Pudman

Wife and I watch every game. Ordered food, got all ready, sat down, and WTH it’s on Flosports :( I can’t deal with another streaming service!

That was almost Ndukwe’s second blocked punt of the season!

This OG Anunoby lookalike is killing us.

My wife grew up in rural Oklahoma in the late 80’s, where high school football players are gods and untouchable. Her high school even produced a heisman winner. But the culture around it and her community was toxic. That culture turned her off not only from football, but from sports until recently. I’ve always been a sports fan, and it’s really been my thing. But, it’s now our thing, and I love it. It started with Teri and IUWBB. She loved watching her coach during the games, and listening to her post games interviews and her approach to coaching and leadership. And now, it’s the same with football. She loves coach Cig not for the fact that we are winning, which is a plus of course, but for the leadership and culture that he is building. She now sends me Cig interviews. We talk about his perspective to leadership and development and how we can employ it in our approach to teaching and working with our students as faculty at IU. And, we now plan our Saturday’s around every game :)

There is a house right off Fee on the corner of Matlock and Browncliff that lets people park for pretty cheap. 15 to 20 bucks. It’s about 10 mins from the stadium. Just don’t park on Browncliff people try, but the folks in the neighborhood hate it, including myself, because the road is thin and there are a ton of kids that like to play up and down the street. I’d offer up my driveway, but it will be full :) Another free option is the IU parking lot at Woodlawn and 12th. I’ve had friends park there in the past. I do not think that they check parking passes on the weekends, but it is worth checking with IU parking. The benefit of parking there, is that it is soooo much easier to leave after the game. Another good lot is the IU lot on the corner of Fess and Cottage Grove, and a similar lot by the old Folklore Department Church on Indiana. Again, I’d call IU parking and ask if you can park there on the weekends without and IU pass.

Such a great drive! I wish I could be at the game. Had to sell my tickets, because I have three herniated discs in addition to Covid. Luckily, I’ve got an amazing wife who set me up outside. The funny part is that I live about a half mile from the stadium, so I knew they scored from the noise before they showed it on TV!

It’s Karoline Striplin the Tennessee transfer. She’s big. Saw her at Dicks Sporting Goods the other day in Bloomington. Really, really tall.

This 100%. I offer all of my student extra credit if they stop by, in part to normalize and encourage stopping by office hours. I had over 100 come by in the first three weeks this semester, and then lots and lots of repeats. It beats the hell out of me, and my wife says I should reconsider the extra credit, but honestly it’s worth the exhaustion.

As a faculty member at IU, I see this all the time with students. I invite all my students, 600+ a semester, to my office hours and tell them they can come talk about anything. I average around 8 students per office hours. Distressed students come often saying that they don’t want to study computer science or business or whatever but feel like they have no choice. There’s also a lot of basketball and music chats too :)

I am in India for an IU trip and have been meeting with IU alumni here. They are amazing and so gracious. I had a lot of great conversations about IU basketball! One asked if I was excited about Rice! if any of you come to India, you should definitely meet with the IU alumni here!

Well, I'll be rooting for Purdue to win it all for my father-in-law. He is a diehard Purdue fan, who probably hasn't missed but a few games since 1968. Sadly, he is missing this tournament. He had a mental breakdown, which could be Alzheimer's, and is in a hospital that won't allow him to watch TV, and we don't know when he'll get out, or if ever. I missed getting his texts during the game. I kept checking my phone out of habit, just hoping to see his thoughts come across my screen. Sigh. Well, I hope they win it all for him. I am not a praying man, but I'd sure love some good vibes sent my father-in-law's way!

This 100%. Sports and basketball aside, Bucker is liked by the Governor and the IU Administration, and has the respect of many IU Faculty. I don't see him stepping down or going away anytime soon. One thing that surprises me, or perhaps doesn't, is that the IU faculty have been mute regarding IU athletics in general. Honestly, most are pretty apathetic to it, which I think is really unfortunately. I sure wish that my colleagues would care and see the value that it brings to the institution, when we have strong teams. As a faculty leader, I was surprised how many simply did not care when Scott Dobson gave the annual athletics report to the Bloomington Faculty Council. There seemed to be zero interest during his report. During that report, I really wanted to chime in and ask about the state of IU basketball, e.g. Woodson's tenure with IU, but I imagined that it would have been batted away, and my faculty colleagues would have seen my response as a nuisance. One interesting thing that Dolson mentioned was that IU was focused and committed to improving football, and even said that roughly 85% of athletics revenue across the US comes from football. This seems to be quite true, especially when you see that IU is consistently at the bottom of the Big10 for athletics revenue. So, folks, looks like we might be becoming a football school. Sigh. Good thing for revenue, but a sad thing for a fan like me that prefers basketball. But, I must ask, why can't we be both!?!?!

Regardless of the outcome, this team is fun to watch. The wife and I haven’t missed watching a game this year. So enjoyable.

Since there have been some conversations here about the role of the Board of Trustees this post is hopefully relevant. Indiana Senate bill 202 just passed the Indiana Senate today and is being sent to the House. Regardless of whether you agree with the content, one provision could substantially impact athletics on our campus. Right now, 7 trustees are appointed by the governor and 2 by alumni. The bill proposes that alumni will have no say. Instead those 2 appointees will be made 1 by the Senate and 1 by the House. I could see this being a bad thing perhaps for athletics, and allow substantially less flexibility where decisions about hiring and firing could be made. Just some food for thought.

At least there’s IUWBB to root for this season. I’ll still watch and root for the men’s team, but the women…hot dam, the know how to hoop.