Indiana, Our Indiana

I was born in Indiana, to two parents who went to Indiana University.  This means I grew up a Hoosier.  When I was 3, I knew all the words to the IU fight song (and still do to this day) and at the age of 5, while walking around campus on a visit to see my mom's long time friend,  I announced to everyone that I thought it was time for us to go visit Bobby Knight.

I lived a few years in Illinois and then, during my grade school years, we spent about 7 years in West Lafayette... Purdue country.  IU and Purdue are rivals and the hatred runs deep.  I had a teacher in 4th Grade... Mr. Lyle... he was awesome, but he was a Purdue fan.  That year, IU beat Purdue in basketball and because of some luck at the grocery store, we were able to make our way into his classroom on Sunday and decorate it in red and white (something that would surely get you in trouble these days... I'm so glad I'm not a kid now) just to gloat.

I moved to Texas right before I started middle school, but still loved Indiana.  My dad watched basketball games at every chance he got and often times, if he was out refereeing, the game would be taped to watch later.

When I was looking at colleges, it really came down to 2... Indiana and The University of Texas.  I got a pretty great scholarship that would have made out of state tuition at IU relatively affordable, but in the end, I didn't want to be that far from my parents and chose UT.  I had an amazing college experience and a pretty great 4 years of sports teams while I was there, even though the football team never beat Oklahoma while I was in school.  Even though I am a Longhorn through and through, I have always had a love for Indiana basketball.

I was a freshman in college the last time they went to the Final Four and after a few bad years and a few worse years, IU basketball has finally made its way back into the Top 10 in the nation and is having a great season so far!

All of my life, I've watched IU basketball on TV, but I've never been to a game.  Now that we live in Bloomington, I thought I was finally going to get my chance this year.  J and I looked at tickets this year, but with that win over Kentucky early, the prices on Stub Hub were kind of ridiculous.  I was kind of disappointed that I was going to have to wait another year, and then Christmas came.

I had an envelope in my stocking and when I opened it, I found out that I'd be going to a game in Assembly Hall... the real one, not the one in Champagne.  J used to work with a guy who is an IU alum and he's hooking us up!!!  I am so excited that after 28 1/2 years of watching IU basketball on TV, I'm going to actually be there, crossing something off my bucket list!

I'M SO EXCITED!!!