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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Hoo are we?

He fixes his tie. He takes one breath in, one breath out and lifts his head up as if he’s addressing the Lord almighty, but he’s not. He’s addressing something more important.

“Welcome to Indiana basketball,” says Hoosier Head Coach Norman Dale, the focal point of the quintessential basketball movie, “Hoosiers.”

He opens the door and walks into the gym.

Coach Dale is just one of many who identify themselves as a Hoosier, and now it’s legally binding.

On Jan. 12 the federal government officially changed the nickname of Indiana residents from “Indianans” to “Hoosiers.” This makes Indiana the first state to have its official nickname of its residents not just be a rehashing of the state’s name.

New Yorkers? Yawn.

Texans? Bleh.

This brings us to a pivotal assortment of questions.

First of all, Indianans? How did we collectively agree that was fine? Who thought that was a good idea? How was it not already Hoosier?

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Now that we’ve moved past the anger, it’s time for us to agree that being labeled Hoosiers is pretty fantastic not just because we no longer have to be Indianans but because of the rich sports history that inevitably follows.

You’re probably aware “Hoosier” is the official nickname of the IU athletic teams. What you probably didn’t know is that it’s also the designation of seven active and one disbanded athletic conferences in the Indiana High School Athletic Association.

The law may have made it official, but we’ve been Hoosiers for quite some time.

There is a certain panache, a feeling of prominence and glory, when discussing Hoosiers represented in sports.

Hoosiers aren’t necessarily underdogs, but they’re certainly not the favorites. Instead, there’s a middle ground, an undiscovered talent waiting and lurking to be discovered.

There isn’t a mascot, and if you’ve attended an IU game with a non-Hoosier acquaintance, he or she will constantly remind you of that.

Perhaps the best way to understand the feeling of Hoosiers in the athletic realm is with a shirt — the IU basketball jersey.

During my sophomore year, I wrote a column listing the reasons that the Hoosiers should have their last names on their uniforms. “It would be easier to identify the players quickly,” “It’s time to stop living in the past,” and “Everyone else does it,” were just a few explanations for my 
assertion.

It was universally loathed as an idea immediately.

Looking back, I too can say that was an imprudent article.

The Hoosier way is to focus on the name on the front, not the name on the back.

I was thinking more logistically and not comprehending all of the Hoosier history.

Even though it has just been adopted by the state legally, the term has been a sense of pride for Indiana for quite some time. Although in truth the term may just signify a resident of the state, in reality it means so much more than that.

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