Mid-major extravaganza...

Close-up from from behind the bucket at Hinkle Fieldhouse; Bruce makes friends with the Butler Bulldog!


Still recuperating from one of the best whirlwind college hoop trips, first back to Virginia for last Wednesday's Drexel-George Mason game, then to Baltimore for a flight to Indianapolis and a visit to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse (from Hoosiers movie fame) for last Thursday's Loyola-Chicago vs. Butler tilt.

Stitching together these midweek ninja trips at the lowest possible cost remains the most important part of such adventures. It's almost a must for JetBlue or Southwest Airlines to be involved in one or all of the legs of such excursions. I had an extra free one-way on Southwest I had to use by the end of February, so it came in handy for the return leg home. Come each winter, I have to dodge weather isues as well (if I don't want to get stuck somewhere before I'm supposed to be back at TGS), and last week I managed to pick just the right days, in the pleasant aftermath of the big eastern snowstorm and before the bone-chilling freeze hit the midwest over the weekend (though I got a taste of it in Indy Friday morning). There are so many cheap eats in all of these locales that one can feast nicely without stretching the budget too far. I found a reliable Steak N'Shake on the way back to the motel from Butler to eat after the game (though this was my third straight somewhat-disappointing Steak N'Shake visit), and Red Roof Inns (my Indy room just $33/night!) are sufficient. Of course, a big thanks to Dan for welcoming me on Wednesday night and staying with him in the first leg at Falls Church, just a short ride away from George Mason.

I had only been to the airport in Indy long ago, never had toured the city, and since I can't envision seeing much in the city, my half day visit seemed about right. Time to go the speedway for a quick visit to the museum (highly recommended) and a bus trip around the 2 1/2-mile oval, quite eerie with no one in the huge grandstand area. That entire adventure cost all of $6. Then a quick tour of the rather quaint downtown, including a quick stop to see Conseco Fieldhouse, which has the best sightlines BY FAR of any new arena I have visited. What a treat it must be to watch a game at Conseco, and they had already started decorating the surrounding area for the upcoming Big Ten tournament. The downtown area is rather compact, with several new restaurants and hotels in the immediate vicinity of Conseco and the nearby RCA Dome, so I could imagine how festive the Big Ten tourney will be. The Final Four, of course, will be at the RCA Dome a few weeks later.

Heading north I also saw the Indiana state fairgrounds and the old coliseum, the original home of the Indiana Pacers, where Mel Daniels, Freddie Lewis and Bob Netolicky used to dominate more than 30 years ago. The old coliseum is still in use today!

Driving north on Meridien Ave. from downtown gave me a tour of much of the rest of the city, which was rather unremarkable, until I hit a stretch of unbelievable old mansions on Meridien Avenue, the sort that wouldn't be out of place in Beverly Hills. This stretch of homes came almost immediately after what could be loosely classified as a slum, but the homes and lots were breathtaking, and extended all of the way to Butler University, a mini Duke-looking school with gothic architecture. What a quaint place this would be to go to college! The historic Hinkle Fieldhouse looks a bit out of place as it sits on the edge of campus (sort of like a large, old airplane hangar or railroad station), because it is so big and so old (built 1928), but it is still very functional, and the atmosphere inside was almost reverential. It looks like a bigger version of that fairgrounds coliseum, and once inside, it was like visiting a basketball cathedral! Just something better about watching a game at Hinkle, as the locals know how to respect the game and this unique locale. The friendly midwestern spirit pervaded, a breath of fresh air after enduring the phoniness of L.A., and after watching some games close-up in the midwest this season, I conclude that it is a better brand of hoops to watch than the overrated western version. Refs seem to have a better handle on things (I haven't seen the showboat refs in Horizon League games that I constantly see in the Pac-10, Big West, and WCC), and from a pure hoops standpoint it is more enjoyable.

Next on my hoops "must see" list is the Palestra, which I have seen from the outside but never from the inside. This season is winding down, but next season isn't really that far away, and it is next on my hoop to-do list...