cb.blog

Tag: Indiana

  • Goodbye, Vandy; Hello… Vinatieri!

    Well, if you’re going to let go of the most accurate place kicker in NFL history (and in a lot of ways, good riddance), might as well replace him with Mr. Clutch:

    Among the first to welcome Adam Vinatieri to Indianapolis this week was Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. The significance of a thoughtful phone call was not lost on the kicker, introduced Thursday at Union Federal Football Center as the heir apparent to Mike Vanderjagt. Later Thursday, Vanderjagt signed with the Dallas Cowboys.

    “Yeah, that’s a good start. It’s cool when you get star quarterbacks calling the lowly kickers,” said Vinatieri, who won three Super Bowl rings with New England but departed via free agency for the long-term security of a five-year, $10 million contract with the Colts.

    I know, I’m a week late on this one… it’s been a long week!

    In other Colts news, Mathis signed a one-year, $2MM RFA tender.

    And finally, the Colts will continue a couple recent trends next season: playing on the road in New England, and opening the season on the road – though this year’s opener will be a prime-time face-off of the brothers Manning, as the Colts will be visiting the New York Giants.

  • Lucky Number 13

    Gerald Jakubowski Named 13th President of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology:

    Gerald S. Jakubowski, vice president of Arizona State University, provost of the ASU Polytechnic campus and professor of engineering, has been selected to be the 13th president of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

    Jakubowski will assume the presidency on July 1, according to Robert Bright, chairman of the Rose-Hulman Board of Trustees. He was chosen after a six-month national search.

    Congratulations!

  • Arizona Now Has The Edge

    According to the Official Arizona Cardinals web site, Edgerrin James, formerly of the Indianapolis Colts, has agreed to a 4-year contract:

    The Arizona Cardinals Football Club has agreed to a 4-year contract with running back Edgerrin James. In accordance to team policy terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    This deal is important for me for a couple reasons: one, obviously, as a Colts fan, I am disappointed to see one of the team’s best running backs (and a decent person all-around) leave, and two, living in Saint Louis, I’ll be very interested to see what this move does for the hometown team’s NFC West Division. Kurt Warner, with a good receiving corps and now one of the game’s best RBs – along with a good defense – could mean that a new sheriff could be coming to town in the West. We’ll see…

    I’ve always been in the school of thought that the Colts’ offense is as balanced, diverse, and potent as it is because of the caliber of James’ play: running, receiving, and blocking; few RBs can do all three as well as Edge. But, I’m sure the Colts’ management knew this day was coming (as with the Faulk trade that brought James to Indy in the first place), and have a plan in mind to deal with it.

    Some people are upset that James would leave Indy to go to a supposedly non-contender like Arizona, simply for the money; however, the owners view all aspects of football as a business, and why shouldn’t the players? In modern professional sports, we are long past the era of the true “franchise” players. Rare is the player – especially the super-star – who starts and ends his career with the same team (in any sport).

    James has done nothing but produce on the football field for the Colts, and had done so quietly and without glory-hogging. For that, I will be eternally grateful and will always have great respect for Edge. He has always demonstrated that his desire is to provide for his family and to give back to his community, while maintaining his ability to enjoy his life after his football career is over. This contract is likely his last, and if going to Arizona will allow him to continue to pursue his goals, then I say: more power to him, and best of luck with Arizona.

  • Almost A Magical Season

    My high school alma mater almost had a magical season, but the Shelbyville boys basketball team fell to Bloomington South 46-45 in the title game of Class 4A Sectional 14.

    Class 4A No. 5-ranked Shelbyville had several chances to find a way to win its first sectional championship since 2001 and keep its unbeaten streak alive, but in the end the Golden Bears were left doing the same thing they did last season — watching Bloomington South celebrate.

    Bloomington South senior Cole Holmstrom stole the win in the final minutes then almost gave it back to the Golden Bears, but Sean Drake’s 12-foot jumper from the wing rattled off the rim and into Ben Chappell’s hands. Chappell fired a pass to Holmstrom, who raced up court and ran out the final seconds on the clock to preserve a 46-45 win.

    They finished the season 23-1.

  • The Colts’ New Home: Lucas Oil Stadium?

    Several Indiana news outlets, including the Indy Star, are reporting that Lucas Oil Products will have naming rights to the Colts’ new stadium, expected to be completed in 2008:

    The naming rights for the new Colts stadium are expected to be awarded to Lucas Oil Products, a California-based company started by a small-town Indiana trucker, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations who requested anonymity.

    And as for how they’ll use those naming rights?

    The domain names www.lucasoilstadium.com and www.lucasstadium.com were registered Monday with the Internet company Network Solutions.

    I can see the nicknames already:

    The Oil Field

    The Petroledome (well, I’m leaning toward this one, anyway)

  • On Smoking

    Chris Phillips comments on the proposed smoking ban in Greenwood, IN.

    I don’t know who I need to tell this to, but this is a start. Smokers, I believe you should be allowed to smoke in bars and areas of restaurants. But please, do us all a favor, please don’t throw your butts on OUR streets and roads.

    Agree, disagree? Link to this post, get people to think about this!

    I’m a non-smoker, but I’m all for the right of people to smoke. I’m also all for the right of private establishments to set their own rules regarding smoking. The government has no business telling bars, restaurants, or any other private establishment what those rules must be. If I don’t like the experience in an establishment that allows smoking, then I will exercise my right to express myself with both my feet and my pocketbook, and take my patronage elsewhere.

    However, non-smokers have equal right to expect clean air in *public* places. I can’t stand the “smokers’ gauntlet” getting into or out of a building on a cold day. Y’all know what I’m talking about. Thus, I have no problem with – and even support – laws prohibiting smoking within a reasonable distance from building entrances.

