TERRE HAUTE — You know what bugs me about Super Bowl XLIV?
Nothing … and that bugs me a lot.
When the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints hook up in a week, there’s no obvious bad guy. The Colts quietly go about their excellence. The Saints are the feel-good story of the moment. No blowhards, no blustery windbag coaches need apply.
How annoying.
I’m the kind of sports fan who likes to take sides, who likes to make an emotional investment in a game. For me, games are infinitely more interesting when someone wears the black hat, when a player has a big mouth, when a city and its fan base won’t shut up about how great they think they are.
Where, pray tell, is the East Coast/big market bias? I (sniff) kind of miss it.
What the world needs now are drama queens, prima donnas and me-first yakkers who are better heard than seen. I want trash-talkers, chest-beaters, and hopefully, if karma works its wonderful magic, crow-eaters.
But, alas, none of that is going to happen. These two teams are (gulp) … too likable.
Now’s as good a time as any for this mostly Colts’ fan audience to reveal that I’m not a Colts fan myself — I’m a Wisconsin native and a Cheesehead to my summer sausage-and-cheese curd-eating core, which means the Green Bay Packers are the team that moves me.
If only I had a wayback machine to wipe out that weak overtime pass interference penalty against the (hated) Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game and I’d have my wish. Oh Brett Favre … if only I could turn my lonely eyes to another dopey interception.
But I’m not a Colts hater either. I simply cover the team on occasion with requisite emotional detachment. I wish the Colts well, if for no other reason than it will make a lot of folks around here happy.
But it’s just so much more fun to have a team or someone you love to hate. And I hate the fact that absolutely no one on either team fits the bill this time around. I’ve tried to find something, anything, to get my goose, but nothing works.
What on earth can anyone find remotely objectionable about the Colts? Jim Caldwell is too nice? Pat McAfee is a pro wrestler?
Peyton Manning does too many TV ads? Peyton Manning? Are you serious?
The man is currently cooking along at such an all-time level and goes about his job with such robotic excellence that you almost feel like you should attend a Colts game as you might a church service and only speak in hushed, respectful tones so as not to disturb his craft. In itself, that would normally qualify as annoying, but hating Manning is like hating “Citizen Kane.” You’ve taken leave of your senses if you can’t at least give a nod to the sheer greatness.
Even the Colts’ talkers are sedate. Reggie Wayne wore a construction hat in the post-AFC Championship game locker room because the Colts still have work to do. In your face, Saints! Somewhere, Chad OchoJohnCincoson is shaking his head disapprovingly and telling him to try harder.
You can’t even go off roster in the quest for rancor. Colts fans? They aren’t in any way annoying at all collectively and most of my best friends bleed blue-and-white. Indianapolis? Not my favorite city, but nothing to dislike about it either. I went to high school there, lived with my wife there. It’s just fine.
The Colts could, of course, be playing for a perfect record if they hadn’t shrugged their shoulders at immortality and pulled their starters with perfection on the line. Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. But as much as I hated that decision by the Colts, they did get to the Super Bowl, so I can’t conjure much more than tepid irritation. Pity that.
As for the Saints? New Orleans is one of America’s great cities, their fans are colorful and have suffered as much as any NFL fanbase and they similarly have a roster bereft of punks. You even have the added local connection of Saints head coach Sean Payton, who was once an assistant coach at Indiana State.
Hopefully, Colts fans won’t latch on to the silly meme that the Saints are going to try and hit Manning as much as possible. Call me crazy, but last I checked, that’s what the opposing team is supposed to do. Nothing to see here … move along.
So next Sunday, somewhere in the Great Plains where I will watch the Super Bowl as I travel on ISU’s men’s basketball road trip to Wichita State and Creighton, I will kick back and like what I see.
Sigh. Oh well. Hate ’til next year.
Todd Golden is sports editor of the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. He can be reached at (812) 231-4272 or todd.golden@tribstar.com.
From the Press Box
From the Press Box: Nothing to get riled about in this Super Bowl
- From the Press Box
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TODD GOLDEN: Don't give up on ISU baseball just yet
If you had to pick one word that would describe the 2013 Indiana State baseball season, it would have to be frustration.
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FROM THE PRESSBOX: Content McKenna has enjoyed seeing ISU's progress
It all happened so fast in June 2010.
One minute, Kevin McKenna was head coach of the Indiana State men’s basketball program. Then — poof! — he was gone.
McKenna resigned from his head coaching position at ISU on June 13, 2010 to take an assistant coach position on Dana Altman’s then-burgeoning University of Oregon staff. -
MVC can't wait on Crieghton to move forward
Will they go or not? That’s been the question that the Missouri Valley Conference and Creighton have been faced with since rumors of the Bluejays’ potential exit went public in December.
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FROM THE PRESSBOX: Can Sycamores reverse fortunes heading into MVC Tournament?
Mastery of a basketball season comes in many forms. Mostly, it comes in forms that involve avoidance of turnovers, anemic scoring and poor defense.
The mechanics of X-and-O success in basketball are obvious, but what’s often overlooked in building a successful campaign is managing the rhythm of the season, which is the hardest thing of all. -
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Accountability isn't Lansing's alone in ISU's recent struggles
Taking ownership has always been one of Indiana State men’s basketball coach Greg Lansing’s strengths.
When ISU has lost games in his three seasons at the helm that it was expected to win, Lansing has always been willing to fall on the sword and take blame for it. -
TODD GOLDEN: Indiana State has far more occasions to rise to
Rejoice, Indiana State basketball fans. The Sycamores’ 68-55 victory at No. 15 Wichita State on Tuesday is worthy of celebration.
