96th Indy 500 Review

The Indy 500 is the largest single-day event event in the world...and, in spite of my blood flowing with gold and black hues, it's my favorite one.

My Dad and my Grandpas all served in the military...I wasn't brave enough to make that decision.  But Indy's pre-race Memorial Day activities always remind me how I'm standing on the shoulders of these, and other great men just by living my life in our great country.  If you've never been to IMS for a race, I'm sorry you haven't, but TV doesn't capture the event like being there. From patriotic songs, to taps, to "Back Home Again in Indiana" to when the flag finally drops, it's a day that strikes every chord for me.

Yesterday though, a surprise completely shocked and moved me just prior to the race.

Back Home

As it is each year, taps was played prior to the race.  But, toward the end of simple and moving tune, Dan Wheldon's car that won the race one year ago pulled slowly out of the pits for a lap. I looked around at my family and friends and all were visibly moved.  The car continued slowly around the track as "Back Home Again" played...and I'm sure most in the stands, like me, had no clue that the bright orange and white machine was going to soon pass by.

It was a bit ghastly, but at the same time, it was perfect...the car was the same, but the helmet in the cockpit had a waving British flag to pay tribute to the two-time champ who died in a crash at the end of last season.

Then came the race.

Right away, in our Row 1 seats in the SW Vista, we could tell the new chassis had changed the dynamics of the race. When the green flag dropped, the cars didn't have quite the speed coming into one as they used to.  Granted, they were still fast, but not as fast. I'd estimate the cars were entering one about 10 or 15 MPH slower than before...but the increased downforce coupled withe the slower speeds allowed cars and drivers to come into the turn in tight packs.  This made me nervous as this used to be a formula for a wreck, but time and again, all of the cars in the field would come away unscathed in this formation.

The Lotus machines were, unsurprisingly, notably slower than the rest of the field.  They were so slow in fact, they were both black flagged about ten laps into the race.  While I agree that the more engine manufacturers, the better, or this and any other series, but putting my Mazda3's engine in the field might produce similar results.  At this point, Lotus doesn't belong racing at Indy, or anywhere else on the IndyCar circuit.  They don't compete...and that's what racing is about.

The race had long stretches of green flag action...and the most lead changes ever in the 96 year history of the event.  The new aero package of the cars made it easier to use the draft of the car in front and slingshot by than ever before...so time and again, a driver would take the lead only to see it relinquished about 2.5 miles later.

It was Briscoe v. Hinchcliffe...then Andretti...then Sato and the Ganassi machines; battling back and fourth, and much of the action happened right in front of the seats that I'm blessed to sit in each year.

After getting pushed into a 180 spin in the pits by Viso, Franchitti fell to around 28th position (I believe).  In front of him, was a field that included a ton of Indy vets and machines that were pretty evenly matched.

After a month of domination by Chevy power, Honda and its teams flexed their collective muscle.  As the red Ganassi cars and Japanese darkhorse, Takuma Sato were the story for much of the second half of the 200-lap classic.

A couple stories that I liked watching were these: Mike Conway, who had struggled to find speed at Indy since his catastrophic, back-breaking wreck at the end of the race a few years ago, once again competed.  He rushed up the field into the top-10.  But, he got loose in one and collected the unlucky-at-Indy Will Power in a nasty looking wreck.  Like his last big collision at Indy, this one took him into the air and into the fence, topside first.  But thankfully, he walked way.

Conway and Power narrowly avoiding disaster

The wreck really began a few laps earlier- after Conway's torrent pace, his pit crew had some problems that led to slight damage to the front wing and a rattled English driver. Both of Foyt's machines did not finish.

Another guy I'm a fan of is local driver and Butler alum, Ed Carpenter. He had a pretty lousy month.  But, he did what he does at Indy and climbed the leader board to the top-5.  With about 30 laps remaining, it seemed that Carpenter was ready to win the race...and he got aggressive, in turn one time and began mixing it up with the bluebloods of the field.  I loved what I saw from him- he was selling out in order to win the race; something that became a recurring theme.  But, after pushing a bit too hard, his run at the lead ended in a spin in the short shoot between one and two...after changing tires, and probably his undergarments, he re-entered the race at the back of the active field.

Marco Andretti, who was my pick coming into the race, had the lead often in the early going...but his car went away from him a bit.  And in the closing laps, pushing for a higher position from sixth, he lost the car into the outside wall.

