Sports!
I thought I would begin this entry by relaying an interesting fact: many cite that basketballs are orange in colour because former Butler basketball coach, Paul Hinkle, wanted a ball that could be better seen by players and fans. He worked with The Spaulding Company to develop one.
Here's a picture of me beside the control room for the Comcast production of a high school football game I participated in Friday night. One wonders how profit can be made when this truck travels from Missourri (along with about 20 people in it) to webcast a varsity football game in which there is a crowd of less than 500 people on hand. Im sure it doesn't turn profit, but does help to fulfill local content charter obligations. So talk about being thrown in at the deep end: I was to run a camera for a game I hardly know anything about and do it from a crane 100 feet in the air. I should have got a photo from the crane. It was a good experience and at the same time keeps a little extra change in my pocket.
In a state that is basketball crazy, football seems to get its fair share of attention with most games from high school to the NFL being broadcast some way or another. Even the 2006 Little League World Series is being televised on ESPN this month. While I initialy scoffed at the term "World Series", I found that teams from many parts of the world do actually compete.
Butler hasn't had its first home game yet. Poor bastards - I dont think they won a game last season (this is primarily due to the fact that Butler doesnt give football scholarships. So how can one expect to have good players?)
Below is a 3 minute clip from the 1986
Hoosiers movie shot in Hinkle Fieldhouse. I remember viewing this movie for my 11th birthday party - haven't seen it since (apart from this clip). Writing of movies, if
Little Miss Sunshine comes to a theatre near you, you may want to check it out!
Grindhouse
I'm excited to hear of a pseudo-exploitation double feature by Tarantino and Rodriquez. Each film will run for about 60 mins seperated by fake trailers for other movies. Cool! The success of "Trash cinema" often relies not on the quality of its content, but on the ability of audiences to be drawn in by the advertising of the film. And these guys certainly do it for me with these posters:
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Fall Semester
How strange it seems to have students on campus again. The summer break has been too long - I really had no business being here during the off season (except that I was committed to the baseball and too financialy strained to be anywhere else).
To counter the last 3 months of somewhat wasted time, I am piling it on this semester - will probably enrol in the maximum number of classes allowed (21+ hours), will spend a similar amount of time at my on campus job and, in addition, be downtown for my internship. I have also had an offer to work some high school baseball games which pays well.
My cousin El, and fellow blogger, was writing in a recent post about being an older student. I was at a function last night and looking at the freshman girls (I say girls because it seems that around 80% of the freshman are girls), I thought to myself how young some of them really are and how many microgenerations seperate us.
Above is a very old photo of Butler.
Checkpoint
Another day in America post 911. No Colgate on me!
Murder, theft and Jerry!
As the heat index rises in Indianapolis, so too does the homocide rate. Infact there has been 15 murders in the last 10 days here in Marion County. It is not the work of a serial killer, but random "urban" violence ("urban" being the code work American's like to use for black people). The reason I allude to a correlation between weather and crime is becasue I was listening to the commentary on 'Do the Right Thing' last night, where Spike Lee states that muder rates are traditionally higher when the temperature exceeds 95 degrees. Mmm!
I too have been a victim of crime. I rode my bike to the librray the other day and when I came out....... Gone! Bastards. I hope they kill themselves on it (maybe not, but at least graze their skin really bad!) So reluctantly, I went and bought another... and a lock!
Writing of the less attractive aspects of America, here's a pic of me running my mouth on the set of Jerry Springer. Jerry, Jerry!
Sanders Group
Myself, Rodrigo, Brett and Rob. At Sanders Group, messing around while we wait for the flamenco dancer to arrive
Tix
It is unlike me to have good luck, but the sweet deal I got on my Brickyard tickets extended to other good fortunes with tickets. One of the Australians, Mark, transferred a ticket into my name that gives me a free round-trip flight to anywhere in the US or Canada. I'm thinking I would like to use it to fly to Anchorage, Alaska or the Yukon or North-West Territories of Canada. I've always had a dream of being that far north. (If you were wondering why he gave me the ticket its becasue US Airways gave it to him when they overbooked his flight from NY and he didn't have time to use it before returning to Oz).
The luck continued on when I was in the line at the movies that same day and a guy asked me if I wanted a ticket for the movie, and he gave it to me.
Then I see that the lottery is going to be US$190 million this week. So I'm about to buy a ticket and then learn that only US residents can claim winnings. I guess the moral of the story is, luck can't last forever.
I was walking past a bank window the other day and I noticed that they will give you an ipod if you open up a free checking account. So I did and now I await my ipod. Ive seen other backs give away things like Playstations, mobile phone and toasters.
The photo above is of Mark, Andrew and myself (and me trying not to look 10 years older than the Sydneysiders). We are up above Chicago in a ferris wheel with Jo and Lynn (but you cant see them)
The Brickyard
The Brickyard is the third installment of major racing events each year at Indianpolis Motor Speedway. The 500 is obviously the cream of Indy racing, while the F1 race serves at the nation's Grand Prix. The Brickyard seems to play second fiddle to Daytona, but with a crowd of over 300,000, and drivers including Jimmmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon, it is no way a small event.
Having sold out of cheap tickets, I debated attending the event but decided in the end that it was perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I headed to the track (in the back of a pickup truck I had asked to ride in when my first form of transport ended). Ready to take on the scalpers, but unaware of the value of tickets at this late juncture, I agreed to pay $75 for a ticket with a face value of $60, from the driver of the pickup. It ended up that I paid $20 for $85 ticket so I'm glad I shopped around. It was a good seat; on the straight, in front of the pits, and under cover (a bonus as the heat index was over 100).
Here's the things I found of most interest
* The Brickyard is an event where spectators are free to bring in eskies of booze and food. This is extremely unusual for sporting events, but so is the fact that the event can not be catered for as there are too many people (so I took about 5 bottles of water).
* Although it's completely surrounded by Indianapolis, the racetrack is in a town called "Speedway", with its own Town Hall, Police Department, Fire Department, Public Library, and the Speedway School System - these are not funded by taxes, but rather racing.
* The majority of the 13,000 residents living in "Speedway" offer parking vehicle space to spectators. For $15-$20 you get to park your vehicle on their lawn, BBQ and drink on their lawn, and some deals include the use of their inside toilet. So as you walk around, imagine your neighbourhood with as many cars squeezed on to each property as can fit.
* A minister said a prayer over the loudspeaker before the race (as the majority of spectators were from the midwest and southern states, it was entertaining to hear hundereds of thousands of people say "Amen" together).
As far as the actual race goes, I loved it when the pace car quickly ducks into the pits and the 43 cars behind it put the pedal to the floor as they blast for the start line. Very loud! And in true US style, the winner Jimmie Johnson does a massive burnout for the folks as he parades after his win. Git-ir-dun!
I thought I would begin this entry by relaying an interesting fact: many cite that basketballs are orange in colour because former Butler basketball coach, Paul Hinkle, wanted a ball that could be better seen by players and fans. He worked with The Spaulding Company to develop one.
