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My uncle and I, at least twice, revisited the comment I made in one of last year’s columns I celebrated the four PAC-12 defectors (Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington) as contributing so much to watchable Big Ten football games that we would never see Indiana and Purdue battle for the Old Oaken Bucket on a major network telecast.
I was, at that time, feeling snarky, and happy with that prospect.
He asked me if I was getting any guff regarding that comment.
“If I were, I wouldn’t know,” I told him. Nothing lands in an inbox to me, nor in a mailbag nor on my cell phone. I was bothered by this a few weeks ago, then realized I’m in a perfect situation.
I have the privilege of maintaining a weekly opinion column, yet my life is very much my own. In face-to-face interaction, a bit more than a handful of people have commented on my work over the last five years.
I do, however, enjoy the likes and feedback online I get on my long form features. I like, even more, the time spent in dialogue with my subjects.
Back to eating crow as it relates to my Indiana-Purdue comment.
So, what does Indiana do after I put that remark to print?
They landed a spot in the College Football Playoff (CFP) in its first 12-team format. Sure,. they lost to Notre Dame convincingly. Consequently, I was eating my words because the Hoosier gridders were formidable foes who were very watchable.
They’ve earned their number 2 poll ranking this season, too.
Purdue continues to struggle, but they were televised on a major network telecast last Friday evening thanks to the Hoosiers playing them to remain one of only two CFP undefeated teams.
The other squad who’s a frequent flyer in the first-class section, Ohio State, is ranked number 1 in the polls.
Mine is a house that will be divided, though, at kickoff tonight.
Shawna, my wife, who never crossed the Mississippi River until she met my family about six months after we were married in Oklahoma, possesses two grad school sheepskins from regional IU branches. She’s a native Wyoming gal whose first winters in the Midwest resulted in her saying to me, “I know you said there is more cloud cover here than out West, but this is the most depressing weather I’ve ever experienced.”
She’ll be wearing the crimson in front of our television on Saturday night. I’ll be in my Scarlet jersey donning Archie Griffin’s number 45. You know Archie, right? Still college football’s only two-time Heisman trophy winner.
I am not a Midwesterner by birth, but a few weeks ago I acknowledged my 29 years of residence here make me a de facto Midwesterner. I even said, with the contentment finally occurring to me, “This must be the place.”
Shawna is more Midwestern than I am if you must know. She’s the more enthusiastic Midwest convert between us, and her IU fandom is genuine.
Converts in religion, furthermore, tend to be more adherent than those of us who are more culturally tied to a religion than making that faith a practice.
It brings to mind my eldest my maternal uncle, Hal (R.I.P.), whose wife, Della, converted to Catholicism to marry into our family somewhere around 1956, or 1957.
Among all the relatives in Aunt Della’s generation, and among we the offspring, and among our children born from immediate family and my cousins’ families, my aunt (she’ll be 89 years-old in 2026) is the most religious of any of us, attending weekly masses and days of holy obligation to this day.
My wife wears her IU apparel often, but the IU and IU South Bend apparel I wear is more for the purpose of event worker than fan. Shawna also watches IU compete in other sports on television.
For me, it’s more like, “when in Rome….”
I’m excited for tonight’s Big Ten title game at Lucas Oil Stadium. I feel the same way I felt when the Cubs beat the Cleveland (then) Indians in the 2016 World Series. If you have to lose to someone it might as well be someone likable who has been waiting to eat at the grown-up table for decades.
Someone said to me, I guess it’s win-win (tonight) in your house, right?
No.
I shall not rain on Shawna’s parade win or lose… but don’t push your luck with me by suggesting this “win-win” stuff.
Enjoy what should be a great game, and a good TV ratings draw to boot.
