I’ve moved to Oregon, so when I see an “O,” I now naturally think of the Ducks. Joey Harrington, former star quarterback, claims to have originated the two-handed signal, where the thumbs and forefingers come together to make the 15th letter of the alphabet.  If you use only one thumb and forefinger, it’s just OK! Also, if I had lived in O-H-I-O, the “O” might have had some significance, but I was born and grew up in the state of Indiana, where my sole association was maybe the O-R-E-O cookie. At any rate, it’s hard to tell an “O” from a “0,” which means “nothing,” and I’ve had a lot more experiences with zeroes. There are good 0’s and bad 0’s!

With Indiana University Basketball, I’ve lived through two undefeated regular seasons, and the last undefeated National Championship team in 1976. “32-0” stands as the greatest college basketball season ever, memorialized with a framed Kent Benson #54 uniform in my office. Granted, the accomplishment has spoiled me as a basketball fan, and no I.U. team has come close to matching that in over 40 years. That is definitely a good “0.”

When you score zero, you usually lose. Fortunately, overtimes have been established to give competitors extra time to score. There is zero chance of winning when you score “0′” but in soccer you can at least earn a tie. In tennis, it’s all about love, but you have to have more than love to win. Baseball pitchers are awarded “shut outs” when they give up no runs. and further honored if they give up no hits. Zero errors can earn you a Golden Glove if you’re a baseball player. Defense in any sport is ultimately defined by holding an opponent scoreless.

Beyond the undefeated Indiana season, there have also been a couple of disappointing streaks that I’ve had to stomach. For example, I remember making the long drive to East Lansing over a period of a decade and never coming home with a victory. I refer to that period of both basketball and football games as “0 for East Lansing.” One of most memorable football games that I attended was on October 10, 1998.  It was the annual battle for the Old Brass Spittoon and Hoosier Quarterback Antwaan Randel El had the Hoosiers ahead most of the game, as I recall. They eventually lost in overtime 38-31 and the East Lansing curse continued.  This was following a memorable 94-79 basketball loss on March 10, 1994. Television cameras caught Coach Bob Knight bumping foreheads with Sherron Wilkerson after the Hoosier freshman was benched for complaining to the referee about a non-call. After that game, I flew to the East coast for a convention and by the time I got there the accidental bump had turned into an intentional head butt. At that stage of my life, I spent a lot of time defending the antics of Knight, and this was a clear instance where ESPN had done him no favors. My colleagues were convinced that he had head-butted his player over and over again, since the one-time collision was comically repeated like a woodpecker attacking the tree bark, making it appear that he was abusing and bullying the kid. In the long run, it was certainly not worth fighting for the controversial coach even though he was a consistent winner.

The most embarrassing “0-For” continued following last night’s basketball loss to Wisconsin. It’s been since 1998 that an Indiana basketball team has won in Madison, Wisconsin. Sixteen straight losses to the Badgers in that time span! It’s hard to have been so spoiled at one time, and now face the agony of constant defeat. The last time an Indiana team won at Wisconsin was when Bob Knight was coaching. In those 20 years since, four different coaches have failed to win on that court, including Archie Miller, who just took over the reigns this year. It probably would have been more losses, but as the BIG conference grew beyond 10 teams, schedules could no longer accommodate the traditional home and away match-ups that once took place each year. To make matters worse, the Badgers have won 19 out of the last 21 games in basketball, including the last 5, plus Indiana has lost 15 of the last 20 football games against them.  It continues to be “O” for Wisconsin, and certainly justification to rip my diploma off the wall!