tk13
04-03-2006, 04:13 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14249092.htm
Indy has become hot sports town
JASON WHITLOCK
Kansas City Star
INDIANAPOLIS — Twenty years ago I was a bellman at the Holiday Inn that sat between the Hoosier Dome and refurbished Union Station. A gravel parking lot served the dome, the hotel and Union Station.
On our nights off, we’d drink beer at the Original Sports Bar until 3 a.m., stumble across the gravel and crash in empty rooms at the Holiday Inn. The city hadn’t yet caught Colts fever. The Pacers still played a sour brand of professional basketball at Market Square Arena. And Indy’s downtown revitalization was in its infancy.
But the summer of ’86 is a time I’ll never forget. You could feel what was coming. You knew there would be more hotels, more restaurants, more nightclubs and more big events, such as the Final Four.
You knew one day people would hail my hometown as the perfect place to hold a Final Four.
“This is the absolute best place to hold the Final Four,” New York-based sports writer Mike Lupica told a woman Sunday morning as he walked off the set of ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters.”
“I’m not just saying that. My kids love it. And only in Indy do you just run into everyone, all the coaches and everybody.”
You know what Naptown is? It’s George Mason, the ultimate midmajor, a small town that feels like a big city, especially on nights like tonight when Indy will play host to the NCAA title game between UCLA and Florida.
I bring all this up because coming here for the Final Four reminds me just how important sports can be to a city. A lot of time we get bogged down in the negative aspects of professional and big-time college sports, and we forget their positive influences.
The Chiefs and the Royals made Kansas City special. This area’s passion for college basketball and football make us unique. It’s too bad we’ve failed to take full advantage of our passion for sports the way Indianapolis has. The history and tradition of the Chiefs and the Royals is superior to the Colts and Pacers. Our love of the Royals and Chiefs runs deeper than Indy’s love of its two professional sports franchises.
But we haven’t matched Indy’s commitment. The Pacers play in a new arena, and Indy is preparing to build the Colts a second home in 25 years.
Indy became the ultimate midmajor by defining itself as the amateur sports capital of the world and investing mightily in its downtown. Its city’s leaders developed a plan and stuck to it.
It’s impossible to exaggerate the importance of sports to the identity of Indianapolis. Without the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400, Peyton Manning, Reggie Miller, the NCAA headquarters and all the rest, Indianapolis would still be just another mediocre city with a terrible downtown.
I lived that. I lived in Indianapolis when Dick the Bruiser was Indy’s biggest star and a Friday night wrestling show featuring the Bruiser and Bobo Brazil passed as a special evening.
Now nights like tonight seem sort of old hat to Indy, a regular host of the Final Four. The novelty has worn off and now people expect excellence, so much so that there’s actually a little pressure on tonight’s championship.
The opening night of the Final Four was a total dud. Florida handled George Mason easily, and UCLA destroyed LSU. The Bruins’ defensive prowess and lack of offensive skill could potentially turn the title game into an ugly, low-scoring snooze.
The Bruins and the Gators need to put on a performance the equal of Indianapolis.
Indy has become hot sports town
JASON WHITLOCK
Kansas City Star
INDIANAPOLIS — Twenty years ago I was a bellman at the Holiday Inn that sat between the Hoosier Dome and refurbished Union Station. A gravel parking lot served the dome, the hotel and Union Station.
On our nights off, we’d drink beer at the Original Sports Bar until 3 a.m., stumble across the gravel and crash in empty rooms at the Holiday Inn. The city hadn’t yet caught Colts fever. The Pacers still played a sour brand of professional basketball at Market Square Arena. And Indy’s downtown revitalization was in its infancy.
But the summer of ’86 is a time I’ll never forget. You could feel what was coming. You knew there would be more hotels, more restaurants, more nightclubs and more big events, such as the Final Four.
You knew one day people would hail my hometown as the perfect place to hold a Final Four.
“This is the absolute best place to hold the Final Four,” New York-based sports writer Mike Lupica told a woman Sunday morning as he walked off the set of ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters.”
“I’m not just saying that. My kids love it. And only in Indy do you just run into everyone, all the coaches and everybody.”
You know what Naptown is? It’s George Mason, the ultimate midmajor, a small town that feels like a big city, especially on nights like tonight when Indy will play host to the NCAA title game between UCLA and Florida.
I bring all this up because coming here for the Final Four reminds me just how important sports can be to a city. A lot of time we get bogged down in the negative aspects of professional and big-time college sports, and we forget their positive influences.
The Chiefs and the Royals made Kansas City special. This area’s passion for college basketball and football make us unique. It’s too bad we’ve failed to take full advantage of our passion for sports the way Indianapolis has. The history and tradition of the Chiefs and the Royals is superior to the Colts and Pacers. Our love of the Royals and Chiefs runs deeper than Indy’s love of its two professional sports franchises.
But we haven’t matched Indy’s commitment. The Pacers play in a new arena, and Indy is preparing to build the Colts a second home in 25 years.
Indy became the ultimate midmajor by defining itself as the amateur sports capital of the world and investing mightily in its downtown. Its city’s leaders developed a plan and stuck to it.
It’s impossible to exaggerate the importance of sports to the identity of Indianapolis. Without the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400, Peyton Manning, Reggie Miller, the NCAA headquarters and all the rest, Indianapolis would still be just another mediocre city with a terrible downtown.
I lived that. I lived in Indianapolis when Dick the Bruiser was Indy’s biggest star and a Friday night wrestling show featuring the Bruiser and Bobo Brazil passed as a special evening.
Now nights like tonight seem sort of old hat to Indy, a regular host of the Final Four. The novelty has worn off and now people expect excellence, so much so that there’s actually a little pressure on tonight’s championship.
The opening night of the Final Four was a total dud. Florida handled George Mason easily, and UCLA destroyed LSU. The Bruins’ defensive prowess and lack of offensive skill could potentially turn the title game into an ugly, low-scoring snooze.
The Bruins and the Gators need to put on a performance the equal of Indianapolis.