The CAS is growing faster than July kudzu in Yoknapatawpha County.
Talking about the Cignetti Adoration Society.
It’s not just round here.
Checking in with my NYC pal Courthouse the other night to preplan for our annual sojourn to New Orleans for JazzFest, he told me to be sure to root for Indiana. His son, a master pianist, studied there. Thus his fandom.
“Dude,” I admonished, “your knowledge of geography west of the Hudson remains sketchy. As I’ve advised, Bloomington’s just an hour from Louisville.
Lots of kids from here go to IU. Lots of folks jumping on the IU bandwagon.
“Plus I’ve got a serious fanboy crush on Curt Cignetti.”
Then there’s the commenter from somewhere at one of the too many football screeds I have read. He mentioned as how they need to make a rags to riches movie about Indiana’s improbable, incomprehensible leap to the top of the college football universe.
That when it’s made, he says, they need to figure out a way for Gene Hackman to play Cignetti. I’m so sure AI can figure it out.
There could be a product placement scene when Elijah Saratt takes his wideout cronies, Charlie Becker and Omar Cooper Jr., to a Waffle House after a big W.
From “Hoosiers” to “Hoosiers 2: Picket Fence Begats Hook and Ladder.”
So yeah, dudes and dudesses from around and about hither and yon, the folks in my neck of the woods love the Hoosiers.
It’s actually the first time I’ve had a real emotional rooting interest in the tourney for the national crown.
I went 1-1 in the latest assorted bowl picks played through Tuesday. Tennessee lost with 00:00 on the clock; Texas Christian won in OT with a boffo run after catch.
Putting me at 10-6 for the post season with two more assorted games this afternoon, then the big four.
The winners of the playdown quarters:
Miami vs. Ohio State (Cotton Bowl). Of course the U has never been cuddly. Schnell’s Canes backed into their natty, only because Tom Osborne admirably had the cojones to go for Dos, but failed. Miami’s squad got off the plane in camo fatigues for the Catholics vs. Convicts smackaround. That said, Miami does represent the league that my school’s is in. I’d love to see them take down the defending champion Buckeyes. But their Lamborghini QB has been misfiring often. And Mario Cristobal is ever another boneheaded mental decision away from a loss. Ryan Day wins. Google him. 82-11 as Buckeye in Chief. Never lost more than two games in a season. It matters. O-H-I-O. In script.
Oregon vs. Texas Tech (Orange Bowl). In a stroke of geographic good fortune in the NIL Era — literally figuratively — Texas Tech is located in the Permian Basin. Oil Country. Friday Night Lights Country. Football and oil moolah mix better than gin and vermouth in an Occidental Hotel martini. Like my astute business buddy always says about what’s important for retail, “Location, location, location.” Though he’s the most visible, Cody Campbell is not the only former Red Raider to bring the big Benjamins. The Matador Club has received 11 other seven figure donations this year. Then there are those who chipped in a farthing or two for the new $242 million football facility. That it’s Oregon up next for Tech is a way appropriate coincidence. The Quack representing Phil Knight U. and all. Every one of Tech’s dozen wins have come by 22 points or more. Impressive, even if BYU is their only Top Ten foe. Oregon’s been here. Tech has not. Institutional W for the Ducks
Alabama vs. Indiana (Rose Bowl). Is there any of these games that more screams, how about this Topsy Turvey pigskin universe, than Crimson Tide vs. Crimson and Cream? In beauteous Pasadena on New Year’s afternoon? With the latter, the losingest school in big time football, a touchdown favorite. Chris Schenkel and Lindsey Nelson are settling in their loungers in front of that huge TV screen in the sky and shaking their heads in wonder. Bama is the most successful program of the century. Indiana is still wet behind the ears. Under Curt Cignetti, that simply doesn’t seem to matter. Hoosiers.
Mississippi vs. Georgia (Sugar Bowl). That this is the New Year’s night capper is somewhat disorienting. For years, it was the Orange Bowl after the Rose. With its garish Busby Berkeley halftime extravaganzas, during which I’d always get depressed because it meant work the next day after a holiday week off. One of the TV pundits wondered if Lane Kiffin might parachute into the stadium to watch his old school? The game’s in a dome, so, were he to piggyback on the emu and Doug, they’d likely crash into a TV trailer or a Lucky Dogs cart. Unlike, say, Dabo or Shaka, who are mired in the qucksand of yesterday’s paradigm, Kirby Smart has been more like Nick Saban and Coach K, who proved willing to adapt to the now to keep their teams at championship quality. Smart’s won more nattys — 2 — than Ole Miss’s Pete Golding has won games as a head coach. It means a lot. Uga is a happy Bulldog.
— c d kaplan
