For 10 hours more than 3,000 IU students and Bloomington residents tested their poker skills while playing Texas hold 'em, challenged gravity while rock climbing, tangled themselves together during Twister and enjoyed the night during Recreational Sport's 29th annual Spirit of Sport. Proceeds from the event benefitted Special Olympics Indiana. The all-nighter was held Friday from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
5:56 p.m. -- A whistle blows at Court No. 1. The Special Olympics basketball games are going on at four different courts with crowds growing around them. The basketball games are sponsored by Spirit of Sport and Hoosier Partners, who are made up of different IU and Bloomington organizations. Pi Beta Phi is at court No. 1 cheering on the Monroe County Cutters and the Bartholomew County Bulldogs. The sorority members hold up homemade signs for their sponsored athletes reading, "Good luck Steve" and "Pi Phi Loves the Cutters." The game ends with a last-second shot -- the Cutters beat the Bulldogs 40-38.
6:19 p.m. -- Behind the basketball games six tables are set up, four people at each table; euchre has begun. Senior Matt Schreib and a few of his Sigma Nu brothers sit at a table shuffling cards. Schreib said he and his friends had been looking for a place to play euchre around town and heard SOS offered the event. Not only was it only $10 per team to play, but he is playing well, 15 points after the first round. \n"We have a brother doing the bench press tonight, so we'll stick around and do some other things and then cheer him on later," Schreib said. \nWhile the cards are being dealt the IU football team enters Wildermuth Gym and makes its way over to the Special Olympics basketball game. The team is a Hoosier Partner this year -- they easily have 75 teammates in attendance to cheer on their Special Olympics team.
6:34 p.m. -- A crowd -- all women -- forms around the STA Travel booth, which is giving away a free trip to Fiji. The commotion isn't for the free trip though; it's for Randy Barry, who was a cast member on MTV's "Real World San Diego" and "Battle of the Sexes." STA sponsored Barry's visit to Bloomington and SOS. He poses for photos and talks on cell phones, but won't have much time to chat, as the Polar Bear Plunge, the reason he's come to SOS, will be starting soon.
7:12 p.m. -- Outside of Wildermuth Gym, in the 40 degree weather, a portable pool is set up with a platform for the "plungers" to jump from. The jump doesn't look pleasant; the water below is yellow and cold, it's very dark outside and the crowd outside isn't nice -- if the plunge isn't good they'll voice their opinion. The plungers costumes range from two girls dressed in tank tops and duck floaties to SOS President senior Matt Rasche dressed as Tarzan with a blue face.
7:22 p.m. -- The last two plungers; Barry and Rasche jump to a screaming crowd. The crowd loves it and they both get out of the pool as fast as they got in. \n"I thought it was a great time, a great cause," Rasche said after his plunge. The $50 entry fee to take 'the plunge' goes to Special Olympics Indiana. As he turned leave to change clothes and dry off he added. "It was very cold, but I'm just ready for the next event!"
7:36 p.m. -- As Barry dried off from his "plunge" another crowd formed around him, but he shrugged off his status as a "reality TV star". \n"I try to do any charity event I can," he said. "It's really indefinable, the 'reality TV status.' I've really been blessed with this opportunity, so I try to give back as much as possible."
9:09 p.m. -- Tables line the track; members of every IU club imaginable are there to show off why students should join their club. Behind the tables club demonstrations go on; tai chi on Court No. 1 -- their white, yellow and orange belt athletes went first. \nMeanwhile across the gym a twelve-person group exercise session sweated it out while ten feet away an Oreo stacking contest was underway. The Oreos crumbled to the ground as the exercise session finished. \n"Fun is the main purpose," said junior Shiloh Snapp, who participated in the group exercise and also teaches a cardio kickbox at the HPER. "I had a great time and I think I'll stick around and do some rock climbing."
9:44 p.m. -- In place of the group exercise, IU's largest game of Twister is getting set up -- the winner gets Big Ten basketball tickets. Across the gym, club demos are still going on, and this time the gymnastics team is flipping and spinning in the air. Next to them is tae kwon do, which has drawn a large crowd. The teams break wood at the sound of a whistle, and someone in the crowd compares it to the movie "The Karate Kid."\nIU alumnus and psychology department staff member Randy Wilson performs the final sequence for the demo. \n"We work the first part of the semester to prepare for Spirit of Sport, this is the biggest event of the year for us," Wilson said.
10:01 p.m. -- The fight for Big Ten Tournament tickets begins. For thirteenth row center court things could get nasty, so judges from the Student Alumni Association, who are sponsoring the Twister event, stand at each of the mats ready to disqualify people at a moment's notice.
