Mike Lopresti: Victory Field celebrates 25 years with unusual season
But I’m starting to feel like my old self. I know things are getting back to normal when I feel peanut shells being crunched on my walkways. Funny, the things you miss.
Mike Lopresti
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Mike Lopresti: Athletes’ livelihoods, life-long dreams hang on Olympics
You think Indianapolis had its hands full hosting the NCAA Tournament without the walls crumbling in from COVID? Multiply that by a hundred and you get Tokyo.
Mike Lopresti: It’s an Indiana summer at the ballpark
Four men, who might be having the summers of their baseball lives. Four roads that led through the state of Indiana.
Mike Lopresti: Pitcher has faced adversity, but still looks to big league
Mears made four appearances for the Pirates, striking out seven in five innings. And now here he is in Victory Field in 2021, working to get back.
Mike Lopresti: IHSAA commissioner’s first year was anything but normal
This is the last week of the first year of Neidig’s era as commissioner. It was never going to be easy. Not the rookie season. Governing high school sports can be so … complicated.
Mike Lopresti: Champions prove age is just a number
Remember Helio Castroneves proving that old guys can still climb fences?
Mike Lopresti: Baseball’s back
Good times have been happening all over the place, even if hardly anyone has been allowed in to watch.
Mike Lopresti: Baseball is coming back to Victory Field
What happens to a ballpark when it must sit idle for so long? Maybe we should ask the guy who takes care of the place.
Mike Lopresti: Hamilton Southeastern grad is first-round draft pick
Bachman had good freshman and sophomore seasons, then dropped his pitching release slot a tad; toned up his 6-1, 235-pound frame; developed a killer slider, and turned into a flame thrower.
Lopresti: 20 keeper moments from the NCAA tourney in Indianapolis
How to remember the past three weeks in Indianapolis?
Mike Lopresti: It isn’t Indiana’s year for basketball, despite the Big Dance
Only yesterday, the Big Ten was the baddest bunch in the land. Today, it has as many teams in the Sweet 16 as the Summit League.
Mike Lopresti: There’s never been a time in Indianapolis like what’s coming
The entire March-Madness-speaking world is now focused on Indianapolis, with 68 teams flying and busing this way.
Mike Lopresti: Indians, fans eye return to Victory Field in spring
The Indianapolis Indians are to host the Nashville Sounds; when the first pitch is thrown, it will have been 591 days since the last Indians pitch was thrown in Victory Field.
Mike Lopresti: This year’s bracket won’t be ordinary. It can’t be.
We have here the most recent Associated Press Top 25, and what it suggests is that Indianapolis won’t just host the most unorthodox tournament ever played by location, but also maybe with one of the most unusual fields in recent times.
Lopresti: Sports legends’ endings come in many flavors
Philip Rivers’ short career as a Colt brings to mind other notable last games in the state of Indiana, including the swan songs of Reggie Miller, Gene Keady, Peyton manning and Brad Stevens.
Mike Lopresti: March Madness in Indy with no teams from Indiana? It could happen.
When Indy last hosted the Final Four in 2015, five state teams were invited to the tournament. When the RCA Dome was the site in 2000, there were six.
Mike Lopresti: Years ending in ‘1’ seem to spawn historic events
So here we are in 2021, and it is impossible to imagine the tradition of IU basketball without Knight, a World Series in the daytime, or the Final Four in a simple basketball arena.
Mike Lopresti: Referees are hard to find in age of COVID-19
The body of officials in Indiana is aging and dwindling, with not enough young replacements. The problem has been growing for years, but COVID made it worse.
MIKE LOPRESTI: A better 2021?
For some, the bar is surprisingly high, but most of us are ready to move on.
Mike Lopresti: NBA and NFL have served up a plethora of Christmas memories
The longest game in NFL history delayed many a Christmas dinner back in 1971.