Tony Kanann, the clear fan favorite was in the lead at that point...but relinquished the lead after the wreck. The crowd was visibly excited to see the Brazilian atop the board.  An illegal, but crafty and gritty jump coming off of a yellow thrust TK from fifth to first just laps before.  His car wasn't as fast as the Honda-powered Ganassi rides...but he wanted the win, however possible.

Dixon and Franchitti, their race strategists and their pit crews earned the P1 and P2 positions for much of the closing stanza of the race.  Like Penske usually does, this veteran team was simply dialed in...and it looked like one of them would take the Borg Warner trophy.  But Sato had other ideas.

Franchitti's defining moment of the race

With a few laps left, Sato passed Dixon...putting him in second position; and his sites were set on the (then) two-time champ Scotsman. With one lap left, Sato saw a small sliver of opportunity and he went for the kill in turn one.  He went very low, Franchitti didn't leave him a ton of room, but the end result was Sato nose-first into the wall...and Franchitti claiming his third win; putting him in truly elite company.  But this wasn't just his third win, it was his third in six years.  Astounding.

I used to be more of a fan of Franchitti, but he seems to think he's above the fray of the rest of the drivers and lays blame at everyone else's feet time and again. Atop of that, his wife is simply unbearable for me.  She rode the coat tails of her talented mother and sister to earn fame. She rode the coat tails of Kentucky basketball to generate more buzz, and now she follows the wake of her husband to get more facetime.  She's  a good-looking woman that I don't like looking at because I find her to be so syrupy that it's nauseating.

So I didn't like seeing Mr. Judd winning the race yesterday.  I was rooting for Sato, Dixon, Andretti, Carpenter...hell, even wildman Servia would have been better.  The feeling I had was like when Fittipaldi would win back in the 90s; kinda empty.

But still, the race was great. And even though the cars weren't as fast as I'd like them to have been, and some of my favorite drivers ended up as DNFs and also-rans, I left IMS sunburnt and satisfied in the sweltering 93 degree Indiana heat.

Super-In-Depth Look at Unimportant Contest

(Thanks to our pal, Paul for this!!)

First off, it feels soo good to be sitting in Mackey Arena watching Purdue Basketball. There was certainly a larger turnout this year than there was for last year's exhibition opener, and those that did show up were treated to a pretty good show. The good guys won 82-59, but had a little slowdown late in the first half where UIndy got to within 8 or 9.

I'm not as polished at writing these things as the handsome proprietors of this fine site, so I'll just jump right into a player-by-player breakdown:

The Usual Suspects:
E'Twaun Moore - 13pts, 6rebs, 2 ast, 1 blk
Smooge played a very solid game, though the scoring didn't come right away. He had the highlight of the first half with a great fake and drive to the basket for an authoritative slam. He had a beautiful misdirection drive to the lane to start the second half, and later had a "are you kidding me?" falling and shooting after contact three point play.

JaJuan Johnson - 11pts, 8rebs, 1 blk (though I think he could be credited with two)
Well, he's certainly been in the weight room; and it shows with a lot more bulk and definition on his shoulder and arms. He also played like an All-American, leaving no doubt about who the best big man on the floor was. He was matched up against a freshman from UIndy for some of the game, and it wasn't even a contest. He had some great putbacks, crashed the boards hard, and it only took approximately 3.5mins for the first thunderdunk. He asserted his will in the post and had a great game.

Lewis Jackson - 7pts, 3ast, 5 rebs
LewJack is at full speed, and it's a good thing. He ran the point very well, only had 1 turnover, and played the kind of defense we've come to expect from him. He even shot 75% at the line, so maybe his free throw woes are behind him!

Ryne Smith - 9pts, 2rebs, 1ast, 0 fouls
I'm throwing Ryne into the usual suspects because if he plays the way he did tonight, then he will become one of the usual suspects. 2/4 on threes, and those are the only shots he took from the field. He also swished all three chances at the line and played very good, but not great defense. He looked very much in the flow of the offense, and seemed to be trying to step up his leadership during the game by being vocal. Very promising, now just keep it up!

Big Shoes to Fill: (The three big guys)
Patrick Bade- 4pts, 1reb, 2 blks (I felt like he got one or two more rebounds, he was really working the boards)
Bade had a sweet rebound of an airball and putback late in the second half, and really worked hard. His two blocks were really good effort plays and overall his defensive effort was solid. He still needs to work on jumpshooting and obviously needs to grab more boards, but overall his game isn't looking too bad. He was definitely more mobile than last season.

