Keith Smart: You Know, But You Don't Know - Hoosierness and Glory

    The paradox of knowing something but not really knowing it. I will try to explain.

    I am a Hoosier. Many people ask what that is. Most simply, it is a person from Indiana. A state that was created over time through the Northwest Ordinance ny many of the forefathers of America, the United States, the most powerful nation there has ever been. Although, I must say, Vietnamese and Iraqis and Afghans have humbled us to know well enough that we definitely have our limits.

    I digress. But, in the context of the massive United States, we have the more humble but proud 19th state. My Indiana, our Indiana. Some have adopted it, like my parents from Massachusetts, or Hollis Johnson of Utah, or his wife Greta from Denmark. But others of us are born and raised there, and the cultural norms or mores or values, or trends, get into our blood. Like basketball.

    

    This happened a bit to my native Indiana step-parents Terry and Janice, but more so with others blood related to them. Aunt Bernice comes to mind. She made it to her 90s. Nothing was bigger than the Indiana ball game to her in her Bloomington nursing home. That is the way it should be, right? Love it and love it hard. Alone or with others. The game brings glory and contentment. The locus of our universe.

    John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood, is a Hoosier. He is a Boilermaker, yes, but we know and respect our Boilermaker Hoosiers. They and us are part of the lore. If you swing more Purdue than IU, we get it. They captured your heart somehow, whether as a first love or latecome passion, Purdue is part of the Hoosier love equation. It is the homestate rival and foil. It helps sharpen and fulminate the Hoosiers of Bloomington. We get past them, we work our skills agains those Hoosiers, and we test our mettle and perfect the craft. 

    Passing. Penetrating. Shooting. Rebounding. Blocking. The game.

    I know that they care about basketball in Kentucky and North Carolina and Kansas. And Utah and Idaho. But we in Indiana care... more. The Blue Grass State has mountains and hollers, as J.D. Vance will recount. Carolina has some Smoky Mountains and the Outer Banks. Indiana? No mountains, a few scenic hills and forests. A few sandy dunes up on the great lake. A few miles from the blighted suburbs and the nicer enclaves of Chicago. The Region, up there. They give Indiana some its talent and flavor. Composite of the whole.

    Kurt Vonnegut is a Hoosier. David Letterman. John Mellencamp. Even Michael Jackson. Bobby Knight became one. He graduated with advanced Hoosier degrees because of his championships. Etched in our souls forever. 1976. 1981. 1987. 2002 almost happened. Not quite. Others hail back to 1953 and even 1940. Purdue fans go back into the 1910s and twenties and thirties. Fine. We get it.

    We are Hoosiers. We do not forget, nor do we diminish the glorious memories. Milan, 1953. 

    Steve Alford grew up with it. He was the captain alongside the gifted jumper and athlete Keith. Darry; was from Chicago, was he not? Ricky was from nearby Cincinnati. Dean? I cannot recall. We took you in in 1986, because we needed an inside presence. You provided it.

    Keith, I am not sure you ever had a greater game. The second half was yours. It happened to be on the greatest stage, in your hometown of New Orleans. You did not just make "The Shot", but you filled in multiple other field goals. You elevated your game, and in turn millions of us. Hillman of California and Eyl of Ohio, even Todd Meier (of the Midwest?) contributed their parts and roles.

    Keith even sealed the game and championship, the last of Knight's three, with the court long steal.

    Keith. It is 2026. Almost thirty years since that fateful spring night. Monday night.

    You did it. You know it.

    It lives forever, and we long for its return.

    Who could be the next Keith Smart, Hoosier forever?

    Maybe no one. Until another champion such as you, in this sport, not football or soccer or swiminng, you are the one.

    Thank you. Love you. Cherish the acts and the efforts.

    Take care, a Hoosier fan.

    Go IU. And even sometimes Purdue. Or even the near miss Indiana State when they get a Hoosier like Larry Legend.

    By the banks of the Wabash, far away.

 The Nationals are Good Enoughbut to be .500, but...

    They have blown some sure-fire wins.

    Most of the unfortunate losses have been due to the poor closing pitching. They have blown it at least 10 times. The Nationals have had a hard time stopping runs near the end and giving up too many leads.

