The pep band played some Beatles, and the Jags won big. So my virgin experience with IUPUI basketball left me wanting for nothing; as I’ll be documenting my adventures in “The Jungle” throughout the season. And, there are cheerleaders-a-plenty. Rar, indeed, Jags. Rar indeed.
As expected, the heavily-favored Jags poured it on the ironically undersized “Titans” of IU-South Bend—which meant showtime for the fans in the second half. With a thirty pointlead, Pui’s hobbit-sized point guard gift-wrapped an alley-oop off the backboard and it was tomahawked homeward through the net. Meanwhile the head coach Ron Hunter, in his most mild-mannered reaction of the game—modestly sat down and fought back a smile. He knows his team’s good, and like King Leonidas, kept his Spartan reserve amidst the hype.
Pui moves the ball sharply, and it’s beautiful, well-rehearsed basketball—when Hill’s not in the game. When he comes in there’s a rash of lethargy, as they stand around and watch him cut up the defense and score by his lonesome. Either way, they’re a fun team to watch.
Abe Lincoln may or may not have once said that “When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.” That is how Ron Hunter coaches. The man is completely out of his skull—but he is the best in his business of mid-major contenders at what he does. During a phone interview about a month before the season, he attributed Indy’s apathy toward their program to the school’s name—and with a certain justification. Indiana University Purdue University of Indianapolis might just be too much tongue for a State with Indiana’s drop-out rate to embrace. Maybe after a few more years of No Child Left Behind, Indiana University Purdue Univ---- ah screw it, I’m winded.
Hunter thinks that his stud, George Hill, is the second best player in the state. As previously mentioned--Ron Hunter, my hero, is out of his gourd. Hill is almost as exciting to watch play as Hunter is to coach—but he's not THAT good.
I'll give him a fair shake though. I’ll have to see Hill a few more times at “The Jungle,” and watch what few IU and Purdue games that I haven’t been screwed out of by The Big Ten Network, and let you know in January.
There’s an admirable spirit in The Jungle—thanks largely to an impressive rowdy core of underclassmen that give the game a degree of high-school enthusiasm. The venue is not Aseembly Hall, but they do have a quality pep band and talented cheerleaders, and with the Jaguars picked to win the conference, I expect the stands to see a flux of local interest as the season progresses.
If not for the basketball, come watch a game just to see "Jaws," the costumed Jaguar. He bares a strikingly hilarious resemblance to Wario, the fiendish Anti-Mario of Nintendo-ville. I keep waiting for him to throw a turtle shell toward the opposing bench and laugh like a maniacal Frenchman as they topple over in cartoonish agony. Wario has been lethargic for the most part, but he spontaneously combusted into a moonwalk to Van Halen’s “Jump” during a second-half timeout. A classy show of good-spiritedness from an otherwise heartless bastard of an adversary.
Final score-- Jags 96, Titans 61, Wario 10 million.
Next home game: This Saturday at 2:30
