didn’t pan out, the 2 or 3-win seasons, the times we grasped defeat from the jaws of victory, how the media always viewed this school in Ames, Iowa as nothing more than a leech on the system, and the coaches who never quite panned out or left before they could reach new heights.
It’s that last piece that stands out to me the most. It’s no coincidence that WRNL’s legitimacy and legacy overlap significantly with Matt Campbell’s tenure in Ames, so it’s only fitting that this story ends the same time that his does. The Campbell Era reached heights that many of us who started this site never thought we could achieve – multiple 8-win seasons, a school record for wins, several Top 10 wins, a NY6 bowl win, and multiple conference championship appearances. All things we maybe hoped for in 2010 but were much further from reality than we knew at the time.
A funny thing happened when writing these thoughts. I didn’t get sad about this next phase of WRNL, which is more of a completely new book than a new chapter in an existing one. What made me sad was how much the college landscape has changed since we started the site and how what made college sports great – and what made it fun to write about – was its simplicity and the glorious flaws that came with amateurism.
So, I’ll leave with this thought. Levi asked us to pick out a favorite article or memory, and while I’d love to pick out the time that Shane Burnham wanted to fight me, I’ll go with a simpler one.
November 18, 2011. We beat #2 Oklahoma State, and I called it the day before in my preview. A time when the BCS existed, a mid-20-something-year-old quarterback who played minor league baseball led Oklahoma State, and how, for a moment, we captured everything that made college football great. College football has changed a lot, as has this site, but the memories of a simpler time will live on.
PS – One more thing. I’m pretty damn proud that this site spawned some local media degenerates. That might be the most enduring legacy of a site that started with juvenile jokes and poor grammar.
Dylan Coon – Contributor/Hoops Guy
My junior year at Iowa State, as Covid-19 shut down just about every viable internship as a journalism major, I found myself backed into a corner. I reached out to Iowa State Barstool (I know, a terrible decision but stay with me). I also sent a message to long-time WRNL member Matthias Schwartzkopf.
The interview process was grueling. I think it was like two messages before I got an email from Levi and was thrown into the Slack and started writing previews and recaps for the men’s basketball team almost immediately.
Not only did Wide Right & Natty Lite allow me to graduate (seriously I got college credit somehow for this), but they put me in a press box for the first time, allowing me to grow as a writer. Without a doubt my favorite part of WRNL has been the relationships I’ve built. Early on, I was put on the Litecast with Austin Keeney, Matt Nelson, and Ryan Stivers. All of these guys took me under their wing and gave me the confidence I needed. Ryan is still a big brother figure for me, and one of the only Iowans who appreciates the NBA as much as I do.
I came in with a pretty elite ‘recruiting class’ for WRNL, as Jake Brend, Cyclone Fanatic superstar, joined about half a year before me, Iowa Everywhere’s Aiden Wyatt and I came on at about the same time, and Cyclone Larry showed up in the Slack one day soon after and everybody lost their collective shit.
One of the coolest things about WRNL was how it grew during my time there. At its core, it’s a bunch of pessimistic fans writing satire articles and live-tweeting from the POV of your everyday Cyclone fan. It slowly grew into a launching pad for legitimate journalism careers and some really in-depth podcasts with big-name guests.
What started as a spoof site grew into a cultivation of young Cyclones who wanted to do this for a living, and I’ll always be grateful to Wide Right because of that. I never had brothers growing up, but we feel like this weird fraternity of drunk cousins that will incessantly argue and make jokes at each other’s expense. A not-so-secret society of Cyclone fans with dozens of inside jokes and enough lore to fill a trilogy.
For anyone who read my daily dumps, or previews/recaps, or listened to any of the podcasts I was on through the years, thank you. It has been a hell of a ride. I’ve grown up with this website, and built friends for life because of it.
Derek Kramer
When I joined WRNL, I was a kid just out of school with absolutely no writing or blogging experience. I was a bored office drone – reading a lot of Iowa State blogs and message boards when WRNL put out a call for new writers to submit samples. I sent them some dumb thing I made up about fantasy football thinking I would never hear anything back.
