Hoosier Hysteria

“We can have no progress without change, whether it be basketball or anything else,” John Wooden

While watching James bowl at Camelot Lanes, where I was on a first place team with Dave and Kevin Horn 18 years ago, I filled Dave in on Friday night high school basketball scores.  His East Chicago Central Cardinals beat Hammond Noll decisively, and in a match-up between the Region’s two best teams Munster edged Andrean 52-50.  The Munster Mustangs went into a stall in the third quarter and only made one field goal in the fourth but went to the free throw line 17 times.  It’s ridiculous not to have shot clocks in high school.  How boring it must have been to fans and how frustrating for Andrean coach Carson Cunningham.  My guess is that legendary basketball coach John Wooden, whom Carson idolized, would agree.

        above, Carson Cunningham and Anderan players, photo by Scott Bort; below John and Meg

Saturday afternoon, led by sixth man Will Sheehey, IU beat Purdue with ease.  John “Hoosier” Mellencamp and Meg Ryan were in the stands cheering on the Hoosiers.  Afterwards I took Toni, a big Bruce Willis fan, to see “A Good Day to Die Hard.”  Even though it received mediocre reviews, it was entertaining.  I arrived home in time for the exciting conclusion of Maryland’s victory over number 2 Duke.  As a Terrapin alum who has never liked Duke, it was sweet. 

I couldn’t resist calling Paul Kern to talk about IU having the number one team in the nation.  They play fourth-ranked Michigan State Tuesday at East Lansing, and Paul, as usual, is pessimistic.  He told me that Julie was playing bridge with my high school buddy Skip Pollard’s wife Nancy.  When she learned that Paul had taught at IU Northwest, she asked whether they knew me.  Small world.  I knew both couples lived in Florida at The Villages.  So many people have complained about the roundabouts in Valpo that a Post-Trib Quickly reader commented that there are many such circular intersections in The Villages, and the old folks there handle them without difficulty.

After losing Amun Re Sunday I won the last three games, including St. Petersburg by a single point.  Angie and the kids joined us, and we had Chinese food for dinner, then played the board game Apples to Apples.  Each player has “Red Apple” cards with nouns or noun phrases on them, such as Llama or Statue of Liberty, and then the judge turns over a Green Apple card containing an adjective, such as scary or funny.  Each player uses one of his Red Apple cards, and the judge decides which is best.  The winner gets a point by retaining the Green Apple card.  James started out way behind but won.  He is now almost as tall as I am, wears a larger size shoe, and his voice is deepening.

Proofreading Sunday evening, I played my five favorite old albums rather than CDs by Joe Jackson, Bob Dylan, Alda Reserve, the Romantics, and Genesis. I woke up with a sore neck, from what I wondered.  Gaming?  Proofreading?  Being at the computer too long?  Sleeping in a bad position?  A nightmare?  Arthritis?    It’s not like I played a couple sets of tennis like Dave, who had a doubles match against a pro and his partner and took them to 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).  Pumped afterwards, Dave said he hadn’t felt so good in months.  Now that would make a sore neck worth it.

Members of First AME Church putting together next month’s History of Gary Expo asked me for a short biography telling how I was inspired to write.  I responded: “I started writing about the history of Gary shortly after coming to Indiana University Northwest.  I was teaching a course on Urban History and thought it would be a good idea to include information about the city where the university was located.  I found Gary's history to be fascinating and after doing considerable research started writing a weekly column for the Post-Tribune.  After two years those articles formed the basis for my 1978 book "City of the Century":  A History of Gary Indiana."  In 2006, on the occasion of Gary's centennial, I had the opportunity to publish an update, "Gary's First Hundred Years."  Presently I am co-director of IU Northwest's Calumet Regional Archives and editor of Steel Shavings magazine.”

Grad student Felicia Moralez has been at the Archives researching a thesis on Gary social agencies that helped Latino immigrants.  On my advice she is examining the International Institute collection as well as several others.

Creator, writer, and star of the HBO series Girls Lena Dunham is suddenly the hottest rising star, on the cover of Rolling Stone and at the Grammy because her boyfriend is a member of the band Fun.  In its second season some interesting male characters have begun to appear, as well as a couple African Americans, including one she has sex with played by Donald Glover as a Republican law student.