What was it that gave me such a huge pick-me-up?

Well, the title of this post probably gave it away: the Big Ten Network is here in Dallas! This, of course, means that I will be able to watch every Indiana Hoosiers basketball game this year (as I now live in Dallas). I grew up going to IU games in Assembly Hall, I went to Indiana University, and after a few years away I moved back to Indiana last year. Naturally, I rarely if ever missed a game when I lived in the Hoosier state. I have also lived in Miami, Fl and now Dallas, and for some reason these unenlightened sports fans are not as passionate about their IU basketball as I am. I suppose the rational part of my mind understands this, but it didn’t provide any solace during those winter nights when my Hoosiers were playing and I had to listen to it online sitting in front of my computer if the game wasn’t nationally televised.

It did give me a chance to enjoy the soothing sounds of Don Fischer, but still; I want to see the games! Now that the Big Ten Network is here in Dallas (and in HD!), I will get to enjoy pretty much every game of the 2008-09 IU basketball schedule.

The TV schedule does not seem to be set, as the Peegs.com schedule usually displays it, but I don’t recall any game last season that was not either on the Big Ten Network or nationally televised. (One depressing caveat I just realized: most of the “national” CBS games are usually played concurrently with other games and shown regionally. So I will still have to figure out a solution to this problem. Perhaps the college basketball package is still in my future.)

Regardless, nothing will rain on my parade of Cream and Crimson joy tonight. I was already pumped up for the 2008-09 season of IU basketball. We may not win more than 10 games (although I, for one, think that we will) but it is the first step forward into the Tom Crean era and away from the horrific BS of the Kelvin Sampson era of Indiana basketball. A part of me would like to issue a petition to create a moratorium on the phrase “Kelvin Sampson era of Indiana basketball.” That slimeball liar should not have the privilege of seeing his name in the same sentence as Indiana basektball; he sure as hell should not have had the privilege of coaching Indiana basketball.

Now that the White Sox season is over, and leaves all across the Midwest are changing colors, falling, and whistling in the ever-cooling Fall and soon-to-be-Winter wind, you will start to see much more coverage of the Indiana Hoosiers here on Midwest Sports Fans. And to my unlimited delight, I will not be forced to provide commentary based on radio broadcasts, box scores, and IndyStar recaps. I am a White Sox fan, I am a Browns fan, and I am a Dolphins fan. I love all three of these teams. But the excitement I feel for all three of these teams combined will never equal my passion for Indiana University basketball. Thank you Verizon and the Big Ten Network for bringing Indiana basketball here to me and thousands of other IU fans living in Dallas.

We now have a coach in Tom Crean who will give us something to cheer for well into the future, without (God we hope) the fear of having the rug yanked from under our feet as during the era of the-former-IU-coach-who-will-no-longer-be-referred-to-by-name. And thanks to the Big Ten Network, I will be able to watch and cheer the much anticipated debut of the Crean and Crimson Hoosiers.

[tags]indiana hoosiers, basketball, tom crean, big ten network, verizon cable[/tags]