    Yorbit, his last name is... not Nemesio. Not Nunez. Not Tena. Anyway, he failed to run out a base hit or error back in May or so and cost the Nats the game. It went extra innings because of his negligence and they lost.

    The Nats are under five hundred by 8 games going into September.

    They have some promise. Do they have the right guys? Lile looks good enough. Crews? Young? Others...

    We shall see. Abrams? 

    Maybe.

 Biggest Issues in the World Today

    1. Global warming and environmental destruction. Nepal and Tibet glacier melt does not happen out of thin air. Then again, check the science and the data.

    2. Hostile intentions between nations. Wars and land and sea grabbing. See Russia, China, Israel, and a few others. Africa can be bad. Some blame the United States. Who else is extra hostile and territorial? North Korea.

    3. Economic shennanigans. Taruffs? Blocked off Straits of Hormuz where millions of barrels of oil are supposed to be moving? 

    4. Economic efficiencies. 

    5. Religious strifes and misunderstandings.

    6. Corruption and greed in government and business.

    7. Thugs and illicit criminal gangs all over. The Tabara group of Rwanda is threatening DRC and Burundi. Or, the Burundi Tutsis are threatening the Hutus.

    8. Over fishing and over exploitation of both renewable and non-renweable resources.

    9. Abuses of power, high and low.

    10. Some social media exploiters.

    11. The incipient and nefarious rise of Artificial Intelligence?

    12. The non-anchored growth of crypto-currencies.

    13. Many other things? Diseases, mental illnesses.

    I am grasping here. I could put together a better list.

 Aggies and Owls and Spartans, oh My! Part II

    My eyes did not deceive me. There are another team of Gamecocks, and they are from Jacksonville State in Tennessee. No, Alabama! Man, confusing. Not to be confused with the HBCU Jackson State where Deon Sanders coached for a bit, prior to moving to the University of Colorado. Maybe Jackson State is in Tennessee. Between Nashville and Memphis, me thinks. Okay, geography fixed for now?

    South Carolina, you are not the only Gamecocks on the block. Nicely separated by Georgia.

    Speaking of Georgia, now we have the double pair of Panthers. There are the longtime Division I (FBS) franchise, the Pittsburgh Panthers, and now we have the more recent Georgia State Panthers.

    Amirite?

    I think so.

    Panthers. Not Purple, like the ones I was in high school with, but Panthers all the same.

Blog it.

    

 Questions for Donald Trump

    These have been accumulating over the years. For the record, I have some Barach Obama and a few others, too. U.S. Presidents. You are under the magnifying glass forever.

    1. Back in your prep school days you seemed to be a good athlete and part of sports teams, yes? What happened with your feet or legs for you not to be eligible for the Vietnam conflict?

    2. Speaking of Vietnam. You once characterized former naval pilot John McCain as a loser for being caught and cast in prison in Hanoi. Do you have an update for that assessment?

    3. You wanted the USFL, of which you had high stakes, to switch from the spring to the fall, lined up more or less against the National Football League. Would you have tried that again, going back in time?

    4. What lessons, if any, did you learn from the times that you have declared bankruptcy?

    5. How many people in the U.S government or otherwise knew where your money was invested in 2016 or 2024? Were there forms that proved it was invested in U.S. entities?

    6. What was the value of removing the U.S. special forces from Syria in your first term? Which U.S. commanders agreed with those decisions?

    7. Are there any things that you would do differently in your decision making?

    8. Are they any U Penn professors that you admire or would cite as wise stewards? Any favorite economists or business people?

Aggies and Owls and Spartans, oh My! And of Course da Cougars

    Out of 138 Football Bowl Series teams, there is bound to be some overlap in names of mascots and their nicknames. 

    

    Not the Hoosiers. My hometown team is unique because no one knows what a Hoosier is other than an Indiana person, or perhaps it means a hick hayseed in Missouri. Either way, IU is singular, unique, and kind've the best. I am biased. But in the days of Cignetti, it is good to be king. Google it.

    What overlap in nicknames do we have? I should Google Gemini that:

    Brobible has a list but I think that they exclude the Owls! What a travesty.

