I MIGHT be the least likely person on the IM staff to willingly head up a sports feature. I’m not even sure how I got roped into recruiting the writers, sorting and organizing the master list of 100 athletes (which was originally closer to 150), and writing a handful of bios myself. Did I develop selective amnesia? Did Julia Spalding hypnotize me?
You see, I am not much of a sports fan. Sure, I’ll go to an organized game of some sort every once in a blue moon. But if I’m being honest, it’s usually more about hanging out with friends than paying attention to what’s happening on the floor or field below. There will never be a game playing on TV at my house, and not just because I don’t own a TV (which is a whole other story).
Living in a place where sports is king, though, it’s not easy to avoid the hype and rah-rah energy. Almost by osmosis, Caitlin Clark mania has taken over the Circle City. We collectively celebrate big wins by our local teams and revel in the fanfare of major tournaments and events hosted right in our backyards. The spirit of competition is strong here, and it inspired me to want to play along and tell the stories of some of the greatest athletes Indiana has known. It was fun to bounce ideas around with the writing team and turn our elimination process into a verbal round of whack-a-mole. Even I couldn’t help but get in the game.
To add to the wave of enthusiasm, our digital editor and resident sports writer Clay Maxfield scored a Q&A with IU’s head football coach Curt Cignetti. Throw in a special advertising section on the Big Ten women’s and men’s basketball tournaments, and this issue is flush with sports coverage. March Madness, indeed.