Well the WRNL OG’s made a huge mistake and said I was in. That gives you an indication of how long I’ve been around. I’ve hung around this dumb blog to see it be handed down from the OG KnowDan, to Kevin Fitz, to now Levi.
They all let me do whatever I wanted and write some truly dumb and absurd stuff. I rarely wrote any Ball Knowing articles or did more than a few game recaps. I barely helped with Mid-Morning Dumps. I’ve never been on a podcast.
As much help that is needed to keep up with all the happenings of ISU Athletics that I DIDN’T help with – I am still able to write this. Grace given to me that I do not deserve. They let me write stupid stuff like The Weekly Troll series and The Hotbox, with other random stuff mixed in-between. Linked a few of my personal favs below.
I am so fortunate and appreciative to have been a very small part of this weird corner of the internet. I don’t actually do anything anymore. I loiter on the Slack group chat and bullshit with the fellas. I have no reason to still be involved, and they should have kicked me out a long time ago. And yet!
The odds I do any future content are slim, but I’ll leave the door cracked for inspiration.
If you #clicked, read, liked, or hated anything I ever wrote, thank you. Having someone on the other end helped me discover my passions and most importantly, meet other good-humored Cyclones. Sports are meant to be fun and god damn did WRNL understand that.
Thanks y’all.
It’s Time to Allow Alcohol Sales For All of Jack Trice Stadium
The Weekly Troll: South Dakota State
The NCAA Tournament Troll: Purdon’t Boilermakers
Austin Keeney
I first found WRNL in like 2013 when I was a student at Iowa State. I’ve always enjoyed reading good sportswriting, and I thought it was super cool that there was a website like this devoted to Iowa State that made me laugh and had a snarky presence on social media. I never thought of myself as an overly creative guy or that I could do some blogging myself, even though I was an obsessed fan that loved reading what I could online.
In 2018 I saw that the site was looking for new writers and I figured “why not?”. I was a couple of years out of college, bored, working in finance, still obsessed with the Cyclones, and looking for something creative to do. I had no journalism or writing experience of any kind. I sent in some power ranking article or something I had read 100 versions of online for years just hoping for a response. I never expected an email from Levi being asked to come aboard.
It’s surreal for me to look back and realize I’ve been doing this for 7 years now. My life has changed a whole lot since then. I’m grateful for Levi taking a chance on me. For Matthias, Matt, and the other long tenured folks for making me feel like I belonged. And to the rest of the staff, who have been so much fun to work with or make jokes with in the Slack. It feels like WRNL has grown and evolved a ton since I’ve been here, and it’s been awesome to be along for the ride.
Over time I’m just happy that I’ve been able to find my things here, giving out gambling picks that struggle to break even, trying my hand at satire, writing a stray opinion piece, and recording the Litecast with Matt Nelson during peak sports season. The podcasting has especially been something that I had to grow into. It started with me just talking into my phone in the basement of the townhome. It was 2020 and we had a lot of time to kill for obvious reasons. Matt, Dylan Coon, and Ryan Stivers were a lot of fun to work with on the mic, and eventually I figured I might as well learn how to edit the thing and post it. Make myself irreplaceable, if you will. As I had a chance to reflect, it’s truly crazy some of the guests we managed to pull. The highlights: Tyrese Haliburton, Chris Fallica, Rodger Sherman, Ryan Hammer, a Jeopardy champion who happened to be an ISU alum, a state Senator to talk about NIL before it become the only thing that matters in college athletics, the guy who brewed Ames Lager, and so many more cool people I’ve been privileged to talk to. The genesis of the great debate: Luka Doncic or Trae Young, started on this little podcast, and I still love making jokes about it to Dylan to this day. I even got to spill takes about the Bachelor, which I discovered wasn’t an embarrasing thing to watch.
It feels a little weird to be writing this because it feels like a goodbye, and in a way it is, but in reality this is a see you soon. I guess I’ll leave this with some of my personal highlights, which I’ve had the joy of looking back on this week:
The Top 10 Wins of the Matt Campbell Era. This was a summer project that I put together thinking it would be fun and a good look back after the Class of 2021 graduated. I guess this needs updated now that it’s been 4 more years with exciting wins and the Campbell Era is over.