Sandi Marcius (pronounced Mar-chuss) 2pts, 5rebs, 2 fouls
He ran, rebounded, and defended. He only committed two fouls, one of which was kind of soft, so that's a good sign for a guy who hasn't been playing bball for as long as some of us hoosier kids. He didnt take many shots, missed his only free throw attempt, but did have a sweet putback to beat the buzzer in the first half. He played hard and dove for a loose ball, but there's still some work to do. Oh, and he's a big guy!

Travis Carroll- 2pts, 2rebs, 2 fouls
Another run, rebound, defend guy that didn't do as much rebounding. That isn't to say he didn't play hard and dive for a few loose balls, but he definitely showed plenty of times that he's a freshman in his first game, and as a freshman big man it's all the more obvious. I will say that there's a lot of upside, but some time in the gym would definitely benefit him.

All Together Now: (the guards)
Kelsey "please calm down" Barlow- 1pt, 1ast, 6TO's, 2rebs
He played great defense. Now that we've got that out of the way... Kelsey, Kelsey, Kelsey, I have such great hopes for you! Tonight felt like he took all the kind of mistakes he would make, including not finishing at the rim, last year and rolled them all up into one game. At one point Coach Painter made a rather large statement by replacing him with Dru Anthrop IN THE FIRST HALF! My mom is a huge Kelsey Barlow fan, and I still believe he can be a great player, but tonight felt like a complete backslide from everything he improved on by the end of last season. I could tell he was frustrated, and sometimes I think he is too hard on himself... but tonight maybe it's worth it.

DJ Byrd- 6pts, 5rebs
DJ took two charges, scrapped for loose balls, defended pretty well, and took the shots that were open. He was a glue guy. That said if Chris Kramer was Acme Super Glue, DJ Byrd is still on the Elmer's Extra Strength level, but he's already showing some signs of grit and determination. Also a pretty nice shooting touch.

John Hart- 9pts, 2stls, 2ast, 2rebs, 1 blk
3/7 from downtown isn't stellar, but he showed confidence in his shooting played good defense. He wasn't always very noticeable on offense, but made plays and filled his stat sheet nicely. I don't think he's quite at the level to be a big minutes guy, but he might be right on the edge of that.

Terone Johnson- 9pts, 1ast, 4 TO's, 1reb, 4 fouls
I heard an older Boilermaker saying he didn't like Terone a few rows behind me, but I have to disagree. First off, he played very good defense for a freshman, and the rumors of him having a body ready for the big ten are true. He looked a little overwhelmed at times, but less than Anthony Johnson did. His 9 points were all on smart shots and most importantly 3/3 from the charity stripe! Some of his fouls came from just trying too hard for rebounds he had no chance of getting, but you could see that he's definitely ready to give a lot of effort, and will probably contribute and grow throughout the season.

Anthony Johnson- 7pts, 3rebs
He didn't play quite as much, and had a scary moment late in the game when he went down clutching his knee, though he went through the post-game handshake line ok, so cross your fingers it's not an ACL. He definitely does have great lateral quickness, and he used this in playing some ok defense. His shot selection wasn't great, but he did drain his only attempt from long range and in general gave good effort. He had a few soft fouls that may just be freshman growing pains, but overall he seemed a little overwhelmed at times.

The Walk-on White-out: (trademark T-Mill of Hammer and Rails)
They played well when they were in, giving effort and defending decently, but there isn't much more to say as they weren't in for long. Bubba day did have a nice jumper, which of course got the Paint Crew fired up.

This has been your BS straight from the field, I'm Paul, and I've got to get back to being a "research-maker" whatever the heck that is...

Shhhhhhh...Exhibition Game.

Got to listen to tonight's game and took away a couple things:

-Kelsey Barlow should be very happy that no one cares about these games. I can't find the final stats anywhere, but he had at least 6 turnovers. Coming in, Painter thought of Barlow as a shoe-in to start in the coming games due his excellent play in practice...He was far from excellent this evening.

-The tip-off was delayed because Uof I was late...it was probably because of the inclement weather. Oh wait, nevermind.

-Moore and Johnson both played well in limited minutes.

-Lots of weird combos on the court...lots of people played.

-All three Johnsons (Terone Anthony, JaJuan) played at one time and Cliz was super-confused on how to differentiate the three. I guess he never thought it would happen.

-Purdue won by 23 and shot too many three pointers (not sure how many...can't find stats anywhere). Final Score was 82-59.

