Between baseball cards and big games my life seems to revolve around sports. I check the scores every morning, look at all the box scores, go to the Topps Now site every afternoon to see what cards are available, and watch the live action whenever I can, then view a related documentary or read a book like Bushville Wins! about the 1957 World Champion Milwaukee Braves. IU sports, Purdue, other BIG Ten teams, Indiana Fever, the Cubs, White Sox, Colts, Bears, Kyle Schwarber, and Shohei Ohtani are currently my regular interests.
The baseball playoff race is in full swing, IU football is off to an unprecedented start, IU basketball is getting ready to start, and history is being made by Schwarber and Ohtani on the diamond. Sadly, the Cubs will fall short again this year, and the White Sox are a joke, about to lose their 120th game this season – more history of the worst kind!
Hoosier football won their first four games in dominating style, the local Venice High School Indians are 5-0 after a 54-51 victory last night over Cocoa. The WNBA Indiana Fever and rookie sensation Caitlin Clark are solidly in the playoffs and will battle the Connecticut Sun today on ABC-TV. At least, my sports interests are diverse, ranging from high school and college to professional. I follow the Portland Timbers in soccer as well as the IU program, watch the Little League World Series, men’s & women’s softball, Indy Car, NASCAR, and Formula One. If competition and skill or a ball are involved – I’m interested.
The Purdue-IU rivalry has finally taken a twist in football this year, as the Boilermakers look weak. Hopefully that trend will continue in men’s & women’s basketball, as well as the other sports. Purdue is my second favorite team, the result of working in that community for several years, but there’s no doubt as to my favorite when they play IU. The Colts and Bears tangle this afternoon.
My interest in Kyle Schwarber stems from his collegiate years at IU, my alma mater as well. He made history again last night with his 15th lead-off home run for the Phillies this season. No one else in baseball has ever accomplished that feat! He did it against the Met’s pitcher, Sean Manaea, who now boasts a 12-5 record and retired 21-24 batters with only three hits, including Schwarber’s 406-foot bomb. Manaea’s pitching gem, however, temporarily stalled the Phillies claim to the Division title.
Shohei Ohtani immediately intrigued my interest when he moved his skills from the Japanese leagues to MLB in 2018. This despite my being neither an Angels or Dodgers fan. The ability to both pitch and hit effectively is a rare art, dating back to Babe Ruth. I started collecting his baseball cards, as I also do with Schwarber, and have been caught-up in his success. After arm surgery late last year, he’s focused on hitting and base stealing this season, reaching the 52-52 plateau the other night with 7 more games yet to play. He could very well get back on the mound in the playoffs, finally on a team that has gotten him into the MLB postseason for the very first time.
Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the next game!
It’s been a very exciting year for basketball in Indiana, even without the success of Indiana Basketball. IU did not make the tournament, fans lost faith in the coach, recruits reneged on their commitments, and the future looked grim. However, things quickly turned around after locking down the #1 class in the portal. As a result, the Hoosiers are finally getting some pre-season respect and Coach Mike Woodson has suddenly become a recruiting genius.
The real excitement, however, came from the rival Boilermakers, who made their way to the Championship game of the NCAA tournament, regaining the respect they lost last year in falling early in an embarrassing manner. They too have reloaded for the upcoming year and now the “way too early” projections show them #2 and #3 respectively, behind conference newcomer UCLA.
Let’s add the Indiana State Sycamores into this mix of statewide excitement. They barely missed selection into the NCAA Tournament, many say unjustly, and went on to compete in the Championship game of the NIT. Although Indiana State and Purdue both finished second, they rekindled March Madness locally. Let’s hope IU can join them next year!
But that’s not all! The Indiana Fever drafted Caitlin Clark #1 and sparked excitement on the professional basketball level. Although the Fever are off to a disappointing 0-5 start, the long-range potential is extremely promising. At the same time, the #6 seed Indiana Pacers caught fire and ousted both the favored Milwaukee Bucks and the evil New York Knicks. Game #7 at Madison Square Garden was as much excitement as we’ve seen since the Reggie Miller days. The Pacer’s then went on to “choke” themselves in Game #1 at the fabled Boston Garden.
There’s more Pacers basketball excitement to come in a month typically dominated by racing. Indiana sports fans are looking forward to a Memorial weekend that will include the Indianapolis 500, Pacers vs. Celtics Playoff basketball, and maybe a Fever first victory. The excitement is mounting!
Purdue looked unstoppable, easily defending their new #1 status over Jacksonville 100-57. Everyone in the BIG seems to be routing their Holiday opponents but struggling I.U. just squeaked by Morehead State and couldn’t seem to pull away from North Alabama, leading 43-34 at halftime. Free throws continue to be an issue, finishing 9-14 from the charity stripe, while being matched by the less physical Lions in rebounding. Loose balls don’t bounce their way and the offense is subject to scoring stalls. The one positive was three-point shooting, a puzzling missing piece on this year’s team. However, North Alabama is apparently good for what ails ya’ as the Hoosiers hit a season-high twelve from behind the arc. It was the most in the Mike Woodson era, and only one off the mark from the last time the two teams played in December of 2020. It’s been three-years since I.U. has had that level of long-range production.
Hopefully this is a sign of things to come rather than a blip on the radar screen. Malik Reneau led all scorers with 25, a career high for him on 4-4 three-point shooting and 10-14 overall. He even made his only free-throw. Mgbako added twelve and Walker 11, but most importantly seven different players scored from distance. North Alabama was only 9-32 afar in retaliation, an indication of our defensive improvements.
The final score was 83-66, after a Kel’el Ware dunk moved them over that magical sixty mark, 61-42 with 12:36 remaining on the clock. The up-and-down Hoosiers stand at 9-3 overall, but most importantly still on top of the BIG standings at 2-0. They next play Kennesaw State in Bloomington before returning to conference play at Nebraska on January 3rd. The three losses are against teams that are a combined 28-5: U. Conn, Auburn, and Kansas, all sure NCAA tournament selections. I.U. is still precariously on the bubble, but at least have yet to have what the committee considers to be a “bad” loss.
