Today’s quote comes from a movie with a David-and-Goliath theme. A fictional line from a film based on a true story about a basketball season in a small town in Indiana.
Most Chalkheads have seen it. A good number of you lived it, The Milan Miracle. I stood by many of you in the stands of Hinkle Fieldhouse. One season we made it to the game at Market Square Arena.
Tonight, in Miami, the role of Jimmy Chitwood is being played by a kid named Fernando Mendoza. Not your typical Hoosier name, but the game has never cared much about names.
Until the last two seasons, Indiana football carried the worst record in the history of college football. Tonight, they have a chance to ease the pain. Not just for Hoosier Nation, but for nearly everyone in the state of Indiana. Give or take a few folks up in the Lafayette area.
Tonight, let them not be daunted.
Let them work hard and not falter.
Tonight is their chance to be tried and true.
Tonight, we are all for you, Indiana.
Like Father Kelly used to say at Dear Old Cathedral:
“Play well, gentlemen.”
It is cold in Chicagoland and across the Hoosier plain.
Bundle up or just stay inside on this well-placed national holiday.
For tonight, we fight for the cream and crimson. For the glory of old IU.