Matt Campbell Considering Brian Ferentz as Adopted Son and Offensive Coordinator. In a way, I should also thank Brian for giving me so much content by being himself.
Enough With the Transfers. Let’s Build the Right Way. I wrote this like 2 weeks after we hired TJ Otzelberger. Everyone on Facebook took it seriously.
Iowa Democrats Under Fire for Using Big 12 Refs to Certify Caucus Results. Remember that? That feels like it happened 2 lifetimes ago.
Will Matt Campbell Be the Next Nebraska Football Coach? A Thorough Investigation. Self explanatory. I was proven right.
Any of the podcast back catalog, especially when we get going on a certain parent of a former Iowa Hawkeye basketball player or we had a cool guest or something.
A sincere thank you to all the readers and commenters that have interacted with or read my stuff. Whenever I write satire, or just a random opinion piece, I let it go out to the internet just hoping it makes sense, let alone is funny. If you’ve ever left a positive comment, please know that it is appreciated. I look forward to continuing to talk about the Cyclones and whatever random stuff I think could be funny at our next chapter.
Nathan Brown
I followed WRNL ever since I was a teenager. Having somewhere to go that was Iowa State athletics specific, but also somewhere that the writers felt like one of us, was what kept drawing me back. When they shared that there was going to be a Discord, I was overly excited. During the past years, it’s been amazing getting to know so many Cyclone fans just like myself. After gaining the trust of Levi and Matthias (suckers), I became a mod on the Discord.
That’s when all the fun started for me. The blow-it-up game threads, the overreactions, the crazy takes, and of course, the chili-adjacent jokes. A few years of hanging around with the crew made me want to get into writing. After a little while, WRNL was requesting writing samples from people who may be interested in 2023. It was that moment I thought I could finally have an excuse to research and write about sports, and my wife couldn’t get mad at me. I thought it was a long shot, but apparently my writing was just slightly better than the others.
I’ve only been around for a few years so I don’t have as much of the bangers as some of these old balls, but my proudest moment would’ve been all of the satire AD letters and Rejected CFB25 Video Game Ideas. I am sad that my time is short here, but I’m glad with the time I’ve had here and can’t wait to see what the next step in this wild journey is.
I don’t have any good puns, so I will leave you all with this: Seneca was in, fuck the Hawks, give this poor slob some beers in JTS, and ROLL CLONES!
Sean Dee
I joined WRNL 10+ years ago when I was in college at Iowa State. Camping out for games, waiting in line for hours, and talking incessantly to my buddies about all things ISU sports somehow still didn’t scratch my Cyclones itch. I had to find a way to capture the thoughts that rattled around my college-aged tin can head. When Fitzy put out a request for applicants I never would have imagined getting accepted, first of all, and that a decade later I’d still be doing this.
I’m proud of what the site has evolved into since I joined. There have been countless attempts by individuals much more creative and talented than I to try new things, experiment with content formatting, and ultimately get to where we are today. 10 years ago, we ONLY had written content and now we have several weekly podcasts that double as videos to stay in tune with how people digest information online. It’s been a heavy metamorphosis that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
A few highlights come to mind when I think back on some of my contributions to the site. As an unaffiliated website, WRNL’s sweet spot will always be voicing concerns and frustrations on behalf of the majority of the fanbase, so taking the time to talk about Steve Prohm and his downfall was a deeply personal article that meant a lot to me. Having been in school during his first 3 years at Iowa State, I felt uniquely qualified to write an opinion piece on beginning to look elsewhere for a new Men’s Basketball coach.
Exploring the podcast space during COVID was cathartic and rewatching old ISU games with Jake Brend and Ryan Stivers on the ReCycle pod is another highlight. Breaking down Iowa State’s win against Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament Championship game with Fran Fraschilla is my favorite moment on this site by a wide margin. He was gracious with his time and a perfect guest.
As NIL became more than a 3 letter acronym, so too did our understanding of how it worked. After the Carson King incident and the Register’s subsequent controversial article, I warmed up my keyboard and tried to best process the situation the only way I knew how: By making fun of it.
