Kids in the hall

Life is ultimately a series of poor decisions.\nTake, for example, my decision to come to IU, arguably the college basketball capital of the Midwest. Not being a fan of Hoosier basketball – more precisely being someone who has cheered for Gonzaga the last two years when the teams have met in the NCAA Tournament – I’m constantly reminded how much of an outcast I am in the land Bobby Knight built.\nMy lack of enthusiasm for IU basketball has even earned the scorn of the last person I want to nag me: my mother.\nConsider the following conversation: \nMom: Did you see that game last night?\nMe: What game? “The Amazing Race”? Yeah, I really liked it!\nMom: No, you jerk, the IU game. D.J. White was on fire in the key. And Eric Gordon is unstoppable!\nMe: Who are D.J. White and Eric Gordon?\nMom: Are you serious? Whose son are you?\nThen she hung up on me. I cried myself to sleep.\nOf course, the fact that my mom – 2,400 miles away and unable to operate a DVD player – is a bigger fan of IU basketball than me led to a recent decision to actually attend a game in Assembly Hall. My roommate even loaned me some Indiana paraphernalia to wear. I may have looked the part of a fan, but I definitely stuck out when the entire crowd sang the fight song while I mouthed the words to a classic John Denver tune.\nAlas, like Denver, my plane soon crashed, and I was faced with the reality of taking interest in the game. Good thing I brought my trusty reporter’s notebook to record every possible banal observation. Here’s a sample from the notebook:\n• It’s three minutes into the game, and already the smell of popcorn and something that can only be described as cologne mixed with butt-sweat is wafting in the air. This is surely Indiana basketball at its finest.\n• The crowd chants “bullshit” after a blocking foul is called on Gordon, although it’s possible they are merely making reference to the previously mentioned cologne smell.\n• The students seated around me flip off the opposing team, perhaps to remind those from Wisconsin that IU students are dexterous enough to extend their middle fingers without moving the rest of their phalanges. I can’t believe I just wrote the word phalanges.\n• There are 25 seconds left in the game, and the “bullshit” cheer comes once again, which is odd considering the cologne smell has long since dissipated.\n• Game over. The normally rambunctious crowd is silent after a barn-burning three pointer steals the win for Wisconsin.\nThe crowd was noticeably despondent after the loss. Also looking despondent was coach Kelvin Sampson, whose recruiting violations have tainted the integrity of IU basketball.\nPerhaps hiring Sampson was as poor a decision as a non-IU basketball fan moving to Bloomington. \nBut, then again, that’s life – a series of poor decisions.