-We'll have a more-detailed look at tonight's contest either tonight or tomorrow as a guest will be writing a few eye-witness thoughts down for us.

Another Great Memorial Day Weekend in Indy

The Indy 500 is special to me...I'm a sap.

I've been going to the race since 1985 while sitting with my family in the first row of the Southwest Vista. It strikes a ton of chords for me- Purdue's band's involvement has always been special to me because I was brainwashed to be a Boiler from birth. The playing of taps, the flyover, the deserved recognition of our service men & women always chokes me up as I'm reminded of the greatness and bravery of men who gave everything for our way of life. The releasing of the balloons, hearing Jim Nabors sing "Back Home Again in Indiana" and hearing the most famous words in motorsports always gives me chills.

But, the first lap under green as the flash of color blurs, the deafening roar rings in my ears and the smell of rubber and burning ethanol is worth the $85 ticket price in itself. And the other 199 and 3/4 laps were pretty great for me this year too.

Each year there's something that's interesting to racing dorks like me and the last 30 laps and fuel strategery was it this year. It was a wild finish...but, this year's finish made me sick at my stomach too. I didn't see the Conway/RHR wreck immediately as it was on the other side of the track. But, watching the video boards was pretty awful from my perspective.

LBD and I got to meet Mike Conway last year on Community Day at the track. Sure, it was only a few seconds outside his garage, but it was impactful on my (then) three year old son. He doesn't remember everything about his third year of his life, but he remembers meeting the Dad's Root Beer car driver...and still calls him one of his favorites.

Scary.

J jokes that we open wheel fans only go to the races to see wrecks. I'd argue that real fans don't care too much for them. Granted, a lot of people cram the seats to watch cars slamming into the walls, but the older I get, the less I can stomach watching a car lose control...especially in person.
The good news is Conway wasn't seriously injured...but his car was unrecognizable (above)- a true testament of how much safer these cars are than they used to be...and maybe just a small sign of how blessed RHR and Conway were during the late afternoon in Indy. But, that collision definitely dampened my enthusiasm for an awfully-enjoyable end of the 500 miles.

And speaking of dampening my fun- Ashley Judd stinks. I can't stand that woman. As much as I like Dario Franchitti, I might detest his wife equally as much. First off, she was never a good actress. But even if she was, I still wouldn't want to see her artificial interest in the waning moments of the race, her flowery speeches following races or her self-absorbed efforts to get on camera and steal the spotlight from her husband and his crew.

My family has a blind draw pool each year prior to the race. I've won it twice and have bought at least one driver each year since 1983. I've won this gamble two times. Both were when I drew Franchitti. But, I was rooting for Kanaan and Conway at the end of this year's race as I just didn't want to hear the Judd speak after the race's end. I'm glad I won, and glad a seemingly-good guy won the race...but hope the Hulman George family bars Ashley Franchitti from every returning to Pit Lane.

Everybody loves it...But America
It seems the Indy 500 product itself is pretty damned good to me. The dark days of the middle-90s are a distant memory as super-high quality drivers and well-tuned machines maintained by skilled crews are the norm, not the exception these days. The field was comprised of the most international drivers ever...Fitting, I guess.

Remember one of the silly reasons Tony George formed the IRL was to try to insure that more American drivers would be entered into the 500 each year. Well, he's no longer in a decision-making position with the league or the track...and his vision will not be realized, and that's a very good thing.

He wanted racing to be more-affordable, so he said. Let's be real honest- fast cars aren't affordable...race cars aren't supposed to be either. And, the best of the best drivers should be driving in Indy...regardless of where they were born. I like that John Andretti was in the race. I like more though, that Scott Dixon decided to live in Indy because he liked the city...and by the way, he's a bad mo fo behind the wheel...That's what matters.

The fan favorites aren't the Americans, they're the good drivers who aren't d-bags...or the greatest drivers...even with crappy personalities. Guys like Fittipaldi and Foyt come to mind right away- just like in any sport, if you consistently win championships, a lot of people will want to watch you do what you do.

That said, if you whine, bitch, tear people down, haven't every won anything of substance, but have a cute hind end...you might still have some fans. But, the real race fans grow weary of that type of act...especially as time starts taking its toll.

Hopefully, as the race moves back toward its intended start time of 11:00am in two years, we'll get to see guys like Tony Stewart, Sam Hornish and even Jeff Gordon attempting to race at Indy. Simply nothing is better than watching the best of the best compete and that's what will help Indy continue the momentum it has.