Finally, Wide Right & Natty Lite: An Oral History is my love letter to the site and a project that took (literally) months to put together. Getting the old heads back together to weigh-in on how the site began was a hilarious piece that also included some of my favorite quotes from a few popular ISU villains over the years (that may or may not have been made up).
A huge thanks are owed to everyone who helped create this site. Those guys do not get enough credit for starting something that has morphed into what it is today. Levi and Matthias were perfect leaders to guide the site from where it was to what it is now and they deserve their kudos for how everything looks and feels today. For every fan that read a single word on this site, thank you. Every content creator that has walked through these virtual doors is much better than I am and I am happy to ride your coattails forever. To Nate and Tom, I couldn’t be more proud of both of you and what we have created on Offensively Offensive. Here’s to many more years of talkin’ ball.
And finally, to my brother, I still have some more articles and ideas that will need editing. Thanks for encouraging me to sign up all those years ago…
David Braga – Post-Mortems and WBB
August 20th of 2018 I sent a random email to a guy named Levi after seeing a tweet that WRNL was looking for contributors. I had no idea that my silly little “sample” previewing Iowa State’s win over TCU the previous year would lead me to where I am now. I was a kid in community college with 0 direction of where I wanted to go in life, but something compelled me to reach out, and I’m sure glad I did.
The people I’ve met along the way, regardless of how many times (if at all) I’ve met them in person have truly impacted my life in the best ways possible. I had no idea way back then that I’d be spending 7 years writing articles, giving out weekly grades to some of the best Iowa State football teams in the history of the program, tweeting so much about WBB that I’d get complaints saying that I was flooding their feeds… but I digress. The point is that while at times I’ve felt like maybe I should have done more in my time here, the dozens of people I’ve worked with these last 7 years have never once asked me to do more than I was capable of. They reached out when I felt down, they took care of articles I missed, they treated me like a second family. All just from an email.
As I look back at my time with Wide Right and Natty Lite, I think about how fortunate I was, and am, to get to take part in the magic that is being a “journalist” in the single greatest time for Iowa State athletics. Brock Purdy, Matt Campbell, Tamin Lipsey, David Montgomery, Breece Hall, Mike Rose, Will McDonald, Tyrese Haliburton, Ashley Joens, Audi Crooks, David Carr, Milan Momcilovic, Bridget Carleton, Jaylin Noel, Rocco Becht, TJ Otzelburger… I could go on and on and on and I’m sure there are names there that I’ve somehow forgotten… All players, coaches, people I’ve gotten to write about. All people I’ve gotten to cheer on. Dammit man, how did I get so lucky…
Not to mention that each one of those tremendous athletes was met with so many fans, readers, viewers, random people in the tailgate lots, and of course, friends. Levi, Matthias, Matt, Austin, Derek, Sean, Nathan, KnowDan, and to so many others who have been here along the way… thank you. Thank you for taking a chance on me. Thank you for all you’ve done in my life. Thank you for letting me find my comfort zone. Thank you for helping guide me to where I am today. I can’t say enough positive things about all the people who I’ve gotten the chance to work with these last 7 years.
Now I want to give a special thank you to a few people, most of whom are around my age, some even younger than I am. Jake Brend, Dylan Coon, Aiden Wyatt, Nigel Dyson, Thom Turner… All people who have taken this writing-and-creating small-j “journalism” hobby and turned it into Big-J Journalism careers. All people who DAILY inspire me to be better. All people I know with 100% certainty I can reach out to if I ever have questions in my own career. All people who I look up to proudly in what I do every minute of every day. All people I’m so thankful I met because of this time at Wide Right & Natty Lite.
Not sure why I’m tearing up as I write this since we’re not “going” anywhere, but I suppose that’s what happens when you reflect on the massive impact so many people have had on 7 of your 27 years of living…
All of that to say that while after over 200 articles here the name and banner may be changing, I’ll still be tweeting too much during WBB games, covering the players, coaches, athletes, and fans I love more than anything in the world, and, of course, blaming the officials. Levi, thanks for taking a chance on a kid who had no direction in life 7 years ago. I don’t know what my life would look like had I not sent that email or if you’d have not said yes, but I do know it would look a lot different, and probably a lot less fun. Here’s the next chapter of our lives, gents. Here’s to 2026 and beyond.