    First, we have the Tigers of LSU. And Auburn. And Clemson. And...Memphis. And, and, and: Missouri.

    All of the above five are not small and they have been around for a while.

    They're Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

    Next are the three fours. Eagles. Wildcats. Bulldogs.

    Boston College soars, as does Eastern Michigan, Georgia Southern, and Southern Mississippi. Those proud birds get around. But not as much as tigers, which are not indigenous to North America, or the Western Hemisphere or Africa, Europe, Australia. Antarctica? No, nothing there as far as mammals unless they swim like seals. Eagles of some form are much more plentiful.

    To be fair and transparent, Southern Miss are the Golden Eagles.Way to go, noble birds of prey!

    Wildcats. Kentucky, Northwestern, Kansas State, and Arizona. There are many types of Wildcats. It is a plausible narrative in many climes.

    Bulldogs. Like my 8th grade middle school Bachelor. 

    We have the ever powerful Georgia, followed by Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State, and Fresno State. 

    These dogs are meant to hunt.

    17 teams overlap with each other on most of the fingers of one hand. If that makes a little sense.

    There are four threesomes on the next rung.

    Cougars, Huskies, Aggies, and Bears.

    There will be some Lions coming up, so we have Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz covered. Oh, my.

    My BYU Cougars share the mountain lion puma wavelength with the Washington State and Houston Cougs. We know which one is best.

    Bears? Cal Berkely, Missouri State, and Baylor. Not to forget Maine, but they are not of the 138 big time ones.

    Aggies: Texas A & M, New Mexico State, and Utah State. USU is bigger time now that they have joined the PAC 12. The new and deproved (as in reduced and lesser) Pacific 12, which currently stands at 8 programs.

    Huskies. Nothing much with Alaska or the Great White North (does Canada have college sports?).  University of Connecticut, Washington, and the...Northern Illinois dudes, who just joined... The Mountain West? That is a step up, from the crazy mid-week playing Mid-American Conference. Which took in Sacramento State Hornets.

    But wait: what about the Owls? Now we have Florida Atlantic and the... I saw it in my magazine, or magazines... Ooh, and the Spartans. Michigan State and San Jose Spartans.

    Double the pleasure, double the fun. The Owls of ... Wait, we have double Rebels and double... Gamecocks? 

    Lemme check this. Hold the phone! We have both Rice and Temple Owls. That makes three. Brobible guy missed it. He ain't that good, it seems. Come to me for facts, sirs and ma'ams. No, wait! There IS more. Kennesaw State are the Owls, too! I thought I was seeing all that wisdom of Woodsy and the one from the Hundred Acre Wood. We got Owls from Philly to Southern Atlantic Florida to Georgia to eastern Texas. Crazy hooters. Brobible missed a lot.

    Gamecocks. Just South Carolina? Maybe I was seeing things...

    Good for now, possibly more later.

 Depression is a Thing, and it Makes Sense

    I have known poeple that have suffered in it. From it. With it.

    

    Being sad and forlorn, as it were.

    

    There can be many reasons. I think about people like Nicholas Baranovic. I think he may well have died from it. It did not kill my mom, though she had some long bouts and struggles. Thanks cancer, for that grace, I suppose.

   Sad to say, but true, I think.

    Donald Trump should cite some U Penn professors. Has he?

    He never gets down, at least not that we know. Right?

    A guy in Bloomington, maybe an opera and voice guy Roy, could not understand my mom's depression. Or maybe it was more Brother Johnson. I cannot think of his first name...

    Wow. He forgot about Bloomington after 50 years of living there.

    He was an astronomer, renouned in (reknowned?) in Denmark.

    Hollis. Hollis and Greta, who made it through World War II and the German nationalists.

    Some somewhat depressing times, after the Great Depression.

    It all makes sense, but at times none of it.

    Like me, like you.

    We are wonderfully made, says the scriptures.

    True.

    Adam and Eve fell, that we might be. Jesus paid for all of us.

    Not too depressing. But given the facts and the hostory, I can see the meloncholie and the sadness.

    Melancholy.

    Yes, it's a thing.

    So cheer up and get some rest, and keep going.

    Sadness no more, or checked by balance.

    And love. Hope.