Regardless of who's racing there, I'll be there with my Dad, a few pals and at least one of my brothers. We've seen better times for the sport and much worse times...and as a new era of management has begun for the track, things might be changing in the coming years. But the important things remain: Honoring fallen heroes, enjoying century-old traditions and watching fast machines and daring, if not crazy, drivers do what they do.

I love Memorial Day Weekind in Indy.

The Field Is Set

Today, Lil' Boilerdowd and all of the males in the Boilerdowd family headed to IMS to watch Bump Day. It was LBD's first visit to the track with cars running...and he fought off feeling a little under the weather to enjoy a pretty eventful afternoon of qualifying. An added bonus to the day, was that I got to connect with fellow Purdue Blogger, race fan and all-around good dude, T-Mill for the afternoon, and Mrs. T-Mill* to boot.

I'm going to try not to bore you non-race fans with too much of this...and for those of you who think I shouldn't be writing this because it's supposed to be all-Purdue sports, all the time- let me remind you of a few things. First, it's not your site. Second, we never said the site would be only Purdue sports...and actually, four years ago, we wrote a lot more about non-Purdue sports than now. But, this time of year, as the Purdue news continues to slow to the pace of molasses out of the tap at winter in Vermont, we're left with few options. But I digress.



Growing up in Indy, my brothers and I loved CART/Indy Car racing. And outside of race day, one of our favorite track visits each year was Bump Day. While I'm not a fan of the shootout format adopted this year, Bump Day is still, with a few tweaks, as dramatic as it was 20 years ago.

If you watched it on TV, you know there were some questionable moves toward the end of the day that left Paul Tracy and others on the outside looking in. But, the best drama for me and many others was watching Tony Kanaan and his team do everything possible with a machine (or two maybe) that simply has not been right since the team arrived at the greatest track in the world.

I love this guy, but have never met him. I'm not typically like this about athletes, but I am just a big fan TK. In fact, when he came out for his qual run around 5:25 today, I was nervous for him.

Years ago, my Dad was good friends with a driver who had some good years at Indy, but had some struggles toward the end of his driving career. One recurring theme during that period was a mad dash to get a ride, shake it down and qualify it, all in about 5 hours on Bump Day. Our family's hopes and heartbreak on those Sundays rode along with Johnny Parsons, Jr.

It felt weirdly-similar today as we watched Kanaan scramble and struggle. And as he turned four very-fast laps and placed himself solidly into the field, it was tough not to admire the grit and struggle of this guy and his team.

Sure, J Money mocks race fans as a blood-thirsty bunch whose passion for Indy Car, Neckcar or other leagues is nothing more than a love of twisted metal and splintered carbon fiber. But, the nuance of racing is what I love. Today was a great example of why the little details and moments during a race weekend make it great to me.

I've said it before, The Indianapolis 500 isn't my first love in sports, you all know what that is. But I love the month of May in Indy (or at least two weeks, for now) and if nothing else, it's a diversion as I pine my time until the fall.

*photo might or might not be Mrs. T-Mill

Why I love the 500

I've been out of town for a week and haven't been able to post on the happenings of my favorite sporting event...From bump day to rained-out carb day and finally the 92nd running of the greatest race in the world, the Indy 500. My honest opinion about this year's contest, from the perspective of the Southwest Vista Row A, would have to be that I have seen much more exciting races and even much better-driven races.

That said, Scott Dixon was in the same category of Tony Kanaan coming into Sunday as a veteran that kept the IRL going during the lean years...A guy who is a very good driver that I really wanted to see on the Borg Warner trophy. So, I'm very pleased about the outcome of this year's race. But, most of the passing seemed to occur in the straights and the pit crews did great jobs making up positions during the race...so we didn't see as much racing as in quite a few of the previous races I've seen. With the exception of Dan Wheldon jumping all over Dixon following yellow flags (which I didn't understand), the passing was minimal in turn one. The drivers further attested to this by calling one "hairy" and extremely tough this year. It could be the fact that they've remodeled the corner so aggressively to prepare for the Moto GP race in September. I don't know...but the passing was sparse in our area...so were the wrecks which is always a good thing. But overall, there was plenty of sloppy driving that led to a lot of avoidable yellows.

