Welcome home, warriors

The Walk. \nIt hits you right away like a warming sensation throughout your body. It covers the goose bumps, which have grown their own goose bumps, and curls the corners of your mouth upward into a smile. At first, your legs start to lose control. It is such a sudden rush, unexpected even, that your heart hurts. \nWhat is it?\nIt is the feeling of appreciation, approval, support and encouragement. It is the feeling that people care. \nYears had passed, and it seemed to the people of Bloomington, that no one had heard a word from the football team it so desperately wanted to identify with. A win here, a loss there, but for the most part, nothing had united the country of the cream and crimson. \nUntil "The Walk." \nI was granted the honor of participating in this weekend's rendition of "The Walk." The team and I entered the grass lots on Woodlawn Avenue, packed deep with tailgaters. The team entered like warriors of ancient Rome -- battle-weary but home at last -- and ready to reclaim a glory that was lost somewhere in time. As we marched, the cheering commenced and the warming sensation took over. \nSoon we were under a crimson banner that read "The Walk," and in front of us massed the loyal, the little and the loud. I was caught up in the excitement. I slapped the hands of kids who thought I was an IU football player, and in turn, I thought I was an IU football player. But that wasn't what gave me goose bumps. Amid cheers of horrific grammar (for example, I heard several inebriated students yell "git 'er done"), there was a message more subliminal, still more substantial, than something that could surface from stuttered slang. \nThere was pride. For the first time in a long time, there was pride. \nSo there the players and I were, at the threshold of the stadium stairs. Below us, a red carpet, before us, a sea of cream and crimson, and behind us, trumpets tuning to the "Rocky" soundtrack. \nCoach Hoeppner said after the game, "The feeling we got... when we were in front of Assembly Hall and turned toward Memorial Stadium was special. I've said that crowds help win games, and this crowd helped us win this game." \nIn front of a crowd of 40,240, the IU football team found out what home field advantage was all about. The stadium pulse beat with every first down. The fans at Saturday night's game seemed to have stood together as one voice behind Hep's Hoosiers. A voice that vibrated between the stadium walls. No matter what happened, win or lose, the fans were there for the long haul. \nThere is something to be said about coach Hep's new vision for "The Rock." There is something to be said for the first 3-0 start for a first-year coach at IU since 1905. There is something to be said for a resurgence in the Hoosier spirit. \nBut if there is something to be said, the fans will say it. \nI heard a lot of shouting towards the players as we took "The Walk." The people of Bloomington reveled in their men of courage. The team was like a group of victorious Romans returning from a long campaign across the world. And for the first time in a long time, an ecstatic public rejoiced their arrival. \nWelcome home, warriors.\n(Writer's note: Joe "Not-John" Kleinsmith went 6-for-6 with a field goal in Saturday night's win over the Wildcats and their quarterback is Andre Woodson, not David Hamilton. My bad.)