Spirit of IU is everywhere

By the first morning of 81-degree weather and buckets of Long Island ice teas in Fort Lauderdale, I didn't think I would ever come back to Bloomington.\nSpring break became a glimpse into how life could be. I imagined living it up as a permanent beach bum, hired to dress in skimpy thongs and grace the dance floors of the clubs on their busiest nights of the week. Suddenly journalism seemed like a faded memory and the dirty snow banks seemed like something I would never want to see again. \nRiding around on the Baja Wrangler or flying above in a helicopter with Club Atlantis or Corona advertisements trailing behind seemed (and still seems) like a feasible and, at times, necessary way of life.\nDeep in the middle of spring break bliss, the IU basketball game was hard to find. Venturing far away from the touristy Baja Beach Club with its bars of fire and bartenders with bare chests and the hottest six packs I've ever seen, we wandered into the Fort Lauderdale townie world to try to find a place even showing the game. \nBoy, did they show it: live on more than 30 televisions courtesy of 36 satellites. IU basketball was loud and proud in a place packed with about 50 IU fans and only one brave man who dared to cheer for the Kent State enemy one time. \nThere we found an IU following that was amazing. We found fans that were far too young to be downing their Miller Lites. We cheered and gasped with fans far too old to drink their Rum Runners, the house special, that they slowly sipped as they screamed at their Hoosiers as if they weren't a coast away. \nWe lost the game. And young and old screamed and hollered at the Hoosiers, who let their faithful Floridian following down.\nBut the fan presence was truly inspiring; a glimmer of reassurance that returning to IU, where there is snow rather than sunshine, might not be so bad.\nThe night of the IU game was the only reminder of college life here in the Midwest. There, far away from our college campus, we found people who were just as passionate about IU basketball as we are, some not even alumni. It was powerful to see what a strong following we had in the middle of the Florida Gators' swamp.\nWhat I learned from these fans is what I should have known all along. This is a school of which to be proud. Our sports teams, even when they lose, demand respect and have fans who have a loyalty to them than runs deeper than winning streaks. \nWhat Bob Knight and other great coaches built here is a legacy, one that continues without Knight and without national championships or Sweet 16s. It doesn't matter if IU loses to a team they should have beat or if IU President Myles Brand demands boos from IU fans living in Florida, IU is an institution to be proud of and we as students should be proud of it.\nTrue, there are no warm beaches or crazy Bajas to dance the night away in. But there are many things to be proud of. \nThere is a Kelley School of Business that churns out students who are founders and CEOs of companies that lead the high-tech industry. There is an amazing music school a fellow traveler from Los Angeles proudly boasted that she graduated from. There is a rowdy group of students who are able to loudly represent their school far away from their home state. There is a spirit of loyalty and honor that transcends location, generation and walk of life.\nThis is IU. Forget the cold weather, the long hours of homework and the days that make it impossible to get out of bed. Long live the passion that unites the young and the old, from near and from far, who all love IU for reasons that only Hoosiers can understand.\nIt's a cold day in Indiana. I long to lay in the sand with the cloudless sky above me. But as I walk around campus, getting ready for the busy week ahead of me, I walk with pride. I know the degree at the end of the road and the memories along the way will ensure that some day not too far away, I will still have the spirit I have today. \nI will sit down in a crowded bar on some lonely Florida beach and I will cheer with the IU spring breakers as the Hoosiers win a national championship or lose in the first round.\nAnd the spirit and pride that I know will fill the air at this moment tides me over now.