Graham Rahal, who I find talented but very arrogant along with the less-than-talented Marty Roth both lost control of their cars in similar fashion in four. TK got into the marbles, and no-thanks to his team mate Andretti, couldn't recover and collected the innocent bystander Fisher in the mess. That wreck could have been catastrophic as these cars are not made to withstand nose-to-side impact...Luckily, Fisher avoided a much harder collision by acting quickly and braking while diving to the inside. Most notably because of Danica's antics, Ryan Briscoe left his pit and lost his tailend into the #7 Motorola machine of the cute-but-bitchy Patrick. She of course stormed down pit road and I guess was preparing to rumble with Briscoe, but security wouldn't allow it much to the chagrin of the 400K in the stands.

My feelings about Danica are these: If she's going to push and shove other drivers (a la Wheldon in '06) and get in their faces following mistakes on the course, she had better bring her brass knuckles because when guys like Paul Tracy, A.J. Foyt and others have acted that way in the past, things have escalated. Once you physically address someone, you've decided to take it to the next level...and she's done that on multiple occasions. She may eventually see her pretty face get bruised if she's not careful in coming months/years.

Sorry for the J-Money-esque length of this entry...but I'm not done yet.

Onto the greater Spectacle...
Alright, IMS, for me, is like Ross Ade stadium. I grew up there and have been fond of the place since I can remember. My family had a rule that we couldn't go to a race until we turned 10...Since then, I've missed two races- one because I had to move my wife out to the Northeast following our nuptuals and the second because my cousin got married on the day of the race. Outside of the 21 races I've attended, I've been to days of practice, quals and numerous carb days...I love this form of racing. Furthermore, I must...because honestly, I can't stand many of the elements within IMS during the events. The fact that I am guarded taking my wife to the track says a lot...On a recent visit, a guy that looked like the lead man of House of Pain heckled my sister-in-law as we left the track. I can't stand that garbage...and if people want to be trashy, good for them. But, when their drunk behavior spills over into other people's witnessing of the event, that's a bad deal.

It seems that about a third of those who attend events at the track have no idea that cars are even involved at the venue...but they keep coming back sadly. I'm on the other end of the spectrum, I'm a racing dork. I love prognosticating about whose car is going away as the race progresses or watching drivers size another up for an imminent pass. The racing, the speed and even the smell of rubber and now Ethanol combined are all parts of the event that keep me coming back.

That said, what occurs before the race might be equally important for me. I love the fact that Memorial Day is an important part of race day. Real heroes are paraded around the 2.5 mile circuit...Some old, some young, but all worthy of more cheering than a New Zealander, Brazilian or American who is only circling the same track for their own recognition. The playing of taps, the fly over and the singing of God Bless America always bring me to tears...as I feel so blessed to have been born where I was born when I was born. Even Jim Nabors welcoming me home gets me sobbing.

Now, following the meaningful pageantry of honoring America's fallen fighting men and women with the fact that the race is electric is an amazing emotional reversal for me. I have to gather myself, dry my wet eyes as they announce the command for the machines to roar to life. The parade laps are great, as we wish the drivers well...But the first time the field of 33 rips through one, it's like a roller coaster ride for me. The flash of color, intense loud noise, the sheer speed of the machines, the aroma in the air and the possibility of danger all make my heart pound.

I've brought people to the race that simply don't understand my excitement for the event...that's alright...but my love for it hasn't ebbed and flowed even as I watched Mario retire or Marco race his first. To me, this event, this spectacle is greater than any single driver and always will be. Media outlets have told me the excitement is back at Indy...I don't know what they've been watching, but for me, it never left.

Indy Gets Super Bowl -- Steak-N-Shake to Provide Locker Room Buffets

In a fortuitous turn of events for the city of Indianapolis, they beat out Arizona and will host the 2012 Super Bowl at LucasOil Stadium. I was going to let Boilerdowd post about this but he's been traveling and is sleepy.

There's been some mini-debate here in the comments of the Ashley Force post about whether this is good for the city or not. And there's considerable debate around the Intertubes about this as well.

So dear readers, weigh in please. Is this good for Indy? Is it bad for Indy? Is it good for fans attending the Super Bowl? Will the Colts have a legit shot at being the first host city team to make the Super Bowl with Peyton approaching 36 years of age?

I tend to think Indy is a nice city but not particularly well-suited to host a Super Bowl in February. Kind of brutal in the midwest in February.

Very Satisfied (Not Sports Related)

Men's Health Magazine just announced that Indianapolis is the most sexually-satisfied city in the US. Way to go, fellow-Central Indianans (not a word).

A few years ago, Indiana was the fattest state...We are fat, and now, happy!