a day to remember
Several weeks ago, when @HoosierHystrcs announced that they were returning “home” to @thebluebirdbar in Bloomington to do a live podcast featuring some former players, I secured two tickets for myself and my wife. Over the coming days and weeks that list grew to an arm’s length list and the hype surrounding the event grew even more. When the final list was revealed I realized that Steve Green, former coach Bob Knight’s first recruit at Indiana, and John Laskowski, were the only two that would be in attendance that I hadn’t seen play in person. To say I was excited would be an understatement.
Saturday, November 16th, 2019 had finally arrived. My wife and I loaded up early and left our Southern Indiana home for our two hour drive north. It’s a trip that we’ve made literally hundreds of times, but one that never gets old. Indiana basketball is in our blood. Personally I’ve been fortunate enough to be in attendance at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for some truly remarkable moments in Indiana basketball history. I’m now fortunate enough to cover IU from the media side of things and can hardly wait for that next special moment to occur.
On Saturday I was at the Blue Bird as a fan. A passionate, candy-striped bleeding fan. We arrived early, and like some times before, when arriving in town, it felt extra special. That feeling can’t be explained, but I’m certain that I’m not the only one that has experienced it and knows what I’m talking about. There’s just an electricity in the air.
After a few handshakes and pictures with @EatOooWeeBBQ owners, and former players, Jeff Newton & George Leach, who happened to drive their BBQ food truck all the way from Charolette, NC and provided free dinners for anyone who had gotten tickets...I say gotten instead of purchased because the tickets were also free...we stepped into an alcove to avoid the wind. After trying a door in the alcove and finding it open, we stepped inside. We made our way to a booth with an unobstructed view of center stage, and we waited. Our wait was long, but the longer it was, the longer the line grew outside, and the more the excitement grew as well.
A bar full, and I do mean full, to the tune of about 1,000 IU basketball crazy fans awaiting some of their favorite players of the past, with the IU football game against Penn State on the big screen, makes for a special atmosphere to say the least. Stories being shared, pictures being taken, and plenty of oooh’s and aaah’s each time another player or celebrity made their way to their seat.
At approximately 12:45 the Hysterics took to the stage to a standing ovation and plenty of yelling from the crowd of “Hysterical Hoosiers.” Myself included. If you haven’t had the opportunity to listen to the podcasts these two provide, you’ve been missing out and need to find time to do so. The guys are two self proclaimed “guys in a garage” that wanted to find a way to condense their talks about IU basketball to an hour or so a week. They have, in a little less than a year, turned that into a must hear podcast.
They are incredibly personable, funny, nice, and ordinary guys just like you and I, that truly love IU athletics. It comes out in their podcasts, and even more so in person. They are humble and appear to genuinely be as in awe of their success as we all are in awe of the former players they interview.
Hearing a snippet of someone’s life beyond Indiana basketball is special to IU fans. Seeing the players that you grew up watching and sometimes emulating is a look back in time. I’m sure there are other places that believe their former players are still just as much of their programs as ours are, but I’m not sure that they could ever match the passion that IU fans have for them. Hoosier Nation is a family. You can see, and you can feel it.
Each person introduced to the stage yesterday was greeted as if they were being introduced in Assembly Hall back in their playing days. They traveled from all over the United States to attend an event in a bar in southern Indiana. They did so because their love of IU runs as deep as our love as fans runs for them. Each shared a brief moment of their lives now, and then shared a memory from their time at IU. They told what made IU special to them. The fans in attendance let them, each and everyone of them, know that they were still just as special to us.
There was a brief moment during Steve Green’s time on stage that he mentioned having talked to coach Knight that morning. There was an ever so sly wink made after that statement. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that saw it. Could I possibly let myself believe that “HE” may make an appearance? Not aloud I didn’t, but deep down inside I held onto a glimmer of hope.
As the absolutely incredible day thus far started to wind down, and I started to set my sights on decompressing and readying myself to cover the IU vs. Troy game in a little over three hours, there was a slight lull in the action on stage. The Hysterics did well in filling that little lull while there seemed to be some confusion off to my right. In glancing that way I spotted Steve Green and just about everyone who had been on stage. My first thought was they would all come up to give the fans one final chance to shower them with cheers and to thank them for being such a big part of their lives.
In being focused on Steve Green and seeing him give a thumbs up sign in the direction of the stage, my heart began to race. I turned to my left and said to my wife, “he’s here!” She replied with, “who’s here?” I in turn said, “ Coach Knight!” Her immediate response was, “NO WAY!” It was about that time that the first glimpse of the man who patrolled the sidelines of Assembly Hall, and is probably the single biggest reason most of us are Indiana fans, could be seen.
As you can imagine, the roar that accompanied his appearance was deafening! Tears were flowing and camera flashes were going off all around. Smiles, looks of disbelief, clapping and screaming could be heard out on Walnut St. I’m sure. To those 1,000 fans, it was an unimaginable and surreal moment that will be in their memories forever. The General was back! He was back being shown how grateful we are for everything he meant to Indiana University.
Robert Montgomery Knight WAS Indiana basketball at one time. He brought us great basketball, three National Championship banners, and he brought us all of the players we had seen thus far that day and hundreds more who weren’t able to attend. He genuinely looked like he was back home.
For his time on stage, everyone was hanging on every word. Time stood still. I couldn’t keep my eyes dry, nor could some around me. His words brought laughter. They brought cheers. They brought “we love you, Bobby” yells from the crowd. He appeared emotional at times. In typical Bob Knight fashion he took opportunities to get a dig in at Purdue. He was also able to work in a dig at the media with a reference to people with microphones. He truly seemed to enjoy being there seeing the fans, as well as his former players. But I’m certain he could not of enjoyed it more than the fans did.
When his former players joined him on stage he said, “there’s not a one of you up here that can play defense” followed by a Coach Knight smirk. He smiled when the entire place sang the IU fight song. He answered a question of when he’s coming back to Assembly Hall from the crowd with, “let’s go tomorrow!” He brought people on stage and probably had no idea how much it really meant to them. But you could see it in his face every time the roar went up for anything he said, he appreciated it. It meant something to him. It truly did.
In what may have been the perfect way for him to leave the stage, Coach Knight rose to his feet, took in the thunderous roar, looked out at the sea of Cream & Crimson clad fans getting it all captured on video, or with pictures, and gave a salute to them all. “The General” was back where he belonged, if even for a brief time, and it was the perfect end to an amazing day with family. Yes family. Because only family shows the love that was shown yesterday.
Thank you Hoosier Hysterics. Thank you Bluebird Bar. Thank you OooWeeBBQ. Thank you former Hoosiers. Thank you fellow Hoosier faithful. Thanks for making everything in the world right for four hours on Saturday, November 16th, 2019 at the Bluebird Bar on Walnut St. in Bloomington, Indiana.
GO HOOSIERS!