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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: IBJ has big plans for coming year

This has been a strong year for your local business weekly. We take seriously our mission of providing readers with the best, most in-depth coverage of local business, so it is with a sense of both pride and gratitude that I report on our most successful year ever. Editor Tom Harton has called 2006 the Year of the Award. This year, IBJ won 18 news awards-eight of them gold-from three different organizations. Our coverage was recognized nine times by our…

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SPORTS: Here are two opportunities to help our city’s kids

Almost a year ago, IBJ asked me to write a column that placed sports in an educational context. Obviously, I have great passion for the topic, having spent my life writing about sports, those who play the games, and the lessons that can be learned through participation. Sure, there are plentiful examples of excesses, and we certainly just had another in New York’s Madison Square Garden. But I maintain those incidents are not reflective of sports as a whole, any…

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Indians stock buyback raises more questions: Analysts say highest offer yet isn’t high enough

The Indianapolis Indians saw attendance, profit and dividend payments shrink in 2006. But a recent stock buyback program launched by the baseball franchise to boost the value of its shares is the biggest in the team’s long history. Whether the offer price is big enough is an open question. Market observers don’t think so. With 799 shares outstanding when the buyback was announced Nov. 16, the offer price of $15,329 per share put a $12.2 million price tag on the…

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Stadium walkway carries $10M tab

An enclosed connector is set to be built, partly underground, that will link Lucas Oil Stadium to the soon-to-be expanded
Indiana Convention Center. It will span about a quarter of a mile and cost more than $10 million.

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SPORTS: Even a Knight detractor can find reasons to miss him

I have a close friend with whom I can discuss amicably any subject under the sun. Except one: Bob Knight. My pal considers the hiring of Knight one of the greatest deeds in the history of Indiana University, and the firing of Knight one of its worst. He believes former IU President Myles Brand is the devil and former Athletic Director Clarence Doninger was an incompetent boob. My friend traces virtually all of IU’s athletic and academic shortcomings to that…

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‘Old fashioned’ values manufacture Motionwear’s growth: Acquisition should fuel leotard-maker’s expansion

It might seem as though the low cost of labor overseas has shifted the entire U.S. textile industry to Asia, never to return. Indianapolis-based leotard-maker Motionwear Inc. proves otherwise. The 120-employee company was acquired this month by the Italian sportswear firm FILA for an undisclosed sum and, as a result, it’s poised to expand locally. Tom Wilson started the company in his attic in 1988 because his daughter Erin, an aspiring dancer, couldn’t find performance apparel she liked in retail…

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: Have you noticed Indiana’s new face?

When I stop and think about my own life, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched. I went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant near my office last week, and most of the people in line were Indian. Driving through my formerly whitebread neighborhood, I see buildings painted in bold yellows and reds with signs saying, “Tienda Morelos,” “Supermercado” and “Estetica Latina.” My son’s elementary school celebrates Chinese New Year with a big parade and lessons about eating with chopsticks and keeping…

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SPORTS: Keady takes on a job much harder than coaching

“Nursing’s a lot harder than coaching, I can tell you that,” Keady, 70, said from his Tippecanoe County home, not far from Purdue University where the basketball court in Mackey Arena bears his name. After 25 years on the Purdue sidelines in a storied career that had almost everything except the storybook ending, Keady signed on last year as an assistant coach with the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. This year, Raptors management changed and his contract was not renewed. Just as…

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Strap maker hits right chord with guitar players: Action Custom Straps’ products catch on thanks to attention from musicians like Jimmy Buffett, Keith Urban

The guitar straps Terry Misner creates for musicians worldwide are the canvas for his artwork. In his specialty, though, the tapestry is really soft leather he uses to combine comfort and custom designs for performers such as Jimmy Buffett and Keith Urban. “It’s like sewing silk rather than sewing canvas,” he said. “You can rip through canvas in a hurry, but what would you rather feel?” The 56-year-old Misner operates Action Custom Straps with wife, Dena, and daughter Nikki O’Neal….

