Indianapolis Positively Gets Sports Events
It was the classic Under-dawg game. David vs. Goliath. Local Indianapolis university, Butler, taking on the big, bad Blue Devils of Duke in North Carolina.
It was a tight game the entire 1st and 2nd half. In the end it came down to a free throw to put the game to two points away from the Butler win. Our boys get the ball, are forced to take a half-court shot for the win and… it just misses.
What doesn’t miss though is Indianapolis hosting major sporting events like the NCAA Final Four. Our wonderful city regularly hosts conference championships, regional tournaments, other collegiate events, professional football games, professional basketball games, amazing minor league games, oh and we have these big events where men and women push highly tuned machines around a flat-track; maybe you’ve heard of them: NASCAR’s Brickyard 400, MotoGP motorcycle race, the US Grand Prix F1 race (for almost a decade) and the Indy 500, which is celebrating 100 years this year.
It’s not just us local folks who think we’re so good either, other people are noticing as well. The latest is Chris Dufresne of the LA Times. He wrote this about our city and our ability to host a basketball event.
This is the sixth time Indianapolis has hosted the Final Four, and the town has already been awarded the 2015 event. Frankly, Indianapolis should get a Final Four at least every third year. Hosting a basketball tournament here is like the Germans hosting Oktoberfest. Indianapolis gets it. In no other city is there a better basketball-to-the-people connection.
I’m extending the kudos to say that we host ANY sporting event with style and grace. We’ll continue to prove it with every event we’ll continue to host, including the NCAA Final Four again in 2015 (let me know if you want to get parking reservations in Indianapolis) and the Super Bowl in 2012 and… and… and…
Stay tuned! If it’s sports, we get it. If we don’t have it, the event organizers just haven’t seen the light yet. I for one am hoping that we can also add a major roller derby event to our calendars in the near future.
Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks
I’m not originally from Indianapolis or Indiana for that matter. Growing up I really didn’t like sports that much and when I did, it was because of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. As I expanded to watch more basketball when the Bull’s weren’t playing, my connections to Indianapolis caused me to pay attention to the Indiana Pacers for obvious reasons.
I never really cheered for the Pacers, until I moved here, but I was a fan of the talent and leadership of Reggie Miller while he was on the court.
There’s a new ESPN Films production coming out that you can see this evening at Conseco Fieldhouse that highlights and chronicles the story of the Hicks vs. the Knicks through the years. It was always an epic battle between the teams.
This video provides a glimpse to what you can expect
Hat tip to Breena Fain at the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association for sharing this post on the visitindy.com blog.
Casey Mullins Chooses Indy
Mommy and general blogging extraordinaire, Casey Mullins, continues to deliver great posts. In a recent post in her "Visit Indy with Kids" site on the Indianapolis Convention and Visitor’s Association site, she shares why her and her husband chose Indy.
What probably happened is Mr. Duffy came here years ago, before the city realized what amazing possibility it had. Almost every American city goes through a rebirth at some point and every city has those awkward growing pains and uncomfortable teenage years.
She’s right!
I’d now say Indianapolis has turned into a nice little young adult of a city. I know we’ve got more history than that, but I’m perpetuating the growing pain metaphor.
Her post was spurred on by another post that talked about how awful Indianapolis is as a city. We all know that’s not true if you’ve live here or have visited recently. The negative article was focusing on Indianapolis being chosen as a potential location to host the World Cup Soccer event.
Read Casey’s Why I Chose Indy post and share your comments.
