Indiana, we're still for you

My family is very much rooted in Bloomington. The first one in Bloomington was probably my great, great uncle Ely back in the 1920s when he came here to earn his degree after World War I. He started a progression of family members to Old IU: my great uncle got his master's degree in the '30s, another great uncle, class of '35, and his brother (my grandfather), class of '39.\nMy father, his cousins and my mother earned their undergraduate degrees here in the late '60s and early '70s. My aunt earned her master's degree in speech and hearing sciences in the '70s, and my uncle taught here in the early '80s.\nNow, I am here studying.\nThrough it all, my family members have always been fans of IU basketball. My grandfather, may he rest in peace, saw the first national championship back in 1940, just after he graduated. From then on, until the day he died, Thursday, March 5,1987, he was "tried and true" for the old Cream and Crimson.\nMy parents, despite never having a championship team during their careers as students, witnessed the 1953 championship (granted they were three and five years old). They also bared witness to the next three that came after the hiring of (I'd never thought I'd say this) former IU basketball coach Robert Montgomery Knight.\nWhen IU made the choice to hire Knight to replace Lou Watson, after the famed Branch McCracken era was over, my parents did not praise the University for hiring a man who would bring greatness to an established program. They did not laud the University for hiring an accomplished coach from Army; rather, my parents looked at each other and exclaimed, "But he's from Ohio State!?!"\nNevertheless, my parents swallowed their skepticism and allowed this Buckeye to run our Cream and Crimson program. What happened could not have been foreseen. The rest need not be said— championships, titles, NBA players, a clean program and many great additions to society in the last 30 years.\nWhat has always made me sad is my grandfather (Grandpa Kenny), who died of cancer at age 69, never saw that Keith Smart shot. He died only two days before IU won the Big Ten title. He never saw what became of IU basketball and its leader.\nWhat I now know is it didn't matter. Sure, my family thought and probably still thinks that Bobby Knight is the greatest basketball coach living in America today, but IU basketball has been around since our first loss against Butler, Feb. 8, 1901. And since that time, people have cheered.\nMy Grandpa Kenny cheered for us. My parents did. And we shall. It might be hard to know what is in the future (we knew with Knight that we would have good seasons), but we are still IU basketball fans. We should not abandon our team.\nIndiana, Our Indiana. Indiana, we're all for you. We will fight for the Cream and Crimson, for the glory of Old IU (IU!). Never daunted, we cannot falter. In a battle, we're tried and true. Indiana, Our Indiana, Indiana, we're all for you.