    Finally, as much as I support smokers’ right to light up, it disturbs me to no end how often I observe smokers to be among some of the most inconsiderate people anywhere. If you want to smoke, it is your responsibility to clean up after yourself, and to dispose properly of your cigarette butts. And your right to smoke does not supercede MY right to breathe air free of smoke. Try standing farther away from the door that smokers and non-smokers alike must use. Keep your ash to yourself, don’t let your smoke waft directly in my face, and don’t exhale your smoke in my direction when at all possible. I’d prefer not to have either the first- or second-hand experience, thanks.

  • News From The Home State

    The Good:
    Purdue University Basketball Coaching Legend Gene Keady is one of 16 finalists for the 2006 Basketball Hall of Fame ballot.

    The Bad:
    The death of James Dungy, son of Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy, was ruled a suicide, according to the medical examiner’s final autopsy report.

    The Ugly:
    A storm that ripped off the roof from Union Christian Church and damaged Hulman Airfield in Terre Haute was determined to be a tornado according to the National Weather Service.

    A weather service crew visited southwestern Indiana today, the morning after a cold front spawned thunderstorms and then dumped temperatures from the springlike to the frigid. The crew concluded an F1 tornado with winds of about 100 mph caused the damage.

    The funnel cloud, which was nearly 100 yards wide, stayed on the ground for about two miles on Terre Haute’s east side, ripping through the church and the airport, the weather service said.

  • One Of The Reasons I’m a Fan

    The Colts moved to Indianapolis when I was seven years old. (Ironically enough, before then, I was a Steelers fan – insofar as a toddler can be a “fan” of anything; but I do remember my Steelers pajamas.) While I followed my new hometown team since their arrival, my footbal fanatacism began in earnest in high school, and gained prominence when my interest in baseball waned after the mid-90s strike. I discovered true passion for the team because of the players: Biscuit, Goose, Captain Comeback of the mid-90s era, to the players today. I appreciate that the team – whether be design or coincidence – seems to emulate the midwestern values of its host city: hard work, humility, faith. When Tony Dungy was hired as head coach, I couldn’t have imagined a better choice. He is a great coach, but he is an even greater man. A good coach sets the tone for the team, and this Colts team is truly a family:

    Every year, we hear about teams whose bonds have been forged through the fires of adversity — adversity meaning a three-game losing streak. The members of this organization, though, have come together through the most personal and distressing of all circumstances.

    The Colts are not just the best team in the league and the prohibitive favorite to win Super Bowl XL. They are also the most united, the most resolute team, and they have been all season.

    Anyone who follows this team knows that such sentiment is more than just flattery. And I’ll say without hesitation that the team unity has much to do with the faith of it’s coach – it’s leader and symbolic father: the same faith shared by many of the players:

    The Colts’ Johnson, 45, leads a weekly Bible study for coaches and another for players. With his wife, Della, he hosts Bible studies for players and their wives and offers marriage counseling.

    He delivers a short sermon and sometimes sings at the 30-minute worship services over which he is primarily responsible on the eve of most games.

    Not that I would try to put anyone up on a pedestal, but is good to be able to follow and root for men like these. It makes the success that much sweeter. In the words of Bob Kravitz:

    A Super Bowl won’t bring James back, won’t be a salve on a wound that will last forever. But for a group that has cried together, the chance to celebrate together, to chase away one man’s grief for a couple of hours, would be very sweet, indeed.

  • An Inspiring Witness

    The Colts’ 17-13 JV win over Arizona was meaningless in the Super Bowl hunt, but for the mostly backup players on the field, it meant a great deal. Hunter the Punter eloquently describes the sentiment:

    “Coach Dungy has a heart that beats in all these players,” punter Hunter Smith said. “This game is about money and entertainment and all those things, but every once in a while, you come across a special person. His heart comes through in every part of his life. And now I see it coming through in us.”

    That Dungy is a man of faith is well-known, and it is the foundation of the near-universal respect he garners. But it is in times of trouble that one’s faith truly becomes both a source of sustaining strength and an inspiring witness. Tony Dungy’s faith exemplifies both:

    “There’s a story in the Bible,” Dungy said, speaking to a small group of reporters after his news conference. “David’s son is sick, and they’re praying for him. The whole time, he won’t eat, won’t do anything. The son ends up dying. What David says, basically, is ‘I’ve got to go to temple and worship. I’ve got to get back to work.’

    “Everybody asked him how he could do that. And he said, ‘Now that my son is in heaven, there’s nothing I can do.’ As Christians, we believe the future is in God’s hands, and we have eternal life.

    “. . . More than anything, I had to make a statement that, if I’m a Christian, if I feel like God is in control of my future, I’ve got to move on, as tough as it is. My wife (Lauren) and I discussed it and (returning Thursday) was something we felt was necessary. We’re still healing, but it’s important to move forward.”

    At one point, he was asked how sorely his faith was tested.

    He took a long pause.

    “You always have those questions,” Dungy said. “But I never felt like God dealt us a bad hand. I’ve heard from so many people and we’re not the only ones who experienced the death of a child. . . . The Lord has a good plan for your wife and family, even if it doesn’t seem like it now.”

    Amen.

  • SeñorSpanish.com

    What does a retired Spanish teacher do? Start a web site, of course! The greatest Spanish teacher ever to grace the halls of an Indiana high school recently launched SeñorSpanish.com, a web site dedicated to Spanish education:

    SeñorSpanish.com is a joint venture between a retired high school Spanish teacher of 33 years and one of his former students. The purpose of this project is to offer a valuable educational resource to high school and college Spanish students, Spanish teachers, business professionals, and everyday citizens.

    Be sure to check out the articles in La Galeria Hispanica!