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Carving a niche outside Louisville: Hoosier Bat Co. finds success with Major Leaguers, amateur baseball players

A three-piece wooden bat David Cook developed in 1989 became popular among professional baseball players, but ended up nearly devastating his upstart manufacturing company. Major League Baseball banned the bat just a year later after what Cook contends was a fierce lobbying effort from his largest rival, Louisville Slugger. The bat-made of ash, hickory and maple-is fused by finger jointing and remains in use at the amateur levels. The durability of the bat rivals that of an aluminum model, Cook…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Colts lover gets a new hero

I was quarterback for the Colts once. I was about 9 years old and I was playing pee-wee football at Meridian Street Methodist Church. As all the kids gathered to be selected for a team on the first morning, I somehow finagled my way on to the Colts. I had to, because the Baltimore Colts were my favorite NFL team at the time. My hero was Johnny Unitas, thought by some even today to be the best quarterback ever to…

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Hoosier Tire still racing: For nearly a half-century, Lakeville company has competed with the big boys

When the rubber meets the road, auto racing experts say there are few-if any-companies that outperform Lakeville-based Hoosier Racing Tire. Hoosier tires, industry sources said, are equal to their better-known brethren in racing-related sales and on-track performance. “This company has gone head-to-head with Goodyear on the biggest of all racing circuits,” said Dick Berggren, editor of Speedway Illustrated and a retired racer. “I can’t think of a business where the costs of entry are steeper or the level of technology…

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Bar-restaurant is graduating to the big city: Scotty’s Brewhouse opens first Indianapolis location, branching out from its roots in Hoosier college towns

Scott Wise compares his Scotty’s Brewhouse expansion to a washed-up college band that finally hits it big after 10 years. If that’s the case, his fourth location-and first in Indianapolis-just might go platinum. Before it opened Oct. 30, Wise estimated the 96th Street restaurant would gross $3.5 million in its first year; it’s already on track to reach $5 million. Wise, 33, tapped the college-town markets of Muncie, Bloomington and West Lafayette before taking on Indianapolis. He hopes the name…

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Pacers seek bigger share of NBA revenue

Indiana Pacers co-owner Herb Simon has thrown his support behind an effort to pressure National Basketball Association Commissioner
David Stern to implement more aggressive revenue sharing among NBA franchises.

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SPORTS: Butler’s Bulldogs rule-and so does Marvin Harrison

Talk about the straw that stirs the drink. That youngster gives maximum effort every second. And while it’s early, I’d stack Graves and his running mate, Michael Green, against any backcourt tandem in the country. Though they couldn’t come out and say it, the NCAA folks who now run the Preseason NIT had to be inwardly thrilled to watch Butler and Gonzaga University reach the championship game on the Madison Square Garden stage. Their rosters are filled with players who…

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Sympathy for New Orleans may ruin Indy’s Super Bowl bid

The stiff competition facing Indianapolis’ bid for the 2011 Super Bowl just got stiffer. Besides Glendale, Ariz., and Dallas, New Orleans officials have told NFL officials and team owners they want to host the championship game again as part of the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

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SPORTS: Forget today-for now; Let’s talk Pacers history

In honor of the Indiana Pacers’ 40th anniversary season, let’s stroll down memory lane and gather some all-time picks: MVP: Reggie Miller First team: center Mel Daniels; forwards Roger Brown and George McGinnis; guards Reggie Miller and Vern Fleming Second team: center Rik Smits; forwards Billy Knight and Chuck Person; guards Mark Jackson and Don Buse Third team: center Jermaine O’Neal; forwards Dale Davis and Herb Williams; guards Freddie Lewis and Johnny Davis Best player that would have made the…

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Mellencamp a reluctant pitchman in Chevy ad

U.S. celebrities making pitches for large corporations is nothing new. But John Mellencamp has been long known as an artistic purist with a disdain for commercialism. His debut this fall as a pitchman for Chevrolet’s Silverado pickup truck has surprised many and touched off a torrent of criticism.

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Schools warm to economic development: Colleges crank out programs to fit latest initiatives

Academic purists often hold contempt for politicians and executives seeking help with economic development initiatives. It doesn’t take a political science degree to wonder if someone is trying to stoke votes, ambitions or profits-on the cheap. But in Indiana, more colleges are tailoring their curriculum to support economic development priorities, realizing what’s good for the region can be good for their enrollment. “An increasing number of universities don’t view themselves as ivory towers anymore,” said Uday Sukhatme, executive vice chancellor…

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