A great conversion

I've been lied to all my life.\nI don't really remember when it started. I mean, I guess the first time I received a Purdue T-shirt for a holiday, I should have known something was wrong.\nIt was pretty unfair, too. I mean, little children are so impressionable and trusting of their parents. Really, when you get right down to it, I was taken advantage of.\nYou see, I've been attending Purdue football games for as long as I can remember. Both of my parents went there (and in fact, met there), so traveling up to West Lafayette seemed natural enough in my early years. But there was always this nagging feeling deep down that something was just not right.\nAs my parents would walk me around campus, showing me the sights, I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, what an ugly campus." Also, there was the smell. The horrible, putrid smell of a school filled with agriculture and engineering majors. (They say the smell is actually from the smoke stacks, but really, I know better.) \nBut of course, I could never voice my opinions. In fact, I was told that even thinking these hateful thoughts would cause Purdue Pete to come out from behind a smoke stack and hit me with his huge hammer.\nYou might be wondering why I am taking this emotionally trying trip down memory lane. The answer is simple enough: This weekend, I plan on attending my first Oaken Bucket game as a Hoosier.\nSure it might be a little rough, but it's something I have to do to overcome these suppressed emotions.\nThe plan is that I, along with some friends, will travel up to the game for some hard-core tailgating. I doubt we actually make it into the game because, frankly, I'm afraid my little heart won't be able to bear watching a humiliating loss. However, if a miracle decides to present itself in the form of an IU victory, I will be standing by proudly outside ready to say, "I knew they could do it all along."\nNow, I've been thinking very hard about what I'll wear on Saturday. I could of course play it safe and wear very nondescript clothing. But that's no fun. Instead, I could wear just a red sweater or something that hints at my Hoosierness. Again, where's the fun in that?\nInstead, I plan on layering myself in cream and crimson just to make sure that everyone at Purdue understands the conversion I've gone through. I'm going to wear my IU football jersey over an IU sweatshirt.\nBut that's still not enough. What happens if my Purdue friends ask me to remove the outer layer? Well, I will gladly oblige, only to uncover my "Puck Furdue" shirt, which I will wear underneath everything else.\nI can honestly say that the only black I will wear will be the huge shiner I will get after this unveiling.\nOverall, I think my Purdue friends will be interested to see what it's like to have a good time at a tailgate, "No. 1 party school" style. One little-known fact is that Purdue actually placed 347 on the list of top party schools (I'm not making this up ... OK, yes I am).\nAnyway, the point I'm trying to make is that all those years of pain and suffering I was put through are finally over. Now I know the truth about IU. As announced at every basketball game, "We may not have a mascot, but at least we have stripes." \nAnd we know how to have a good time.