The winds of optimism are blowing toward Indianapolis when it comes to hosting the 2012 Super Bowl.
New Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard this week plans to announce that Central Indiana Corporate Partnership CEO Mark Miles will lead an effort to study…
Yes, Tony, I knew it was you. I’m God, remember. Well, God, it’s that time of year again. End of the season. I’ve got you on my daytimer … in pen. Same time every year. The job, Tony? Yes, God, the job with the Colts. Do I stay or do I go? Well, Tony, as you know, I’m the Big Picture Guy. I can try to guide you, but I can’t tell you what to do. It’s that whole free-will…
The Indiana Pacers
have hit rock bottom. This month, the team slipped into last place in average home attendance among the 30 National Basketball
Association teams, falling behind the New Orleans Hornets, a team that is selling tickets in an area still ravaged by Hurricane
Katrina.
-Joni Mitchell, “Big Yellow Taxi” I’m dumbstruck by what I’m hearing and reading. (Probably more dumb than struck, you’re thinking.) Still, I have to ask: When did the Indianapolis Colts’ Tony Dungy become such a mediocre coach? When did he become a coach that, as some are expressing to owner Jim Irsay, is not worth fighting for, or at least making accommodations to retain? When did he become such a poor leader of a team that we should accept his…
The Pan Am Plaza building, constructed to provide office space for amateur sports organizations, may soon be losing three of its highest-profile tenants. USA Gymnastics, USA Diving and U.S. Synchronized Swimming are contemplating moving out of the building at 201 S. Capitol Ave., sources close to the organizations said. A fourth group, USA Track & Field, which is preparing to move from the RCA Dome, is considering joining the other three sports-governing bodies in shared office space-preferably downtown. USATF will…
In the aftermath of the Bowl Championship Series’ “championship” game, University of Georgia President Michael Adams didn’t just lob a grenade. He dropped a bombshell. Like many of his presidential colleagues, Adams has long been an opponent of the continued calls for major college football to go to some kind of national championship playoff. But on Jan. 8, just hours after two-loss LSU claimed the title with a one-sided victory over Ohio State, Adams unveiled a plan calling for an…
The handful of retailers who have persevered through hard times for Washington Square Mall felt encouraged in recent years as newcomers Steve & Barry’s University Sportswear and Buffalo Wild Wings arrived. But the holiday season brought grim news: Macy’s now plans to close, and Gap won’t be far behind. Besides Caramelcorn, MCL and change, few things have been constant at the east-side mall since it opened in 1974. The 965,000-square-foot mall was 21 percent vacant last year, the worst occupancy…
In a meeting that had more X’s and O’s than Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy’s game-day war room, FedEx District Sales
Manager Doug Knowles and his lieutenants decided which clients and prospective clients would be invited to the FedEx suite
which game, which FedEx employees would accompany them, and what ancillary activities would be planned.
When Marian College asked racecar driver Michael Crawford to help launch the school’s entrepreneur-in-residence program and mentor students about realworld business, he wasn’t sure if it was such a great idea. “My hesitation was I didn’t want to pursue it right away,” Crawford said. “What happens if I go out of business? That would be embarrassing.” But he decided to do it because he believes his experience as an entrepreneur is more realistic than anything the students will read about…
The spirit of the dearly departed Terry Hoeppner, if not his presence, was palpable during the New Year’s Eve Insight Bowl at Tempe, Ariz. Those footballshaped “Hep” buttons were ubiquitous. The phrases “Play 13” and “Don’t Quit” could be heard repeatedly. At a pre-game pep rally in a Tempe park, thousands of IU faithful gathered so the Indiana football team could honor Hep’s tradition of The Walk. IU’s new president, Michael McRobbie, led the players and coaches through the back-slapping,…
The Republican party dominated city government here in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, and for much of that time it was assumed that the party’s lock on city hall was tamper-proof. Voters proved that theory wrong in 1999. Whether it was changing demographics or the fatigue that sets in when one party rules for too long, the public turned the mayor’s office over to Democrat Bart Peterson. Four years later, Peterson easily won re-election and the Democrats won the City-County…
Well, the day is here when you finally get the keys to the offices on the 25th floor of the City-County Building. Congratulations. I knew you had the election in the bag all the way. Yeah, right. Anyway, I’ve noticed you have formed a number of transition teams to bring you up to speed on the various forms and functions of citycounty government. Folks way smarter than I have provided reams of information that will provide you a road map…
Before we landed at the Genghis Khan Airport, checked into the Genghis Khan Hotel, and drank Genghis Khan beer, everything we had heard about the most famous Mongol of all time was negative. But that changed when we visited Mongolia in September. You might wonder what nice things could be said about a guy who conquered more territory in 25 years than the Romans did in 400? Well, the people we encountered perceived him as a combination of George Washington,…
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth … if, perhaps, I were a member of the Indiana Ice. Who are playing pretty well, by the way. But there are other things in the realm of sports I would include on my list. All I want for Christmas is for those cheatin’ dog New England Patriots to have their comeuppance. Preferably from the Indianapolis Colts. In Gillette Stadium. In a driving snowstorm. In the AFC Championship. All I…
The money is seductive: an “easy” $1.6 billion. That’s what gambling brought to Indiana in taxes this year. The prize might not be as big in 2008. There’s new competition. And a big drop in gambling revenue would spoil the negotiations that all the nervous Indiana politicians have been doing. Their jobs are on the line, and they know it. Hoosiers are embarrassed. They don’t like that. I have a beautiful picture of two of my children standing inside the…
Several central Indiana radio stations will ring in 2008 with new formats and on-air talent, and new marketing campaigns bellowing the changes to listeners and advertisers. One station is keeping its plans secret, fearful of an industry domino effect if its strategy leaks out. There’s plenty at stake. Listener ratings for the first quarter of 2008 will be watched closely, local media buyers said, and could affect spending later in the year. A t l a n t a -…
I am going to chat with Angelo Pizzo, author of the best sports film of all time. Pizzo is the writer and coproducer of feature films “Hoosiers” and “Rudy.” He and I will debut “Mickey’s Corner,” a project patterned after TV’s Bravo Network program “Inside the Actor’s Studio.” The conversation will happen Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 6701 Hoover Road. Why don’t you drop in? Pizzo grew up in Bloomington and stayed home for his…
Tiny Helmsburg in rustic Brown County is a rural hamlet that is so small outsiders might not even realize they’ve passed through it. So it’s no surprise that one of Indiana’s best-kept secrets is headquartered there, in an old school building that, appropriately, masks its identity. For Bare Feet has been knitting socks for 21 years and has amassed an impressive array of clients. It’s a league-licensed producer of socks, headbands and wristbands for the four major sports leagues: Major…
Just so you know, I already had decided to revisit the Indiana Pacers this week. At the quarter post of the marathon that is the NBA season, the Pacers were performing admirably and above most expectations. They had knocked off Utah and Dallas. They had won three of four games on a West Coast trip, including a victory at Denver. They scored a huge road victory over the rapidly rising Eastern Conference power, Orlando. That left them at .500 through…