10:17 p.m. -- Three people -- two girls and one guy -- are left; they've been consolidated on one Twister mat. Now things get serious. A crowd of about 30 people push to see what happens.\nLeft hand green -- the guy is out. It's down to two girls. \nRight foot red -- one girl wobbles and is gone. The winner -- freshman Sarah Elmore. \n"I came to have fun, I didn't know I was going to win," Elmore said. "I've played a lot before with my brother, so I guess I used that as my strategy."
10:51 p.m. -- From bending to benching, the bench press bleachers are full with onlookers. Everyone from students to professors are in line to take their turn at the bench. The recorded weight benched to beat: 375 pounds. Senior Travis Linneweber takes his turn and benches an impressive 345 pounds. \n"It's tons of fun and it's a great time, I've competed the last three years," Linneweber said. "I'm pretty happy with my score; it's the same as last year."
11:03 p.m. -- Tarpaulins cover the gym floor and four people are wearing trash bags and drinking from large plastic cups. One participant stops drinking and looks sick for a minute, it's hard to see into the cup, but behind the four participants a table is lined with ketchup, mustard, hotdogs, relish, chili and other products. They are competing in "Fear Factor," SOS's newest event. In the last round participants have to drink the entire mix without vomiting. IU football player, senior Buster Larkins placed fourth.\n"I looked at two of the guys and I was leading," he said. "I was good until I heard a guy throw up behind me; that's when it got awful. I kept it down though, I have a cast iron stomach, it's from years of dorm food."\nNext on Larkins and IU football player freshman James Bailey's list: the slam dunk contest. \n"I'm going to win it," Bailey said.
12:34 a.m. -- On one side of the gym people begin to wind down; caffeine and water becomes in higher demand, while in the middle of the gym the slam dunk contest, sponsored by Student Athletic Board, is just getting started. Bailey keeps his word and walks over to the contest ready to deliver a winning dunk. He places a chair and a friend under the basket and walks away. He takes a running start, jumps over the chair, grabs the alley-oop from the friend and -- SLAM! Though he had a challenger, James won the contest -- just like he predicted. \n"He gave me some comp, but he's not 'Jumpin' James,'" Bailey said.
12:54 a.m. -- After a night of competition and play, an Ultimate Eating Contest sounds like a good idea, especially for some hungry guys -- one especially, who was even eating a piece of pizza at the table while he waited for the contest to begin. The event, sponsored by Tumbleweed, was won by junior Joe Siara, who said he wasn't satisfied after he ate the bean burrito. \n"I knew I could eat pretty well, but that was easy, I could have done about four more," Siara said. "I think I am going to go and order Aver's when I get home."
1:37 a.m. -- The attendance in the gym has gotten smaller, but the excitement hasn't. Texas Hold 'Em has begun in one corner, while the lines for the inflatable obstacle courses are getting longer. The competition to see how long someone can bounce on a pogo stick is over, but the sticks have been distributed and one participant bounces on a lone pogo stick in the middle of the gym. \nBack at Texas hold 'em, 24 participants sit at tables with Polar Pops and Gatorade around them. Junior Peter Manzer, who had volunteered earlier in the evening, decided to play after his shift was over and donate $5 to the cause.
2:14 a.m. -- Dance Dance Revolution has now been going on since 1 a.m. and things are getting serious. The prize for winning is an iPod, but contestants say the prize doesn't matter -- DDR is also about pride. Bleachers are set up for spectators and as they watch everyone in the crowd tap their feet to the commands on the screen. As the competition becomes faster contestants Robby and Ian take their places on the two mats -- this is it. The music begins and their feet begin to fly. "Perfect" flashes on Robby's screen and "Boo" and Ian's. Ian begins to slow as Robby speeds up. The crowd screams for Robby as Ian walks away from the mat, declaring Robby the winner. \n"This was the reason I came," freshman Robby Floyd-Finch said. "I was sick in bed and my friend called and told me to come and win an iPod, so I did."
2:43 a.m. -- Texas hold 'em is down to seven players at one table and capture the flag is still going strong. SOS staff members are starting to get ready for the end of the night, collecting trash and putting up chairs and bleachers.
3:01 a.m. -- Spirit of Sport 2005 has ended and raised an estimated $10,000. Joanne Orrange, RecSports assistant director of special events, said she couldn't have prouder of everyone that came together to put on SOS; the night was a huge success. \n"The energy was almost higher (than previous years). There was just so much going on, there really was something for everyone," Orrange said. "There were people laughing, playing, some not even doing something structured and they were having a great time. It just goes to show an event like this can really bring them together."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Katie Schoenbaechler at kmschoen@indiana.edu.
