Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
I’m incredibly happy about the Indiana University (IU) Hoosiers’ clinching the College Football Playoff title last Monday.
I had no issue donning Hoosier garb Monday night. I think some of this unexpected ease comes from entering my third season public address (PA) announcing for IU South Bend.
Even more ease comes from watching my wife, a Wyoming girl with an undergrad in Oklahoma followed by two IU grad degrees, who sincerely enjoys rooting for the Hoosiers several years before these two very recent, successful football seasons.
It was a joy to see people throughout the area so happy about Monday’s big win over a school remarkably high in my hierarchy of evil – The University of Miami, Florida. I know I’ve made snarky remarks like, “O.K. Hoosier fans, here’s how you behave in college football’s first-class section.”
I am, nonetheless, happy for Hoosier Nation.
I’ve reached the point where I dislike the Southeast Conference (SEC) so much it was sweet to see them hoisting nothing postgame among the last three seasons. Better yet, with the playing field leveled by legalizing numerous forms of talent acquisition, where HAVE they been these last three College Football Playoff title games?
Oh, that’s right. Watching the game on TV.
Something hit me when the Big Ten added four former Pacific ten teams: Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington).
This coincided with the resentment I had for college football becoming regional, and furthermore, too Southern… WAY too Southern.
Clemson, Georgia, and Alabama had a run at some good title games, but who cares?
I like the current state of the Big Ten fortified by the aforementioned newest members: superior schools who are – means toward getting there be damned - collectively superior in financial resources, alumni size, and – the sweetest slam – intellectual horsepower.
Suddenly, academic titans are reaching the title game: IU, Miami (Florida), and Notre Dame among two of the last three years.
I’m increasingly becoming a fan of the Big Ten Conference.
If you talk to me on the phone for more than 5-10 minutes I’ll topic hop, but I usually circle back on topics from which I diverted.
Not sure where I’m going, but in recent years there have been innumerable hype/highlight videos of Warsaw Tiger athletic teams mixed with the most recent musical hits suiting the situation.
Here’s a twist. I recently saw the Mishawaka game where the Tigers eviscerated them as much as I expected them to do so. I recommend – to these cinematographers that the Mishawaka video, and other dominant victories, should be accompanied instead by Samual Barber’s Adagio for Strings.
Listen to Adagio for Strings if you aren’t already familiar with the piece. It would work… if you’re the opposing team’s fan base.
It’s been used in serious and satirical portrayals of brutality. On the lighter side, there is a Seinfeld episode where Frank Costanza has a traumatic flashback after preparing food at a gathering where Adagio… was used.
The twisted humor aside, the videos are well produced, well edited, and well-intentioned in their quest for rallying the school spirit and triggering more enthusiasm as seasons progress.
I am curious how many other schools are abundant in this highlight/hype reel talent. Perhaps I’ll reach out to other schools and interview a group of students doing this splendid work. Good long form feature stuff (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more).
Finally, college football’s transfer portal deadline has passed, but it’s little known that transfers can enroll in a different school first and petition their transfer at the gaining school.
High schools are part of the transfer buzz, too.
Whether you’re a reader who is a high school athlete or a college athlete please listen to your most trusted adult advisors. Sometimes that inner circle is not part of your family.
There are 1,210 college football transfer portal athletes who did not land in another school’s athletic program, and many of them will remain statis in the portal due to career-ending advice from stupid adults.
It’s funny how many coaches will say in finessed, polite verbiage… parents get in their kid’s way and the kid ultimately loses out when this happens.
That defensive back looking for his third school probably doesn’t have a graduation roadmap, nor does he have hopes for a professional career, and worse yet, he has lousy handlers.
Hope you rolled with the topic shifts.