While the name is changing, the engine is still the same… and to that new place that we coming to? We not coming to F around. And since this is the last article, I’m gonna say it. We not coming to fuck around.
(Okay, maybe a little fucking around)
Jake Brend – Intern
What’s up guys, Wide Right Natty Lite alum Jake Brend here. I owe WRNL so much gratitude. WRNL has always been a spot to laugh, whether it’s laughing at Brian Ferentz or laughing at ourselves through the misery.
For some reason, they took the chance on a 16 year old kid as a writer and podcaster. Little did I know at the time that I’d be starting a career covering Iowa State. The chance to work for WRNL brought so many cool opportunities I never thought were possible; interviewing Fran Fraschilla with Sean Dee, being in the press conference after Brock Purdy’s first career start, getting sent a cease & desist order from the team out east (more on that later.)
Did I deserve a press pass at Jack Trice Stadium while I was still in high school? Nah. The reason I got it was because Levi, Matthias and Matt didn’t want to stay sober at the tailgate. Never change, fellas.
Either way, I’ll never forget those chances to live out my dreams and make mistakes. Truth is, mistakes is what made this site what it was. Perhaps the biggest mistake I’ve made was a little harmless satire article I wrote back in 2021. When the transfer portal became a big deal for the first time, I wrote an article poking fun at the team out east. The article was titled Fran McCaffery Forces Connor McCaffery Into Transfer Portal. All in good fun, right? That was until this article got picked up by Yahoo, respected reporter Dick “Hoops” Weiss and more.
Once it spread like wildfire, Levi was served a Cease & Desist letter from the University of Iowa (parody is protected by the First Amendment) (Note from Levi: I actually received that email while we were interviewing Allen Lazard on an early episode of the Night Cap), and he had the presence of mind to take my name off the article.
Why was that a good choice? Well, I was on my third day of an internship at WHO 13. While I had 100+ notifications blowing up my phone and the TOE threatening to take legal action against the website, I was covering a Dowling vs Urbandale soccer game in total fear of being fired before my career could even take off.
Luckily, none of that ever came to fruition. I hadn’t thought about that article for a long time until one day when I was working at Local 5, I drove all the way to Iowa City to do a story on Iowa center Filip Rebraca. After I drove all that way, the Iowa SID learned that Filip was sick and wasn’t going to be available.
Because he felt bad, he said he could bring Connor McCaffery to make my time worth it. Then came the moment of truth: Does McCaffery know it was me who wrote the article? Does he even know who I am? Luckily, it didn’t seem like he had a clue, and I stayed in good graces with the Iowa athletic department throughout my tenure at Local 5.
That’s just one story that I fondly remember about WRNL. It’s the people who’ve run the site from the start to the fans who engage that made it what it became. I’m proud to say I was a part of it.
Thom Turner – Former Intern
So my farewell may be a bit different from others? Idk, I’m writing this on my notes app on a car ride to the middle of nowhere Nebraska for Levi to then paste on the article, #ThankYouLevi.
I’m the youngest one here and the one of the newest hires. Back in 2022, I joined WRNL after a huge media buyout between them and the Iowa State Daily, whom I was currently working for. Thousands of emails, conference calls, lawsuits, and even jobs lost occurred so I could join.
Okay, maybe the last part isn’t the truth.
But I’d just like to thank Aiden, Levi, and Matthias for allowing me not just to join the site, but giving me creative freedom to write and record what I want. Creating the pod with Nate and Sean was amazing and something I’ve always wanted to do, especially with Iowa State Basketball. The ability to create our own content with our weird brains is why it’d worked so well, and though I haven’t experienced WRNL as long as the others, it’s been a great time. My knowledge of sports, ISU, and life has grown since joining the WRNL community.
For example, I just learned from them yesterday that you can turn left on red while on a one-way. That was news to me! (If that was a lie, I’m cooked). College was awesome, but being in WRNL during that timeframe bumped it up another tier. It was a great experience to have. To our fans, I promise to continue to send GenZ brain rot to the other WRNL guys and not let them get so old so quickly. I am and will always….hold the damn line.
