So we finally made it out of there! The Midwest I'm talking about. GoodNess!... The Midwest is ALL about the Big Ten, people. I mean, I’d heard the stories but I found out first hand on this trip... it is for Real! I feel like spending the last two months or so around those parts has had a rather significant affect on me. East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Columbus, and Indianapolis were the last 5 stops on the Underdog Trail, and all of them are, you guessed it, Big Ten towns :) So it is only fitting, that just before we made our escape back East, that the UnderD's hit up the Holiest of Holy's - Big 10 Basketball style - that's right, the Big Ten Tournament! Held annually now in Indianapolis (Which is also the site of this year's NCAA final Four... Think any of these guys will be lucky enough to make it there? Everybody in the Midwest does! :)
Now, I've always heard that Indianapolis a basketball mecca of sorts; the center of the Basketball word, some say. Or that, simply, Basketball matters more here. There may be some truth to that… at least on the college side of things. Even though the NBA's Indiana Pacers certainly had many good years throughout the nineties and even two Championships in the 1970’s (Red White and Blue style (or the ABA if your not hip :), the true colors of Indiana have always been without a doubt, Hoosier Red. It’s kind of a dark red… or is that maroon? Maybe not that dark… kinda blood red maybe. Fitting, because these people Bleed it! The whole state does. And that number includes our Cruella, Sara Gettlefinger, who came along with me, and fellow 101Ders Mike Masters and Joe Dellger, to Conseco Fieldhouse that day in Indianapolis. Even though she did her for-real Schooling at Cincinnati, Sara grew up in Indiana… and as she said, “it’s not like it’s really a choice or anything. It’s just something that you do if you grow up anywhere within Indiana borders. You pull for the Hoosiers.”
So on the first day of the Big Ten Tournament, Indiana was the second game in action against the Northwestern Wildcats; Jimmy Ludwig’s Michigan Wolverines beat Iowa in the first game. (Then later they Almost took out favorite Ohio State in the second round, losing on a buzzer-beating three. Sooo close! You would have thought they'd guard Evan Turner a little closer on that final play, I mean what was he going to do? Drive past you to shoot the desperation three??? ugh… Sorry Jimmy. Next year baby.) Anyway, naturally Sara was Decked out in her Dark Red IU colors. (She said she would have painted her face up too but playing Cruella is already pretty demanding on the make-up side of things, so she decided to skip it) Everyone else seemed to pick up the slack though. It seemed like the whole place was a sea of red.
Despite the admirable turnout, Sara admitted that it obviously isn’t the same these days as it used to be. After all, this year the Hoosiers were 10-20 going into that game and not even favored against a less-than-juggernaut Northwestern team (who incidentally, has never EVER been to the NCAA tournament. I was shocked when my Uncle, who lives near Northwestern in Evanston, told me that. Northwestern has NEVER been??? It can’t be! When I checked the facts later it turned out to be true… but then, of course it did… this guy worked for the Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Book for fifty years, I think he knows his stuff. Hi Uncle Dick! Great Christmas letter, like always! :)
The Indiana Hoosiers know the NCAA Tournament very well. Historically, after UCLA and Kentucky, they are third in the number of total National Championships with Five (the last two under… ulp, Bobby Knight in the ‘80’s.) One of my favorite things to do in life is to ask any IU fan, that I happen to meet, what they think about Bobby Knight… because they all say the same thing. He is one of those very unique situations, where you honestly both love him AND hate him. Although he had many winning seasons, Coach Knight’s repeatedly absurd antics on the court (however well intentioned) throughout the years ended up painting him in a pretty bad light, especially in the national perspective. He clearly loved his players and the game, but his rough edged, un-P.C. approach seemed to have outlived its usefulness by the end of the twentieth century. Former players always had a mixed bag of things to say about him. Basically, the tough guys loved him, the soft guys didn’t. Man, I would have HATED playing for him. :)
Anyway, It all culminated with his dismissal from the University in 2000, and I remember thinking at the time that it would lead to riots in Indiana. It was like the Hoosier world tipping completely upside down! But it made sense after all; it reminded me of the old adage, “You can’t argue with success.” Well by the end of the 90’s there wasn’t much success anymore, and Bobby’s outlandish and oftentimes outrageous behavior was more of an embarrassment to the University than anything. He looks harmless though right? Maybe it's because his face doesn't match his sweater in this picture as it usually did. It's too bad I couldn't find a shot of him famously throwing the chairs on the court in protest, that's my favorite (this is is obviously not my pic by the way. Hope they don't sue :) Anyway, when the firing finally went down, as Sara said, Hoosier nation just quietly nodded their respective heads and moved on. To a 10-20 season in 2010 though. Nobody could have envisioned that. Ugh.
The Hoosiers had won TWENTY Big Ten Tournaments coming into this one, and were representing their hallowed previous generations rather well in this game, outplaying Northwestern for the most part, while clinging to a 5-point lead with 8 minutes to go. Now, since the first game had gone into overtime, we were watching the clock closely at this point. We knew that we might have to leave early to get to the theatre for the show that night if the games went long, and that was indeed the way it played out. Sadly, Sara, Mike, and I had run out of time and we had to leave Conseco… during a close game with a little over seven to play??? ugh, (or maybe I should say, Mike and I had to drag Sara kicking and screaming to her “day job”... she is Die-Hard Y'all!! :) Eitherway, we left Conseco with about 7:20 to go in the game (Hoosiers up seven,) to head up to the theatre on the Butler Campus. By the time we got there, Indiana had lost by fifteen! WHAT??? I only occasionally gave Sara the Iphone-Scorecenter updates along the way as she drove us (through the rain), trying not to upset her too much :) It was a 22 point swing since Sara had left the building. They had lost their moxy! Coincidence? I think not. Bobby Knight is rolling over in his GRAVE!... or uh, lazy boy.
Next up. NCAA in Providence! March MADNESS!!! :)
Underdogs OUT
Underdogs OUT
No comments:
Post a Comment