The Daily Bail crafts a mix of mayhem and pain from offices somewhere in Bloomington, Indiana. For those who don't know, Bloomington is the proud home of Indiana University and 40,000 sometimes studious students. When not cracking the books, the students here either get soaked at our multitude of bars or think about IU hoops and our 5 national championships. Yo, Purdue. How many NCAA titles you guys got? Zilch and nada. That's what I thought.
It's not been the kindest of seasons for the Hoosiers as new coach Tom Crean has brought excitement and intensity but not talent. The team was decimated by the scandalous and punishing departure of cell-phone miscreant Kelvin Sampson and has been forced to re-build with 11 new players on a squad of of 13. Six walk-ons, 5 freshman and 2 returning players who scored 23 pts TOTAL last season.
Last night was Senior night and the 7-22 Hoosiers backed by a raucous crowd of 17,500 almost pulled off the win of their season against Top 10 Michigan State. One of the faces screaming from the Hoosier bench was an unlikely presence, student manager Michael Santa. Sure, he's been there all year taking care of the players and coaches during time-outs, shlepping balls, towels and water, but this night was different.
As a reward for his hard work in practice all season as manager as well as fill-in player, head coach Tom Crean told Santa a week ago that he would be donning the pinstripes and suiting up for the Cream & Crimson for the final few games of the season. After the youngster remembered again how to breathe and floated back down from the ceiling, he likely texted 2,000 friends and called his dad. You see, it didn't matter that he wasn't going to play, he was going to wear the uniform of his dreams and sit on that bench, and stare up at those 5 national championship banners and realize how lucky he really was.
And that's the point of this post. That we all need to realize how lucky we are everyday to be alive and to be healthy and to have our dreams.
They can do whatever they want in Washington, but they can't take away our dreams for ourselves, our kids and our futures.
So guess what happened the other night to Michael Santa? Indiana homey got to rip off those pin-stripe warm-ups and trot down to the scorer's table. He heard the piercing sound of the substitution horn and that quickly he was launched officially as a player for Indiana University. Thousands of fans rose to their feet in response and he hustled his ass off for 1 minute and 21 seconds until the end-game buzzer sounded. He stood on the floor and tried to reflect on what happened. He couldn't. He had no words for his emotions. That's what it feels like when your dreams come true.
So to everyone out there, take heart. Reflect on what's important to you. And it's not your 401k.
Today is my father's 72nd birthday. The happy beast is still riding 40 mile bike tours, carrying his bag at the golf course and playing tennis 4 times per week. You go, pops. Happy Birthday Dad. I love you.