All Hail The Fighting Sycamores!
ONE ADVANTAGE TO LIVING IN A “COLLEGE TOWN” is all of the activities that are open to the “Townies” – That’s us. There are Concerts, Plays and Recitals all the time. And Sporting events too. It’s the last item there that has just swung into action.
Football Season is here!
The biggest school here in Terre Haute (That’s French for “That referee is blind!”) is Indiana State University. ISU has about 15,000 students and an absolutely horrible football team. At least they did last year. Try as hard as they could last year they still managed to lose every game. Hopes for this year are…not high exactly, but somewhat higher than those of a chewing gum vendor in Singapore.
The first game of the season was last night against a team from Quincy University. I’ve never heard of Quincy University, but they’ve never heard of me so it all kind of evens out.
Quincy University – Home of the Fighting Medical Examiners.
A lot of colleges/universities schedule a game or two each season against a team that hasn’t a prayer of beating the larger school. For example: Indiana University, a Big Ten School, little ol’ Indiana State University is such a sacrificial lamb. For us, ISU, I think that Quincy University came here bleating for a beating. Quincy has only 1100 students. I’m surprised they could even field a team. I think that, maybe, being on their football team is a disciplinary action – a sort of a “Double Secret Suspension.”
As I am writing this the game hasn’t started, so we will know once the game begins.
We live across the street from the Stadium. We can hear everything – the P.A. announcers, the Bands at Halftime, and the cannon that gets fired whenever ISU scores a touchdown. Last season was a very quiet time for ISU.
ISU Stadium
Being so close to the Stadium one would think that Parking would become an issue. It isn’t. Until ISU can put together a winning season the people in the neighborhood will continue to feel safe in letting their kids play in the street on Game Day. The crowds at their games have been somewhat sparse. It got to the point where Hermits began showing up so they could get some alone time.
This year’s game schedule has the ISU “Fighting Sycamores” (Yes, I know – a fighting tree.) going up against Eastern Illinois, Southern Illinois, and Western Illinois. I don’t know why they aren’t playing Northern Illinois University. Maybe they had planned to, but the transfer student who types up the schedule mistakenly entered Northern Iowa. OK, I’m going with that. It’s plausible and they have the same initials.
Last year the starting Quarterback for ISU was a young man imported from California. Maybe “imported” isn’t the right word – “Sprung” might be more accurate. It seems that the QB had scrape with the Law in California, got expelled from his college there (Faber?) and had to get Court approval to leave California and come to Terre Haute. I don’t know for sure where he is this year – back in California, playing for Northern Illinois, or someplace without an extradition treaty with the NCAA.
Well… the game is over. The final score is – ISU 49 and Quincy 0.
Are those sheep I hear? Sacrificial lambs?
Down the Hall on Your Left 