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TODD GOLDEN: Big plays in last 10 minutes story of the season for Indiana State
You’d think I’d have learned by now.
It’s 20 games into Indiana State’s men’s basketball season and I still expect the Sycamores’ offense operate like a well-oiled machine from the opening tip. -
Sycamores blossom on Hawaii trip
Quick quiz … what’s the state flower of Hawaii?
Don’t worry. I can’t just rattle state flowers off the top of my head. I had to look it up too, even though I’ve seen them all over the place in Honolulu.
I didn’t even know that Indiana’s state flower is the peony, which replaced the apparently unloved zinnia in the 1950s.
Hawaii’s flower, and they’re ubiquitous in Waikiki tourist shops and in actual flora on Oahu, is the yellow hibiscus.
The yellow hibiscus is big, bold and bright. I’ve never seen one blossom, but I imagine it has to be a beautiful sight.
What I have seen blossom — and it’s the only reason flowers would be brought up in my column — is the Indiana State basketball team at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. -
TODD GOLDEN: ISU needs to have its realignment head on a swivel
Have you ever driven past a cow pasture during a severe thunderstorm? If it’s really bad, the cows will congregate in a herd to protect themselves from the tumult.
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TODD GOLDEN: ISU AD Prettyman keeps it close to the vest
Do you want to know who’s on the short list to become Indiana State's next football coach?
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TODD GOLDEN: Trent Miles leaves Sycamores with giant legacy
To glean perspective on Trent Miles’ time as Indiana State’s football coach, I went back into the Tribune-Star’s archives to remind myself of what the football program was like when Miles arrived to rebuild it.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Scoreboard watching and the threat matrix for ISU
Indiana State football coach Trent Miles reaffirmed his belief Tuesday that a victory over Youngstown State on Saturday will propel the Sycamores into the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the first time since 1984.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Twists and turns, but Luck passes eye test
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck made his much anticipated Lucas Oil Stadium debut Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Looking back and forward at ISU athletics
It started in State College, Pa., and ended in Eugene, Ore. Few Indiana State athletic seasons have spanned the nation in as many sports as 2011-12 did for the Sycamores’ athletic teams. And from coast-to-coast there was glory and heartbreak alike.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU progresses under Prettyman
He didn’t say a word, but it was as clear as Indiana State Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman sat in the PK Park dugout and watched the Sycamores take batting practice prior to their NCAA Regional at Oregon last Thursday, he beamed with pride.
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TODD GOLDEN: MVC pitching helped prepare Sycamores for regional
Nick Petree, Pierce Johnson, Ty Blach.
These aren’t just elite-level starting pitchers Indiana State’s baseball team faced this season. They comprise three of the last five pitchers the Sycamores faced period. -
FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU baseball has pluses, minuses for tourney bid
Last Thursday, when Indiana State’s baseball jumped around in a celebratory dogpile after clinching the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship at Bob Warn Field, no one thought that a little over a week later, the dreaded NCAA Tournament bubble would fly over Terre Haute. -
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Subtle switch has fostered MVC baseball parity
When Indiana State was crowned as the regular season baseball champion of the Missouri Valley Conference last Thursday, it marked the fifth different regular season champion the league has had since 2005.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU has done enough to be in NCAAs
When you get older, you’re supposed to get wiser. I don’t know if I qualify, but I’m trying.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: TH’s Murans back in the Derby … this time with favorite
When Terre Haute native Paul Murans experienced his first Triple Crown horse racing run as part-owner of Mucho Macho Man in 2011, the experience was — to borrow a phrase from one-time Marquette coach Al McGuire — seashells and balloons.
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TODD GOLDEN: IHSAA debate interrupts more pressing issues
State Senator Mike Delph has sowed a 15-year-old wind and put the emotional class basketball debate back on the public’s mind.
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TODD GOLDEN: ISU eyes prize one game at a time
Most baseball fans know that the baseball season — even a college baseball season — is a marathon, not a sprint.
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TODD GOLDEN: Grass is green enough for Indiana State in Missouri Valley
Take a look around the Missouri Valley Conference landscape and it would be easy to assume that a significant portion of the league membership is searching for perceived greener pastures.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Sycamores are Odum’s team now
Soooo … who wants to talk about the 2012 Indiana State men’s basketball season?
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU will face uphill climb in MVC in 2013
The Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals are always scintillating. No more so than Saturday when Illinois State upset 15th-ranked Wichita State 65-64 and when No. 25 Creighton took care of business with a 99-71 victory over Evansville.
Arch Madness indeed. -
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Effort, heart, concentration are fleeting for ISU
Every time Indiana State’s men’s basketball wins a game, you think to yourself, OK, now is when these Sycamores live up to their potential.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Peyton’s place belongs to Eli
The good people of Indianapolis justifiably puffed out their chests throughout Super Bowl week as the city received deserved rave reviews for the job it did as hosts of Super Bowl XLVI.
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TODD GOLDEN: Teammates, colleagues express their loyalty to Weatherford
Sometimes you worry whether someone is stopping to smell the roses when they smell rosiest.
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FROM THE PRESS BOX: Does melted ice reveal Belichick's heart of gold?
If you’re into Youtube — and who isn’t these days? — there’s a vintage television profile of then-Cleveland Browns coach Bill Belichick posted on the popular site.
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TODD GOLDEN: Indiana State men caught between expectation, reality
The Missouri Valley Conference is hush-hush on how it puts together its matchups for the annual conference schedule.
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