Can Hoosier Hysteria Return to the Big Blue Pit?

Northeast Indiana, in the late fall-early winter, is a great place to be. High school football is winding down with the state championships and high school basketball is just beginning. Hoosier Hysteria still exists in Indiana, although not with the fever pitch it once had before the implementation of the different classes.

Now I enjoy football, but I have a passion for basketball. It is a big part of the entertainment in the small towns and cities in Indiana. I was born in Kentucky, where basketball is as King as it is in Indiana, but I was raised in Indiana. I've rooted for the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the Indiana University Hoosiers, and suffered from split personality when they played each other. But I don't follow college basketball as much as I used to. Normally I don't really get into it until the post season run up to the big dance. But I have experienced a renewed enthusiasm for High School Basketball.

Until six years ago I had not attended a high school basketball game in nearly 30 years. I had forgotten how much fun it was to see the home team in a packed out high school gym go head to head. But I quickly remembered. In July of 2000 I became general manager of a couple of Christian radio stations in Indiana, owned by the Calvary Satellite Network, WQKO, and WCVM. They were located in my home church, Calvary Christian Fellowship of Howe, Indiana. We were in fellowship, at that time, with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, and that is connection to the stations. But that is not the subject at hand. The subject is Indiana hoops action - Hoosier Hysteria.

One of the areas of broadcast on the stations was, and is high school sports. All of a sudden I had to be involved with high school sports, both football and basketball. I attended a few games the first year, but it wasn't until the second year that I really got into it. My interest was peaked when we dropped a team from the neighboring state of Michigan in favor of my alma mater, the East Noble Knights, of Kendallville, Indiana. All of a sudden all the Hoosier Hysterical juices began flowing again. I began to go to as many games as I could. I even got to do color commentary for some games. If I wasn't hooked then, I am now. A friend of mine, who attends church with me, has a 6' 6" son who plays power forward for the Knights now. Now it's really like old times. I really do have a "dog in the hunt," so to speak.

Matt Edmonds has made it personal again. Matt is the son of Dave and Kathy Edmonds. It's even cooler because the band I played in just after I graduated high school played at their wedding reception. Anyway, it brought back all the old school memories of games in the Big Blue Pit from the days of Jim Calvin. Coach Calvin was a very knowledgeable coach, but he was as much a carnival huckster, P.T. Barnum type of guy as well. He wore plaid jackets and white shoes, and used posters to hold up to tell the team plays to implement. I remember one play called "popcorn." I loved all the show biz and the petal to the metal basketball that created a hyped up excitement that made other teams hate to come to town. That is the way I remember high school basketball. Anyone with any soul at all, who came up through the East Noble school system in the 70's will remember with a swell of excitement, the "go chant." With the chanting of goooooooohaoo and the stomping of a couple of thousand feet on the bleachers; you couldn't hear yourself think! It was the stuff of movies. Will we ever get it back?

Well, maybe, to some degree. Class basketball has diminished it a bit, but I have hopes. East Noble has new coach this year. Coach Cummings has a little bit of showman in him. He has dubbed the Big Blue Pit, the Knightmare on Garden Street, and calls the brand of ball the team plays "Knightmare Basketball." I'm not sure if we can talk him into plaid jackets and white shoes though. Anyway the team is looking good this year and they're having fun. If the community comes out it can be awesome. Especially if we can get a bunch of us 50 somethings together and start the old "go chant." My "dog in the hunt" Matt Edmonds scored a double-double last week with 16 points and 10 boards. Maybe a dunk is coming soon. All the kids on the team are great, and I'm not taking anything away from them, but for me, until my six year old is banging the hardwood, my buddy Dave has to share his son Matt with me.

So if you are looking for something to do in Northeast Indiana this fall and winter, come out to the Big Blue Pit - the "Knightmare on Garden Street," in Kendallville, Indiana, and get a load of some Hoosier Hysteria in the form of "Knightmare Basketball."