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This is one of the greatest sports weeks all year long for me, ranking just below March Madness. IU basketball is padding their record with a series of home games once known as the Hoosier Classic. The Maui Classic is in full swing, although played in Las Vegas this year. IU women’s basketball has ventured  to the Bahamas to cross paths with perennial powerhouse Stanford and a second game with Miami. IU soccer meets #2 seed Washington in the third round of the NCAA Championship. With regard to football, the Bears play the Lions in the Turkey bowl and the Hoosiers battle the Boilermakers for the Bucket. For IU, it’s the Toilet Bowl and the last chance to win a BIG Conference game this year. 

According to a Wikipedia reference, “The first Thanksgiving Day football game took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving Day of 1869, less than two weeks after Rutgers defeated Princeton in New Brunswick, New Jersey in what is widely recognized as the first intercollegiate football game in the United States, and only six years after Abraham Lincoln declared the first fixed national Thanksgiving holiday in 1863.” One of my fondest memories of Thanksgiving was playing tackle football on a field dusted with snow with high school friends that had returned home from college to be with their families. Someone always got hurt! (See Post #746).

I like to call Turkey Day “Gamesgiving” because I’m often glued to the TV or actually at a basketball or football game. This year we’ll be at the beach but I will undoubtedly be monitoring scores. I’m not expecting much in the way of victories for my teams this year but every time I lose someone else wins, so I live to make them happy…thank you very much! Happy Gamesgiving!

There are too many retirement hassles right now like Medicare payment shortages and heat pump problems. Home improvements continue to eat away at precious retirement savings. Following my sports favorites has also been frustrating, but I have little control over their performance. However, I did jump on the Atlanta Braves bandwagon and watched them win the World Series. Former Cubs such as pearl wearing Joc Pederson and MVP Jorge Soler were resurrected in the process. I bought some baseball cards to preserve the memories of their success. It’s been 26-years since their last such title with Greg Maddux, my granddaughter’s namesake, not to mention that their Spring Training facility is practically in our back yard. It was perfectly justifiable to adopt them as “my team.”

Once Spring Training comes around I’ll be back to primarily supporting my childhood favorites, the White Sox and Cubs, but the Braves have found a way to my heart, especially if they keep winning. I’m fickle that way because I just haven’t found much consistent satisfaction with sports of late. The Hoosiers lost again to Michigan yesterday, fell short on the soccer pitch to Maryland in a quest for the BIG title, and basketball has yet to rebound from years of despair. With bowl hopes crushed, there’s only one more football game that matters and that’s against giant beater Purdue who handed the #3 Spartans their first loss of the year yesterday. Thankfully, basketball starts this week and we’ll see if all the hype about coach Mike Woodson is for real. 

The first game of the new season is Tuesday night but it won’t be until March before we know the answer. After three miserable years of no post season action will I.U. finally be competitive in the BIG and ultimately make the Big Dance? Purdue seems to be getting all the headlines on the football field and in the basketball preseason polls. Just as today is all about time change, it’s time for a change when it comes to The Glory of Old I.U.

One year ago, IU football coach, Tom Allen, could do no wrong. He was the darling of the BIG with coaching offers from other schools and players that loved him and each other. The term LEO (Love Each Other) was emblazoned on helmets, uniforms, and merchandise. It was one big love fest in Bloomington as he jumped in the air with enthusiastic support for his team. They knocked off Penn State on a last second plunge and nearly beat the Buckeyes on their home turf. Recruits were knocking on his door and the transfer portal a one-way street to Memorial Stadium. Fans, like me, drank the Kool-Aid, thinking that at last IU was becoming a football school, when it wasn’t really even a basketball school any more. 

Yesterday, the Kool-Aid was more like First Aid, with quarterback after quarterback helped off the field. The Buckeyes came to town with a vengeful mission of putting the Hoosiers in their place. They showed why they are so much better by humiliating the Tom Allen Hoosiers on national TV. Earlier this year, they made the same statement by trouncing Archie Miller’s struggling hoopsters in Columbus, after winning their 25 straight football matchup with the Hoosiers. Today, it’s 26 consecutive Buckeye gridiron wins, and once again another higher preseason ranking in basketball! What have we done about it other than stealing Thad Matta to help improve our basketball recruiting? Are we starting to hear “Fire Tom Allen” chants already from the football faithful? How many of his current players will check out the transfer portal this week?

Ohio State is currently the superior sports school, although IU soccer just beat them 3-0, a decisive drubbing. It does not seem to have the same humiliating impact as the 54-7 football score, including a painful 30-0 second quarter. Adding to the frustration, 78-59 was the final in last year’s only head-to-head hardwood meeting. New basketball coach Mike Woodson rarely lost to Ohio State when he was a player. Hopefully, that will be the case for his teams in future Buckeye basketball encounters. However, will I ever see a football victory over Ohio State in my lifetime? Please pass the Kool-Aid, I need a healthy dose to get through this devastating loss!